first time flying with 2 year old twins

earlyspring1

The girls will be two in November and my parents and I are flying to Orlando with them the weekend of their birthday. My mom and I will be attending a conference in the mornings and DH has a new business opening up a few weeks later so he will be staying home busting his butt. My dad will have the girls by himself while my mom and I are at the conference. 

Any advice on what to do with toddlers in Orlando? Any great family friendly hotels? Ideas for places for my dad to safely bring them by himself in the mornings? We are skipping Disney. 

And of course any and all advice pertaining to flying with two year olds is appreciated. 

ETA: I'm assuming we will need a car while we're down there? Do people usually check their carseats or do you rent them from the car rental company?

minervacullen

You buy the twins their own seat on the plane and use the car seat onboard. Never ever rent one. Checking is not advised because it could become lost or damaged.

I love Universal, but I'm not sure how that would be with two toddlers.

I'd look for an aquarium or toddler friendly playground.

jnnfrrose6

Sea world? And as to the car seats, I agree about buying seats for the kids and using them for the flight. I disagree about checking, but I've only ever gate checked ours. I don't think I'd check them with our luggage, but at the gate I'm less concerned about how much damage can happen from the door of the plane to cargo and back.

LSU628

We did Seaworld with my DD when she was almost 2. There was enough to keep her interest that she was entertained most of the day. Downtown Disney is a lot of fun. There are so many characters that your LOs will recognize, and depending on when in November you go it may be already decorated for Christmas. Santa was already there when we went around Thanksgiving. Any place you stay along the strip is a good location. A lot of the hotels have shuttles to the various parks. We stayed at a Hilton- free breakfast, shuttles, and within walking distance to a lot of restaurants. By far the most fun we had dining-wise was an Ethiopian restaurant. Everyone eats with their hands so my DD fit right in! Surprisingly, she tried and enjoyed a lot of the meal.

vrj0522

Check with the car rental company before deciding whether to take your car seats or rent them. We traveled with DS a year ago and forgot his car seat base and the car rental company wanted to charge us $50/day for their car seat so we went and bought a car seat base for $40 instead. I know of others though who have gotten the car seat for as little as $15 for the entire duration of the rental so just check into it with the car rental company.

I recommend bringing lots of snacks and maybe new toys on the plane so that they are more entertained. We also use the iPad on trips and love it. If you have assigned seating on the plane, then I strongly suggest waiting to board until almost the end. I know it's nice to board first but sometimes kids are bored by the time the plane takes off if you board too early. I've done both and prefer waiting to board so that we are not just sitting there for a while before takeoff.