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Writer's pictureRachel Berntsen

traveling with toddlers


First of all, thank you to those of you who reached out to me about "sacrificial love." It truly meant a lot. The outpouring of support and empathy I've experienced through this blog continues to surprise me in the best way possible, and I just hope that you, my dear reader, continue to feel the same from me!


Okay, disclaimer: this post is probably the most practical post I will ever write for this blog. Apologies in advance if the advice doesn't apply to you or to your stage of life, but I appreciated the advice I received prior to flying with Emalyn for the first time and want to pay it forward by sharing what was shared with me as well as some of my own tips. Let's start with the trip though.


Peter and I were ecstatic that he had JUST enough vacation time left in order for us to take Emalyn to Orlando for a few days. I was determined to take her to Disney, so we spent two days at Disney (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom), a day at SeaWorld, and a recovery day at Disney Springs and a local park. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking - why bother bringing Emalyn to the most magical place on earth when she won't have any memories of it? To which I say this: the trip was only HALF for Emalyn. The other half was absolutely for me. The last time we went to Disney was when I was 7.5 months pregnant and couldn't go on some of the rides (though the ride I was most interested in and was the only non-Emalyn-friendly ride I went on while at Disney was Flight of Passage because it's one of my best friend's favorite rides ever). Plus everything Emalyn did was free - she sat in our laps during both flights and she was free at all three parks. Perks of having a child under 2 I guess lol. That's why we ended up hitting SeaWorld too - we hadn't been to SeaWorld since we were kids, Peter was especially eager to go again, and Emalyn loves anything to do with animals, so since we had time for it, we figured why not!


We had a truly amazing time. SeaWorld is still an amazing aquarium, with the addition of several rollercoasters that didn't exist back when Peter and I had visited as kids. We saw a few shows (including one with orcas that were being rehabilitated!), ate some good food, and saw some truly beautiful animals (including some exhibits with stingrays that we saw while walking through the empty line for one of the rollercoasters!). Emalyn could've sat and watched the penguins all day. Peter and I each got to go on a rollercoaster as well because the lines were ridiculously short the day we went (Emalyn had fun trying to spot us too).


The two days at Disney were a blast as well. It was pouring for most of the day at Magic Kingdom, but all of the lines to the rides were covered, and once we were soaked through, we couldn't do much else other than laugh it off. Also, Emalyn met Mickey on both days (just Mickey at Magic and both Mickey and Minnie at Animal), and those moments alone made the trip worth it. I had shown her footage of parades on YouTube the week before so she'd know what to expect, and perhaps seeing Mickey in a parade right before meeting him in person helped, but she ran right up to him and gave him a hug both times. And afterwards, she wanted to go back for more! She definitely enjoyed the rides that she went on too, though her favorite was definitely the TriceraTop Spin in Dinoland - she went on that one twice and even wanted to go a third time!


And now for the tips. As I mentioned earlier, this was our first time flying with Emalyn, and as someone who considers herself to be an anxious flyer, I was definitely nervous. She honestly did better than I could've hoped, though! We had a 2 hour flight on the way down from JFK and a 2.5 hour flight back. The flight on the way down was at 7:30am. This was because Peter wanted to maximize our time there - otherwise, I would've gone with suggestions from other mamas about going during her naptime. We were all tired but were also running on plenty of adrenaline, especially Emalyn, so Peter and I just focused on entertaining her as much as possible. I bought some new toys and books for her, and I had a coloring book with stickers for her too. Thanks to multiple suggestions, I also bought a pair of kid headphones and downloaded some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before we left so she could watch some TV on my iPad. And since she's attached to Leonard, her elephant-pacifier combo, she didn't have any problems with her ears popping. While she was sitting with Peter for the first half of the flight, she definitely bumped the woman sitting in front of her several times (I apologized after the flight), so when we switched and I held her, I held her sideways so that she could stretch her legs across us. On the way back, things were easier. The flight left at 8:30pm. This time, we explained to her why she couldn't kick the seat in front of her, so she was a lot better about that while we waited for the plane to taxi. She cried for a couple of minutes before takeoff because she was just overly tired, but after takeoff, I nursed her, she fell asleep, and she slept the rest of the way. I hadn't actually considered that she might sleep (I was mentally prepared to entertain her again), so I then proceeded to scramble to find a movie that I could watch and finish during the remainder of the flight lol (I settled on Me Before You because I'd seen it before and hated the ending anyway).


