Questions for Disney Moms and Dads

[MouseMadness]

Originally posted by lynnkatherine
The type of stroller I was suggesting taking was just the small $15 version that folds up to a few feet long and is easily fit in one hand. We took one one year, and it was so nice not having to wait in lines to get one, and shell out that money you'll never see again. But whatever you feel would be most convenient for you.

Sorry, I"m sure I caused MUCH confusion... I was using my mother in law's computer, and it was still logged in under her user name. :lol: :hammer: That was me talking about the stroller. :wave:

 

[JBSLJames]

Like the umbrella strollers.

 

[garyhoov]

My son was three when we went ( I went to Disney World when I was about 8 and Disney Land when I was 10 and I HATED them both).

Seeing him enjoy it as a three year old is why I'm so stupid about the place now.

Enjoy!!

 

[The Mom]

Originally posted by MouseMadness
Sorry, I"m sure I caused MUCH confusion... I was using my mother in law's computer, and it was still logged in under her user name. :lol: :hammer: That was me talking about the stroller. :wave:

Whoa! I didn't know you were lynnnkatherine's daughter-in-law. I think I know her from a different forum.

 

[Dwarful]

well we have taken many trips to dl and wdw w/ our girls, first time our oldest was about 18 months old. my advice would be
1) stroller w/some type of sunshade (either bring one that folds easily or rent one), 2) sunblock, lots of it and reapply frequently, toddler skin is sensitive skin and a bad sunburn could ruin a great trip. 3) small kids size backpack to hold camera, film, autograph book, pen, sunblock, handiwipes, and the occasional fruit snack for those emergency situations when you cant get to a snack cart, restaurant or the hotel room! also be prepared to make frequent breaks and don't hesitate to leave a meal, show, ride line etc, if she just can't handle another magic moment. The one thing I remember from '02 with our youngest was having to ride the winnie the pooh ride about 8 times in a row while my husband was off all by himself with the other 4 kids (one daughter, 2 nephews, and a niece!). let us know how it goes when you get home.

 

[JBSLJames]

Originally posted by Dwarful
well we have taken many trips to dl and wdw w/ our girls, first time our oldest was about 18 months old. my advice would be
1) stroller w/some type of sunshade (either bring one that folds easily or rent one), 2) sunblock, lots of it and reapply frequently, toddler skin is sensitive skin and a bad sunburn could ruin a great trip. 3) small kids size backpack to hold camera, film, autograph book, pen, sunblock, handiwipes, and the occasional fruit snack for those emergency situations when you cant get to a snack cart, restaurant or the hotel room! also be prepared to make frequent breaks and don't hesitate to leave a meal, show, ride line etc, if she just can't handle another magic moment. The one thing I remember from '02 with our youngest was having to ride the winnie the pooh ride about 8 times in a row while my husband was off all by himself with the other 4 kids (one daughter, 2 nephews, and a niece!). let us know how it goes when you get home.

Good call on the sunscreen and the backpack. You may also want to include a couple things of chapstick.

 

[mrtoad]

Hi,

Thanks all for the responses. I will try to touch what was said in post so I don' t have like 20 in a row.

We are bringing a folding stroller with us and will play it by ear. We are not sure what to do. I think there are pluses to using a rental or your own. We know we need one (either way) with us in parks for sure though. I am sure my daughter will need it, and as mentioned the extra storage will be nice. I mean, I feel with the amount of stuff my wife is planning on taking everyday we will look like we are going to set up camp in Frontierland or something.

I will be taking pictures non stop I am sure. I am already a kind of a shutterbug at home, in WDW it gets magnified. And with my daughter there, even more so. I have 2 digitals, one a small pocket sized 4 MP and a new 6 MP digital slr. I will take the pocket sized most days and the big on a few times. I just go slr, and am nervous that since it is new I won't know it so well and don't want to get home and have all bad shots.

And we have alreay decided (as hard as it might be at times) to just go with the flow. If we don't get to do certain rides this trip, we can do them next trip, or the one after that. If weather permits and my daughter wants to swim all day one day, that is fine. I will make sure I squeeze in Mission Space because it is new. My wife won't do that one anyway because she gets motion sickness.

It may be silly but I have these thoughts running through my head on what she will enjoy or what she won't. I naturaly think that the things that I like or liked as a kid will be what she will enjoy, but everyone is different so who knows.

