Shows a 2 year old could sit through?

FireflyTrance

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
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I was wondering for those who have gone with little ones (under 2 1/2), what are some good shows that your child was able to stay engaged with? Right now I have FP+ reserved for Disney Junior Live on Stage, and the Finding Nemo show. My daughter loves both Disney Junior and Finding Nemo. I am thinking about the Frozen Sing Along, but I am not sure my daughter will be engaged enough. She really can't sit still for long periods of time unless she is very engaged. Shows that allow kids to get up and do things are nice, like the Disney Junior show. Thanks for any advice!
 
DS was just shy of 2.5 when we went in September. We had a fast pass for Turtle Talk with Crush and just gave up on it. Even with the FP+, they shuffle everyone into this room for a waiting area. For me, it was way too many people in a tiny spot and I felt REALLY uncomfortable with it. For DS, he kept feeling like he was going to be squished. He couldn't get through the bigger kids to be able to see the fish tanks and we were still going to have to wait a 1/2 hour crammed like sardines to have the doors open.--and that was with a FP+. And since they didn't funnel people through, I felt like it was going to turn into a herd heading for the door the way the crowd was jostling each other.

We decided to just explore the aquarium portion of the building instead and ride The Seas with Nemo in Friends. He enjoyed that and we were able to move around a lot better. I also felt like with how pushy the bigger kids were, that he wouldn't get the chance to "talk" to Crush anyway, so figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

He enjoyed the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor in MK. He didn't get the jokes but I think he liked watching the reactions from the people and seeing Mike Wazowski. I wouldn't do it if you had to wait long. It was cute, but not rip roaring funny. But it was a nice place to wait out the rain and didn't have a huge line for being an indoor event when it was pouring buckets outside.

Didn't try any other shows, though, I'm sure he would have loved Festival of the Lion King in AK. But we just didn't have time for it the day we went.
 
My kids at 2.5, just sat through Disney Jr., Little Mermaid, and Crush. Loved all of them.
 

Just there at Thanksgiving and we did Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, Frozen Sing a Long, Carousel of Progress and Lion King with DS (2 years 4 months). He did great at all of them, and he is a WILD kid. I was shocked at how well he did. He did not do well at ETWB...too much moving around and he got distracted.

ETA: I don't do well at Nemo so we skip that one.
 
DS loved the Lion King and Nemo at AK at 28 months, though Nemo is fairly long and some kids that age may get restless. He didn't like Flights of Wonder, and the flashing lights at Little Mermaid in HS really bothered him, but he liked the rest of that show. We just covered his eyes during the "storm." He hated Indiana Jones (too loud) and anything in 3D (Philharmagic- which I thought he would love). I think his favorite was the live music in the Germany pavilion Biergarten.
 
Dis Jr - big hit.
Hollywood and Vine lunch - big hit, especially with music
Muppet 3-d - liked it, but did not like glasses
Philharmagic - same deal
Flights of Wonder - so/so He likes birds, but I think the flying scared him
Lights motor Action - liked it because he LOVES cars

Rides that are "show-like"
Pirates
Haunted Mansion
Small World
Peter
Nemo and Turtle Talk
Kilamjaro


Also, big hit - Dumbo/Triceratops Spin and Carousel: OMG, you have no idea how many times we have ridden those darn things. Over, and over and over. He loves them. Be prepared.
 
Thanks for all the input. DD hates wearing glasses, so I was thinking of skipping anything in 3D. She doesn't even like when I wear glasses :sad2:

For Nemo I meant Finding Nemo The Musical, I remembered liking it but now that I think about it, it was a long show. Turtle Talk with Crush also looks fun (I have never been to it), but maybe we will wait until she is a bit older for that.

Maybe we will try Lion King instead of Nemo.

I forgot about Flights of Wonder, she might like that since she loves birds.

Do any of the shows allow your child to sit in their stroller? That would be easier than having her sit on a bench.

