It was on the cards for a while that we would be travelling with a five month old and whilst I was pregnant I was like ‘yeah no problem!’ Then when our daughter was born it turned to ‘I’m so not sure!’ I took some convincing but we booked and flew internationally with our 5 month old baby with, wait for it…hand luggage only. To this day I’m still not sure I could do it again and me and my husband agreed from then on to just pay for a hold suitcase!

To extend our time over in the US before visiting family, which was our main reason for the trip, we decided that we’d head to Disney World in Florida for a week and booked our park tickets with Attraction Tickets.

We went with no expectations of filling our days with tonnes of rides and went simply to soak up the atmosphere and that is what I’d say to anyone with small family members now. Maybe have a few things that you’d love to do but nap times, feeding and changing (and walking to places where all of this is possible) takes up a lot of the day, especially when nap times are so frequent at a super young age.

We spent a lot of time eating (which we absolutely loved of course), met plenty of characters and watched the parades and shows which always got the little ones attention. We also managed to go on the slower rides too which came as a slight surprise to me. Whilst I knew there wasn’t a height limit on many rides I was unsure to how she would take to being on them and the overstimulation or the movement etc. We were super lucky and she was fine but I’m aware that not every baby would have the same reaction and maybe wouldn’t like rides at all. She mainly spent time staring at what was going on in front of her with a blank face or open mouth. The only time we almost got a cry was in the 4D Bugs Life show when it got a little dark and scary but this reaction lasted a brief moment and was quickly diffused with a reassuring hug to know that we were still there.

A ride moment where I myself was unsure of what would happen was on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad in Hollywood Studios. The car started to move fairly quickly in my view but looking at her she was clearly unfazed by the whole thing and came off the ride like she’d just stepped out of a car, says a lot about my driving I’m sure!

At 5 months old she also LOVED character meet and greets. The interaction and focus that they gave her was lovely to watch and see her respond to. Amazement, excitement and awe are probably the best words to describe meeting the princesses, characters and of course main mouse Mickey himself.

All of the characters were absolutely fantastic with her including the cast members in stores and after the parades too with lots of them coming over to say hello. Months later we still comment on this ourselves. You can see some of these interactions on my TikTok @magicofmeandmini or Instagram @lorenjessica_

If you haven’t read it already I’ve written a blog post on the baby changing centres in the Disney parks just here if you want more information on what to expect and our hand luggage only trip.

Are you planning on taking your little one away or have you visited Disney while your little ones were super little?