PARENTS -- 2 y/o first trip .. advice??

[toogiebearsdad]

I need some advice from disney veterans. We are taking our two year old for her first time this December. Any advice for rides that are a must or rides that we should avoid. If we use the Mears transport, do they have the proper safety measures if we bring along her carseat? I have never seen a seatbelt in any of these shuttles, so I am a bit worried that the ride will be unsafe -- any tips on this besides taking a cab or renting a car?

TIA

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

Toogiebearsdad, I have often wondered the same thing about the seat belt question on the mears transportation, if any disers have any information on this, it would be greatly appreciated, I will also check out the transportation forum for this information.
Have a magical DAy!

 

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

I need some advice from disney veterans. We are taking our two year old for her first time this December. Any advice for rides that are a must or rides that we should avoid. If we use the Mears transport, do they have the proper safety measures if we bring along her carseat? I have never seen a seatbelt in any of these shuttles, so I am a bit worried that the ride will be unsafe -- any tips on this besides taking a cab or renting a car?

TIA

welcome to the DIS!

As far as rides..... gotta love Dumbo... Rides to possibly avoid (you might want to check it out yourself first...) ...Pooh. I know it doesn't sound bad, but I've heard of lots of kids who get scared on that, and my son was one of them. (this was when he was 3...he kept saying "no pooh ride" about 1000 times during the rest of the trip, LOL)
Is your daughter a princess fan? If so, I'd try to the breakfast in the castle (but make sure to check these boards for tips on how to get a advance dining reservation for it...it's tough!)

Good luck!

 

[stacy6552]

Be prepaired. Alot of 2 year olds want no part of the charactures.

 

[rt2dz]

1--I wouldn't do CP for a 2 year old if you don't have a clue to what the character reaction would be. Plus, I don't think the food is that great and the service is horrible (we've been several times and it is always some form of bad).
I voted for 1900 Park Fair because it has more characters, good service, good food (better variety & taste), and the characters aren't as overpowering. There are face characters (Alice, The Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, and Meg) and Pooh characters (Pooh and Eeyore). It's more relaxed and subtle.

2--We drive so I'm not really sure how Mears is. But if it is a bus shuttle (or van) they are exempt from car seat/seatbelt laws and many shuttles frequently won't let you use a car seat even if you want to. Disney's transportation service I know does not allow you to use the car seat. You might want to call ahead and find out what they're policy's are; best thing you could do. You may also want to go ahead and check into actual prices for towncar services. I've read that many people were surprised to find they were less expensive than they thought. Also, look to mousesavers for discount codes and other tips under transportion

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

We took our daughter for her 2nd birthday. It was a wonderful trip, she loved it.

We have been using Mears since '96 if I remember right. We always ride in what look like mini vans. I always buckle up so I know they have belts. We always take DD's car seat with us. We buckled her up just fine and off we went. The drivers were always really nice and patient while we installed and uninstalled the seat. If I remember right the belts for the middle row are practically in the back of the van. So it could appear that there are no belts, but they pull up to the middle.

DD loved all the rides she could go on except for the 3D shows. She didn't like things flying towards her face. Her favorites were the rides in Fantasy Land. She also enjoyed the playgrounds at MGM and AK. IF your DD watches Playhouse Disney make sure to take her to it at MGM, she'll love it.

When she was 2 we took her to the Princess Storybook breakfast and Donald's breakfast in Animal Kingdom. She really enjoyed them both. We let her dress up as Snow White for the Princess Breakfast. That really made her day.

Have fun!!

 

[Dizneydaz]

My DD was 2 and 9 months on her 1st trip. She's been to Disneyland many times. Her must do's were-Small World, Carousel, swimming, playing in water thingies, Small World, swimming, play areas, water play (there's a theme here-LOL). She liked the Safari ride. (slept through it one time) She LOVED the Dino Boneyard-it's still a fav (she's now turning 6). Of course Dumbo and the Triceratops Twirl in AK is just as good.

Took her on the Great Movie Ride-my niece put her hands over my DD ears-forgot how loud it was, also pretty dark. She loved the Beauty and the Beast Show and Festival of the Lion King. We did alot of baby switching that trip.

For her, especially when she was younger, she enjoyed water activites and playgrounds as much, or more, than most of the rides. Just like an adult she needed her down time too! She liked the characters then but we didn't do a character meal that first time. We have since. She loves the Storybook Breakfast in Norway. This year we're doing the lunch for her 6th bday.

40 days and counting!

