Now that the parties have stopped, and the holiday decorations have come down, we start to look forward to trip planning for the new year. It is time not only to look forward with all the enthusiasm and hope a new year brings, but to reflect on the year left behind. Last year, 2015, was a very special year in the life of our family. We watched our firstborn son enjoy his first magical year of life. Part of the year of amazing firsts for all of us, were his first family vacations. My son traveled to both Walt Disney World Resort, and Disneyland Resort with a little jaunt out to Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa, all in his very first year of life. Now, some may say I was crazy for taking my infant along on vacations, and I too thought that at times during the planning stages. However, we had some wonderful, quality family time with him and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
In planning these trips and preparing to meet the needs of an infant, I found myself scouring the web, especially the DISboards, for any information I could. Being a new mom brought on many new trip planning concerns for this veteran Disney trip planner. I would have loved to have just one or two articles that gave me some up-to-date information all in a one-stop-shop. So, here is my attempt at such an article.
This is the information I learned in planning my Disneyland and Aulani trip, yes we lumped them together. It is not the final word, and I’m sure many of you out there have a few other tips and tricks you’d love to share too.
- Infants are FREE!!! (Sort of)
From lap children on airplanes, to an infant in the hotel room, to getting into the parks, children 2 and under are typically free. Now, things may always change, and be airline dependent, but our son flew all legs of our flights to CA, HI, NV, and back again all on our lap for free. Yes, that meant his diaper bag had to be one of our carry-ons, but we worked it out. Also, in Disney hotel rooms, and DVC rooms, a child 2 and under is free as well, and doesn’t count toward the total room count. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel with 4 adults plus our free infant. Park tickets don’t apply either, as again children 2 and under are currently free at all Disney parks.
2. Plan ahead for supplies.
With an infant on formula and needing diapers, I didn’t want to, and logistically couldn’t, pack all of what I was going to need for the two weeks we were gone. Thankfully, Anaheim, and Ko’Olina, are metropolitan areas with plenty of drug stores and big box stores. Having a car was essential to get around and get what we needed when we needed to. I used my smart phone ahead of time to locate stores that sold what I needed. I’ve also heard of people sending items ahead of time to the hotels they are staying at, and having success with that as well.
Thank you Uncle Walt for these marvelous inventions. Baby Care Centers exist in each and every U.S. Disney park. However, they aren’t always in a similar location, always check the map. While changing stations exist in all bathrooms, these centers are wonderful and well worth a visit. They provide a space for the entire family to get a relatively quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the parks. Offering changing areas, nursing rooms, videos for slightly older children, and boasting a selection of food, diapers, and other necessities a family might need for purchase, they are worth a visit for any family. The staff is wonderful at each one. Be sure to park your strollers outside, and expect lines at peak times, like during parades and fireworks.
- Where to stay? On vs. Off Property
At Disneyland it isn’t as important to stay on property as it is for Walt Disney World. It isn’t land locked, and some off property hotels are actually closer to the parks than the on property hotels. So I suggest you investigate and go with what works for your family. For ours, we are DVC members, so on property is usually the way we go. However, for this trip we were using all of our points for our Aulani stay, so we chose to pay out of pocket for the Disneyland Hotel. With all on property hotels, including Aulani, there was a Pack n’ Play already in the room, no need to request. With other hotels you may have to request cribs ahead of arrival.
Another thing to think about is the service. Our experience in Hawaii really made us realize that though we may think the service has declined at some of the Disney resorts over the years, it still is a cut above. The service on our trip at both at Aulani and the Disneyland Resort was great, especially at Aulani. We had stayed a few nights at another, more notable hotel in Honolulu, and were extremely disappointed at their poor customer service and lack of security for luggage that they left unattended for hours. When we arrived at Aulani we were greeted by name and personally escorted into the lobby, our luggage was handled with care, and was in our room almost before us. Also, Aulani is much more laid back and less hectic than Honolulu/Waikiki, so for our little guy it was great!
- Know what you can request/pre-order.
Check with your hotel, but with some Disney rooms, DVC in particular, you can request high chairs, and submit food orders by phone and/or fax. Also, some hotel rooms come equipped with microwaves and refrigerators, and at other hotels you can request some of these items too.
One luxury we splurged on was a Cabana by the pool at Aulani. Again, this is something you must book ahead of time. It was the best money we spent. We had a guaranteed poolside spot, with shade, a refrigerator, TV, radio, safe, wait staff, and some food was included. For a young family this becomes the safe haven where your infant can nap out of the sun, but where you can still be out of your room and enjoying the amenities of the resort. If you have a larger party it helps to split the cost.
- Strollers & Baby Carriers.
Love them, hate them, but they are a necessity for an infant, especially at Disneyland or traveling anywhere. Personally, I am in love with my umbrella stroller even more now than I was when I put it on my registry. We have a fancy one that flips two ways, and lays flat facing you as you push. It was great to let my little guy sleep in the shade and safety of his stroller while we enjoyed the park. Our son was five/six months old when we took him to Disneyland & Aulani, so he was too small for the larger rental strollers. We brought our own, but Disney rents them at the parks, or there are many third-party vendors that supply strollers or wheelchairs. Also, having a rain cover for the stroller, even a rental, is helpful if rain is a concern while traveling. We really didn’t use ours much in CA or HI.
