Tips for DLP with babies?

[WoodysPal]

My Wife and I took our (only just) 1 year old girl last May, also stayed in Cheyenne, and had the best trip ever.

Like others have said, take it at their pace and don't over plan things. If you're watching a show try and get an aisle seat so you can slip out if you need to - we had to leave Mickey and the Magician after 5 mins as our little one was having a moment.

Take advantage of Magic Time in the mornings if you can as this was brilliant for getting on Peter Pan and meant we didn't have to queue for more than 5 mins, which leads me onto my next point...

The only thing I wasn't really prepared for was not being able to take a pram through the queue line (completely makes sense but I'd never thought of it on adult only trips). If I could change one thing, I'd take a carrier with me so my arms didn't ache so much!

I see bottle feeding is mentioned above, just note that the rooms in Cheyenne don't have kettles or a fridge so you might want to take a travel kettle with you if you are bottle feeding. We did this and used a Nuby Rapid Cool along with Aptamil formula tablets for the bottles.

Another vote for the baby centres, they're brilliant for a quiet place to feed/change/generally escape the parks for a few minutes. We bought some microwave meals at Auchan in Val d'Europe and microwaved them in there for our daughters lunch rather than relying on the park food all the time.

Have a great time, kids really help you see the magic all over again.

[xAimeex]

Congratulations Lottie! This is going to be such a long waffle-y post so apologies but we just came back from my 23 month old’s first trip so some of my tips are probably more relevant to the 1 year old but I wanted to write a few bits down while it was all still fresh in my mind! I read your post before we went so I tried to make a note whenever I thought of anything useful! Lots of these you've probably already thought of too but hopefully some bits will be useful!

We’ve also taken our daughter on a Disney cruise at 17 months, Chessington mini break at 15 months and a UK break at 11 weeks old so I’ve tried to remember some bits from those trips too! Sorry if I’m repeating stuff other people have already said. I’m a chronic over thinker so some bits will probably not be relevant and also it’s so child dependent too, they’re all so different and what works for one baby/toddler/family doesn’t work for another.

I’d say you’ll probably find it easier in some ways with a 4 month old because they’re usually not in a super set routine and you don’t have food to worry about for them at that age! They’ll usually sleep in a buggy or sling really easily too.



Zip lock bags for packing- On all our trips (and in our hospital bags for the birth) I’ve always bought some extra large zip lock bags and labelled them to make packing and unpacking easier! We travelled with my parents and sister and it meant they and my partner could easily find stuff if they were looking for bits for Ava. In my park bag I had a zip lock for everything nappy change related, a bag of small toys, a bag for gloves and hats etc, a bag with a change of clothes. It tends to help keep everything organised too!


Family toilets- Some toilets are better than others for changing a baby/toddler. We came across a couple (near Bella Notte and at Disneyland Park entrance by the station) that were separate to the normal toilets so my partner and I could change her together which is sometimes easier with a wriggly toddler and no noisy hand driers if your baby is sensitive to those.


Decent sling- For both your baby and your sister’s that are comfortable to wear for long periods. Honestly these will be invaluable especially for your baby! Especially when travelling too! Ava doesn’t like the sling anymore (she was walking at 9 months so even by 1 she was already fed up of it to be fair) but I got a hippy chick hip seat to wear and even that took a lot of the pressure off my arms and back and made it easier to help carry suitcases etc as the buggy had to be folded down on the train. Obviously you won’t have buggies in queues either so a good sling will definitely come in handy.


Lightweight bright coloured buggy- This might be a bit harder for you with a little one as a lot of the lightweight easy to fold down buggies are for older babies I think. But we took a babyzen yo-yo buggy in pink and it was just ideal! Easy to fold down, folds down really small and can be carried on your back, really nice to push and Ava was really comfy in it. There were so many grey and black buggies around that having something a bit brighter did make it stand out so it was easier to spot after rides/shows!


Ear defenders for shows and any louder rides- You can get ones for smaller babies that are on a strap rather than the headphone style ones. Ava wore hers for all of 2 minutes on the cruise last summer but I took them with us to DLP anyway where she refused to wear them once but she’s a bit older so should be easier with little ones.


Rider/parent swap- This was really easy to navigate! In the studios they seem to do it slightly differently with passwords but same process. The return pass entitles 2 people to go through the priority lane. The group that goes on first just need to ask a CM at the end of the ride for one. You don’t have to use the return pass straight after either. So if baby needs feeding or is unsettled there’s no rush to get straight in the priority lane.


Grandparent babysitting- obviously your baby will be a lot younger than Ava so will totally depend on how you feel but my parents kindly offered to babysit Ava one night so my partner, sister and I could go into the parks for a night to do some of the bigger rides.

