2 year old's first experience with rides...what to take her on first?

[pl'smama]

Excellent choices for the first time out!! Your child will probably love to meet the characters to and there is so much of that. THe lines can get long so my DH and I would trade off. He would take my DD on a ride while I waited in line. It was fine for me cause I wanted to meet the characters to!!!

Word of caution at Animal Kingdom. It's a Bug's Life was great fun for older kids, but our DD at three and a half was terrified. I felt so horrible afterward. She didn't cry, but she questioned every inside event or ride to make sure it wasn't "real". She missed half of the Lion King because she was afraid. Once she started to watch the Lion King she loved it, so that is another good suggestion for your child.

Have a wonderful time!!! Oh, Mickey's Toon Town is a great area to try and the little water fountains in Ariel's Grotto are fun to. Just make sure to have a change of clothes!!

Suz

 

[reginaastralis]

Personally my two year old LOVES the "scary" rides.

She's the girl in the stretching room on Haunted Mansion saying "OOoooo" when the CM starts talking. Seriously.

When we rode Snow White and Haunted Mansion, she did ride in my lap, but she generally LOVES every ride. Winnie the Pooh she says "Ooooooo" in as well.

People mover is GREAT. She LOVES it. She asks to ride it every time.

Buzz Lightyear is awesome too. Julie spins the car the entire time.

Carousel of Progress Julie really likes.

Don't forget the monorail. We rode in front a couple of trips ago, and that was such a special thing. She thought it was awesome.

Of course, be prepared for the Princesses. My two year old just learned the "dirty" word of princess. EVERYTHING is Princess now. Princess potty, princess soup, princess night night. We're going to the Pirate and Princess party Friday, and I have a feeling Cinderella is going to be attacked by my little girl.

Just about any ride is really good for the little ones. Julie loves to visit Minnie and Mickey's house in toon town. We have to stop by and say hello to Mickey at each visit. Also, we play in the Pooh playground.

Good luck

 

[dreamalittledream]

Thanks so much everyone! This has been so helpful! I think we'll do Dumbo, Carousel, and IASW first. I'm glad you warned me of Pooh because my DD is scared of thunder. I'm sure we'll go on it but definately not first!

I think your choices are great, they will also help you with the crowds. Pull FP for Philarmagic or Pooh somewhere in there so you can ride them later.

You never know what they will be scared of though, DN is afraid of IASW b/c of the ghost in there. Didin't know about that did you? We didn't either until we rode it a few more times. The sun in the Egypt/ India area has a veil on that makes it look like a ghost.

If she is afraid of thunder, be careful at Rain Forrest Cafe, we had to leave b/c of DN.

have fun!

 

[emmismom05]

I think your choices are great, they will also help you with the crowds. Pull FP for Philarmagic or Pooh somewhere in there so you can ride them later.

You never know what they will be scared of though, DN is afraid of IASW b/c of the ghost in there. Didin't know about that did you? We didn't either until we rode it a few more times. The sun in the Egypt/ India area has a veil on that makes it look like a ghost.

If she is afraid of thunder, be careful at Rain Forrest Cafe, we had to leave b/c of DN.

have fun!

We have a Rainforest Cafe where we live and DD HATES it. I mean, she sits still in our laps hiding her head the whole meal. She is not one to sit still so this is amazing. I really think she will like everything but you just never know so we want to be careful not to do anything she may not like first. I have a feeling she'll like the Haunted Mansion.

I'm hoping she'll do well with the characters, we'll see, she hates Santa but loves Chuck E Cheese when she saw him a couple months ago. She's not too into the Princesses but loves the classic characters...Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, and Dale.

