first toddler trip-Help!

[KyGirl]

Thank you to everybody! There is already so much good information in this thread! And stuff I never thought about.

Ear plugs are a great idea. Although my daughter has tubes. I wonder if that makes them more dangerous. I guess we could call her doc. And I LOVE the recommendation for the stickon placemat things! I didn't even know they made those. I'm not a germaphobe either but I hate seeing DD eat off of a restaurant table (and it's not like she keeps things on her plate yet). We have a rubber mat thing that sticks to the table that we use but it's kind of a pain to have to clean it up before you can put it back in the diaper bag. Disposable versions will be AWESOME. (Do I get excited about little things or what?)

And good news on the playgrounds. I can't even remember now where I saw the age restrictions listed. Possibly on easyWDW? Anyway, glad to know she'll be able to stretch her legs a little. But can I pretty much stick with her? The reports of her being hard to find makes me nervous. Are parents supposed to just sit on the sidelines or can we hang out next to her?

And good to know on Philharmagic. I never thought of that as scary but I guess it makes sense if you don't understand about 3D. We'll save that for later in the week and see how she's responded to other stuff first.

Also love the tips on the balloons and on not carrying a medicine chest with us every day! Who knew?

I'm also glad to hear we picked a good time to take her. We really are so excited. I've been dreaming of and planning her first Disney trip since we knew we were going to have a baby! We have all the Travel Channel Disney shows on our DVR and we've been trying to watch them with her. Her attention span is only so long unless Mickey or Doc McStuffins is on the screen but she seems somewhat interested. We'll keep trying if that will help her get somewhat familiar with what she's going to see there.

Thanks again and if anybody else has any other tips, keep them going! This has been so helpful!

 

[wallskm]

But can I pretty much stick with her? The reports of her being hard to find makes me nervous. Are parents supposed to just sit on the sidelines or can we hang out next to her?

Yes you can stick with her. Like a PP stated there's a smaller slide just to the right as you enter the Dig site and in HISTK there's a good spot if you go left and then down a bit once you enter. My (then) 16 month old played at both spots for a long time.

 

[12and17]

Really thought for me, this thread is the most helpful I have encountered. Hoping we can keep it going. Any recent experiences appreciated.

 

[fanoftigers]

Not sure when your trip is, but we got back a couple of weeks ago and the playground at HS is closed. From what I have heard not sure when or if it will open.

If you can't get into the Boneyard or feel it is too big, there is a dinosaur over by the dinosaur ride that my 18 month olds loved climbing on when we went several years ago. They had seen pictures of themselves and had to go back and take pictures there this trip

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Great thread! We'll be down there second week in Feb with 17 mo twins (15 mo adjusted). Great tips! We took them down for their 1st bdays and it was a great trip. They did a lot of crawling and looking around. This trip will involve a lot of toddling, I'm pretty sure Has anyone used those leashes?

 

[caselaw3]

Great thread! We'll be down there second week in Feb with 17 mo twins (15 mo adjusted). Great tips! We took them down for their 1st bdays and it was a great trip. They did a lot of crawling and looking around. This trip will involve a lot of toddling, I'm pretty sure Has anyone used those leashes?

I just bought backpack ones for my kids - they love them - they are 3 and 4 and i know they aren't going to want to be in the stroller most of the time but they are runners so I am not taking any chances - they think the backpacks are cool and they think it is funny to be on the lease - I tried them out at a balloon festival and it made life very easy - just be sure whatever you get - they aren't able to escape from

 

[DznyGal]

We plan to use this when our 2 year old isnt in the stroller.

He loves wearing it we have tried it on him a bunch of times.
http://www.amazon.com/Eddie-Bauer-Harness-Buddy-Monkey/dp/B0054U4RLO/ref=sr_1_5?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1382386580&sr=1-5&keywords=kid+leash

 

[dsneygirl]

I agree it totally depends on the kid. My first DS went when he was around 18 months and he was a breeze, would sleep through fireworks etc.

My 2nd DS was a whole other story. He hated fireworks (cried his eyes out) hated all the shows (cried during the American Adventure). We had to leave both early, not really a big deal.

He was also really active, wanted to walk all the time not be in the stroller but he would climb in every day around 2 for a nap. I would say keep your plans loose and expect to have the unexpected (we had puke in MK for example).

 

[Woodmnky]

For ear protection, we have used the Peltor Jr Earmuffs. My son has done well with these since he was about 18 months. They actually stretch big enough for both DH & I to wear them as well. They block much of the noise, but you can still hear. DS has actually even asked for them in loud restaurants.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-Jun...id=1382392188&sr=8-4&keywords=peltor+earmuffs

 

[campbell95]

We really like the 3M Peltor Junior Earmuffs to help with the noise. We call them their "magic ears" We bought ours off of amazon. Disney is really loud and overwhelming for the little ones, sometimes!

