Disney with a one year old - are we crazy lol

[Garyjames220]

My daughters first trip she was 10 months (trip report in my signature). She has been since at 17 months, just over 2 to Disneyland and 3 and a half to WDW.

We will do DLP this year at 4 and 10 months, and the wdw at 5 and 13 months.

You can do rider swap, honestly there aren’t that many rides she can’t do at 1, only ones she can’t do have height restrictions she can do everything else.

14 days is along time, but do able, you can take it easy have resort days do day trips etc. You’ll have plenty of time for shows which she will love the music and singing.

I wouldn’t hire a babysitter to stay in the room with my kid at 1, but I would consider the service that comes with you to the park if I wanted to ride with DH. But honestly we took turns, skipped rides she couldn’t do, it wasn’t a huge deal to me, can do them another time.

ETA: I can’t decide for you, are you coming from the UK? What about testing out DLP first?

Yeah coming from uk

Disney world is so much better and rather a longer holiday than just a few days in Paris

How was she in the TS at 10 month

 

[NJlauren]

Yeah coming from uk

Disney world is so much better and rather a longer holiday than just a few days in Paris

How was she in the TS at 10 month

She had her moments, but was used to eating out. We eat out at home about once a week give or take so it wasn’t a foreign concept to her. If you take a kid any kid to a sit down meal and they have never eaten at a restaurant before it’s going to be a disaster.

How old is she now? When do you plan on going?

We are doing Paris and DLP and magla this year and are really excited. Will be a way different trip for us!

 

[k_hase]

I'm repeating what many have said. My son's first trip was at 13 months.

We did baby swap for rides, took breaks in the day for naps, and ate early dinner.

I did prefer to use a wrap carrier vs a stroller when he was that little, a ring sling. It was easy to get around, we didn't have to park and find a stroller (we did rent a jogger, we didn't use it most of the time) and get on and off the bus.

Disney restaurants, even signatures, can handle small kids. Just go at time that seems reasonable!

 

[lanejudy]

@Garyjames220 Has your child been born yet? From your posts, I get the impression the whole concept of life with a baby is new. I understand that coming from the UK you probably plan pretty far ahead for a trip to the US. But I recommend you do some shorter local/European travel before attempting a long US trip. Find out your child’s temperament, how well s/he sleeps, napping needs, food, etc. as well as how tired you and your partner may feel. I personally would not attempt such a long vacation so far from home with my first child until probably at least 2 yrs old. But that’s me...others may have a different opinion.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[pixiedaisy]

Both my kids went at 18 mos and did great! We did always go back to the hotel for a nap and stuck mostly to MK.

 

[Lynne M]

@Garyjames220 Has your child been born yet? From your posts, I get the impression the whole concept of life with a baby is new. I understand that coming from the UK you probably plan pretty far ahead for a trip to the US. But I recommend you do some shorter local/European travel before attempting a long US trip. Find out your child’s temperament, how well s/he sleeps, napping needs, food, etc. as well as how tired you and your partner may feel. I personally would not attempt such a long vacation so far from home with my first child until probably at least 2 yrs old. But that’s me...others may have a different opinion.

Enjoy your vacation!

This is an excellent point. Some babies are great travelers, very adaptable and content to be anywhere their parents are, and some babies...aren't. You just don't know which kind you've got until you try traveling with them.

Not trying to scare you out of your trip, but when these questions come up I'm always reminded of a former coworker, who had the calmest, easiest baby in the world. As long as he got to sleep in his own bed at night. Their first stay in a hotel, the baby screamed straight through the night. None of them slept. After two nights of that, they gave up and went home. They tried it again later in the year, staying at a relative's home overnight...same thing happened.

So yes, if you haven't yet tried traveling with the baby, it's a good idea to take a short trip just to see how things go before planning a very long, expensive trip thousands of miles from home.

 

[The13thLetter]

We brought our son at 4 1/2 months old and do not regret it one bit, it was an amazing trip. There are a TONNNNN of rides for them to go on in MK, and some in the other parks. He slept in the pack and play that disney provided (we placed it in the sink/vanity section of the bathroom, turned on his sound machine, and drew the curtain). We ate at a couple table service restaurants (Art Smith in DS, Yak & Yeti in AK) and did counter service the rest of the time. This was early september and it was brutally hot but we just took breaks in the afternoon to swim and utilized the baby stations at the parks.

