Tips for preparing a 2-year-old?

[TillyMarigold]

I trust y'all more than I trust the random bloggers I get by Googling "Disney World with toddlers," so I appreciate any additional tips you could give me.

We are going on a trip next January: me, DH, and DS2; my sister and BIL; and our parents. (It's a gift trip to them.)

I've taken my best friend's son at that age, so I feel like I have a good grasp on what a 2-year-old will enjoy vs. may be problematic in general. But can you give me any tips on ways I could either prepare him advance for things that might be scary, or at least gauge what *he* will or won't enjoy/have trouble with? e.g. is there a way to figure out how he reacts to characters, dark rides, etc.? We don't have any amusement parks within 1000 miles of where we live. (Well, there's a small one in the city, but it only has thrill rides, even the kiddie rides have a 36" height limit.)

 

[Mersmom98]

I don't know if you can honestly prepare a 2 yr old for this trip. I went knowing that my son would most likely be frightened of the characters from interactions he's had with Santa and the Easter Bunny. I was right. He loved waving to them from afar but wouldn't even look their direction in the pics we got him in. I ended up taking advantage one afternoon while he was napping in his stroller at DHS and got a super cute pic of him with Stitch. He was none the wiser. With a 2 yr old all bets are off, I think. Just plan to go on his schedule. I did let him watch youtube videos of some of the rides beforehand but he wasn't all that interested in them but he did like seeing videos of the shows. On the rides he would just have this serious face the entire time but once it was over he would look at us and say "that was fun." I had to leave with him during It's Tough To Be A Bug. So my best advice is to be flexible. If he wants to ride Triceratop Spin 10 times in a row (mine did...) then let him. It will be much more fun for everyone. Some people suggest leaving the parks for naptime and I found that letting him sleep in the stroller worked better for us. Have a wonderful time.

 

[Figment_Fan]

but I have fond memories of placing my approximately 2 y.o. son in his stroller and zooming around the basement with the lights dimmed very very low. He would giggle and ask me to do that again until I could hardly catch my breath.

Yeah, it was strange, but he didn't have any problem with dark rides! And, I don't think he has any problems with me. (I hope) He is 19 now.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I agree that a good indication of how a child will be with characters is how they interact with Santa/Easter Bunny. My younger nephew has never done Santa/Easter Bunny well, and true to form he didn't like characters getting too near him either. If he was sitting down like at a character breakfast, he was OK, but he did not want to stand near them or go up to them.

Something that could help in preparing them for seeing the characters is putting together a book that has lots of pictures of loved ones with the Disney characters (if such pictures exist) - so that the little one can see his parents/grandparents/family/etc standing with the characters. It may help with the idea that the characters are "safe" if the child sees loved ones with them a lot before the trip.

 

[SamSam]

When we took our twin 2 1/2 year old grandsons, we prepared them by having them watch you tube videos of families visiting WDW. We feel it made a huge difference. To our amazement they weren't scared of characters! There were some rides one of them was scared of, not the other one. It was just a personal personality thing. You have to be 'in tune' to the young one your with and go with the flow.

If all they like doing is being strolled through the parks looking at things, it's still fun.

Our little ones liked most of the child rides, loved Epcot (especially the kidcot stations). But, truthfully their favorite thing was the splash pool at our resort (Kidnani) we did that every afternoon and they absolutely loved it.

 

[lovetogowdw]

Get the Sing Along Songs DVDs with characters: Beach Party, Disneyland Fun (kids won't know it isn't WDW), Campout and/or Flik's Magical Adventure. Watch them over and over and over!

Also, try some other places that might have characters like special events days at the zoo, a local fair, the circus, Chick-Fil-A (the cow visits certain evenings each month), etc. As for rides, how about church picnics, local festivals, etc.?

 

[TillyMarigold]

Thanks, everyone! I'm *guessing* he'll be okay with the face characters, at least for things like character meals. He's a little shy but generally likes people from a short distance. He was at peak separation anxiety age this past Christmas (15 months, he'll be 28 months when we go), but we'll see how he does with Santa next year.

