Top Tips for Traveling with a Baby (or Toddler)

Recently, I have become the go-to tagged person to give some Disney advice for babies and toddlers. I guess it's no secret that we love Disney and do not subscribe to the "wait until they can remember it" thinking. We have taken both boys before they even turned one; Robby made it to both Disneyland and Disneyland Paris before that milestone birthday. Of course they won't remember it, but we will, and we'll have stories and pictures to share. I may be biased, because I was definitely "born and raised" Disney, but if you have the means, take the trip!

Robby in Paris!

While I could go on forever on how to make it the best trip ever, I narrowed it down to my top ten tips for traveling with babies and toddlers to a Disney resort. Let me know anything I missed!

1. Use the Baby Care Centers! These are special rooms located in each park (check the park map for exact locations). They are quiet, cool, and relaxing. I have personally nursed babies many times here, plus they have nice changing areas that are much less crazy than the regular bathrooms. You can also warm food, set your littles up in a proper high chair, and some even have small tables and chairs to let them watch a cartoon. It's a great place to go if you (or your baby) are overwhelmed by the crowds and just need to catch your breath. The staff is always so sweet! You can also pick up any forgotten baby-specific items here, such as diapers or baby food. These are definitely underutilized! Check them out!

2. Bring your stroller! I prefer to travel with my running stroller because it's so easy to move, even though it is pretty big (okay, the double BOB is huge). You might be more of a "smaller is better" person, which is fine too. No matter how much your kid loves to walk or you love to carry them, I think a stroller is just necessary. BONUS TIP: Mark your stroller with a tag, ribbon, or balloon. Did you know that they often move strollers to keep the park traffic flowing? When you exit a ride or attraction, your stroller will probably have been moved. We have a sign that we hang from the handlebar and it helps us find ours easily in a sea of strollers.

3. Baby-wear! Wait, but didn't you just say bring a stroller? Of course, but I honestly do both. Using a carrier while you wait in line or eat at a restaurant (with a napping baby) is the best! Also, for some areas of the park, like Fantasyland, we will park our stroller and walk from ride to ride. Just be sure not to leave your carrier in your stroller; I have heard many stories of sticky fingers taking carriers (so sad, I know).

4. Use rider swap! I really need a write step-by-step how to on this one, but let's just say you can double your fast passes and completely master Disney by using Rider Swap. This program lets one part of your party stay with the little ones while the other rides the thrill rides. Then, you can swap and skip the line so the other party can ride. If you're traveling in a group, the lucky ones can even ride twice. Just see a cast member at the fast pass line entrance and make sure to bring your little one along. They will ask who is going first and who will swap, scan your magic band or give you a pass, and you are ready to swap and have some fun.

5. Plan for regular nap times. If your baby is great at sleeping in a stroller, this can be a great time to get in some rides that have a height requirement. We personally have always done well with having the boys sleep either in a stroller or carrier (versus going back to the room).

6. Know your limits! I think this is more for toddlers than babies, but know when they have just had enough. We have suffered from trying to push Robby a little too much on a trip. Take breaks at the pool. Sleep in. Go to bed early. We all know Disney isn't a relaxing vacation, but find ways to make sure everyone gets enough rest to have some fun.

7. Poop bags are life! If you have a little still in diapers, pack the disposable diaper bags (the small, individual tie ones). Being in a hotel room with a poopy diaper isn't fun for anyone!

8. Pack a reusable shopping bag. If you plan to take a stroller, you will inevitably end up with junk under it, strapped to it, on top of it, etc. To board Disney buses, you have to fold the stroller. We always carry along a shopping bag, then just toss everything in there quickly before folding the stroller. It's so much easier than trying to hold everything or (worse) find a spot to put things.

Ryan's First Haircut

9. Measure your kiddos at home! There are quite a few rides that have a lower height requirement (think Mine Train, not Splash Mountain). Don't set your littles up for disappointment. Know their height, and plan accordingly. Of course, we double checked, but we knew exactly what rides we could go on before we arrived.

10. Make some memories! There are so many special experiences you can do! From character meals to dress up experiences, the list is almost endless. You don't have to add anything on and still have an amazing trip, but if you want a few extras, Disney offers so many options. By far, though, our favorite is the first haircut at Walt Disney World's Harmony Barbershop. Both boys and our nieces have had their first haircut there. It was an amazing experience, surprisingly affordable, and sprinkled with magic like only Disney can do. Make sure you make your reservation ahead of time! They book up fast!

runDisney bonus tip: The kids races are awesome! Both boys have already done the Diaper Dash, and Robby has run the 100m a few times. In the upcoming year, we probably won't do every kids race, but they are another great value and a ton of fun for a race weekend.

