How much is too much for a two year old?

[vpalmer]

What type of schedule did you maintain for your two year old at Disney World? I would like to adopt a pace that can be maintained for seven days rather than running like mad the first couple of days and suffering from burn out the last half of the trip.

My daughter will be 2 1/2 at the time of out trip. We will be going in early December which I have read is the slowest time of the year at DW. I am counting on low crowds; I hope that is the case! My thought is to spend a few hours each day at the parks and spend the second half of the day relaxing. Here are my initial thoughts.

Day 1:
-Arrive at WL around 3:00
-Head to Epcot for dinner and catch some live entertainment in the World Showcase.
-Maybe ride the Living Seas.

Day 2:
-Visit MK in the morning for about 3 hours mostly experiencing Fantasy Land and then have a CS lunch. (May do CRT in the AM if can be arranged)
-WL for nap
-Eat dinner at Whispering Canyon and spend remainder of day at WL

Day 3:
-AK in the morning hitting the highlights including Safari and Camp Minnie Mickey. CS lunch.
-Nap at Hotel
-Eat dinner offsite

Day 4:
-MGM in the morning. Experience Playhouse Disney show, and maybe one or two other rides/shows. CS lunch.
-Nap at hotel
-Back to MGM for dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe around 4:45 or so.
-Experience Fantasmic at 7:00

Day 5:
-Relax in the AM. Maybe go to the petting zoo at Fort Wilderness or Wilderness Lodge or wherever it is!
-Nap at hotel
-Head to MK around 3:00 and spend a couple of hours experiencing attractions.
-Eat dinner at Liberty Tavern around 5:00
-Spend another hour or two experiencing attractions (this may be a night MK is open late)

Day 6:
-Epcot in AM. Ride a few attractions, but mainly experience the fountain, characters and live entertainment. Eat lunch at Epcot.
-Nap at hotel
-Either return to Epcot for dinner or visit another resort for dinner. Perhaps Ohanas.

Day 7:
-morning unplanned
-nap at hotel
-Go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Arrive around 4:00 pr so (We will have another day of admission on our 7 day pass so park entry time is not an issue)
-Eat an early dinner (not sure where)
-Experience Show, parade, attractions and fireworks.

Day 8:
Leave in AM


So what do you think? Is it too much? Not enough? What are your experiences?

Thank you all so much in advance for your input.

 

[estherhead]

Hi! I've taken several 2 year olds and younger to Disney and will be there with my 3 and 4 year olds next early December with you! Your schedule definately looks relaxed to me. For us its seemed our kids could go and go in the morning. We always arrived at least 1/2 an hour before park opening and then rushed to Dumbo first thing. There is no line if you do that. Then work our way around Fantasyland. You should have that done by 11:00am. Then my youngest has to ride the carousel 4 times before we can leave the area. Then we go buy fries and take them to Belle's Storytime. Nice relaxing moment and the kids are ready to go again. We do whatever else 2 year olds can do, usually Tiki birds and Aladdins carpet or something in Toon town. By 2 we're hungry and tired and go home for the nap.

Then by 4 we're raring to go again and head to MGM or Epcot or Downtown Disney.

We do Animal Kingdom the same way. Activities in the am, shows in the early pm, nap, switch parks.

Then we take an entire day or two or three off from the parks at some point. For us the above schedule has worked perfectly. And my 2 years olds seem to be self regulating in the parks, falling asleep in the stroller, asking for food when needed. I take LOTS of finger foods into the parks and drinks. As soon as the kids touche hits the stroller they have a sippy cup in their hands. For me the food and hydration seems more important to family bliss than the in room naps.

I think for both my girls it has been important to have a schedule until 11:00am (so we always accomplish something) and then to let them be in charge. That way if they want to ride something over and over we can. My husband and I have been known to stand in lines seperately and have the kids ride a favorite twice in a row. And character meetings are loved. Ariel's Grotto was one of my 4 year olds favorite last year. Adored CRT. Told Jasmine "I love you" and kissed her.

Take your schedule, do it the first day and see if you are bored or exhausted. Then you will know your family's Disney energy level. Don't come home from vacation worn out.

Just my thoughts,
Esther

 

[cmrules]

Your schedule looks nice and relaxed. We took my two children in October and had a blast. We always left the parks at lunch, had lunch at the hotel and either napped or hit the pool. Don't forget to have pool time!

I noticed that you were going to spend a morning hanging out at WL. We loved Fort Wilderness. One morning the girls went to CRT and the boys hung out at the hotel. When I got back, I found out that they had rented a bike (DH and DS2) and had ridden over to the petting zoo. I almost had a heart attack, I figured it would cost a fortune. I was wrong, it was ridiculously cheap, like under $6. We are DVC members so we may have gotten a discount. They had a great time and we all ended up going later.


If you are renting a car, stop and get lots of kid snacks. We like the Super Target because we can also get beer(for a nice relaxing naptime), suntan lotion, film, etc....


Have fun. (the kids wanted to add some pictures)

 

[K & D Mickey]

My tip of a now mother of 3 year old ( we have taken him when 1,2,& now 3.)

