We are going to DL from may 4th to the 11th. We are taking a limo from our house to the airport, flying into orange county, then taking the supershuttle to the Disneyland hotel. (all the same on the way home). We have a 10 month old and a three year old, who we bought airplane seats for. We are bringing a carseat for the baby for sure. I don't know what to do for the three year old. He just turned three, and is really skinny(27 pounds, 20th percentile). I would never consider letting him ride in the car at home without a car seat. But if I don't bring a carseat, then he'll be riding in the limo, the plane, and the shuttle without one. I don't know what the best thing to do is. We will already have two strollers, and bags for four adults and two children. If I do bring something, it would probably be his high back booster (it has a five point harness restraint on it. The booster is much lighter than a regular carseat. Also, the baby is still rear facing in the car, would it be best to rear face him on the plane also? Thanks!

I can't answer the question about rear or front facing for the baby. I would think it would be easier to take care of him if he's rear facing, though, because he'd be facing you. (Make sense?)

As for the booster seat, the airlines most likely won't allow the booster seat on the plane. Even if they say they're FAA approved, usually booster seats are larger than car seats and so they don't fit on the airline seat (at least that's how it was explained to me.)

I would plan to check the booster seat with your suitcases, though, to have it on both ends of your trip. That's what I would do with my child, anyway.

As a mother who refuses to take her children on airplanes without having seats purchased for them I really want to compliment you on your choice to not lapsit your 10-month-old. Flight attendants have a term for lapsitting babies in turbulance: Footballs! :eek: You have a really good commitment to your children's safety, and not that you need my approval or anything, I just really wanted to say that. I hope it doesn't sound condescending! I'll cut my soapbox off there ;)

Adrienne

I am fairly certain that all babies face forward on airplanes. The reason they face backwards in the car is due to the lack of neck strength and how their oversized heads can snap back in an accident. The turbulance on a plane is not the same kind of thing, you are really just making sure they stay put and don't fly through the air. Not all rear facing car seats are FAA approved. I don't think the bucket type (that can't face forward) are allowed. You may want to call the airline to check.

I flew in March with my two girls and I did not take carseats with me. It was just me and there was no way I could have gotten thru the airport with all that stuff. As it was I should have been committed for thinking I could handle the luggage, a double stroller, and the kids. Add on two car seats, we never would have gotten out of baggage claim.

The girls each had their own seats on the plane and stayed buckled the entire time on the flight. We used Airport bus for transfers and they don't even have seatbelts, so I sat next to my two year old and the three year old sat across the isle. The shuttle to the park from the hotel was the large van types and I put the girls in the middle section and they stayed buckled the entire ride. The only part that freaked me out was Airport bus. I'm not sure if I would do it the same way again if I needed to, but leaving the carseats home was the option I came up with after weighing my options.

Sonya, how old are your kids?

Mom2alexnmax, I have the same problem (in fact we're going May 5-10!). My kids are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2. We're taking a taxi to the airport (we'll put them in car seat and booster, respectively) Then when we get to the airport we are checking the car seats. Both kids flew in Feb all the way home from NJ without car seats (I know that belt-adjusting boosters are banned on airplanes, because they are for shoulder harnasses, which planes don't have). We found that the 2 1/2 year old was super cranky in the seat and struggled the whole 5 hour (red-eye!!!) flight when we went out to NJ. UGH. So we checked it coming back and the kids could "move about the cabin" easier and we just belted them in when the seat belt sign was on.
Then we'll collect the checked seats, along with our luggage (luggage cart is a must) and re-load into supershuttle to get to the hotel. Frankly, I would never put a child in a car or van without a car seat. We don't know this driver, and accidents can happen from a different vehicle as well. I'm kind of a carsafety nut. I sure wish some airport transportation options existed with built-in or provided car seats to avoid this pain in the neck. Did someone mention on these boards a car service that provides the car seats??
Can your lightweight booster secure to the plane seat using only the lap belt? Does it look like a regular car seat? If so, I'd opt for taking that. Or just get rid of it when you get to the airport (check it in) so you have less to lug through the airport.
Good luck!