I'll keep an eye out for festivals and that sort of thing. I can't recall ever seeing anything that had rides here, though (we've lived here 8 years). But we have a lot of parades.

Getting videos is a good idea, we've watched some Disney World travel videos and he likes them.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Good luck to you and your family!

Age 2 -- it was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

Line-ups are hard. It takes practice. I looked for places to take my daughter to practice queue etiquette. Grocery stores, banks, local amusement parks, fast food restaurants, the library check-out counter, waiting for swings at the neighbourhood park... It takes a lot of effort and practice for a 2-year-old to know to wait with you, not barge in front of other families, not swing every rope / chain, and respect everyone's personal space. I thought I had it nailed. But then there was the trip we took where I caught her licking the handrails in the queues.... multiple times. <shudder> Kids are weird.

As for characters, you won't really know until he sees them. Character familiarity will help. If he doesn't already watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, borrow a DVD from your library or buy one or two of their DVDs. You can try other characters at local amusement parks. Or mascots that show up at sport events or corporate events. When my daughter was a year old, we met some huge purple fuzzy airline mascot at the airport.

The most important thing is to follow your routine and remember you child's signals for nap time. Kiddo may be exhausted earlier than usual. You need to allow about an hour to get from the back of a park until you can tuck kiddo into bed in your resort. If you are lucky, they may nap in a stroller in the parks. But that's the exception, not the rule.

Lastly, I would suggest that the kids don't need to be ready (they never are), but parents and other family must be ready to spend time with a 2-year-old in Walt Disney World.

FYI, you're a better person than me. I couldn't do it when kiddo was 2. It's not her fault I wasn't ready. She stayed with Grandpa and Grandma for a week while I went to WDW. She went to parks with me as at 5 months old, 13 months old, but not again until she was 3.5.

 

[RoosMama]

Get the Sing Along Songs DVDs with characters: Beach Party, Disneyland Fun (kids won't know it isn't WDW), Campout and/or Flik's Magical Adventure. Watch them over and over and over!

Also, try some other places that might have characters like special events days at the zoo, a local fair, the circus, Chick-Fil-A (the cow visits certain evenings each month), etc. As for rides, how about church picnics, local festivals, etc.?

I second those videos! DD loves those and they were the reason she was not scared of the characters. We saw our university's mascot a few months before our trip and she was scared, but she went right up to the characters at WDW! She knew that they were going to be a lot bigger than her.

 

[maplevale]

We just got back from a week with our 2.5 year old! It was great.

We showed her lots of video's ahead of time of characters, rides and shows. She was so excited! She had no problem with Characters (she loved them at 9 months when we went and she loved them at a local theme park - however she is terrified of Santa at the mall!).

The big thing is going with the flow - while she hugged Mickey and Minnie and Goofy everytime we saw them - she turned her back on Princess Sophia and wouldn't even look at her! Oh well - it's a cute photo!

 

[Figment_Fan]

I forgot about the videos: Beach Party; Camp; Disneyland Fun and the others. We would watch those as well and my son was very prepared for the characters. My daughter followed the same pattern. And, yes, Easter Bunny and Santa were a good indication of how they reacted to characters. We also went to Chuck E. Cheeses, which had costumed characters.

I have a nephew who, at the age of 13, still won't go anywhere near a character. It is the reason my sister can not go to Disney with us.

 

[eliz603]

Thanks, everyone! I'm *guessing* he'll be okay with the face characters, at least for things like character meals. He's a little shy but generally likes people from a short distance.

When my oldest was 3.5, we took him for the first time. It was the face characters who scared him! He was fine with the others. On the other hand, when DD was 2, she was fine, but she's my super low maintenance kid.

My oldest had a hard time with the scale of the park. He didn't get for the first few hours that there was always more around the corner. With my youngest, I'm showing him the park videos to give him an idea about what's in store. We are also watching a lot of Disney movies so he knows who the characters are.