Like you I was a bit nervous about the transition from the freedom of an adult only trip to a child centred trip, which sounds a bit mean as obviously it was so magical. Seeing Ava’s face light up when she first saw the castle, running to characters to cuddle them, being so amazed by rides and shows etc was the most incredible thing! But certainly with small children/babies you don’t have that same freedom and we went with that in mind.

We aren’t super strict with routine anyway as Ava is very easy going (going back to it all being child dependant, my friend has a little boy who is very routined and really struggles with late nights and meal times being different, because of this they’re waiting until he’s older to go) but just accept that routine will likely go out the window and follow your little one's lead.

Ava only napped one day in the buggy and wouldn’t fall asleep on our fireworks night in there either (which she did easily on the cruise and at Chessington but they can change a lot in 6 months, your baby and niece/nephew will be a lot younger, Ava napped easily in the buggy or sling at their ages) so she stayed up until 11 that night by the time we got back to the hotel and got her to bed. We just had a slightly later start the next day to counteract it. It meant missing extra magic time which was almost unheard of for us pre-Ava but we knew we’d need to be more flexible.

I’ve gone off on a massive tangent there but knowing we had a child free evening definitely helped with that transition but to be fair we found we cared a lot less about doing stuff for ourselves anyway.



Feeding- Again this will all be dependant on what feeding method you’re following at 4 months/1 year. At 4 months I was pumping 3 times a day and on our break when Ava was 11 weeks I had to bring all the breast pump gear, steriliser etc (we had a UV one that was perfect for travelling with). On all our trips with Ava I’ve always taken a tommee tippee washing up brush, washing up liquid and a couple of muzzy’s to dry stuff with. Washing in a hotel sink isn’t ideal (washing in a tiny cruise cabin sink was even less ideal lol) but I like to be able to wash up her water cup, milk cup etc.

If you do have anything that you’ll need to sterilise while away I know a lot of people take sterilising tablets and do cold water sterilising.

Ava has been on cows milk for nearly a year now but when we travel I buy bottles of ready made formula as it’s just so much easier! They don’t need to be refrigerated unless opened so no worries if you don’t have a fridge. We have a tommee tippee flask where the lid can hold boiling water which you sit a bottle/cup in. When we arrived at the hotel I requested a kettle and it was there before we reached the room! Because the pre made formula isn’t fridge cold it didn’t take long to warm through in boiling water.



Travel cot sheets- So I’d read online that Disney didn’t provide sheets with the travel cots so I took some with us. I had no idea that the travel cot would be so much bigger than a standard UK travel cot and therefore our sheets didn’t fit! If I’d known I’d have taken sheets from Ava’s proper cot as that definitely would have fit! We pulled the flat sheet off the spare bed in our room and wrapped it around the cot mattress as a solution which was perfectly fine but was something I definitely wish I’d researched better!



Snacks for 1 year old- Before we took Ava on the cruise last year I asked for advice on here and the main thing people advised me was to take plenty of her favourite snacks! It was great advice! Especially as a lot of the theme park snacks are high in sugar, salt etc. Don’t get me wrong we did let Ava have some treats but I did want to bring some healthier options too.

I actually went one step further on this trip and packed a loaf of her bread, jar of PB, chopping board, plastic knife etc and made her up a little packed lunch each day as she’s going through a fussy eating phase (she was so easy to wean and used to eat everything but welcome to the toddler years). Most counter service places had babybel cheese too and fruit pouches so I knew we’d at least have sandwiches and snacks bits if she didn’t want to eat the food in a restaurant. We went to Pym kitchen and she ate cheese and crackers so I was really glad we didn’t have to pay for her!



Cutlery for 1 year old- Depending on if they’re using a spoon yet, I always take Ava’s toddler cutlery with us whenever we eat out. I also take a small plastic plate or bowl as most sit down restaurants (here and in Disney) serve children’s food on proper plates which isn’t always practical! It’s also useful if you’re feeding your child off your plate as they have their own little plate to put it on so it’s not having to go on the table in front of them.



No buggies in restaurants- Most of the restaurants (CS and TS) that we went to were not buggy accessible. You either need to leave them outside or fold it down (another perk of the yo-yo buggy folding so small). As you said in your post your 4 month old won’t be in the Disney highchairs yet. Again I’d say a sling would be useful here or just having lots of willing hands to pass baby round to so you can eat more easily!



Adjoining room request- Again this is really personal choice but I requested adjoining rooms and was so pleased that we got them! It meant we could open both doors and Ava could go between both rooms so she had more space. But this was also a real game changer in the morning as it was so easy to send Ava to Auntie Lauren, Grandma and Grandad while we got ourselves ready and made sure we had everything we needed for the day! Having extra hands so close by was definitely useful!



