Favorite Toddler Attractions/Rides?

[lmb380]

I'm a Disney newbie. DH and I are taking our 2-year-old son in March. I've signed up for touring plans and have checked out attractions and rides. But wanted input as to what your favorite rides/attractions are at the parks for the younger set. We are spending 2 days at MK, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, and 1 day at Animal Kingdom. We will probably do an evening at Epcot one of those days, as well.

We are part of a larger group, but no one has taken an initiative to do any planning! So, I want to make sure we are at least prepared.

Thank you!

 

[LadyRayado]

My toddler loves and rode basically everything he was tall enough to, except Astro Orbit. He really liked Buzz and the Tea Cups because he got to interact a little. Also Winnie the Pooh because of the "bouncing." We rode its a small world and the boat ride in Mexico (EPCOT) each once, but he kept trying to get into the water - probably because they are a little slower and he got bored. He also LOVES Tom Sawyer Island in MK - great place for an afternoon break. Lots of space to run around, not too crowded, and shady. I'm sure this isn't the full list, but we've done Buzz Lightyear, Tea Cups, Little Mermaid, Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, Haunted Mansion, It's A Small World, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Toy Story Mania, Great Movie Ride, Kilimanjaro Safari, the train at AK to conservation station, Nemo, Living with the Land, Journey to Imagination, and the boat ride in Mexico.

Show-wise, my DS likes the Move It Shake it show/parade, fireworks, and the Disney Junior show at DHS. The other parades capture his interest, but waiting for them is kinda hard as he isn't very patient.

 

[AllieBoo]

At MK:
Peter Pan
Dumbo
Winnie the Pooh
Buzz Lightyear
Little Mermaid
It's a small world

If he's scared of dark rides, he might not like Pirates or the Haunted Mansion. Both of my kids always loved both of them, but it just depends on your child.

At Epcot:
Nemo
Turtle Talk with Crush
Mexico Boat Ride
Living with the Land
Journey into Imagination

 

[LadyRayado]

Also as a side note, Haunted Mansion, Nemo, and the TTC all tend to put my little guy to sleep. Great place for naps. There is a tiny playground by Splash Mountain if you are waiting for others to ride. Living Seas is a good place to let little ones run around, as is the Circus area at MK. Animal Kingdom has a good play spot - the Boneyard maybe? There is also a playhouse and fire engine in Innovations at EPCOT, not very high-tech, but another place where little ones can run without too much fear of being trampled.

Forgot to mention Dumbo, DS really likes using the level to go up and down.

 

[lmb380]

Thank you all so much! This really helps. I've never been to DW, so I had no starting point. DH has been no help!

 

[GatorMama]

On Epcot days, I think my kid would be happy riding Nemo all day long.

 

[Starhart81]

I'm a Disney newbie. DH and I are taking our 2-year-old son in March. I've signed up for touring plans and have checked out attractions and rides. But wanted input as to what your favorite rides/attractions are at the parks for the younger set. We are spending 2 days at MK, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, and 1 day at Animal Kingdom. We will probably do an evening at Epcot one of those days, as well.

We are part of a larger group, but no one has taken an initiative to do any planning! So, I want to make sure we are at least prepared.

Thank you!

Just took our 2 year old son (almost 3), and these are what he loved. He loves characters and loved most of the rides. He is fearless, so dark didn't scare him, and 7DMT was his favorite ride (cried every time we got off because he wanted to go again). He did much better with the shows than I thought he would, but he did get antsy in a few shows, especially around nap time. Naps were in the parks, either in the stroller or me holding him in a show. This worked much better than trying to go back to the room for us. We had 1 day at AK, HS, and EP, 2 days at MK, and then let the kids choose the last day, which was MK again. We were a group of 11, and I was in charge of planning.

