Disney with a just turned 2yr old

[Antigua08]

Hi as you can see l'm a newbie to all this and in need of some advice. My husband and I have been to Disney before back in 96 and have very excitedly just booked to go again Sept 2011. We previously went with a group of friends and had an amazing time, but this time round its with the family so will be pretty different.

My baby girl is just 8mths at the mo but will have just turned 2 when we go. Also going our my husbands parents, my bro in law and his wife, and their 2 kids who will be 5 and 9.

Sure l will have many questions but as my little one is so young, any tips on making it as magical and hopefully memorable as possile for her?

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

There's so much more to that you can do than you can't!

We took DS at 2.5 and DD will be 3 days past her 2nd birthday on this go around.

You will have to remember to take your time. LOs can't run at the same pace as even the 5 yr old!

Use the attractions to your benefit if your toddler is running out of gas. A trip around MK on the train will give you a 20 minute rest COMPLETE with distractions. Same goes for the Riverboat.

Allow time to just explore and play with the little stuff. You may find more magic there then running around all day.

Use FP wisely!

Don't discount AK for great places for toddlers. The walking trails are a great place to explore and sometimes very quiet (less crowded).

Don't overload yourself with character meals, maybe choose 1-2 for your entire trip. If she's big into princesses and you don't want to mess with CRT, Akershus at EP offers a princess meal too.

There's lots to do, and I'm sure I'll think of more, but right now, that's the best I can do.

 

[Ava]

OP, we're planning to go in May 2011 with our DD who will be just turned 2. I've asked around on here & the most frequent advice I've gotten is to go slowly & let the LO set the pace. I don't really have any more advice for you as we haven't been yet, but just wanted to say hi to someone in the same boat!

 

[Amirah95]

Our 2 year old just hit 2. DH I am planning our trip totally around her and for many years until she can try out Eticket rides. She is a HUGE Tinkerbell lover so this will be easy. We will be spending a lot of time in Fantasyland, ToonTown and on Main Street and running after characters. Pics with the Faeries and Mickey. AK is on the list because she is curious about animals and she loves live shows. We will be going to Epcot as well because she loves marine life and she loves kid activities so that's where the Kidcot stations comes in handy. She loves the Princesses so we'll be taking lots of pictures at lunch at CRT and Arkershus. Lots and lots of pictures so when she gets older she can see where she's been and what she's done at Disney World.

 

[Antigua08]

Thank you all.

Think our main problem at the moment is not having a clue what she's gonna be like or in to when she hits 2! Although she does like her cuddly WTP toys so that might be an idea. But as said above we do plan to let her go at her own pace and do as much or as little as she wants.

Got plenty of time though to teach her all we can about the charcacters and princesses! Guess when it comes time to actually go l just want her to be as excited as her Mummy!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Thank you all.

Think our main problem at the moment is not having a clue what she's gonna be like or in to when she hits 2! Although she does like her cuddly WTP toys so that might be an idea. But as said above we do plan to let her go at her own pace and do as much or as little as she wants.

Got plenty of time though to teach her all we can about the charcacters and princesses! Guess when it comes time to actually go l just want her to be as excited as her Mummy!

You never will know what she'll be like as a 2 year old! Thats exactly it-- go at her pace, even if it means splitting from your group. Honestly, knowing all about the characters might not even be necessary, the kids have fun with them regardless. Oh, and don't be upset in case she's afraid of them! She might be afraid of some of them and not of others. DD was afraid of Mickey, loved 7' tall Baloo. Go figure. She'll have a ball. Oh, and the fountains in EPCOT are a *huge* hit, just bring spare clothes!

 

[msmama]

My son just turned 2 and we leave in 18 days.

The only thing on the agenda that *I* want to do is get his first haircut on Main Street (finally).

