Family Travel (old)

Are you and your family traveling and need to take a plane? That’s okay! At first, I was petrified to fly with my baby but after actually doing it, it was so much easier than I expected. The first flight with my daughter was when she was 11 months and then we took another trip when she was 17 months. Don’t get too overwhelmed with everything that can go wrong but instead focus on preparing for the trip the best that you can!

Hopefully, with the tips that I learned, I can help you plan and organize everything that you need while sharing awesome tips with you to make your trip stress free.

Flying with a baby is not easy but it does NOT have to be stressful! Having the right items with you, planning ahead, and being organized is key to making sure that your trip is not only successful but smooth- which are all in my ultimate tips for flying with a baby list!

I don’t want to just share my tips for flying with a baby, but I also want to share my awesome Traveling with a Baby: Airplane Checklist and Exclusive Tips Worksheet! This checklist will help you make sure you have everything you need to fly with your baby. I used this checklist twice and it helped me be sure that I didn’t forget anything. It also added to making those flights with my baby stress-free! Be sure to download my Traveling with a Baby: Airplane Checklist!

So now, let’s get down to the amazing tips!

Ultimate Tips for Flying with a Baby

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own based on my own experiences. Please consult your doctor and/or pediatrician before flying with your baby.

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Before Booking Your Flight

Decide whether you are lap sitting or buying a seat for your baby to use a car seat

In most airline policies, babies 2 and under are free if you are lap sitting. This means that you do not have to purchase a “seat” or separate ticket for your baby because it is free for your baby to sit on your lap. Most parents chose this option because let’s face it, free is an awesome thing! But if you think your baby is just going to uncomfortable or you think your baby will do better being in their own seat, then you can purchase a seat/separate ticket for them and use a car seat.

(If you do choose to lap seat, know that most airlines have a policy that you can check your baby’s stroller and car seat at the gate for free and you are permitted an item a personal item for the baby, such as their diaper bag.)

Try to choose a flight that works best with your baby’s schedule

Babies thrive off of schedules but just because your baby had a daily schedule doesn’t mean that you can’t take your baby out and go places. You want to be able to have your baby be flexible with their environment without sacrificing their schedule (feeding times, nap times, etc.). I always find it better to find a flight that works best for my baby’s schedule For example, I’ll book a flight around a time that I know that she will be napping, so she can nap on the flight. Or I book a flight where she will already be well rested and she will be awake and playing on my lap for the flight.

Be mindful of how much time it will actually take you to travel. If you have a really long flight, maybe it’s best to book it time that your baby will at least be sleeping for some of the trip. If you have a short trip, maybe you don’t mind if your baby is up the whole time. Do what works best for your baby and your family!

Get Organized!

Make a packing list

It’s so important to have a packing list so you don’t get overwhelmed when you arrive at your destination and realize that you forgot everything that was important! Especially if you are packing for your family, you want to make sure you have a packing list so you can easily pack for each person. A couple of weeks before your trip start making a list of everything that you think you are going to need. Even if it’s just jotting down items on your dry erase board or a notepad.

(Access my free resource library to download a free family vacation packing list here!)

Start packing a couple of days before your trip (pack little by little to reduce overwhelm)

Use your packing list to start packing days before your actual trip. There’s no use of making a packing list and then not having enough time to actually use it. Packing a couple of days before will help you get a handle on everything you need to do and help reduce stress and overwhelm.

Preparing for Your Flight

Use a diaper book bag

I love using a diaper book bag because it frees up my hands! When you’re in the airport the last thing you need is to have another bag to hold. Having your diaper bag in the form of a bookbag will help you just sling the bag over your shoulder and quickly free up your arms to hold your baby or hold other bags.

I used this one: Mancro Diaper Bag Backpack: Organizer Backpack with stroller straps, changing pad, insulated pockets, and water resistant.

Use a stroller that you are comfortable with (preferably lightweight/ easy to travel with)

The worst thing you can do is use a stroller that you are not comfortable with, familiar with and is heavy and bulky. When you’re in the airport you’re going to need to fold up your stroller quickly, easily, and on command. Taking a stroller that you know how to use, how it folds, and that folds easily will save you a headache! I also love to use lightweight strollers because it’s easier for me to carry.

If you are taking a car seat to check at the gate, (most airlines don’t charge), use a car seat cover/bag

If you are taking a car seat to check at the gate (most airlines allow you to check a car seat for free), it’s best to buy a car seat cover/travel bag. I purchased mine from Amazon and it was low cost, easy to use, and did the job!

I purchased this one: JL Childress Gate Check Bag for Car Seats

If you are lap sitting: start to put your baby to sit on your lap a couple of weeks before as a “test run”

If this is the first time that you are lap sitting, I would recommend having your baby sit on your lap before the trip so they can get used to lap sitting. Especially if your baby does not lap sit or stay still a lot. Depending on how long your flight is, you might want to come up with ideas to keep your baby occupied and still. See how your baby responds. Each baby is different!