 

[asktriplets]

Do you guys think the preparation (youtube videos and such of the rides) took away from the surprise of seeing Disney for the first time? We are going with out 2.5 yr old this summer and i'd be upset for him if he didn't like certain rides.

hmmm....here are my thoughts:

disney world is incredible and surprising in its magic no matter how often you go and no matter how old you are!

there will be rides he won't like. some you might take him on and wish you hadn't, some you might wonder why the HECK he didn't like it, and assume tomorrow will be different, and most he won't like you'll know to stay away from!

as an ADULT, i think it might take away some of the awe-factor to know exactly what is coming up, but i agree with what another posted mentioned: kids do better knowing what is coming, generally. they do better with a bit of routine, and kids in toddlerhood feel such a HUGE sense of satisfaction and comfort at mastering a skill/event, which is why they can ride the carrousel 4 times in a row (or sing the Small World song for 30 mins. straight, or climb up and down the stair in the Italy pavilion in epcot over and over and over and over and over and over.......) and it still feels great, right?

i've found that even after going 4 times, watching ALL of the parks movies, singalongs, planning dvds, our home videos, etc., my kids still wanted to talk about what happens on each ride, what to expect, what happens before and after the ride, etc.

when you're there with your son and you have a chance to see it throught his eyes, it 'll amaze you how incredibly "surprising to the senses" (poor choice of words, but the only way i could think of to describe my thought) most rides are...at every attraction, there are characters (are they big, small? do they move? do they talk? are they real? pretend? do they move at you?) there is sound (is it music? is it familiar? is it loud? will it get louder? is it a scary sound?), there are lights (are they bright? dark? are they flashing? will they go out suddenly?) there is the seating (sitting by self or on a bench? seats soft or hard? do the seats move- fast? slow? bumpy? stop suddenly?), etc. etc. this doesn't even include the surprising amount of stuff that gets sprayed/shot at your face level during rides...smoke ring during woozles scene in pooh, scent in journey into imagination (or maybe it was just a loud sound that startled my kids here?), water in philharmagic and magic carpets and voyage of the little mermaid in MGM , etc.

when i think about HOW MUCH processing all of this requires from the same little kids of mine who, for example, freak out at lunchtime when their sandwiches are cut the wrong way while sitting at the SAME table with the SAME people at the SAME time as always, i am AMAZED that we don't have more resistance to rides than we do!

we have an incredible time (which is why we keep spending the $to go back!), but we prepare our kids for what to expect each time.

not sure if this perspective will be helpful to you...

have a great trip!!!!

 

[dadof2]

Our 2 yo loved Small World, it was the one ride we had trouble getting him off of.

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

Forgot to add on my previous post that the Disneyland Fun Sing-along DVD is a great way to prepare little ones for the trip.

And I completely agree with pp, the more you prepare your child in advance the easier it will be.

 

[ferrytale]

We did Philharmagic which he was ok with but a little weirded out by the glasses. The carousel, Peter Pan, Small World(he LOVED), at Epcot we did Nemo/Living Seas, I think that's it there. MGM we did all shows, and AK we did the safari & ITTBAB(DS did NOT like that one). There's so much to do that I didn't worry about getting on too many rides with him, just enjoying the experience.

Jessica

 

[bellarella]

I would definitely do it in stages. Start with Dumbo or the Magic Carpets -- that will introduce the concept of lines and a ride, but all of her surroundings will be familiar. Then go for IASW. This is a ride that introduces the concept of fantasy. Then you can go for more of a "dark" ride.

With the rides, one thing I find key is to talk your child through them. If there is any part that you think they might find scary, talk about it and focus them on something specific in the ride ("hear the thunder? Do you think it is loud? How do you think they make the thunder noise? Do you think they use drums?" or "hear the thunder? Wow, that was loud? What color do you see on Tigger's tail? Oh, is that pooh getting caught in a honey pot again?"). By "deconstructing" rides, you can make them a lot less scary. Most of Disney's rides focus on creating an atmosphere -- you are immersed in sights and sounds and that can be overwhelming to children. If you break down the ride and have them focus on very small pieces of it (count all the Zs you can on Buzz Lightyear or have them focus on one small detail) then it breaks the "spell" of the ride and with it any scariness. My children are pretty easily spooked (active imaginations) so I "narrated" all new rides for them. Once they went through them once narrated, they loved going again, and usually either didn't want me to narrate, or they would want to narrate to me

 

[cybertea201]

Great thread!!!
I'm going in THREE DAYS!!!! YEE HAAA!!

I'm taking my ALMOST 3 yr old. I think there are two rides I really really want her to go on, and those two are the haunted mansion and PoTC, But i think i am going to build her up to those rides. She is kind of a daredevil so i think She will not have any problems.

