Disneyland with toddlers - thoughts on our recent trip

[DisneyJade]

We just returned last week from a trip to DL for our twin daughters' 2nd birthday. I thought it might be helpful to share some thoughts here, for other Disney fans considering bringing a baby or toddler to DL.

Before we went, I asked a TON of questions (here, on social media, among friends) about what it would be like to take 24-month-olds to DL. Were they too young? Would they enjoy it? Would they even "get" it? After completing our trip, my definitive answer is:
It Depends on the Child!

That probably seems like a no-brainer answer, but for some reason, I went into the trip thinking I would come out with a "right" or "wrong" answer to whether 24 months was too young. It took going with twins to realize every child is different and may or may not be ready for Disney parks.
​

Here are some of my observations, in case they are helpful to other parents:​

DD1 - Loved rides! Clapping, huge grin, demanded re-rides. Even handled dark rides well.
DD2 - Hated rides, to the point where even getting in a line would cause her to scream bloody murder.

DD1 - Afraid of characters. Interested, but then scared when we got up close.
DD2 - Loved characters. Hugs for almost every character, from the moment we walked in the park.

*More than a couple of hours in the park became too much for both of my girls. Whether we took a hotel break and went back in the evenings or took stroller naps and pushed through to 2 or 3 pm - either way, we ended up with cranky girls. Other kids may have more stamina or tolerance for sensory overload than ours.

*Our single biggest challenge was that our girls hated being in their stroller. They would be stretching and whining to get out before we even got through the entry gates each morning. We brought our best double stroller from home and provided all manner of snacks and toys, but it was no use. They were not having that containment! Everywhere I looked, other babies and toddlers appeared very content in their strollers. Ours are just very restless, which resulted in a lot of walking while carrying a heavy child. Fortunately, we had 6 adults to the 2 kids, but we still felt outmatched!

*The best moment was a surprise for us. We booked breakfast with Minnie at Plaza Inn for the girls' birthday and it was magical. When I booked it, I wasn't sure how the girls would react to characters or how they would behave sitting still for a longer meal. But DD2 loved characters and after a couple of days, DD1 was tolerating them (she even hugged Pooh at breakfast!) We had a large table in the atrium that looks out at the castle, which just felt like a really special location, and while we had heard mixed reviews about the food, we thought it was pretty good!
My mom had ordered the girls a birthday cake, and it came with a lot of fanfare - Chip & Dale dancing around, the entire restaurant singing Happy Birthday, CMs taking group photos - so I thought for sure the girls would start crying. But they actually seemed to enjoy it, and it was the adults crying instead, because it was so perfect!

*One other interesting note is that our girls happen to love hotels, so we had not problems there. I imagine other toddlers might have a problem with the disruption in bedtime routine, which could impact the overall vacation.

Conclusions: For MY kids, 24 months was probably too young. I think Disney enjoyment has as much, or more, to do with personality than age. It's hard to justify the expense of Disney when your littles can only tolerate 2 or 3 hours a day in the parks and have meltdowns about being in a stroller. But your mileage will vary widely, depending on your own kids. If I had this trip to do over again, I still would, if only for that magical breakfast.

​

 

[superdeluxe]

We had a 2.5 year old toddler girl.

It was definitely worth it for her.



* She was a Park trooper. She went long and hard everyday. From 8-9am till nap time a quick 6-7 minutes away at the hotel around 2pm. She would nap for a couple of hours and then back to the parks till closing. This allowed me and my older son to ride more rides or find characters

* She was okay with the stroller, but we also let her walk. Depended on the situation and how crowded the areas were.

* She LOVED all the rides, even the dark ones like pirates and haunted mansion. She rode everything she could in her height limit. Her favorite were carousel and tea cups. Mainly because the lines were fairly short.

* She was okay with the characters at a distance (she would wave and say hi, but if they wanted to get real close and touch her she didn’t like that)

 

[superdeluxe]

Also the final night as we were leaving Disney at closing, we let her walk from Pirates ride all the way to our hotel. She ran/walk all the way

 

[Minniemouse07]

*Our single biggest challenge was that our girls hated being in their stroller. They would be stretching and whining to get out before we even got through the entry gates each morning. We brought our best double stroller from home and provided all manner of snacks and toys, but it was no use. They were not having that containment! Everywhere I looked, other babies and toddlers appeared very content in their strollers. Ours are just very restless, which resulted in a lot of walking while carrying a heavy child. Fortunately, we had 6 adults to the 2 kids, but we still felt outmatched!​

Two things that helped us (at WDW) at that age...