I'd love to hear your questions and tips! What is your number one tip?

Disneyland with an Infant: My Packing List

Well, here we are! We're (finally) packing our bags for the 2016 Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. We started running this race in 2010 and have run every year since. This, though, is a WHOLE new world. This year we're traveling with a baby. Who knew these little creatures needed so much stuff? I've got the race-cation packing thing down, but this new territory is a bit scary. Here's my packing list for Robby's first Disneyland trip. What am I missing? Help a new mama out!

Stroller

Stroller Lock

Mommy Hook

Handlebar Tote

Sign or Luggage Tag

Fan

Weather Shield

Carrier

Suck Pads

Cooling Towels

Diapers

Wipes

Face/Hand Wipes

Pacifier Wipes

Hand Sanitizer

Disposable Diaper Bags

Quart & Gallon Zipper Bags

Noise Reduction Headphones

Baby Monitor

Picture Mat & Markers

Toys & Links

Blankets

Hats

Sunglasses

Sandals

Basic First Aid Kit

Inflatable Bathtub

Baby Wash

Nail Clippers

Brush

Toothbrush

Baby Lotion

Sample Sizes of Other Care Items

Disposable Placemats

Sponge/Bottle Brush

Dish Soap

Sippy Cups/Bottles

Bowls

Spoons

Food

Snacks

Cooler

Bibs

Breast Pump

Burp Cloths/Receiving Blankets

Laundry Detergent

Backpack as Diaper Bag

Changing Pad

Pack N Play Sheets

Pajamas

Outfits

Shoes

Socks

Outerwear

Bathing Suit

Swim Diapers

Pool Floatie

I will definitely be posting this in a printable format so it's more user-friendly after our trip. First, though, I have to test out my list and see how good it is! LOL

Also, I'll be 'going live' on Facebook (on my business page) this Wednesday to show you what I pack in my carry-on when I'm flying to a race weekend. Hope you join me! Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/myfitfunlife/

Disneyland, Party of One

As many of you know, I love an adventure and trying new things. I recently had an opportunity to do both. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was scheduled to work for an entire week in Los Angeles, with the exception of Tuesday. I took that as an opportunity (or should I say excuse?) to explore a little or to do something fun. I checked Yelp and Trip Advisor for some ideas, and of course Disneyland was one of their recommendations. This got me thinking. Since I have an annual pass, why not head down to the parks for the day?  I decided to call a few people to see if anyone was free, but unfortunately, no one was. Ugh. Time to look for a Plan B.

Or was it? Hmm, what if I just went by myself? 

Wouldn't that be weird, though? I wanted to get a second opinion, so I went back online and read a few blogs from people who had done Disneyland solo. They all recommended it. Between that and with a little encouragement from my fellow Disney nut/wife, I decided it might be worth heading down to Anaheim to spend a few hours in the parks and have lunch. I mean, it beats hanging out in the hotel all day, right?

So the next morning, I braved the L.A. traffic and took the 40-mile drive to the Happiest Place on Earth. It took me well over an hour, but finally I arrived, parked the car, and began walking towards the gates. I quickly became very aware of all of the families and couples around me, and started to have second thoughts. Perhaps this was only a good idea in theory. Awkward or not, it's a little late now. Besides, worst case scenario is that I head to Downtown Disney, grab some lunch, and drive back if it wasn't fun. 

I decided to check out California Adventure first. Any awkwardness I felt quickly went away as I strolled from the main entrance to Radiator Springs Racers and observed that there were a lot of people walking by themselves. I assumed that they had temporarily separated from their group to pick up a Fast Pass, get a drink, maybe use the restroom and were now headed back to meet up again. And that was when the light bulb above my head lit up! Other people who see me will probably assume the same thing (that is, if they even notice me at all). Alright, I'm ready to do this!

Now Radiator Springs Racers, one of the newest attraction in California Adventure, is notorious for having long lines, and today would be no different. The wait was 80 minutes. Weak. But alas, this ride has a line designated for single riders, and it was much shorter. (FYI- it was 29 minutes. So much better.) 

With one ride down, I recalled that California Screamin' was close by, so I decided to go there next. (Side note: this is one of the perks of going solo- no long discussions to get everyone to agree what to do next. You want to do something? You do it.) Using the single rider line again, I was able to board the coaster in only 27 minutes (as opposed to 35 in the main line). To pass the time, I struck up a conversation with the guy in front of me, an entertainment lawyer from L.A. He had finished work early and since he was an annual passholder, decided to spend the afternoon at Disneyland. How cool is that? Afterwards, as I exited the ride, I was greeted by a Disney cast member who was handing out readmission tickets. Apparently, the ride had broken down while we were waiting and to compensate us for the "inconvenience", we were all given a front-of-the-line pass to whichever ride we wanted to go on next. Really? It was only twenty-sev... uh, nevermind. Thanks. 