 

[emmismom05]

I would definitely do it in stages. Start with Dumbo or the Magic Carpets -- that will introduce the concept of lines and a ride, but all of her surroundings will be familiar. Then go for IASW. This is a ride that introduces the concept of fantasy. Then you can go for more of a "dark" ride.

With the rides, one thing I find key is to talk your child through them. If there is any part that you think they might find scary, talk about it and focus them on something specific in the ride ("hear the thunder? Do you think it is loud? How do you think they make the thunder noise? Do you think they use drums?" or "hear the thunder? Wow, that was loud? What color do you see on Tigger's tail? Oh, is that pooh getting caught in a honey pot again?"). By "deconstructing" rides, you can make them a lot less scary. Most of Disney's rides focus on creating an atmosphere -- you are immersed in sights and sounds and that can be overwhelming to children. If you break down the ride and have them focus on very small pieces of it (count all the Zs you can on Buzz Lightyear or have them focus on one small detail) then it breaks the "spell" of the ride and with it any scariness. My children are pretty easily spooked (active imaginations) so I "narrated" all new rides for them. Once they went through them once narrated, they loved going again, and usually either didn't want me to narrate, or they would want to narrate to me

Thank you, that is very helpful. I know we will be talking DD through the rides. While I know it will be a huge sensory overload for her, I think she'll love it! It is like you said, I can just see her on the second time around narrating the rides to us! She's a little copycat, for sure.

 

[emmismom05]

Great thread!!!
I'm going in THREE DAYS!!!! YEE HAAA!!

I'm taking my ALMOST 3 yr old. I think there are two rides I really really want her to go on, and those two are the haunted mansion and PoTC, But i think i am going to build her up to those rides. She is kind of a daredevil so i think She will not have any problems.

Let me know how it goes with her! I want to take our DD on Huanted Mansion and POTC but we'll see how she does with the others first!

 

[cybertea201]

You got it emmismom05!

My usual tour through the MK is turn left on into adventureland then go Clockwise. this time i think it's strait through the castle and into fantasyland.
Then Adventureland, PoTC , then Haunted Mansion. Crossing Fingers!!!
But i think she'll be ok.

 

[Dis1978]

My toddler was terrifed of Peter Pan, Dumbo and any ride which went in the air or in the dark. So we just did the carousel, small world, teacups. Luckily she was ok with Pooh bear in spite of the slightly scary bit because of her total adoration of Pooh bear.
We are going again soon. Even though it is a year later, she is still scared of anything that goes up in the air or anything dark. So no Dumbo for us again!

 

[properlywarnedyebe]

My toddler was terrifed of Peter Pan, Dumbo and any ride which went in the air or in the dark. So we just did the carousel, small world, teacups. Luckily she was ok with Pooh bear in spite of the slightly scary bit because of her total adoration of Pooh bear.
We are going again soon. Even though it is a year later, she is still scared of anything that goes up in the air or anything dark. So no Dumbo for us again!

We didn't take DD2 on Dumbo because I AM afraid of rides that spin & go in the air-I am totally fine on Splash Mountain
She loved IASW (we went on it seven times), POTC (we are BIG pirate fans), the carousel, tiki birds & the Bear Jamboree. She liked Buzz Lightyear, the train, Peter Pan, Snow White, Mickey's Philharmagic, & HM- she did not like the Jungle cruise or the TTA for some reason.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Everyone has given great recommendations about what rides to ride first so I won't repeat. However, I would like to add that one thing that I thought helped tremendously taking my kids at that age was my attitude and approach with them on the rides. When little ones sense that you are worried about them, they worry too. But, nice happy words and little songs etc... can go a long way towards calming them. Most little ones will follow your lead. I've been able to cheerfully talk and sing (Quietly- don't worry) my way through the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Great Movie Ride with 2/3 year olds without any problems. Obviously, if there is something you know would terrify your child, then avoid it. But if you keep a super happy attitude and build slowly, your child might surprise you. We were shocked last year when DD who had just turned 3 went on Kali River Rapids twice in a row. And she only made the height requirement by the top of her pony tail!