Expectations with toddlers

[violentlyserene]

I'm trying to set up itineraries in touringplans for our trip in late oct but i'm really having trouble with what's a reasonable amount of things to do for 2 year olds first visits to disney. I already have a 3 hour break for lunch, and nap but maybe it should be longer? How many rides would you all recommend, especially for the first day? We'll have 5 park days including one for just the halloween party. It'll change and get rearranged but starting with a plan generally works out much better for us.

I know we'll want to save most characters for later because one twin does not do strangers and most especially costumed strangers but may warm up to at least Pooh and Toy Story characters after some adjustment.

What about arrival time? Opening time our first day 8am and we do have an early entry for our first or last day. I think some adjustment time to run and explore would be good so i'm inclined to go with the last day but opinions would be helpful.

We probably will not have park hoppers. Im not sure how much use they'd be for us or when to switch back and forth.

 

[BritBrit]

Following because we are going with our two year old in early December! I'm definitely budgeting long afternoon breaks!

 

[figment_jii]

I know this is probably not really helpful in terms of planning, but when I've gone with small children, most of the "plans" didn't survive the first hour. The kiddos were both early risers, so getting to the park at rope drop wasn't hard, but after that we mostly did whatever interested the kids (so it meant things like riding IaSW three times in a row!). It was easier to just "go with the flow" than to try and get the kids moving to a specific attraction at a specific time. We had a rough idea of what rides we wanted to accomplish during the trip, but didn't try to create a schedule to get there. In terms of the naps/breaks, we also didn't schedule those for a specific duration. We let the kids sleep in the strollers as long as they slept and when they woke up and were ready, we continued touring the parks.

 

[Caseheidi]

I have to agree with the PP. the best plan we had was to play it by ear. Little ones are so out of their elements, and can easily be over stimulated at Disney that you never know how they will react. When we took her, we found we spent a lot of time closely examining the small details that we normally just walked by. The ground in Epcot just fascinated her, and we discovered a new appreciation for the details the Imagineers include.

A couple things that helped us with a toddler on board:
* we had a blanket to cover her stroller when she needed to close out the stimulation. We found that she knew when she had enough and would cover herself up to hide
* explore the little nooks and crannies around the parks and take a little one on one time to just cuddle and play. One day DD and I sat in the stroller parking by the Rivers of America and she repeatedly ran and jumped into my arms. She just needed Mommy time.
* bring at least two changes of clothes. You don't realize how many water play spots they have until you run out of clothes and have to buy something to put your toddler in. I found packing full outfits in gallon ziplock bags was a great tip. Then I had something to put wet /soiled clothes into, and could just grab two bags for the diaper bag each morning.

Most of all. Remember that you will probably have a meltdown or two, but that they are just tired or scared. It can be a lot of fun if you are willing to follow your toddlers lead and go with the flow. I only ever planed one ADR a day, and it was enough. It will be different from any other trip, but really special in its own way. When asked why we would take a toddler to Disney (which we did twice) our answer is that we wanted the pictures and memories of sharing one of our favorite places with our daughter, and it is one of our favorite trips to remember.

 

[figment_jii]

Another place that was very helpful was the Baby Center in both parks. If your little one is still in diapers, it was a nice place to change the diaper. If they're in process of being potty trained, there is a training potty there that is closer to the ground and doesn't have the auto-flush.

I would also recommend packing snacks...lots of little things for the child to eat if s/he gets hungry. Having snacks helped head off several meltdown for our little ones. It also gave them something "familiar" to eat because there were so many things for the kids to eat that they normally do not get at home (e.g., popcorn, Mickey bars, churros, etc.).

 

[violentlyserene]

There is no flow unless I have a plan to start with. its a disaster if we don't do that. Nothing in this short of breakfast reservations has to be at a specific place or time, it's just a rough idea.

How many rides did you end up doing a day?

 

[violentlyserene]

Another place that was very helpful was the Baby Center in both parks. If your little one is still in diapers, it was a nice place to change the diaper. If they're in process of being potty trained, there is a training potty there that is closer to the ground and doesn't have the auto-flush.

