Prepping a 2 year old??

[KarenAylwood]

I've been to Disney World 30+ times but never with a kiddo in tow. We're taking our son who will be a month shy of three (yay free tickets) in May. We attempted to tell him the other night and it was just dead stares at the booklet of Disney stuff they sent us, and then a prompt "I want to watch Mickey"

How did you prep your 2 or 3 year old? Or did you even try? We're trying to get him to pick a "Mickey bracelet" color and that's been going on for weeks. He's flown on a plane before at 14 months but I'm sure he doesn't remember it or his little brain has already blocked out the memory to save him the trauma (I'm wishing mine would too). He's been to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg dozens of times because we live 15 minutes from there and he LOVES the sesame street characters so we've been trying to tell him he'll meet Mickey like he's met Elmo but then he just starts asking to go to Busch Gardens. He's very vocal, energetic and understands concepts really well normally but I'm kind of struggling with getting him pumped for this. Maybe I'm expecting too much, because let's be honest this trip is my doing and not his

Any ideas? Do we just give up?

 

[msmama]

My sons first trip at 10 months was mostly all blank stares, lol. He was a bit more into at 2, I think.

But one thing we did (not because of a Disney trip, but because we're big readers anyway) was read a lot of the Disney storybooks. My library had a TON of them. That way, even though he hadn't seen, say, Cinderella, when we saw Cinderella's castle I could remind him about the story with the mice (he liked the mice).

I more prepped my son for lines - like when we were in line at the grocery store I'd remind him that "when we went to see Mickey we'd have to wait in lines" (heck, I still do that when he complains about lines somewhere - at least it's shorter than Disney - although now he asks why there isn't fastpasses for grocery store lines). Seriously though, I'm pretty sure everything just went in one ear and out the other.

Even for adults its impossible to REALLY prep someone for WDW if they've never been there before!!

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

We're taking our 2yr. old for the first time next month, and whenever we see characters she'll meet on tv, we're like, "You're gonna meet them! You'll meet [insert character's name here], and [insert another character's name here]!", etc., and now she's like, "Ohh, gonna meet Ariel, and Tiana, and Cinderella, and Goofy", etc. When we see commercials for Disney we tell her, "You're gonna go there!", and now she's like, "Ohh, I gonna go there!". We've also seen all the Pixar movies either because they were on, or to prepare her for the Pixar exhibit that was at our local science museum, and she's seen some other Disney movies too (we're planning to do the rest of the ones she hasn't seen for characters she'll meet and attractions we'll do soon). We also watched the Disney X-mas special. H.t.h.!

 

[monorailsilver]

Just don't be surprised if he is afraid.

My oldest was 15 mo: hated the face characters but curled right up in Susie or pearlas lap.

My ds was 22 mo: he loved the characters but only if we were holding hoping and he had the claw legs and arms wrapped around us.

My youngest was 2 1/2: she loved them all but she followed her siblings.

You just won't know til you get there. The same with dark rides, fire works-I used color and made them cover their ears which they still sometimes do. But wow look at the green in that one ...

 

[cruisingtwins]

I would just let it go and go with the flow. If he loves Bush Gardens I'm sure he'll love Disney.

 

[KarenAylwood]

Yeah I'm bracing myself for dark rides. He's a scaredy cat but when it comes to characters he's obsessed. Every time we went to BG he'd insist on seeing the characters first. The very first time he was scared to death, and he never did warm up to the Count who was there on Halloween, but everyone else was a hit. So I think characters will be mostly ok, but I'm doubting we'll do many dark rides. He got my wimpy genes and it took me years until I'd even get near the Haunted Mansion. The lines were a struggle at BG and WC at first but he got really good by the end of the summer. He's good with the "wait your turn" concept but we never waited in any super long lines. We'll probably avoid things that are really long because he's so active.

 

[mcjaco]

First trip with my boys was at 15 months. They had just started really walking, and were way more interested in grabbing the mulch out of planters, and grabbing the queue ropes, etc.