Pack toys/books to keep baby occupied. Maybe even download their favorite show or movie on a tablet?

When your baby is on the plane you’ll definitely want to keep them occupied for as long as possible. Either your baby will fall asleep, or be up. If your baby will be up for the flight, then make sure to bring your baby’s favorite books and toys. You might want to even consider downloading your little one’s favorite movie or show (if they have one) on a tablet or phone. I’m not quick to offer my baby “screen time” or “movie time” but I had a movie on my phone downloaded just in case if Baby L went full-on tantrum in the middle of our flight.

Offer a bottle or a pacifier (something to suck) while the plane takes off and lands

Planes have a funny way of affecting your ears! The pressure from ascending and descending can be painful even for adults! To prevent your baby’s ears from pressure or “popping”, you can offer your baby something to suck during take-off and landing. This will help prevent pressure in their ears. I always give my daughter milk as we take-off (because she doesn’t use a pacifier anymore). But you can offer your baby a pacifier or a teething/soothing toy that they suck.

Be prepared for unexpected delays

The worst thing about flying is the possibility of flight delays or cancellations. I absolutely HATE running into delays or cancellations- especially with a baby (or children)! I’ve run into both a delay and a cancellation with my baby. The one thing that I learned the most from those 2 experiences is- be absolutely prepared for the unexpected. This means, pack extra snacks, have extra milk/formula with you, make sure to have the things on hand that can calm your baby (such as a pacifier, toy, or book).

Having your flight delayed or canceled is not fun. But when you are traveling with a baby the flight crew and airline attendants should be really good at accommodating your needs and baby’s wants. Make sure to speak up and ask questions!

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Pack enough snacks/milk

As I mentioned in the last tip, it’s so important to have enough snacks, food, and milk for your baby when you are flying. Be mindful of how long it may take you to get through security, arrive at your gate, board the plane, and then actually take off. Even if you feel like you packed enough, always keep an eye out for the stores in the terminal too that can have something that your baby may need.

Bring plenty of disinfectant wipes

There are A LOT of germs in airports. Actually, there are a lot of germs anywhere you go and in any public transportation you use but I feel like airports and airplanes tend to be really germy. I always travel with a lot of disinfectant wipes. I wipe down the seats we sit on, the area in the bathroom before I put the changing pad down, the armrests, and try to clean anything that my baby comes into contact with for a long period of time.

And you know what, it WORKS. Baby L had not been seriously sick since she’s been born except for a few 24-hour colds. Keeping your hands clean is important too! You don’t want to be neurotic but also want to be preventative.

I purchase these: Lysol Disinfectant Wipes On The Go Travel Size

If you can, travel with someone (or multiple people) for help

I’ve never traveled by airplane with a baby by myself but I do know people that have and were very successful. However, an extra set of hands goes a long way with helping!  If you can, try to travel with your spouse or a family member to make things easier. Maybe you’ll need a break or have to use the bathroom and need someone to stay with your baby.

Pack your diaper bag in an easy to use way where most things are accessible

You want to make sure your diaper bag is organized in a way that is easy to use and that everything is easy to find. Have wipes and diapers easily accessible in case you need to change your baby or you need to wipe something or clean something quickly.

Also, try to set up the area around your seat on the plane in a way that things are in reach an easily accessible. The worst thing is when your baby falls asleep and you can’t reach a tissue or something you need. I usually wipe down the seat and seat pockets and put everything in the seat pocket that I know I need easily.

Take care of yourself too!

It’s really easy to focus so much on taking care of the baby that you forget to take care of you! When you feel overwhelmed, take a break. Be sure to bring headphone and your favorite playlist or download your favorite movie to watch on the plane after baby falls asleep.

Don’t worry about being too loud or feel embarrassed

Trust me, I know you don’t want to be “that” mom on the plane that has a screaming baby. But sometimes things are completely out of our control. If something happens that makes you embarrassed, it’s ok. It’s perfectly normal! Just don’t worry yourself with being too loud or feeling embarrassed and it inhibits you from making the best decision as a parent.

Ask the airline staff/team for help and ask questions when needed

The airline staff are there to help and will answer your questions to the best of their ability. I’ve had some really awesome flight attendants who have helped me and given me items when I needed anything. If you have any questions or need something, make sure to ask the crew!

Ask about early/priority boarding

Most airlines have early/priority boarding for passengers traveling with babies, car seats, or strollers. This gives you an opportunity to board earlier and set up your seat and “station” with everything that you and your baby needs. The extra time to get yourself situated is wonderful!

Have a plan but be flexible!

