Here are the Top 10 Tips For Traveling To Disney With Babies & Toddlers:
1. Always have a plan-It is important to make a daily plan prior to your vacation that includes which park you plan to visit each day, where you plan to eat (make your ADR’s at the 180 day mark) and your top ‘must do’ rides/attractions.
2. Make a list-I always tell people that it is so important to make a list for anything and everything…make a packing list, make a list of ‘must eats’, ‘must do’, ‘must buy’s’ while at Disney World and daily clothing list, etc. You get the point. Lists help me stay on track when packing for a vacation. It can be overwhelming packing for your whole family, trying to organize everything, remember everything, etc. and lists can really be beneficial.
3. Pack your clothes in sealed bags-If you pack each child’s clothes for each day in an individual sealed baggie then this will help save space in the suitcase and save your sanity when you are on vacation. Your kids will simply pull out the baggie labeled by day of the week and have the outfit with coordinating hairbow, socks, etc. ready to go.
4. Stick to your routine-Babies and toddlers especially need routine and when you are on vacation their routine tends to go out the window. I recommend trying to stick to the routine as much as possible. Example, if baby naps every afternoon at 2 o’clock then try to allow for a daily naptime by going back to your hotel for a break from the theme parks. If you absolutely can’t make it back to your hotel at least try to find a cool shaded spot where your little one can rest in the stroller. Bring a blanket to drape over the stroller to provide darkness.
5. Pack plenty of snacks for baby-Disney allows guests to bring their own food and drinks into the parks (no glass items) and I highly recommend doing so. This will help save money and time. When waiting in lines for rides babies tend to get cranky very fast. By having their favorite snack you can distract them. Baby fishies, cheerio’s, crackers, etc make great mess free snacks.
6. Pack the essentials in a backpack-Be sure to pack a backpack full of diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer that you can easily access (front pocket), change of clothes, hat, sunscreen, camera, snacks, sippy cup, etc. You don’t want to have to return to the hotel early because you forgot a change of clothes and baby got soaking wet or had a diaper leak.
7. Be flexible-remember that this your vacation too. Try to avoid over scheduling your family. Too many sit down meals at table service restaurants can be overwhelming for children, especially toddlers. If your family does not eat out often then I suggest avoiding eating out every single day.
8. Take a mid-day break. Children get cranky, hot and tired after six + hours in a theme park. Take a mid-day break and return to your hotel for a nap, dip in the pool and quiet time.
9. Don’t overspend. Children will beg and plead for just about anything that catches their eyes in the stores even if it is something that they do not necessarily need. They may have a thousand stuffed Mickey’s already at home but still beg for just one more. Learn to say no. Don’t overspend. Going to Disney in the first place is the biggest gift they could get. Budget out a specific amount for each child to have for souveniers. When that money is gone then they are done.
10. Take plenty of pictures. Capture the moment. Children are only little for so long. Disney is such a magical, special, dream come true place to people of all ages, but especially to children.
Check out the FREE and inexpensive things around Walt Disney World.
Learn more tips and tricks for your next Walt Disney World vacation. Destinations in Florida can also help you add tips and tricks to your next vacation.
Written by Hayden Davis who blogs at Disney with Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers. It is a great blog for anyone planning a vacation on a budget. The blog focuses on time and money saving tips and creative idea’s for traveling with babies, toddlers and preschoolers
My #1 lifesaver when travelling with baby was breastfeeding. Our normal routine went out the window, and she fed whenever she wanted, including next to me in bed at the hotel … helped control crying everywhere — plane, hotel, etc.; helped with naps. I am so thankful for that. If you’re still nursing your baby, definitely use it on travel!
I love the clothes in bags idea. What a time saver! I’m all about making lists for a trip. I always check off what I pack, bring the list with me, and check off a second time when we leave the hotel. That way there’s no worry about what was left behind.
Clothes in a zip lock bag also helps save space in a suitcase. ☺
Oh yeah, make sure you do something to set your stroller apart from other ones. NO matter what kind of stroller we have had I always see at least 20 of the same one. We found a website themouseforless.com and they have ones you can print for free. We printed them out and put them in a 8×10 scrapbook page protector and safety pinned it to the back of the stroller.
Second the putting the kids clothes in baggies! We plan out what days we are wearing what (because we all coordinate our outfits) and write the day of the week and the kids name on the outside of it (have to write the names because we have four boys 3 of which are stair steps who are 30 months apart from oldest to youngest so it takes away the staring at tags to see whose clothes they are) As they got bigger we found that the 2 gal. bags work really good or the L storage bags too. It makes packing so much easier! I usually had two bags when we went into the park one that I kept all the valuables in (camera, wallet, passes, ect) and one that I kept the diapers, change of clothes, rain coats, ect in. That way I only had a small bag to take with me on the rides, and left the other one on the stroller. If someone takes it, theres nothing of value in it ( If I have a child in diapers I always carried one diaper and a baggie with a couple wipes in the other bag, just incase) but have never had a problem.
When my kids were in strollers (last one is 5 so starting to out grow them) I would buy a stroller at a garage sale. I have gotten some of my best strollers at garage sales. We liked to so this because then if we didn’t want to strap the stroller to the roof because we bought too much stuff or if it broke (yeah hubby broke one of that we bought new one year, which is the real reason behind the garage sale strollers…lol forgot to put the seats up before folding up the stroller) it wasn’t a big deal. We’ve given our strollers away to people standing in line on our way out on the last day. People were shocked but told them the story and they gladly took it. (gave them some wipes and our travel Lysol too) Just make sure you get a comfy one and that you know how to work it before you leave…lol
I would also suggest learning the fast pass system and also using the app that tells you how long the lines are! This was a life saver for us with a 2 year old and two 5 year olds. Waiting in lines is boring so for kids. We were going to head to the haunted mansion but after seeing on the app that the wait was an hour we went to a ride that was only 20 minutes. About 45 minutes before park closing the wait time for Haunted mansion was down to 10minutes!
Good ideas!