We let him wake up naturally. We do take winter trips so crowds are not a big concern. -- be the first one at the park. - We then either head to a breakfast buffet around 9AM or early lunch. We sometimes let him play in the morning and hit the buses about 9:30-10Am - stay at the parks for 3-4 hours and then do nap and head back for supper meal and stay another 2-3 hours out. We also let him play before nap.

Our trip this year is 10 days with 6 days of being park days other ones doing ft wilderness/ downtown disney - he loves the legoland slide/ and just hanging around the hotel/ pool, if warm enough --- Playing on the playground equipment = running the grass ( we usually have snow and too cold to play outside).

We do only do 2 meals a day ----- so evening he eats good and also by mid morning he is ready to eat very well. ---- always having pop tarts/bananas/ bread/pbutter for snack at hotel if hungry.

Have a great time - have a tentative schedule and go with the flow... Go on their schedule not yours... :jumping4:

 

[luvthatduke]

estherhead:
Could you please tell me about Belle's Storytime?
Like where/when is it?
We're taking DS for first trip in April, he will be just over 2.

vpalmer, great thread!

 

[crisi]

You know your own child.

We had problems when our kids were toddlers with the "go back to the hotel to nap" idea. They wouldn't. At that time everyone here swore up and down that they would - "they will be so tired they will just fall asleep!" So we learned that for OUR kids a mid afternoon break where we could sit in one place and they could snooze worked well. They slept on buses, trains and boats while we rode Disney transportation back and forth. Then we had early evenings. Our kids were always car seat nappers - get them on transportation and they slept - and someone here once posted that they had a rental car for that reason, they drove around with sleeping kids in back.

 

[estherhead]

Belle's Storytime is next to the Castle. If you are facing the castle in Fantasyland head left toward Tomorrowland and it will be on your right. It is easy to miss. The show times are posted in the guide. It's under a canopy of trees. Belle comes out and calls kids and one man onto the stage to play the part of all the characters. And then they go through the story. It is darling, as intimate as Disney gets, and then Belle stays for autographs. There are benches to sit on but we always sit in the back on the cement ledge. That way the girls are up high and can see while still sitting. I'd get there 10 minutes early to get the cement wall. Then send hubby out to get the fries and drinks

 

[luvthatduke]

Thank you!

 

[lemondog]

We are taking our kids when they will be 4.5yo and 22 months. Your schedule looks very similar to the one we are mapping out. Very relaxed, focusing on the kid attractions. It will definitely be a different kind of Disney vacation than the ones I remember growing up (always going, going, going from sunup to sundown, but we were older), but worth it in a totally different way. My kids will never nap anywhere but their beds, so I have a feeling we will HAVE to do lunch and nap back at the hotel to keep them from total burnout.

Angela

 

[skuttle]

We're bringing our DS for the first time in December also. We're going the week before Christmas. DS will be 2 1/2. We actually are planning our trip like we normally do (of course, the attractions we go to will be more for DS than for us this time) and then go from there. If he needs to go back to the room for a nap, that's what we'll do. If he's fine napping in the stroller, that's what we'll do. With everything we do with DS, we first try out the way we normally do it and then change as needed.

 

[the kabuki]

Your schedule looks relaxing, too relaxing for my kids though. Like crisi, I had naps back at the hotel planned into the day-no way were mine going for that! They surprised me how much energy they had there, yet at home a walk to get the mail from the end of the driveway is too long LOL. The 2 1/2 yr old was fine with taking her naps in the stroller, in the car, on the ferry and as long as she wasn't hungry or thirsty,and was given a quiet shady place to chill out once during the day, everyone was happy.

BTW, at Epcot don't miss Turtle Talk with Crush in the living seas. Also, Norway in Epcot has a princess storybook character breakfast that would be perfect for that age. A lot of the little girls there had princess dresses on too. In AK, catch the Lion King stage show and the Dinosaur play area has a smaller area for the littler ones, with smaller slides and caves they can walk through. In MGM, a 2 yr old princess can't not miss Belle's stage show and Ariel's Grotto. I would pass on the Great Movie Ride though, some scary parts.

With one that age , you find yourself going with the flow of his/her moods. You'll know when it's time to leave or stay. Although I did see many kids screaming and tired, whose parents didn't know when it was time to quit

 

[Kira'sMom]

Last year we took our then 2 3/4 year old daughter to WDW for 8 days 7 nights. We did something similiar to you because we made an effort for a break each day to rest. Most of all we really took her cues and slowed down, sat on a bench and just people watched sometimes if she was really tired and cranky. One our best memories is sitting in the shade at AKL watching people leave when the park closed as our daughter snoozed in her stroller. One thing I would add to your scehdule (if possible) is one full day away from any parks. On our third day we went to TL and had dinner at Arabian Nights Dinner Show. I see your family is going in December so I don't know if BB or TL will be what you want to do but it was great day at the "beach" for us. BTW I think an older, mellow two year old is a great age for a trip to WDW. Our dd was oldest enough to experience a lot of rides/shows ect. and she was truly excited about meeting characters. Plus a big bonus was that we didn't have to pay for any park admissions or for her to eat at any buffets.