Okay, be honest.......

[cornflkgrl]

How crazy is it for me to take a 2-year-old to Disney World for a week???
I am thinking I want to go back really bad during the free dining week since it would cost half of what it usually would for us to go but....
we have only been WITHOUT our son and that is his birthday month so we would not think of leaving him behind, if we decided to do that. Our other idea was to go shortly before or after the Christmas season, which means he would be closer to 2.5 at that time.
My husband thinks I've lost my mind since the whole time we were at Disney I kept saying to my husband over and over, "this is so great not having kids with us!!" Everyone at Disney with small children walking around looked MISERABLE! I don't want us to all come back and feel terrible after what is supposed to be a vacation.
Do you think we should wait until he is older to take him to Disney?
Are there even rides you can take a 2.5 year-old on?

 

[wdwlvr629]

Personal preference I suppose, however, being that i'm a Disney nut, I took my son for the 1st time @ age 16 months. Do I regret it, absolutely not! It is all about knowing their limits at that age, if you have to leave the parks so they can nap, you've gotta do it OR you WILL look like one of those miserable families. There is no way to force an exhausted, overheated child to have fun! If you play your cards right, you'll enjoy it.

 

[disneylizzy]

Well, you certainly won't be able to do as much as you could without a two year old, but if you plan your day around him and don't push it, you could have a wonderful time. I wish I could have taken my kids when they were little. My youngest was 9 the first time he went.

 

[essmom]

I would not take him- he is too young and it'll be so crowded- i took mine for the 1st time when they were 5 and 7-no naps and full of energy. We are going back in July- they are 11 and 13 now and we can't wait- wait till he's older -you'll enjoy it much more.

 

[traviesojmt]

We had our DS 7 and DD who had just turned 2 the week before with us last summer. We were there for 12 days and had a blast. We arrived when the parks opened for early entry, left the park after lunch to go back to the resort for her to take a nap, and then hit a different park in the afternoon. We never did evening EMH because it was past all of our bedtimes. 9 months after our trip, DD still talks about Disney. She can tell you what she rode and some of her favorite characters. We are going again in Aug. and she tells everyone she see. We will be checking out at the grocery and she'll say, "I'm going to DisneyWorld in Aug. I'm riding the purple dumbo". I think it all depends on how you plan your trip. We scheduled our ADRs to fit our normal eating habits. We never spent the whole day at the park. You can still ride your favorite rides by using the baby swap option. The miserable parents are the ones who are pushing their kids beyond their capacity. If a member of our family had had enough, we took a break. I think that if you keep that in mind, you will all have a great time.

 

[cornflkgrl]

I forgot to mention we only have one child and he takes a 2 hour afternoon nap as of now so I'm assuming he will still do that 4-7 months from now as well. Also, husband and I are very laid back and usually like watching shows/fireworks and enjoying the food better than any big rides. We liked our resort so much we really could have spent more time hanging around there.
I guess my main question is: are there any rides that kids that young are allowed on?

 

[scoolover]

We took our son after he had turned 3. I remember thinking that someday I would not remember how tough it was. It is a year later and I have forgotten how tough it was. I don't regret the decision for a minute but there were tough times. By the way, we only went for 3 days.

 

[princess aurora]

We LOVED this age and took both our kids when they were this age. Our first daughter alone with us then all of as a happy family when our youngest turned 2.

If you plan for it, it's great. Our perfect trip was when my first DD was 2 we kept her out ALL day. She would sleep in her stroller for 1.5 - 2 hrs a day and we took that time to rest, have our lunch or do our browsing or shopping, taking turns sometimes just sitting with her while the other person looked around. This meant little time wasted traveling back to the hotel for naps. Even a few melt downs were avoided by wonderful Disney staff that was sure to bring her meal first or even crackers and cheese to nibble on. One CM offered her a little stuff donald to paly with. At the end of the meal we returned it with much appreciation and the CM let us keep it!

The baby swap works well on rides too like Space Mountain so you can still ride the rides. It's so great to see the "World" through a child's eye!

Guess it depends on your priorities and your child's personality but it was great and worked well.

My youngest is 5 in June and the oldest 8, in May - This trip in May will be their 4th and 5th trips to the "World" respectively.

Oh lots of rides for you to ride with a 2yr old. Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Small World, Carosel, Buzz LightYear and that's just at MK.

 

[traviesojmt]

There were more rides that my DD 2 could ride than couldn't. She loved Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan and the Goofy Barnstormer. I would recommend not seeing Snow White. It is pretty scary for little one. My daughter also loved swimming at the resort pool. Since you are laid back, I think that you will enjoy taking your little one to Disney. Our DD was a little scared of the characters at first. We would only watch them from a distance. After the second day, she was running up to hug them.

 

[princess aurora]

Oh yes my kids at that age were a little aprrehensive of the characters at first too! They both warmed up to them after a few days and joined right in to get their pictures taken .

 

[kizmac]

My kids have gone at all different ages...9 months and up......we wouldn't have it any other way. It's the magic of watching your little one interact with the characters and be amazed on Peter Pan and clap at the parades that make Disney what it is for me. My dd was 18 mths last trip and she loved hugging the characters at the CM meals we went to. We got some awesome pics! I am not saying it will be all wonderful 24-7 magic and pixie dust. After all, is it that way at home..???.no not usually. So you will probably have a melt down or two but the memories will out weight all that in the end. Even on our worst Disney trip we have great memories. Just be prepared for a much different trip than an all adult trip and view it as a take it easy trip. Get to the parks early....do some rides and head back and let him nap and refresh for dinner. Have a wonderful trip if you go!