 

[oneprincessjo]

Don't go on Carousel of Progress... it's 20 minutes long with NO WAY off. It's set up like a theater and it slowly revolves around scenes. Bad idea!!! My 2 year old dd melted down... everyone was staring and throwing us nasty looks... to make matters worse the ride broke down and we were stuck in between scenes for a long time... all the while someone over the loud speaker kept coming over to tell everyone to remain seated. My daughter did the 2 year old drop dead struggle on the floor where somehow they increase their weight to 500 pounds and makes it impossible to move them. I was mortified to say the least, but out of 8 park days that was really our only bad experience... she was just perfect the rest of the trip and we had so much fun so I can't really complain too much.

 

[ktlm]

We took DD on her first trip when she was 2. It was a great trip!

As far as getting him ready, I would recommend some Disney board books. We had two little suitcase things of them that DD loved and would look at for hours in the year before our trip. She was so excited when she got to Disney and saw that the characters from her books were there. She absolutely loved the characters. We had this kind:

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Bedtim...d_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0T7P562Q49TM37ZBJQYE

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Favori...d_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0S3DZX7K32AD71YBT797

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Classics-12-Book-Block/dp/1450810292/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt


http://www.amazon.com/My-First-Library-Mickey-Clubhouse/dp/1412768519/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Block-Ed...ternational/dp/1412718856/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y


I've seen them at places like TJ Max, Ross, Target and Kohls. I know they had them at Target about 4 months ago because I bought a set for someone, but I don't know if they have any currently.


Also, if you want an idea of how he will do with characters, look for things in your area that have characters. The chick fil a cow tends to be out quite a bit around here. We also have some kids museums that have some character mascots. It is almost Easter Bunny time, so you could try a visit and see how that goes- although I have to say, I always think the mall easter bunny is a bit creepy.


As far as the dark rides, I think the key is to start out on the right ones. For example, at MK, I would start out with Small World. I haven't seen an under 5 that didn't love that one. If you start them off knowing that something is fun, then they aren't as scared to get on them. After that, you can move on to Peter Pan or Pooh, which are a little bit darker inside. I've heard of people starting them off on a dark ride that scared them, and then the kid refused to get on any more rides at all. I would also follow their lead on some things. I thought DD would like Dumbo at age 2, but she took one look at that ride and said "I don't wanna ride him". She wasn't setting foot on that ride at age 2, no way no how. She loved Aladdin's magic carpets though. She is 7 now, and we have discovered that has always been a little scared of heights which she tells us is why at 2, she didn't want to ride Dumbo. She loves riding Dumbo now- but back then she could wrap her head around a flying carpet, but not a flying Elephant!

 

[daisynan]

We took our kids who were 4 1/2 and 2 in June. For several months prior to the trip I showed them youtube videos of the rides and characters. They loved watching them and it gave them a very real idea of what it was going to be like. I was the most concerned about the characters, but after watching the youtube videos of other kids meeting and interacting with the characters, my kids had absolutely NO issues with the characters. I had discussed with them that they would be bigger than them and that they wouldn't talk. We had two character meals and met several in the parks, and my kids loved every. single. minute of the character interactions.

There are also lots of youtube videos of the rides themselves. This helped my kids a lot as well. They knew exactly what to expect and it was a huge success. And showing them the videos didn't ruin the 'surprise' of seeing the attractions for the first time at all. There is just nothing like be there live and in person.

The only problem my kids had was the fireworks. They do NOT like loud noises, so that caused a bit of an issue since they fireworks are pretty unavoidable if you are still in the park. But they just covered their ears and were fine.

Good luck. I hope you LOVE your trip!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Make sure you and any other adults in the group are having fun and have a smile on their faces. It helps tremendously. Never make a big deal out of anything (i.e. don't stand and look at a ride and build it up or say "this might be scary", or anything along those lines in front of them). Just say "Wow this looks fun" and walk right in. You can talk about it in a way like "Hey lets go visit the silly ghosts" or "oh we might see that funny little crab in here, let's keep an eye out for him" and talk them through attractions if you think they are getting scared. Whisper to them "oh hey look at all that pirate treasure, isn't that cool? How many gold coins do you see?" And just keep acting like it's no big deal. It doesn't always work for all kids, but it helps. And my husband and I always acted really excited to see the characters to show our DS that "this is a safe person" and that it's okay to interact with them.

