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Is this the question that you are looking for: Should I take my baby to Disney? If so, I’ve been there! We decided not to take her…
First- did you see the past Disney posts in the series?
1- Disney Countdown Activity
2- The BEST ages for Disney
3– You are here
4- BEST never-before-seen Disney Tips
I wanted to shed some light from MY perspective. This may not be what works for your family. My cousin takes her daughter (the same age as our daughter) to Disney several times a year and they love it. We just choose not to and I wanted to tell you why.
Before I start, let me give you this background:
- The ages of the kids that we took were 7, 5, 4, 3, and 2. (Here we are, meeting the characters)
- We are not sit-around people. We don’t like to stop for nap time (on vacation), stop to eat (on vacations), etc… We are an “on the go” family.
- We live far from Disney- an eight hour drive.
- If I only had one child, my opinion would probably be completely different, but we were taking 5 other kids.
- We stayed up late to watch the electric parades, keeping us up until 11:00 most nights. (Waking up at 7:00 to start again- without a nap).
We recently went to Disney with our family of eleven- my family, my parents, my brother & his wife and my niece & nephew. (see THIS POST about the best age to go to Disney.)
We debated taking our 14 month old with us, but we decided not to and I am SO GLAD that we left her at home with my husbands parents. They came from PA to watch her and she had a GREAT time spending some one-on-one time with her grandparents. It was really nice for all three of them. I missed her terribly and cried when we pulled out of the driveway, but I knew that it would be better to leave her at home with her grandparents (plus, they were so excited… our kids have four of the best grandparents!)
Here are just a handful of reasons that I am glad that we let her stay home:
1- Sunshine: It was sunny and I got sunburnt (in October, wearing sunscreen), so I hate to think of her being out all day in the sun.
2- Naps. We were able to skip nap time completely with our group.
If we had our baby with us, she certainly would have needed a nap. She probably would have taken one in her stroller, but her stroller naps are VERY short. I’m sure that isn’t too comfortable every day, anyways.
3- Rides- There were only a handful of rides that I would have felt comfortable taking her on, which means that most of her trip would have been spent in her stroller. This isn’t fair to her when everyone else gets to ride around and she has to wait for them to finish. I probably wouldn’t have taken her on anything. I couldn’t let her get out & crawl around (She doesn’t walk yet) because I would never have trusted that all of those kids would be watching to make sure that they didn’t step on those cute little fingers).
4- Strollers– we took strollers and I will say that they were a constant annoyance for us to keep up with them. I will never take strollers again, if I can help it!
Yes, the strollers carried our tired kids, but they got in the way and adding one more stroller would have been just another person pushing one, especially at the late-night parades. Plus, as I said in #3- She would not have been happy being in a stroller the whole time.
5- Crowds- there were a LOT of people! Babies are very susceptible to illnesses and I didn’t want to put her at more risk.
I talked to many parents at Disney with their baby, telling them “Oh, we have a 14 month old at home” and every single one of them told me the same thing… GOOD IDEA LEAVING HER AT HOME.
CONS:
- I MISSED OUR BABY GIRL.
- I would have loved to have had some pictures of Minnie cuddling her, but since she certainly won’t remember this, I will just bring her for her first time when I can see her eyes light up at the sight of Cinderella or when I can take her to the bippity boppity boutique and watch her transform into the Princess that she is!
- Did I mention that I missed her?
PS- if you do want to take your baby, my friend, Gabby, offers great tips here: Disney with a Baby.
To see when we plan on bringing her with us… see this post The best age for Disney many parents at Disney with their baby.
Did you take your baby? How was it? Were you able to use a carrier or stroller? I’d love to have your insight for readers that plan on taking their baby (I’ve heard it is much easier these days).
Honestly, I think you were brave enough to take 5 kids under the age of 8. You didn’t say how they handled everything. Honestly, after visiting Disney in December, I began to think any parent who takes children 5 and under is a glutton for punishment. I saw *so* many kids melting down and they all appeared to be preschoolers/toddlers. I did notice one exception: A family with 4 young children (who all appeared to be 4 and under; two of them were definitely twins) sat near me while I was eating. NONE of the children cried, whined, complained, or anything else. But, they *were* eating lunch and maybe they had just arrived. LOL! My overall perception was that babies fared well. I think that’s because they fell asleep when they were tired; but the older children often did not have that option OR were just too excited/frustrated to give in to the need for sleep. My own experience some years ago at Busch Gardens was similar. My youngest, then about 4, lost it at the park and melted to the ground to have a “hissy fit”. At the time, I gave him the “Oh no you didn’t! You’ve lost your mind!” look and he got up. But, in retrospect, I realize he really was tired and overwhelmed. We were there with friends who had two teens. The parents and kids all helped carry him around. That helped so much!
I bet!! 🙂
We went on our first trip ever in May 2011 for Star Wars weekends. My daughter was 2 1/2 and our son just turned one. We had won the trip or we’d not have gone, but after the first day, I was thrilled! We brought meals into the parks and ate when we were hungry, snacks in the lines, our stroller (we would carry our daughter when she didn’t want to walk, and she was light so we could put her atop the stroller). They both loved meeting the characters! My son was thrilled to see them, and giggled and laughed every time! Mickey even asked to have him on his lap, and my son just grinned and cooed and was the happiest boy alive! He loves looking at the pictures now! In November 2013 we went again for my 30th birthday, this time with a 5yo, 3yo, and 9month old. I had a baby wrap this time and so we used two strollers for the older kids and the carrier for the baby (and put her in the stroller at times with the oldest walking). My son was the grumpy one this time. He got sick, so that was understandable. My oldest just LOVED all the rides she could go on (she is on the shorter side, so the 40inch ones were the best she could do). The baby was very content through the whole thing. Loved the characters too (I think the younger kids love the characters so very much). I so want to go back again… we are expecting, so it will need to wait since I love rides and cannot go on the big ones otherwise. We’re hoping to go when the littlest is about one, our little girl would be almost 3, and the other two would be 5 1/2 and 7. I found that babies were fine, and we didn’t have tantrums or issues (but my kids travel really well). I would love to drive down next time and make a 3 week vacay out of it (we have a 31hour drive one way) but it is likely not practical. Flying is the one thing that stresses me the most.
How fun- I’d love to do a 3 week trip, too!!