Anything off the beaten path we must see/do?

[MrsDe2008]

Hubby and I have been going to DW for years and always seem to do the same things all the time. Although we love going to the parks, I'm wondering if there is anything we are missing out on? And now that we are bringing our 2 1/2 yo, is there something we shouldn't let her miss? TIA!

 

[LILJAN59]

Wow, are you lucky. Buy a princess dress, do BBB or do it yourself hair, nails, and sparkly face. Don't forget the Tiarra, and, by all means do CRT or Askershus for her favorite princess. If that is too much for your budget, dress her up and take her to see the princesses in a meet and greet!
TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES,
I am a grandma with 2 grandsons! Sigh!
We will do pirates league!:banana

 

[MrsDe2008]

Wow, are you lucky. Buy a princess dress, do BBB or do it yourself hair, nails, and sparkly face. Don't forget the Tiarra, and, by all means do CRT or Askershus for her favorite princess. If that is too much for your budget, dress her up and take her to see the princesses in a meet and greet!
TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES,
I am a grandma with 2 grandsons! Sigh!
We will do pirates league!:banana

Yes, she's a girl.

I thought maybe she would be too young for BBB? Also, won't it be too warm to put her in a costume in September? I thought about the not -so -scary parade, but don't know if she would even make it that late. :/ We are doing Akershus one day...looking forward to it. Thank you!

 

[kmb584]

Yes, she's a girl.

I thought maybe she would be too young for BBB? Also, won't it be too warm to put her in a costume in September? I thought about the not -so -scary parade, but don't know if she would even make it that late. :/ We are doing Akershus one day...looking forward to it. Thank you!

At 2, she will be too young for BBB but she'll be able to get "Pixi Dust" in her hair for free! She can also get confetti at the Harmony Barbershop.

While the Princess dresses do look hot, I don't think that they're as hot and uncomfortable as us Mom's think them to be. DD has a huge collection of Princess dresses that were purchased on our WDW vacations and hasn't complained once about being too hot.

MNSSHP is a MUST DO for us. My DD was 2 1/2 the first time she attended one and talked about it nonstop afterward, even complained because it wasn't offered during our April trip. Out of everything Disney offers, MNSSHP is the #1 favorite and we're not even Halloween people.

We like visiting Tom Sawyer's Island when we're at MK. It's definitely off of the beaten path and provides ample space for toddlers to burn off energy and explore while the parents can relax in the shade. I tend to take her over on the last raft of the night to wear her out a bit before we head back to the resort!

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Even though she's too young for BBB, Harmony Barber Shop is great to do. She can have "princess dust" in her hair and you can even have her hair cut there, too!

 

[GadgetTheInventor]

Are you able to have much free time at home as a family?

There are lots of activities that you can pay extra money for, but she won't remember much at 2 1/2 for the money and those extra activities often require parents to be out of the way (for example when at BBB).

How about just taking some time to relax and play at the beach or in the pool.
There is the evening campfire program at FW where you can sing and roast marshmallows. Tom Sawyer island is fun also.

The most memorable time she will probably have is just laughing and relaxing while surrounded by loving family. She'd probably even prefer to take a nap in your arms than go to the BBB. WDW is a nice place to vacation with a lot of activities offered, but don't forget that for her the best part of it is you guys as her parents!

 

[acceber32]

Are you able to have much free time at home as a family?

There are lots of activities that you can pay extra money for, but she won't remember much at 2 1/2 for the money and those extra activities often require parents to be out of the way (for example when at BBB).

How about just taking some time to relax and play at the beach or in the pool.
There is the evening campfire program at FW where you can sing and roast marshmallows. Tom Sawyer island is fun also.

The most memorable time she will probably have is just laughing and relaxing while surrounded by loving family. She'd probably even prefer to take a nap in your arms than go to the BBB. WDW is a nice place to vacation with a lot of activities offered, but don't forget that for her the best part of it is you guys as her parents!

