Help With Baby

[thewdwguru]

My wife will be in Orlando the last week in June on a business conference. I thought about tagging along with my 1 year old son to take advantage of the situation. Anyway, we were planning on going to Disney a few days (possibly 2 or 3) after her conference.

I have been to Disney countless times (born in JAcksonville). But I have never taken a baby!:lol:

My wife and I have seen all the parks. We were interested in only doing Epcot and MK and possibly MGM. AK may be too hot??

For those who have Disney experience with babies, should I bring him to the parks? How do you manage naps, feeding, diaper changes, etc? :brick:

I hate to waste time travelling back to the room (staying onsite at a moderate) - but is this necessary?

I know he is too young to remember this experience but I may be to greedy with the fact that I want to go to the parks! :lol:

Please help! Thanks!

 

[M. Racer]

www.babysitters.com:lol:

 

[KevinPage]

I live locally and we have a 4 month old. She has been to the parks 6 times (MK, AK, MGM 1X, Epcot 3X)

Each park has a Baby Care Center with changing tables, chairs, feeding rooms, etc. It's very convenient, not a problem at all.

Epcot's Baby Care Center is centrally located, right near Test Track in the Odyssey building, as opposed to MGM where it's right near the front gate(yet MGM is not as far of a walk as a smaller park).

Honestly, it hasn't been a problem. And since your child is older and I asume can go longer without breaks, it would be even easier.

We tend to prefer Epcot as it is a more relaxing environment and you don't really stand on as many lines, due to less rides. And you can always go around to the different gift shops and dress the baby up with stuff and take pictures (like we did last weekend)

 

[KevinPage]

I know he is too young to remember this experience but I may be to greedy with the fact that I want to go to the parks! :lol: [/B]

Don't be so sure of that. He may not have cognisent (sp) memories, but all the sights and sounds and experiences a child goes through in their formative years expands their mind and helps them develop.

To me, going to the parks is a wonderful thing for a baby/child. There is so much too see and look at. Just think of all the synapses and brain development that is generated by such.

(as you can tell I'm a little obsessive with this) :lol:

The only reason I'm not brining our little girl to the parks next weekend (we are going this weekend) is because we have to visit the dang relatives in NY. How dare they interupt Star Wars weekends. But at least she will be visiting an amusement park in Conneticutt that weekend (Lake Compounce - across from ESPN studios)

 

[Laura]

I have the same fears as you. I'm taking my kids for the first time this year in mid July, exactly 1 week after my daughter turns 1 and 3 weeks before my son turns 3.

When I made up my itineraries I scheduled at least 3 hours per day to go back to the hotel and relax. My kids get grumpy after 3 hours of shopping, I can't even imagine them going all day long 7 days straight without a break at Disney.

The advice I've gotten is I will enjoy my day more if I stop and take the time for a break - therefore getting more for my money.

I've never used the baby stations because I've never brought my kids with me, but I hear they are wonderful.

 

[thewdwguru]

As far as rides go in all the parks, how does that work if my wife and I are line with the baby who can't ride on that particular ride. Do I ride it alone while my wife waits near loading area until I get back, do a baby swap, and then she rides alone? Or does she have to get in line again?

I just found out that out of all the kid/baby friendly rides, Small World will be closed in June!

 

[thewdwguru]

I have lost my park maps, can anyone tell me the locations of all the baby stations in MK, EPCOT, MGM, and AK? Thanks

 

[wdwhoneymooner]

Originally posted by thewdwguru
I have lost my park maps, can anyone tell me the locations of all the baby stations in MK, EPCOT, MGM, and AK? Thanks

For MK, the station is next to the Crystal Palace.

For EPCOT, it's by the medical station on the left side of the Gateway to the Pavillions.

Sorry, but I've forgotten where the ones are @ MGM and AK.

As mentioned, I would highly recommend using these stations as a nap oasis. Great places to give the wee ones a quiet down time to recharge. If your child seems to be able to nap easily, then even just a fairly quiet corner at the rear of the food court @ Future World would do (of course, not during lunch time!).

Our son was 1 1/2 when we first took him there and he was knocked out in his stroller when it was his time for some zzzzzzz's. We were pretty lucky. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[KevinPage]

Originally posted by thewdwguru
As far as rides go in all the parks, how does that work if my wife and I are line with the baby who can't ride on that particular ride. Do I ride it alone while my wife waits near loading area until I get back, do a baby swap, and then she rides alone? Or does she have to get in line again?

