Tell me about your toddler on rides.... likes, dislikes, screaming banshees

[Micheme]

We are leave in less than 2 weeks !!!!

I am using the guides and reading about the rides for our 29month old but wanted to get some mom and dad opinions on what your little ones liked, did NOT like and the rides they were totally freaked out over.

I have some reservations about Snow White and Pirates. I have heard snow white has the witch popping out and may be scary. The Pirates with all the gun fire and stuff.

HOw about the land ride with the storms, Ellens Energy ride?

Thanks everyone

 

[foxtrotter]

We took my daughter last year when she was practically the same age as your daughter. Pirates, Snow White, Haunted Mansion were definitely out. We had taken her on Pirates when she was a bit younger and she started getting a bit freaked out just walking down the halls towards the loading area. She clung to me and hid her face for the whole ride.

Ellen's Energy Adventure- the pre-show where it's dark for big chunks of time scared her and my husband had to take her out before we even got on the actual ride vehicle.

Living with the Land she enjoyed. She grabbed my arm during the storm but kept watching and was otherwise fine. Another one I wasn't sure of was The Great Movie Ride, which she was fine on. I was nervous about the Aliens scene and the gunfire in other scenes but she had no problems and even clapped as we left each room.

Spaceship Earth - would have been fine except we must have stopped 10 times. A few times we were stopped in almost total darkness and that upset her. As long as we were moving she was fine, but just sitting in the dark frightened her. I would avoid SE if your daughter doesn't do well in the dark.

 

[jorodopo]

My daughter turned 2 while we were at WDW. On Pirates there is a dark drop at the beginning. I talked to her constantly through that and told her that the pirates were play catch in the pool to explain the cannonballs. It seemed to work cause she really liked it. We did the same thing in the Haunted Mansion. Just kept pointing things out that would be happy references. When the room gets bigger she was looking at a pretty umbrella. We didn't do Snow White cause her older brothers would then scream
She liked tea cups and loved Fantasmic. She would not go anywhere near a character. We brought a t-shirt and had them sign it for her but she stayed in the stroller and looked at them from behind her hands. At the parades she was jumping up and down with excitement. We had watched a bunch of movies and looked at a lot of books so she knew who she was looking at pretty well. She will wear glasses but we took them off at all the 3-D shows-She didn't freak but other little ones did so we wanted to be proactive.
As most everyone on these boards says, you know your child better than anyone one so go with your gut.
On a side note, strollers have to be folded on busses but the kids can stay in them on the monorail and on the boats.
Have a great time.

 

[addicted2disney]

My DS will be 4 next month. He has been to WDW 6 times. He has never been afraid of dark rides, or fast rides. He isnt afraid of The witch or loud noises ( he will hold his ears sometimes, but he isnt afraid) He loves the Pirates, Buzz, Haunted Mansion, he has ridden TOT, Big Thunder Mountain, and just about everything he CAN ride. The ONE thing I cannot even get him on is Splash Mountain. We took him in line.. he was perfect. Then as soon as he saw the log we were to get into , he freaked. Later that week, he said he would ride it. But he did the exact same thing. As soon as it was time to load.. he started crying and screaming. So.. out of 4 parks, there is only ONE thing he wont ride.

 

[PA DISNEYLOVER]

We went in Jan. when my daughter was 2.5. The first time we went on Poc she was nervous but ended up loving it. The HM she was unsure of the 1st time. We tried it again later in the week and she just does not handle the grave yard scene well so we just let that one go. Peter Pan and Snow White she loved. She had no fear of the characters. That was her favorite thing to do. The only ride that she was really scared to death of was Spaceship earth ( go figure)

 

[3crazymice]

My son at not yet two and again at almost 2.5 was TERRIFIED of Mickey's Philharmagic (only 3-D we tried). My husband took him out and I stayed in and he screamed until I came out because he was afraid for me. He's 3.5 now and I'm still not sure if we will try it again on this trip.