At 2 1/2, they were a bit more aware, and loved certain rides....A LOT. I think we rode The Little Mermaid 12 times one night. They were completely open about seeing Mickey Mouse, but the other characters scared them. Not sure why!

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

In terms of the dark rides, you could try showing him YouTube videos. You know him best tho', so def. go w/your gut

 

[krm222]

With my then 22 month old, we talked about visiting Mickey Mouse's house. We showed him books and shows with a few of the characters we knew we'd encounter. We limited it to just some Mickey and Finding Nemo (we stayed at AoA).

Once we got there, he was overwhelmed but definitely got that it was cool. He even picked out a new favorite character (7 foot tall Beast of all things!). Some stuff was over his head but he enjoyed the moments of the trip and now that he's 4 talks about his first trip as if he actually remembers it!

 

[Tara1988]

YouTube videos! I've been showing my oldest videos of some of the rides he's finally tall enough to ride, since apparently he's not excited about Mickey anymore. He is starting to get excited about being a "big kid" at Disney and very excited to take his little brother. (Make sure you find the talking Mickey for him)

 

[quagmire0]

I second the Youtube videos. That gives them an idea of what to expect ahead of time. But honestly, kids that age don't really know what to expect, thus they don't ,necessarily, get excited. Also, if a few years pass between visits, they won't remember anything besides what you constantly show them via pictures and videos. So don't kill yourself expecting a lot of hype by him beforehand. You'll get to see him get excited when he actually gets there and takes everything in.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

As others suggested, YouTube videos. We took my son when he was 2 and I really think that helped prepare him for how big the characters are (probably won't be an issue if your LO is used to BG characters) and some of the things he would see/experience. Nothing compares until they see it in person. His reactions at 2 did NOT disappoint!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

one thing to remember is just because he did well last summer, this year can be totally different. if possible I would do a trip to Busch Gardens before your Disney trip. this would help with memories of what you do in a park.

 

[Pesky]

I fourth the youtube videos. You can say "oh, it's dark! But look at the pretty lights!" and prep him for dark rides. "Oh, this one goes around and up! How fun!" and prep him for the motion rides. And so on. And same for the M&Gs so they can see what they look like and the kids' reactions to the characters. FWIW, I don't think either of mine really got it until we went into the parks at DLR.

 

[squirrel]

If you have any opportunities to see any other characters/mascots I would take him so he can get use to them. Some children take a while to warm up to these large characters/mascots.

I took my niece to DL at 3 (almost 4) and told her she would get a Mickey Ice cream when she got to DL. Well after eating it she thought we were heading home. I had to explain that there was so much more to do and see before going home.

 

[Minniemoo15]

We are taking our 2.5 year old in 2 weeks... Some things we have done are:
-YouTube videos (as others have said)
- watch the planning dvd
- make a Disney countdown chain, we take off a ring every day and she loves counting how many days are left
- pick a couple Movies and focus on those for rides/experience
- talk about things she can relate to : "in Disney, we will go swimming!" "In Disney, we will eat big cupcakes!" "In Disney, we will watch fireworks!"
- involve her in the packing process

She has NO idea what Disney world is but she's super excited to go now

 

[cariann77]

I wouldn't worry about prepping him. He'll be excited when he gets there. My daughter had just turned 3 when we went last year. What I wasn't prepared for was how overwhelmed she would be by everything and she'd done other amusement parks without issue. The different routine, all the people, all the stimulation = lots of meltdowns. I had planned everything out for us everyday and had to do lots of changes and some cancelling of things because it was just too much for her. Luckily, she loved the characters.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

No prep with any of my 5 kids at that age on any of our vacations (inc. the many not listed in my signature). If this is your first trip with a child, it will be more of prep'n yourself for change as your 30+ visits were w/o a child (of your own).

 

[jessrose18]

in a similar boat! taking 2.5 year old for first trip next year......... any good trip reports out there with similar aged kiddos?

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

in a similar boat! taking 2.5 year old for first trip next year......... any good trip reports out there with similar aged kiddos?

My 2014 TR I had a 2yo and 3yo. http://www.disboards.com/threads/popn-back-for-a-visit-03-11-03-18-family-of-7.3247505/