Queen of Hearts,

I noticed that you flew on a 5 hour flight with a 2 1/2 year old.
My husband and I will be going to DL in July. The flight out is 5
1/2 hours. Our youngest daughter will be 2 at the time. I am
very nervous about keeping her occupied for that amount of
time. We flew to WDW in December and she was really good,
but that was only 2 hours.I was wondering if you could let me
know
how it was??? What did you take ??????:confused: :

I'm not Queen of Hearts but I thought I'd respond anyways with what worked for us. We had a 7 hour total flight (5.5 hr from Seattle to Atlanta and 1.5 hr from Atlanta to Orlando) with our almost three year old this past February. I did a few things that seemed to work.

I rented one of those inflight dvd players and brought along his disney dvds - he spent 90 minutes watching Lilo and Stitch. You can lock the controls on them so they can press all of the buttons and not break anything or stop the movie.

I brought along a couple of "sure fire quieters" - m&m's, cheetos, lollipops, basically junk food that we don't usually let him have so he is more than happy to sit quietly and eat it. ;)

We already had a gameboy advance, and they make a great Dora the Explorer game that he could actually play on it - you can't really lose lives in the game so it wasn't frusturating for him.

I brought color wonder paper and markers (those are cool!), a travel size magna doodle, and a couple of books.

HTH!
Chris

Joy68:

I second everything that mamatojon said. A lollipop can last a LONG time.
I also brought her older sister (sounds like you have more than one too - so that's great!) - the two of them had each other. Lots of trips to the bathroom and exploring everything in the bathroom (she's potty trained but we put her in a pullup just incase she had to go during taxi/seat belt times), walking up and down the aisle, etc.

The magnadoodle and color wonder are great. So is something called Scratch Magic - black paper that you scratch off with a stick to reveal rainbow colors.

I didn't bring her car seat so she had a lot more flexibility going in and out of the row and seat. Switching seats etc. You can rent the headphones and let them listen to music (just monitor the volume).

A neighbor takes her toddler son to England (from the West Coast!) every year and she swears by the "present and hour" game. Wrap up something cheap (like a matchbox car) and give it one every hour to pass the time. She only has one kid so I don't think you need to go that far since you have built in entertainment with the others.

It really wasn't bad at all, just know you won't be sitting quietly and relaxing.

Oh, yes, and do bring snacks and request a kids meal ahead of time, unless you think they'll like the regular food.

Good luck!

Queenof Hearts & mamatojon,

Thank you for all the great ideas for our flight. I know
it won't be relaxing, but once we get there we will have a
great time. We will be in DL from July 23 to August 2.
We will have plenty of time to see everything . We hope
to get to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World.
Thanks again !!!!! i'm sure i'll need all those ideas to
make it there and home!!!!!!

Joyce

Sorry it's been so long since I've gotten back to this thread.

My girls are 2 and almost 4. Our flights were short, but we had long waits/layovers in the airports. I got each of the girls a see through back pack, small enough for them to wear and we had little lunch boxes for them also. I took the back packs and kept them in my room and picked up little things for them and hid them in the back pack before they could see them. Stickers and a sticker book were lots of fun. They filled the pages for over an hour. Self inking stamps were great too. Most of the things I put in their back packs were like mcdonalds toys, crayons from resturants, small pad of paper...

Have fun and make sure to preboard the plane.

My husband and I take our car seats on the plane for our two year old girls. They face front. Like someone said above, I think that being in an airplane is different from meing in a car, as far as which way to face the car seats.