Having a plan about what time you’re going to arrive at the airport, how long it will take you to get through security when your baby will sleep or eat, etc. is really great but it’s just as important to be flexible! Don’t be too hard on yourself if something doesn’t go as planned.

Free Traveling with a Baby: Checklist and Exclusive Tips Worksheet!

For 20 more awesome tips, be sure to download the Traveling with a Baby: Airplane Checklist and Exclusive Tips! The worksheet is filled with exclusive tips that have helped me seamlessly travel with my baby. Focus on enjoying your trip and get ready for your flight stress-free by using my Airplane Checklist and Exclusive Tips!

Download the free checklist and cheatsheet now!

There you have it! I hope I was able to give you useful tips for flying with a baby! Have any other tips that have been really helpful?? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

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Our stay at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort in Orlando, Florida was absolutely amazing! My brother was visiting Universal Studios with his friends on a college graduation trip and he invited my husband so I decided to tag along with our daughter! It was our first time staying at Cabana Bay and we didn’t know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised!

Planning where to stay is hard, especially when you are on a budget and traveling with your baby or children. I always like to look at the reviews of each hotel I am interested in staying. This helps me see which hotel will give us “more bang for our buck”.

Along with our review of Cabana Bay, I also wanted to share with you the Ultimate Family Vacation Packing List that I used to pack for our trip! With this packing list, I was able to pack everything my family needed and we didn’t forget one single thing, which means that we didn’t have to purchase anything because we forgot something. Victory! In the Ultimate Family Vacation Packing List, I also include a bonus packing list of everything you need for your baby on your vacation too! That way, everyone in your family is all set! Don’t forget to download your copy of the Ultimate Family Vacation Packing List!

If you are thinking of staying at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, I highly recommend it but take a look at our review of the hotel and see if it will work for your family!

Our Review of Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort!

Rooms

Since we were coming with my daughter, who was only 16 months at the time, we decided to stay in a Family Suite. We were also traveling with some friends who had a standard room and those rooms were beautiful as well! The rooms are decorated really well within the theme of Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which is very circa 1950-60’s. The rooms were very clean too!

Features of the Suite

• Kitchenette: The kitchenette is when you enter the room and is a part of the living room space. The kitchenette had a sink, refrigerator (a little larger than a mini fridge but it did not have a freezer section), shelf storage above the sink, a microwave, a coffee maker, an island connected to the counter which included 2 bar stools.
• Living room: The living room has a couch and 2 chairs, along with a tv and dresser of drawers. The couch is a pull-out couch too!
• Partition: What I loved most about the suite was the partition between the kitchen/living room area and bedroom area. It was so ideal because we were traveling with my one year old daughter who sleeps in a dark room and is easily woken by me and my husband. Having the partition was like having 2 bedrooms because she was able to sleep in her crib in the living room area.
• Split bathroom: Another amazing feature of the suite is the split bathrooms. There are 3 different sections of the bathroom: 1) a toilet, 2) a vanity and sink 3) a sink and tub. The main vanity and sink area are exposed and is in the bedroom area. The toilet has a separate door and the second sink/tub has another door.
• 2 Tv’s: Because there is a separate living room area, there is a tv in the living room and one in the bedroom area.
• Large closet: There is a large closet (can be considered a walk-in closet) in the bedroom area that has hangers, a safe, extra pillows and blankets, and a luggage holder.

How we arrange the room for our baby to sleep:

The biggest reason we chose to stay at Cabana Bay was because of the kid-friendly atmosphere and the price for the family suite. We knew we wanted a bigger room than a standard room because I needed to put my daughter down to sleep earlier than we were going to sleep. The Family Suite at Cabana Bay was absolutely amazing and was so spacious. They offer complimentary cribs so we were able to put the crib in the living room area, which was separated from the bedroom by a partition. This helped the room stay darker and quieter as my baby slept but gave my husband and I the freedom to stay up.

We arranged Baby L’s crib in the living room by placing her crib in between the TV dresser and couch. There was a huge empty space there where the crib fit perfectly. You can see the picture of the set up below. It also was great to have her in the living room area because we were able to use the bathroom and take showers without disturbing her because the bathroom is in the bedroom area.

Pools:

The super awesome thing we loved about Cabana Bay was that there were 2 different pool areas. The first pool was located outside of the lobby in the Cabana Courtyard and had a cool water slide, a big pool, a splash pad, and a bar/grill. It also had a bunch of private cabanas that you could rent for the day with a tv, mini fridge and comfortable seating. The second pool was located outside of the Bayliner Diner in the Lazy River Courtyard and had an awesome lazy river, a regular pool, a splash pad, and another bar/grill. By the lazy river, you were able to purchase floats and tubes at The Tube Shack for $7. There are also towel bins where you can pick up towels by the pool and drop off the dirty ones when you are done.