Check out the laundry facilities at the hotel- When we took Ava away at 11 weeks we stayed in a lodge with no access to a washing machine! Again because I’m an over thinker I took travel wash, oxy action stain remover and a washing up bowl in case I needed to do any emergency washing! There’s no glamorous way of saying it but poonami explosions happen sometimes! Baby sick too. I don’t know whether the Cheyenne has a laundry room but it’s probably worth checking!

Again over-thinker and over-packer alert, but I always take a couple of sleeping bags, 2-3 pairs of pjs and a spare cot sheet when we travel as easier to have a spare than having to worry about washing and drying stuff before the next bedtime!



Take Calpol- we never travel without it. I also take our thermometer. It might sound silly but I used to find it hard to tell if Ava was just warm or had a temp when she was that little and I always like to know I have it with us on holiday just in case she was to come down with anything so I could monitor her temp if I needed to.



Paying for priority access to shows- Again this one is very much personal preference. With careful planning we could minimise queuing time for rides but with the sit down shows we found people got in line really early! Like rides they make you park the buggy up outside so we would have had a long wait with no buggy! We decided to pay for priority access to the Lion King show and Together, the Pixar musical (an absolute must see) and I don’t regret either! Ava’s reaction to Together was incredible and made it more than worth the money! Waiting with a 4 month old shouldn’t be too bad but play it by ear with the 1 year old. We went during Feb half term too which wasn’t mad busy but term time should be quieter so you may not need to but it’s something to consider.



Portable blackout blind- Again this one is hotel and child dependent. We stayed at the sante fe and the curtains were fine but it didn’t make it pitch black once it was light outside. Ava doesn’t need it to be really dark to sleep thankfully so didn’t affect us but I thought I’d add it anyway.



Making sure everyone knows which bags they’re responsible for when travelling- With a large group and potentially lots of luggage, 2 buggies etc it’s a lot to keep track of but it will depend on how you’re travelling there.

We did the Eurostar via Lille. We were 5 adults with 6 suitcases, 1 buggy in a backpack, 1 buggy bag, 5 backpacks and a toddler on a hip seat. We took way too much but we expected it to be a lot colder than it was so took a lot of winter wear and layers.

On the way home we added a big bag for life full of coats as it was too warm to wear them and a bag full of cuddly toys as the 2 soft toy limit we set went out the window lol. We had a short window to change at Lille, escalators were broken, we had to queue for the lift. Ended up almost at the back of the queue to check in for the Eurostar. We were 2 separate booking so we went through in 2 groups. My parents and sister took a couple of our bags to help us as my partner had the buggy on his back and his backpack on his front plus 2 cases! I digress, we were rushed through security and down to the train, got separated from Mum, Dad and Lauren. Dad forgot he’d taken one of our cases and walked off without it! Thankfully he didn’t get far before he realised! It was all fine in the end but I’m not sure I’d do the Eurostar indirect again in a hurry! We’ll fly next time we go I think! Or I’d have a better plan over how we were going to manage all the luggage between us hehe. Or I'd pack less lol.



Be kind to yourself- Chances are you’ll still be doing at least 1 night feed with a 4 month old (you might get lucky, I have a friend who’s baby started sleeping through at 12 weeks) and even your sister may be as well (Ava started sleeping through consistently at 13 months) so take things at your pace if you need to and listen to your body. Some babies have a 4 month sleep regression (although none of my mum friends or myself experienced it, Ava’s happened at 6 months, from 7 weeks-6 months she woke once a night and then bam for about 3 weeks she was waking 3-4 times a night and I struggled after getting used to long stretches of sleep between the night feed).

When we took Ava away at 11 weeks we decided to go on a long woodland walk and I can remember just feeling shattered after. Even on this DLP trip just gone, we felt like we needed another holiday after to get over the holiday lol. Due to covid and then being pregnant etc I hadn’t done the parks in about 4 years and I’d forgotten just how much walking it is (my fitness levels are also not where they were 4 years ago lol). Take breaks when you need them, 4 nights is a good amount of time to take it at a slower pace (we did 3 nights and all agreed 4 would have been better!). We didn’t use the baby care centre but I’ve always read good things about them if you need a break.



Sorry for the war and peace length reply hehe. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and the newborn days, it goes so fast! I hope your trip to DLP is amazing and you make lots of lovely memories as a family!

[onion2803]

Babyzen YoYo - it's invaluable on all trips but especially ones in the future that might involve MCO immigration queues! We bought an Egg travel system when River was a newborn but I wish now we'd just bought the YoYo nest after all. The Cybex Cloud Z also fits on if you're looking at that car seat.
You can hire a double (2 separate YoYo's with a connecter) from tiny explorers on insta, they'd be perfect for both babies.

Ear defenders for the fireworks.

Nuby Rapidcool if bottle feeding and the UV steriliser too - made travel so much easier!

A sling for the flight, I wore River in a soft sling (Freeridr, really lovely colours!) the whole time, you can just slip the belt extender through it.

Have a fab time!