Our friends bailed on our trip.. now what?

[3gr8boys]

Whoever has the little one while the other is riding "big" rides will find there are many play areas for toddlers. Passing the time won't necessarily feel like waiting .... Disney World is magical. If you are comfortable briefly splitting up once in awhile for individual grown-up goals, you'll have a great time. Sounds like a fun trip to me!

 

[crayon3448]

My kids love the car area at the end of Test Track, and there is also a play area at the end of Mission Space. There is a little play area (The Laughin' Place) underneath Splash and by BTMR. My kids used to love these areas as a chance to run around, since at Disney they can be kept pretty contained (stroller, waiting in line, sitting on rides, etc)

 

[wdw4rfam]

Your thread title says,
Our friends bailed on our trip.. now what?

1. Get new friends
2. Go to WDW and have a great time.

Exactly- the first thing I thought while reading the title was ......those ARE NOT friends.

 

[ChristineOH]

I haven't child swapped in a few years since I go with my parents who watch my youngest while we ride, but a few years ago we entered the line with the kid and they took us to a special area to wait with the child. Didn't know they changed it.

That's the procedure at Universal. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

Anyhow, OP, just go and have fun! You can use your FP individually for those rides with height restrictions you really want to do, but I think you'll find this trip will be more about doing experiences with your child, and you won't feel like you're missing out on anything!

 

[VTNuke]

Yeah, broken record here, but really the focus needs to be more on the kid having a great time at that age. We took both of our kids at those ages and it was a totally different trip. Dumbo was a huge hit. My son was in love with Minnie and seeing her for the first time was awesome to witness. At age 10, that's not happening anymore. My 12 year old daughter still loves Disney, but now the focus is on rides and the little bit of freedom we give them. No characters except at a few meals. Enjoy the trip centered around a 2 year old. They may not remember it, but you will.

Just enjoy having the little one experience the Characters and experiences geared towards them. Plus, under 3 is basically free.

Find some Disney fanatics to go with that won't bail for your next trip.

 

[fiasco32]

Vegas?? With 2 year olds??

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

I haven't child swapped in a few years since I go with my parents who watch my youngest while we ride, but a few years ago we entered the line with the kid and they took us to a special area to wait with the child. Didn't know they changed it.

I remember when it worked that way on Space Mountain. The CM pointed to the place where the ride disembarked. There was a small area to wait until the other party returned.

 

[Donalyn]

My favorite trip is our first trip with my oldest DD. She was two at the time. We hardly rode anything. But she loved the characters, the play areas, the music, a few of the shows.

It is different - but it was magical!

 

[reluctantredhead]

At that age it’s a different experience. If you can hold off to enjoy the bigger rides on another trip there is still so much to do with kids that age as a family. At those ages my kids really enjoyed the characters, parades, dance parties and little playground places they have all over.

This.

My H and I went to WDW for our honeymoon and made several trips there before our D was born, so when we booked our first trip with her (22 months old at the time) I was worried we would have a terrible time. We had always been people who stayed open til close and rode the "thrill rides" multiple times per day. Yet that first trip there with her was absolutely magical, and I have so many priceless memories and photos of it. I know it sounds cheesy, but just watching the wonder and joy in her eyes as she watched the parades go by (I've never really liked parades myself), seeing her hug and blow kisses at the characters, enjoying the play areas with her, experiencing the "kid friendly" rides like Pooh, Dumbo, etc., and watching her imitate the hula girls on the Small World ride I think of as some of the most wonderful experiences in my life...especially now that my D is 16 and will soon be off to college. We didn't end up doing any baby swaps, even though we had planned to, and as others have said, I'm sure you could make that work out fine.

Also...many of the shows and other smaller experiences that we had always skipped in favor of the "bigger" rides actually ended up being amazing, and we ended up feeling badly that we'd always skipped over them in the past.

I hope that you and your family still end up making the trip and having a wonderful time!

 

[cgattis]

Vegas?? With 2 year olds??

Surely they meant they decided on a kid-free trip instead......surely??!?!

 

[Disneylover99]

You might actually enjoy the trip more without friends or family. It's nice to do whatever you want. It makes planning so much easier.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

You will still have a great trip!