Expect your stroller to move, as CMs try to keep the ever growing mass of parked strollers in check. Make it stand out. Bring a scarf, ribbon, etc. to tie to yours to make it easier to spot. With in-park rentals your stroller may get swapped out on accident, and you can do swaps at the train stations. If you bring your own, yes you run the risk of theft, and you also have to collapse and carry yours.
Baby carriers, or wraps are great for the airport as well as the parks. Instead of having to hold your child in line, they can be strapped to you. Also, on some low-key attractions I felt safer having the baby strapped to me rather than just trying to hang on to him. He was also almost always falling asleep on attractions, so this was very helpful. However, please always follow safety precautions and reminders from CMs, flight attendants, and/or drivers.
- FastPass & Baby/Child Swap, a match made in heaven.
At Disneyland the old paper FastPass system is still in play at the time of this article. So to take advantage of it. For those not in the know, all you do is feed your park ticket into machines and receive paper FastPass tickets with return times on them. There is no cost for this, and it is included with your park admission.
Baby/Child Swap is available on attractions with height restrictions, as everyone is allowed to ride the attractions without height restrictions. However, what you take your infant on may vary with your own judgment. With Baby/Child Swap you have to bring your entire party, baby included, to the entrance of the attraction to request a swap. At least one person stays back with the infant while the others ride the attraction. Once they are done they should be carrying a return Baby/Child Swap ticket that is good the rest of the day. It typically entitles the bearer to one ride along with up to three others in the party while at least one person waits with the infant. Depending on the attraction, this group will either enter through the Fast Pass line or exit.
When Baby/Child Swap is combined with FastPass, it cuts the initial wait time for the attraction sometimes in half or even more. Only the initial party needs to obtain FastPasses when using Baby/Child Swap. This means that your party can be holding FastPasses for multiple attractions, usually 2 is best, at a time. This way you can shorten the initial wait for multiple attractions, and some individuals in the party will get to ride an attraction multiple times. It really is a nice combination.
- Expectations & Packing
I lump these together, because I always over-anticipate and over-pack. Manage your expectations and your packing. Realize that your child will have a good time if you let them. You may or may not be able to do commando touring, and that’s okay. Take time to do what they want, and be willing to slow down the pace. This will lead to a better vacation for everyone involved.
Taking a break out of the parks mid-day, or just out of the sun and fun is a great way to recharge for a fun evening. If you are traveling, like us, from another time zone, jet lag and schedules do not mix well. So just know that and do the best you can to acclimate them to the time change.
As for packing, go easy on the toys, there will be so many distractions and stimuli that one or two favorites will probably be all you need. Remember to pack a couple outfits in your diaper bag at all times, but don’t overdo it. Many hotels have laundry facilities, you can always wash clothes if you need to and with some DVC rooms you can even do laundry in the comfort of your room. If you forget something, again, both Disneyland and Aulani are in metropolitan areas and stores are usually just down the street or right around the corner.
- The fun stuff; first attractions and characters.
My favorite part, and yet the part I didn’t even think about until we got to Disneyland Park, was what attraction or character was going to be his first. For me I was more aware of his first time in a pool, at Disneyland Hotel, and his first monorail ride, on monorail red at Disneyland. However, these were things that as we were doing them I realized I should document through my misty eyes. I also wished I had put a bit more thought into them.
My son’s first Disney attraction ever ended up being Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, just because it was the first one we came to with no line in Fantasyland during early entry. Had I put more thought into it, I may have chosen something different.
Character interaction in Disneyland and Aulani is great! Don’t avoid the characters with a young infant, we had some fun character interactions even when he was asleep in the stroller. Disneyland Hotel has some of the best character interactions. There is no line, and some main characters – Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, and Dale – just randomly wander through the hotel lobby and pool area. No line, no waiting. If you have some down time, it may be fun to walk over there and enjoy those meetings.
Aulani has roaming characters as well, and you can take or leave the Disney while staying there. It truly is wonderful. Aulani has a character hotline to call for times and meeting locations. This is especially helpful as not all characters were available throughout the day. We had a hard time finding Experiment 626 (aka: Stitch) as he is only out once a day in a slightly hard to find location.
- Other helpful hints for Disneyland and Aulani.
For those of us either in the Midwest or on the East Coast it can be a long trip out west, and can be hard on the pocketbook and schedule. We chose to add the Disneyland Resort portion to our trip out to Hawaii, not because we needed to, but because it made for a nice rest stop on the way out to Hawaii. Also, it made the flights cost less. We were able to use our points for the flight to CA, and were able to take advantage of lower cost fares from CA to HI. We also added in a stop in Las Vegas on the way back for the same reasons. It also helped in slowly adjusting our son’s schedule to Disneyland Time first and then to the time change in Hawaii. It was much less drastic.
We had lots of help on our trip as we were able to bring along other family members. Raising a child sometimes takes a village, and it was nice to have the additional eyes, ears, and hands to help with luggage, and care of our son on vacation. If you can travel with friends or family that are willing to help it is always a good idea.
These suggestions and ideas are ones that worked for us. Obviously not everyone will feel the same, but hopefully I have been able to help some of you out there considering a similar crazy idea. Traveling with an infant doesn’t have to be difficult, but planning is essential, and will lead to a fun vacation for all involved.