We're planning a day at MK and a day at Epcot (which he really enjoyed at 10 mos old). I plan to just go at his pace. If we end up in the same spot all day...so be it. If we had the time I would probably try to take him back to the hotel for the middle of the day, but since we've got limited time I'm hoping he'll just take breaks in the stroller (or conk out on my lap on a bench in the shade).

Oh, and you said you don't know what she'll be like at 2? Just wait 'til she's 2 - you won't know what she'll be like from day to day!

 

[ktlm]

My DD was still 2 on her 1st trip. It was a really magical trip as everything was completely real to her and she was amazed and thrilled. The best thing we did before the trip was teach her who the characters were, so it was like she was seeing her "friends" come to life. She walked into MK the 1st day, saw Pluto and went nuts! When it was her turn, she threw herself into his arms and held on like she was never letting go with a huge grin on her face. Our best resources were these box sets of 12 mini board books that we had since she was a baby. She would spend hours playing with them when she was 1. We had a princess set and a set that had various disney characters. We also had some bigger board books that came in sets of 2 and 4, that had Pooh and Friends, and Mickey and Friends. I think you can also get Pixar ones now in the 12 mini book set. She also had other Disney paper page books, but she didn't have free access to them like the board books because the pages would have been shredded. Here is one of the sets of mini books we had:

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Prince...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272304690&sr=8-5


(I've seen the 12 board book sets at Target, Kohl's, ToysRUs, some of the bookstores, and occasionally at Ross or TJ Max).

Cinderella is a tame enough movie to let one that little see. The others can be kind of scary- books were better. She knew most of the characters on her trip. Mulan, who was just walking through China to go to her meeting place looked a little surprised to see a kid that little breaking away from her parents, screaming her name, and running towards her to throw herself in her arms. Mulan stopped and got on the ground to hug her and talk to her a couple minutes. We have a really sweet picture of the two of them together. A Princess meal would be a great idea. Before our trip, DD was crazy about Cinderella. We had a Princess meal at Akershus that 1st trip, and ever since DD (now 4) has been all Princess all the time!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Hi as you can see l'm a newbie to all this and in need of some advice. My husband and I have been to Disney before back in 96 and have very excitedly just booked to go again Sept 2011. We previously went with a group of friends and had an amazing time, but this time round its with the family so will be pretty different.

My baby girl is just 8mths at the mo but will have just turned 2 when we go. Also going our my husbands parents, my bro in law and his wife, and their 2 kids who will be 5 and 9.

Sure l will have many questions but as my little one is so young, any tips on making it as magical and hopefully memorable as possile for her?

my DD #2 LOVED It's A Small World. She was SO happy while on it both times. She liked pretty much all the rides except the ones where they made loud noises like two shows: PHilharmagic and It's Tough to be a Bug. She enjoyed Voyage of the Little Mermaid too. She wasn't so crazy about the characters but really liked rides sitting on my lap.

 

[Sara*s_Mommie]

At 10 months, my DD was so terrified of the characters - I booked CP, Akershus, Liberty Tavern - we just ate fast and got out of there. I had to motion to the characters/princess to just keep going past the table. In January, just short of her 2nd birthday, she was still terrified of them. As much as I want to her love the experience, I'm not booking any ADR's for character meals for our next trip in October...I'll have to wait and see if I can gage her reaction. She absolutely loves Playhouse Disney though - I guess the characters are small enough and far enough away that it doesn't bother her. She knows all the main characters and can sing the Mickey Mouse playhouse song. I've been immersing her in disney almost from day 1. so I've been very disappointed she's still afraid.

 

[Mommy2Jameson]

My son just turned 4, and he's been to Disney twice and we're heading back for his third trip in October! You will have a GREAT TIME!

His first trip, he was 2, and I was super nervous, but he did WONDERFUL! He LOVED the characters that he knew...Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Princesses...but he was scared of Rafiki and Stitch, but I'm thinking it was because he didn't know who they were?!?! Not sure. But when we went back the following year, he loved all of them! We usually do at least 6 character meals in our 8 day trips. It's nice to have all the characters come to you...no waiting in long character lines!

