Hollywood Studios with Toddlers

[MCharpie]

Hi! This is my first post; thanks for such a great place to learn about Disney We're going to Disney for my kids' first trip in April for 6 days. The kiddos will be 2 and 3. Right now, we've planned two days at Magic Kingdom and the rest pool days and downtown disney. My cousin and his family will also be there and are visiting Hollywood Studios with their 2 year old. I can't decide if it's worth it to spend the extra money to go with them. My kids love Cars and Frozen and Disney Junior, but that seems like a lot of sitting while watching shows. I'm asking for your wisdom and suggestions. Thank you!

 

[Kathryn777]

It sounds like YOU are not a fan of parks if you're only planning to go 2 days out of 6. My DS did not like DHS as a toddler, not enough he wanted to do. We did DHS because WE enjoyed the shows and the rides not because he did.

 

[kcpinwdw]

Last December we took our 2 year old twins (they were just shy of 2.5) and they loved DHS. Toy Story Midway Mania was one of their favorite rides of the whole trip. They also greatly enjoyed the Muppets. My son was very into characters and especially Monsters, Inc so meeting Mike and Sully was a big deal. We skipped it on our trip in May because we only had two days (just a weekend visit) and did both at MK. But we are definitely going back for this upcoming trip. Only doing 2 out of 6 days in the parks would never be our families plan though! My suggestion would be going to all the parks

 

[hakepb]

At that age, DHS was a half-day park for us. (Disney Jr, TSMM, LMA, Muppets..)

Now that we can all go on RnR, TnT and Star Tours...it's a multi-day park for us.

In terms of rides, EPCOT or AK offer more.

 

[mzsarah10]

DHS is a half day park for us. In June, our youngest was 3 1/2. She loved Toy Story and had a blast at the Hollywood and Vine breakfast. We got to meet Jake, Sophia, Doc McStuffins, and Handy Manny. It is a lot of shows, Little Mermaid, Disney Jr., Muppets, Frozen, etc but she enjoyed it.

 

[MCharpie]

Oh, I forgot about Toy Story - yes, they would love that ride, too! My husband and I very much enjoy the parks, we simply want to make sure our little ones have a great vacation and therefore are hesitant to overbook the days this trip. This won't be our last trip and I really enjoy the fact that they're so easy to please right now! I am not sure how the character interactions will go for them, either, but that could be another reason to visit HS. Thanks for your advice!

 

[Mikie]

My kids enjoyed about half days at DHS when they were toddlers as well. THey really liked shows, so Muppets and Indiana Jones, Little Mermaid and Disney Jr. were all hits with them. My nephew, however, screamed like crazy every time we tried to get him into a show at 2 1/2. I definitely consider DHS a park that's "for" the adults in my family, with things that may keep the youngsters happy as long as they're being dragged there for the adults' enjoyment. If looking at this with more of a "do what's most fun for the little guys" approach, I'd just skip DHS.

 

[alicat8]

My daughter is 3, and she likes the shows much better than the rides. Most of the rides are either too jerky or scary and make her uncomfortable. She loved HS-we did Muppets, Dis Jr, Little Mermaid, H&V character lunch, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and the Fozen sing along. She also met a few characters.

 

[Buttrcp16]

It sounds like YOU are not a fan of parks if you're only planning to go 2 days out of 6. My DS did not like DHS as a toddler, not enough he wanted to do. We did DHS because WE enjoyed the shows and the rides not because he did.

This is not necessarily true and sounds kind of rude, IMO. There are many factors that could be determining the number of park days; that's what their budget allows, or maybe since their kids are so young they don't want to try to do too much touring in the park - it can be VERY tiring for kids and adults alike! Not to mention if my kids are unhappy and not having fun, then neither am I. I wouldn't drag toddlers to a park they'll hate just because I wanted to go.

OP, last year my kids were 23 months and 4 and we only did MNSSHP one evening and a full day at MK. That was it, and you know what? It was plenty. They had just as much fun swimming at the resort and running around DTD. If your kids don't like to sit still for long (ie for shows) I wouldn't really recommend HS for them because beyond shows and characters, there isn't a whole lot for their age set. If you have park hoppers I would consider doing a half day at AK and hopping to HS for a couple hours later on. But I personally wouldn't buy an extra day's ticket just for HS.

We are doing HS this year but only because my oldest can ride most of the rides and loves Star Wars. Otherwise we would skip.

 

[Kathryn777]

This is not necessarily true and sounds kind of rude, IMO. There are many factors that could be determining the number of park days; that's what their budget allows, or maybe since their kids are so young they don't want to try to do too much touring in the park - it can be VERY tiring for kids and adults alike! Not to mention if my kids are unhappy and not having fun, then neither am I. I wouldn't drag toddlers to a park they'll hate just because I wanted to go.