I couldn't agree more with the above PP!!!

We've taken our DS a few times since he was 17 months old (he just turned 4) and while he remembers a few things from our last trip, he doesn't remember anything from his first trip. But the time spent together builds a strong bond and relationship that is amazing!! We love to take him to the pool, go on rides, watch the parades and fireworks, etc. together. Anything that we can do together. This trip we are going to do a carriage ride at POR, I'm looking forward to it! The campfire/marshmellow roast sounds neat and is also available at POR as are movies on the lawn.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

When pushing my son around in his stroller sometime I began to feel disconnected to him. I could sometimes tell he was talking, but could never hear him unless I knelt down right beside him. You don't realize how loud the parks are until you have a child in a stroller talking to you and you can't hear a darn thing. I found myself enjoying the parks much more when I carried him in my arms and we could talk about what we were seeing or what we were going to do next. It was much better than just marching him from attraction to attraction without any interaction at all as he was strapped in his stroller.

Make sure you take time to connect with each other as a family. Time spent playing in the pool together are some of my favorite times with my son. We also really like the tea cups because we can all laugh together.

Since you have been to the parks many times as adults, plan to take things at your daughters pace. Let her lead the way. Also, the princess meet and greets are amazing if she is familiar with any of the princesses. We really enjoyed meeting Merida and Ariel on our last trip and would highly recommend doing that if she is familiar with them.

 

[DopeyDame]

Ar

The most memorable time she will probably have is just laughing and relaxing while surrounded by loving family. She'd probably even prefer to take a nap in your arms than go to the BBB. WDW is a nice place to vacation with a lot of activities offered, but don't forget that for her the best part of it is you guys as her parents!

You just brought tears to my eyes. So important to remember with the little ones (and not so little ones) - how much they just want to be with us and enjoy our company.

 

[DopeyDame]

And to actually address the PP's question:
At 2.5 my DS loved Mickey's Backyard BBQ. There's plenty of room to run around and the show is really fun, plus you actually get to interact with the characters rather than just do a meet and greet. One of the highlights of our trip at that age! (Just be warned that the food is mediocre, but it comes with free beer and wine, so that helps.)

 

[bankgirl05]

When pushing my son around in his stroller sometime I began to feel disconnected to him. I could sometimes tell he was talking, but could never hear him unless I knelt down right beside him. You don't realize how loud the parks are until you have a child in a stroller talking to you and you can't hear a darn thing. I found myself enjoying the parks much more when I carried him in my arms and we could talk about what we were seeing or what we were going to do next. It was much better than just marching him from attraction to attraction without any interaction at all as he was strapped in his stroller.
Make sure you take time to connect with each other as a family. Time spent playing in the pool together are some of my favorite times with my son. We also really like the tea cups because we can all laugh together.

Since you have been to the parks many times as adults, plan to take things at your daughters pace. Let her lead the way. Also, the princess meet and greets are amazing if she is familiar with any of the princesses. We really enjoyed meeting Merida and Ariel on our last trip and would highly recommend doing that if she is familiar with them.

I bolded the above section because I just had to say how much I agree with this!!! I am still recovering from my second hip replacement, and my last 2 trips and upcoming one required me to use an ECV (scooter). What different trips they were for me, almost depressing at times because I feel like I missed my kids reactions and faces so much. I was always driving along ahead or behind while my DH had them in the stroller or by the hand. Just like the previous poster stated, just savor as many of those "little moments" as you can.

She will never know if you didn't wait in line for an hour to ride a certain ride, but you will always have the memories and hopefully,pictures of the other moments, like watching fireworks, meeting princesses, seeing the Water Parade, enjoying an icecream etc.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

we took some time on our last trip when or DD was 3 1/2 to spend time at Ft. Wilderness. We took the path from the Wilderness Lodge to Ft. Wilderness and saw some deer, Bambi actually. Saw the horses and played on the playground. This will give your DD some time to walk and play away from the crowds. Then you can take to boat back to the WL.

have a fun!

