Proof a little one remembers

[nono]

Hi folks -- I know over and over again people are told that very young children don't "get" or remember Disney trips. So, here's a little proof to the contrary:

Today, my 17 mo. old daughter took the old "Official Album Disneyland/Walt Disney World" CD and tried to load it in the CD/DVD player. This was the first interest she has ever shown in doing so with any CD. Once it was playing, she insisted we dance around. While the first track was playing (Main Street Electrical Parade) she pointed to the TV and babbled and kept pointing. I put it together that she wanted to watch the full Electrical parade that we taped while we were in Disneyland last month. Funny thing is that we've only watched it once since we've been back.

So, for those with young kids who like action and rides, like my daughter, I say go for it and book a trip. She definitely remembers and totally enjoyed herself while she was there!

 

[ash&abby'smom]

I agree. My dd was 18 mos. when we went in Dec. Now she is 2 and all she talks about is Pooh. She wants to watch him when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. This is the one thing she really took from WDW - the love of Pooh. I definately agree with you.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

DD was 22 mos. when we went -- anytime anybody says anything about Ariel she says "Ariel dave me a titter!" Translated that means: "Ariel gave me a sticker!", which she did, at Ariel's Grotto during our trip last month. And last week I went to get her out of her crib and dressed for school. I said, "Are you ready to go to school?" and out of the blue she said, "No go to school. Go to Didny Word!" Yeah...Mommy wants to go to!!

 

[Jakesmom504]

DD was 22 mos. when we went -- anytime anybody says anything about Ariel she says "Ariel dave me a titter!" Translated that means: "Ariel gave me a sticker!", which she did, at Ariel's Grotto during our trip last month. And last week I went to get her out of her crib and dressed for school. I said, "Are you ready to go to school?" and out of the blue she said, "No go to school. Go to Didny Word!" Yeah...Mommy wants to go to!!

That is so cute and she is adorable! My DS will be just turning two when we go, I CANNOT wait!

 

[all4fun]

My ds remembers too! He loves to listen to the parade and illuminations music we have on cd in the car (looks like he's directing, lol) and he gets excited when he sees the pictures on the computer screen saver from our trip. He definitely remembers. Now I don't know if he'll remember in detail years from now but hopefully he'll still remember the "feeling". Anyway I feel like we're reliving a little piece of our vacation everytime he gets excited about something that reminds him of our trips, so it's definitely worth it to take the little ones.

 

[Colinsmom]

My DS was a little older - 2.25 years - when we took him in December. He can still go through his album and describe the pictures to us (things like whether a pic was taken from our balcony at AKL vs. on the "bumpy trucks" Kilimanjaro Safari). And when we play with airlplanes, he always has the plane landing and the people getting off, going to "Dinsey Wood". But when you ask him where his airplane is going, he says "the airport" (yeah, okay sweetie, I didn't see any airplanes at Disney World either)!

 

[Zoesmama03]

I fully believe they do. Heck I was 10 with my first trip and couldn't remember every detail. But I can remember things from when I was 3-4 years old.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Something we did is get doubles of some of our photos and I made Bella a little scrapbook of her own using those free photo albums you get with the upgraded photos at Wal-Mart. It's HER special album she keeps in her toy box and she can flip through and remember.

 

[shelleybean]

My DD Emilia was 20 months when we went last August. She still talks about the camel that "spit on Nana" at the carpet rides. We can't wait to take her and her new sis Nora (DOB 5/11) on August 6!

 

[nowellsl]

My niece went to Disney when she was about 2. Everytime we go somewhere and she sees a princess (books, disney store etc.) she says "I met her". It's the funniest thing!

 

[RoRoLovesEeeee]

DD was 22 mos. when we went -- anytime anybody says anything about Ariel she says "Ariel dave me a titter!" Translated that means: "Ariel gave me a sticker!", which she did, at Ariel's Grotto during our trip last month. And last week I went to get her out of her crib and dressed for school. I said, "Are you ready to go to school?" and out of the blue she said, "No go to school. Go to Didny Word!" Yeah...Mommy wants to go to!!

We went to Disney in May and about two weeks ago DD was sitting in the driver seat of the car while we were waiting for DH to get off work and she looked over at me and I asked her what she was doing. Out of no where she said "Mommy I driver you to 'Diney World'". It was the cutest I grabbed and kissed her all over. We are going back in September and I can't wait.

I made a paper chain to help her understand how much longer we have to wait and she is so excited.

I also used her autograph book and acdded pics with the characters and embellisments for DD to remember her trip. She can name evry character in that book, even the ones whose movies she has never seen.

Yes SHE REMEMBERS!!!!

 

[rt2dz]

I have to say they DO remember something. Researchers have done studies on it that prove children at least as young as 18 months carry memories to at least 5 years old, probably younger to older age (just haven't proved it yet).

Besides, when we were there last May DS#2 was 15 months. He learned two words--"Mickey" and "Duck" (as in Donald Duck). Before going, he could have cared less about ANY Disney character. He now gets excited, jumps up and down whenever he sees anything with any Pooh character, any of the main characters or the castle.

And when we were at the 4th or July Parade this year, DS4 started telling us that this is where we sat when he sat in an anthill. it was two years ago--HE WAS TWO YEARS OLD!! And it is NOT something we have ever talked about; I even totally forgot about it.

 

[madge]

Something we did is get doubles of some of our photos and I made Bella a little scrapbook of her own using those free photo albums you get with the upgraded photos at Wal-Mart. It's HER special album she keeps in her toy box and she can flip through and remember.

