Good age to bring new baby to Disney parks

[FSU Girl]

I just had my first baby and I’m trying to figure out when will be the best time to visit. I love Disney and haven’t been at all this year due to covid and being pregnant, first time not going since I was a baby. My husband and I have annual passes unactivated so we just need to figure out when to go.

I don’t plan to take her anywhere before she gets her two month old shots, but is that too young to bring her? With all the changes with covid do you think it’s worth visiting right now or should we wait until the vaccine comes out and things start to get back to normal? We live in south Florida so not too far of a drive to get there.

It would be my first time visiting with a baby but not first time going with kids. I’m really excited to introduce my baby to Disney

 

[Wild4Walt]

As far as age goes, you'll quickly know what she can tolerate as far as amount of time around others, noise, and eating and I'd used that as your guide. If she's OK in a car seat/stroller for long periods of time or you are willing to go in to the park for short periods of time when the age part isn't an issue. I've traveled with an 8 months old and it would out good but she was also ok with being in a stroller for long periods and would also sleep in the stroller.

Now for the Covid part - I will say, that if I was going to vacation anywhere it would be Disney. They have taken so many precautions to keep guests as safe as possible.

I would recommend asking her pediatrician for any recommendations, especially if flying.

 

[Aimeedyan]

This is really a deeply personal decision, to be discussed with your pediatrician. People with tiny infants who vacation at WDW get lots of shade thrown at them even before a pandemic so the opinions are always strong on whether or not to bring them young.

I can only speak for us, personally. We live close and he's been going since 3 weeks old (that was the soonest I was up for it). But we did not vacation there - there was no mass travel, hotel, or long days - and it was in the winter. I just wanted to get out and walk so we walked Epcot. I think we rode one thing, ate a few booth items, and left. Our first actual staycation with him was months later and even then, we don't tour the parks like a vacationer would. We pop in for a couple hours and that's about it.

For the first year, he was mostly oblivious to anything going on so when we went, it was because WE wanted to go and he tagged along

If he was that young this year, I'm not sure I'd bring him with all that's going on but your pediatrician would be your best source for information. While Disney takes precautions, there are places where social distancing is simply impossible and you will be close to someone else for more than you're comfortable with. Mask usage is not 100% (though pretty good!) and rides are not social distanced like they were a few months ago. Baby care centers are indoors and get crowded, even with COVID. I was extremely uncomfortable at the MK one last month. But there are things you can do (many of which we did when ours was tiny, pre-COVID): avoid mass transportation, avoid shows, avoid indoor dining, avoid bottleneck areas, visit at a slower time, and plan to take lots of breaks if needed.

Good luck with your decision

 

[lynzi2004]

We’ve taken a 4month old, 18month old and then 3 year old to Disney. They all posed their own challenges, but in many ways the 4 month trip was the easiest. He just went and did whatever we did. Other than nursing breaks and some waking at night (which he also did at home) it was a breeze. By the 18 month trip, he was interested at what was going on and even rode some rides and expressed interest, BUT when he was tired of being in the stroller, tired of a show, etc he let it be known! Lol Now most times he would just eventually fall asleep, but we have 3 kids and there were times we just needed to finish whatever we were doing or waiting on and he wasn’t a happy camper with the pics to prove it

 

[Disneytrippin']

If your old enough to have a baby you are old enough to take one in to the parks. I kid.

 

[Bullseye]

FSU, congrats on your new baby! I can only tell you from recent experience (Oct) that I seen lots of tots as young as two years old faithfully wearing their masks. Being that my kids are grown, it made me wonder how the parents explained the need for masks to kids so young. Vaccines are right around the corner. Maybe just wait until those are available and in wide distribution.

 

[kniquy]

With everything going on I would wait until closer to a year old. Before that I don’t think the baby would get as much out of the trip. And most importantly with Covid, now flu season and RSV I would not bring a small baby, unmasked into the parks. You really can’t be too safe with a little one.

 

[Rusty2rules]

I have a different take on this. I made an observation the last time I went to Disney. What do all parents who look absolutely miserable at "the happiest place on Earth" have in common? They're all pushing a stroller. I'm just sayin'.

 

[Micca]

Congrats on your new baby! I know you'd really like to take her WDW asap, but if possible try to hold out until she's old enough to pay for some stuff.

 

[Sandiz08]

With Covid and a newborn baby right now I think I would at least wait until the winter season was over. We took our son to Disneyland for the first time when he was 1, I'm sure any age would be just as special.

 

[NashvilleMama]

So, a few things....setting covid aside. I'm not sure if you've done any multiple hour road trips yet but driving with a newborn/really young baby is really, really challenging sometimes. It's a lot of stopping and is just not super fun. I traveled with both of my girls when they were just a few months old and it can be good for a change of scenery and your own mental health. But I remember ZERO of those trips. You're just in a baby fog for such a long time and I'm not exaggerating when sometimes I look at pictures and can't believe they're real because I have no recollection of being there during any of it. LOL

I probably wouldn't take a newborn to Disney or any park during COVID. But as stated above, that's a deeply personal decision with your own risk tolerance.

