Advice please - 2 YO at Disney

[Al and Kate's Mom]

Need advice - due to losing my childcare for the week, DH and I are going to take our 34 month old with us and DD5 to Disney New Year's week...we have conned (I mean invited) my DS into going with us to help out since little one tends to be a stinker - I am very congnizant that her behavior can disturb others, and I have no intention whatsoever of being "that Mom" and allowing my kids to "ruin" other people's vacations.

What I need to know is: how many hours can I expect a little one to be entertained at Disney, what restaurants tend to be loud anyway, ideas of where to take her in the parks when she gets bored waiting for others to get off of rides, how crowded will our room at POP be with 5 of us...anything else you experts can help me out with would be greatly appreciated!

 

[finz2left]

Take a deep breath and relax! Your child will be a different child at Disney -- I promise! A 2 year old -- almost 3 will be beyond engaged and enthralled most of the time. Certainly there will be meltdowns when she gets overtired -- and you can join the club with thousands of other mommies there. It is for KIDS -- remember that , and don't stress about her behavior. Even the restaurants are fun, adn for the most part, so noisy that nobody will care about you kiddo's behavior.

Oh, and 5 in a room at POP (three adults) will be very hard... I think there is a limit of 4 and it's for a reason. You might consider an adjoining room.

 

[all4fun]

Most of the restuarants are noisy so it shouldn't be too big of a deal, honestly. If you're really worried about trying to keep a 2yr old seated for a long meal, then stick to the buffets for the most part (more variety of food, too, in case she's picky) and counter service.

As far as things to do between rides...you'll find there's lots of rides a 2yr old can do. You see the ride restrictions here at allearsnet.com, or go use the Height Calculator here to see which rides she can't go on. When you do the rider swap thing, you can always take the 2yr old on another ride and then meet up w/the others afterwards. Having 2way radios or cell phones helps when you split up.

Disney is really geared for kids of all ages so you shouldn't run out of things to do. We've taken ds 5 times since he turned 1 and we've always had plenty to keep us busy.

hth.

 

[mjejj]

I took my 28 month old son in October and he had a great time. He tends to be really easy going but what worked for us was renting a double stroller and letting him stretch out in it. He would doze off in the afternoon, but mostly he just watched all of the people.

I had planned to go back to the room for a break (that is what all of the guide books suggest) but he was doing so well that we were able to stay for almost the whole day without any problems.

We mostly ate at counter service restaurants and he loved Cosmic Ray's. It is loud but he seemed to like the show. We also ate at CRT and he loved all of the characters.

He was able to ride a lot of rides and when he couldn't ride, we just let him look in the shops or we would give him a small treat ( we bought one of the Mickey shaped rice krispie treat and would give him a piece, they are so yummy). Make sure you ask about the rider swap passes, we were able to use these with our fastpasses and my DS9 was able to ride each ride twice, once with me and once with my DH. Of course, we didn't figure this out until our trip was half over, but it works great.

He hated the Mickey's Philharmagic show at MK and the Lights, Motor, Action show at MGM and really loved It's a Small World and the Pooh ride. There is a really neat play area outside the Pooh ride at MK, but my son is pretty shy so he didn't want to play on the playground. I think most of the parks have a play area. At Epcot, definately find the Kidcot spots, they have coloring activities for little kids to do while everyone else in on a ride, my son had fun with this.
We also stayed at the POP and it is a great hotel for kids. My son loved walking around looking at all of the different things. The food court is good for kids because there is a huge selection and it is really loud so if the kids get a little loud, no one notices.
Just make sure you have plenty for your daughter to drink and eat and adjust your hours to her schedule. My son isn't an early riser so we let him sleep until about 9:00, had a good breakfast, and got to the parks around 11:00, that way we could stay until closing time. I was really stunned at how well he did.
I hope you find something helpful out of this.

 

[lizally]

Please don't worry about your child ruining other people's vacations! What more child friendly place is there than Disneyworld? I have been many times before I had kids and can honestly say that I cannot remember one time when I was "bothered" by a child! Kids are kids...stinker or not, a 3 yr old acting like a 3 yr old is not going to ruin anyone's good time. I don't have any advice for you, we're in the same boat actually, because I am planning to take my 2.5 yr old twins for the first time in the spring....but I do feel like Disneyworld is one place in the world where little ones are welcome. Have a good time!