Expectations with toddlers

[egritz]

I have toddler twins so I speak from personal experience. Avoid characters as it will end in tears for your little one.

This is an awfully broad statement to make. Not all children/toddlers cry with the characters.

 

[violentlyserene]

This is so accurate. My twins are like night and day. My daughter loves any and all rides and hates the characters. Her twin brother only likes meeting characters and the slowest, easiest rides (cries on Snow White, Pinocchio, and Mr. Toad because they're too scary). And their big brother, for all his talk, can't stand any fast rides except GRR. I think this is why a few of us gave the suggestion to be prepared to go with the flow. I understand that's not your style, but just be ready to have to split up occasionally, to have failures on rides you think they'll love, and to also be pleasantly surprised at what they do like. I remember taking my oldest to Disneyland for the first time when he was 2. I had all these expectations of what it would be like, but nothing prepared me for what he would and would not enjoy. While I was not disappointed, none of our hard-developed plans actually worked out beyond which park we were visiting which day and most of all, I remember how surprisingly exhausting it is to go as an adult with children. Worth it, but pace yourselves and be ready to collapse at some point. I agree with what others have said: If you have to have a plan, pick a land to start with, work through that one, then move to the next. If you're starting with EMH, pick Fantasyland first as it will be the best time of day. On a regular day, we pick New Orleans Square or Tomorrowland first depending on which one our kids pick. At DCA, for someone who has never been, Carsland is a good one first off, but we always go to Monster's Inc. first, then whip around to GRR, Little Mermaid, the Boardwalk area, and Carsland last (not much for little kids there despite how fun it looks).

How much of Mr Toad is scary? i saw that the vehicles have steering wheels which is a guaranteed in for the boy/shyer twin.

 

[violentlyserene]

How does rider swap work? We're hoping to use it on Indiana Jones, Star Tours,Space Mountain and ToT. My husband seems convinced that its going to be a big pain.

 

[WIcruizer]

How does rider swap work? We're hoping to use it on Indiana Jones, Star Tours,Space Mountain and ToT. My husband seems convinced that its going to be a big pain.

It's not a pain, very easy- and saves a lot of time and inconvenience. It's been a while since we had to use it, but I imagine the process is a little different at each attraction, just ask a CM at the attraction.

 

[DLgeeks]

Rider swap is super easy, it just adds a bit of extra time. The process differs ride by ride, but usually you ask the cast member at the front of the line and they either give you a pass right there or a lanyard to wear through the line (that you surrender for the pass later on). One parent rides (FP or standby) and then the other parent uses the rider swap to go in either the FP line or the DA access (I think Space Mountain is the only one that does it from the DA access).

A couple of nice things with rider swap -
*If you're using FP, only the first one waiting needs to have a FP so you can double up on FP by getting them for different rides around the same time (different ones for each parent).
*The rider swap pass usually lets the alternate rider plus 3 other folks back on the ride, so if you're going with a group or older kids they can get an extra ride "free" (my 7 yo DD loves this).
*The rider swap passes can be used at any point during the day, so you don't have to stay at the ride and do the repeat right away, gives bit of flexibility especially if the little ones are getting antsy having to wait on mom or dad.

The only thing that bugs me with it is that the process is different from ride to ride (and sometimes day to day) so you do have to ask the CM pretty much every time. Sometimes they want to see the person who is waiting with the kid before giving the line person the pass, sometimes they could care less.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

How much of Mr Toad is scary? i saw that the vehicles have steering wheels which is a guaranteed in for the boy/shyer twin.

You get hit by a train and go to hell. I'd say about 1/2 is scary. 2 of my 3 kids love it, but the other one cries from the train hit onward. It just depends on the personality.

 

[violentlyserene]

Rider swap is super easy, it just adds a bit of extra time. The process differs ride by ride, but usually you ask the cast member at the front of the line and they either give you a pass right there or a lanyard to wear through the line (that you surrender for the pass later on). One parent rides (FP or standby) and then the other parent uses the rider swap to go in either the FP line or the DA access (I think Space Mountain is the only one that does it from the DA access).

A couple of nice things with rider swap -
*If you're using FP, only the first one waiting needs to have a FP so you can double up on FP by getting them for different rides around the same time (different ones for each parent).
*The rider swap pass usually lets the alternate rider plus 3 other folks back on the ride, so if you're going with a group or older kids they can get an extra ride "free" (my 7 yo DD loves this).
*The rider swap passes can be used at any point during the day, so you don't have to stay at the ride and do the repeat right away, gives bit of flexibility especially if the little ones are getting antsy having to wait on mom or dad.

The only thing that bugs me with it is that the process is different from ride to ride (and sometimes day to day) so you do have to ask the CM pretty much every time. Sometimes they want to see the person who is waiting with the kid before giving the line person the pass, sometimes they could care less.

Thanks, i think this helps clarify a bit. So on a fp like indiana jones, we tell the cm at the entrance that we need to do a rider switch. Do we all wait in line and then switch off? If we come back later, do we just wait in the fp line? its just the four of us so itll be a single adult riding and two kids who cant.

 

[DLgeeks]

For Indy you would all go up to the ride and let the CM know you need the rider switch - Indy has been using the lanyards, the first person to ride gets the lanyard and then waits through whichever line you're using (there will be a point in the line to exchange the lanyard for a paper pass). The other parent and the kids go off to do something else in the mean time (shop/get a snack/ride a different ride). Once the first parent is off the ride the second parent (at any point in the day) can go back and ride using the FP line with the paper rider switch.

One thing to note with Indy is that there is also a single rider line which is sometimes faster (not always), so it can pay to ask what the wait time for that is when you go if you don't want to use a FP.

Some of the rides do it a bit differently so it's a good idea to always double check!

 

[agamble]

How much of Mr Toad is scary? i saw that the vehicles have steering wheels which is a guaranteed in for the boy/shyer twin.

My kids don't find the dark rides scary, but I guess some kids do. They both love that there is a steering wheel on Mr. Toad's. I think they just have so much fun steering that they don't even notice the ride is in the dark. It doesn't have witches or anything like Snow White. It is a dark drive through London at night with a train (my son loves trains) and then you go through Hell, but if the kids don't know what that is they may not find it scary unless they dislike flames and heat. The ride is short. I wouldn't do it as a first ride, but if they do okay on Alice and Peter Pan it's worth trying out.

 

[violentlyserene]

The dark is probably (knock on wood) not going to be a big problem, especially with steering wheels to be excited about. It definitely won't be the first ride, that's probably Buzz, but it may okay later that day or something. I'm not sure they wont think the fire is the best part.