Hi! We’re planning a Disney trip and it will also be our first vacation with an infant. (I’m due Feb 2019 and we’re planning a WDW trip November 2019) Any tips or suggestions for visiting Disney with a baby? We’re already planning on staying on the monorail loop so we don’t have to wrestle with opening/closing the stroller often.
Congrats!! You're going to have a wonderful time!! Our DS was nine months old on his first trip, and we had a wonderful trip. A couple of things that worked for us:
-- Try to keep their schedule and anticipate feeding schedules - Nothing's worse than trucking it to a ride with a baby who only wants to feed! (This may or may not be personal experience
)
-- Know where those Baby Care Centers are! Cast Members don't always know exactly where they are, but the centers can be a life saver as a quiet place to feed, cool off, or for mommy to have a break!
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/baby-care-centers.htm
-- We baby wore a LOT, but DS also surprised us and slept a lot in his stroller (he NEVER did this outside of WDW...
...maybe pixie dust is also sleepy dust?)
-- Don't stress about ADRs. This isn't a guarantee, but we made a slew of reservations (seven, to be exact, over six days) that we couldn't make because of one baby related reason or another. Calling the dining reservations line or stopping by the restaurant on the way out of the park to explain the situation kept us from paying the cancellation fee every time. Again, YMMV, but I feel like they understand if your kid gets sick or LO needs a nap.
-- Don't apologize and don't feel guilty! I don't mean this as "don't be a good person," or "you own WDW cause you're paying for the experience," but it helped DW and me to give each other (and DS) tons of grace and remind each other that, if things were tough, we were doing all we could to help him. Ignoring the odd look or two when things weren't working helped so much.
doesn't change that babies are babies. (Our mantra was "expect to flex," as we're both big planners; it helped us keep things in perspective)
-- You'll know your own baby! All of our advice may help, but your kid might be a completely different personality. "Magical" means something different to everyone, so do things how your family does it, just at Disney!
You've gotten some great advice, OP! One thing I wanted to mention: if you choose to breastfeed,
you can do so anywhere that is safe and comfortable. If you are most comfortable in a more private space, each park has baby care center with a nursing space and I'm betting there are discrete spots in each of the parks to tuck yourself away. You could probably use google to find some. If you are comfortable nursing on a bench in the middle of the park, that's fine too. Though I don't think they'd let you nurse on BTMR
Yes! Small World and Peter Pan's Flight FTW!
one thing daughter did for grandson for his trip at 4 months old was his own photobook. for years he could tell you what he did on his first trip even though he had no "real" memories of the trip. this book was beside the family one which had pictures of everyone and had only pictures of him doing rides and characters with a few that had everyone.
What an awesome idea - I wish we would have done this!