Beth, YOUR BACK!! Give us the WDW Report!!

[mommychic]

Hope you had a great time. Tell us ALL the details!!

Which stroller did you use? How were the baby care centers? Were highchairs available? How was the food for Sarah? Was the hotel baby friendly? And most important... what strollers did you spot in the parks! :)

So jealous!
Disney Crazy Lisa

[egoldber]

LOL! We had a really great time. I was a little concerned that Sarah would be overwhelmed by the characters (she gets over-stimulated pretty easily) but she LOVED them. We did a character meal at Tony's Town Square (with Pooh and friends) and she really dug it. She also loved meeting Mickey and Minnie at the character meet and greet places.

The food choices were pretty poor. She ate a lot of hot dogs, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets and pizza. The best food choices were in Epcot, but other than that it was pretty lame. High chairs were plentiful, but sometimes involved hunting one down at the outdoor places. We used two of the baby care centers, in Epcot and Magic Kingdom. I thought the one in Epcot was much nicer than the one at MK. They had plenty of high chairs, but the vintage wooden kind which I thought was pretty lame. They were great for taking a break though and having a place to be able to put her down and let her roam around (she isn't walking yet).

There were plenty of rides and shows for her at the Magic Kingdom and also at MGM. Not so much at Epcot, but she also seemed to enjoy just looking at all the stuff going on. We didn't go to Animal Kingdom.

The hotel (The Yacht Club) was VERY nice and had a fabulous pool area. Our general day "plan" was to have breakfast outside the hotel or park, go to a park for a couple hours, grab lunch, go back to the hotel for a nap, play in the pool, go to another park for a few hours in the afternoon and then find a place for dinner. We did one character meal, which she enjoyed, but they were SO expensive (we don't often spend $50 for lunch, yikes!). The last night we wandered around Epcot, saw the parade (which she LOVED) and then stayed for the fireworks. That was the only fireworks we stayed up for.

I took my Chicco 2002 stroller and it was pretty perfect. It was plush enough for her to be in for a long time, but not so large as to be difficult to maneuver. I saw a TON of Gracos/Evenflos, also a lot of cheap umbrella strollers (with pretty miserable looking kids in them of all ages and sizes), also a lot of Combis and Peg Plikos, a few Peg Venezias. Maclarens were also plentiful, but mainly with British tourists. I also saw a lot of Mothercare brand strollers. I saw a handful of prams. Fixed wheel joggers were also surprisingly popular, but I wouldn't want to deal with one there. I saw one other Chicco while I was there, a Trekking. The rental strollers are also incredibly popular, but they look SO uncomfortable, I can't imagine using one except for an older child who had given out and refused to walk anymore.

Stroller parking was plentiful and we had no trouble. Sometimes the stroller wasn't exactly where we left it, and we had to look a little bit. The cast members re-arrange them to make room as people come and go on attractions. I also heartily recommend a sling or carrier. I took my pouch style sling and it worked beautifully. Since you have to leave your stroller outside the ride or attraction and then you have to wait in line inside the attraction, we used the sling to hold her while we were in line. Afterwards it folded up to nothing to go back in the diaper bag.

Yikes, that's all I can think of for right now! :)

[mommychic]

Thanks for the detailed review!! :)

Were you able to find your Eeyore onesie? :)

Did you encounter anything that you weren't prepared for or was surprised to find out?? Or was the whole trip smooth sailing?

Just wondering, cause some people are so intimidated to do WDW with a young baby. I'm just jotting down notes so next year I can be well prepared!!

Thanks! Your always so informative!!
Lisa

[egoldber]

Alas, no Eeyore onesies in her size were to be found. She can wear 24 month size T-shirts, but pretty much needs a 2T onesie or romper or pants. All the really cute stuff stopped at 24 month sizes. :(

The trip was pretty smooth. Disney is very baby friendly. The "cribs" are PacknPlays, so it's worth getting you baby used to that type of crib before you go. You can also get a refrigerator for your room if you ask at check-in. That makes having meals for baby much easier. I would plan to come and go to the parks to allow for naps. Staying close to the parks really helps. We had a Parkhopper ticket, so we could go wherever we wanted when we wanted. Our last day we went to Magic Kingdom for a few hours, then back to the hotel and pool, then we went to MGM. After dinner we went to Epcot, watched the parade and the fireworks.

This was actually a nice time of year to go. The parks weren't really crowded (although there were PLENTY of people there) and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

HTH,

[suzska]

Glad you had such a great time.

We went end of September/beginning of October once, and that was a really good time to go. The parks are still open a little longer, I think, but not so late that you feel "obligated" to stay there that long. It was just DH and me that time (pre-Evan), and it was nice to do non-park stuff during the day or at night. One of our favorite things was renting bikes at Dixie Landings (now Port Orleans--Riverside) and just riding around.

I seem to remember the EPCOT Baby Care center being the nicest.