CheriePenguin said:
Was glad to see your post!
We're going to WL for the first time at the end of Nov. for my son's first WDW experience. He'll be 20 months old! Any tips for us for him? Thanks!
Ok here is what we found that works for us.
We generally started our day when DS woke up. No early entry or early breakfasts for us. We did a couple of character breakfasts, but we did late seatings for those (generally 10:00am). If DS woke up early on those days we would give him his morning milk & a light breakfast in the room (a nutragrain bar or something like that). Then head out. The light breakfast would hold him off until we actually ate our character meal.
We did go back to the hotel for a nap for most days. Usually though DS was to excited to sleep. But he would get an hour or so of quiet time. On the days he would nap, we would let him sleep usually as long as he wanted.
At home he only takes one nap a day. But in Disney World I found he wanted to nap several short naps during the day. I expected this. He would usually go to sleep on my or DH's shoulder or in his stroller. When he was sleeping we would find a quiet cool spot & relax or go into a show. These short naps usually lasted about 20 mins, and he would take a couple a day. There was just so much to excite him he would need a short nap to pull through...LOL!
Any type of routine we have at home, we threw out the window. We are not schedule people. DS will eat & sleep when he is tired or hungry at home. But he does kind of have a routine he set himself. I could not imagine being in Disney World & trying to stick to a schedule. There is just so much to do & see. Plus I would not want to be a slave to the clock on vacation.
If DS was still napping & we had a dinner PS, I would just quietly pick him up & carry him back to the park as he still slept. He would usually wake back up before we were eating. Our DS will sleep pretty much anywhere, so that is a big help.
We would eat when DS was hungry. If we had a PS for later & DS started to get hungry we would get him a light bite. Nothing worse then a hungry toddler! We would carry some snacks for him during the day. I had a lot of goldfish crackers & teddy grahms in the bag for him. They were great when he just wanted a snack & he also loves to play with them.
My DS likes a lot of milk during the day. We were just going to bring empty cups into the parks for him. But after the first time he wanted milk NOW when the lines were out the door (dinner time), we switched gears. We have one of those small light weight cooler bags for kids. We would fill a few cups of milk & put them in the cooler with the cold packs. We also took some empty cups. When DS wanted milk & there were no lines we would just go into a place & buy him some. But when he wanted it NOW & there were lines out the door, we had some ready for him. It was a BIG help.
I did not stress about eating & stuff while there. DS usually is a great eater & will pick vegetables over sweets at home. But in Disney he wanted a lot of french fries & chicken nuggets. This is probably because of all the excitment & the fact that we were traveling with friends who had older kids to. I let him eat "junk" as long as he ate. With all the excitement in Disney there were a lot of times he was even to excited to eat a meal (another reason why I always carried crackers & stuff).
However as soon as we got home he fell right back into his normal routine. Last night all he wanted for dinner was green beans, peas & some of the grilled chicken (He had no interest in junk food. This could be because we were back home or because he no longer saw or had the option of french fries. Either way, he is back to normal...LOL!). Since we knew our DS would get to excited to eat or eat well int he parks, we would do a lot of breakfasts in the hotel room. DH would go buy some stuff in the food court & bring it back. DS would eat a good breakfast while we got ready for the day. We would also try & do some good lunches in the hotel too. We would try & go back to the hotel around lunch time. That way DS could have his down time & get a good lunch in before doing the parks at night.
Again we dont schedule, but at home DS is generally in bed by 8:30pm (his choice). In Disney World he was staying up until 11:00pm or later! He wanted to see & ride everything. And that was fine with us. He did not get cranky & wsa loving it. I think those little naps during the day helped that a lot.
We started off with characters slowly. He loved them last year, however he hated Santa & the Easter Bunny. So I did not know what to expect. A few weeks before we left we were looking at websites, watching the planning video, showing him the videos & pics from last year & talking a lot about characters. We started off showing him Mickey Mouse in Toontown. He was ok until we got to close to him. He cried a bit but I held him & talked to him. We left there & as we walked around the parks we would point out characters to him & talk to him about how much he loved his "friends". By the morning of the second day he was actually throwing himself at the characters to hug them. He loved every second of it. He would get very excited when we saw someone new (especially if he knew them) & would start calling out their names. Characters became a big hit with us!
Our DS really loved every second of Disney World. It was a really great age to bring him. Now I can't wait to see his reaction in Nov when he will be almost 28 months old!
