Paranoid about toddler being too wiggly for rides

[orangeyellow]

This will be my first trip to WDW (grew up on the west coast), and my first trip to any Disney park as an adult, so I don't remember a lot of how the rides operate. I am going next month with my 19mo and 4yo. I have read a lot of blogs about what rides are good for a young toddler, etc, but I can't help be paranoid about the 19mo being too wiggly and all over the place for rides like People Mover, Dumbo, etc. From what I can tell, not everything has a safety bar. Do folks just hold their kids really tight on their laps? Or is the movement and lights enough to distract a kid into sitting still? Would love to hear other people's experiences with wiggly toddlers on rides!

 

[lostprincess_danie]

Dumbo does have a seat belt if that helps for that particular ride. You know your child best - how are they on car rides, are they able to sit on a swing and not fall off, do they sit still riding in a wagon - if they do okay on those type things I wouldn't be overly worried.

 

[Haley R]

I have a wiggler. He’s 2 now but still wiggly. He has never worried us on dumbo because it’s so short and there is a lot to look at. People mover is usually a skip for us. It’s too long and slow so he doesn’t like it. Same with living with the land. He will not sit still on that one. I think you have to just try them all and see how it goes.

 

[orangeyellow]

Dumbo does have a seat belt if that helps for that particular ride. You know your child best - how are they on car rides, are they able to sit on a swing and not fall off, do they sit still riding in a wagon - if they do okay on those type things I wouldn't be overly worried.

That's what I figured--that the movement and excitement would keep them distracted enough to stay seated. We recently flew on a plane and it was wiggles galore, but planes are boring and flights are loooooong. Thanks!

 

[orangeyellow]

I have a wiggler. He’s 2 now but still wiggly. He has never worried us on dumbo because it’s so short and there is a lot to look at. People mover is usually a skip for us. It’s too long and slow so he doesn’t like it. Same with living with the land. He will not sit still on that one. I think you have to just try them all and see how it goes.

I will note that with people mover--we will definitely have to be selective, as we are only doing one day in MK (short trip from Miami to test the waters). I'm just glad no one has jumped in with horror stories of little hurling themselves over the side of a ride vehicle. Phew

 

[nancipants]

I have a crazy toddler, but yes, on most rides with no restraints he's interested enough to stay seated. I was very nervous when I took him on Speedway because it only has the seatbelt, but he stayed seated the whole time. Anything with a lap bar keeps him in place well. We haven't done People Mover in awhile but he enjoyed looking around and didn't try to get up.

 

[jo-jo]

If you're really concern, could you use a harness and hang onto that? Still give some movement but not be able to jump out of ride.

Years ago, we had one of those kids, no problem on rides. Waiting in line , yes big problems.

 

[juxtapose]

We took our son at 15 months and he was/is a wiggler/mover. Dumbo and It's a small world kept him highly entertained. We tried people mover and it was a forced hold down situation. I brought finger snacks on all rides just in case to try to keep him less wiggly if he got bored and those helped a few times. We did alternate a lot while we rode rides with my older daughter so he could run around freely.

 

[ShannyMcB]

My wiggly worm was way too interested in what was going on to try anything. The only ride that was tough was navi river journey. She wanted to play with the shaman.

 

[fumanchu2488]

Our wiggler (like big time wiggler) was good on pretty much everything. The one that was the hardest that I haven’t seen mentioned is the safari. It was just too long and I’m not sure at 18 months he had enough knowledge of what was going on with the animals to keep him occupied. At 10 minutes he was done and we were only about halfway in. Small world was second with a long wait at the end but it is stimulus overload so we managed.

 

[Haley R]

Our wiggler (like big time wiggler) was good on pretty much everything. The one that was the hardest that I haven’t seen mentioned is the safari. It was just too long and I’m not sure at 18 months he had enough knowledge of what was going on with the animals to keep him occupied. At 10 minutes he was done and we were only about halfway in. Small world was second with a long wait at the end but it is stimulus overload so we managed.

I forgot to mention this one. It’s been rough for us every time we’ve gotten on it. We haven’t done it since he was just under 2 but he squirmed the whole time and said he was done

 

[julie-o]

Our wiggler did well on the rides he rode (not that many) but he HATED the Speedway, was incensed that he had to sit next to DH, not on his lap, and screamed the whole time. To be fair, I feel that way about speedway too

 

[sponica]

I've gone with both my kids at 20 months.
Kid 1 (furniture child, she would just stay in one spot)- was good on most slow moving rides (tried to climb out of Dumbo, that's another story for another thread)

Kid 2 (maniac)- good on dumbo, tea cups, winnie the pooh, etc. Got bored out of her skull on jungle cruise and would not sit still.

 

[DisneyOma]

I second the harness if you are concerned about losing a hold - or get lots of pairs of overalls!

 

[orangeyellow]

If you're really concern, could you use a harness and hang onto that? Still give some movement but not be able to jump out of ride.

Years ago, we had one of those kids, no problem on rides. Waiting in line , yes big problems.

Ooooooh! Digging out our little skip hop backpack that has a "leash"--thanks for the suggestion. Hadn't even thought about lines.