One of the great debates about Disney vacations is at what age is best to take your child. Some will says it’s silly or a waste of money to take a baby or toddler because they won’t remember any of it. We started taking our girls to Disney World when they were very little and with each child the age of their first visit got younger.We took our oldest on her first trip at 15 months, our middle kiddo was 10 months and the youngest was just 3 months old on her first trip. Disney is so accommodating to families we found it fairly easy and enjoyable to take our kids on vacation at a young age. Now that we have traveled with a range of ages from newborn to tween we have learned there is no wrong age to take on a Disney vacation. My girls may not remember their first trip to Disney but hubby and I do and we have great memories from those trips.
When we were planning our first trip with a baby there were a few things I was worried about. Little ones are known for liking to follow a schedule, we knew that naps and bedtime would be thrown off. We decided to stay on site so we could easily go back to our hotel if we wanted to lay the baby down for a nap or call it a day. We used to go back to the hotel for naps but with our youngest she just naps in the stroller while the older girls still play. We also take advantage of the baby care centers inside each of the parks. These are great for those with babies and toddlers as they offer a kid friendly space to get out of the sun and away from crowds and noise. They offer a place to change diapers, warm bottles, private nursing spaces and just relax for a bit. If you are traveling with a potty training toddler the baby care centers have toilets without the automatic flush which can be scary to some kids.
We do still take breaks back to our hotel to get out of the Florida heat for a bit, sometimes we go for a swim at the pool or we just lay in the room and enjoy the AC. We have also cut time in the park and left early when one of the kids was ready for a break. Another concern was how they would do with the characters, some kids don’t care for the costumed characters but our girls have been great with them. Our youngest is very shy with everyone so she will hide her face from the characters but will still go up there with us. We also won’t force the kids to go up to characters or go on rides if they don’t want too.
We usually fly down and babies on airplanes are not know for being a positive experience but luckily our babies sleep on the plane, I also like to bring plenty of distractions like window clings, coloring books and new toys they’ve never seen before. We have only drove to Disney once and that was because we had booked our cruise last minute and there were no flights left. That was the only trip we were baby free which is good because she doesn’t even like the 45 minute drive to grandma’s house so the 17 hours to Orlando would not have been fun. But we made the trip a success with our older kids by taking plenty of breaks and bringing plenty of activities.
Now our trips have not all been sunshine and rainbows, travel with babies and toddlers is bound to have it’s problems. We have had leaky diapers, puking babies, melt downs and run away toddlers. Clearly those haven’t deterred us because we keep going back with more babies. Travel with kids requires a bit of extra planning to make sure you have the best trip possible. We always make sure we have snacks in our bag as the lines for food can be long, we also try to plan meals just a bit earlier than normal so that no one is starving by the time we sit down to eat. We will also skip out on end of the night shows so we aren’t stuck in the crow
ds trying to exit or waiting for the bus back to the hotel, plus the baby hates the loud fireworks.
To summarize trips with a little ones can be great memories for the whole family if you:
- Take breaks to get out of the sun and overstimulation
- Plan meals early
- Take lots of potty breaks
- Bring a reclining stroller for naps
- Have change of clothes for accidents
- Be flexible with park plans
These are are the basic rules we follow on our vacations and have proven to be most helpful in making our trips successful at any age.