Park touring plans with toddlers

[katie111]

Does anyone have any suggested park touring plans or even just lists of "must-do's" for the parks with toddlers. Mine are ages 2 & 3. We've been to Disney several times but this is the first time with the kids so I could use some help. They've been to several local theme parks & love most rides, but my DD does have some fear of the dark. I know that we should plan plenty of down time & will definitely be stopping for afternoon naps for the 2 yr old. Tenatively, we're planning a total of 1 day at MGM, 1 day at AK, 1 or 1 1/2 days at Epcot & probably 2 days at MK. We'll probably do 1 park in the morning, go back & rest, and then maybe go to a different park in the late afternoon. We're staying at the Boardwalk for 7 nights, so Epcot & MGM are the easiest to get back to. We're going at the end of Jan so hopefully the crowds will be light.

Any suggestions for what your toddlers absolutely loved or hated would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your help!

 

[lclark0621]

My DS (2.5) LOVES the Buzz Lightyear ride. Also Fantasyland & Toontown are a must! And spend a lot of time there exploring everything.

My DS loves all of WDW. His favorite rides are POTC & HM (just like his Mom & Dad).

Just take it slow & enjoy your vacation with your kids. If you can, do a couple of character meals. They are SO much fun with little ones & the best way to see the characters.

In MGM, dont forget the Playhouse Disney Show. We always have to see that a couple of times on our trip.

Use strollers so your kids dont get to overtired.

And enjoy Disney with kids!

 

[jennymouse]

They're all different. My DGD2 did better when we went back to the villa for a nap. She did snooze in her stroller a couple times when we didn't get back in time and on those days she was fussier. They're all different as far as the rides go too. DGD2 wasn't afraid of any of them but if yours is afraid of dark rides she'll prolly be afraid of them there too. Just try to stick to the normal schedule as much as possible.

 

[mkutch]

MK- Check the times board and see what rides have the shorter waits.
Fast pass the Pooh ride. Skip Snow White. Try to do Peter Pan if the wait isn't too long. My kids DS 3.5 Loved the WTP Play area across from the Pooh ride. My other DS 20 mo. was taking a nap in the stroller while the older one played.

Toon town is o.k. I'd say only go if you need autographs or want to ride Goofy's Barnstromer if the 3yro is tall enough.

If Dumbo's line is too long go on Aladdin's Carpet ride - that is always a shorter wait. My kids love Small World and Tiki Room but then again we are always palying those songs in the car so they enjoy seeing the attractions.

They were a little scared on Pirates but got over it once they were past the ships. Haunted Mansion was ok until the cemetary scene.

My 3.5 yro is 40 inches so he rode all the rides he now qualified for and loved them.

Buzz Lightyear is a definite. I have been avoiding the Stitch ride b/c I am worried it would be too scary.

Of course the carosel is a favorite.

Epcot - Innovations was a HUGE hit with the kids. I would have never guessed it but I had a hard time getting them to leave. We made robots there and could take them with us. What a life-saver when we were waiting for food at a sit down restaurant.

MGM - They loved the shows.

Animal Kingdom- The petting area was a big hit along with the safari ride.

We stayed at the Boardwalk and rented one of the 2 seater bikes. The kids rode in the basket kid area in the front while we petaled. What a work-out, but the kids loved the ride and ringing the bell to tell people to get out of the way. We took the boat to MGM and walked to EPCOT.

 

[paigevz]

My 2.5 year old's faves at Christmas...............

MK: Dumbo, Carousel, Peter Pan, Pooh (slightly scared of the heffalumps and woozles part adn the thunder part), playground under Splash Mountain, Aladdin's Magic Carpets (he giggled at the camels spitting), Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear (one of the biggest faves along with Peter Pan), Speedway (always so crowded), and all of Toontown. Peter Pan, Pooh, Pirates and Buzz are all dark rides. Small World was closed. Tom Sawyer's Island and Swiss Family Treehouse are geared towards bigger kids. Haunted Mansion scared him, and he was too small for most others not listed.

Epcot: Mexico and Norway's boats, Circle of Life show, Spaceship Earth, Carousel of Progress, all of the LIving Seas, Journey into Imagination with Figment. Dark parts: spaceship earth, some of living seas (but you've got to take them to turtle talk with Crush, he just loved it), both boat rides, and beginning of and parts in Carousel of Progress and Circle of Life, parts of Journey.