For show-like rides, I can't decide if Pirates or Haunted Mansion would be too scary for her, to be safe we will probably at least skip Haunted Mansion.
 
It really depends on your DD. Mine was extremely wild, but was also a "show" kid. (Now that she is 8, turns out she is a theatre kid, which explains whey she could go from 100 miles an hour to sitting perfectly still when a show started). Her favorite at that age was Beauty and the Beast at DHS. She also liked the Little Mermaid. She was absolutely in love with the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of the castle. I don't even know how many times we saw that show that trip. If we were anywhere near the castle and she heard or saw it, we absolutely had to stop.

She was just okay on the Lion King that year. I would definitely pick that over Nemo though. Nemo is long and she didn't really get the fact it was "people with sticks" and refused to even go see it after we showed her a clip of it.

I would think that she would probably do well with the Frozen Sing Along if she likes Frozen and the songs because she can sing along for a good part of it. My friend just took her 2 year old DS and he really enjoyed that one.

When DD was 2, we tried the 3D movies and she would not leave the glasses on for them. She was not a big fan because of the glasses.

Have fun! I loved that first 2 year old trip!
 
By the way, if one of the reasons you wanted a show was to kind of give everyone a breather, our DS was happier doing the play areas than sitting and watching something. One reason we ran out of time to see Lion King at AK was because we spent so much time in the Dinoland play area. He could have spent all day playing there.
 
We went last year when DS was 2 1/2, he really loved the show in front of the castle
Disney Junior live on stage is fun for little ones
Pirates is scarier than Haunted mansion for small ones, it starts with a drop in the fog and in the dark that absolutely terrified DS, and he is not scared of the dark, in fact that was the first time I saw him scared
 
I don't think you will be allowed to bring your stroller into any show. We had a 4 month old baby with us and were not allowed to do that although we were allowed to bring our double stroller into a lot of sit down restaurants. My son would have been scared by Pirates and did not like Haunted Mansion although he didn't cry or panic.
 
disney jr live on stage is so high up my 2 year old couldn't see it!! We were in the front center.. it was awful! Be sure to sit towards the back!

She did seem to like festival of the lion king. She sat nicely through impressions de france in epcot which surprised me. She thought it was a ride and went WEEEEEE when it started lol. Everyone around us giggled.

She also did well in philharmagic and the muppets although she didn't keep the glasses on.
 
Thanks everyone! I think we will give Festival of the Lion King a try.

That's a great idea! We took our soon right at his first birthday, and by far this show was the one he was most engaged in! For him, anything with music will keep him engaged! We are taking him back next month, and he will also be 2.5! We can't wait to take him back to Festival of the Lion King now that we actually watch the movie once a week!
 
We just got back from a trip with our kids, ages 5 and 2. Our two year old did everything he was tall enough to do, and he sat through all the shows we watched, including Fantasmic, Festival of the Lion King, Little Mermaid, Frozen Singalong, Philharmagic, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Muppets 3D, all of them! He had a blast.

You know your kid best, but we never assume our son can't handle something unless he specifically tells us he doesn't want to. He even went on Tower of Terror and loved it!

Our favorite character meal was the Play n Dine at Hollywood and Vine - don't miss it with kids that age! So much fun!
 
I was wondering for those who have gone with little ones (under 2 1/2), what are some good shows that your child was able to stay engaged with? Right now I have FP+ reserved for Disney Junior Live on Stage, and the Finding Nemo show. My daughter loves both Disney Junior and Finding Nemo. I am thinking about the Frozen Sing Along, but I am not sure my daughter will be engaged enough. She really can't sit still for long periods of time unless she is very engaged. Shows that allow kids to get up and do things are nice, like the Disney Junior show. Thanks for any advice!

My 15 month old likes them all except for Festival of the Lion King and the Fireworks. Captain EO was a little scary for her. She really liked Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.
 


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