first time w/15 mo son. Help!

[new mom11]

Been to WDW MANY, MANY times as a kid and with my husband. Now we'll be going for the first time "with child". Usually I have everything mapped out, but I don't think that will work this time. Any suggestions on what a 15 mo old might enjoy?

 

[michygoomy]

Anything with lots of lights and movement.

It's a small world will be facinating.

I took DD at 11 months in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground in MGM and she loved it.

When DS was 2 (a little older, I concede) he had a blast at the fountains in Epcot and DTD. (We have called them the 'funny fountains' since then. Also, he loved all forms of transportion. Boats, monorail, buses.

We went when DS was two and I was attending a conference. We only bought passes for two days after I was done. The rest of the week, DH took DS on all the transportation, went to each resorts playground, went to other resorts pools (I know now that is BAD, but it was the first week in Sept and the resorts were EMPTY.), went to the petty zoo, etc. All free and DS had a blast. (DH, not so much!)

 

[laughinplace199]

Our son's first WDw trip was at 15 months also!

Here are some of the things he really enjoyed:

MK: train, carousel, Pooh ride, It's a Small World, Dumbo, Mickey's house, and Minnie's house.

Epcot: the squirting water fountains near JIYI

MGM: Playhouse Disney show

AK: Triceratops Spin and safari

He really enjoyed all of the parades too!

He also enjoyed riding and/or watching any mode of transportation, monorails, busses, trams, etc.

He was a bit unsure of the characters at first, but he warmed up to them by the second or third day.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[disneysteve]

DD's 1st trip was at 5-1/2 months. Her 2nd trip was at 12 months. She enjoyed everything because at that age it is the lights, sounds, colors, etc. that babies like.

My advice is this...

Go at your child's pace or else suffer the consequences!
Try to keep as close as possible to your child's usual schedule - wake up time, nap time, meal times, bed time, etc. It always upsets me to see parents dragging around half-dead kids at 10pm because mom or dad just has to see Illuminations.

Make this trip about your child. Take your time. If you don't get to every attraction or every show, oh well. There's always next time.

Take frequent quiet breaks during the day. Yes, even in the parks, there are areas that are away from the crowds, out of the sun and relatively peaceful. You just have to look around for them. Its very easy for a baby/toddler to hit that sensory overload point at WDW, then forget trying to get them to nap when that happens.

Have a great time. Our daughter, now 7 and with 9 trips under her belt, loved WDW at that age. Your kid will too.

Steve

 

[Mainebound]

I just wanted to add that we took our DS 15 months in March and his big brother (age 3) and the most shocking thing for the whole family about our trip was how much the baby enjoyed every single minute of it!

Have a great trip!

 

[kiddoc]

We went to WDW in May with my 3 1/2 yr DD and my 15 mo DD. The 15 mo LOVED it! I did not find anything she was afraid of or didn't like. My 3 1/2 yr old was more scared of things because she had a better understanding of things--i.e. Pirates of the Carribbean, Haunted Mansion.
The biggest thing that helped us out was taking it easy. We either stayed at the hotel until early afternoon--swimming in the pool, napping, etc.--or went in at some time during the afternoon for naps, resting. That worked out well for us as we like to stay late to watch Illuminations, Fantasmic, etc. Also, with the exception of one day for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, we were never at the parks early. We let the kids sleep until they woke up--which was usually after 8:30 or 9:00 with our late nights--and they were in MUCH better moods!

 

[cinjam]

We took DS for the 1st time when he was 14 months old. We had an excellent time. As other posters have said, we took our time & let him set the pace. We took him any anything without a height restriction.

He was too young to be scared of much, so we did Pirates of the Caribbean, Great American Movie Ride (although I averted his attention at the Aliens part), Muppets 3-d (didn't wear the glasses though), Kilamanjaro Safari, Pooh, Playhouse Disney (what a hit that was!!), train rides, backlot movie tour, the EPCOT ball ride (cannot remember the name right now)

**sigh** I am dying to go back now!

DS also enjoyed the fireworks. We had our 1st viewing from a very far distance (illuminations). I was prepared to move him quickly if he didn't like it, but everything was fine.

He also loved the characters. I booked a character meal every day, but I was prepared to cancel them if he was frightened. The 1st day we were there I again tested the waters from a distance - to see if he was going to be afraid of them. He actually screamed for Mickey to come "over ear" - then gave him a nice honk on his nose. One of the best pictures I have of my son is that 1st encounter with Mickey.

Oh, he also loved the Spectro Magic Parade (in MK - I think they call it something else now). His eyes were so big & he kept pointing & saying in his garbled 1 year old voice "Seee dat? Seee dat?" Made my DH cry happy tears.

Have a wonderful trip!!!

 

[new mom11]

Thank you all so much for the great advice. I really can't wait to go now. don't know what I was thinking, but he's 15 mos now, so he'll be a little over 17 mos when we go. (Not to brag) but he really is a great kid - even tempered, always in a good mood so I really think we'll have a great time. (Gee can you tell I absolutely adore him!!) We are going to try very hard to keep him on his schedule. Have a 1 bed BCV so he can go to sleep at his regular time (if he wants) and we can stay up. Also, I figured having the kitchen would be great so we can feed him early like he's used to and still go to a character breakfast a little later some days.
Thanks again for all the wonderful info/advice. I wish I knew about this site years ago. Who needs guidebooks when there's this board?!!