Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh scared my 2 year old!

[paigevz]

He didn't like the Pooh ride because he said "Pooh's scared"..........later, we asked him more and he said it was because it was "rainy and windy"..............he is afraid of thunderstorms, but I never thought the rain in Pooh would scare him, but we think it was the flooding, and Roo flying off while his mama tried to catch him, that really scared him.

He was also scared of Haunted Mansion (I know, some of you will say, of course.........but at 10 months, he just fell asleep in it, so we really didn't think it would scare him). I had to cover his eyes and sing Jingle Bells all the way through for him.

He was scared of It's Tough To Be A Bug, and I told dh he would be, but he was sure he'd like it..........we left when the spiders came down, and he spent the whole time in the courtyard talking about the "bugs scare me"..........we saw three other families come out with scared children, some looked to be as old as 5 or 6.

He was scared of Mickey's Philharmagic too, but he loved Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Go figure.

He wasn't big enough for Stitch, and I wouldn't have taken him if he was. I knew he couldn't do that one. I also knew not to even try him on Snow White's Scary Adventure............so those two my dh and I split up to take the 9 year old on.

He was also scared of the princesses. He wanted to see them, but he didn't want them to see him, or especially to talk to him.

He threw fits (and he is a champion fit thrower) on Carousel of Progress (too long), Playhouse Disney (too frustrating to see Bear and not get to hug him), and waiting for parades (he hates waiting). The only other fits he threw were going back to our hotel for naps and bedtime..............he began to recognize the boat waiting area and our resort and start throwing the fit as soon as he knew what we were doing. Actually, we had more infrequent tantrums at WDW than usual.

He absolutely loved Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, the three cycle rides: Triceratop Spin, Magic Carpets and Dumbo, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Circle of Life, Festival of the Lion King, all the parades when they finally came, Illuminations, the Mexico boat ride, all the characters except Princesses, and all of Animal Kingdom except the bug show (scared), Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl (too small) and Kali River Rapids (too cold to go on) and Conservation Station (we skipped it)..........in fact, Animal Kingdom was our second day and for the whole rest of the trip he wanted to go back there. Everything else he seemed to like okay, but those ones I listed he wanted to do again and again.

Just thought this might be helpful for parents of under 1s, 2s, and 3s getting ready to go.

 

[fizz13]

Thanks for your detailed post. I have 3 kids: DD5, DS3 and DS1. DS3 has developed the most amazing explosive tantrums the last couple of months....just in time for our trip actually so it was interesting to read your view. We are still trying to find a diffusing/coping mechanism so any further advice on this in a WDW environment would be really handy.
Thanks for posting,
Claire

 

[paigevz]

You know, Claire, every child is different, but one thing I would say is to make absolutely sure that your son is well rested and well fed. My son got worse when tired or hungry........so I kept snacks and a water bottle with me all the time, and we left the parks about noon each day to go back for a nap and then went out again afterwards. I would also say that just for the week or so you are there, let him have what he wants..........within reason of course, but you know how we are so careful not to spoil them and let them know they can't have everything, etc, etc..........just for this week, for the enjoyment of the whole family, if it's safe, if it's cheap, if it's not too long a wait...........just let him have it. We also tried giving limited choices: you have to sit in a chair at the restaurant (rather than lie on the floor under the table).......do you want to sit by mommy or daddy? You have to ride in your stroller now because we have to hurry, do you want your seat belt on or off? You have to take a nap now because we are going back to Disney World in a little while, do you want your shirt on or off? You get the idea. I hope those help!

 

[JCTigger]

this is all been really helpful we are going on a magical gatherings trip ( 8 adults 2 kids) in october and my nieces who will be 3yrs and just turned 2 yrs... and thier mom who has never been to disney before its great to know what to look forward to we knew that we would have to go back and do naps and all but i never thought that pooh would scare kids... what about a child who lives, breaths and sleeps pooh bear?


the 3 yr old on christmas was so gung ho about going she asked her grandfather if we could go now and see mickey's house i think if her mom said yes we'd all be down there now shes got her grandfather wrapped around her finger its so cute

 

[fizz13]

Thankyou for this. You kind of hear so much about setting boundries and not caving in so we don't cater to these tantrums and encourage them. I suppose I thought if I caved and gave him what he wanted I would be asking for trouble, but I think for the sake of harmony you are right! What refreshing great advice. You did make me laugh with your examples (many times I have pulled DS from under a table). Thankyou and I shall try to relax,
Claire

 

[CathyC]

Every child is different. I did run into the same problem on Pooh with my ds (3 at the time) since he is afraid of thunder. He also didn't care for the Enchanted Tiki Room for the same reason and hated Philharmagic because the instuments "flew out at his head!" He laughed through the muppets however and loved Snow White, so you just can't tell. Who would have thought that something as tame as Pooh would give a kid the creeps, but Snow White would be ridden over and over in the same trip!! We are leaving again in a few days and he keep talking about how he isn't going to be scared because he is big now. (4) We will have to see what happens, kids are so funny!