That's what I did for my youngest DD--this past trip she was 3 and was all about the autographs, so I mounted the autograph on one page with the picture on the facing page. She loves it!!

One downside to the memory, LOL....we ate at CRT for SPring Break. When we go in October, the plan was to eat at the Epcot princess breakfast for her 4th birthday. Oh no, that won't do. Her majesty wants to eat at the castle like last time Of course, I got up at the crack of dawn to make that happen, LOLOL....

GypsyDoodleBug, I'm in E'town....DH drives to Louisville for work every day

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

GypsyDoodleBug, I'm in E'town....DH drives to Louisville for work every day

Wow! We're staying at POR in October, too!! Not taking DD this time, though. This is Mommy and Daddy's chance to bring home a little souvenier...

And RoRo...I see you're a Gymbo fan, too! Isn't the new capsule line gorgeous? LOL!! "I will not go to Gymboree. I will not go to Gymboree..."
Maybe if I say it enough I'll actually start to believe it!

 

[justhat]

LOL, I was thinking the same thing about Gymboree when I saw your pictures too! I am a Gymbo addict too and can't wait for the 21st to spend all 6 of my Gymbucks!!

Madison definitely remembers our last trip, and she can't really talk yet so that says a lot. We went to WDW in April, when she was 13/14 months and her favorite thing to do is look at the pictures in my screensaver and point and 'talk' about the photos of her with the characters. She walks around the house with a picture frame from a trip my husband and I took before Madison was born, it's us and Tigger. She shows it to us constantly and points to Tigger. When we're in the Disney Store she'll pick out a Stitch from the stuffed animal pile (she LOVED Stitch, and every other character too, but Stitch was a favorite), hug it and kiss it. You might think she just likes to look at photos, but she'll only get excited over the photos with characters in them. She smiles at them and then kisses the photo. I can't wait till our trip in December, when I'm sure she'll be saying more (she'll be 22 months).

 

[mello]

We took dd to Disneyland last July - she was 16 months old. She loved Small World, and would hum and dance every time we went on it, so we went quite a bit, just because of that. Now that we're planning our WDW trip, we've gotten back into the "Disney mood" and got out some Disney cd's to play. I'm not kidding when I say that every time she hears It's A Small World playing, she comes running from wherever she is in the house and squeals, "Oh! Oh!", and starts dancing. This is a year later, and it's very clear that she recognizes that song.

 

[mello]

Wow! We're staying at POR in October, too!! Not taking DD this time, though. This is Mommy and Daddy's chance to bring home a little souvenier...

And RoRo...I see you're a Gymbo fan, too! Isn't the new capsule line gorgeous? LOL!! "I will not go to Gymboree. I will not go to Gymboree..."
Maybe if I say it enough I'll actually start to believe it!

I recognized the Tropcal Paradise outfits on those little cuties! I'm trying to stay out of there too, but with GB redemption coming up, it just isn't gonna happen...

 

[SueM in MN]

My DDs remembered a lot about trips they took when they were little closer to the time they happened (like at 5 or 6, they had pretty vivid memories of our WDW trips from when they were much younger). They did some of the cute things people have mentioned on this thread that showed they remembered. As time passed, the memories got less distinct and some of the things they had remembered vividly had faded to the point they didn't remember them at all by the time they were teens.
(Which makes sense; as time goes by, more memories are stored away and some of the older ones go into deep storage. There's a song from the movie Gigi about memories that illustrates how memory works).

Please don't bash me, I'm not saying not to take little kids or that they can't remember, just warning you of the natural progression of things. I thought since my kids had such vivid memories and oldest DD had good language at any early age that they would keep those memories (once children have words to attach to experiences, research has shown it helps with memory formation). I was sad to see them fade.

The thing kids do keep is the enjoyment of hearing about things they don't remember any more themselves. My oldest DD doesn't remember any more about going to the character breakfast at the Polynesian and being worried that Minnie Mouse would get too tired preparing breakfast for everyone and telling Minnie that and getting a kiss in return. My youngest DD doesn't remember how she used to tease the ducks at Epcot by pretending to throw Cherrios or the time she threatened to use her wheelchair to push older DD in the water at WS because she was tired of her complaining about the heat or the time one of her wheelchair tires went off the sidewalk edge at OKW, the wheelchair tipped sideways into the sand with her still perfectly placed and we collapsed into laughter (which caused some strange looks from onlookers and some concern because some thoght we were all crying).
But DH and I remember and have a lot of experience with "Tell me about when I was little and the time I......." stories.
Treasure the memories you have and keep them stored for your children (even if you think now that they will always remember them - they won't, that's just how memory works).
But, you have pictures and stories about those things, and stories (and maybe pictures) about the cute things they did in response to the memories like always picking Stitch out of a pile of stuffed animals, or dancing to Small World or all the other things posted on this thread.
Then you will be prepared to hear, "Tell me about when I was little and I......" and remember together.

 

[3crazymice]

When we went last summer DS (then 2) was very upset that we couldn't go on small world (refurbishment) we kept telling him the children were sleeping (long nap since we were there for 10 days). We are going back in September and he asked me the other day if the children were still sleeping.

 

[angelkisses]

When I last went to Disney World my daughter had just turned 1 year old and my son was 8 years old. She does not remember going when she was only 1 but that's OK. I still remember the looks on her face seeing all the wonders of Disney, the music ... the lights... the animation .... it was all priceless and I have zero regrets about taking her at a young page. Next month I will be taking my daughter back to Disney and this time she is 12 years old and it will be like seeing Disney AGAIN for the 1st time.