Squirmy Toddlers on Rides

[becka]

I am in the early stages of planning a trip with my DS for after Thanksgiving of this year. DH and I have been to WDW 4 times but this will be our first trip with a child.

DS will be 18 months old when we go and when I started thinking about what attractions he could go on I started wondering if people had problems with their kids being too squirmy on the rides.

I know that there are restraints but on a lot of the rides I remember they may be bars that come down or just loose belts and when it is a small child and adult I would think there would still be plenty of wiggle room for a little one.

Has anyone had any problems with this or am I just being crazy?

 

[twinmomto3boys]

I have a wild 2 1/2 year old. He never wants to sit still and is curious about EVERYTHING. He is very well behaved at the parks. At 18 months he rode just about every ride we were allowed to take him on. When he turned 2 there were certain things he did not want to ride. All of a sudden he was afraid of the dark - he didn't even want to go on Peter Pan. So we never forced him to ride anything - as long as he was OK with the ride he never squirmed. He even did well in the lines.

There are some rides he wants to do OVER and OVER again. But as long as he's having a good time and behaving, I'm happy.

 

[maps]

at that age, he'll be so mesmerized that he'll forget to be squirmy!

 

[jiminyfan]

we have taken 8 trips with our son since he was 6 months old to WDW. And only now is he becoming "difficult" - at 15 and 18 months he was great.

Go and enjoy. He loved every ride he was on just watching his eyes take the "WORLD" in was great.


We too will be there at T-giving this year. It is a great time to go.

 

[kilee]

What rides more specifically does your 18 month old like? We are currently planning a trip with some of my family members. They haven't been to disney in 12 and 25 years. For DH, DS, and I it will be our 4th trip in alittle less than 2 years.
Anyhow, my neice who will be 17 months will be going. My sister was asking what rides she'd be able to go on. Of the major rides I figured Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise, The Great Movie Ride (questionable due to the Alien scene), and the backlot tour. On our last trip we seen people bringing older infants/ younger toddlers on Pirates of the carribean and Haunted Mansion. Anyone done this? What other major rides am I not thinking of?

 

[tjkraz]

The only rides that children cannot experience are those with specific height restrictions. By WDW rules, children of all ages are permitted on things like Haunted Mansion and Pirates, but obviously parents need to use their own judgement.

We took our son to WDW at 18 mos and again at 22 mos. Our most negative responses were from the 3D attractions--Muppets, Honey I Shrunk the Audience and particularly It's Tough to be a Bug. I only put Muppets on the list because he refused to wear the 3D glasses. But you have my vote for keeping young children out of the last two. "Bug" is just downright brutal with the loud noises and frightening appearances by Hopper. "Audience" is a little tamer, but there probably isn't much there for a toddler anyway.

IMO, Haunted Mansion and Pirates lack the more contemporary "in your face" thrills that might bother a toddler.

I would also give some second thoughts to the Backlot Tour at MGM. The earthquake sequence was just a bit too intense for our little one.

 

[DJBounce]

Rub his butt on your heads so the static electricity will keep him stuck to his seat. Just kidding of course. I have a DD who has cerebal palsy and is very squirmy, too. Usually my wife or I will sit next to her, with our arm wrapped around her. To keep her from sliding, we brought along a small square of that textured Rubbermaid shelf liner to sit her on. That works great to keep her from slipping around as she squeels and giggles on her favorite ride, Splash Mtn. Good Luck!

 

[campingcorgi]

At 18 months our little one wasn't afraid of anything, and she rode everything that didn't have a height or age restriction. In the Great Movie ride during the Aliens section I just distracted her by pointing to the scene on the side away from the aliens, and no problems. She enjoyed the Bug movie and the Muppet movie--without glasses--and we had no problems at Haunted Mansion, Snow White, Pirates, etc. For the safari ride we just asked to ride close to the front--much less bouncy!

Now on this last trip at almost 3 Snow White scared the you-know-what right out of her and we had to do a lot of teacups and 'mallworld' to get her back on Peter Pan. Didn't even try Haunted Mansion or Pirates this time--nosiree!!

I just think before two most kids don't really notice the things that older kids do. However, I'd still start out easy and work my way up to the darker rides.

 

[llane]

I agree with campingcorgi, at 17 months my children were not afraid of any ride. They went on almost everything with us, taking a nap during some of the longer darker rides. At 3 things changed and they became more frightful. We became more selective.

 

[kilee]

It sounds like around the 18 month mark is a good time to take the little ones. It seems as if the sense of fear heightens shortly after.