Final Preparations for Two-Year-Old

[DisneyPiPhi]

Hi everyone! We leave on my daughter's first WDW trip in 17 days (not that we have a countdown on the dining room wall, or anything...). She is two-and-a-half and is very excited about the upcoming trip, and especially excited to meet princesses.

Over the past few months, we have looked at pictures and watched videos of Disney World attractions and shows online. We have also watched videos of our resort and watched a LOT of Disney movies. Her favorites are The Aristocats, Frozen, Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, and Mulan.

Any other suggestions of fun or practical activities to do during our last two weeks to get her prepared and excited for our trip? I am not very creative, so I don't think of these things on my own!

 

[went503]

Following as we are going in September and our Daughter will be almost 3.

 

[DisneyCAL]

Have her help you pack her own suitcase and a carry on (with activities)! We also have been starting to take the kids on long walks to get used to it and we talk about disney during the walks.

 

[RachealM]

I'm not too creative either, but here's something I think might be cute.

Do a Princess Themed Dress-up / countdown that involves putting together a princess pack for her to open each day to finally complete her "princess" attire in time for the trip. You could probably pick up a pre-made pack and split the items each day, or find a lot of cute inexpensive items at a dollar store. Items might include:
Day 1: Sparkly Bracelets
Day 2: Princess LipGloss
Day 3: Tiara
Day 4: Dressy clip-on earrings
Day 5: Princess Coin Purse
Day 6: A wand
Day 7: Dress-up shoes
Day 8: Stick on tattoos
Day 9: etc..
Final Day before: a character dress

You could probably wrap up each item in some princess paper and have it all in one big basket, letting her pick her own present each day (with exception of the biggest one/last day dress)

Otherwise, I usually look for inspiration elsewhere There are also some fun little ideas on Pinterest. These look like some simple ones:
Countdown chains.

Make princess hair clips or popsicle stick people each day. Once the "set" is complete, it's time to go! :

Anyways, I hope you have fun on your trip! I'm sure she'll love it

 

[KyGirl]

We're leaving the day after you with our daughter who sounds to be a few months older than yours and she is soo excited as well. (Me too!) We are doing the ring chain countdown and while I don't know that she totally understands what that's all about, she loves to "cut a ring off" every day.

We've also been watching tons of Disney movies and talking about all the things we're going to do. We talk specifically about who we're going to meet and eat with and the other things we have planned. She keeps saying she wants a princess to hold her hands and dance with her. I don't know where she got that, a commercial I guess, and I hope one or more of them will oblige her! Also we've talked a lot about eating breakfast with the princesses and she insists that they all eat bagels. I've told her that probably they will just visit with her while she eats her bagel. Oh, and she's all over wearing her princess dresses for the princesses. I wasn't going to drag all those crappy dresses with us but we watched some videos that showed other girls wearing theirs so I guess I'm out of luck on that. I bought a really cute book of It's a Small World and she loves reading it and singing the song. I suspect we'll take a few boat roads through the World!

We've watched some rides on Youtube, which I know some people avoid so they won't spoil the surprise but for her age, I thought it was worth it to familiarize her with the idea. (Plus she went when she was about 18 months old so it's not like it's all totally brand new. Even though it feels like it is. She is SO much more into the characters, especially the princesses, than she was last time we went.) Our first park day was the supposed last day that Pirates was going to be open so I wanted to make sure to get a FP+ for that. However, when we watched the ride she seemed pretty scared and didn't even want to finish the video. I don't want to terrify her on her first day so I scrapped that one for this trip. That made me glad we watched the videos. One of my family legends is that when my parents took us as kids, the first ride we went on was Snow White's Scary Adventure and we were traumatized. We spent the rest of the trip riding Dumbo and my parents always talk about what a nightmare that was so I definitely want to build up to some of the darker ride experiences!

One other thing we've been trying to do is take lots of walks with her in her stroller. She hadn't really spent that much time riding in her stroller in the past year or so and I wanted to kind of get her used to doing that again. She doesn't love it, but I'm hoping that with the excitement and the crowds around her that won't turn into a huge fight.

All that said, I'd love to hear anybody else's ideas on the topic or getting a toddler ready. We are so excited for our trip that we love doing anything we can to prepare for it!

 

[kcpinwdw]

we arrive the same day as you with our 2.5 (well really 2 and 3/4) year old twins. We talk about it every day. We talk about rides that are fun and rides that are "a little bit scary!" (my kids LOVE things a little scary). They have been before, just in December, so they remember a lot. We've been looking at pictures and talking about their favorites. I also have my daughter's princess dresses ready and we've been talking about who we are going to meet. She is insisting that she is excited for M&G even though she was very shy last time. Even though she wouldnt talk to anyone she talks about "meeting" them all the time, so dont worry if your little one is shy around the characters. My son is the opposite, no one escaped a hug, you just never know! We dont have a countdown because they are just starting to understand 'tomorrow" let alone two weeks from now! HAve fun and we will see you there

 

[Disney Princess]

It's going to be AWESOME!!! The only other things I can think of are if you have Netflix watch some of the Disney Jr shows like Sofia, Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The Disney Jr. show at Hollywood Studios is great for kids. Our 2 year old loved it!!

 

[Stacymarie1216]

Have her help you pack her own suitcase and a carry on (with activities)! We also have been starting to take the kids on long walks to get used to it and we talk about disney during the walks.

We've been doing this too! More so for out 7 year old because she won't fit in a stroller and she is soooooo lazy when it comes to walking . But it's good for our 2 year old too to get used to longer stroller rides!