Dana Stanley 00:00:00  So you’re thinking about taking a baby to Disney World, or maybe you’ve already booked it and now you’re having a little bit of a panic attack. Or maybe you’ve had this trip in the calendar and just found out you’re pregnant, which has happened to me. Either way, this episode is for you. By the end, you’re going to know exactly what to expect, what you actually need to bring, what you don’t, how to handle those naps, strollers, late nights, and most importantly, how to make it all work. So you actually enjoy the trip too. Because he asks, while your baby will have no memory of this trip, you definitely will. And trust me, you want those memories to be good ones. Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid-Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper.

Dana Stanley 00:00:58  here. We’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable. New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. I’ve done this multiple times. First with my oldest, who’s now eight, and most recently with my youngest, who’s had three Disney trips before his first birthday. I’ve experienced the newborn stage, the crawling stage. The just started eating solid stage. Whether this is your second or third baby, you know that when the baby’s not sleeping well, no one’s sleeping well and no one’s having a good time. So I want to touch on your resort room setup. And really, if you can swing it, having a one bedroom is going to make your life a lot easier because you’ll have one room for sleeping and another room for eating, watching TV, prepping your stroller for the next day, even waking up a little bit earlier.

Dana Stanley 00:02:05  And if you have multiple kids, it can separate them like the big kids can sleep on the pullout in the living room while you can sleep in the other room with the baby. Babies under one are going to have naps and maybe early bedtimes. So if you’re in a studio, which essentially means you’re in one room like one just big room, that means while the baby’s sleeping, you’re kind of confined to sitting in the dark and like, whispering when you need to talk and like, dimming your phone, praying that you don’t wake up the baby. And I’ll be honest with you, I’ve done that many, many times. Sometimes a studio is just how it works out with the budget, and I’m here to tell you that you can make it work. My hack here is maybe a little bit questionable, but the way certain rooms are set up. I have straight up put the baby in a crib, like in the bathroom, or like in the sink area of the bathroom. If you’re looking at your resort, you could just google, you know, name of the resort, then the room type and then layout or floor plan.

Dana Stanley 00:03:17  And you can see little like nooks and crannies. Sometimes I’ve had the crib half in a closet, half out of a closet, just to kind of darken it and separate the space a little bit. We did this recently at Animal Kingdom, where I have an eight year old, a four year old, and then the baby literally slept in the bathroom. And before I put him down at night, I’d be like, okay, kids, like, everybody brush your teeth, use the potty because the baby’s going to bed. And he slept great. We had white noise on. I was able to put him to bed first, and then we would cuddle with the girls on their bed, Even watch TV very, very, very low. Do some snuggles and then they would fall asleep so you can make it work. I have friends that pack things like slumber pods, which is essentially like a blackout tent that can go over a crib. I have tried that once, and my middle daughter kind of freaked out and didn’t like it.

Dana Stanley 00:04:14  I just feel personally like it’s just like another thing to fiddle with, so if I can do without it, I will definitely try to make it work. So just using like a portable white noise machine and kind of tucking away the baby has worked for us. If you’re hearing that and you’re thinking, wait a crib, like, oh my God, do I need to pack a pack and play? If you’re staying at a Disney resort, they have complimentary pack and plays or rollaway cribs, so you can request one ahead of time or when you check in, and then they’ll bring it up to your room. I request one ahead of time and also when I get there, just because I prefer the Rollaway cribs. And Disney always says depending on availability. I’ve never had a problem getting one before. They’ve always been available, but I like to be on top of it because I do prefer those to the pack and play. I think it depends on your baby. Some babies are used to pack and plays.

Dana Stanley 00:05:11  Then I would just get that. The Rollaway crib is smaller than a standard crib, but it has the same style of mattress like a true mattress. With my kids, I found that they sleep a little bit better in the crib with a mattress because they’re not like swishing around on the bottom of the pack and play, if that makes sense. And we can’t talk about sleep without talking about naps. And when it comes to naps, my general rule of thumb is to keep the nap times the same. I know you can’t keep like a strict schedule the same as home when you’re in Disney World, but I do try to keep those nap times almost exactly the same, but I’m really flexible about how and where they happen. So if it’s approaching their nap time, I’ll make sure that they eat, have their bottle or nurse get a fresh diaper change, and then I’ll kind of like offer a nap. So a long walk in the stroller, I’ll put their shades down with the white noise machine, or I’ll wear them in the baby carrier, or depending on which of my children I’m talking about, I would put them in a baby carrier.

