Best rides for 2 year olds

[jenseib]

We are taking my 2 year old DD. I think alot of the rides at Magic kingdom will be jsut fine for her, but I see the recommendation on alot says 4 years old. So I guess those who have taken a small one, which seemd the most exciting to them, and which were too big or scary for them.

 

[sss]

Hi,
It depends on your child....here is my deal, i've gone with my twins at 14 months and again at 3.5....on the second trip we had my youngest who at the time was 14 months....each kid liked and disliked different things at different times.
For instance, at 14 months my girls LOVED country bears jamboree but at 3.5 hated it because they thought it was too loud....at 14 months my youngest was mostly interested in birds (real ones)....when the twins were 14 months one liked the dumbo one, the other kept repeating "down, down down" and couldn't wait to get off....and the even harder part you don't even know how your little one will react until you take the chance of being on the ride...but with my twins some of the big winners were it's a small world, the winnie the pooh playground, the merry go round, and the boat ride in the mexico pavilion. I will say that at 3.5 the twins LOVED peter pan but know this...i went on with the two of them and it had been some time since i had been on it myself. I didn't realize how high up it goes (you know, not highif you are by yourself, much higher if you are with your precious cargo) and I felt that the ride didn't properly restrain them (thank god they aren't jumpers) so i held on to them for dear life, or at least it felt ike that...so there are no easy answers but for god's sake do NOT take them on the snow white ride, you will be sorry (witch is scary) also my girls thought the winnie the pooh ride was scary too. OH, they also LOVEd the boneyard at AK.
HTH
SSS
p.s. we go again one week from today for a week. My youngest turned 2 on dec. 1 so she's just two, if it helps, post again and i can share what she liked

 

[tadamom]

My son was 2 yrs and 9 months when we took him for the first time (2 1/2 years ago). Everything he went on he loved. I don't remember anything scaring him - I didn't take him on anything that I thought he would react badly too.

These are the rides he went on:
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (loooooved this one - we rode it about 6 times)
Dumbo (rode this several times as well during the Extra Magic Hours)
Peter Pan's Flight
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway (wasn't tall enough to ride so he helped Papaw)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Snow White's Scary Adventure
Tomorrowland Transit Authority (people mover)
Jungle Cruise
The Haunted Mansion
Mickey's Philharmagic (not a ride but definite must see - saw this about 6 times as well)
Figment
Space Ship Earth
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Boat Ride in Mexico
Kali River Rapids

My son has never been scared of heights or anything so I knew he would be fine. If your kids are a little timid of heights then I might be a little leary about some of them.

 

[Elmo888]

We just came back from a trip with our 2 yo (26 months). DD2 loved It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, and Dumbo. She didn't seem to get or enjoy the 3D shows (she wouldn't keep the glasses on). She rode most of the ones that the other poster mentioned, but she just seemed to tolerate them. She did like Indy Speedway and the Safari ride in AK (she likes animals), too.

If you are going to MGM, make sure that you take your 2 yo to the Playhouse Disney show. They have a "mosh pit" for the kids to get up and dance. It is so cute!

And don't forget the Nemo ride at Epcot. If your child is into Nemo, it is great. It is just a slow car ride (like Winnie the Pooh).

We actually had a more difficult time with our 6 yo. She was hesitant to ride anything dark. We had to talk her into some things that she enjoyed after riding (Pirates and Space Mountain come to mind).

Our 2 yo never hesitated, although sometimes she came out of the ride with her hands over her mouth (Haunted Mansion) which seems to mean that something scared her a little. We could ask her if she liked it and she would say yes or no, but she never lost it on any ride. We really took her on everything that we could (no height restrictions) that we want to ride. She was fine.

I would try to introduce your 2 yo to characters. We watched sing-alongs and the WDW videos. DD2 didn't seem to know Peter Pan on that ride, but she knew the princesses (probably from her older sister!), Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, and Nemo. I haven't let DD2 watch movies yet, so she knows the characters from sing-alongs or DD6. There are ways to introduce toddlers to the characters without putting them in front of a movie.

Do you know about the baby swap? If there is a ride that you and DH want to ride and there is a height restriction for the ride (Space Mountain, for example) ask the CM at the entrance about the baby swap. The first adult rides while the second waits with the baby. When the first adult is done, the second takes the baby swap pass and goes through the fast pass entrance to ride while the first adult waits with the baby. We used this a number of times to take DD6 on things that DD2 couldn't ride. It was great!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for the ideas! She is pretty brave about things. She road baby rollar coaster over 6 motnhs ago, so Ithink she will be OK with most. She knows some characters already. We are also planning on scheduling at least two cahracter meals. I worry more about that, as if they get close to her she many not like that.

Also we are only going for a short time. It is jsut a small trip to enjoy ans since she is so little, I don't expect to do a WHOLE lot while we are there. We plan on doing the magic Kingdom the first evening we get there, and then a full day there as well. Also we plan to do animal kingdom. I'm not sure if we should do MGM, or EPCOT on the other day. I am not getting park hoppers, os we can't do both. I have never cared alot about mgm before, but it has been a few years. In the past I had park hoppers, and my older kids got board fast there, so we left. My youngest was I think 6 or 7 last time we went there, and the time before that almost 5. Both times she wanted to leave that park. My sone is 3 1/2 years older than her and wasn't too thrilled with it either. They are much older now and not traveling with us, so this is all about the 2 year old this time. So a long question mad short! Do you think EPCOT would be better, or have mroe to do for her age, or MGM?

 

[Elmo888]

I would do Epcot instead of MGM, but I just am not crazy about MGM, either! At Epcot, she would probably enjoy both of the boat rides in WS (Norway and Mexico, if it is open when you go), Journey into Imagination, and Nemo/Living Seas (DD2 loved the fish and other sea creatures). Those come immediately to mind, and there might be others. At MGM, it seems like it is mostly shows, which I'm not personally crazy about, and my 2 yo didn't seem that crazy about the shows, either. There just isn't as much to do (for you or her) at MGM compared to Epcot. If you like WS at Epcot, you can stop with DD2 to see some of the performers. DD2 was very entertained by one of the performers in Italy.

Regarding character meals, DD2 loved the "face characters" like the princesses, but, other than Mickey and Minnie, she wasn't crazy about the other characters. I was very surprised that she didn't want to see Pooh, but those big characters scared her (Goofy and Tigger are very big).

Enjoy!