One Mom. One baby. One Awesome Disney Trip! (Part 2)

Dear World,
Recently I started a post about traveling to Disney World with my daughter without another adult. You can read my tips and tricks from the first part of the journey here.

(Part 2)

We left off at the changing station/restrooms, right before diving into the rest of the park. One big change that happened since the last time I've been to Disney was the FastPass system. It used to be set up so you go to a ride's entrance, get a FastPass printout, and come back at the designated time slot on the card. Well, things have changed! Now you go to one kiosk to get all of your FastPasses, but the default amount is three. I think there is a way to upgrade to get more, but three was plenty for us. If I had known about the new system, this would have certainly been our first stop. However, I had no clue, so by the time I figured out where it was, most of the rides I would have wanted a FastPass for were not available anymore. Live and learn. So, if you're planning a trip, make this your very first stop! It is located right behind Cinderella's castle, to the left of the carousel.

After you make your selections, they ask you to take a picture with your phone-- so here it is.

Let's talk about stroller parking. Outside nearly all of the rides, there are little "parking lots" for strollers. There are always employees standing around, sometimes rearranging them so they're all easier to access. There is a huge honor system at work here. Now I'm not saying I would trust leaving a diamond necklace around there, but I wasn't about to lug my diaper bag onto every single ride, so it was left with my stroller, unharmed. I don't think any other parent at Disney World is going to loot your stroller, and I'm pretty sure if someone walks up to a stroller without a baby, that would seem pretty suspicious. If anything does get lost, I'm sure you can report it to the employees and they will keep an eye out for it. I made it through the day with everything in place and no worries.

Congo Connie! I love the boat names.

Anyway, our first ride was the Jungle Cruise. Since the line and the actual ride are all outdoors, this is a good one to start with before it gets too hot. We traveled in March, so the weather wasn't terrible, but if you're going during summer, it helps to know where you can avoid the heat. Knowing that my 9 month old is cool with boats, I thought this would be a good start to see how she reacts to the animatronic robots everywhere. Well, she seemed more fascinated by the other people around us than the actual ride experience. If you've been on the Jungle Cruise, you'll remember that the most entertaining part is your tour guide. Every time I take this ride, I hear a different set of corny jokes. My mom asked us later on if the gun scared my baby, because she remembered the gunshot at the end of the ride. I hadn't remembered a gunshot and probably would have skipped it altogether if that was my expectation, because I know my little one is jumpy. When I was pregnant I saw a human cannonball at the circus. The noise was so loud that it made her jump (in utero). Our guide, probably noticing that there were many small children on the boat, acted like he was about to shoot the gun, holding it up and warning us "this might be loud," and instead yelled "GET OUT OF HERE!" Whew. Dodged a bullet there, so to speak.
We went to retrieve the stroller after the Jungle Cruise and headed down towards the "Liberty Square" area. We skipped the Pirates ride and the Haunted Mansion, because baby is jumpy. However, these are both a lot of fun if you think your little one is up for it. The Pirates ride has a pretty intense dip towards the beginning, which makes me nervous about holding a little baby. She may have loved it, who knows. But if she didn't, there would be a screaming child ruining everyone else's time for the whole ride...so I wasn't going to take my chances. The Haunted Mansion is intended to be scary-ish, so that's a no brainer for me.
Our next ride was It's a Small World, which happens to be my favorite. This also turned out to be baby's favorite! She looked around all over the place and was so excited that she didn't want to stay sitting. I let her stand on my lap (while I securely held her, praying she wouldn't try to jump overboard) as she looked all around at the dancing "dollies." It's a Small World is awesome because the boat ride is slow and gentle, the line always moves pretty quickly, and there is sweet, sweet air conditioning. The line is mostly indoors. This is a good relaxing break from the sun.

