Advice for upcoming trip with toddler (20 mo. old)

Jedi Dad

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
When we went to WDW back in February, our daughter wasn't walking yet (10 months old). Totally different ballgame now. She pretty much sprints everywhere... 2 Speeds: On and Off. I've been working a lot with her on the certain situations where she needs to hold my hand, or she needs to be carried. And while she's definitely getting much better, there's plenty of the inevitable flailing, screaming, folding in half, etc... lol.

Anyone have any good advice for navigating WDW with a toddler that just wants to GOOOO? (We'll have a stroller too, obviously)
 
The trails at AK are contained, so we let our 20 month old have some latitude there and in world showcase until she got too far astray OR it was too crowded. She learned pretty quickly if she wanted to stay out of the stroller she had to listen.
 
We have been 6 times since DD( now 23 months) was born. On the July trip she was 20 months. She is non-stop all day ( and all night for that matter😭.) The best thing for us, is to keep her on her at home nap/ bedtime schedule. Anytime there is a safe zone we let her run in the parks. I often go by myself with the kids. However I also have a nearly 11 year old DS who is a HUGE help. One of us is on ' baby watch' at all times. Meaning .....one of us pushes the stroller the other runs right beside DD. For us, there is no ' containing' her even in a stroller.....She unbuckles herself and climbs out. She does this in the car with her car seat too though 😭. Every trip so far has been fun and challenging in different ways, as she has changed so much every few months! We go back to Disney in 3 weeks, she will be turning 2 days before we leave. The past few trips her favorite things have been dancing to the parade music, or any music really, and playing in the various play areas. Have a great trip!
 
The trails at AK are contained, so we let our 20 month old have some latitude there and in world showcase until she got too far astray OR it was too crowded. She learned pretty quickly if she wanted to stay out of the stroller she had to listen.
Good idea on the trails @ AK!
We'll see, hopefully she will learn quickly as well. It's like; Listen... I want to push this stroller all day about as much as you want to be in this stroller all day lol. If you don't take off like forky to a trash can, you can walk around.
We have been 6 times since DD( now 23 months) was born. On the July trip she was 20 months. She is non-stop all day ( and all night for that matter😭.) The best thing for us, is to keep her on her at home nap/ bedtime schedule. Anytime there is a safe zone we let her run in the parks. I often go by myself with the kids. However I also have a nearly 11 year old DS who is a HUGE help. One of us is on ' baby watch' at all times. Meaning .....one of us pushes the stroller the other runs right beside DD. For us, there is no ' containing' her even in a stroller.....She unbuckles herself and climbs out. She does this in the car with her car seat too though 😭. Every trip so far has been fun and challenging in different ways, as she has changed so much every few months! We go back to Disney in 3 weeks, she will be turning 2 days before we leave. The past few trips her favorite things have been dancing to the parade music, or any music really, and playing in the various play areas. Have a great trip!
She's actually not too terrible in the stroller, it's more of when you take her out. She doesn't want to hold your hand, or be carried. Been slowly making some progress with her everyday when i pick her up from day care.
 
As someone who took a 20-month-old to WDW last year, I can say this: There is NO shame in putting your child on a leash. OK, "harness" might be the more acceptable term ... Still, my son had zero fear and would dart the second he was on the ground. We found a Mickey harness on Amazon and put it on him a lot. Not when we were in lines or contained areas ... but there are times when he just really wanted out of his stroller as we were walking in between attractions in the crowds. I felt so much safer having a (literal) handle on him.

P.S. SNACKS. Lots of snacks. You can never go wrong having a spare bag of goldfish.
 
As someone who took a 20-month-old to WDW last year, I can say this: There is NO shame in putting your child on a leash. OK, "harness" might be the more acceptable term ... Still, my son had zero fear and would dart the second he was on the ground. We found a Mickey harness on Amazon and put it on him a lot. Not when we were in lines or contained areas ... but there are times when he just really wanted out of his stroller as we were walking in between attractions in the crowds. I felt so much safer having a (literal) handle on him.

P.S. SNACKS. Lots of snacks. You can never go wrong having a spare bag of goldfish.
The leash/harness seems like more of a last resort kind of thing. I totally understand why some people use them, but it's not quite a starting point for me. I know some people pack them just in case. I would want to give her a chance and see how she does first before i considered that option.

Good call on the snacks too!... oh... wait... you meant for her?... I guess I'll bring some for her too.
 


took my youngest when she was 6 months and then a year later at 18 months. OMG -- 6 months was a breeze compared to 18 months. It was a constant meltdown fest with her...and we even had the grand parents with us. I had to leave sit down dinners prior to finishing b/c she just couldn't take sitting still for more than about 40 minutes.

Certainly not trying to dissuade you from going -- but the biggest advice I give people is to adjust expectations. and of course -- each kid reacts differently. Our oldest was super chill at 22 months -- so it was quite the shock for me when youngest was anything but chill at 18 months. Good luck! And don't forget to grab a beer every now and then. :-)
 
I haven't' been to Disney with mine yet, but he just turned 2 and we deal with this while out shopping / at the mall. e knows for the most part he has to hold hands to be safe. Sometimes I let him run around while I follow at a brisk walk. When he fusses or doesn't' want to go, that's when I either carry him or put him back in the stroller. He is quickly learning to just go where we go and he'll get to walk
 
We went two years ago and both DS and DD figured out after day 1 they couldn't do all the walking. They were wiped out and decided that the stroller was the best option. AK and EPCOT were by far the best running around for kids parks. MK has areas where it is ok, but it all depends on crowds.
 
Thanks everyone for all the responses! She was great the whole trip, no issues at all with her wanting to take off and freaking out.

I don't know how she walked that many miles on those little legs, but she did!
 
Did you have to do a lot of fighting to get them to stay in the stroller when it was time? We are taking DS in August, he'll be a little over 2.5. Right now he is very insistent on walking and hates being in the stroller 90% of the time. However, we've never really gone somewhere that he would be truly wiped out either
 
Did you have to do a lot of fighting to get them to stay in the stroller when it was time? We are taking DS in August, he'll be a little over 2.5. Right now he is very insistent on walking and hates being in the stroller 90% of the time. However, we've never really gone somewhere that he would be truly wiped out either
No fighting, but everyone's situation is obviously going to be a little different depending on all the different factors.

For us, we let her walk as much as she wanted, as long as she held someones hand. That was our one and only rule. If not, we would either put her in the stroller or carry her for a little bit. Usually if i picked her up and said "Do want to walk?" <yes> "Ok, then you need to hold my hand", she would get it pretty quick.
 

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