Travel plan idea blog

Vacation ideas with a Toddler

Question: The wife and I are looking to take our first "real" vacation with our 15 month old daughter, and I wanted some takes on what vacations "work" with a small child of that age. Thus far, every trip has been to visit family, even if we stayed in a hotel. I have no doubt that my daughter would love a beach trip, so it's really about finding a place which will have a couple of fun things to do aside from playing on the beach/pool, preferably a place that has some babysitting services, and ideally a place that allows us to prepare SOME of her food in the room - really all we need for that is a fridge. Things like costumed characters (like in Disney) are a bonus, but I suspect she's really too young to enjoy a "theme park" type of vacation.

I've started looking around - I know the "beaches" chain caters to families, and Atlantis in the Bahamas seems to offer certain accommodations targeted at families as well. Since we are looking to go before the summer, I don't think a domestic beach trip would really be warm enough.

Also, how big a pain is it to get a passport for a toddler? I'm dreading forcing her to sit still while we wait in line at our local passport office.

Anyway, thanks for any advice you can offer. I know there are a lot of parents on this site, and a lot of travel gurus, so I thought I'd benefit from your collective insights.

1. I would tell you to take lollipops on the flight, and a laptop so she can watch Sesame Street, or whatever you think she would like to watch. Read this.

2. As far as the passport - It's really easy. We had our toddler get one, we got it done at the post office. Very easy.

I know people get scared off w/ kids but we went to Punta Cana, DR with a 1 and 4 year old. A lot of positives, the hotel was only 15 minutes from the airport which helps a lot with the kids. Most resorts have a ton of kid themed activities.

The hotel we went to = Melia Caribe. Great place. Has a Flinstone's land. Prices good. Food very good. Beach is amazing. Can't recommend it enough. The kids loved it. All the rooms are suites w/ refrigerators, etc.

3. Don't discount the Disney trip - 15 months might seem too young, but I did it with my son at that age (and my daughter at 3 years old) and they both loved it. He still remembers it to this day, 4 years later.

4. We went to Vermont when my oldest daughter was around 15 mos. and walked the historical villages/outlets while adding things like train rides and sightseeing tours. We were also able to get her naps in while driving between destinations - planned to do something in the morning and later in the afternoon.

Maybe I'm not the norm, but I never really enjoyed vacations when the girls were toddlers because most of what we did had to accommodate their needs. Now that they're older, vacations are a lot more enjoyable.

I sort of loathe taking the little one away from the child-protected house! I'm a freak about her safety admittedly.

5. For the passport, you can get the picture done anywhere and just bring the paperwork to a local Post Office that has a passport window. We got the picture at CVS in about 5 minutes and waited about 10 minutes at the Post Office.

We have taken our son out of the country twice and he's 4. We went to Aruba and Grand Cayman. Aruba when he was younger was easier and more enjoyable.

We were looking into Beaches for our next trip, but got the impression it caters more to slightly older children.

Consider length of flights and direct flights into the equation.

6. Think about looking into cruises if you don't want to be stuck at one place and I like to see a bunch of places, I highly recommend cruises if you have young ones. For example, we've taken two cruises with Norwegian Cruise Lines, one to Europe and one to South America. The boats have a day care center on the boat so you can spend time with the kids, pools, etc and also have them babysit, etc if you want to do a dinner for two in one of the restaurants. Look at it like a 'moving hotel'. The other plus is they have day tours at each spot (strollers are fine as well) and many of the tours are very kid friendly. Something to consider.

We are considering doing a Disney cruise which we've heard are fantastic for families and for young children which is no surprise. They have top notch daycare on a Disney Cruise.

7. Too young for DisneyWorld. You have to push them around everywhere at that age. They can't ride on hardly anything - which also means YOU can't And they'll never remember it. Age 4-5, depending on maturity is generally ideal for a first Disney trip.

Rent a house at the beach. Kids love playing in sand, and it's easy to pop back inside for a nap.

8. Having been there and done that my only suggestion is that where ever you go find a place that rents strollers,cribs etc. Packing all that stuff for a road trip is a mess. Also suggest you stay in a condo or similiar that includes laundry facilities.

9. Cape May, NJ: went with my son last September when he was a year and a half. Perfect for a 4-day weekend kind of thing. We stayed in Cape May, walked around the town and went to the Cape May Zoo. We also spent a day in Wildwood, which is about 15 minutes away and features a HUGE boardwalk/amusement park. My son had a fantastic time on all the kiddie rides. We're thinking about going again this year.

Posted by James Trotta at April 8, 2009 7:26 PM