I would also recommend packing snacks...lots of little things for the child to eat if s/he gets hungry. Having snacks helped head off several meltdown for our little ones. It also gave them something "familiar" to eat because there were so many things for the kids to eat that they normally do not get at home (e.g., popcorn, Mickey bars, churros, etc.).

Good to know about the training potty! Are they pretty clean? One twin goes hysterical over changing tables so I have to on the ground a lot when out.

 

[Caseheidi]

The number of rides is hard to say as there are so many factors. how crowded is the park? Does your little one like rides? How tired are they?

I would guess that we did anywhere from 5 to 15 rides a day depending on the park when she was 18 months. At 3 1/2 it was the same, but a more limited selection of rides. She had no fear when younger, but the next trip she was scared of the dark. We also discovered that she adored meeting the characters, so we did a lot of meet and greets. This really kept her happy. However, she is a shy child, and did not like face characters, so was not happy with princesses. The others were just live stuffed animals to her, and she has always had a thing for stuffed animals.

Also, she

 

[violentlyserene]

Tha

The number of rides is hard to say as there are so many factors. how crowded is the park? Does your little one like rides? How tired are they?

I would guess that we did anywhere from 5 to 15 rides a day depending on the park when she was 18 months. At 3 1/2 it was the same, but a more limited selection of rides. She had no fear when younger, but the next trip she was scared of the dark. We also discovered that she adored meeting the characters, so we did a lot of meet and greets. This really kept her happy. However, she is a shy child, and did not like face characters, so was not happy with princesses. The others were just live stuffed animals to her, and she has always had a thing for stuffed animals.

Also, she

thanks, thats helpful! right now at least they LOVE rides and slightly scary things like ghosts so hopefully we're going at a good time. one loves characters and the other only basically only loves rides, pooh and buzz. it'll be a an interesting balancing act for sure.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

There is no flow unless I have a plan to start with. its a disaster if we don't do that. Nothing in this short of breakfast reservations has to be at a specific place or time, it's just a rough idea.

How many rides did you end up doing a day?

For us, it all came down to the child's personality and preferences. Our oldest just wanted to watch rides before he would agree to ride. He really liked watching the tea cups go round or the carousel (forget about any dark rides!) for 20-30 minutes at a time. Riding just made him nervous or upset. So we might ride a handful of rides on a good day (like Casey Jr. -- we could all sit together in the daylight). Later on, he couldn't go on enough rides in a day. LOL. Our youngest liked rides, but mainly the easy, low thrill kind. Even Alice was too much for him. He loved IASW and Tiki Room. We would do those repeatedly (oh boy, having those songs stuck in my head for days on end!) because he was so happy. So even if we rode up to 20 rides in a day, they were consecutive repeats of the same ride. CMs were always very understanding and accommodating. To sum up, your little ones may want to ride lots of rides, they may warm up to lots of rides, or they may only want to go on a few at first. It's good that you'll have more than one day to get them in the DLR groove. And however many rides you do, you'll all have a wonderful time!

 

[amyg1975]

Yes, lots of snacks. We always arrived at rope drop and stayed out past her bedtime, so lots of snacks were needed. One thing about the break for naps- we never leave the park because she is too amped up to sleep in a hotel room. Right after lunch we just put her in her stroller and reclined her and she would pass out for a good nap. Lots of background noise to keep her asleep. At that point my DH and I would take turns going on rides as single riders or using a fast pass.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

Go with the flow. Plans usually don't work out with toddlers. If they have never been on rides before, start with something outdoors like the carousel, bugs land, or Casey jr. Depending on the kids, naps might be weird. My toddlers usually end up just falling asleep in their stroller while we are walking around because the hotel is so exciting they can't sleep during the day. Snacks and some sort of drink are a must. Bring some with you. My kids usually have a snack at around 9, 2, and 4 while we're at Disneyland to keep their stamina up. Honestly, the biggest tip I have is to try to go with the flow. I have 3 kids (20 month old twins and a 5 year old). Our trips have always been memorable, but there are moments occasionally when I wonder why we take them as often as we do, like when they're screaming because they are overstimulated and everyone is staring and judging. With twins especially, expect some extra attention from tourists. On our first trip with the twins, korean tourists stopped and took a Selfie with our babies without even asking.