AK: boneyard and dino statues in the little trail on the way to Dinosaur (but definitely not Dinosaur it's very scary), Triceratop Spin, Safari, all animal trails. We didn't go to conservation station or Kali Rapids.......too wet to be comfy in December. It's Tough to be a bug scared him silly, and we had to leave midway through. His favorite park.

MGM: Little Mermaid........some scary parts though, and does get dark. Playhouse Disney, but he cried about not getting to go hug bear.........he couldn't understand that he could hug all the other characters he saw but not this one, and if you don't sit in the right spaces, the bubbles and confetti don't come near you.......really sets off the jealousy monster.........He liked the Star Wars area, but wasn't big enough for the ride. He liked Fantasmic when he got to sit on daddy's lap and pretend to pow the bad guys for Mickey, but it is scary. Honey I Shrunk Kids Playground is very cute and great photo ops, but easy to lose them for a moment or two.....not sure I'd try it with two little ones, maybe station one parent near the exit so they can't get out without you knowing. He's scared to death of the Muppets, and they blow a cannon in there, so we had to leave it. He loved the Osborne Lights that were there when we were, and the snow falling. All in all, though, this was the worst park for him, although it's one of our family's faves.

 

[Got Quattro?]

at 18months / 3 / and 4....my daughter was game for anything we could throw at her. POTC, BUZZ, Goofy Barnstormer...and her favorite at 3 was the tea cups.

 

[jbrooxd]

MGM - afternoon parade (was great on our first day after getting in from airport - introduced him to the park on a day when he wasn't going to get a nap anyway), Playhouse Disney (saw it 3 times, and would have gone more), characters (Chicken Little, JoJo and Goliath, Donald, Mickey, Mike and Sully, Buzz and Woody, etc.). We did Muppets 3D, but he got scared at the loud noises. He did agree to see it a second time with his 4 year old cousin, but still took the glasses off part way through. He liked it enough to still be talking about Fozzy squirting him with water. LOVED eating at Pizza Planet (we all did - it was pretty yummy)

AK - he was starting to get sick that day, so it may not be a great indicator. We enjoyed meeting Stanley and Rafiki. He liked the animals, but it wasn't too different from taking him to the zoo. We never got to the dinosaur things to see how he liked them.

Epcot - we were only there in the evenings for dinner.

MK - loved Dumbo, Indy Cars, Buzz, Magic Carpets, Pooh (did get a little scared), Barnstormer. Got a little scared in Philharmagic, but wanted to see it again, and liked it better than the Muppet one. Characters were, again, a highlight - Buzz, Stitch, Incredibles, Mickey and the gang, Crystal Palace meal with Pooh and Co.

Have a super time!
~ Jaymie

 

[GEM]

Well, my little guy is 2 1/2, so maybe our information will help. This is copied from a post a few weeks ago -


On our most recent trip, we spent 5 nights at Saratoga Springs (Dec. 18th-23rd). This was Paul's 4th trip to the world and we had a GREAT time.

Like our other 3 trips, Paul wasn't afraid of anything - dark rides, fireworks, characters, 3-D shows, etc. He loved it all.

We took our own stroller, and we were glad we did. Even though we had to lug it on and off the busses, Paul was much more comfortable than he would have been in a rented stroller. He was able to take a nice nap in his stroller each afternoon while we enjoyed some shopping or people watching.

For those nursing moms out there, I (happily) noticed quite a few nursing moms out and about at the world on this trip. Don't be afraid to nurse your little one anywhere at Disney - benches, rides, shows, restaurants, etc! It's a very breastfeeding friendly place. Paul is still nursing, but he's down to only first thing in the morning and right before bed, so we didn't do any public nursing on this trip. Although, we definately did on all three of our previous trips!

