If I had $1 from every family that called me or emailed me and said, “Oh my gosh, we have gotten back from Disney and everything is an absolute chaos!!” or, “Oh my gosh, Becca, we’re going to Disney… how can we possibly have our good sleeper stick?!” I would have hundreds of dollar bills.
So, to help you out, I asked one of our Little Z’s families to share all their tips after taking their 7 month old to Disney World!! Katie Swift completed our Baby Sleep Training Course when her baby was 4 months old and then had a successful trip to Disney.
Katie is very familiar with Disney, including working there for a semester in college, and spending many, many days there with her family and her husband over the year. So her expertise is going to be so helpful for you if you’re looking ahead to a Disney trip with your little ones.
Let’s go ahead and dive into all the tips she has to share with us today for taking your baby to Disney!
TIP #1: HAVING EXTRA HANDS IS HELPFUL
Katie was honest and said if you had asked her ahead of time if taking her 7 month old to Disney would be a good idea, she probably would have said no. But her husband had a conference in Orlando and her parents were willing to come help out!
If you do have grandparents or other people who are willing to be there with you, it is a huge help as you navigate all the fun.
You can even request adjoining rooms if you’re bringing family or friends so they can be close by!
TIP #2: DO YOUR RESEARCH & PLAN AHEAD
Even if you’re not new to Disney, taking time ahead of your trip to think through the logistics of it all, especially when it comes to your baby’s sleep, will only help you! Of course, you’ll be able to be flexible, but that’s the beauty of sleep training. When sleep is a thing, having an off few days will not completely ruin it all.
You can find a lot of information out there, from Disney’s websites to a million blog posts from other moms sharing what worked for them.
TIP #3: HOW TO FLEX THEIR SCHEDULE
When it comes to your baby’s sleep, you may just want to decide ahead of time what to flex on. Even if you stick to your routine typically, at home, you can actually flex your schedule for a few days and make the memories with your little ones.
You can start preparing for this by being consistent on sleep and schedules before your trip, which will help set you up for being more flexible while you’re traveling!
For Katie, they decided to let him dictate when their day would begin because they knew they were keeping him up late. He did wake up earlier every day there than he did at home, but she would nurse him, get ready, and then feed more breakfast on the bus.
Then everyday they tried to do a ride that he could ride first thing when they knew he’d be awake and happy. Pretty soon after that, they’d change his diaper and he’d be in the stroller for a cat nap, then ride more rides, have some lunch, and take another cat nap in the stroller while they continued to walk around and enjoy their time in the park.
In the afternoons, they headed back to the hotel for a more solid nap in the pack n play and then went back out for a few more hours. This was Katie’s wild card – they didn’t know if this would work out for them! But it ended up being great!
That nap was always later than his afternoon nap would usually be at home, but because he was waking up a little later (around 5:30 or 6pm), they’d be able to go back out for a few more hours in the evening.
The biggest change for her little one was moving from his standard 2 nap days back to 3 naps again – the 2 cat naps plus 1 longer nap in the afternoon!
Even for you rule followers out there, remember, this is your encouragement that you CAN bend the rules!! Enjoy those times and make those memories with your kids and you can jump right back in when you get home.
Pro Tip: Staying at the park can eliminate some of the travel time, which can be such a help!
TIP #4: MAKE EVENING PLANS & DINNER RESERVATIONS AHEAD OF TIME
If you want to eat dinner at the park, especially where you’re sitting down for a longer meal, you will want to make reservations ahead of time!
Starting out with your schedule being more similar to home will help as he hasn’t completely had to be flexible yet.
For Katie, that meant that on the first night they made plans for dinner at 6pm so they could get home and get him to bed as close to normal bedtime as possible. Normally they eat at 5:30 at home so it wasn’t too different from normal. The rest of their dinner reservations were at 7pm, which is much later than normal, but because of those late naps, she was able to make it work.
Planning their dinner later, closer to nighttime shows and fireworks, helped them to stretch him past his normal bedtime routine.
As far as fireworks go, you may want to purposely stand towards the back of the park or leave as the finale is starting to get ahead of the crowds a little bit. You do need to factor in the time it’ll take to ride the bus system or get back to your room, even if you’re staying on location.