I used my pass to jump the line onto one of my favorites, Tower of Terror. It was while waiting in line for this ride that I had the most memorable moment of the day. For those of you who have not been on the ride, you start out by watching a short Twilight Zone video giving you the back story on how the service elevators became haunted. Afterwards, you head to the boiler room to wait for your elevator. It was there that this 7-8 year old little girl turns to me and out of the blue the following conversation takes place:

Girl: (in a reassuring voice) "Just so you know, that service elevator, it's not real."

Mom: <smiles and shrugs her shoulders>

Me: "I sure hope so. That video was pretty scary."

Girl: "Nope. It's not real. It's all juuuust pretend." (I'm guessing somebody needed a little pep talk to get her to go on the ride.)

Me: "I'm so glad you told me that. I was getting nervous. Will you remind me again if you hear me screaming on the elevator?"

Girl: "Ok. I will." (Turns back and resumes conversation with little brother)

Kids crack me up. 

After having lunch at Carthay Circle (opting for the firecracker duck wings of course), I walked across the way to the Disneyland side where the trend continued- short lines, easy decisions, and random conversations with complete strangers. It was such a different, but great way to experience Disney! In addition to the lawyer and the brave little girl, I also met a newspaper editor from New Orleans and a lady from Salt Lake City whose nephew is an axe murderer. Yes, you read that correctly. To call It an over-share would definitely be an understatement, but I have to admit, it certainly was a fascinating story and made the time pass quickly while waiting in line!

Although I only planned on going to the parks for a few hours, when all was said and done, I ended up spending the entire day there. And I realized on the drive back to the hotel that I had managed to get on a total of ten rides, waited for an average of only 16 minutes per ride, and wanted to add my name to the list of bloggers who would recommend that others try Disneyland solo if the opportunity presented itself. 

An impromptu trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

If you follow along on Twitter or Instagram, you may have seen that this past weekend Bill and I made an impulse decision to hop in the car and drive to Disneyland for 24 hours.  It's one of those "only when we have an annual pass" kind of trips...and it was a BLAST!

First, clearly I'm a Disney planner!  My parents taught me at a young age to plan each and every Disney moment to get the most out of each trip.  I generally follow that rule; dining reservations, packing lists, hotels, schedules...I do it all!  This time, though, we literally booked the hotel as we were on our way, picked up a sandwich for the road, and didn't even take a bathroom break.  It was very out of character for me!

We were a little worried about it being Easter and Spring Break, but we were pleasantly surprised at the low level of crowds on Saturday night.  It helped that all passes except Premium were blacked out and we stayed until park closing at midnight (we arrived at 5pm).  It also helped to have some Starbucks after dinner to perk us up for the late night.  In all honesty I haven't been to the park when it was this empty in a long time...maybe ever!  We walked right on Haunted Mansion with zero wait, even to get in the buggy.

Easter was a little busier, but we were still able to get on tons of rides.  If we had gotten up a bit earlier it would have been even better.  Carthay Circle was almost empty, but we still made reservations just to be sure.  I had to drive home alone, but even the drive was fairly short with almost no traffic.

Happy Easter from Disneyland!

This was seriously one of the most fun times I've had in Disney!  I think it was the spontaneity that made it just a little more fun!  If you're a passholder that isn't quite local, drop everything, get in your car, and go for a day.  The planner in me didn't even realized what was going on before I was back home and back to work.  Have you ever done a trip like this?  Tell me about it!

Hilton Bonnet Creek: an Alternative Location for a WDW Racecation

That "precious" bag

Dangle a runDisney backpack in front of Alyson and you never know what will happen!  She called me from the Wine and Dine Expo asking if I wanted to go to WDW in January.   Apparently, she needed this backpack they were giving away with Goofy entries and Billy couldn’t go with her. Refuse a trip to Disney…I don’t think so!  And so we had to quickly plan our trip. We decided to stay off property.   We heard that the Hilton had race transportation, so we thought we’d give it a try. 

Hilton Bonnet Creek is “surrounded by the Walt Disney World

Room with 2 Queen Beds

Resort” as they say on their website.   They offer free transportation to all 4 parks and I must say, they were always on schedule.  You can purchase park tickets there and they even have a store where you can buy Disney products.  This hotel is all about customer service.   At check in, I had to join our 2 reservations, no problem.  I mentioned that we were there for marathon weekend.  Even though we had not specifically registered under their “marathon weekend package”, they gave me the swag bag and explained all the special accommodations they had for marathoners. 

