Tell me about taking a 2 year old

[cokegal19]

Is the haunted mansion really that scarey? My son isn't afraid of the dark, but if there is alot of sudden things that jump out and scare you, or loud noises, he might not like it. what age do you suggest would be ok to go on that ride?

 

[alloyd1170]

My son wasnt afraid of the dark either, until he met up with the 3d movies and HM! HM is very dark, has some loud noises, and what really did it was the things popping up all around. My poor guy cried the entire time (and sadly, we laughed a little). Now, when I turn off the lights on him, or we lose power at night he gets terrified! We skipped Snow White as the witch can be frigthening to some.

As for the character breakfast/meals-I would get PS, especially if its a busy time of year. Some fill up quick. I guess you could do a walk in, but you have no idea how long you will wait. Even with PS theres no guarantee that youll be sitting at the given time (we were though). I think I read somewhere that Pooh and his pals are at MK in the Crystal Palace or somewhere near there????

To help prep for the characters, the Sing Along videos are good. Check though because most are cartoons. The Beach Party and Campfire, and maybe Dalmations are live though, and have kids interacting with the characters. Beach Party (only one I have) has Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Chip, and Dale. It takes place at several locations including a water park, beaches, and Bay lagoon. Its a catchy little thing and they have the words at the bottom of the screen.

alison

 

[cokegal19]

Where would I get the videos that you are talking about? Do they sell them at Walmart or something? Thanks for the advice about HM. I think we'll have to skip that one this year. Sounds pretty tramatic!

 

[slo]

We took our DD for the first time when she was 2 and we had a truly magical trip. You just need to be very realistic and know that you are not going to be able to do everything.

At this age she didn't know all the characters, but she did know the Pooh characters so we took her to The Crystal Palace for breakfast and what a memorable morning that was. DD was beaming when she saw Pooh and friends.

Many people would tell me that they would never take their child at this age because they will never remember the trip. I tell them that this may be true, but I will remember it and that has to count for something (aren't we, the parents, important too!!).

At this age my DD ate very poorly the whole trip because she was so distracted with everything going on around her. So, we just took a lot of snacks with us to the parks and had a lot of snacks for her to eat inside the room.

Have a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[alloyd1170]

They have the videos at Babies r Us and Toys r Us, and you might get lucky at Walmart (ours stinks and you can never find anything).

I think kids do remember at least some things from the trip. My son was just 2 when we took him and he seems to remember. I took lots of pics and video, plus bought the Where Magic Lives and he looks at them all the time. I know he will at least remember the monorail-he loves trains. And like you said, I will remember his experience. I remember my experience at 3 yo thanks to my mom informing everyone in my past about it. My parents, not me, got lost ( see my parents had given me a piece of paper with my name and hotel on it, so I wasnt lost). And the time at the Poly-I wore a white dress. I had to go to the bathroom and took off running, right smack into a waitress carrying a tray of glasses of red wine! Dont think Ive been back since-as my dad said they wont let me in even now!

alison

 

[tsjm4]

My advice will go against most, but I have to comment on going back to the room for naps. We went with a 3 1/2 yr old and a 10 mo. old.

I had read before our trip that the kids could fall asleep on the busses or take a nap in the room. We tried this the 1st day and this is what we learned. There's no way a small child can take a nap on the bus if you're trying to manage bags, strollers and children while being stuffed in with what seems like a hundred people. Maybe older kids will fall asleep, but not little ones. It's much too interesting to look at all the people. We figured it was ok that they didn't sleep on the bus because surely they would be tired in the room. Not so much! There was no way they were going to nap any time soon so we freshened up and left again. In the meantime, we had wasted about an hour and a half of waiting for/riding busses. Disney busses are NOT included when they talk about the "magic."

From that day on, we went for stroller naps. The baby had a couple of 2 hr naps and the 3yo had an hour or more every day. We just paid attention to when they looked tired and we just walked around and they fell asleep. Once they were sleeping, we used the time to shop or look around. It was SOOOO much easier than having 2 extra bus rides added to our day. Our best days were the ones where we stayed at one park all day. We felt like we were getting our money's worth and the kids had good naps too.

Word of Warning: If you try the stroller nap method, please don't be one of those parents who has waited too long and the child is just screaming their head off because they are SOOO tired. You have to catch them when they are just starting to yawn and are feeling sleepy. We saw so many kids who were in serious need of a nap and the parents had the nerve to yell at the kids to "Shape up soon or we're going back to the hotel!" I just felt like telling those parents to shape up and pay attention to those poor kids who should've had a nap 2 hours ago.

Have a wonderful trip! Like others have said...Enjoy the little moments~they're the best!

ASMo 9/03

 

[Rapunsel]

I agree!!! My ds 2 was great at sleeping in the stroller. It was also so much easier.. We could shop, eat a nice meal take a break... While he was asleep. it is so stressful trying to go back to the hotel to take a nap.. No one wants to sleep.. They are too excited..


Just go with the flow and if they fall asleep in your arms. Sit down and take a break..

 

[cokegal19]

"Word of Warning: If you try the stroller nap method, please don't be one of those parents who has waited too long and the child is just screaming their head off because they are SOOO tired. You have to catch them when they are just starting to yawn and are feeling sleepy. We saw so many kids who were in serious need of a nap and the parents had the nerve to yell at the kids to "Shape up soon or we're going back to the hotel!" I just felt like telling those parents to shape up and pay attention to those poor kids who should've had a nap 2 hours ago."



How do you get them to sleep in the stroller with all the interesting things to look at and do?

 

[cokegal19]

"Word of Warning: If you try the stroller nap method, please don't be one of those parents who has waited too long and the child is just screaming their head off because they are SOOO tired. You have to catch them when they are just starting to yawn and are feeling sleepy. We saw so many kids who were in serious need of a nap and the parents had the nerve to yell at the kids to "Shape up soon or we're going back to the hotel!" I just felt like telling those parents to shape up and pay attention to those poor kids who should've had a nap 2 hours ago."



How do you get them to sleep in the stroller with all the interesting things to look at and do?

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Crystal Palace has a great buffet with Pooh. We went for breakfast and we all loved it. Character interaction was great. We had an early PS so when we finished we just walked out and the park was just opening up so we got right into Fantasyland. I think 2 or 3 is an incredible age to going to WDW the 1st time.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

The Crystal Palace is a great buffet for kids with great character interaction. The funny thing about Haunted Mansion is that the 2 year old wasn't afraid of it at all but the 4 year old was too scared to go in. You never know with kids. I know some people are in favor of the stroller nap but mine would never fall asleep in the stroller. He were at GF so it was easy to go over on the monorail, swim and then all three of the kids (and sometimes Mom and Dad) would be ready to nap for a couple of hours. That way they were able to stay awake for parades and fireworks shows.

 

[jodifla]

re the babysitting question: We've used Fairy Godmothers three times now, and been quite pleased. We have two more sessions planned with them for our upcoming trip in May.

We like to go out for relaxing dinners at night, which is not all that possible with a toddler. So he's back at the room, sleeping, while we're enjoying a night out. It works great.

 

[disdreams]

Our kids loved it at every age. They do need a nap sometime during the day....and a stroller(!), but otherwise, no problems!

 

[sarahsmom73]

We just got back from WDW with our 2.5 year old! It was magical! We went at Easter which was busy, but we knew it would be.. We got up early, did the parks until 11:30 ish went back to the Dolphin, swam, napped and usually went to EPCOT in the evenings via the Boardwalk... It was GREAT! We got the best hours in the MK, AK, and MGM in the morning and EPCOT was great at night! Great Strategy for us!