How you want to handle the “big” rides is up to you.

We have a 3yo & 1.5 yo. The 3yo has been to WDW twice (Disneyland once). The 1.5yo has gone once and we are headed back in May. We have decided that we aren’t wasting any time with child swap or big rides. We even travel with my parents, sister and BIL who could watch the kids and we could skip the big rides. We would rather maximize the kids’ time in the parks than ours - since we are sometimes there limited hours based on how tired they get.

We have done this on all the trips with them and it is so fun to experience the thrills with them as they get to do them for the first time! DD got to do Barnstormer for the first time in Sept. I’ve never had so much fun on that ride! She should be tall enough for SDMT in May so I’m looking forward to that.

I am not by any means saying it is bad to child swap to do the big rides! We just realized that for us the amount of time it takes it isn’t worth it to us and there’s other stuff we would rather experience with the kids during their prime touring hours. I thought I would miss riding the big rides but I don’t at all. And I’m looking forward to experiencing them again with the kids as they get older.

 

[mekay1012]

The first time we went, my dd was too short for all the rides with a height requirement and we just skipped those. We still had a great time and didn't feel like we were missing out on anything.

 

[dminnie]

You might actually enjoy the trip more without friends or family. It's nice to do whatever you want. It makes planning so much easier.

Yes! Plan it the way you want it instead of having to negotiate with other people.
Then, you and your friends can get together and talk about how great your separate trips were!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Vegas?? With 2 year olds??

You realize there are a number of Las Vegas residents who are two years old, right? If the other couple wants to go there, well, they'd probably have a miserable time at Walt Disney World.

 

[crazedprincess]

Aw... you know what? I think you will have an even MORE magical time with it being just your little family at Disney World! You will be able to focus on each other and not worry about pleasing everyone. I promise, you will LOVE it!

 

[kalynn]

My best friend and I (and our husbands) planned to take our kids on their first Disney World vacation together this November. Both of our kids would be 2 & 2.5 at the time so we figured they would have fun together. We just found out this weekend that they are bailing on us. They want to do Vegas instead (lame lol ) I am a huge Disney fan so we are obviously still going.. but I have never been with a little one before. My question is.. if we don't find another couple or anyone to go with what do you parents do about rides? Can someone explain the child swap? Or do you just not go on any rides your child is to small for? The last time I went to Disney I was pregnant so I missed a lot of the rides then too, and I was really looking forward to the new rides in Animal Kingdom. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Big Vegas fan here, but I also love Disney. That's a tough one for me.

 

[BradChristian]

I think you will actually be happier traveling with just your family. As mentioned above... RiderSwap is great - My wife did rider swap when I wound up doing an hour wait for Soarin... I waited in line for Soarin and she did living with the land while holding the rider swap pass and our son, I then did Living with the Land while she did soarin, so there wasn't actually much waiting around in the rider swap area. Having a snack in Sunshine Seasons would have worked too!

---

As for traveling with another couple... I have heard NIGHTMARES with couples traveling together.

A coworker of mine... against my advice... did ONE day to Magic Kingdom while staying two days at Art of Animation. HOWEVER - They were traveling with another couple whose 4 year old would not do ANY rides, shows, or attractions. They literally spent 4 hours in magic kingdom before going back to the AoA pool. They saw Festival of Fantasy parade, but that still doesn't justify $440 worth of tickets!

 

[kniquy]

My question is.. if we don't find another couple or anyone to go with what do you parents do about rides? Can someone explain the child swap?

First off i think it actually decreased some stress not planning a trip to accommodate another family and there needs - so look at this as a blessing. You can tour solely on your child's needs and schedule. I don't think all rides have rider swap so definitely take a look to see which do. On rides that don't have swap you can book FP for each of you - you should be able to book for the same time frame, which gives you an hour to use your FP.

You will find that there are quite a few rides that your little one can go on and like some others have posted -- this trip should be about your little one. I was having a hard time coming to terms with planning our next trip in April - it will be DD4 first trip - I was planning too much so that we can do everything, but looking at the plans and how much we were trying to accomplish i realized that it would be too much for DD.