 

[vicceja]

Hi!

My Family (DH, Me, DS9,DS7,DS4) went this past June/July and I have to say we got on as many rides as we could and they were good about it. I think they were more afraid of the 3D shows than any of the real rides...

Have a great time!

 

[LoriDee]

Micheme thanks for starting this thread. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences. This was one of my concerns with my DD who will be 21 months old. I know that we will be limited to rides at this age but, I'm hoping she'll be able to ride a few anyway. She's not afraid of anything.

 

[Skroops]

I think if you have older kids along, they tend to help ease the younger into more adventurous attractions. We only have our toddler, so we stuck to the very basic (of course he was younger than yours 20mo). He really liked It's A Small World, Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow white, the tea cups (though we didn't spin it extra...just held on!) and toon town. He absolutely loved Donalds water boat, and Mickey and Minnies houses. He hated the Country Bear Jamboree, and we exited out the side quickly. We took it slow, and let him enjoy the experience. He notices the things we totally took for granted. He'd stop when music grew louder and danced, and he enjoyed watching other kids and CM's that wanted to talk to him. It is a totally different experience with a toddler. We really had to take it slow, but seeing the "world" through our sons' eyes was really cool. So much so, we are going back for the 3rd time next month!
Enjoy!

 

[stschaefer]

DD is 3 1/2 and the only rides she didn't ride were due to hight restrictions. She rode BTR, ToT, TT and all the usaul rides with no glitches. Anything she went on she wanted to do it again. Guess she hasn't learned what scared is and likes the rides. Her favorites: Buzz - shoot the monsters, and Tower of Terror - it goes down.... I can't wait to take her on the roller coasters at 6 Flags when she is tall enough - baby swap on those rides with DW and DD always says I want to do that...

 

[meghan74]

My dd would ride anything if I gave her one of those glow in the dark bracelets you can find at Wal-mart and party supply stores. She would hold it up in front of her face and then she felt brave enough to enjoy Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc. Everytime we walked up to a ride she would ask me if it was a "bracelet ride."

The best thing about the bracelets is that they do not disturb other riders because they really don't give off much light. The bracelets wear out pretty fast in direct sunlight, so bring some extras and keep them tucked away in a pocket or bag when you don't need them.

 

[pennst8r]

My oldest DSs were frightened to death by It's a Bugs Life at AK when they were toddlers. My youngest, who will go on any thrill ride and said TOT and MS were his favorites at 4 1/2, is scared to go on the Haunted Mansion. We'll see how he does this year, but each kid is so different!

 

[brandip22]

We just got back with my DS, who turned 3 in August. He loved most rides he could go on. Snow White didn't scare him one bit. It was quite mild, in my opinion. Maybe that's just because it's talked about so much, I thought I'd be scared. She doesn't so much pop out at you as her cardboard cutout slides out from behind a tree or whatever. We were prepred for him to be scared and told him to catch her first. Pirates he seemed to like during the ride, but didn't want to go on it again. Loved HM, Peter Pan, Pooh, IASM, TTA, Buzz- rode that about 18 times! Also, loved Animal Kingdom in general. He cut his knee open there and we thought he'd want to go, but he didn't. He loved the 3-D movies, too, but I held him in my lap during them all just in case. Also loved Kali River Rapids. I showed him everything I could online before the trip and we talked about how the monsters and such were pretend. He thought we were in the computer and had a grand time!

 

[Harmony]

My son, also 2 when we went this past summer, loved riding all of the rides. It helps ALOT to talk your child through the ride. Before the ride, explain what will happen and then continue talking to them as the ride progresses.

The only rides my son didn't do were the big, thrill rides. He did all of the ones in FantasyLand and LOVED them. (esp Winnie the Pooh) He did Pirates and enjoyed it too. He would point to the pirates. Another one of his favorites....Buzz Lightyear. While in line, he was literally dancing in anticipation! (too cute!)