Good first rides for toddler?

[mybestieismickey]

I may be wrong but I don't think you can hold your kids on the carousel at Disneyland and maybe the idea of her sitting by herself is scary. You can share the seat but they have to sit in front of you. The King Triton carousel in California Adventure however has a bench that you can sit on with her, if she feels nervous about sitting on the seat by herself.

You can stand next to your child on the carousel. We did it with DD in Dec multiple times because she loved it so much. The CM running the ride just told us that we had to be between two horses and not on the outside. Or you can double up on the same horse, but I didn't find it all that comfortable.

DD's favorite ride by far was IASW. 7 rides in 5 days. If it hadn't been so crowded and the lines were often more than 30 minutes, we would have been on it more. But we have one of those Disney Store Small World dolls and she was very familiar with the song.

Biggest parenting fail? Pinocchio. We just didn't think it through. We saw a short line and hopped on. Scared DD to death. We didn't bother with anymore dark rides after that except for Little Mermaid and she was pretty nervous the whole time.

 

[l4dyj8]

It also helps if they are familiar with the characters. (Books, videos, movies.) Disneyparks has an official YouTube channel. We also got the free planning DVD. Kids are so different. My DD (20 months) actually loved Haunted Mansion (it was the Nightmare takeover.)

DL: it's a Small World and Winnie the Pooh. Walk around Toon Town. DD was excited to see Mickey and the crew but got scared when we got closer. Really not comfortable with walking giant stuff animals... But skeletons and pirates... Totally fine!

CA: bugs land and Ariel. Monsters inc was cute but you are the best judge. DD had seen the movie and was delighted to see them. Also when they are small, they are allowed on your lap.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If we do.go to dlr in.November, I know I am going to want to go to DL before DCA. After reading this thread, I.am thinking that it.might be best to start with outdoor rides, like Casey's Jr Train, the carousel, dumbo, tea cups, storybookland canal boats...and then transition to rides like iasw, jungle cruise, Winnie the pooh..and then go to darker rides like peter pan, HMH, pirates, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio (the latter group all being.dependent on how well she does with dark rides).

Dd will be 3. She's been on dumbo, pirates, HM, iasw, Ariel, seas with nemo and friends, spaceship earth at WDW and she has, in the past, done just fine on those rides. But I know she'll be different at 3 than she was at 15 months (her last trip to wdw).

Does that sound like a good.progression for DL rides?

 

[Dot2Vegas]

My girls all rode Winnie the Pooh as their first ride. Two of them were afraid of everything but loved Pooh. They did great! When they were young we stuck to Fantasyland rides (but Snow White can be a little scary) and Bugs Land.

 

[coaches24]

So today, I went to the zoo with DH and DD (2.5 now but will be just shy of 3 when we go to DLR). She wanted to ride the carousel but when we got on it, when it was about to start, she freaked out and had me hold her. She didn't cry, just very nervous and she did get back on her cheetah near the end. This made me a little worried about DLR/DCA. Does anyone have any inexpensive ideas for getting her used to the idea of all the newness DLR/DCA will offer? Also, any suggestions for rides to start off with at DLR/DCA as she gets used to it?

I took DD for the first time when she was 2. I spent weeks showing her the rides and different attractions at DL through their website and you tube and talked to her about each one and whether it might be scary, or fast, or if she would be big enough to ride it etc. I let her choose which rides she wanted to try and which she didn't. I think that really helped her as she went in having some idea of what to expect.

She absolutely loved the carousel that trip with Poohs ride being her 2nd favorite. She ended up liking POC once we passed the two drops. She did well on all the FL rides except she didn't like Snow whites ride. She loved IASW, AIW, and Story book land canal boats.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Definitely suggest the trains (either Casey JR or Disneyland Railroad), Dumbo, Carousel and It's a Small World. My son was really scared the first time he did Jungle Cruise because of the loud speakers above his head.

 

[bcla]

Carousels were a strange experience for my kid. Loved them starting at age 1 but sometime around age 2 something snapped and we could no longer ride a carousel horse without a major freakout - even at Disneyland. Some things were fine like carousel benches or the like, but not the horses. Then one day it was "I'm not scared of merry go rounds" and we're back to riding them. There's a classic one near where I live, so that's a good way to let off some steam.

It was weird too. Around that time we had no problem with kiddie coasters like Gadget's Go Coaster or most dark rides. However, Peter Pan's flight created a little bit of panic, but not a total freakout. We got in line just before official closing time and waited 35 minutes to get on, including a complete ride reset. That was a day where we arrived at 10:20 when they closed at midnight. Just the kid and me with my wife wanting to sleep. Managed to go on 6 rides in that period with virtually no lines - even with IASW and Pirates.