A really good carrier. While I had a ton at home, they were all unstructured so I borrowed a Beco (similar to an Ergo). Ds turned 2yo during that trip and he loved the carrier. He even took longer naps in it than in the stroller (which were waaay longer naps than any at the resort!).

A toddler harness. I know they get a bad rap, but we had one of those monkey "backpack" ones where the parent holds the tail and it was an absolute godsend. It let ds wander around outside of the stroller and we didn't have to worry about losing him (he was most definitely a bolter). Ds was happy as a clam and would voluntarily ask to go back into the stroller..and then ask sometimes to wear his backpack and walk around.

I will also throw out noise cancelling headphones. It is not something we brought for our kids as toddlers, but looking back I wish we had. It really helps with the sensory overload.

I'm really glad you had a magical time!

 

[Minniemouse07]

Duplicate post!

 

[chickapin parterre]

thank you for writing the detailed report, sure to be helpful to the many folks who will read it and make a Disneyland trip decision.....because it is indeed a mix bag of reactions that children will display. If folks ask me, I will tell them that 7 is the ideal age, many experiences and smiles in the 2-6 age bracket smiles will be missed, but for optimum use of a budgeted visit to Disneyland 7 is the safe age. I ignored that advice in a guide book and visited anyhow. My 5 year old had the personality to have climbed the Matterhorn and wade the rivers of the world for up close photography, but have to sit in a Caterpillar to go into the depths of a rabbit hole....he was having no part of the dark ride experience.

 

[Peter C]

Thanks for the report!

 

[DnA2010]

Thanks for the heads up! We are headed to DL in May with my DD and my sister's DS- they will be 20 months (a week apart) - this trip is for family time together- we have no idea what to expect, but are just going to go with the flow and go back to the hotel when needed (booked across the street. I will make sure I report back.

 

[lcp9]

Definitely depends on the child...and I think a HUGE factor is: will they nap in a stroller? Kids without naps are terrors. My kids have always been good to take solid naps on the go, so no one is ever abnormally cranky or mad and they've all been generally good natured about things.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Very great summary. Love it! Thanks for sharing!

Our kids have sensory issues as part of brain damage from FASD, oldest also has anxiety as a result of the brain damage. We took them at 4 & 19 mos, again at 14 mos & 2.5, next week we are going at 2.5 & 3.75. I’m eager to see if it’s better now that we only have 1 nap a day. I remember being exhausted all the trips so far. Lol

We were able to go 2 hours in the am. Naps and break at hotel for pool or whatever. Then 2 hours in the afternoon. We had Deluxe ap’s for those 2 trips. So I felt it was worth it at that price. The first time was 4-5 park days (can’t remember but I think 5). 2nd was 6 days. This trip we’ll only have 5 park days (prices out of ap’s) but longer hours. I want to see if the longer hours helps too. Maybe we can last longer than 2 hours!

I wonder if the Das is what made it seem not a waste to us. We also had our soft carriers. Sometimes we brought the stroller too.

I’ve also taken a sensory 5 month old preemie before.

My kids sleep very poorly in the hotel. We brought tents this time to see if it helps. We decided against a family trip next year. And we are considering LEGO land next time we travel. But I’m coming to Disney alone in dec!!

 

[Sjwillia]

Thank you for posting this information. I will be taking two 3 YOs in May. While I have taken 15 other grandkids, these last two will be the youngest by far. Keeping expectations reasonable by hearing other's experiences is very helpful.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I do agree every kid is different. I have one of those kids who just loved everything about Disney from age 21 months, dark rides, characters, parades, fireworks, noise, all of it. He just turned 3 and hit 40 inches and has gone on BTMRR, Star Tours, RSR, Soaring Over the World and is begging to go on Splash Mountain (so we will do that when it's done with the refurb). He has done 12-hour park days with no nap and no tantrums. We usually go for about 7-8 hours though.

In comparison, my 4 year old niece is terrified of most rides still although she loves characters and loves going to the parks.