 

[susykt4]

DS was 2 and 5 months when we went in April. He loved all of the Fantasyland rides and did fine on Pirates, HM, Jungle Cruise, etc. He was bored during most shows (especially at MGM.) He is usually shy and intimidated by crowds so he surprised us by LOVING the characters. We went to the princess lunch in Norway (for DD5) and he loved it as much as she did. DH and I agreed before we left that this trip was all about DD5 and that we'd trade off taking DS back to the resort when he got too horrible in the parks. DS was GREAT the entire trip! Other than returning for daily naps, we never had to take him back.

 

[Indea88]

We were fine with our 2 year old on Peter pans flight, Its a small world (this was the best!) Pooh scared him. The thing I wouldnt do if I had to do it over was Mickeys Philarmagic, its in 3D and he really was scared., a lot of kids were crying..I think MGM would be great for the playhouse Disney.We also went to a character breakfast at Mickeys in the Contemporary he liked this and wasnt afraid.

 

[Family 1st]

I would say go with want you are comfortable with for your child. You know her best and her needs. Hopefully you will have family that can help you as needed.

 

[tlbwriter]

If we use the Mears transport, do they have the proper safety measures if we bring along her carseat? I have never seen a seatbelt in any of these shuttles, so I am a bit worried that the ride will be unsafe -- any tips on this besides taking a cab or renting a car?

We rode in a Mears van last December, and it had proper seatbelts. If you take a bus or shuttle that does not have seatbelts, it will be designed so that passengers are protected by other means. So, if there are seatbelts, definitely use your carseat. And if there aren't, you'll know the vehicle was designed to be used safely without them (unless it's an old piece of junk van that had the belts removed! ) If there are no seatbelts, make sure your daughter rides in her own seat, not in your lap - in a crash, a child held in your lap will be crushed between you and the seatback in front of you.

 

[tmfranlk]

I would suggest planning your first character meal for a day or two into the trip so that you can guage your DD's reaction to the characters.

My DD is almost 2.5yo and went to Disneyland at least once a week between 3mo and 20mo when we moved from the area. From about 12mo-15mo, DD just wanted to wave to the characters from a slight distance. At 15mo she started wanting to hug the costume characters, but wanted nothing to do with the face characters - princesses, etc. At around 26mo, she was better about the princesses, but still prefered the costume characters. Now, we are getting ready to go back at 2.5yo and she talks about the princesses and wanted a princess suitcase so I am interested to see what happens this time.

 

[pooh4evr]

We took our 23 month old in May- we did not bring a carset because we knew we would be taking shuttle busses everywhere so it was not necessary- she did fine. We did both Crystal Palace and PSL in Norway both were great! Good character interaction and food was good. She went on most rides - we also have a 4 DD she went on a few more rides like Star Tours and Big Thunder Mountain but other than that Alli went on everything- Goofy Barnstormer, TTA, Buzz, Dumbo Aladdin, Teacups, IASW, Peter Pan, Pooh (no problem) Junglle Cr, POC- and we did all of the 3D movies- Made it to all the parks they really enjoyed all of the shows at MGM, and even Epcot!) we tried to do everything over our 8 days that we thought they would like. We were lucky enough to have both picked to do story time with Belle and Emma(4) was chosen to pull the sword from the stone! We did not take afternoon breaks at the hotel, we had a side by side double so both girls could lay down and sleep when necesary it worked well. We stayed at a DTD hotle so we got over there a couple of times too.

 

[Minnie824]

Check out Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort for a character breakfast or dinner as well.

 

[DemoBri1]

I'd have to echo one of the other posters in that some 2 year olds will not take kindly to the characters.

That being said I would play as much of the sections of the planning videos where the characters are found. Get your daughter used to seeing the characters on tv and really play it up. Ask her if she's really excited to see particular characters.

Then I might suggest that you go to a park and seek out a couple of characters if you can find them, just to get her acclamated before you go to your character meal. A good spot for this is by the Sorcerer's Hat in MGM. They usually have different sets of characters out for 15-20 minute stretches every hour. She won't be overwhelmed and you can gauge how she's going to react. If she shys away you might want to think twice about the character meals.

Just my $.02

Brian

 

[aidansmom]

I think that you really can never tell until you get there. Our ds was 23 months when we brought him last December, and he loved EVERYTHING. He did just about every ride he could do (including barnstormer), loved the characters, and even enjoyed a lot of the shows, especially Candlelight Processional. I think you just have to feel them out when you get there and go at their pace - you might be pleasantly surprised. Good luck!