Another couple of tips for places to run around: the maze in the UK is great for little kids, and the trains in Germany. I second the little playground under the train bridge near Splash mountain. The slide is perfect for small toddlers. And the boneyard at AK has areas for little kids and big kids, so it's ok. They also have 2 small slides for the younger kids.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

hi. i am going in 2 weeks, with dd2 years 3 months. At home i have been showing her all the disney world shows and she has the sing alongs which have the costumed characters. She is SO excited and says 'me me world!' whenever she sees it on tv or the computer. we are super excited. It's funny that Philharmagic is 'scary,' it is my favorite MK attraction and i actually got one of our FP+ for it... hope she does well! At home she laughs when something scares her.. i taught her that it is funny to be caught off guard. Hope that is helpful. I could not figure out your It's Tough to Be a Bug and it was bugging me, lol, until someone wrote enough for me to figure it out. We have a FP+ for that one too! I should put her on my lap though, even the bugs on the seat FREAKS me out too!

We have gone as adults and were out and about just like you were. I'm excited to take it in her eyes though, truly magical for her and I!

Amazon has the disposable bibs and placemat covers. That is also wear we got Baby Bandz, which are baby noise cancelling headphones. I wasn't planning on bringing them b/c at 21 months she did not want to wear then for the muster drill on the cruise and she did not even care about the LOUD noise. -and i was worried about that.

HoP is a good nap ride, i dozed off once in there. The jungle cruise always puts me to sleep, lol.. when riden at night.

I wondered about the treehouse too, it is so fun to be in it but i think too much for DD. Plus they climb stairs hand and foot and that would be pretty dirty in the end, surely with a hand in the mouth along the way to scarf down all the dirt.

At Sesame Place at 21 months, DD was scared of the characters and clung to me and looked the other way, but we got the pics and the next day she was looking at them but clung to me, by the 3rd day she was giving Cookie Monster a flower she picked and hugging Elmo.

She rarely ever napped without her home routine but she did fall asleep without any protest when we went to a restaurant mid day on a rainy park day. She just fell asleep and when she woke up, she was up.. no crying. She also did 90% potty training at the parks and then when we got home she was only 20%. I don't think i even changed her once at the parks, she always said 'potty' and made it in time. Amazing! We brought her travel baby bjourn potty that she uses at home, its the compact version.

Make sure to go to the character spot in the Art of Animation at DHS. I'm sad that HISTK is closed for our trip but should be open by yours. I LOVED that as an adult, with DH thinking i'm nuts.. but hey when that movie was out i WAS young enough! I REALLY wanted to share that experience with her.

Toys with lots of buttons worked well to keep her happy through out our trips. Even a cheap dollar store calculator. The dvd player was great for meals, we would feed her ahead of time and then let her sit next to us while we ate, and she watched Elmo. I don't think meal time would have went well without it. Towards the end of our trip though, she was not having it and we left before dessert. This trip she is older and can eat along with us and feed herself. We booked mostly character meals so that should keep her happy. Plus she can get up and walk around to the buffet if she needs to.

Yes get a leash. I was teaching her holding hands or walking nicely next to me around the subdivision at home, but then she refused to hold hands and would see a butterfly and dart off, which made me have to be on guard rather than enjoy the walk. I put on the Munchkin $4 one i bought online and it works wonderfully. It has a double safety latch on the back so the leash can't come off on its own. The harness is secure around her. It is wonderful. Now she has two free hands to stop and sing twinkle twinkle little star and swing her arms around dancing on the sidewalk, and can learn to stay on the sidewalk without me running after her in someones lawn. We are certainly bringing it to disney so she can have her freedom. She still sometimes wants to hold hands while we walk but doesn't feel like she HAS to.

We got a magic band for her and it is like a ID, so that is comforting.

Make sure to get her feet sized with a sizer, i just tried on shoes and felt the toe.. then she kept saying, 'hurts' and so i went online to find two different sizers and turns out she is an 8.5 not the size 7 shoe she was wearing. I thought she had enough room in them. Poor baby. So we bought her the most beautiful disney shoes from striderite. they are princess sneakers and she loves them. they light up too, that will be fun at disney! the velcro across the top in a crown. the shoes are so gorgeous. thought i'd share that.

bring extra baby food and juice, they will burn through more than at home and that may lead them to be up at night hungry.

have a great time! i can't wait for DD to see the icicle lights on the castle!!! Oh and dance to the Osbourne Lights!!! Christmas decorations are soooooo amazing in Disney. Dont' forget to take her to the GF to see the huge gingerbread house!

 

[aneyland]

I did a lot of research on "leashes". Both of my DD were "bolters". They would bolt into a crowd and never look back. So when we went to Disney when they were 2 yrs and 1 yr and again when they were 3 yrs and 2 yrs we used Kinder Kord. You can find out more about them at kinderkord dot com. It looks like a sport watch for your kid to wear and one for parent. My favorite part was the cord was retractable on both sides. I felt like it was an extension of my arm like an extended way of holding hands. And when we weren't using the cords they retracted back into the wrist pack completely out of sight. It is like wearing a watch though so your child would have to be ok with it. But we practiced and just wore them around the house sometimes for the girls to get used to it. Check them out. But we really liked them. I bought 2 packs. This way both DH and I would have a wrist pack and both of the kids would as well.