Bringing A Baby to Walt Disney World

Have you ever wondered what it's like to bring a baby under the age of one to Walt Disney World? Guess what? It's not a complete nightmare. Here's how our trip went.

Packing

I DEFINITELY over packed. I brought about 3-4 outfits a day for Nash and he only wore 2 outfits a day, so I could have cut out half of his clothes. I guess I could say the same for myself. I just have so many cute Disney clothes & not enough days in my vacation... That means I need to stay for longer next time. haha! I will attach the checklist I created for packing Nash at the bottom of the post. There's a ton of stuff on there, some necessary, some not, but I will say being prepared for anything made our trip alot easier.

We rented a car in Florida which meant we had to bring a car seat in addition to our stroller. It was super easy to bring our Doona car seat on wheels to use in the airport, and then fold the wheels in for the car ride. Because we used & gate checked the Doona at the airport, we packed up and checked our stroller. I purchased the uppababy travel bag for our vista stroller, and I think it was an excellent choice. As long as your stroller and bag are registered, uppababy covers any damage in air travel, which is awesome. Also, side note-- so happy I brought our full size stroller, because we needed the huge underneath storage in the parks for diaper bag, shopping bags, coats, sweatshirts, etc.

We had a grand total of 2 large suitcases, 1 carry on suitcase, 2 backpacks, a car seat & a stroller. I think we had a bit too much... but hey, you live & you learn, right?

The Airport

That was more of a nightmare than anything. Did you know that baby wipes show up as liquid on the security scanner? Well, I did not know that and I had about 3 packs of baby wipes, 4 packs of antibacterial wipes, bath wipes, boogies wipes-- basically I had just every different type of wipe in my carry on (because they took up alot of weight in the suitcase). Even with TSA precheck, I still got patted down, got my shoes taken away for a solid 20 minutes, and got every pack of wipes and pre-made formula checked. So yeah, security at the airport with all of the baby things was not fun, but in retrospect, I'm glad they are doing their job and keeping us safe. After that, things went alot smoother.

Walt Disney World

We have a running joke about how Nash is a vacation baby. He loves being on vacation and he is an angel anytime we go away. Disney World was no exception. Nash pooped every morning before we left for the parks, so I never had to change a poopy diaper in a Disney World bathroom. He had no problem strolling around all day or napping in the stroller. We did bring our ergo baby carrier that we used a handful of times-- it was most helpful during times when the stroller had to be parked and we had to carry him through lines, or inside rides, restaurants and things.

I want to mention a few items that were super helpful during our trip. Disposable changing pads & disposable bibs were clutch. These made diaper changes and feeding on the go super easy with little to no clean up. (I used the changing pad more than once before disposing) Also, our stroller caddy with a compartment for wipes. We kept Kleenex germ removal wipes in there for easy access. It's also more spacious than our uppababy caddy, so that was great for extra water bottles, coffee's, bottles, etc. My last absolute must have for the parks was pacifier wipes. So much easier to clean a dirty paci on the go. Mind you, none of these items are essential, they just make a day in the parks that much easier and let's face it-- traveling with a baby isn't easy so anything that can make things run a little smoother is a win in my book.

It's funny, because you hear alot of people say "you're crazy for bringing a baby his age to Disney World, it's not like he'll remember it or anything." But you know what, I'll always remember it and I have over 1,000 photos and videos to show him as he grows up. It was actually amazing to watch him react to rides, lights, parades, shows etc. He was in a trans both times we went on "it's a small world." He was completely engaged during the entire ride and mesmerized by it. There are actually so many rides he could go on, especially in Magic Kingdom. Any ride that does not have a height requirement is completely fine to take a baby on. Nash's favorites were all in MK -- Peter Pan's Flight, Small World, Dumbo, Under the Sea & Winnie the Pooh.

I wish we took a little more time to visit characters. We saw Donald in Animal Kingdom and we met Pluto, Mickey, Lilo & Stitch at the Ohana character breakfast, but he seemed to really be interested in the characters. Perhaps when we got back in March we will visit more character spots with him.

I've had a lot of people comment on Nash keeping on his Mickey ears hat, as well as other head pieces we bought & brought on the trip. Fun fact, sometimes while we're in the house and he's hanging out and watching TV, I will put a hat on him, or mickey ears and get him used to wearing them. I've been so envious of @magical_kinda_mama's boys who always keep their Disney hats on. It was a silly goal of mine to get Nash to wear his Mickey ears! haha! (goal attained!)

As I've already mentioned, Nash was such a trooper and seemed to be completely engaged in everything we did and saw-- he was out every night, way past his bedtime, he ate & got diaper changes at all different times, & his naps were completely random, yet he never seemed to mind. I love how adapting his is right now-- he just totally goes with the flow. I hope he continues to be like this for our next trip in March, but only time will tell!

Conclusion

There are so many great reasons to bring a baby under age one to Walt Disney World. First of all, they're FREE! Second, you can utilize parents swap for going on rides, which is a great perk, Third, they're not totally mobile yet and can still be confined to a stroller! (haha!) But I have to say it 1000% helps to have family and friends with you. Chris and I's parents were all there with us, so we had a lot of helping hands. In March we'll have a lot less help, 4 Adults, a toddler & 2 babies-- but you can bet we will be taking full advantage of parent swap!

I have so many photos and videos from our trip that I want to share. There are some saved in my highlight reel on Instagram, and I intend to post more on my feed between now and our next trip, so be sure to follow along!

PS -- Shutterfly has Disney themed photo books and I'm in the process of creating one from our trip. I will definitely share the complete masterpiece when it's finished! I'm having such a blast designing this scrapbook on their site and using all their fun stickers and templates!