AK for our 2 year old son:
Safari- loves animals and the bumpy jeep ride.
Boneyard- fun playground and enjoyed the dig area across the bridge.
Lion King- a little loud, but was in awe of the show.
Nemo Musical- a little long, but loves all things Nemo.
Tough to be a Bug- liked it but he is fearless. (Scared a lot of children including my 5 year old son).
Flights of Wonder- fun bird show, but he napped through it.
Pangani- Gorillas (and monkeys) are his favorite animals.
Maharajah- Tigers were sleeping, we should have just skipped this.
Met Dug and Russell- loves Up.
Triceratop Spin- just like Dumbo, only ride for kids at AK. (Good thing we did AK first, because he loves rides and probably would have been disappointed in the lack of rides if we did MK first).

EP for our 2 year old son:
Nemo ride- loves all things Nemo.
Turtle Talk- great show, adults enjoy it as much as kids.
The Seas Pavilion- enjoyed Bruce the shark play area and the aquarium.
Imagination with Figment- liked the ride, really enjoyed the play area after the ride.
Character Spot- so excited to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.
Mexico boat ride- liked it and Donald Duck.
Living with the Land and Spaceship Earth- fine rides, but nothing special for my 2 year old.
UK hedge maze- enjoyed playing in this, also met Tigger and Pooh in UK. He napped through a lot of the World Showcase.

HS for our 2 year old son:
Toy Story Mania- lots of fun, did it first thing at rope drop and FP.
Disney Jr.- by far his favorite show, loves Disney Jr. shows at home.
Met Mike & Sully and Buzz & Woody- big hugs for them.
Tried to meet Baymax, but line was always at least 45 minutes, and no way he would wait that long.
Frozen Sing-a-long- likes the movie and the songs, and liked this show.
Little Mermaid- liked this show.
Muppets- cute 3D show, liked it alright.
LMA Stunt Show- everyone enjoyed this, but nap time for our 2 year old.
Great Movie Ride- fine ride for our fearless 2 year old, but our 5 year old was a little scared of alien.
Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast- decent shows, but we should have skipped with our 2 year old, too many shows. Again, good thing we did HS before MK, as TSM was only ride for kids.

MK- by far their favorite park and where we spent our last 3 days.
7DMT and Barnstormer- wanted to do over and over again, and we did Barnstormer many times.
Enjoyed all the Fantasyland rides, the key was avoiding long lines and using FP+ wisely.
Speedway and Buzz- 2 of his favorites beside the roller coasters.
Tom Sawyer Island- fun with the caves, paths, and fort.
Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion were all good to do once, and he enjoyed Magic Carpets.
He liked the shows Monsters Inc LF, Philharmagic, ETWB, and really enjoyed Dream along with Mickey.
Some of the other rides and shows were skipable for us, depends on what your 2 year old likes.
Enjoyed the characters, again just avoided long lines and used FP wisely.
Liked MSEP and FOF parades and loved Wishes.

So much to do and see, my boys wanted to just go, go, go. The stroller was good for storage too. We had some first timers, so we wanted to see as much as we could, but sometimes a slower pace and focusing on a few fun things a day is the way to go. Hope some of this helps with what you want to do.

 

[lmb380]

Thank you so much! We have a fearless 2-year-old so these are great suggestions!

 

[ssmurphy28]

We just got back with our 2.5 year old, and you really can't go wrong with that age!

His favorite ride at each park is listed below.

Magic Kingdom - The Barnstormer (this surprised us, but he loved it!). His second favorite was Dumbo!

Epcot - The Land. We had to ride it three times. He loved yelling out the names of all of the vegetables.

Hollywood Studios - Toy Story is really the only ride for that age, and he enjoyed it. He didn't understand what to do, but still had fun! He also loved the Frozen Sing-a-long. you can't go wrong with that. It was good for adults too. I will also note that he found Fantasmic a little scary.

Animal Kingdom - He loves animals, so it was no suprise that he loved this park. We rode the Safari 4 times and he also enjoyed the Triceretop Spin. Also, Festival of the Lion King was a big hit!

 

[ah1126]

There is a petting zoo at Animal Kingdom that my kids love!!

 

[galaxygirl76]

Our daughter rode everything she was tall enough to ride, and enjoyed all of them but she would have happily rode the carousel all day long. We had to maneuver our way through Fantasyland to avoid her from seeing it because that would have meant riding it again haha.