 

[BevS97]

My dd didn't like Pooh either, she wasn't happy about the Heffalumps and Woozles.
I read a great article once called something like don't sweat the small stuff, basically, when they are at that stage, then there are arguments you HAVE to win -like fastening the belt in the car, and there are arguments you don't - like if the child wants to wear the purple tshirt and you want him to wear the blue one, it doesn't really matter, concentrate on the stuff you have to deal with and let the other stuff slide - within reason of course.
I also think small decisons are great - I know I have seen my dd throw a tantrum because she has too much choice - "you can have any toy in this store" "I just don't know which one to have", turns into a tantrum, whereas " you can have Belle or Cinderella" is a more managable decision, especially if you remind them that if they choose Belle, then Cinderella will still be around tomorrow, they have usually forgotten by tomorrow but it helps them to get past the feeling that they are missing out on something.

 

[ahutton]

Funny, but at 2, 3 and again at 4 my oldest DD was TERRIFIED of Its a Small World. At 3 she also hated the Pooh ride, but loved Peter Pan. We found, for the sake of peace, we would approach an attraction we thought she would enjoy and ask her if she wants to ride. If she said no, I don't like that, or I don't want to, we moved on. Same for her little sister, who is 2. They loved the pirates, refused Small World (I can't complain though!), rode Goofy's Barnstormer and Tomorrowland Transit Authority but resisted Buzz Lightyear (until they got to peek inside the entrance). Allowing them to refuse made the trip much less stressful, and we only went into stores if we knew we were looking for something in particular, and then asked for their help in trying to find it. "I'm looking for a purple shirt with Tinker Bell - can you help me find it?" That kept them focused in the stores and we didn't have issues with the "I want"s...

 

[crisi]

Kids are different. My son at 3 1/2 didn't like characters, to me daughter they were all big stuffed animals. They both did fine on Snow White. He did "OK" on Pirates but we couldn't get close to Haunted Mansion. They both LOVED Peter Pan.

A worthwhile thing to do is to list what your little one is afraid of - dark? loud? storms? sudden motion? scary themes? Then try and guess. They will still surprise you.

Note to those whose little ones don't like thunder, don't go to the Rainforest Cafe!

 

[JCTigger]

this has all been great advice and i hope that it will make our trip much smoother we got my oldest niece (3 yrs) the walt disney for kids by kids and let her see the pictures and also pictures that i have from the parks and she seems to be pretty excited about that and hopefully it will calm her a little because then she knows what shes getting into and of course well show her again before we go but she actually every time she comes over wants to see "mickeys house" so she sees pictures of WDW all the time any ways hopefully thatll also make it easier the youngest doesnt really know what going on yet so we'll have to take that into consideration as we get closer to the trip
if any one has any other good tips about travelling with young ones that would be awesome considering the only trips theyve been on have been camping trips up to new hampshire and those are only short drives not a long plane trip....

:jumping4: I cant wait for this trip!!! I'm so excited to see my nieces at my favorite place in the world

 

[alicenwonder99]

Last year (June 2003) we went to DL. My ds was 2 1/2 years old then. He was afraid of EVERY ride except IASW, the carosel, and that little bug caterpillar ride at California Adventure. We all took turns taking him on IASW. I don't know why, but we took him to see It's Tough to be a Bug. OK, I must have been crazy at that moment...lol. He was screaming, "Daddy, I wanna go NOW". Even my older child (she was 4 1/2 at the time) was crying through it. And of course, my ds was terrified of the lightining in Pooh's ride.

This trip, my younger children are 4 and 6. But I'm still not even going to attempt the scary rides. Even Pirates is going to be questionable. We'll start off with the carosel rides and Dumbo and work are way up...lol.

Mary

 

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

but i never thought that pooh would scare kids... what about a child who lives, breaths and sleeps pooh bear?

My son (age 3 at the time) HATED HATED HATED the Pooh ride. He talked about it for DAYS...and still, more than a year later, when we talk about Disney, he says that he can't go on the Pooh ride.

 

[sconstantz]

On our first trip with DS he was 3. We ordered the Disney trip planning video and watched it all the time. Just to get him used to the different rides and attractions he would encounter. We talked about the characters. And that he could decide whether he wanted to talk to them or not. He picked rides that he absolutely would not do, i.e. anything with a scary villian like Snow Whites Ride with the witch. he loved Pooh and Peter Pan (but had to close his eyes when Hook was around). We did get to see fantasmic, but only from the very back of the amphitheatre.

I think any amount of pre-viewing, pre-discussion, etc. that can happen is very helpful for preparing them for something that is completely out of their every day existence.

As for naps, DS was never a good nap taker (but would sleep in the car in his car seat). So, instead of planning a trip back to the resort mid day for a nap that wasn't going to happen, we would get him all comfy in the stroller and just "walk" in the afternoon (after a nice lunch). He would rest his eyes, and out he would go. We took a nice break, sat down, had something to drink, looked at the fantastic scenery, and enjoyed. He would nap for 2 hours sometimes.

then we could go on with the day at a park or go back to the resort with a rested son to do some swimming and nap ourselves.

Just an idea if you have a child that isn't keen on missing anything, and will do anything to get out of a nap.

shelly

 

[JCTigger]

my oldest niece whos three doesnt take naps during the day because if she does shes awake till like 2am but if she doesnt take a nap then shes pretty much out by 8 or 9 but her sister whos 1 but will have just turned 2 when we go has to take a nap around 1 or 2 or she will make sure life is miserable for all that are around her she'll crash anywhere that her blanky is so whether thats a stroller or a crib i think (crossing fingers) shell be ok but our first day we will see
:jumping4: I cant wait to see them at "Mickey's House" as Riley says