As for the weeping and getting teary eyed, yeah there will be tons of that. My poor wife will have to let me lean on her shoulder. :animwink: I am a big emotional sap. Acutally, my wife is a small emotional sap, so we are in trouble.

I will definitly be posting trip pictures when I return and let everyone know how it went.

Thanks again everyone, I really enjoy hearing your stories and advice.

 

[GenerationX]

After you've spent some time in the parks seeing shows and riding rides, take advantage of the playgrounds. My boys are extremely active and need a break to run around untethered to Mom and Dad. The best spots for this are:
MK - Tom Sawyer's Island, Toontown Park
DS - Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground
AK - Boneyard
Ep - Viking Ship.

Their first time there (and come to think of it, every time thereafter), they enjoyed practically everything about WDW.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I must be a pretty cr@ppy dad cause Ive no memory of any of the girls reactions, well apart from Robin crying when she met some characters.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Be ready for the "oversized" characters scaring the little one - my daughter was two on her first trip and didn't enjoy the character greetings.

 

[Tramp]

Originally posted by The Mom
The most important thing to remember is that it's your child's trip from now until about age 10 or so. If you push to see everything, you'll regret it. It's terrible to see parents screaming at their children about "wasting all this money" when they don't want to rush from attraction to attraction. Some of my best trips were days when we only went on a couple of favorites, then spent the rest of the time exploring.

So, so true. We took my daughter for the first time at age 3. We tracked down every single character in the park over and over and over and over again and succeeded in filling the autograph book. We managed to get on a few of the 'adult' attractions but we devoted the entire vacation to making sure my daughter had a terrific experience, a very worthy goal.

Mr. Toad, as some have mentioned, characters can be scary to some kids so approach this carefully to see how your child reacts. Keep your child away from the villain characters, at least at first. Do a couple of character meals. Talk to her BEFORE you go and build the excitement for her so she'll look forward to visiting Mickey's house.
If you stay on property, make sure you arrange for a Mickey wake-up call and make sure your daughter answers the phone in the morning when he calls. Roll that camcorder!

If there's one thing I learned, use your detailed plans as guidelines. Be spontaneous, don't push it...don't try to make things happen. Take pictures galore....she will never have another 'first' trip to WDW!

 

[ItstheM]

Don't have kids, but spoke to a woman next to me on a Disney transport about being with little kids (hers were dead asleep) and she said that it was the kids first time and she expected it to be exactly like the commericals. She said it wasn't like that at all. It was a lot of yelling and getting tired very easily and no sparkly eyes at anything.

Just one person's story.

Please feed your kids when they are hungry. I was waiting outside a bathroom and a little boy said he was hungry, and his mom said "You have a real attitude problem, you know that!" That was shocking because all he wanted was to eat, but the parents had to go on rides.

 

[DisneyPhD]

ItstheM, sorry to hear about the yelling and teary eyes. All of our trips with young children have been great. Never any yelling and no tears either. (expect me when we had to go and I wanted to get more stuff!) Last one with 2 2 year olds was wonderful. We loved wachting them have so much fun. I must admit we seemed to be spending a bit of time waiting for them to wake up so we could go back to the parks for dinner, and a great deal of time at the different play grounds or places the kids could just run and play.

 

[pepsistar]

mrtoad-- just a few comments. I would definately use the stroller-- for the baby and for all your goodies, packages etc. :lol:

Our preference is to bring the umbrella type stroller with a sun shade. Why you ask, instead of renting one? The #1 reaason is the rental has to be left at the park!!!!! entrance.

We always found it to be the "MOST", Ha Ha, useful on the way back to the bus and of course to the room. My granson is 7 now and we still used it last time. ( he is still small enough to fit ) You have to remember it is a LOT of walking for everyone--

The park strollers are good but they are hard plastic, and like I said they do have to be turned in. We did try it without ours and 45/55 lbs. sure gets heavy on the way to the bus seems like a lot more-- especially at the end of the night, and then to the room--- Owwwwwww sore back to go with the feet!! :lookaroun

Then again it was my daughter and myself sooo "No" Helpful-- man around. You need to do what you think will be the easiest for you--.

Oh, and make sure to take those pictures/video if you can! My daughter always complains when I take video of eveything-- but who is the first to watch??

Hope you have a GREAT trip!!!:sohappy: :wave: