Specific questions about taking 1 year old to the parks

[abminer]

We're a group of WDW vets going with kids for the first time. DS will have turned 1 two weeks prior to our trip. I could use some suggestions for our park time with him:

- DS is at the stage where he can stand on his own, but still cruises - he hasn't taken steps unassisted yet. He is a very happy boy in his umbrella stroller, but he's also very very active. He'll need to burn off some energy. I know there are playground areas in all the parks (we'll be in MK, AK and Ep). But are there specific spots that might be safe and fun for a crawler/cruiser to play? We've seen him bowled over by bigger toddlers before and while that's unavoidable I want to give him the best experience we can. Oh, and he still puts everything in his mouth including playground sand/dirt.

- When you ride things like PPF or Dumbo do you just hold the baby in your lap? DS doesn't want to have anything to do with a lap these days, he hates being confined and is always trying to stand up. Should we just hold him down with full force? Will the lap bar be enough? Can we have him in a front facing bjorn while on the actual ride vehicles?

- We're trying to ween, but he'll probably still be taking some formula. How do you warm bottles in the parks if at a CS restaurant or someplace else that isn't the Baby Center?

thanks, parents

 

[jacknsally19]

There is a great space in the dumbo ‘queue’ that is for little ones to play.... it’s specifically for young ones. In fact, you will find that a lot of queues are great for your little one to play. Winnie the Pooh queue is great for that too. If you goto any of the baby care centers, there is space for the kids to hangout.

Innoventions is a good place for your kiddo to explore too. At age one, your little one will be so easily entertained. It’s actually really cool going with that age bc they notice things that you probably paid no attention too in the past.

You can have your little one on your lap or right next too. When my Dd was one, she kind of clung to me when rides would kick off bc she wasn’t expecting the motion. So you might be surprised at they react.

You should be able to use the baby care to heat up bottles. However, we just filled a bottle with water and let it sit (or carried it in our bag) until it was room temp and added the formula packet. As long it was room temp, she drank it. YMMV

 

[Thing 1]

Honestly I would hold off weaning until after the trip. Having the comfort of his bottle in an unfamiliar place can be huge. I would try to wean him off needing it heated. If you use powder, using bottled water to mix should be an ok temp to strive for. If you use ready made, I would consider the individual ready to feed containers. Expensive but oh so easy. As for whole milk, I would wait till you return from your trip for it too. Our youngest had a really hard time making that transition and it would have made the trip really hard.

 

[2019TripIdeas]

I posted similar questions regarding Ergo/Carriers at WDW in another thread on this page, but we're looking at taking our 3 little ones (4/2/18 months) next year, so my questions were more related to that, but I got some helpful feedback there, so maybe check it out.

We took the older 2 when they were nearly 1/ nearly 3 (my son was 11.5 months) to Disneyland, and it was an awesome experience all around in terms of him. We used an Ergo that faced in (not the 360) and a double stroller. In general, we put him in the carrier for lines, as he wasn't walking and was pretty wobbly (and I didn't want him getting down to crawl around a line). Rides we were able to keep him in the ergo for (Keep in mind these were Disneyland, but from the other thread people seem to be making it sound pretty similar): Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Mr. Toad, Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World. Offhand, I think the only one we had to set him on the seat next to us was for Astro Orbiter. I can't remember for sure what we did on Dumbo. He rode a carousel horse with an adult supporting him.

I found my little guy was taking it all in so he didn't seem to have much drive to wiggle away or want to get down anyway. There's so much to see. We did bring a few bottles into the park and waited a few more weeks to get rid of them completely, as I knew having a bottle would help him fall asleep for a nap in the stroller. Agree that you can probably cut out warming them in order to make it easier. You could also ask for a mug of hot water at lunch if you're doing a sit down lunch and put the bottle in there to warm it a bit before giving it to him. I falsely assumed we'd use the baby care center on our trip and we were too busy for me to want to stop off there.

 

[LYSE]

We just went for my daughters 1st! She walks and runs everywhere so that made it a bit easier for us but honestly nothing beat simply going back to the room and playing/napping there.

Lap or next to you is fine, I let my daughter stand (as I held her close) on HM as she didn't want to be on my lap and couldn't see sitting.

The warm bottle may be a problem for you, if it doesn't have to be that warm consider storing hot water for bottles in a thermos

 

[KrazeeK120]

You’ve gotten a lot of good info above!

Just wanted to let you know that the flying Dumbos are rather small. My husband and I are both pretty tiny people, but I had to put DS (18 months at the time) in my lap as there just wasn’t room for him in the seat otherwise. The same was true of the flying carpets and the triceratop spin. Otherwise, he sat next to us on all of the rides.

We didn’t go to Disney while DS was still taking formula, but we did a trip to a different location. We brought ready feed single serve bottles and that worked really well. I will say that I started giving my DS his bottles cold a few weeks before his first birthday and had him totally switched to cow’s milk by a week after his birthday. It was a seamless transition since he was used to cold formula.

 

[abminer]

These are great suggestions. Keep 'em comin'.

We figured we'd start mixing whole milk into formula right at his first birthday, but you've convinced me to just hold off on that and start as soon as we return from the trip.

We have used the similac single ready to serve formula bottles on some other trips so we were already considering getting them from Garden Grocer instead of the powder. He's fine with room temp formula, but often rejects cold fluids (we leave our brita pitcher on the counter so even his sippy cup water is room temp). However, starting to serve cold(er) formula in advance of the switch to milk makes total sense. We should start that now!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

These are great suggestions. Keep 'em comin'.

We figured we'd start mixing whole milk into formula right at his first birthday, but you've convinced me to just hold off on that and start as soon as we return from the trip.

We have used the similac single ready to serve formula bottles on some other trips so we were already considering getting them from Garden Grocer instead of the powder. He's fine with room temp formula, but often rejects cold fluids (we leave our brita pitcher on the counter so even his sippy cup water is room temp). However, starting to serve cold(er) formula in advance of the switch to milk makes total sense. We should start that now!

know you have used in past but make sure you try again before you leave as nothing is worse than getting ready for bed with a screaming baby who doesn't want the bottle cause it isn't right. also if you need a bottle of water in the parks buy it before you will need and put in stroller until ready to use. plus as you change to cold you might find he likes cold water now also

 

[emilyrachael]

If you can hit some of the ride queues before the lines are long, the play areas will be a lot quieter - Dumbo, Pooh, for example. We love hitting the Dumbo play area right when it opens - usually around 10am - it doesn't open when the ride opens. You can take your time playing with the queue stuff and let other people past you. There's the cute little play area by Splash Mountain that's really designed for the under 2 group - I can't imagine older kids would be as interested in it.

In Epcot, there are a lot of cute areas to let him explore a bit that tend to be quieter - the fountains by Imagination, the hedge maze in England, the area right at the front of the world showcase by the lake.

In AK, go back the paths by Dinosaur. There are the dinosaur statues and once again, usually open space. Also, along the animal trails, there will be chances for him to get out of his stroller and stand by the railings to watch the animals.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

One of my favorite trips was taking my son right after he turned one.

My son actually started walking in the Boneyard. If you go to the right when you enter, there are some smaller, open slides and the area by the Jeep doesn't have as many kids running around because it's away from the larger slides. In AK, he also liked seeing the goats at the Affection Section - and riding the train to get there. The goats are very mellow, cast members are around, and I swear it's the cleanest petting zoo I have ever been to.

In MK (as previously mentioned), there is a small playground by Splash Mountain and a play area inside the Dumbo queue. I believe there is also a specific toddler play section in the center of the area.

At Epcot, there are a few interactive things after Journey into Imagination at ImageWorks; real cars to sit in after Test Track; and the aquariums after the Seas with Nemo are great to move around. Even if you don't ride Journey into Imagination or Seas, all of these are accessible through the ride exits.

