A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Disney Recap Part One)

Welcome to the first blog post on Baby Sleep by Stacy! I thought that a recap of our Disney trip would make the perfect introductory post.

Recently, my family of four––myself, my husband Andy, our son Carson (4), and daughter Noel (2), traveled to Disney World along with my mom (aka Mimi), my brother Christian, and his girlfriend, Courtney. We are by no means a tried and true "Disney family". For context, I was fortunate enough to go many times as a child. My brother had only been once when he was about Carson's age, and Courtney shared that she also has not been since she was a child.

As for us, we took Carson for a very quick trip just before his second birthday. We had no intentions of taking him so young (I was also very pregnant with Noel), but my mom had a business trip in Orlando, so we made a long weekend out of it. We spent half a day in Magic Kingdom, did some character dining, and lots of playtime at the resort.

But this trip? This trip was different. This was a REAL Disney vacation. My full-time job is at an independent school, and we are closed for two weeks in March, so my mom and I had the idea for this trip for quite some time and started planning over the summer! We used a Disney travel agent, my friend Ashley, who works with Mickey Travels, LLC, to do ALL of planning. Again, not being experts, we wanted to have a real expert do the planning so that we could best maximize our time and money. As the trip got closer, the kids were getting SO excited. They had been asking Alexa how many days away it was and updating our countdown magnet since before Christmas!

Now, since this is a SLEEP blog, I am not going to go into detail about every minute of every day, but, I will focus on sleeping arrangements (or sometimes, lack thereof), for us and our kiddos, how to prepare for the flight, naps on the go, and more. Your expectation? Let it go...

The flight

Carson had flown back in 2022, but this was his first flight as far as he can remember. He did not need to sit in a car seat, which made it much more enjoyable for him! He sat next to his Mimi, right across the aisle from me, Noel, and Andy. I took packing for the plane very seriously, and boy am I glad I did! Here are the essentials that I packed for him:

• iPad and headphones

• Travel neck pillow

• Blanket

• More snacks than you can imagine

• Water bottle

• Milk and extra cup

• Toys and coloring books

The iPad is not something that he has regular access to, so this was a treat for him. It was also his first time using headphones (he used to have major ear sensitivities, so this was a win! I got him new Super Mario ones for Valentine's Day to get him excited for the flight). When he got sleepy, he used his travel pillow to get comfy with my mom and watch something. He did not nap on the plane (he is almost 4.5 so does not nap at all anymore except for the occasional car or couch doze) which was fine–I thought maybe he might, but I also knew that despite looking sleepy and being up early, he had a lot of adrenaline! He was happy to have a variety of snacks (in a variety of containers, which also helps!) and even pick out his own snack when they offered them (kid loves a Stroopwaffel).

This was obviously Noel's first flight, and she was in a car seat that we specifically used for the trip. Here's what I had at the ready for her:

• Her lovey

• A tablet

• Travel neck pillow

• Blanket

• Even more snacks than you could fathom

• Water bottle

• Baba with milk

• Lots and lots of toys and coloring

Noel does not usually watch the iPad either, but we knew that it would be helpful to have one for each kiddo to keep them occupied, so we borrowed a tablet from my mom that Andy was able to program with just a few shows for her. Both kids actually also enjoyed picking out a movie on the plane's built-in screens, which was a good break from the tablets. I did have headphones packed for Noel, but she had no interest in using them, so we kept her tablet at a very minimal volume (luckily the people in front of us were my brother and Courtney!). I had thought that maybe Noel would nap, as it was her usual naptime, but she was also too excited. Not a big deal, I thought, we'll just have a decently early bedtime. Narrator: Only it was a big deal, and you'll see why...

In addition to their small backpacks filled with snacks and essentials, both kids also had a small Disney roller suitcase (from Santa!) that had ADDITIONAL backup items packed: overnight pull ups/diapers and wipes, (overnights are the best kind to use on a plane because have you ever changed a baby or kiddo in a friggin' airplane bathroom?), more blankets and pillows, more snacks, and their "bedtime" stuff from home, along with their toiletries an extra outfit, etc. Stay tuned for my packing essentials checklist (coming soon!) so that I can save you the stress of knowing what to pack!

I would say that for the flight, I felt very prepared. And good thing, since our flight was delayed 2.5 hours once we were already boarded! We boarded at 9:30ish a.m. for a 10 a.m. flight, since we had small children. There was a slight delay before we pulled away from the gate... but then we had to go back to the gate! We did not take off until 12:30 p.m., meaning our 4 and 2 year old were on the plane for 3 hours before we even took off! And let me tell you something, they were ANGELS. And I will take credit for some of that because I had enough snacks and essentials for them to be comfortable and occupied, but I also have to give them immense credit for really handling their first flight delay like champs!

Wow, all of this information and this is only just the flight? Check back tomorrow for part two, where I get into bed rails, feral kids with scraped knees, and the battle of the Tonies.