AK: She loved the safari
MK: Besides the Carousel, her favorite probably was It's a Small World or the Barnstormer.
DHS: Toy Story.
Epcot: Surprisingly enough she absolutely loved Spaceship Earth.

 

[Miumiu4me]

AK: Safari, triceriatops spin (it's like Dumbo), Nemo musical, the petting zoo, animal trails. I'd avoid It's Tough to be a Bug, it scared my toddler badly. Toddlers love the Boneyard, but proceed with caution there - there are many unruly big kids running wild. Kids kept pushing my 18 month old to get to what they wanted (where their parents were beats me).
Epcot: Nemo ride, Donald ride in Mexico, Turtle Talk...there's not a ton of things here for little kids. There are characters in almost every country though.
DHS: Frozen Sing a long, that awful Disney JUnior show, Toy Story MAnia, Voyage of the Little Meramid, Beauty and the Beast show
MK: Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, Castle show, carousel, teacups, MIckey's Philiar Magic, Tom Sawyer Island, Small World, Little Mermaid, Belle's Storytime, Dumbo, Carpets

 

[SadieDawn90]

Just went in December with my 2 year old daughter. She loved everything we let her ride, including Barnstormer and Haunted Mansion. Now one of her favorite pretend games is "Jungle Cruise" and she pretends the couch is a boat and she's the skipper, pointing out animals to me. You're going to have such a great time!! It's an age that maybe they won't remember, but you'll have amazing memories of how immersed in the magic they were :] have fun!

 

[pigletgirl]

MK - Dumbo/Pooh/Little Mermaid/The train around the park/Jungle Cruise/Aladdin's Carpet Ride/Swiss Family Tree House (DH held her through the tour but she loved it!) All the splash zones.

Epcot - Nemo and the Land. We let her run in the WS and she loved it too!

Hollywood Studios - Disney Jr

AK - The Safari/dinosaur spin/All the trails!

 

[Lillian Gracey]

Our daughter rode everything she was tall enough to ride, and enjoyed all of them but she would have happily rode the carousel all day long. We had to maneuver our way through Fantasyland to avoid her from seeing it because that would have meant riding it again haha.

AK: She loved the safari
MK: Besides the Carousel, her favorite probably was It's a Small World or the Barnstormer.
DHS: Toy Story.
Epcot: Surprisingly enough she absolutely loved Spaceship Earth.

Haha! This happened to my SIL and BIL. My nieces rode the carousel 5 or 6 times in a row and did not want to get off. I think it was the almost 2 year old that was throwing a fit causing them to continuously ride it.

 

[auroralark]

My two year old loved everything she rode, which was mostly everything without a height limit. She even sat through the American Adventure at Epcot, which I thought for sure would bore her and have her running and up down the aisles! Definitely see the Disney Junior show at Hollywood Studios. (Just be advised that everybody sits on the floor.)

 

[minijenny]

Two is such a fun age to take to Disney. My four year old has been at 1, 2 and 3 and has loved each trip. He's been on most things that he's tall enough for and I can't think of anything that he won't ride again, but he certainly has his favorites. I've probably ridden Epcot's "Donald Duck's Boat Ride" (aka Grand Fiesta Tour) close to twenty times in my last three trips. It is hands-down my son's favorite ride and one huge reason, besides it being silly fun, is because there is almost never a line. We fly thru the queue and hop right onto the boats. For an impatient toddler (and parent, I'm not gonna lie) it is great.

Other favorites include Spaceship Earth, particularly because there are screens to touch and make decisions on, the Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion (he's a big fan of ghosts and Halloween in general), Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz Lightyear, Tom Sawyer's Island, Muppet Vision 3D, and all of the playgrounds- wet and dry. Dumbo's circus arena was definitely more of a draw for him than the actual ride. Pretty much all of Animal Kingdom was "awesome!". If you do make it to Epcot in the evening, make sure to check out the sidewalks behind Spaceship Earth that light up with cool patterns.