Taking 18-month-old nephew for his first visit

[tsumgirl]

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, but I was hoping for some advice.

We’ll be 4 adults in our 40’s bringing my 18-month-old nephew for his first visit. I’m the only one who goes to DL regularly, so I’ll be managing our day for the most part. Fortunately, I’m already approved for DAS, so the ride lines will be one less variable to worry about.

We’re going to start with just 1-day, 1-park tickets in late June to see how he does at DL first. If he surprises us and loves it, we’re open to bringing him back for a second day. It’s cheaper to buy 2 1-day tickets, than to buy a 2-day ticket, so that helps take the pressure off deciding about a second day.

I would love any thoughts, stories or suggestions about taking an 18-month-old to DL. This little guy was a late baby, so it’s been 15 years since I’ve been around a toddler, much less navigated the parks with little ones.

Any and all advice is welcome!

 

[bakofarmgirl]

we go about 3x a year and currently have an almost 3 yr old and almost 18 month old, we went earlier this month with them.

we like to go when parks open and then take a break around 11am for lunch, and then we stay on site so we do pool and naps then come back after dinner.

let me know if you have specific questions with rides or food or anything, im not a pro but we try to make it the least stressful experience we can with littles

 

[tsumgirl]

we go about 3x a year and currently have an almost 3 yr old and almost 18 month old, we went earlier this month with them.

we like to go when parks open and then take a break around 11am for lunch, and then we stay on site so we do pool and naps then come back after dinner.

let me know if you have specific questions with rides or food or anything, im not a pro but we try to make it the least stressful experience we can with littles

That's a great place to start! So if we get to the parks in time for rope drop, do you find that your littles generally may last around 3 hours before needing to leave? Or is that something you do to keep them on a schedule to prevent meltdowns?

We can definitely break for naps at our hotel nearby. You hit it on the nail...I'm really hoping to just give the day the best chance of success with the least stress that we can control.

I know I'm personally fine with letting nephew just spend the whole time wandering around Toontown, but we should probably let him have as many experiences as he's willing to do. What are your kids' favorite rides?

Also, do you have any go-to areas to give littles a break from the stroller besides Toontown? I'm not sure if he'll be at the age where he needs space to run yet, or a small area to walk around is fine at 18-months. He's 15-months now, so still slow on his feet, but I know a lot can change in 3 months.

Thanks so much for your help. I wasn't sure how to structure the day, so your suggestion gives me a good baseline for how much we may be able to do in 1 day.

 

[bakofarmgirl]

we find it gets more crowded after 11 and we do lighting lanes so that we dont have to wait in lines since they arent very patient one thing we need to be better at is washing hands or using hand sanitizer since last time our 2 year old got pretty sick after disney

our go to disneyland day always seems to be go left and hit pirates, jungle cruise, haunted mansion and pooh, then we have a lightning lane for runaway railway, and do buzz astro blasters and by then they are ready for lunch and a swim break and nap and crowds come in since 11 you can hop over

on california days we do carsland first like the mater tires, and try to do luigis but its usually broke, then we have a spiderman web slingers LL (we discovered is our 2 yr olds new favorite) then toy story mania LL, carousel by toy story then ariel and maybe monsters inc, then lunch break

whatever we dont get on, we make lightning lanes while we are doing lunch, swim, nap then we go in after dinner and do those rides

one thing thats always a hit for both our 1 yr old and 2 yr old is the tiki room, we do it every time and almost every day if we are doing multiple days, they love to sing and dance

another thing our son loves is the big train that goes around because at the end of the tomorrowland to main street stretch there is a cool dinosaur portion that he loves

i think thats mostly it