travelling with an almost 2 year old

[Potterfan5686]

Originally Posted by adambaz

We've just got back from a 14 night holiday @ WDW, travelling with our 7 year old son (was 7 the day we flew), 5 year old son (was 5 three weeks before we flew), and 23 and three quarter month old daughter (she's 2 this weekend), so feel we're in a pretty good position to give our view.

We didn't buy an extra seat on the plane for our daughter, but we did originally request a skycot. As it transpired, she was too big for it (72cm height limit), but we were seated in one of the bulkhead seats for both outbound and return (Row 30D,E,F,G) for no additional cost.
Seating plan here to see where we were.

Outbound (11:20am flight), she was fine, had a wonder around the plane with her a few times, an amazon fire loaded with 8 hours of Peppa Pig helped too - though note that unless you have powered or noise cancelling headphones, the volume can be drowned out by the engine noise.

On the return flight (8:20pm), she fell asleep during take off, and didn't wake up until we got off - It would have been nice to have been able to put her onto a seat asleep, but in reality, she wouldn't have been able to properly lay out, so would have been more comfortable sleeping on my wife's lap anyway.

Meal wise, you can request a childs meal for your 23 month old on Virgin with no additional cost, and you'll still get a meal too - just go on their Chat, or give them a call to do this.

They will bring the main meal for both of you without asking, but when they bring the 2nd meal of the flight, afternoon tea/breakfast (depending on when your flight is), ensure you make them aware that you booked a meal, as they won't give you one by default unless specifically booked.

Time wise, all the kids adjusted *pretty* well to the time difference, waking up at 2:30am the first morning, 4am the 2nd morning, and 6am the 3rd morning, before reverting to their normal 6:30>7am wake up time for the rest of the trip.

We took a buggy free of charge on the plane, which we could keep right up to the gate, before it was loaded into the hold.

Disney don't class under 3's as eating guests in the Table Service restaurants, so as we were on the Disney Dining Plan (we were in Animal Kingdom Lodge, so 1xQS, 1xTS, 2xSnack per day), we made full use of the fact that QS are not predetermined as Adult/Child like the Table Service credits are, so we often bought 4 adults meals for lunch, and shared them between 2 adults, 3 kids.

We used our Table Service credits on an evening, we found that there was enough food to share around, and our daughter was offered any drink the boys could have (apple juice etc etc), and we were never charged extra for it. At Buffet meals, she was able to have whatever she wanted, again with no charge.

We did have some fun going through customs with SMA 1-3 formula (you have to declare dairy products when going through passport control/customs), so had to wait around for a while until they decided to let us through with it, but they collected our luggage from the carousel, and brought it over to the customs desk for it to be re-xray'd, so that was a bonus I suppose.

Temp was 85-86 every day we were there, and the kids were fine, just kept them suncream'd up, and hydrated.

Use the rider switch service - it worked really well for us, as I would ride with the boys, get a rider switch fastpass, then the boys could ride again with my wife (the rider switch tickets are valid for up to 3 people), so the boys got to have twice the fun. The tickets are usually valid for a couple of weeks too, so you can save them for another day if you don't want to ride the same one straight away (though the tickets Flight of Passage and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train expired the same day they were issued).

The boys have a FitBit style trackers, and they clocked up over 330,000 steps each over the holiday, so be prepared for plenty of miles!

Give me a shout if you have any specific quesitons.

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that is a fantastic help, thank you so much!

personally we wont be doing Disney this time just to keep cost down. if we manage to save up enough we may possibly do animal kingdom for the day.

we have been twice before with our girls but they were over 8 years old the first time we went. had your child been on a plane before the long haul to florida? as this will be my sons first plane ride also.

thanks again

[chmurf]

well, OP, you're going in 1 and half years. You have no way of knowing how big and tall the child will be, if they will behave or not, and, god forbid if they have special needs at that time.

As far as I'm concerned planning a trip that far in advance and deciding if I'm taking a seat for my child, or not, is something I wouldn't do, or a bet I wouldn't take.

There are too many variables.
If I were to decide for a trip in 6 months time or less, I might consider the lap option, as I'd have a relatively good picture of what to expect. (even though flying economy is bad enough, I wouldn't want a child on my lap, especially for the flight back to the UK)

But planning 460+ days ahead, I'd plan for the child to have their own seat.