As to your specific questions, I'd get there at rope drop every day if you can as morning hours are less crowded. I would actually day use the magic morning early in your trip because by the last day, you might not feel up to the extra early hour. Have fun!

 

[figment_jii]

How many rides did you end up doing a day?

We averaged between 5 and 10 rides per day. We did also do a fair number of character meet and greets and watched some of the shows, which takes a fair amount of time. Most of the attractions we went on were in Fantasyland, but we also did things like Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, the Main Street Vehicles, Tom Sawyers Island, and Jungle Cruise in DL and the Little Mermaid, Toy Story, all of Bug's Life Land, and Monster's Inc over in DCA.

thanks, thats helpful! right now at least they LOVE rides and slightly scary things like ghosts so hopefully we're going at a good time. one loves characters and the other only basically only loves rides, pooh and buzz. it'll be a an interesting balancing act for sure.

For the one that loves Pooh and Buzz, there are attractions for both. They might have a hard time getting a very good score on Buzz (Astroblasters), but the little one I was with still loved the ride and wanted to go on it multiple times. There is also the Winnie the Pooh attraction in Critter Country. Winnie the Pooh and friends usually meet in Critter Country.

 

[egritz]

I'm in the camp that you can't plan too much with toddlers. We've gone when my daughter was 14 months, 2 years, 2 years 8 months, and 3 years 7 month (that trip our son was 4 months). All trips but 1 (when she was 2 years) were 5 days in the parks we planned out what parks we would start in for the first 2 days or 3 days, and each day we would have a loose plan in the morning. i.e. our first morning in DL w/ magic morning we head to Fantasyland to Peter Pan, then Dumbo, then knock out other FL rides as much as possible until park opens. Of course half the time the plans would change, like last year she had no interest in Peter Pan or Dumbo and wanted to ride AstroOrbitor, so that's what we did for the first half hour instead of my "plan".

Basically the only thing that we really stuck to in our plans was ADR's. I would say that depending on park hours & crowds you should be able to get 8-10 rides in a day easily. You should be able to do at least 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. That includes rides with minimal wait time like the carousel, Pooh, Bug's Land, etc, as well as rides with longer waits like Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, etc.

Naps we only tried returning to the hotel for a nap twice, once when she was 2, and then when she was 2 years 8 months. The first trip when she was 2 it was a long walk back to the hotel and she fell asleep in the stroller and was almost impossible to get her back to sleep for a good nap in the hotel, even though she had a dark room to herself. The second trip when she was 2 years 8 months we only went back for a nap bc I needed one (I was pregnant) and if I recall correctly she NEVER fell asleep, she was too amped up and couldn't settle down. This next trip our son will be 16 months and the current plan is to hopefully have him sleep in the stroller. Not sure how that will go since he required sleep training at 9 months, and currently still takes 2 naps a day (at 14 1/2 months). But our hotel is on S Clementine, so a long walk and I fear he'll fall asleep in the stroller if we try to walk back to the hotel.

 

[agamble]

For your first day I recommend you use the early entry. If you wait until the last day you may be too tired.

I would go to Fantasyland first with your little ones. It's even more fun if they are familiar with some of the movies. Everyone says go straight to Peter Pan, but if you can't get on within 10 minutes, I wouldn't wait for it and would go another morning. I like to switch between indoor and outdoor rides. If your kids are scared of the dark or scary themes though, the inside rides may not be so much fun. My personal plan is something like this: assuming I am skipping Peter Pan I would go to Alice first then Dumbo, Toad, Casey Junior train, Snow White, Carousel, Pinocchio, Tea Cups, and finally the Canal boats. That is everything in one area and should take you about an hour to an hour and a half. We park the stroller in one place and then grab it before moving on. Then I would go to Toon Town. Grab a FP for Roger Rabbit. If your 2 y/os are 35" tall (both mine were) then go to Gadget's and ride a few times (my kids LOVE this little coaster). Then let the kids explore the area while waiting for your FP for Roger Rabbit. Don't forget to take pictures, Toon Town is a fun place for little ones. When you're done with Toon Town ride Small World (or if Toon Town isn't open when you leave Fantasyland, you can go on Small World before Toon Town). In about 3 hours you will have explored two entire lands at DL and ridden about 12 rides. This is where my plans would become less "planned." It may be lunch time, or just time for a break. Think about a show. Mickey and the Magical map is across from Small World and a great show.