 

[smartlabelprint]

thank you for writing the detailed report, sure to be helpful to the many folks who will read it and make a Disneyland trip decision.....because it is indeed a mix bag of reactions that children will display. If folks ask me, I will tell them that 7 is the ideal age, many experiences and smiles in the 2-6 age bracket smiles will be missed, but for optimum use of a budgeted visit to Disneyland 7 is the safe age. I ignored that advice in a guide book and visited anyhow. My 5 year old had the personality to have climbed the Matterhorn and wade the rivers of the world for up close photography, but have to sit in a Caterpillar to go into the depths of a rabbit hole....he was having no part of the dark ride experience.

Your description is hilarious! Your poor little guy stuck in a caterpillar.

Yes, good point. If this is a once in a lifetime trip...wait! Thankfully we’ve had the money to do nearly annual trips so far. But now we need to fundraise a service dog and we need to cut some excess spending.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Two things that helped us (at WDW) at that age...

A really good carrier. While I had a ton at home, they were all unstructured so I borrowed a Beco (similar to an Ergo). Ds turned 2yo during that trip and he loved the carrier. He even took longer naps in it than in the stroller (which were waaay longer naps than any at the resort!).

A toddler harness. I know they get a bad rap, but we had one of those monkey "backpack" ones where the parent holds the tail and it was an absolute godsend. It let ds wander around outside of the stroller and we didn't have to worry about losing him (he was most definitely a bolter). Ds was happy as a clam and would voluntarily ask to go back into the stroller..and then ask sometimes to wear his backpack and walk around.

I will also throw out noise cancelling headphones. It is not something we brought for our kids as toddlers, but looking back I wish we had. It really helps with the sensory overload.

I'm really glad you had a magical time!

Yes! Yes! Yes! All of these are are must take items on a Disney trip. Our 3.5 still goes in our toddler Lenny lamb carrier. We have a tula for the 2 yo.

We have always taken noise canceling headphones.

This trip we got an idea from a special needs class we took... use the plastic stretchy key rings as stick together bracelets. $3 for 10 in Amazon. Makes it fun to hold hands! We’ve been practicing. We’ve taken the animal backpacks before and they didn’t get much use.

 

[superdeluxe]

By the end of the trip our 7 yo rode the stroller more than the 2.5 yo! Lol

 

[superdeluxe]

thank you for writing the detailed report, sure to be helpful to the many folks who will read it and make a Disneyland trip decision.....because it is indeed a mix bag of reactions that children will display. If folks ask me, I will tell them that 7 is the ideal age, many experiences and smiles in the 2-6 age bracket smiles will be missed, but for optimum use of a budgeted visit to Disneyland 7 is the safe age. I ignored that advice in a guide book and visited anyhow. My 5 year old had the personality to have climbed the Matterhorn and wade the rivers of the world for up close photography, but have to sit in a Caterpillar to go into the depths of a rabbit hole....he was having no part of the dark ride experience.

This is a great point. The next time we go our son will likely be around 9.5 and our daughter will be around 5.5

 

[superdeluxe]

Something that helped us, was we brought neon glow in the dark bracelets! We put them on our stroller handle bars and it was so easy to find our strollers in the dark!

 

[Minniemouse07]

Yes! Yes! Yes! All of these are are must take items on a Disney trip. Our 3.5 still goes in our toddler Lenny lamb carrier. We have a tula for the 2 yo.

We have always taken noise canceling headphones.

This trip we got an idea from a special needs class we took... use the plastic stretchy key rings as stick together bracelets. $3 for 10 in Amazon. Makes it fun to hold hands! We’ve been practicing. We’ve taken the animal backpacks before and they didn’t get much use.

My son loved that monkey one....but the poor kid looked like he was wearing lederhosen in all the pictures!

 

[DisneyJade]

Thanks, everyone, for all the additional insights on bringing littles to the parks!

We might try DL again next year, depending on stamina and temperament. Definitely going to wait until at least age 5 (and maybe 7, as recommended above) for WDW.

 

[momof2n2]

Definitely depends on the child...and I think a HUGE factor is: will they nap in a stroller? Kids without naps are terrors. My kids have always been good to take solid naps on the go, so no one is ever abnormally cranky or mad and they've all been generally good natured about things.

I agree. I think strollers are a big piece of it.
My kids (6 of them) have all been excellent travels who loved their strollers. We’ve never had a bad trip to any all-day activity.