Trip reports with young kids...

[miked1e]

Can anyone please point me in the direction of any trip reports/vlogs with young kids...

We went to Disney in 2019 for the first time as a 3 (plenty of times as a couple only) with DS who was then 22 months old.

We stayed in Disney for 2 weeks, getting DME from and to the airport, and had 2 nights in Cabana Bay which we got a Mears Shuttle with car seat. Did not hire a car and did not take a car seat on the plane (DS had his own seat).

Next year there will be 4 of us including DS who will be 4 and turning 5 during the holiday and the new addition of a 9 month old.

We are looking to split the holiday again between Universal and Orlando and hiring a car for majority of the holiday.

Whilst a long time off, I am starting to think about practicalities with the likes of food/milk for the little one, luggage, buggies, car seats etc.

So any trip reports would be great help for how people do it!

Thanks in advance

[DisneySarah]

I didn’t do a TR but we took our (then) 3 year old and 6-7 month old in 2018, took a car seat on the plane, hired a car for the whole trip etc. Happy to answer any questions!

[miked1e]

Originally Posted by DisneySarah

I didn’t do a TR but we took our (then) 3 year old and 6-7 month old in 2018, took a car seat on the plane, hired a car for the whole trip etc. Happy to answer any questions!

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Thank you Sarah... really appreciate this...

Was the car seat for your 3 y/o, or the little one, or both? Did you get a seat for the little one?

What did you do re buggies in FL?

How did you find taking 'everything' through the airports either side?

Did you take food with you for the little one, or did you find similar stuff out there?

Our city jogger was a god send last time we went... DS loved being in it and having 1-2 sleeps per day in it. We were hoping to get a double one, but I am thinking 3-4 large suitcases, potentially 2 car seats, double buggy, plus the hand luggage is going to be a nightmare either side of the plane journey.

[daytonababe]

Didn’t do a trip report but we took our granddaughter for 3 weeks each time to the USA at 9’weeks , 6/9/15 months


Car seat .. we always took her maxi cosi pebble plus with us , bought a good car seat bag and checked it in with the luggage
( we’ve always put other stuff in the bag on the way home with no issue )

Pushchair .. first 3 trips we took her bugaboo Fox first as pram, then as a pushchair , last trip took her bugaboo bee .
We don’t like cheap uncomfortable strollers , and we figured she’d be in it more than she was here so we’d take a good one
Again had a good travel bag , kept the pram till we boarded the plane and every time we’ve got it back at the plane on arrival

Milk we always taken her formula in our hand luggage , first trip we took 3 sealed tins and one that we opened in the hotel the night before , never had a issue with security .
Bottle wise we did as we do at home , pre filled with boiled water and added formula as and when .
Some security have just scanned the bottles some have opened them

Travel kettles are useless so we
bought a kettle from Walmart $15 and used that every trip


To sterilise we bought a big tub form Walmart and used Milton tablets / cold water .

We have a car every time , all our trips have need road trips that covered 3-3500 miles with her .

We took her to the parks , beaches, cities , nascar races etc etc , nothing was a hassle .

However we aren’t a routine led household , so we had full days and often didn’t get back to the hotels till late and she was fine .

She’s never had jet lag either , first night every trip she was put to bed maybe 10/11pm and then slept through as she did at home .

We’ve never taken our car seat on board the plane because we’ve never paid for a seat for her . Bar the last trip we’ve always got a sky cot so that’s been useful, that said at 9 months it’s his and miss if they will fit in one .


We will fly to Vegas as soon as this ban is up , she’s 2,5 now she’ll obviously now have a seat of her own probably still won’t take a car seat on board though .

[DisneySarah]

No problem!

Was the car seat for your 3 y/o, or the little one, or both? Did you get a seat for the little one?

We took the infant car seat (also a Pebble, like Daytonababe above!) in a big car seat bag, which we also stuffed with nappies, towels etc so save weight in the suitcases and checked in. We rented a car seat for the 3 year old and it was absolutely fine. We didn’t get a seat for the baby, but we did request the front/bulkhead row and got it, and a requested a bassinet (sky cot) for him to sleep in which worked really well. Personally, I found it ok with babies on my lap until they could crawl and then it becomes more tricky. The following year we went long haul again (not to Florida though) when he was 19 months and we paid for a seat, took his car seat on the plane with us and it was brilliant. I suppose 9 months could go either way but would probably be ok on lap if you can get a bassinet?


What did you do re buggies in FL?

We took a single Babyjogger City Mini with us (they are the best, aren’t they?!) for the little one, which we took to the door of the plane and rented a double from a stroller company when we were there. It happened to be a double Babyjogger, and we were so glad of it! It was worth its weight in gold. Actually, when we got to the end of the rental we decided that we had loved it so much that we bought a double on Amazon and had it delivered to the hotel because it was so much cheaper than buying it in the UK! Getting it back home was the only tricky part

How did you find taking 'everything' through the airports either side?

