My question is where does a toddler sleep when he is tired and the parents obviously aren't ready for bed yet? My son has never slept in anyplace but his own room, either at my home, gandmas house etc. He is easily excited and will choose to stay up if he is not by himself around bedtime, thus causing him to go to bed late and being a barrel of fun the next day !
Usually when we stay on property we get a 2 bedroom villa at a DVC resort but we have always went with my in-laws. This trip it will just be myself, my wife and my son, unfortunately obtaining a 1 br villa is a possibility but it would really stretch the budget for our "cheap" trip back to the World. I know the moderates have a sheet that closes off the room from the vanity area, but I really don't want to have to be silent for hours as he is sleeping there. The deluxes have balconies, but I don't want to be confined to that small area while he is sleeping either. What to do? We found a condo 3 br 2 bath really close to the World that is less than a moderate, but part of me feels like I would miss part of the magic staying off of property. Any suggestions on how to fix my problem? Thanks in advance, Sean

We have traveled with our children since they were babies. We have never bothered to get a two room suite. The kids learned at an early age how to fall asleep with the slight noise of a quiet tv. After they fall asleep we can turn it up a bit. We usually find they are so tired after a long day of traveling, touring or in the parks that they have NO problem going to sleep. Seems like we usually end up back at the hotel very late at night. Sometimes 3-4 hours after bedtime. They are tired by that point and can sleep through anything!

You might want to try adding some variety to your little ones life now, before you go. Let him fall asleep in your bed or on the sofa, or a bed on the floor. Leave the bedroom door open and make some noise while he's asleep- run the vacuum, turn on the tv or music. Then when you are on the trip you could go out on the balcony while he falls asleep, then sneak back in. If you get him used to sleeping through some light noise, you should be able to talk or watch tv after he is asleep.

We did very similar to hlb. My kids learned at an early age to sleep while we watched tv. They were usually very tired, and we generally just told them "Roll over and go to sleep." The news also wasn't their cup of tea, and that would put them right out. Not til they were teens did I even branch out to 2 rooms. Then it was more to save myself from them!

The hardest part for us has been getting the kids to sleep. Once they are asleep, then life is good.

Our eldest has historically been very difficult to get to sleep in hotel rooms. For the most part, we just suck it up and go to suite hotels or hotels that offer suites. This summer we're going to brave it in one room. I don't know yet what we'll do, but we're going to try it. In November we're taking a longer trip and we'll be going to a suite hotel for a couple of reasons (one being that the suite will actually be one of the less expensive options in the area :eek: ) but the big reason is that we'll be gone for several days and we're just not willing to 'fight' that long with the kids.

Adrienne

I found that if I lay down with him, that he went to sleep rather quickly. Then I would get back up. They're so wiped out by the end of the day that it wasn't a problem for me. We did the same thing for naps (we would come back to the room from 2-5 ish).

The bigger problem for us was the double beds. I ended up sleeping with the tyke because it was too tight for DH and I to sleep in the same double. Come to think of it, we had a double when we got married, but that was many, many moons ago!

Well I appreciate all the information from everyone! We ended up coming to a conclusion just minutes ago and we decided to book the condo. It ended up costing us just over the price of a value after tax and it is in Windsor Hills development. From what I understand it is like 5-10 minutes from AK and you can see fireworks from the balcony. After our stay I'll report with how the condo is and hopefully others in the same boat as I am can utilize the info. Thanks again for all the wonderful responses...they were so quick too!

Sean