Bottom line: When you are having fun, they are having fun. Laugh, smile and enjoy yourselves Good luck!

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

When we took our twin 2 1/2 year old grandsons, we prepared them by having them watch you tube videos of families visiting WDW. We feel it made a huge difference. To our amazement they weren't scared of characters! There were some rides one of them was scared of, not the other one. It was just a personal personality thing. You have to be 'in tune' to the young one your with and go with the flow.

If all they like doing is being strolled through the parks looking at things, it's still fun.

Our little ones liked most of the child rides, loved Epcot (especially the kidcot stations). But, truthfully their favorite thing was the splash pool at our resort (Kidnani) we did that every afternoon and they absolutely loved it.

I did the exact same thing with the videos. My grand daughter was 16 months old when we went. She hugged and kissed everyone. On one occasion we told her to say goodbye to Mickey she turned to us and told us goodbye and then went right back to hugging Mickey. That is the picture I use as my avatar. However I couldn't get her to sit with Santa Claus 9 months later.

 

[SciTeach713]

YouTube, YouTube, YouTube!
We are taking my DD2 for the first time next month, so I hope that it will work for us. She knows all of the characters from watching Disney shows with her sister, but we keep showing her videos and pictures of people meeting the characters. I also will talk to her and go through the list of all the characters that she's going to meet...MickMouse, Minnie, Goofy, Belle, Cinrella, etc. We've shown her a few videos of the rides as well, but I don't know how well that will connect with the actual experience

 

[MouseOfGold]

I had talked about our upcoming trip a lot with my 2 yr old. I pointed out character's in books, movies, & cartoons that we would be seeing. And I referred to WDW as Mickey's house. (Mickey is his favorite character) So my ds pretty much thinks Cinderella's castle is Mickey's house!

My kids loved the parade's the most!

 

[ktlm]

The only problem my kids had was the fireworks. They do NOT like loud noises, so that caused a bit of an issue since they fireworks are pretty unavoidable if you are still in the park. But they just covered their ears and were fine.

This is very true! The fireworks are extremely LOUD when you are inside MK, much louder than when we were at our local park at home (probably because we were a little farther away from where they shot them off?). When my DD was 2, she really enjoyed the 4th of July fireworks at home, so we didn't think twice about it at all for our trip to WDW. DD got totally freaked out and scared and started crying when they started going off at MK and we had to make a dash into a store. Just covering her ears with the hands didn't work- it was just too loud. FYI- being inside the stores really muffles the sound- of course, you miss the fireworks but oh well. I really wish I had thought to bring some of those kid sound protectors for that 1st trip.


I would also say don't assume that just because the 2 year old you took before liked or did not like something that your son will feel the same way. Other than figuring out if characters are going to freak them out by maybe finding some local characters, I'm not sure how you can gauge what their reaction is going to be to things before they are actually there. I don't think you ever know exactly what they are going to like or act like at WDW until you get there. DD had watched Fantasmic several times on YouTube and liked it and wanted to see it- it totally terrified her when we were actually at the park. It was a whole lot louder and scarier live.

I thought DD would go nuts over the castle when we walked in to MK for the first time, but she did not even give it a second glance. She spotted Pluto, the minute we walked in and that was the only thing she cared about and my high maintenance spirited impatient child calmly stood in line for 20 minutes to meet him and then threw herself into his arms like he was her long lost best friend. I was totally shocked by the fact that she patiently stood in line, didn't care about the castle, and was nuts about Pluto who I'd never even heard her mention before. Here is that very first meet and greet:



Have a wonderful trip! I loved that 2 year old trip!!!!