Kids outgrowing Disney seats, LOL!

bnsnyde

New member
Ever have the perfect plan, and then your kids decide to grow? LOL. Everybody is so darned tall.

We MIGHT do Disney in early 2012 and I had a plan for seats for 4 kids. And no lugging anything giant or heavy. I DO NOT want to bring a Radian. I know they fold, but still.

2-year-old very close to outgrowing RF Onside Air. That is his Disney seat. He just turned 2 July 30. Stop growing!!!

The almost 4-year-old (RF in my van) probably won't fit the Scenera, so she can get the Maestro for the trip, fine.
And the 5-year-old probably won't get the Maestro then (getting closer to 50), but carry the Prosport Harnessed seat. For him I'll allow one giant seat; have to. HE can even carry it!

And the 6-month-old is OFF THE CHARTS for height. HE might get a RF Scenera for the trip if the Chaperone won't work by then. I have to watch that I don't crush his feet when I click the seat in, already. And the shower-cap thing for winter? Really hard to zip!

I am blaming dad. He is 6'4". For someone who loves ERF, it's ironic my kids are so tall. Yikes! :eek:
 
ADS

hrice

New member
What about RSTVs for the 4 and 5 yr olds and the Scenera and Chaperone or 2 Sceneras for the littles? Do you have another RF seat besides the Radian for your 2yo?
 

bnsnyde

New member
We'll certainly need seats for the rental car (and I'll want them on the plane, too). I might get someone to drive us to the airport IN our own van so we can use those to get to the airport at least. :)

I prefer a shell so I'll use regular seats. I have them all ready; I'm just amazed at how the kids are growing. I'll just keep an eye on the newly turned 2-year-old's growth to see if he can RF still in 2 or 3 months. Really it's just the Scenera/Onside Air for his travel. Advocates don't travel well, ha! Even with that one, I am closely watching shell clearance for his head. He is almost as tall as the 4-year-old. :(

Last time we did Disney (sort of), we were visiting relatives. Husband drove in with the then 2-year-old (about an hour drive) and said is was super easy. The whole trip cost us almost nothing! I stayed at the house with the baby (and was pregnant anyway). And now we have 4, lol!
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
This is unsolicited advice, so if it's not wanted or it's something you already know, please feel free to disregard. The Disney nerd in me would feel awful if it's info that I know, which would help you, and I didn't offer it up.

Depending on how your family wants to "do" Disney -- namely, how many days you plan on visiting the parks -- it can be surprisingly economical to stay on site. I priced out five-day tickets, and then a week's stay on-site (including "free dining," which would pay for all of your food, or nearly all of your food,) and it's a difference of $1200-1400. When you factor in the price of a rental van, which is running ridiculously high right now -- I got $500 -- that could be eliminated by using on-site transportation, the difference begins to shrink. Factoring in food and gas brings those numbers even closer yet.

For my nanny family, "going to Disney" meant spending one day at the Magic Kingdom, so they were happy to stay offsite in a rental house, and spend their time going to the beach, Gatorland, etc. For me, "going to Disney" means a full week, including as much weekend time as I can stretch with flight times, staying onsite, being in the parks as much as possible, etc, etc. Staying an hour away and driving back and forth would drive me batty, especially doing it over and over for a week.

That said, everyone is different, and if you have a plan that will work well for your family, then go for it! I just wanted to offer up that option, in case you weren't aware it was out there, which incidentally will help with at least some of the carseat dilemma. As I said to start, it's totally unsolicited advice and if it doesn't work for you, no problem, I just wanted to throw it out there. If it does interest you, let me know, and I'll be happy to lay the numbers out a bit further. :)

Lastly, apologies for pulling the thread OT... it is rooted in carseats, I swear! :p
 

bnsnyde

New member
Hrice and Carrie, all good info! Thank you.

I think Disney cost us $75 total the last trip (plus flight.) Heck, the 2-year-old was even free at the park, and he was about to turn 3 in a few weeks.

Now, this time it will be more, obviously.
But I think the plan was to stay off-site anyway.
I'm sort of a go to grandma's old hometown in the Midwest kind of girl--that's my dream vacation. Husband is a Disney guy. I do think it'll be fun with the kids.
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Yeah, if it was just DH and a toddler for the day, that's about the cost of a one-day ticket. Ticket prices have gone up, quite a bit, in the last few years... and they are front-loaded, so day one is expensive, day two is slightly less expensive. Day 3 gets a bit more economical, and after day 4, add'l days are $8/day. On the up side, your two youngest will still be free! :) But that's why I said your definition of "doing" Disney made a big difference in the price and which way makes more sense.

Whenever you start looking into options, I wouldn't discount onsite totally as "too expensive," was essentially my point. Off-site is definitely a better option for some families -- I always thought it was less expensive, but then I started running numbers for my upcoming trip and it was more hassle for such a small return (about a $300 difference for 3 of us, all adults paying our own way, so $100/person) that we'll be onsite again. There are also intangibles; for me not having to drive and extended late-night hours are worth the extra cost, OTOH, for some families having the extra room of off-site is a more valuable trade-off. If I was travelling with kids, skipping hauling, installing and using carseats for a week would also have a price on it. Only you know what's right for your family. I just know when I've talked to people about Disney, and how I "do" Disney, I've gotten often gotten the reaction of, "I'd love to do that, but it's so expensive!" because that's the general mindset. The tickets are outrageous, but understanding their structure and other ways to cut costs can make it not so bad. :)
 

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