I give all the credit to these parents who can take their kids on lots of adventurous rides, etc, and go commando, but I will say that PLEASE also heed the disclaimer that each of these people included about each kid is different. And many of the "boring" attractions are sincerely amazing for them. For our toddler son and his "twin" (our nephew just a few months older), there was a much longer list of rides that were a "no go" for one or both than the list on this thread, even including some rides that are specifically geared to kids - nemo at epcot and mickey's philharmagic. Their single favorite ride was monorail (yes, it was literally downhill before we even went through mk gates), and both are also into trains so liked the mk train, and LOVED the dream along with mickey stage show in front of the castle. My son liked spaceship earth-his cousin was terrified, and both really liked the hedgerow "maze" (only 2 feet tall) at back of england pavilion in epcot, because was one of the few places they could go without a handhold. Similarly, their best and favorite day was probably the one where family spent whole morning and early afternoon at resort pool-beach club (dads had work commitments), then did circle around beach/yacht clu/boardwalk,, then after dads finished work, whole group went to park in late afternoon for one quick predinner attraction at epcot, then chinese counter service at epcot, then one post-dinner attraction. My nephew loved buzz at mk, my son just thought at ok. We skipped tsm at dhs, but really liked beast stage show, disney junior stage show, and mermaid stage show (and these are very boyish boys-but they do love music). They also LOVED the playground at dhs, but be forewarned that parents need to climb along for kids that age, so please ensure u are in ok shape. For eating, another vote for cosmic ray's - and that also made a good "rest" stop - not a nap, but a nice sit and have a mid'afternoon snack and listen to surprisingly good music. My single favorite bonding moment was when our guy and his cousin were both on verge of tantrum due to tiredness/mild hunger/etc, so I just took our son and almost literally ran with him, where he sat on my lap and nibbled fries and could barely keep his eyes open while transfixed by animatronic alien lounge singer "sunny eclipse" - in contrast, I have seen the pics of our nephew literally screaming and crying through his parents doing "just one more thing". Also, for character meals, u might want to start slow, if at all - we are big fans of garden grove dinner at swan - only has goofy and pluto, so not very popular, which also means much more lowkey and less noise/commotion/etc. Both boys loved it. Although if u are into princesses, then so be it - I do get it, we are a disney family. Another thing about meals, I hate to admit this, but at least for dinners, we are frequent users of smartphones for episodes of mickey mouse or curious george during dinner when not actually eating (this is only at disney or similar potential meltdown areas). With all of this said, everyone LOVED each trip and we plan to go back next fall (2014).
I don't cook much, so we eat out most nights a week. Our DS is so used to eating in a restaurant that we would have no worries at all at going to a TS restaurant. But if that was unusual, for you, I'd definitely try it at home a few times to see how they do so you don't end up having a stressful and expensive meal that doesn't turn out well while on vacation.