Sorry, didn't mean to be rude at all. I can't relate to going to Disney for a week and hitting the parks twice. Half days yes, short days, whatever but I'd go nuts sitting at my hotel watching everyone else get to go. Seems so expensive to do it that way. I only meant that it is hard to justify going to a park when they had already decided (for whatever reason) to just do 2. If I was adding a 3rd for a 2/3 year old it definitely wouldn't be DHS, based on my experience with it

 

[PurpleKomodo]

My 2, almost 3 year old love DHS. We did the Disney Junior character breakfast, which was probably one of his favorite meals. We also did Disney Junior Live, Beauty and the Beast Live, Toy Story Mania, and the Frozen Sing-A-Long. We were there for Frozen Summer Fun so we were able to stay and see the Frozen Fireworks, which he also loved! We did several meet and greets there too. Honestly, we found that no park was a half day park when you move at toddler pace. Between potty/diaper breaks, naps, and longer meal times, it took longer to accomplish everything than it did pre-kid. His least favorite park was Animal Kingdom, which surprised me since he likes zoos and animals. I just think it was too spread out to keep his attention. However, depending on what stuff closes at DHS when, it could become less appealing.

 

[tabistar]

I liked DHS with a toddler. There isn't so much to do that you feel like you need to run from place to place to get it all done, but there's enough to keep them entertained and have fun. My kids love playing in the "snow" at Wandering Oakens and running & climbing at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground (while dh did adult rides). Fill in some shows, TSMM, and character meet and greets, and it was a good 3/4 day park for us.

 

[Buttrcp16]

If I was adding a 3rd for a 2/3 year old it definitely wouldn't be DHS, based on my experience with it

I completely agree. I'd choose AK or even Epcot before HS.

 

[ErinCat]

Where are you staying? This makes a big difference. When my children were 2 and 5 we did HS, EP, and AK each one day. Then MK two days. My two year old enjoyed all the parks. Of the nonMK we liked AK best. In general, be sure to have a double stroller.

 

[KateP85]

My 2-year old son LOVES DHS! His favorite thing to do in all of WDW is the LMA show (literally ask him any day what he'd like to do, and he'll tell you "see the car show!") He also loves the Disney Jr show, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and loves to run around at the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground. He's not all that interested in Toy Story Mania, so we usually skip that. I would agree that, on a toddlers time line, no park is a half day park, things take extra time!

Having said all that, DS loves AK too. He especially like FOTLK, the safari and the walking trails to see the animals, and he could play all the day at the Boneyard if we let him! I would say either park would be a good choice. You said you didn't want to overwhelm the kids, and I completely understand that, but I think those two parks are pretty easy parks compared to MK.

 

[sayheyrenee]

We loved doing the Disney Jr character meal for breakfast. We then followed by TSMM, Disney Jr show, Little Mermaid, Muppets. My daughter loves shows and getting her picture taken so it took up a lot of time for us.

 

[kboo]

We skipped HS on our last (short) trip but when we went last summer DD was almost 3 and we saw the Frozen parade and did the Frozen sing along and a bunch of other shows - Little Mermaid and Disney Junior. She is a huge fan of Frozen to the sing along was really fun. No FP to TSMM so we missed that. It was a half day park for her, we definitely enjoyed MK, AK and even EP more.

 

[DisneyCAL]

DHS is a lot of shows so doing it with toddlers can be difficult due to attention span. I also just don't care for DHS at all so we haven't gone with our kids. But IMO if you have 6 days you really should at least think about AK. My kids when they were 2.5 absolutely loved it. We started off meeting mickey and friends, spend over an hour in the boneyard because they loved it and then made an easy circle around the park. But if the little ones all get along and you enjoy your time with your cousins, going to DHS wouldn't hurt.

 

[chris1212]

There are some things that are great for little ones at HS, but not enough rides to last all day. We usually go to the disney junior show and the frozen show and that's about all the sitting in shows they can take. We FP toy story, which is great. But besides that there aren't really rides. My daughter got bored since she wanted more rides and there wasn't. H&V was great though, our 2 & 4 year olds were the perfect age.

 

[jacknsally19]

I would recommend DHS if your kids are big fans of Disney jr. The cost of adding on one more day is worth it for the Disney jr show and meeting the characters. My daughter loves Jake and Doc so while I don't care for that park right now, it's completely amazing for her.

While your kids might not be able to sit through shows at home (like TV), the atmosphere is very different watching a live show.

The other thing is - you can always decide last minute to add a day at DHS. if you kids aren't really into meeting characters, than perhaps skip HS. But if they love mtg characters, add an extra day onto your passes.