"It's a Small World"= Air conditioning

The Peter Pan line was pretty long and we didn't get a FastPass for it, so we unfortunately skipped that ride. After It's a Small World, baby fell asleep, which meant it was lunch time for me!
I asked an employee where a restaurant was that allows strollers. Many of the restaurants have stroller parking, much like the rides, and don't allow strollers inside. The recommendation I got was Cosmic Ray's over in Tomorrowland. This worked out because our first FastPass was for the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is my second favorite. We made our way over to Cosmic Ray's where I ordered a barbecue sandwich and fries, and a giant bottled water in an attempt to stay hydrated. An employee carried the tray for me so I could push the stroller to a table. It is always helpful to find an extra set of hands! If you're doing this alone and nobody offers to help you with something like that, just ask. People are happy to help. I chowed down and was just finishing in time for baby to wake up. While she was still in the stroller, I quickly visited the restroom before getting her back in the Kinderpack.

Stroller nap= lunchtime for the mama

After lunch, we got through the FastPass line to the Buzz Lightyear ride. We literally waited five minutes, which is why the FastPass is awesome. Baby enjoyed the ride because there was a  big red joystick that moved our car around. She started playing with that and was having a blast!
Our next ride was Dumbo, which she didn't seem very impressed with. This ride also has a joystick that you can use to make your car go up and down, but ours didn't work. This is another outdoor ride, so I was feeling the need for air conditioning again. We headed over to the very back of Fantasyland, which has also been renovated since my last visit. There used to be an area called "Toon town" where you could tour Minnie Mouse's house. This has been replaced by circus-themed areas. We went into a giant tent to meet Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse. There is a cute outdoor splash area where little ones can cool off. Since baby isn't walking yet, we skipped that, but did purchase a stroller fan because it was getting pretty warm out.
I could feel my energy winding down, so I wanted to go ahead and get our last FastPass out of the way, which was meeting Ariel. The Little Mermaid ride had a super short line, so we squeezed that in first. Baby totally freaked out when she saw Ursula. Screams everywhere. Also, despite the very quickly moving line, the ride was stopped. While we were in the room with Ursula. Greeeat. Baby cried the rest of the ride and calmed down after I got her out and back in the Kinderpack, which is her safe place. We then headed over to "Ariel's Grotto" which was super charming. Baby really liked Ariel and started petting her fin! Ariel was a pro, so I'm sure she's used to that sort of thing.
Baby was clearly tired, as evidenced by the screaming fit on the last ride, so we started making our way to the park exit. She fell asleep in the Kinderpack and slept through a very noisy parade on Main Street! Once the parade was over, we had access to leave the park.

Stoked about the parade.

Overall, I think the trip was a success. If I could do it differently, there isn't much I would change. Stay tuned, next time I'll be blogging about our trip to Puerto Rico!

Love,
Stephanie

One mom. One baby. One awesome Disney trip! (Part 1)

Dear World,
So I keep reading on the internet about how it might be considered "crazy" to take a baby to Disney World, since they won't remember any of it. But I have also read that it can be very worthwhile, because the babies can still have a good time, regardless of whether they remember it or not. (That's what pictures are for, right?) So let's throw another wrench in the equation. What if you're taking a baby to Disney World by yourself?

Being in charge of a baby by yourself is pretty hard, but does that mean you shouldn't get a vacation? I'm thinking no. Whatever your situation may be, whether you're single, have a deployed husband, or just feel like taking some one-on-one time with your little one, I'm here to share my experience and tell you it IS possible!

So, step one for us was traveling to Florida. I shared my experiences with flying/packing/etc in my previous post.

One of the charming sights in Downtown Disney

Our visit was relatively short, so I decided to do Downtown Disney and the Magic Kingdom. If you've never been to Downtown Disney, it's basically a place to go shopping. (Plus it's free to get in, so that's a plus). There are some super restaurants, as well as Disney Quest and Cirque Du Soleil, which would be great for bigger kids/adults. However, we were just here to shop and gawk at all the stuff. As pictured above, I got the iconic Mickey ears for my little one, and a few other cute accessory items. I thought it would be best to do souvenir shopping first, so I'm not as tempted at the actual park to lug around a bunch of items throughout the day. For myself, I scored a sweet Darth Vader tank top, which I ended up wearing at the park the next day. (Yep, I'm a Star Wars nerd.)