About the dining, we ate at mostly buffets, because kids under 3 eat free! It worked out wonderful! They have so much to choose from at the buffets, it was never a problem feeding him! Also, most of the CS meals are huge. I could easily split my meals with him, and we'd both be full. I think I may have bought him 2 meals total the whole time we were there!

Rides will be fine!!! Disney really is a family place and I'd say 95% of the rides he went on at age 2. He even rode Pirates of the Carribean with NO PROBLEM! I was more nervous about how he would do for the shows...and he surprised me. He sat through all the shows with no problems except Fantasmic... He had been to fireworks that July with no problem, but I learned during our Disney trip that he didn't like "boom booms!" Haha! But that was not a big deal, we just planned to be on an inside ride during the firework shows... One night we just rode Buzz Lightyear 4 times in a row until they were done! Haha! And I don't think we'll be going to Fantasmic for another few years!

And honestly, EVERY PARK has something for little ones...
Animal Kingdom: He rode the safari and LOVED it! The train ride to Rafiki's island was fun! He LOVED walking the trails and finding animals! The Dinosaur Ride(just like Dumbo) was his FAVORITE and I swear we rode it over 10 times! And he had a blast at the Playground (but I'll admit it made me a nervous wreck...felt like I was gonna lose him!) He loved the Lion King show! And we saw tons of Characters!

EPCOT: Nemo Ride and all the Aquariums were a HUGE hit! He Loved riding Living with The land, the boat ride in Mexico, Figment and seeing Turtle Talk with Crush! He also liked the ride in the "big Ball!" LOL We went around the World Showcase and he enjoyed just riding his stroller and looking around! We tried lots of yummy treats and again saw LOTS of characters!

DHS: PLAYHOUSE DISNEY SHOW Toy Story Mania was a HUGE hit too, but the line is outrageous! LOL Met all the Pixar Characters! Spent about 2 hours at Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground(Again, be careful or you'll lose her in here! Lots of tunnels!), Block Party Bash Parade!

And MK is obvious!

I just HIGHLY recommend bringing your own stroller, so you'll have it to/from the buses! We took breaks midday for naps after the afternoon parades, usually from like 3-6, and then he would do great until 9 pm or so!

Are you staying onsite? Most of the hotels have GREAT playgrounds and my son would have been happy playing there all day!

 

[badblackpug]

We took our daughter at 8m and then again just before she turned 2. The major difference was at 8m she loved the characters, at 2 she was terrified of them! ...and stupid me scheduled a lot of character meals. We spent most of the character meals at the back of the restaurant with her in my lap waving and calling "bye bye!"

 

[Antigua08]

Thank you all for your replies, seems there's alot more for her to do than l realised which is great.

Will probably book 2 CDR just incase she doesn't like the characters, thinking Chef Mickeys and CP for WTP?

The one thing DH and l want to see as we missed it last time is Fantasmic, but will see how she is before we decide on that. If she's not ready for it just another good reason to go back when she's a bit older!

 

[ktlm]

Thank you all for your replies, seems there's alot more for her to do than l realised which is great.

Will probably book 2 CDR just incase she doesn't like the characters, thinking Chef Mickeys and CP for WTP?

The one thing DH and l want to see as we missed it last time is Fantasmic, but will see how she is before we decide on that. If she's not ready for it just another good reason to go back when she's a bit older!

Every park will have lots of things for her to do! CP is a great idea. We go there every trip. I would suggest a Princess meal because sometimes little kids who are scared of characters are not scared of the princesses because they have normal faces. We have only eaten dinner at Chef Mickey's and we didn't like it. The characters were great, but the food was terrible. I've heard breakfast is better. Tusker House at AK has a great character breakfast. The only thing with that one is that Minnie isn't there. They have Daisy instead. The food is really good though.

