Taking a 21 Month Old to Disneyland...

[AudreyII]

So, we've taken my daughter to DLR before but now she will be almost 2 and we won't have any assistance from the grandparents.

Any tips? What are must sees? What should we ride? How does parent swap work and is it worth it?

I've been to Disneyland many times but always on my parent's agenda and never with a toddler that belongs to me ha. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

 

[coaches24]

I took my 2 yo DD a couple weeks ago and had a great time. Her fav rides were the Carousel and Winnie the pooh. She also loved playing in toontown. Peter pan was a big hit. Slow rides were big hits. Boats and trains she loved. Peter Pan was also a big hit. She also liked the character's but was shy with them. She would give a big hug to all of them and squeeze their nose but that's about it. The first day she was a little scared of the rides but the last 2 days she was in love with the rides and couldn't get enough. The first couple times we took her on POC she would cover her eyes at certain points, but by the end she was asking us to go on it and looked the whole time. We were even able to see Aladdin with our 2 yo. She did very well. No tantrums, no yelling. She did climb from myself to my wifes laps a few times when she wasnt playing with her own chair, but really liked the flying carpet and the animals that go through the room during the show.

As for the rides she cant go on I liked the ride swap. But it does leave you riding alone while your partner watches your daughter. Its very easy as well. You talk to the workers at the entrance to the line for that particular ride and tell them you want to swap. One stays in the line while the other can go do something else, or wait outside the ride. They will give a pass to the one waiting outside with the child. When the first parent is done and comes off the ride the 2nd shows the pass and gets into the fast pass line. We did it with Indiana Jones a couple of times. You can also get a fast pass for a ride, go back at the FP time and then ask for the swap pass. That way neither of you have to wait in a long line.

I would definitely recomend a stroller. Our DD crashed out each night right before F! and WOC and slept through both on consecutive nights. She slept in the stroller. We brought some blankets and such to make sure she was warm.

 

[Brewmeister]

Our son will be 16 months when we take him at the beginning of May, and I'm trying to figure out the same things. DW can't ride many of the thrill rides due to a medical condition, so we probably won't do much ride swap. We are also trying to figure out what he may like at that age. At 13 months, he's pretty much a fearless thrill seeker, and we are hoping that he'll be ok for some of the darker and scarier rides, but I guess we'll just have to see how he does when we get there.

 

[lcasa]

Don't forget the Tiki Room! The singing birds and flowers fascinated all my boys (still do me ) - little scary bit when the thunder hits, but that's it.

Also Storybook Land and Casey Jr are great for little ones.

 

[AudreyII]

Our son will be 16 months when we take him at the beginning of May

We will be there at the beginning of May as well. We took my daughter when she was 13 months. Our stroller was a life saver. We stayed 5 days and she did really well. She's much more independent now so I'm thinking it will be a whole new experience, especially without the help of the grandparents.

 

[clairabell29]

We took my DS to WDW when he was 16mo and to DL for his second birthday. He loved the Characters most of all. Not to mention characters love the really little ones! He also loved the parades and fireworks. As for rides his favorites were dumbo (loved the controller), casey jr, mr. toads wild ride, tea cups, I guess all of fantacy land, small world, rodger rabbit, jungle cruise (cover ears for gun fire), Pooh, buzz lightyear, the train, autotopia, nemo subs, all of bugs land EXCEPT it's tough to be a bug, Monster's inc, the boat area in DCA, and TSMM. He was tall enough and really loved the matterhorn but not the go-go gadget coaster. He is a bit of a dare devil, though.

Parent swap is TOTALLY worth it. You only need to grab 1 fast pass for each large ride and then a parent swap-so you can get say SM and IJ (or do single rider here) at the same time and when your window opens up, you can grab Splash and BTMR at the same time. We really loved using it to it's fullest.