Dino themed restaurant? Yes please.

After shopping around, we enjoyed this street performer/human robot for a while, and then called it a day.

The main attraction awaits. Magic Kingdom. Oh man I was so excited.

So, how do you pack for the actual park? I had been reading that a reclining stroller is a good idea for naps. I have one of those "travel systems" where the car seat snaps into the stroller. Even though my little girl is big enough for the stroller without the car seat, the way it positions makes napping easier with the car seat in: 

This way there are also two shades providing full coverage from the Florida sun.

The only cumbersome part about the stroller/car seat was getting it to and from the parking lot. If you have been to Disney before, you might recall there are little trams that take you from your car to the park. If you have a car seat/stroller/bunch of stuff, sit at the END car. They are slightly bigger because they have two benches instead of one. I sat at the end on the way in, but didn't think about it on the way out and had a heck of a time getting the car seat in and out of the tiny bench. Thankfully another mama was there and offered help. Shout out to that awesome mama. 

Other than that little snafu, I was totally glad to have the stroller. I'm a babywearing nut, and barely ever use the stroller, but when you are by yourself with the baby all day it's good to have the it so you can use the restroom and eat without too much fuss. Now, that being said, I did have my Kinderpack with me and actually used it most of the day, but when baby fell asleep, into the stroller she went! 

So from the parking lot tram, we boarded the Ferry. You could also choose the monorail, but the Ferry seems a lot more spacious and exciting.

Note: The employees claim the monorail and the boat take the same amount of time. If you're itching to get inside quickly, I'm guessing the monorail is actually quicker, due to more efficiency with loading/unloading. I could be wrong. However, I like to take my time and soak in the views, so I was not disappointed with my choice. 

Who doesn't love a good boat ride?

For children under 2 years of age, it is 100% free admission. For myself, not so much, but it evens out since baby was free. Upon arrival, she was given a "First trip to Disney" pin (also free)! I pinned it on my diaper bag for the day. Once inside the gates of the Magic Kingdom, we headed down Main Street to get some pictures. There are professional photographers all over the park. When they snap a picture of you, they will give you a card to give to everyone else to track your photos. You can download them all later for 200 dollars, or at a certain price per picture. The actual price escapes me, but if you plan on taking advantage of the 200 dollar unlimited package, you might as well get as many pictures as possible. This includes the random ones taken during rides. Just get your picture card to register the photo after the ride, and you'll be able to download it later. 

Now, for those of you who don't want to spend 200 dollars on pictures (because let's be honest, that's twice the price of admission for one adult), there was an INGENIOUS invention I saw people using throughout the park. I had never seen these before, but have seen/heard of them since then. It is called a "selfie stick." It holds your phone far away to actually get everyone in the picture. Brilliant, right??! I did not see any for purchase at the park, so if this is the way you want to go, make sure you pick one up in your hometown or order it from the internet before your vacation. I've seen them advertised at our local tourist trap/beach gear/buy hermit crabs here type store, so I'm guessing they are not terribly expensive. 

After soaking in the sights and sounds of Main Street, we headed over to the baby station. This little area is amazing. If you take a left off of Main Street towards Adventureland, there are restrooms and the baby room tucked away in a little corner (with well marked signs). So let's talk diapers.

This is Disney World. There are changing tables in every women's room. (Can't speak for the Men's room, sorry fellas.) Not the junky small Koala Care things, but an actual built in segment of the counter designated for changing diapers. However, in the baby station, there's so much more:

That's right, they're padded. Mmm.

Not only is there this adorable changing room, but there's a mellow little feeding room where I saw some toddlers watching cartoons and having snacks. That's awesome. My only complaint was that the grown up restroom in there wasn't accommodating for a stroller, so I wheeled over to the regular restrooms next door to take advantage of a generously sized end stall.
Disney is also smart enough to sell diapering accessories in case you run out. Isn't that thoughtful?

After getting freshened up, we were ready to hit the rest of the park! Stay tuned for Part 2, where I discuss where to eat that is stroller-friendly, and taking baby on the rides! 

Love,

Stephanie