 

[Shelby109]

Last year when DD was 3 she was a little afraid of fireworks. We took the boat over from mk to the Polynesian and watched the fireworks from the beach. She could run around and also loved the boat ride!

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Little late to the party here. Another vote for FT Wilderness ! My kids loved it from that age on up. We still go to the campground every trip just to see the horses and rent a water sprite from there (fun for a little one).Some unique "campround Mickey" gifts at the 2 trading posts too! Roastin mallows with Chip & Dale was a highlight when they were little and still gets a lot of views from our home video library.

 

[EagleScout]

At 2.5, my son and his "twin cousin" (our nephew only a couple months older) mostly liked many attractions that many commando families dismiss. They liked the monorail (maybe their favorite ride), the mk train, and the stage show in front of cinderella castle. Our nephew also liked buzz, but our son just sort of liked. Our son also liked potc, because he insisted he was a pirate. For some downtime in early/mid-afternoon, our son really liked cosmic rays, the counter service in tomorrowland. And here is a brief anecdote to illustrate the "less is more". On one of our mk days (that was actually a combo epcot/mk day), we had really been "PUSHING" and bordering on commando style and it was getting to (or arguably past) lunchtime. While my sister in law and mom-in-law (who I both adore generally) insisted on standing in the lines for "one more meet and greet", I simply took our son and walked away and said I am going to lunch. We then walked to cosmic rays (which kids LOVE due to the animatronic alien lounge singer, who is surprisingly "talented"-or his imagineers and voice over singers are)- and my son sat on my lap and half fell sleep while listening transfixed to the mellow jazz tunes played by the alien. Became literally one of my favorite memories. On the flip side, I saw the pics from my nephew's meet and greet-every single one was him literally screaming and crying. Similarly, at epcot, they both loved hedgerow "maze" behind england pavilion, because probably only place in whole park they did not have to be restrained with a stroller or hand. the hedges are only about two or three feet, so you can see them easily. The only other ride my son liked at epcot was spaceship earth - my nephew was terrified due to dark.

 

[MrsDe2008]

I don't know how I missed following this post, but thank you all so much for the replies. I got some great ideas and tips just in time for our trip in 4 days!

Everyone seems to be raving about the chip 'n dale camp fire, so I am definitely interested in taking DD there. I will have to look into times. Also, I agree with strapping your kid in the stroller and missing it all. I love watching DD's face as she sees new things, so she will definitely be held a lot so we don't miss out.

Thanks again!

 

[laliwalden]

I don't know about off the beaten path, but we took DD to play mini golf while there. She had so much fun!! Another thing she loves to do is play in the big playgrounds. So at HS, the Honey I shrunk the kids playground and at AK, the dig site. We get a break and she has a ball!!

 

[Badamon]

I bolded the above section because I just had to say how much I agree with this!!! I am still recovering from my second hip replacement, and my last 2 trips and upcoming one required me to use an ECV (scooter). What different trips they were for me, almost depressing at times because I feel like I missed my kids reactions and faces so much. I was always driving along ahead or behind while my DH had them in the stroller or by the hand. Just like the previous poster stated, just savor as many of those "little moments" as you can.

She will never know if you didn't wait in line for an hour to ride a certain ride, but you will always have the memories and hopefully,pictures of the other moments, like watching fireworks, meeting princesses, seeing the Water Parade, enjoying an icecream etc.

This comment was an eye opener. Although my kids are now 16 & 13, it reminds me of all the visits to WDW we've had. We dash from one attraction to another all.....day.....long. We barely stop to catch our breath and feel almost panicked at times to fit it all in. We started bringing our oldest when he was 3. This trip I'm going to be sure we slow things down and really enjoy our family time together, not panicking if we don't ride that attraction one more time before we leave for the day, but rather enjoy each other and maybe even sit on a bench and take it all in....together. Time flies, they grow up so fast!