traveling with wife, 2yo and 1yo - Disney?

[Ebtek]

we're looking to recharge our batteries in the way of a long overdue vacation. im thinking Disney since we have a 2 year old and a 1 year old.

can anyone recommend a package, or a place to book through...or just offer any tips/advice for us?

i understand flights are free for children under 2? is that with all airlines? and i presume the 1yo will have to sit on my lap. do they ask for proof of children's ages? my 2yo just turned 2 very recently...

i see there are attractive packages for disney for families of 4. does the 1yo qualify as a 1 of the 4? or are there packages of 3 that will work since he's so young?

[JAC]

IMHO, 1 & 2 years old are too young to properly appreciate Disneyland. YMMV.

[hesp]

IMHO, 1 & 2 years old are too young to properly appreciate Disneyland. YMMV.

i agree. probablly better to go somewhere warm where they can play in the sand and water.

[dawgbone]

we're looking to recharge our batteries in the way of a long overdue vacation. im thinking Disney since we have a 2 year old and a 1 year old.

can anyone recommend a package, or a place to book through...or just offer any tips/advice for us?

i understand flights are free for children under 2? is that with all airlines? and i presume the 1yo will have to sit on my lap. do they ask for proof of children's ages? my 2yo just turned 2 very recently...

You are correct, you do not pay for the airfare for children under 2.

And yes, they will ask for proof your children's ages when you check in at the gate (don't forget, you need to show a passport for each of them). So if your child is 2 when you travel and you don't have a ticket for them, you'd have to buy one (assuming the flight isn't full).

i see there are attractive packages for disney for families of 4. does the 1yo qualify as a 1 of the 4? or are there packages of 3 that will work since he's so young?

You actually don't qualify as a family of 4... you qualify as a family of 2. The 2 infants (under 3) do not pay for rooms, passes or dining if you stay on Disney (I'm not sure how it works off resort, but I don't think it's much different).

When it comes to the dining, they just assume that you'll share with the youngsters (or you can purchase dining seperately).

Basically any package you are looking at getting is a 2 person package with an extra child airfare.

[dawgbone]

IMHO, 1 & 2 years old are too young to properly appreciate Disneyland. YMMV.

I thought the same thing, until we got there and our 2 year old had a blast.

[Ebtek]

You are correct, you do not pay for the airfare for children under 2.

And yes, they will ask for proof your children's ages when you check in at the gate (don't forget, you need to show a passport for each of them). So if your child is 2 when you travel and you don't have a ticket for them, you'd have to buy one (assuming the flight isn't full).



You actually don't qualify as a family of 4... you qualify as a family of 2. The 2 infants (under 3) do not pay for rooms, passes or dining if you stay on Disney (I'm not sure how it works off resort, but I don't think it's much different).

When it comes to the dining, they just assume that you'll share with the youngsters (or you can purchase dining seperately).

Basically any package you are looking at getting is a 2 person package with an extra child airfare.


awesome! thanks for the info :)

[Ebtek]

IMHO, 1 & 2 years old are too young to properly appreciate Disneyland. YMMV.

i agree. probablly better to go somewhere warm where they can play in the sand and water.

I thought the same thing, until we got there and our 2 year old had a blast.



yea, i know when they get older they will enjoy it more, but we can always go back :)

seriously tho, its been way too many years without a vacation...i cant imagine something like mexico being better ???

and i agree with dawgbone; we rented Minnie and Elmo for their birthdays and they went crazy!

i know they'll have a blast.


does disney rent strollers? (im pretty sure they would). and i'll need a big camping backpack to put all the diapers, snacks, change of clothes etc...

anything else?

and passports for them. i almost missed that

[Deal4US]

We started going to disney when my kids was 2.5 and 1.5, they had a lot of fun, you don't have to pay for ticket at any parks for the kids, but you should bring your own stroller and car seats if you are planning to rent a car
disney got a deal going on right now:
http://www.mousesavers.com/packages.html#dv7for4

[JeffKelly]

My son is 2 1/2 now, and has been to Disney twice, and can't stop talking about going back to ride the "orange Dumbo" and watch the fireworks. He got a blast out of seeing all the characters. I say if you can afford it, go...it will just be a different type of trip than going with 7-10 year olds, and may take a little more planning than a "gotta see it all" Disney trip.

Disney does rent strollers, but the price is insane (for a double, would cost you about $35/day). You are better off to either bring your own (airlines will transport your stroller for free), or to make a trip to Walmart once you get down to Orlando, and purchase a cheap stroller.

For flying, your 1 year old will need to sit on your lap (unless the flight isn't sold out).

If you are staying on Disney property, there is no need to rent a vehicle, as Disney will pick you up at the airport, transport you to your hotel, and transport you all around their property. If you are staying off-site and will be using a rental car, remember you will also need car seats. Most agencies charge per seat, per day. I know Hertz offers free car seats to CAA members, which can work out to huge savings. Or, you can transport your car seats from home (as most airlines won't count these as checked baggage either).