Swag bag--even included a Bondi Band

One of the fun things in the bag was instructions for entering their contest for runners…estimate your finish time and the winner won a free weekend for a future stay at Hilton Bonnet Creek!

Bonus:  As I was settling in on Thursday night, I heard fireworks.  I looked out the window and could see Illuminations off to the right!

On Friday, at noon, they open the special concierge for marathon weekend.   It’s here that you sign up for race transportation.  They offered transportation for both the half on Saturday and the full on Sunday.  The only drawback here is if you are doing Dopey, you would need to get to the 5k and 10k yourself. 

They also had several buses going to the expo on Friday afternoon.  That didn’t fit my schedule (I wanted to go in the morning) so I hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom (ticket and transportation center), took a monorail to the Polynesian and boarded an expo bus there.  When I returned to the hotel in the afternoon, I signed Alyson and myself up for the race buses (you get a wristband that gets you a seat on the bus).   I didn’t know how I was going to tell Aly we had to be downstairs for 2:45am!!! 

Runner Breakfast

It was quite the spread!

Saturday morning we went down to the lobby at 2:45.  What a sendoff this hotel gives you!!  There was a full spread of bagels, protein bars, COFFEE (I don’t function well without it), water, and everything that might be on a runners list.  In addition, there were hotel employees cheering everyone on.   We boarded the first bus heading to the race (noted here that Sunday there was no need for us to be on the first bus).

After the race, we went to Harvest Bistro for breakfast.  We came straight from the race.  The staff treated Alyson like royalty (and it wasn’t even Princess weekend!).   Our waiter told us that he would be one of the “cheerers” on Sunday morning.   He said the staff looks forward to this because it’s so much fun.

Feeling Goofy on the bus at 3am

Sunday morning, we went down a little later but still had the same experience.   Took a coffee on the bus with me, some water for later and we were off.

View from our room

There are several fine restaurants on property (both at the Hilton and the sister Waldorf Astoria within walking distance).   Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to experience any of them as we were there a short time and wanted to get some park time in.  We also looked at their fully equipped fitness center.  We didn’t use it, but it was there if needed. I also regret not being able to take a trip around the “lazy river” in the pool.  It was too cold to even attempt!

Would we stay here again?   Definitely!  In fact, this would be a nice place to stay on a non-race trip so we would get to enjoy everything this resort has to offer.  You can check them out HERE .

Have you ever stayed off property for a runDisney event?   

Happy, Healthy Travels

 

We are spending a lot of time in airports this holiday season.  Between visiting family, vacations, oh, and of course my hubby traveling for work, plus the upcoming runDisney races, the airport is quickly becoming our best friend.  We all know, though, that it's cold and flu season, and there is no place better to get sick than an airplane.  I've consulted with my travel expert (my hubby) and we've come up with our top tips to remain healthy this holiday season while you travel. 

 

1.  Wash your hands OFTEN.  Like, all the time!  Planes are full of germs, so as soon as you get off the plane, head for the bathroom to wash your hands. 

 

2.  Drink plenty of water.  Planes are dry, and if you're like me, you have trouble sticking to healthy habits while traveling.  One of those is drinking water.  I like to carry a reusable water bottle with me and refill once going through security.  Yep, I'm cheap like that!  But it also encourages me to drink more than the little cup of water they give you on the plane.   

3.  Not to sound too germ-crazy, but wipe down your tray table with an antibacterial wipe, especially if you plan on eating off the table.  If you're not really going to use it, you can skip this step, but if you're spreading out your dinner, wipe it down. 

 

4.  Take your vitamins and eat healthy!  I know, I know, this time of year it's hard.  That makes it even more important!  Arm yourself with a healthy immune system so your body can ward off all the colds floating around.  I usually will take some Airborne and I always drink my Shakeology daily. 

 

5.  Pack healthy snacks.  Airport junk food can be enticing, so come prepared.  Trail mix, meal replacement bars, and fruit all make easy, portable snacks.  Read #4...you want to save your calories and cheat meals for mom's home-cooking, not for some overcooked fast food at the airport!

 

6.  Get plenty of sleep!  If you are like us and you're switching time zones repeatedly, it's easy to get caught up in the fun and not sleep enough.  Especially if you have some red-eye flights, do what you can to make yourself comfy and get some extra ZZZZZZZ. 

 

7.  Reduce your stress.  Get to the airport early, know it will be busy, and find some quiet time to relax.  Stress is harmful to your body, so do what you can to reduce stress while you travel.

 

What tips did we miss?  We still have plenty of flying to do in 2015, so we'd love to hear your best healthy travel tips!