DLRP with 2.5 year old?

[Squidge]

Hi everybody!

Hope you are all really well tonight! I hope some of you might remember me, I used to be a pretty regular poster here a few years ago before my daughter was born - she was 2 last Monday so it has been a while!

My fiance has today announced that he has booked a surprise trip to DLRP for all 3 of us for 17 - 20 January 2009 to celebrate my 30th birthday which is 1 January 2009. I am very excited indeed as this is my 4th trip, the 2nd with my fiance and the 1st time we will have taken Heather to the House of the Mouse!

My question is really for people who have taken small children to to DLRP - suggestions for rides that she will enjoy, hoe the parent swap system works (where you both queue and take it in turns to ride rides - not sure what it is really called hehe). Are the breakfast/dinner with character options worth the fee? Heather adores Mickey and Minnie so am really hoping that she will get to have some ncie photos with them too - any suggestions on good places to get photos?

I havent been at this time of year- I am guessing that the New Year / XMas decs will all be down - is it likely to be very wet at this time of year?

Any other hints and tips gratefully received - feels sooo good to be back and planning our first trip in several years!!

Love Kirsty xxx

 

[Cyrano]

Welcome back Kirsty

Fantasyland will definitely be your friend although some children do not like the Snow White as it concentrates more on the Wicked Queen.

Our lot have always enjoyed character meals but it might be wise to introduce your DD to one of the character meet n greets to see how she reacts.

The baby switch works okay from what we have seen. Just check with a CM first since each ride loads differently

 

[miffy7]

we've been loads since our ds1 was two.
he's been on and enjoyed all the rides he's allowed onto.
generally once he's been on a ride he wants to do it a few more times right away so extra magic hours and quiet times are our friend.
he likes ....
phantom manor
pirates of the caribbean
buzz lightyear laser blast
the dumbo-types like orbitron and flying carpets
cars rally
the studio tour - he calls it the thunderbirds ride
obviously fantasyland in its entirety, although on one trip he insisted on going through snow white again and again while covering his eyes until the end and cuddling into me.
he didn't like characters for a while.
a good place to see them is in hotel new york - they have a timetable up and hardly any queue. that way you can get an idea of what kind of reaction they'll get.

he always has enjoyed character meals though as he can see them from a distance.

he likes the shows if he's in the right mood too, although the stunt show has flat explainy moments and requires snacks

 

[Hollytigs]

My DD loved basically all the rides in Fantasyland, but she also enjoyed the boat and train just as much! Her favourite bit of SSW was looking through all the little windows in the houses in the exit room. We had to stand in there for ages while she went round 4 times!

I definately recommend the character breakfast! I really thought my DD would be scared by the characters (she was when she saw them in the hotel), but at the breakfast, I could sit her away from them or on my lap, and she was fine as long as they didn't touch her. So with her sitting on my lap, they posed for pictures, but had their arms around ME instead of her.

Some kids there loved it and others cried alot, but I definately think the breakfast is worth it as you don't have the scrum or the queue to see the character like you do around the parks.

 

[GlendaONeill]

We were there in February this year with a 4, 3 and 2.5 year olds. It was really cold so make sure you bring a mix of warm clothes. My 2.5 DS loved Dumbo (about 6 times) the carousel, Buzz Lightyear,Pinnochio, Cars ride and others people mentioned above. He DID NOT like Pirates of the Carribean (none of my kids did too dark).
He talks about it a lot even now. BUT he said the best thing was the train ride......... in case you are wondering THAT was the TGV we got to and from the airport

 

[Missbebe]

Just crashing this thread rather than start my own, hope you dont mind?

We have 3 15 month olds on our trip, what rides can they go on, if any?

 

[thehails]

2.5 was the age we took our son for the first time. He really loved it. The look on his face when he saw the characters was amazing.

I would really recommend the meals with the characters. We found that in the park the pushing and shoving by adults & children whilst trying to see the characters made it very difficult and often intimidating for a little one to easily meet the characters whilst out and about in the parks, however at the meals you get one to one treatment from the characters, for us it was worth every penny to see the smile on his face when he was hugged by them and he wasn’t at all nervous of them.

Like previous posters have said we spent a lot of time in fantasy land, he really loved Dumbo and the Casey junior ride there are also some great play area’s around the parks and he spent a lot of time in these as well.

It's a great age to take a little one for their first visit, have a wonderful time

 

[miffy7]

1.5 year olds....

most things, actually.
the boat ride, the train, the special vehicles.
spinning around in buzz lightyear or cars rides.
sitting on laps watching shows.

kids that age seem to like whatever you like ime.
it's far far better to take them on rides with no queue than wait in a queue or a ride that seems like one they'd like.

it's a small world is a nice one.

look out for the ducks.

 

[karenmoloney]

For the 15 mth olds :

I was there in May & my youngest had just turned 17 mths. Unfortunately she wasn't great at Disney. She had just mastered the word NO & spent most of the time saying NO NO NO NO. She was scared of the characters. She did enjoy It's a Small World, but after a few rides, she was more interested in trying to hang out of the boat & touch the water! She was OK on the carousel. She hated the Pirates of the Caribbean. She enjoyed Anamagique, but after a while had had enough - she has a very short attention span. Generally she doesn't like strange places, people or noises so I didn't expect her to any different at Disney! We were staying off site, so I spent most of my time away from Disney with her while DH had all the fun with our 6 yr old. Hopefully your children will be better!

For the 2 1/2 yr old :

We brought our eldest daughter for the first time when she was 2 1/2. She loved Small World, Peter Pan, Teacups, the Maze, Dumbo. She loved meeting the characters. She was scared on the Pirates. We didn't take her on Pinocchio or Snow White at that age. She just loved the whole experience at that age & we loved seeing her reaction to everything.

Just shows what a difference a year makes!

 

[Tillybud]

we took our daughter to DLP for her 1st birthdya in June 07 and we took her again in June 08 and we're booked up again for October ... she just loves it !! We have taken her on most rides:

Flying Carpets
Studio Tour
Carousel in Fantasyland and the mini one in the Village
Dumbo
Orbitron
POTC
Phantom Manner
Peter Pan
Snow White
Pinocchio
Buzz Lightyear
Storybook Land
Casey Jones

to name a few and I think her favourite was probably the Flying Carpets and Dumbo along with the carousel .... she is also just very happy to dance and look at things ... she just loves it all !

We have some great character photos from her first trip and again from her second and amazingly she'd run to give Mickey and Minnie a hug and a kiss but was very shy when she met Cinderella, she crouched down and covered her eyes the funny little thing.

You're going to have an amazing time when you go and hopefully the queues won't be too long !xx

 

[Tillybud]

oh how could I forget the teacups and It's a Small World ... she loved them too ... can't wait to go back in October

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi Kirsty, welcome back!!

Heather adores Mickey and Minnie

Good to see you're training her so well!!