[Spidey]

Your kids are way to young to enjoy Disneyland. You wont enjoy it and they wont either, or remember it really. You will find they will tire out fast. Wait until they aere older so they can enjoy the rides more, etc. Then that way you wont have to worry about strollers, etc, tc

[zeddy]

Your kids are way to young to enjoy Disneyland. You wont enjoy it and they wont either, or remember it really. You will find they will tire out fast. Wait until they aere older so they can enjoy the rides more, etc. Then that way you wont have to worry about strollers, etc, tc

I agree. Your kids may love it but I wouldn't consider it a "relaxing" vacation. Why not just rent a condo in Florida and spend the week on the beach?

[Punky Hunky]

We just did Disney with our 5yo and 2yo. The 2yo now loves Disney and everything princess and Mickey so they will remember it. What I would recommend and what we did was rent a house close to Disney, did the Magic Kingdom twice and the rest of the time shopped, went to the beach, sea world and their 2nd favorite activity swim in the pool that was behind the rental house. Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios won't be any fun for the young kids. Just do the magic kingdom part the the kids will love it. That's just my 2 cents.

[mkjr]

IMHO, 1 & 2 years old are too young to properly appreciate Disneyland. YMMV. but they are free under three so who cares...its warm down south...

for the record i disagree with you...

been to WDW with my child when she was 18 months and again when she was just over 2 and will go again next week when she is just over 2.5 years old...she picks up more stuff each time and has loved it each time...actually as she gets older she wants more spinning, more time with the characters etc....she is a sensory monster though...

child 2 years plus a day will pay adult fare. no NA discounts...this was the first time we paid for her to fly...drove down when she was just over two but paid about 460US for all three on southwest out of BUF.

for the best tips go to disboards.com and mousesavers.com

you will get more tips there than here for sure...

to the people who think kids are too young to go to disney...you meanies...

[mart242]

Of course your kids would enjoy disney. Don't they enjoy going shopping? Going to the restaurant? Kids that age enjoy everything that is new so I wouldn't worry about where you go.

[dealguy2]

One thing you can do is use the "stroller pass" trick at disney. What you do is you and your partner get a fast pass each and then when it's time to come back to the ride you ask for a "stroller pass". But you each get one. Then you get two rides each with no lineup. One of you wait with the kids while one of you uses the "fast pass" then you use your other fast pass when the other person returns. Then you can go ahead and use the "stroller passes". Or you can save your stroller passes for another time since I believe there is no expiry on them.

[yellowdogx]

We have been 4 times to disneyland and twice to Disneyworld with our son who is now 6.

Check out disboards for TONS of info.

Dont go expecting to have alot of downtime!!!

Bring your own GOOD stroller from home, the cheapo ones at walmart SUCK! And with children that age you are going to want a stroller at the airport. Just check them at the gate for free.

We just got back from 11 days at disneyworld and I would go back tommarow if I had the $.

Have fun.

[Robbo]

I too agree with the posters who have suggested you go to Disney. Will the kids remember every detail - of course not. Will i t be relaxing for mom and dad - of course not (but no vacation will be relaxing with a one and two year old).

We have visited Disney numerous times with the kids at many different ages with the youngest being around 6 months. You just plan accordingly and i wouldn't visit the parks every day with young kids. I think everyone wants to see everything in that one WDW trip and tries to cram too much into that 1week trip thinking that they won't return for many years. For most Canadians, WDW is a pretty easy place to get to and can be relatively inexpensive if you plan correctly.

There are many websites out there to help with planning.

www.mousesavers.com mentioned above is great for planning and deals
www.allears.net for loads of general info
www.disboards.com mentioned above is a huge bulleting board where practically every questions has already been asked and answered

[dawgbone]

yea, i know when they get older they will enjoy it more, but we can always go back :)

seriously tho, its been way too many years without a vacation...i cant imagine something like mexico being better ???

and i agree with dawgbone; we rented Minnie and Elmo for their birthdays and they went crazy!

i know they'll have a blast.


does disney rent strollers? (im pretty sure they would). and i'll need a big camping backpack to put all the diapers, snacks, change of clothes etc...

anything else?

and passports for them. i almost missed that

Yes, Disney rents Strollers, but it can be expensive ($15/day or something like that).

Your best bet is to bring your own stroller. You'll want one at the airport anyways, so bringing yours to Disney isn't any more difficult. Plus it's more easily identified than the 3000 or so generic Disney ones you'll see floating around.

Even this past may when we went, we took a Stoller (our daughter is 6). She didn't use it much, but it was great for hauling stuff around.

If you are going and plan on staying at Disney (and getting the meal plan), book your dinners as soon as possible. This will ensure you get what you want. Again, we were just there in May and even booking in February we had troubles getting the character dinings we wanted.

What we found worked good was the following (1 week with a 2 year old):

1 day at animal kingdom (try and get to the safari early or it can be a really long lineup).
1 day at hollywood studios.
1/2 day at Epcott. You could go around to the pavillions, but there's plenty to do in tomorrowland without killing yourself walking around). You could even skip it if you want... I've found that with the exception of the character area that there isn't much for kids (under say 5 or 6) to do. Almost all of the rides there are too big for them to go on.
2 days at magic kingdom (split the park in half and go for 1 on each day).

throw in a nice relaxation day where you just chill by the pool at your hotel in the middle (you'll need it).

One more link to add to Robbo's:

http://www.touringplans.com/tp2/UG2_index.php?PageID=14

You need to subscribe for long range, but it's a good indicator.