You are the best judge of what your DD will like. You know if she scares easily or if she's a true dare devil. One thing I did for both my sons was get them ear phones-like the kind you use for shooting guns-as DL is VERY loud and both my boys complained of the noise and loved wearing these. You can find them on Amazon for under $20 for kids. They still love to wear them even around the house!

 

[Brewmeister]

We will be there at the beginning of May as well. We took my daughter when she was 13 months. Our stroller was a life saver. We stayed 5 days and she did really well. She's much more independent now so I'm thinking it will be a whole new experience, especially without the help of the grandparents.

We are currently shopping for a good travel stroller. Our Bob is a little too heavy and bulky for traveling, so we are trying to find a lightweight comfortable one for the trip. I think that we are going to check out a few at BrU this weekend.

He's now in the process of moving himself down to one nap a day, so that will make the park schedules a little easier. He loves swimming and that was one reason I chose the HoJo over some of the other area hotels, so I figure we will be spending a lot of after-nap time in the afternoon at the pool. Here's to hoping for good weather and few closures this May!

We took my DS to WDW when he was 16mo and to DL for his second birthday. He loved the Characters most of all. Not to mention characters love the really little ones! He also loved the parades and fireworks. As for rides his favorites were dumbo (loved the controller), casey jr, mr. toads wild ride, tea cups, I guess all of fantacy land, small world, rodger rabbit, jungle cruise (cover ears for gun fire), Pooh, buzz lightyear, the train, autotopia, nemo subs, all of bugs land EXCEPT it's tough to be a bug, Monster's inc, the boat area in DCA, and TSMM. He was tall enough and really loved the matterhorn but not the go-go gadget coaster. He is a bit of a dare devil, though.

DS seems to be a bit of a dare devil at 13 months already, so I suspect that he will like most of the rides you listed, but I don't think that he will be tall enough for any of the thrill rides. We plan on standing in a lot of character lines if he ends up liking them as much as I suspect that he will.

 

[DahliaRW]

I just went with my 18 month old. Though I did have grandparents (and 2 big brothers).

I brought my Britax Blinx stroller. LOVE it. The basket held a good amount, and it has nice recline for naps (the only time we left the parks for naps was for my older boys).

She loved everything. Her favorite was IASW. She kept saying "hi" and "bye" to the animatronic dolls. She also loved running around on Tom Sawyer Island. Got dirty, but it was worth it.

Other pps have filled you in on ride swap, but that is very useful as well. You can use the swap pass any time that day, so say your dh goes on IJ, you can take your son on Jungle Cruise and then you can go back and do IJ later. You don't have to stand there and wait.

 

[AudreyII]

He loves swimming and that was one reason I chose the HoJo over some of the other area hotels, so I figure we will be spending a lot of after-nap time in the afternoon at the pool. Here's to hoping for good weather and few closures this May!

We will be across the street at the Quality Inn! We plan on catching the ART shuttle at the HoJo if we are too exhausted to trek to and fro with a toddler each day. I bet we will run into you!

Also, we took our Graco Quatro stroller and it worked well for us. It has a decent sized storage basket and it will recline all the way flat for naps. It was great just being able to let her sleep in the stroller while we still got to enjoy the park. Storing all of our crap was a huge bonus too. If there are crowds though any size stroller is annoying.

 

[jitterbug]

Besides the rides, our 15-month old and 3 year old enjoyed their time on Tom Sawyer Island. Just being able to run around and play was a nice way to burn off some energy. Also, in DCA, the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail has an area at the bottom with a couple of slides and stuff to climb on for the little ones. In another area, there was a bigger slide that 3yo could go on, but 15mo was too short.

At Cafe Orleans, instead of ordering a meal for our 15mo, I asked for some fruit and was given a little dish of grapes and strawberries at no charge. So sweet of them!

For peace of mind, we bought those shoe ID tags which has name & contact info in case they got lost. And we took pictures of them every morning to document what they were wearing. In the end, didn't need either, but peace of mind was worth the little effort.