[adambaz]

Originally Posted by Potterfan5686

that is a fantastic help, thank you so much!

personally we wont be doing Disney this time just to keep cost down. if we manage to save up enough we may possibly do animal kingdom for the day.

we have been twice before with our girls but they were over 8 years old the first time we went. had your child been on a plane before the long haul to florida? as this will be my sons first plane ride also.

thanks again

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She'd been on a plane to France (Disneyland Paris) when she was nearly 1, but that was only about an hour's trip. Also went to Mallorca when she was 14 months old (around a 2.5h-3h flight). She'd been fine on both of those, but this was her (and all of ours!) first long haul flight.

[Potterfan5686]

Originally Posted by chmurf

well, OP, you're going in 1 and half years. You have no way of knowing how big and tall the child will be, if they will behave or not, and, god forbid if they have special needs at that time.

As far as I'm concerned planning a trip that far in advance and deciding if I'm taking a seat for my child, or not, is something I wouldn't do, or a bet I wouldn't take.

There are too many variables.
If I were to decide for a trip in 6 months time or less, I might consider the lap option, as I'd have a relatively good picture of what to expect. (even though flying economy is bad enough, I wouldn't want a child on my lap, especially for the flight back to the UK)

But planning 460+ days ahead, I'd plan for the child to have their own seat.

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this is exactly what i have said in other comments, he is 7 months old now and hard to know what he will be like when he is almost 2.

this was just for advice from people who have travelled with toddlers on their knees so we have a bit more knowledge.

our flights cant be booked until july anyway but whether or not i booked them now an extra seat could always have been added.

but thanks for your feedback

[Potterfan5686]

Originally Posted by adambaz

She'd been on a plane to France (Disneyland Paris) when she was nearly 1, but that was only about an hour's trip. Also went to Mallorca when she was 14 months old (around a 2.5h-3h flight). She'd been fine on both of those, but this was her (and all of ours!) first long haul flight.

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thank you again.

hope you enjoyed your first trip

[adambaz]

Originally Posted by Potterfan5686

thank you again.

hope you enjoyed your first trip

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We did thank you, it was awesome. I've just finished a lengthy reply to someone on private message who was asking about what we did food wise while travelling with a toddler, so going to turn it into a trip report.

[Potterfan5686]

Originally Posted by adambaz

We did thank you, it was awesome. I've just finished a lengthy reply to someone on private message who was asking about what we did food wise while travelling with a toddler, so going to turn it into a trip report.

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great i would love to read it.

the more info the better.

you have been most helpful

how did your child cope with the long days/heat or did you not do many long days?

[probi]

Just been reading through this thread, we have just booked for January next year and will be taking our 21 month old so nice to read it isn't a complete nightmare, especially on the flights!

[papamouse]

Originally Posted by Potterfan5686

this will be the first time travelling to florida with an infant, we have taken our daughters twice but they were 8 years plus.

our son will be turning 2 in july next year. we were considering going in june before he turns 2 so that he will be free to fly. has anyone travelled such a distance with a baby/toddler sat on your knee and how did you cope? there will be 5 of us to share him around as our girls will be 15,15,13 by then.
or do I wait until after his birthday and go in September and just pay for him?

what is it like doing the parks with an infant? we are planning on just doing US 3 day pass and SW 3 park pass. with a possibility of AK for a day. also planning on an 18 night trip so as to be able to relax a little more.

any advice is greatly appreciated.. we have been advised many a time to wait until he Is older by friends and family but we feel this will probably be the first and last time we manage to go as a full family with the age difference between the children etc

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Right

(Here he goes again... )

ARE YOU CRAZY!

Taking a kid that age to Florida!

They will hate the food:

They cant stand the heat

The will detest and get scared meeting charaters

CANT STAND THE LATE NIGHTS/SCHEDULE

THEY WONT LIKE ALL THE TRAVEL

And my personal all time favourite

The wont remember it...

... do you think I'll let them forget it...

[Welshjim22]

We did this in 2016. PE seats for 2a was the same as economy 2a1c. So we went PE and managed to blag bulkhead seats, upstairs on outbound so she sat on box next to window. Our daughter is slim and long so was still wearing size12month shorts and cuddled up easy on my lap to sleep whole return flight.

I think we got lucky with bulkhead as if other kids on flight we would have been back of the queue for those seats.