TIP #5: TAKE YOUR BEDTIME ROUTINE WITH YOU
Starting with a strong foundation before Disney is helpful, but so is keeping some of your routines in place! For bedtime, you can speed through your normal routine with a quick bath and maybe even skip reading if you typically read the book. Your little one will be tired, but cueing them for sleep will still help them settle down well for night!
OTHER TIPS FOR TAKING A BABY TO DISNEY:
Here are a few of Katie’s other tips on taking a baby to Disney in general:
- Disney resorts provide pack n plays for no fee. You’ll want to bring your own sheet, sleep sack, bedtime books, and sound machine!
- Having a plan but keeping it flexible is key. You may need to follow their lead on when you start the day or if you’ll make it to fireworks or not one evening.
- Remember, Disney is set up to bring kids! Be sure to be on top of which rides you can skip the line for and which times you’ll want to be at those rides.
- Double check Disney’s stroller policy for sizes, but bringing your own stroller that is comfortable and reclines will be more conducive for naps.
- Get a fan for the stroller! It will get hot even in months you might not expect it to.
- Take that afternoon nap in the hotel! Even with older kids who may not normally nap, they’ll be exhausted and they will need some rest or nap time some days.
- Consider scheduling one full day at the hotel or in the pool to take away the visual stimulation (and walk less!) as a break while still having fun.
- Try out a nap on the go ahead of time if you can one day to just see how they do! Go to a park or a local fun spot and set up the stroller like it might be at Disney.
BONUS TIP: MAKE SLEEP A THING BEFORE YOU GO!
And last tip – if your baby or if your toddler has no clue how to independently sleep by themselves in their pack and play or in their bed, guess what? Your Disney trip is not at all going to look like Katie’s!
You will constantly have this stress that your child depends on you to go to sleep when you’re trying to have a good time at Disney World and everything will be in chaos.
How do I know that? So many families have come back from Disney ready to sleep train, because it was so terrible. I don’t want that to be your story!
Instead, look at your calendar. If you have more than two weeks before you head off on your Disney trip, then find out which Sleep Program is right for your child and get started now! That way you have plenty of time to teach them the foundation of good sleep so that you can go and bend the rules and enjoy fireworks and have a great time together.
Come home, be right back on track. Get right back into routine, and everything will be fine.
CONCLUSION
Katie shared SO MANY great tips on how to enjoy Disney AND keep sleep a thing… even with a baby in tow! Here are some of her top tips:
- Bring grandparents or family/friends – having extra hands is so helpful! Pro tip: Adjoining rooms can make it even more fun (and you may even get to sneak away for an evening while baby sleeps if they’re close by!)
- Do your research and plan ahead. Keep your schedule consistent before you leave, learn which rides you can skip the line for and book those passes, and read all the blogs with tips on navigating the parks!
- Flex their schedule… it’s okay! I know all you rule followers are cringing. But this is why we make sleep a thing – so you CAN get out there and make memories and stress less about their sleep. Just jump back into their schedule when you get home. It’s worth it, trust me!
- Make dinner reservations, plan your nights, and follow their lead when needed. Melting down before fireworks and need to miss them one night? Sleeping later or waking up earlier than normal! That’s all okay!!
- Bring your bedtime routine with you. You may need to go through it fast, but it will help cue them for sleep.
And, of course, if sleep isn’t a thing, take a look at your calendar and let’s get that started!! If you have 2 or 3 weeks before your trip, you have the time to sleep train your baby or toddler ahead of time. Then you can go, make the memories, be flexible, and come back home to jump right back into your routine!!
I’m excited for you to jump into these programs because as summer approaches there is nothing more exciting than knowing that you’re going to have sleep on vacation.
Yes, you CAN have vacation sleep and you can have sleep at home!! It’s possible to take your baby to Disney and have sleep! Making memories is the best… and so is being happy, healthy, and well-rested. You really can do both – and I can’t wait to hear how YOUR next trip goes. Sweet dreams!
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Keep sleep a thing on vacation with the Little Z's Travel Guide!
