- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Toddlers: 24 Months+
Talk to me about doing Disney with a 2 year old....
We will be doing a family vacation to Orlando in Feburary, doing the whole Disney thing and Sea World too. Should I bring an umbrella stroller (flying down there) or rent one at each park? DD is still in diapers so I will need to bring those. Should I bring one of those portable changers and my purse or just a diaper bag? I'm just trying to think this through, having everything I could need right with us at the park but not being so overloaded and having issues watching everything while we do rides. Any other tips or suggestions you might have would also be helpful.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Talk to me about doing Disney with a 2 year old....
I live in Florida so Im not sure how flying with an umbrella stroller goes, but this is what we did...
We took our normal stroller that way LO could sleep if they get exhausted. Plus stroller rental for each park every day could get pricey.
What we packed:
Diapers and Wipes (a ton of wipes in case LO got dirty)
Sunscreen
Small snacks and a sippy cup.
Camera & batteries
I had my husband carry my credit cards and drivers license. Anything else I needed went in the diaper bag as well. All of the rides at Disney allow you to take your bags on so the only thing you would leave is your stroller. Hope this helps a little. Good luck!
I would take your regular stroller. Umbrellas have a small sun shade, don't recline (uncomfortable) and don't handle well. We've taken DD to Disney 6 times and have always been so glad to have it. I also wouldn't rent one, very uncomfortable, hard plastic, little sun shade and expensive. I've also witnessed someone stealing another person's rented stroller.
I bring my Vera Bradley tote that I use at home (not a "real" diaper bag). Diapers, wipes, wetbag (we CD), sunscreen, hat, shades, snacks, sippy and extra set of clothes. DD loved the splash pads at Epcot in Sept and got soaked. She walked around in just a diaper for a couple hrs until her dress dried out. I've never had a problem having too much stuff to watch while on rides. Just grab the bag and go. I would make sure you have a bag that zippers though.
I would highly recommend staying on site so you can take an afternoon break. Disney is really stimulating for little kids, even at 2 mos DD got over stimulated. An afternoon break for a swim/nap makes all the difference in the world for DD's attitude. We get to the park at opening, leave around lunch time then go back around 4 or 5. It's nice w/ Disney transportation to just hop on a bus and go home, not having to get in the car and drive.
I will say, DD is a very good sleeper, STTN, goes to sleep on her own. Disney totally threw her schedule out of whack. She had a lot of trouble sleeping somewhere new on our trip in Sept and also sleeping in the same room with us, it also created a lot of problems when we got home. It took a week or two to get it ironed out. Next time we're getting a 1 bedroom so we have 2 separate spaces. Just be prepared that your well adjusted 2 yr old might have some unexpected problems. Our DD was fine on all our other trips, just this one was different for her. Go with the flow as much as possible. On previous trips, DD did whatever, this time we found her making requests. We spent waaaaay more time on the carousel than we had intended but DD had a blast!
Sorry this is so long! If you have any questions feel free to pm me. Have a great time!!
We took DD last year, at about 10 mos. I know she was younger, but I'd definitely still bring a regular stroller. As PP's said, the ones you rent in the parks are hard plastic, and look extremely uncomfortable (plus, they're expensive). Plus, it seems like it'd be hard to find yours in the sea of other rentals outside of each ride, and would be easy to grab the wrong one.
Umbrella strollers, to me, just look incredibly uncomfortable, so I would not consider using one of those for anything where you'd be walking around all day. We use ours only for very quick trips (we rarely use it).
I agree that a stroller with a sunshade, that your DC is comfortable sleeping in, is your best bet. She'll probably be spending a lot of time in it.
Another option is using an outside rental company (if you don't want to travel with your own stroller). We have a Baby Jogger City Mini (awesomest stroller ever, IMO. hehe), and I noticed a lot of people had those as rentals down there. It has a huge sun shade, which was awesome for when DD would fall asleep, etc.
Have fun! We had a blast, and are going on a Disney Cruise next fall. We'll probably do a day at the parks beforehand. I can't wait. :-)
ETA: We use a Skip Hop diaper bag that clips to the stroller handle. We kept everything in this, or in the camera bag. Whenever we'd go on a ride, we'd just grab both bags, so we weren't leaving anything of value at the stroller parking (not that I ever felt it was a concern, really).
I packed diapers & wipes, a changing pad, water & snacks for DD, hand sanitizer and antibacterial hand wipes, sunscreen & a hat for DD, and the camera. I think that was about it.
I would suggest bringing your own stroller. I think it was $20+ dollars to rent one each day. We took our Chicco Cortina stroller last year when we went and my daughter was 18 months. I honestly just changed her in the stroller most of the time because it was just easier than dragging her into a bathroom. My daughter didn't ride a lot in the stroller, but it was nice to have when she took naps. You can bring your diaper bag and just leave it in your stroller. I wouldn't suggest hauling a purse around all day. Last year I took a wristlet, this year my husband just carried his wallet. We stayed on Disney property and had the Disney Dining plan, so I didn't need to carry around cash. My husband kept both of our room cards in his wallet (this is what you use for your park tickets, dining plan, and you can even link a credit card directly to it to charge), and he carried our cash for anything additional that we needed to buy. I didn't need a diaper bag this year because my daughter was potty trained.
we did Disney in Florida- DD was 21 months old.
suggestions:
pack your own snacks/juice for kiddo
i brought our umbrella stroller and it was a huge waste. my kid naturally likes to walk. she walked the ENTIRE day at magic kingdome and we pushed the darn stroller. just dpends on your kid and how much s/he will walk.
i just brought a backpack and had snacks, diapers, changing stuff etc in there.
bring warm clothing- it was still COLD in Florida.