Some of Paul's favorite things this trip:
-Riding Dumbo
-Ridng Winnie the Pooh
-Riding the Jungle Cruise
-The Country Bear Jamboree
-Breakfast with Pooh and Pals at the Crystal Palace
-Breakfast with Mickey and Stitch at Ohana
-Meeting Minnie Mouse and getting to give her a kiss (He has a bit of a crush on Minnie. His favorite souvenir from the trip is a small Minnie plush wearing a pink "princess" dress. It's the only thing he begged for in any of the stores.)
-Seeing the elephants on the safari at Animal Kingdom
-Riding the busses to the parks (His mantra every morning was, "Ride the bus, see Mickey!")
-Illuminations (This has always been one of his favorites!)
-Spacehship Earth (I don't know why, but he was nuts about this!)
-Turtle Talk at Epcot! He LOVED this so much!
-Swimming in the quiet pool at SSR
-Playing at Pooh's Playful Spot and the little playground in Toontown (He could have happily spent hours in both of those places.)
-Micky Mouse rice krispie treats!
-Exploring Tom Sawyer Island
-Riding in the basket of the Surey Bike we rented at the Boardwalk. What fun!!
-Getting his first real haircut at the Main Street Barber Shop
-Watching the Chinese acrobats in China, the MoRockin' band in Morocco, and Off Kilter in Canada. He LOVED these performances!

Also, he's obsessed with trains right now. So, hands down, his very favorite things from the trip were:
-Riding the WDW Railroad at the Magic Kingdom. We must have ridden that circuit 15 times over the five days we were there. I've never seen him get so excited about anything. He just about passed out from excitement everytime the whistle sounded - no matter where we were in the park.
-Riding the monorail. Especially when we got to ride up front from the Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian for our breakfast reservation. He kept saying, "I'm driving the train, Mommy! I'm driving the train!". That ride in the front cab of the monorail made every penny we spent on the trip worthwhile.
-Riding the TTA in Tomorrowland. It was train-like enough to thrill him beyond words.
-And, his absolute favorite thing: the model trains outside Germany at Epcot! He and his daddy spent two full hours watching those things while I did some shopping. He would watch them on one side and then dash across the bridge to the other side when they went through the tunnel. He was fascinated! He was having so much fun that people actually stopped to watch him watching the trains! They really were there for just over two hours - and he still was very unhappy when it was time to move on!

Anyway, those are some of our highlights with a 2 1/2 year old. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.

P.S.
The only sad moment came at Goofy's Barnstormer. He wanted to ride SO bad, but he was still way too short. He's really small for his age. Oh, well. Maybe next time!

 

[awatt]

Unofficial Guide has touring plans specific to families with kids. I found them very helpful.

 

[runner26.2]

Having made half dozen trips with children under 5 I agree with everything above.

The biggest thing I can suggest is not to do too much. At that young age you have to remember that its not life long memories you're creating it is all about the moment (how much do you recall prior to your 5th birthday). On our first trip with two children (3 & 1) we tried to do too much the first day. By the third day we finally clued in and went at their pace not hours. It made it a very enjoyable trip for all, and quite memorable for DW and I. We have great pictures and video of the girls playing.

Take it easy, if they want to play in a sprinkler, find a bench and enjoy their antics. Our children spent hours in the boneyard at AK.

If you have any doubts about a ride/attraction go on it yourself first and then decide what is right for your children. We didn't do that with Tough to be a Bug when they were 6 & 3. A HUGE mistake on our part. Crying, screaming & terrified we left mid performance ... and that was DW

Have a great trip. It is very easy to fall into the trap of trying to see everything. That didn't work for us. When we slowed waayyyy down, went at their pace and stopped when they wanted to stop to see a character, a water fountain or whatever it was great.

 

[heart4dis]

I'm sure you know by now that the key is flexibility. You may plan to ride Dumbo only once since the line is so long, but be ready. My 4-year old nephew wanted to ride it three times in a row even though we waited longer in that line than any other. It didn't matter to him. He LOVED it at the time. That was even during a slow time of year (between T-giving and Christmas!). It is worth it to let them enjoy themselves and not feel compelled to make them experience everything you want them to.

 

[katie111]

Thanks to everyone for all of your great suggestions. They will be a big help. We've been to Disney 4 times, but its just a whole new perspective with kids.

I agree that the key is to just slow down & enjoy. I just have to remember that this trip is for them & not for me & DH. I know they can find joy in the smallest thing and we need to step back & relish that, rather than trying to tally up how many rides we make it on. I always swore I would not be one of those parents dragging around exhausted crying kids. Might be easier said than done, when you've spent all this $$, but I'm certainly going to try.

12 days till we leave!!

Thanks again!