Dana Stanley 00:06:18  So, for example, if your baby naps at ten and two and they’re still doing like those two naps, I would do the first one on the go, like in the carrier or in a stroller. But that second nap, I would go back to the room for like just a solid dark room crib nap. If your baby is one of those magical unicorns who always naps in the stroller. Amazing! So happy for you. Mine never did. I shouldn’t even say that. My daughters would never do that. Even when my second one, when we brought her to Disney, I was determined to be like more chill about naps and like, do them on the go. And I’m telling you, this child, she needed a dark room. Nothing going on. I don’t know if it was like FOMO or what, but we built our days around that afternoon break. Now, my son, on the other hand, maybe he takes after my husband a little bit more. On our last trip, I found that he was napping in the stroller like really well, so I didn’t stress too much about running back to the room like at a set time.

Dana Stanley 00:07:27  We still took breaks, but I could see. Especially if you’re staying off property, you’re not really going to have that flexibility of going back to the room for naps. So I would still again offer that nap. Like if 2:00 is their nap, you don’t want to be sitting down for lunch with characters and things. If it’s a 2:00 nap, I would kind of gray that part out of my schedule so we could, like, grab a drink and go for just a walk. And finally quiet pockets in the park hoping that they will nap. But I think in general, if your baby is taking two naps, having that first one on the go is going to be a lot easier than the second one. Babies just fall asleep better and aren’t fighting sleep in the mornings versus in the afternoon. They’re not overtired yet or overstimulated, so if I had to choose, I would do that in morning one on the go, second one back at the room. And honestly, nap breaks kind of felt natural for us because it’s what we did pre kids anyway.

Dana Stanley 00:08:30  Like we would have a busy park morning lunch and then go back to the room to reset before dinner. I just kind of got used to going back to the room and showering and getting ready for dinner and like a night out in the park. And now, sure, there are like more logistics, but the rhythm has pretty much stayed the same. One of the biggest, if not biggest logistic when bringing a baby to Disney World is your stroller situation. So when my youngest was seven weeks old, he was way too tiny for our usual side by side double stroller that we love. So I ended up renting one from Baby Quip. I did a mockingbird double, so it’s a tandem front back double stroller so I could have that first seat facing me, which was like very important because he’s so tiny with an infant insert, so he wasn’t like wobbling all around baby quip is kind of like Airbnb but for strollers and baby gear. So it’s like real parents renting out baby gear. Alexa, the mom we rented from was absolutely incredible.

Dana Stanley 00:09:38  I’m going to drop a link for her in the show notes. She’s a local mom who just understands what we need. Everything was super clean. I ended up getting a baby bath from her two for the room, and that’s something that I wouldn’t normally get. I would just kind of, I don’t even know, take a bath with the baby. But it was really nice to have, I got to say. And when I got home, I ended up buying the same baby bath because I loved it so much. I was like, why am I making my life so much harder? That being said, you can totally bring your own stroller if you already have a stroller that your baby loves and like sleeps good in, I would just gate check it if you’re flying. Plus you’d have it at the airport, which is really nice. But for us, the stroller that we always bring to Disney just didn’t work in this very specific scenario because he was so little. Once he hit six months, I switched back to our smaller, more compact double stroller.

Dana Stanley 00:10:36  Another thing I found that kind of surprised me on these last few trips with him is I had gotten really used to bringing a backpack to the parks, especially when my two older ones weren’t in diapers anymore. And I still love a backpack. But when you’re doing a lot of diaper changes, like when they’re little, I think I prefer a tote bag, something that’s open at the top like a shoulder bag with maybe a zipper. And that’s because you’re in and out of your bag so much more versus like when your kids are older or maybe potty trained. And I was like zipping and unzipping and zipping and unzipping and it can really get annoying with the backpack. So now I keep things that I really need, like wipes, bottles, and binky’s in a stroller organizer attached to the stroller with like my water bottle and things that I need on hand that I’m grabbing all the time. And then the tote bag will have everything else that I need when I need to grab a diaper or sunscreen or sun hat.

Dana Stanley 00:11:39  That, and I very lovingly shove it under the boot of the stroller, and I’ll just leave it there because it doesn’t have anything valuable in it. And then I will wear a sling bag on me that I essentially never take off with, like my phone. And I’ll usually do like one I call an emergency diaper, like one emergency diaper and a slim pack of wipes. That way, for some reason I’m like, not near the stroller or the tote bag and the baby has a blowout. I can just run in the bathroom, and worst case, I can change him because you won’t be able to bring your stroller in line with you on rides. And really, the majority of restaurants, which I know is a bummer if you have a sleeping baby. On our last trip, if crew fell asleep, I 100% just like took one for the team. I’d sit with him while he slept in the stroller and would just miss a ride because for real, nothing was going to have me wake up that sleeping baby.