Food:

Cabana Bay Beach Resort has SO many eateries! I wasn’t able to try the food from every place but the food that I did have was fantastic. The main “food court” was called the Bayliner Diner. It is set up cafeteria style where you order your food from different counters (based on different food varieties) and then you pay at the cashier when you are done. I was able to try breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Bayliner Diner and every meal was great. They also have great kids meals, where each kids meal comes with a main entrée, side, grapes/carrots, and a drink applesauce, milk, or chocolate milk). They had a wide variety of kids breakfast, including French toast, eggs, waffle, and biscuits.

The Bayliner Diner has a huge seating area that engulfs you in the retro era with TV’s playing old commercials and cartoons as well as drinks and condiments stations at each corner.

They also offered a refillable cup where you pay one price for your stay and are able to refill your cup unlimited times a day. We paid 17.99 for 7 days and it was worth it for us because I had coffee, tea, soda, water, seltzer water almost every hour while I was at the pool and in the resort. I would even fill it up to bring it back to my room so I didn’t have to buy another drink. It paid for itself in a little under a day because each drink was 2.99-4.99 and if I were to buy 10 2.99 drinks in the day it would already be double of what I paid for the refillable mug!

There was also another eaterie by each pool and a Starbucks in the main lobby!

Mini Market:

Apart of the Bayliner Diner was a mini market with snacks, pastries, drinks, gluten-free options, chips, cookies, create your own yogurt bar, salad bar, and so much more. This is where we were able to buy a half gallon of milk for my daughter and all of her snacks for the room.

Size of Resort 

The size of the resort itself is massive. There are 8 different buildings with different rooms (ranging from standard rooms, one bedroom suites, 2 bedroom suites, courtyard suites, tower suits, and poolside suites). As mentioned before, the resort has 2 different pool areas, which is great because since the resort is so large there was a pool closer to each side of the resort so you didn’t have to walk too far.

Proximity to Parks/Citywalk

Cabana Bay is one of the farthest resorts from the Universal Parks/Citywalk but they do offer a free bus shuttle to transport you to Citywalk (from there you walk to the park entrances). There is also a garden path to walk to Citywalk from the resort, which is about a mile. In the heat, it can be a daunting walk but if the weather is nice it will take you around 20-30 minutes to walk. It also depends on how fast you walk. The neighboring hotels, Sapphire Falls and Aventura Hotel are right across the street and Sapphire Falls has a boat that takes you to Citywalk as well.  Overall, even though the parks were not as close to the resort as other hotels on property, I thought it was great to have the option to walk. The shuttle bus to Citywalk is outside of the main lobby and is about a 5-minute trip and each bus comes about 10-15 in between in each other.

The resort is also connected to Universal’s newest water park, Volcano Bay. You can see the huge volcano from the hotel (pictured below!).

Universal Shop:

There is an awesome Universal Gift Shop inside of Cabana Bay (located in the main lobby). There you can find character apparel, pins, cups, magnets, bathing suits, Cabana Bay merchandise and even little things that you might have forgotten to pack such as Tylenol or Chapstick. There is a great Wizarding World of Harry Potter section with wands, robes, and apparel. I loved this store because there were things that I forgot to pick up at the park that I wanted to buy and they had it right at my resort. It was also awesome to have a place to do some last-minute souvenir shopping without having to go back into the parks or Citywalk.

Cons:

I enjoyed Cabana Bay SO much and there was only one thing that I considered a “con” during our stay.

No Fan in Bathroom– One thing that we did not like was that there was no fan/ventilation in the bathroom. In the family suite, there was a little room with just a toilet (because the toilet and sink were separated so more people can get ready at the same time). But that little toilet room was so stuffy and honestly, got really stinky at times. My family was not able to use the toilet right after each other because there were times that the bathroom was smelly. (Thank goodness I brought some spray with me!). My brother room had a family suite filled with 6 guys (ages 21-28) and he said that the toilet room was very unpleasant because there was no ventilation. I recommend definitely bringing some air freshener!

Ultimate Family & Baby Vacation Packing List

Don’t forget to download the Ultimate Family Vacation Packing List with bonus Ultimate Vacation Baby Packing List! Take the stress out of packing and remembering to pack everything and just focus on the awesome time you are going to spend with your family. You can use this list for any vacation that you have, no matter where you go!

So that was our stay at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort! We had an amazing time! Cabana Bay is clean, family friendly, baby friendly, value priced, and have a great staff. We enjoyed our stay very much and will be returning in the future!

Want to read more reviews of Universal’s property?? Check out my post “Our Stay at Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel Orlando”!

Want to remember this? Save “Our Stay at Universal’s Cabana Bay” to your favorite Pinterest Board!