I’ll be honest and say it’s tricky! The simplest thing to do is check in as much as you can and use a baby carrier. Before check in, my DH had a trolley loaded up with suitcases and the car seat and I pushed the buggy with little one in it and holding the bigger one’s hand. We took backpacks as carry ons so our hands were free. It is doable! While more bulky, a double could be easier for keeping the kids contained through the airport? On the way back we had 3 suitcases, a car seat, a single buggy and a double buggy. We were a sight to behold

Did you take food with you for the little one, or did you find similar stuff out there?

We’ve done both... we took our older one to FL when she was 8 months old and took some ready made milk with us but bought the bulk of it out there. She didn’t have a problem switching to a US formula. Little one was mostly breastfed when we went in 2018 but we did take a box of formula powder in the suitcase with us. Also baby food is very similar there, so we just bought a load from Target both times. We tend to stay in apartment type resorts so it was easy enough to prepare food in the kitchen. We took a couple of
bottles (‘Mam’ brand that self sterilise in the microwave) and a bowl and spoon and kept washing them. You can pre order baby milk/food to Boots post security in airports which makes it easier for getting it on the flight.

Our city jogger was a god send last time we went... DS loved being in it and having 1-2 sleeps per day in it. We were hoping to get a double one, but I am thinking 3-4 large suitcases, potentially 2 car seats, double buggy, plus the hand luggage is going to be a nightmare either side of the plane journey.

My DH still complains about trying to get the stuff through the airport , but we both agree that it was so worth it to take the two of them and that holiday was one of our favourite ever!

Here is my little one in the sky cot on that trip. We flew from Dublin with Aer Lingus and they literally give you a box, but it worked! I think other airlines have sky cots which are a but more like bouncy chairs? It looks squashed but he had plenty of room (he was an average size almost 7 month old at the time)

[vampiress88]

I did a trip report but we had a car and a villa and my kids were 3.5 and nearly 5.
We hired the car seats which were find. Next time we go cos they will be older we will take boosters.

We also made the decision to not bother with a buggy. We thought the 3.5 year old would manage without.

To be honest there was only once in the whole trip that I thought I need a buggy. Had they have been younger like yours I would have had a buggy though.

Can’t be any help on milk or anything.

[daytonababe]

Re bottles we had some of the self sterilising bottles as well as other and security in the US did not like them
Because they come apart at the
bottom they were the ones that always had to be individually checked
This happened in Chicago & LA
After that we just took her other bottles as they were just scanned through quickly.

We did once run out of formula on the last day so had to buy more out there
Formula & nappies are far more expensive than what we pay here .

[vickitoria10]

I didn’t do a trip report but we travelled with a 4 year old and a 4 month old in 2017. And returned in 2019 with a 6yr old and a 2yr old.

We took 2 car seats, a double baby jogger (I bought this second hand for the same cost as hiring one), 2 suitcases, 1 holdall and 3 back packs for hand luggage.

We bought a car seat carry bag amazon/gp/aw/d/B00...rb_top?ie=UTF8 That fit both car seats in... it was a bit of a jigsaw but the both went in, we also put nappies and some milk in here too... on the way back it had towels in it.

We actually managed without a trolley at the airport. Husband had to suitcases (with wheels) and the car seat bag across his body, kids in the buggy with me with the wheeled holdall, hand luggage on back of the buggy (only when kids were in or it would have tipped up). We were left with the double buggy and 3 backpacks after check in which was manageable.

At the other end first time we flew into MCO and used the double bag drop... no chance of carrying it all through the airport so didn’t even try. But the walk from the belt to second bag drop isn’t far and then from the second belt to the car garage again isn’t far. Second time we flew into Sanford, our eldest pushed one of the wheeled suitcases, youngest in the double buggy, holdall in the other side of the buggy so DH had one suitcase and the car seats.

It’s perfectly doable, just need to be organised and make sure you have things with wheels, the car seat bag made it much easier and protects them.

With food/milk, first time our daughter was just on milk, we took enough ready made bottles with us for 2 weeks...about 80 bottles and weighed 10kg but we used the space for gifts coming back.

Any other questions I can help with just ask

[miked1e]

Thank you all for the comments / help so far. Really appreciate it...

Good to hear that seems no issues using the US milk formula. I expect we will be using aptimil which I understand you cannot get out in the US. Plan is at the moment to take the ready made bottles out and hoping we may only need 50-60 for 15 nights (3 a day? plus extra).

Babyjogger City is essential for us and had no issue carrying the single in its bag, but understand that the double will now be twice the size.

Has anyone considered / used a Doona travel buggy? Thinking would be helpful to double as infant car seat but also compact enough for use in the airport both sides especially when we land instead of 1. baby in a carrier or 2. unfolding the full double buggy.

Also, what are peoples experience with the 2nd bag drop. Not something we want to do (especially after hearing of hours of waiting), but I expect this will be essential for us.

Any advice on car seats / boosters? Still would like a 5 point harness for the 4/5 year old.

[miked1e]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

I did a trip report but we had a car and a villa and my kids were 3.5 and nearly 5.
We hired the car seats which were find. Next time we go cos they will be older we will take boosters.

We also made the decision to not bother with a buggy. We thought the 3.5 year old would manage without.

To be honest there was only once in the whole trip that I thought I need a buggy. Had they have been younger like yours I would have had a buggy though.

Can’t be any help on milk or anything.

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Can you please share the link for the trip report... thank you.