We stayed at POFQ so I cannot comment on CBR unfortunately.

We also did not use babysitting (he was too young).

As for thrill rides, we just used our fastpasses one at a time. It was a little bit of a bummer to not go on splash mountain or soarin together but that was our biggest issue so I consider the trip a big success.

 

[Garyjames220]

This is an excellent point. Some babies are great travelers, very adaptable and content to be anywhere their parents are, and some babies...aren't. You just don't know which kind you've got until you try traveling with them.

Not trying to scare you out of your trip, but when these questions come up I'm always reminded of a former coworker, who had the calmest, easiest baby in the world. As long as he got to sleep in his own bed at night. Their first stay in a hotel, the baby screamed straight through the night. None of them slept. After two nights of that, they gave up and went home. They tried it again later in the year, staying at a relative's home overnight...same thing happened.

So yes, if you haven't yet tried traveling with the baby, it's a good idea to take a short trip just to see how things go before planning a very long, expensive trip thousands of miles from home.

No not born yet but because we are from the Uk and this will cost thousands of pounds we need to really start saving now. As my partner won't be working for a while our income will be less and we probably won't have the money for any holidays. That why's we wanted to try and get a nice fun trip paid before she gives birth and before we don't have the money to

But yes that's a very good point u make. I guess u don't no. We are still young and have lots to learn about parenting but all the comments has been very helpful. Just need to decide what on earth to do now lol

 

[Hopefully]

No not born yet but because we are from the Uk and this will cost thousands of pounds we need to really start saving now. As my partner won't be working for a while our income will be less and we probably won't have the money for any holidays. That why's we wanted to try and get a nice fun trip paid before she gives birth and before we don't have the money to

But yes that's a very good point u make. I guess u don't no. We are still young and have lots to learn about parenting but all the comments has been very helpful. Just need to decide what on earth to do now lol

You have asked basically the same question over a few days and different posts recently.
I disagree with you completely. IMO, as @Lynne M and @lanejudy have indicated, you Can Not decide now. You need to wait until you actually have a child to determine what you can do.
All you can do is start saving as much as you can now. Put together your nest egg and then once you know more you can start to plan. And please, relax.

 

[Lynne M]

No not born yet but because we are from the Uk and this will cost thousands of pounds we need to really start saving now. As my partner won't be working for a while our income will be less and we probably won't have the money for any holidays. That why's we wanted to try and get a nice fun trip paid before she gives birth and before we don't have the money to

But yes that's a very good point u make. I guess u don't no. We are still young and have lots to learn about parenting but all the comments has been very helpful. Just need to decide what on earth to do now lol

I think part of the reason you're struggling so much with this is that you don't have answers to the most important questions, and you won't have those answers until the baby is born and you've settled into parenthood. Questions like, what is it like to take care of a baby, what is it like to take care of a baby away from home, and what is it like to travel with *your* baby.

But saving now doesn't necessarily mean planning details now, or booking now. It's easy enough to get a rough estimate of the cost of a cruise, and the cost of a WDW trip. You can then set a savings target, maybe keeping the money in a separate bank account if you're afraid you'll be tempted to use it for something else, or use the money to buy Disney gift cards. Then, once the baby is here and you have a better idea of how they'll travel, you can go ahead and book the trip. Even if you decide to wait until the baby is older, you'll still have the money saved.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We have four kids. Each have been going to WDW since before they turned a year old (our 2 yo has been to WDW five times). (We started traveling long distances (~4,500 miles) when each were only a few weeks old.) However,

- traveling with a baby is very different than traveling with only adults. Each circumstance has its perks and downsides. (For instance, I like having a stroller to store things in without carrying a backpack in the heat.)
- like others have said, you won’t know what your baby (and you) are capable of/prefer until the baby is born (we’ve never made a point to be quiet around our kids, so they’re all able to sleep through things that other kids aren’t. We never go back to our hotel room for naps since kids can nap in strollers and it won’t matter if a marching band goes by. Other kids need to be in a bed, in a silent room, in order to nap.)
- by the same token, you won’t know until your baby is born what you’re comfortable with. We found the excursions on our DCL cruise to be more stressful than taking the kids to Disney parks.

Generally strollers are only allowed into restaurants if your child is asleep.