 

[buzznina]

The Covid issue should be discussed with your babies doctor, they should have the best answer.
As for how young, we have taken trips at the 3 month mark with both our DD's. I totally disagree with a PP about strollers, we absolutely love having it Not only was it great for our DDs, even when they got older, but we used it for storage, drink holder etc. I remember reading DIS posts from parents whinning about dealing with their stroller and when we went, after a few trips using the buses I told my DW that all the worrying about having a stroller was for nothing. Right before the bus gets there, DW takes baby and diaper bag, I grab rest of stuff, fold stroller and get on the bus ezy pzy.

 

[nancipants]

It really depends on the baby. We took our baby to eat at Trail's End when he was two weeks old. But we are locals and he slept the whole time. We started doing parks not long afterward. He stayed in his carseat attached to the stroller and was able to nap when we closed up the cover and used a portable white noise machine. We didn't stay overnight somewhere other than my mom's house until he was 8 months. It's a LOT of work. It took a long time for us to have a baby so we were used to just going off and doing our own thing. There's a lot more packing, a lot more lists. On the other hand, the two times we've done staycations at Disney, we took things a lot more slowly and just enjoyed being with him.

 

[wilbret]

This post is funny for me, because literally yesterday I got one of those reminders that showed me where we were 8 years ago. Yesterday, we were at Animal Kingdom. We took our daughter when she was about 5-6 months old. It was amazing, we had no issues. She is the youngest of 3.

I guess we are different, if all miserable people have a stroller. I absolutely loved having she and her brother in a stroller. We had a stroller that could even accommodate all 3 using a skateboard. We travel MUCH lighter now, of course, but I get pretty sappy thinking about the great days pushing the stroller around the parks and taking advantage of all that glorious STORAGE.

You'll get a bunch of different replies. Do what you feel you are okay with.

 

[Rusty2rules]

This post is funny for me, because literally yesterday I got one of those reminders that showed me where we were 8 years ago. Yesterday, we were at Animal Kingdom. We took our daughter when she was about 5-6 months old. It was amazing, we had no issues. She is the youngest of 3.

I guess we are different, if all miserable people have a stroller. I absolutely loved having she and her brother in a stroller. We had a stroller that could even accommodate all 3 using a skateboard. We travel MUCH lighter now, of course, but I get pretty sappy thinking about the great days pushing the stroller around the parks and taking advantage of all that glorious STORAGE.

You'll get a bunch of different replies. Do what you feel you are okay with.

Read it again. I didn't say all miserable people have a stroller. I said the common denominator with parents who looked miserable was that they were pushing a stroller. I didn't say all parents pushing strollers looked miserable.

 

[larsonb74]

I just had my first baby and I’m trying to figure out when will be the best time to visit. I love Disney and haven’t been at all this year due to covid and being pregnant, first time not going since I was a baby. My husband and I have annual passes unactivated so we just need to figure out when to go.

I don’t plan to take her anywhere before she gets her two month old shots, but is that too young to bring her? With all the changes with covid do you think it’s worth visiting right now or should we wait until the vaccine comes out and things start to get back to normal? We live in south Florida so not too far of a drive to get there.

It would be my first time visiting with a baby but not first time going with kids. I’m really excited to introduce my baby to Disney

We took our son at 4 mos. He was old enough to keep head up and go with us on the gentle rides.. we rigged up a couple of fans to keep him cool, rain poncho to cover stroller to keep rain off. He was great no real issues. Baby stations are great for feeding, AC to cool off, family restrooms or the supply you forgot to pack. The biggest learn we had was making sure to cover stroller when leaving outside as the surprise showers can complicate things. And caution on leaving items in stroller while not attended. Now he's 11, miss the stroller as it works great for lugging around everything you purchase or bring.

 

[larsonb74]

We took our son at 4 mos. He was old enough to keep head up and go with us on the gentle rides.. we rigged up a couple of fans to keep him cool, rain poncho to cover stroller to keep rain off. He was great no real issues. Baby stations are great for feeding, AC to cool off, family restrooms or the supply you forgot to pack. The biggest learn we had was making sure to cover stroller when leaving outside as the surprise showers can complicate things. And caution on leaving items in stroller while not attended. Now he's 11, miss the stroller as it works great for lugging around everything you purchase or bring.

Also be cautious of hitting stroller on people's ankles, legs. It can sometimes be brutal in lines or stop and go congestion. One plus right now.

 

[kniquy]

I have a different take on this. I made an observation the last time I went to Disney. What do all parents who look absolutely miserable at "the happiest place on Earth" have in common? They're all pushing a stroller. I'm just sayin'.

We had the same thought this trip. I see so many kids having meltdowns and parents just looking miserable that I can’t imagine spending the money to come here and not enjoying it to the fullest. I do have to say I do also see plenty of well behaved kids so thankfully it isn’t all kids that act that way. It could be that the parents are expecting too much of their kids and aren’t keeping to their kids regulars routine. I always say keep your kids rested and fed and for the most part they will behave well. But leave one of those unmet and you will be in trouble.

 

[jamescanuck2001]

we took our daughter @ 3 months. we had a great time, using a snugli for wakey times and stroller for sleepy times. i believe the stimulation, sounds and sights, was a big benefit for her development. we did rides, peter pan, small world, nemo and friends, turtle talk....

 

[mjkacmom]

I’ve had 5 babies, I think the easiest time to travel with babies is around 6/7 months, sleeping through the night, on a schedule, sitting independently but not trying to walk, eating some finger foods.