I just found out that out of all the kid/baby friendly rides, Small World will be closed in June!

The Baby Swap or RIDER EXCHANGE PASS they issue you is one of the greatest things ever.

We (wife and I) always go with the mother in law, who doesn't feel the need to ride everything. You go up to a Cast Member, ask for a Rider Exchange pass, on a ride that doesn't allow infants, they will give you a ticket that looks like a Fastpass. Grandma watches the baby, while I wait on the regular line w/ my wife. Once we exit the ride, Grandma goes to the Fastpass line, with either my wife and I to ride, so one of us gets to ride 2 times.

Or if you are really scrupulous. You can get the pass, walk away and then get right onto the Fast Pass line, as long as the CM doesn't see you. It's like having an Instant FastPass, that you don't need to wait for.

Or, you could go around "collecting" Rider Exchange passes and get regular Fast Passes, and have a tons of options.

The Rider Exchange pass allows the person presenting the pass to bring up to 3 people with them. So if you are in a large party, alot of people can effectively get "double rides". If you time it right with a Fast Pass, you can use your Fast Pass, then exit the ride and go back on with your Rider Exchange partner.

But if it's just you and your wife, then you'll both be riding single as you need someone to watch the baby

And YES, I've put waaaay too much thought into this

 

[JackSkellington]

Originally posted by KevinPage
The Baby Swap or RIDER EXCHANGE PASS they issue you is one of the greatest things ever.

Or if you are really scrupulous. You can get the pass, walk away and then get right onto the Fast Pass line, as long as the CM doesn't see you. It's like having an Instant FastPass, that you don't need to wait for.

Kevin that is wrong. And there is a easier way to do it. We had this happen to us at TT. In the morning my sis chickened out so we used the "baby swap" but the standby line was 30 min. So we used the singles line and walked on. Rode, got out, switched parents, and rode again. Another solution is to get FP's for the family and go at the time designated. Get the child swap pass from the CM. Use the FP's from earlier, ride, switch, and ride. Easy and totally "Disney Legal"

 

[darkrose]

I have a 14 month old and we had no real problems with him. We live in Jacksonville and go down there quite often, our first trip with him was when he was about 8 months old (couldn't pass up the Wine and Food festival)..

He loved it. The lights, sounds all that. He recognized some of the characters, especially figment. I have a stuffed animal that's about 20 years old now from the original JIYI attraction and we constantly play with him with it, so he is very familiar with Figment. I think he also recognized a lot of the music. My dad gave us a ton of the old Sing Along Song videos and I've been slowly but surely converting them to DVD for posterity and he loves watching them.

As far as feedings and all that went, he was a good trooper, we tried to keep him on his schedule as much as possible. We took our big Graco stroller and laid the seat down when it was nap time for him. He really just power napped, but he was fine. We brought the playtex bottles with the bottle liners in them. He was a formula baby, so it kept things pretty easy.

As far as changing diapers, we never had a problem. We have yet to come across a restroom that doesn't have a changing table and it was quite easy to change a diaper whenever we needed it.

My wife isn't into thrill ride, so she usually goes shopping with the baby while I ride the rollercoasters.

 

[KevinPage]

Originally posted by JackSkellington
Kevin that is wrong. And there is a easier way to do it. We had this happen to us at TT

I'm not saying I do that, just that you can and it's doesn't appear to be that hard if you wanted to without anyone knowing.

I usually just get a Fast Pass and time it like you said to get a double ride with little wait time in between

 

[Kwit35]

My daughter is almost 4. We have been going 3-4 times a years since she was born. We never had any problems. Epcot was nice because you can take a small person on almost every ride.

 

[sarajo]

We went with our 6 week old baby and had no problems. We were even able to ride a lot of the rides (even Haunted Mansion) with her! (needless to say, she slept through that ride) She really liked Small World with all the happy music and dancing dolls! Luckily, I was with my in-laws, so they were more than willing to sit with DD on those rides that were more intense and less-baby friendly.

THe baby change stations are WONDERFUL! Don't miss out of this offering that Disney provides for the small ones.

Whenever she needed a nap, we would try to get back to the room for a little nap, but she would also sleep in her stroller. We got her some little Mickey sunglasses that we could put on her to help her get some shut-eye during the middle of the afternoon in the parks.

Have a great time... and your kids may not "remember" everything, but they do know what is going on- the lights, the sounds, the smells, the colors, etc... it's a very stimulating experience (just beware of overstimulation!!)

ENJOY!