 

[cdrn1]

We took DGD at 11 months and 16 months and are going in May when she will be almost 2.3. We can't wait. She had so much fun the first two times and we are so looking forward to this time. She talks about going to Disney and seeing Pooh; we look at the pictures from our first two trips and talk about what we did and what we will do. She is extremely well-behaved and laid-back so very easy to manage there. I have to say that in no way did she detract from the trip and the memories and pictures that we have are priceless.

 

[donnajon]

Well, the plus is is will be free! You will always remember the look on his face when he sees magical things for the first time. I still remember when DD was only 8 months old, we went to see Tarzan Rocks. She had been asleep but as soon as the music started, she popped up and just started dancing in my lap. She had everyone around us laughing at her. This is Disney - there are tons of things for the little ones to do. The older child can ride Splash Mountain while there is a nice play area that little kids love at the end of the ride. World Showcase might not have a lot to offer but my DD3 loves Future World. She actually doesn't mind WS as she enjoys the kidcot stations. MK is full of attractions for smaller kids, MGM has Playhouse Disney and Little Mermaid just to name a few. AK has Dinoland that has a lot kids can do.
Unless you just want to have a nice relaxing vacation without any responsibilities of watching the kids, I say take them. If you just want to go and chill out with DH, leave them at home. Do I regret taking my kids, no! My favorite memories are of watching the kids faces. I will never forget DD3 hugging Snow White for literally two minutes - she just ran up to her and wouldn't let go. Then Snow White kissed her on the forehead - and DD wouldn't let us wash her head for two days. She still says, "Momma, remember when Snow White kissed me on my head?" It is still so sweet!

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

My DD was there last May at 23 months and will be there again this May at 34 months. My DS was 5 months last year and is 16 months old for our trip this year.

They can go on Kilamanjaro Safaris, Haunted Mansion.....anything without a height restriction pretty much. We avoided Pirates last year because of the drop in the beginning, thought it might be a little much for her.

We had a great time. And at 2, if we just wanted to snack our way around Epcot or whatever, she was young enough that she just like to look at everything, so she wasn't yanking me to the next ride (like my 11-yr-old does).

We did learn that we need to bring ear plugs.....some stuff (philharmagic and illuminations and others) were just too loud for little teeny ears.

We are looking forward to this trip and she wants to go on Tower.....
I, of course, DO NOT.

 

[Aristomommy]

My husband thinks I've lost my mind since the whole time we were at Disney I kept saying to my husband over and over, "this is so great not having kids with us!!" Everyone at Disney with small children walking around looked MISERABLE!

Well, you must have not seen me there with my kids, LOL. First time we went, DD was 2, last time she was 7 and DS was 8 months old. Of course it takes more planning, a slower pace and there are some attractions you will baby swap or miss out on. But you will spend more time together looking for characters (if your child is not afraid) and the looks on their faces are priceless. DH and I plan on going to WDW alone when the kids are "too old" or too cool to go, but for now they only make our trips more magical.

 

[INDISMOM]

We took my dd when she was 2. We were there for 6 days and had a great time. We planned EVERYTHING around her -- NO ADR's except for CRT (couldn't take my little girl without going there ). Most days we got up early and took our time a breakfast to make sure she had plenty to eat. We left at lunch time and usually ate at the hotel (POR) and then napped. Even with taking a break we could tell about the 3rd day she had hit her limit. We ended up spending that day at the hotel relaxing, playing at playground, swimming, etc. I think that break made a HUGE difference the last 2 days we were there.

As far as rides go she rode most rides in Fantasy (not Snow White). Her 2 most favorite things -- Minnie and Mickey's houses and the squirting fountain at DTD -- we have the BEST video of this! She doesn't remember a lot from that trip (she's 8 now), but does remember those 2 things!!

I say go for it, but realize while you may not do as many things if it were just DH and you, but the look on your DS's face when he sees the castle for the first time will be priceless!!

 

[HappyLawyer]

honestly it really depends on you, for me, i will not take a child until they are at least 4, but now i am thinking 6 for the next one or 5 at the minimum, i feel, again I feel that they cannot appreciate while they are younger, plus when they are smaller they require much more attention and it's not really a vacation to me, but i know others that feel the opposite and they will take the younger ones, now here is my kicker because we all suffer, i will not take a young child, but i will not go without my child either, so when i have the next one, we will be away from disney for a few years until that one is about 4, that is the only thing that makes me hate my philosophy.

 

[kldmom2000]

DH and I always went to Disney child-free BEFORE we had kids obviously.... we took our 2 girls for the first time in Dec. '04 when they were 4yrs and the other was 26 months. My YOUNGER DD had more fun than my 4 yr old! She LOVED it! She was so excited to see the characters and would run up and hug them so tight! It was such a wonderful age IMO to bring her..... I think it all depends on the child too..... my 4 yr old was a basket case fearing all the characters and hating the parks because "the characters were there!".... we're going again this September to celebrate my younger DD's 4th bday and my older DD will be 6 and has thankfully gotten over her fear of characters (she sat on the Easter Bunny's lap the other day too!) GL to you in whatever you decide!

 

[srdipert]

We just returned from our trip with our 4 month old and while I said I would never do it...it was actually great!! We took our older child for the first time when he was 2 1/2 and he had a blast and is not 5 and still remembers things from that trip...this time was his 4th trip and he loved showing things to his baby brother (not that he really cared! )

 

[Mom2T&G]

I would take him! We went last may when our ds's were 2.5yo and 10mo. We could only spend one day there (MK), but we had such a good time that we are going back this may for a week. This year they will be 3.5yo and 22mo. I was suprised about how much they could do. They had a blast! We did go back to our hotel so they could nap in the afternoon. There are so many tips on here for taking young kids. Since I found disboards I feel so much more prepared to take them on a weeklong trip this year.

Kelly
DS 3yo
DS 20mo