Since we have twins, we are used to having to carry around 2 of everything.. and I know it's no fun, but sometimes you just have to do it! The plane is probably okay, but I wouldn't let my three year old ride in the limo, and especially those airport shuttles without a car seat. :D

All the booster seats I've ever seen are for children over 40 lbs, so I'm wondering what kind you have. I still put my tiny 3 year old, (25 lbs) in a full fledged, front facing carseat. This past January, I travelled by myself with my two daughters, at the time 2 3/4 yrs and 6 months, from my home in Las Vegas to Oakland. A short flight, but getting on and off the planes were enough. If I hadn't had my 3 year old in her 5pt restraint carseat, I would have never been able to keep her in her seat.

To get through the airport, I carried my infant in a baby sling and pushed my toddler in her stroller with her carseat strapped to it. Getting through security was a joke. I had to put my toddler on the floor and have her hold the baby as I got everything, including the stroller and carseat, through the x-ray machine, then through the metal detectors and do it all again to get everything set up. It was a hastle, but it was worth it to have her carseat. I would highly recommend bringing a carseat for your child.

Wow! I really applaud everyone's patience and commitment to saftey where your children are concerned. There's no way I would even consider taking my 9 year old and my 6 month old on a plane. My 9 year old is good, but even she gets restless and cranky. And a baby...enough said. If I had to fly, I too would only do it with the seat for the baby as well. Partly for the safety but also for my sanity. I couldn't imagine holding her for the entire trip. We have a Suburban and we're going to drive from Las Vegas to DL this week. And in a few months we're going to drive to the Bay Area for my sister-in-law's wedding. With my 9 year old, we drove with her everywhere and she was great. She usually slept the whole time; even the long trips back and forth to Las Vegas. My rule of thumb is drive util the child is at least 3. And that's if she's a "good 3" (good when traveling).

DivaPrincess, I think she's referring to the booster seats that have a 5 point harness so they can be used with the harness from (I think 30lbs) to 40lbs, the same as a "regular front facing car seat" and then a regular belt positioning high back booster from 40lbs up. This is what my son is in and it's a perfectly safe seat.

Tina

So far, I have taken my son on planes when he was 2 months, 6 months, and 18 months - all in his own seat IN the car seat. The first two trips he was in an infant car seat facing backwards, just as in the car. We belted in the base to the airplane seat and just snapped in the actual car seat. We have a Travel System for the stroller, so we just pushed it right up to the door of the plane, took the infant seat off, folded it the stroller up, and left it there for them to store. When we got off the plane it was waiting there for us.

Now that my son is 19 months, we still push the stroller all the way up to the plane door, but we make him walk and have his toddler car seat, diaperbag, etc. riding in the stroller. it makes things much easier, and he gets a bit of exercise before having to sit so long. I would never even considder holding him or letting him sit in a seat without his car seat. I guess that's just my parenting style.

PS - scheduling flights during nap times helps a lot too! My son usually falls asleep during takeoff - gotta love that engine noise!

We've found the Sit N Stroll (http://www.safelinekids.com/skprodsns.asp) to be a lifesaver when traveling. We can wheel Mary onto the plane, collapse the wheels, and strap her in. Then when we land we just release the wheels and it's a stroller omce again. The 2003 model even has LATCH and is rearfacing to 30 lbs.

The AAP is trying to end lap travel for babies.

Children younger than 2 years are the only occupants who, under current federal regulation, are not required to be restrained or secured on aircraft during takeoff, landing, and conditions of turbulence; even items such as coffee pots must be secured. This practice relating to nonrestraint of children on airplanes is inconsistent with all occupant protection recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in which priority has been placed on safe transportation of children.

http://www.aap.org/policy/re0101.html

Up until last year, I had to haul two seats for my kids. The best advice I got (and used) was to buy a hockey equipment sized duffle bag. I was able to put both seats into the bag for getting on and off the plane, and it made it very easy to handle them during the connection. It also allowed me to have the seats for instalation in the town car while riding to the hotels.

I once used bungee cords to strap the two seats together, but they didn't like to stay the way I orginally connected them, it helped, but the hige duffle bag was the best option and I could throw it over my shoulder.