For rides, we rotated between him sitting on our laps and a front carrier (mostly on our laps though). I ended up getting a cheaper front carrier at TJ Maxx or Marshalls and only used it for short lines and rides. It didn't have the best back support, but it was great for getting on/off rides, and my son could see everything. The only ride we were ever asked to hold him instead of using the carrier was on the carousel.

Also, remember you can use rider swap. We usually do that when he's taking a nap in his stroller. We took an umbrella stroller once when he was two, and never again. Our normal stroller has better shade and reclines, so he is able to nap when we are in the park.

We also did our first character meal at that age, and it went great. We ate at Tusker House, where he discovered his love of Mickey waffles. He had only started eating regular food a couple weeks beforehand, but he must have eaten 4+.

Finally, there is an old Disney Sing-a-long tape called Disneyland Fun. Wrong park (and definitely dated fashion), but it shows the characters how they appear in the park. Our son watched that tape several times before his first trip at 7.5 months, and he actually recognized the characters. It helped him get familiar with them, and we've never had problems. You can usually get it at a library or on Amazon.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

If you can hit some of the ride queues before the lines are long, the play areas will be a lot quieter - Dumbo, Pooh, for example. We love hitting the Dumbo play area right when it opens - usually around 10am - it doesn't open when the ride opens. You can take your time playing with the queue stuff and let other people past you. There's the cute little play area by Splash Mountain that's really designed for the under 2 group - I can't imagine older kids would be as interested in it.

In Epcot, there are a lot of cute areas to let him explore a bit that tend to be quieter - the fountains by Imagination, the hedge maze in England, the area right at the front of the world showcase by the lake.

In AK, go back the paths by Dinosaur. There are the dinosaur statues and once again, usually open space. Also, along the animal trails, there will be chances for him to get out of his stroller and stand by the railings to watch the animals.

had a toddler grandson ran over at the splash mountain play area by older kids. that was the worse one in that there is no place for little one to get out of way at least when we were there

 

[lolomarie]

We loved all the play areas previously mentioned! There is also a cute play area in EPCOT by Mission Space. We used it while we did rider switch. My DS15 months didn't want to leave!

For our next trip we are going to try to make it over to Tom Sawyer Island. I heard it's pretty open for new walkers and is a great escape from the busyness of the parks.

We found that our son was so stimulated, that he wasn't interested in walking as much as he would have been at home. He was happy to take it all in from the baby carrier or his stroller.

 

[sponica]

We loved all the play areas previously mentioned! There is also a cute play area in EPCOT by Mission Space. We used it while we did rider switch. My DS15 months didn't want to leave!

For our next trip we are going to try to make it over to Tom Sawyer Island. I heard it's pretty open for new walkers and is a great escape from the busyness of the parks.

We found that our son was so stimulated, that he wasn't interested in walking as much as he would have been at home. He was happy to take it all in from the baby carrier or his stroller.

Tom Sawyer Island is oodles of fun! It honestly took me until my 5th(?) trip before I made it over there. It's a nice break from the hustle of the park

 

[KrazeeK120]

In MK (as previously mentioned), there is a small playground by Splash Mountain and a play area inside the Dumbo queue. I believe there is also a specific toddler play section in the center of the area.

The only meltdown my then-18 month old had the entire week at Disney was when we were trying to pull him away from the Splash Mountain play area. I was like...we spent thousands of dollars and THIS is your favorite thing?!?! Lol. It’s a great little diversion, for sure.

 

[abminer]

We love hitting the Dumbo play area right when it opens - usually around 10am - it doesn't open when the ride opens.

OMG i thought the play queue opened when the ride did at 9! Now I have to switch up my touring plan... but so glad you shared that info!

 

[abminer]

follow up question... we bought a rain cover for our umbrella stroller. Do you leave that on all the time in case it starts to rain while you're on a ride?

 

[emilyrachael]

OMG i thought the play queue opened when the ride did at 9! Now I have to switch up my touring plan... but so glad you shared that info!

At least it did the past few times we've gone - which are usually 'slow times.'

Also, a heads up since I see Tom Sawyer Island mentioned. The fort part is currently being refurbished so only part of it is open and it opens later than the park. In January, it didn't open until 11 am.