Dana Stanley 00:12:35  If you get it, you get it. Which was really fine with me and worked out because yes, he is seven weeks old, which means I’m seven weeks postpartum. I think this isn’t talked about enough of like bringing a baby to Disney World that first year. Any time that first year you’re postpartum so you are still healing. You are dehydrated just all the time, essentially. Especially if you are nursing like your full time job while you’re in Disney is drinking water with electrolytes because regular water just like does not cut it. I saw a huge difference in my supply when I was using electrolytes versus just water. Your memories of this trip are going to be filled with very cute moments of the baby and Disney. If you’re bringing a baby between like six and nine months old. Oh my goodness, it is absolutely adorable. It’s like next to four years old is probably my favorite age to bring to Disney. They’re starting to eat solids and like, sitting up and they recognize Mickey or I don’t know what they think he is or stuffed animal.

Dana Stanley 00:13:48  I was shocked how much my son loved the fireworks. He was like clapping the whole time. I absolutely loved it. But when they’re that age, the other memories that you’re going to have are just how you felt physically. And I just want to acknowledge that of like, you’re going to be walking so much and it is going to be a lot of stress on your body, emotionally, mentally, physically. Your hormones might be still up and down. You might have some brain fog. So just remember that that’s completely normal. Like it’s not like postpartum goes away just because you’re in Disney World. And to give yourself one some grace and patience and acknowledge that, okay, I just had a baby be and to work in those rests. Like if you guys are going back to the room for nap time, let your husband take the big kids to the pool or like, kick him out of the room so you can take a nap too with the baby. Like, really just try to take it easy and don’t push yourself too hard.

Dana Stanley 00:14:52  And while the baby is awake and in the parks, your next question might be, well, what can the baby ride like? What rides can they get on? And I can’t list them all here because really, there’s too many across all four parks. That adds up to 31 things your baby can ride. They’re all listed in the show notes for you, but a general rule of thumb is when you see a ride, say any height, that means any height of person can get on the ride. One of the great things about babies that age that I love is that they’re generally clueless about what to be scared of, so I take advantage of, like, Pirates of the Caribbean Haunted Mansion. Mention things that might scare them as toddlers babies usually don’t care about. It’s no secret that babies need a lot of stuff when I’m packing a trip with a baby. Between the white noise and the bottle warmer and the carrier, it’s usually the gear that takes up so much room because their clothes are so tiny.

Dana Stanley 00:15:51  The clothes are actually the easiest. But I will tell you what we don’t pack, so we do not pack diapers, formula, or snacks for the whole trip. I’ll just bring enough for two days in case like our flight gets delayed and then I’ll Instacart the rest to the resort. I’ll have to do a whole separate episode on just ordering things to your resort, but it’s very easy to do, so don’t overthink it. You can Instacart distilled water for bottles. And again, no matter what, just order a case of water. It’s going to save you a ton of money versus buying bottled water at the parks. Just go ahead and order that case of water, because you’re going to need it. And plus, especially if you’re breastfeeding. And speaking of nursing, I just want to talk real talk here. I nursed three babies, but I was still never someone who, like, felt really comfortable doing it in public. My supply was always borderline, so like I needed it to be hydrated, fed, relaxed, especially when my babies were really tiny and crew on his first trip.

Dana Stanley 00:16:57  You’re still working on the latch and things like that. So on that trip, I actually ended up like just nursing in a bathroom stall. I know that sounds kind of weird. It was not ideal, but it had air conditioning and it was quiet and it was super private. So each park in Disneyworld has something called a baby care center, and it will have rooms for nursing, changing tables that are like really amazing. They’re like cushy good bumpers, changing tables, and then baby essentials like diapers, wipes, formula that if you forget something, you can always go to the baby care center, which is like such a stress reliever about like, what if I forget something? I think they have bottles and binky’s. They have baby medicine. It’s like a little mini store of baby things that you can buy. But with the position of where the baby care centers are, it’s not always convenient to schlep halfway across the park because you have to go feed the baby. Like when your baby’s hungry. You know? Like you got to feed the baby.

Dana Stanley 00:18:07  So if your baby is hungry, I say, just feed them. Nobody cares. Nobody’s looking at you or worried about you. They’re rushing around to their next lightning lane or dealing with their own, you know, park day woes. So I have nursed on rides, sitting on the ground. I already told you. In the bathroom stalls I’ve walked around nursing with, like, the baby under my t shirt. You just do what you gotta do and remember that you’re never going to see these people again. As for what to wear when you are nursing, I’ve gone through stages of special tops and tank tops and shawls and like all this stuff. And what my favorite ends up being is a loose t shirt with like a very stretchy pull down bra. Done. I lift the t shirt up, bra down, and if you are going to do a cover, I really like a muslin lightweight blanket. I would bring that no matter what because it’s really good for shading the baby in the sun. Like if the stroller cover doesn’t get even like their little toes, or if they’re in the baby carrier and you need to cover their head from the sun.