I would plan out your first 3 hours or so each morning, and then take your break/lunch as you see fit, see some shows, and enjoy your afternoons at a more leisurely pace. Don't forget to plan time for you and hubby to riderswap the big rides, so you can enjoy the fun too. And know which days you plan to see the night shows. Don't do a character meal if your child is afraid of characters, unless you think he's just timid and won't mind being around them as long as he doesn't have to touch them.

 

[DLgeeks]

We're another vote for going with the flow, toddler or big kid! Disneyland is so much easier to do this with than WDW, there are only a handful of TS places and no FP+ to worry about so it's much easier to be spontaneous, and the kids schedules (ours at least) tend to fly right out the window on vacation - on our last trip my 2yo (who usually naps 1-3 like clockwork) would stay up all day and finally pass out in the stroller for an hour or two around 5, there was no way napping at the hotel would work that trip.

One thing you might do it try to plan which section of the park you want to focus on each day so that you limit the back and forth walking, etc - have an idea of what you want to hit in each area and then just take the order as it comes that day. With 5 park days you will have plenty of time to get through what you want to do, even at a toddler's pace.

One spot for little ones that often gets overlooked is the playground area in ToonTown - it is semi-enclosed and has the rubberized ground so it's soft to fall on and lots of things to climb on. My little guy gets frustrated being stuck in the stroller too often, and this was a great spot to let him free to run around safely for a bit
to get some of the wiggles out.

Have fun!

 

[DLgeeks]

One other place to check out is the petting zoo over in the Big Thunder Ranch area - it is usually quieter/shady over in that area and often the Toy Story characters will wander though. If your kids are into animals they have a bunch of pigmy goats and sheep they can pet that are really sweet and not aggressive at all (they don't allow guest to feed them, so they aren't pushy with the little ones like you get at some places). The whole area is closing in Jan to make way for StarWars Land which is kind of sad as this is one of the last quiet corners of the park.

 

[tiffjoy]

When I have gone with my kids as babies or toddlers, we had no plan other than to have fun! We just tended to focus on areas, as PP mentioned. We did head to FL first thing as it gets crowded later. But so much of what we did was based on our kids decisions right at the moment. We have stood in line to meet Minnie over and over and over. We have spent time playing with the ducks by the Little Red Wagon. We have ridden Small World, Tea Cups, Pooh, Ariel, and Flick's Flyers a dozen times in a row (get off, little one happily shouts "again!" and back in line we went). We have taken five hour naps back at the hotel. We have stayed in the park partying until midnight. We have left the park super early. We have watched every single parade every day of a vacation. It's fun just going with their flow and not having any agenda. I get to really take the experience in when I'm not worried about a schedule that a little kid has no interest in keeping.

My older daughter adored the furry characters from the very start, but was fearful of face characters until later on, around almost 3. My younger daughter was very afraid of the furry characters for a while, with the exception of Minnie and Mickey, and loved the face characters instantly. No real way to know until you are there. So schedule character meals for later on in your visit.

 

[violentlyserene]

While i appreciate the that it works for others, votes to go with the flow are really the opposite of help. It just does not work for us. We need to have a basic plan (not schedule) that can and will be changed and adjusted to not end up in a pile of meltdowns.

The information is really helpful though so thank you for that. i had no idea that there were sheep too at btr. we've been planning this for over a year now so im amazed i missed something so simple. The ducks too will be high point im sure. nevermind that we see ducks and goats at the zoo we go to monthly.

I looked through our ratings of stuff and im thinking we may be best to head towards buzz first thing since its such an interactive ride and favorite characters for all of us. then do tame stuff in tommorowland and fantasyland until naps and toontown and parade afterwards.

 

[violentlyserene]

Another question- is IaSw usually closed before halloween? The disneyland app says it and turtle talk will be and hours from lady year say iasw was closed the same week