If you do Fantasmic, I would suggest sitting way in the back for 2 reasons 1) it is not as intense as close up and 2) someone can walk away from it for a couple minutes with your DD if need be . Its is a great show. I had seen it before, but I watched it on youtube ahead of time to see if I thought DD could handle it. I thought she would be okay. She loved the begining and the end, but the middle part with the Pochahontas people and then the villians absolutely terrified her. We were sitting pretty close- I think it would have been better if we were farther back where it didn't feel quite so loud and intense. That scary section goes on a pretty long time too! DH and I felt pretty bad about taking her afterwards as she immediately proclaimed she wasn't ever seeing that one again unless they took the middle out. Some little ones do fine with it though, so you never know.

Oh- and a warning about that "going back when she's a little older" thing. Once you have taken them and watched their little faces light up and have seen how much they love it, you can get very addicted- then when you see things like bounceback offers in your room, or big discounts it is very hard to resist going back. DD is 4, and she will be making her 4th trip to WDW this year thanks to discounts and bouncebacks!

 

[weheartdisney]

Our youngest son turned 2 on the first day of our Disney vacation last August. We had taken hm when he was 8 months, so we had a lot of photos of him with different characters. I made him and our oldest son small $1.00 photo albums with them and the different characters. I was really worried about how he would react to them. He was scared of Santa and the Easter Bunny before we went. He is not a movie or tv watcher b/c he won't sit still long enough. He looked at his book off and on and when we got there, he wasn't scared of any of the characters. We usually do many of the character dining, and he always asked who was coming to eat with him each time we ate.

I agree with an above poster about showing your daughter photos, movies, playhouse disney, etc. as much as possible beforehand. I think that really helped our son.

He was and still is terrified of the fireworks. Don't know when we'll ever see those! LOL

He loved playing at the different play areas (in Toontown, (now gone), Pooh's Tree, Honey I shrunk the Kids at DHS, the resort playground, dinosaur playground at AK, etc.). With us also having a 6 year old son, he tried hard to keep up with his brother. It was just the four of us, so we took our time and went as fast or slow as they wanted to go. He rode almost all the rides except the Roller Coasters or Splash Mountain. He slept thru the Indiana Jones show, but was terrified and we had to leave almost as soon as it started this past February when he was almost 2.5. He loves riding the train that goes around the MK and also the monorail.

Does your daughter have any of the Disney stuffed animals? Might be good to take that one/those with you and talk about meeting them in person on the trip. I agree with taking your own stroller if possible. The ones you rent at Disney do not recline, so it's very hard for them to nap well in them.

I hope you and your family have a magical trip. Your daughter will be in awe.

 

[mugsy]

We just returned from a family vacation with our 26 month old son (and his 8 year old brother). His highlights were: Character breakfast at Crystal Palace; all the available playgrounds (including the Flower & Garden show special playgrounds) -- especially the very toddler friendly playground under the railroad station next to Splash Mountain; MK -- Tiki Room, Tea Cups, Carousel, Small World, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, & Country Bears; EPCOT -- Turtle Talk, Nemo, and the Mexican Boat Ride; AK -- Lion King, Triceratops Spin, and looking at all the animals on forest trails; and DHS -- Toy Story Mania, Little Mermaid, and the car stunt show. He learned two new words for frequent use -- "ride" and "Mickey". His brother often said "Thank you, little brother," because the rider swap passes allowed him to ride on many rides two or three times in a row. Overall, everyone had a good time.

 

[Srackangast]

When our DD was 18mths she was afraid of all the characters except face characters...like the princesses. We have 3 other children who love the characters so they would see how the baby reacted and keep there distance. She would say I sceeeerd! I sceeeerd! It was funny actually. The characters are very mindful of the children and how they react to them. She did however like Mickey and even kiss him on the nose. One year later we went again and waited in very long lines for her to see every character and get autographs.