My mindset going into the trip was to both focus on her and to also prevent the people around us from getting upset, but by the end, my sole focus was on her. I've told the following story a few times now, so apologies if you're hearing it again. As someone who's always been a people pleaser, when it's clear that I've upset someone, I usually feel guilty about it for a while after (sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a year). When I apologized to the woman on that first flight, she expressed to me that she had a bad back, as though she were trying to make me feel worse. I apologized a second time and proceeded to forget about the situation entirely. This is NOT normal for me, and it only dawned on me that evening that I hadn't let it get to me. You know what? It felt good! I was really proud of myself for letting it go! I accepted the fact that I can only help Emalyn be mindful of other people to a certain extent at her age (even if the woman couldn't) and moved on, just allowing myself to focus on her and her needs. That was a huge win for me.


Okay, okay, here are some tips about traveling with a toddler:

  1. Bring your own stroller. It was AMAZING being able to keep our stroller with us all the way up until we boarded the plane and having it waiting for us when we landed. So grateful to the friend who mentioned this to me. We kept her in it for the most part while at the airport, and I was able to keep the diaper bag in it while carrying my other carry-on. Originally, I had been a little concerned about bringing our everyday stroller to the parks themselves, but it ended up being completely fine. We used it to hold jackets and such while going on rides or into shows, and I kept the diaper bag in it when we were going from point A to point B. The safari ride at Animal Kingdom even lets you stand in line with your stroller until the end. Emalyn is also very familiar with it and had no problems taking naps in it. It was just a nice way to save money.

  2. Always have snacks on you. This was true for the plane ride, and this was true for the parks. This probably is a no-brainer, but I wanted to take the time to recommend this particular snack holder that my cousin recommended. Emalyn had SO much fun with it because she never knew which snack she was going to find next (I threw in some M&Ms behind 2-3 of the doors to pique her interest as well). This made for a great game on the flight as well as while we stood in line for rides too.

  3. Consider packing your lunches. We had thought about eating at the parks, and while we did this at SeaWorld because we were there the first day and Peter had gotten a good deal on meal plans with his veteran discount, we packed lunches for Disney. One nice thing about this was we were able to maximize our time for going on rides - Peter and I ate our sandwiches while standing in line, and Emalyn ate her food in the stroller while we were on the go between rides. It worked out really well for us and also saved us a good amount of money. Just something to think about!

  4. Rent a car. Gone are the days of Ubering around while on vacation - renting a car through Turo (as recommended by a friend) was definitely the way to go! First of all, it was really nice skipping the long wait at car rental places and having the car brought right to us. That was awesome. It was really convenient having a car to store our luggage until we could check into our Air Bnb too. I also can't tell you how many times we took family naps in it throughout the trip (including one right in the parking lot of Animal Kingdom!). Being able to easily leave the park and return when we wanted was a plus as well.

  5. Remember that leaving the park and returning to it later is an option. I'd never done this before because I'd never had a need to do it, but that first day at SeaWorld would not have been as awesome if we hadn't left to recharge before returning for dinner and the orca show. We didn't do this for every park, but it was really nice knowing we had the option of doing it.

  6. Be flexible with your park schedules. Peter and I went into this vacation knowing the only ride that was non-negotiable was Flight of Passage for me (I waited in line for an hour and it was definitely worth it!). Everything else was wide open, so we decided what we wanted to go on based on wait times, how Emalyn was feeling, how we were feeling, and location. We used to optimize our schedule so we could go on as many rides as possible, but this time, we were very relaxed about it, and honestly, we still had a great time and managed to go on a lot of rides. It meant a lot less preplanning compared to what we did in the past too.

  7. Don't forget about diaper changes. I hate to admit this, but it's a lot easier for me to remember to regularly change Emalyn's diaper when we're at home and it's part of the norm; it's a lot harder for me to remember when we're out and about because I have so many other things distracting me, and she hadn't yet started telling us when she had a full diaper during this trip. Thankfully, I kept a change of clothes with us at all times, and I definitely got better about it as the days went by...heh.


If you've flown with a little before, these tips probably come as no surprise to you, but I just wanted to share what I was told and what I've also learned from this experience. Feel free to comment and share any others that you think should be mentioned!





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