Dana Stanley 00:19:21  I love like a muslin blanket. You can use it as an actual blanket, like on the ground. If you have to change them, use it on the plane for when it’s chilly. Definitely pack a lightweight blanket. You’re going to be using it a ton. Here’s something that no one’s going to tell you when you have a baby at Disney, you need to order meals that you can eat with one hand because you will at some point find yourself holding a baby who, like, maybe just fell asleep while trying to, like, inhale your food. So when you’re going to order, just think like, can I eat this with one hand like a burger? Probably not a good idea to eat with one hand, but something with like a fork or a wrap or like tacos. It’s worth mentioning, too, that a glass of wine is very easy to hold in one hand with a baby, and the other just saying. If you’re nervous about people reacting negatively to seeing a baby in Disney World, especially when they’re really tiny, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how kind everyone was, even when crew would be crying with like his poor gassy tummy.

Dana Stanley 00:20:28  The looks I got were kind of puppy eyed with comments like, oh, I miss that stage. Or oh, that’s a tiny one. Everyone was really helpful, offering to open the doors for me. There was actually a mom who ended up turning on white noise on her app on her phone, because I kind of got stuck in line for Big Thunder Mountain. My in-laws had the baby and they could not calm him down, and this sweet mom came over to them and was like, I have just the thing. Like, babies love this. I ended up not riding Big Thunder Mountain on that trip because I had to. Like I saw him crying from the distance, used like the emergency exit and got out. But I was like, thank you so much, I got it, I’m here. Cast members will go above and beyond when they see little babies and just taking care of you. And while I’m talking about newborns here, I do mean like babies. Babies cry. You’re coming back on the bus from fireworks, and your baby is letting everyone know that they are done.

Dana Stanley 00:21:29  I’m just telling you, it stinks, but no one cares. And if they do, they shouldn’t be in Disney World. Okay, this may be like the worst thing to say. As a mom who documents literally everything and also has a business around Disney, but I don’t have a single photo of my kids in front of the castle and a little pair of Mickey ears. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. And really, that’s okay. I don’t want you to feel added stress of like, getting this perfect photo of your baby’s first visit, but I really, really want you to still get that pair of Mickey ears with their names embroidered on them. And I’ll tell you why. This is my favorite keepsake, and I think one of the best uses of money you could spend on a souvenir, because I still have my oldest and I see it every single day in her room. And it makes me remember that first trip. And even though she doesn’t remember, obviously a trip at six months old, every time she sees it, she’s reminded, oh, those are my ears.

Dana Stanley 00:22:36  From when I went to Disney World for the first time with Mom and Dad. I’ll link where to get these in the parks because they’re just really special. I have one for each of my kids and I think they’re just like, so sweet and classic. And I get it. People will say, this is silly, don’t bring a baby. They’re not going to remember it, but you will. It’s still your motherhood, too. My youngest first trip at seven weeks old was really, really hard. His second trip at six months was absolute magic. He was happy, smiling, eating solids, napping in the stroller. It was great. I don’t regret that first trip when he was really little because I had older kids with me. Like life doesn’t stop for your older ones when you have a baby. So if you’re wondering if it’s worth it, here’s my take. You’re definitely going to have stories to tell. Memories you’ll never forget. And yes, a few chaotic moments. But that’s going to happen whether you’re at home or Disney World.

Dana Stanley 00:23:36  And the difference for me was instead of being home while my husband was at work dealing with these chaotic moments, I had dad with me and extra hands and help and non-stop entertainment for my two older ones. So if you’re bringing your baby to Disney, I hope this was helpful in knowing what to expect and what to give yourself a little bit of grace on. I’m going to drop links in the show notes for Baby Quip that rental service. My favorite electrolytes because again, you need to hydrate and everything else. I mentioned something I would pack beyond a white noise machine. Is any type of like sleep sack that the baby’s used to, or lovey if they’re used to that. Anything from home that will signal sleep to them is really going to help in the hotel room. And if you were in Disney World in October 2024 and you saw a mom sprinting on the boardwalk barefoot in the rain, pushing a double stroller with a baby in it, yeah, that was definitely me. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast.

Dana Stanley 00:24:46  If you enjoyed today’s episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me if you’d write a quick review. Your reviews help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them. Seriously. Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram @SomewhereWorthwhile and I’d love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.