Toddler Trip Schedule to share?

[eegulz]

Does anyone have a trip schedule (where to go/eat/do) for toddlers that they are willing to share. It would be a big help to have a starting point since this will be my first trip to WDW as well! Thanks!

 

[SnowWhite12]

We took our 2 yr old DD first week of June. Ate a lot of counter service meals. We kept to her schedule somewhat. We took breaks mid-day and went to room to take a nap (she just wouldn't do it in the stroller with all the noise). But at night (she usually goes to bed 8pm) she stayed up until midnight or after every night. She did great until day 6 and got really tired. We fed her poptarts in room in morning. Took snacks (raisins, gummies, and animal crackers) in her bag to take to parks (although she really rarely ate them--much too excited). When we did go to a sit-down meal, she either ate off our plate, or we would carry her usual meat sticks and fruit cup, just like we do at home. She loved looking at characters, but did not want fully costumed characters to get close. You will have so much fun! Her favorite things to do were It's a Small World, watching the cars at the Speedway, and playing in the interactive fountains. She enjoyed the shows as well. We took her to the 3-d shows, and she was fine, as long as I had her on my lap and she didn't wear the glasses. She hated Dumbo (I guess b/c it goes in the air). She did great in Pirates, though. Oh, and no matter what I will never again take a small child in the Nemo ride at Epcot. Way too dark and scary. She screamed bloody murder the whole time. I felt so bad for her, but I didn't expect the ride to be like that. Have a great time!!!

 

[LadyShea]

I have been working on mine for two weeks. Happy to share what I have so far and get some tips from others .

How old is your little one? Mine is 20 mos and we are going Sept 22-29

 

[MrsJ Henry]

oh this is very helpful. we will be taking our daughter in the winter and then possibly in the spring or next fall. she will be 18 months this winter.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

Well, our trip report below shares about our trip with our 18 month old. It was definetely fun, but we learned that for us, it was too hot (September trip). We will be going in January next time, hopefully 2009.

We did some of the same things as above, our son Dustin ate some off our plates, plus we brought along applesauces, PB sandwiches, etc. Our resort sold 1/2 gallons of milk, large waters, and loaves of bread in the gift shop.

We had breakfast each morning at the CBR food court. Dustin enjoyed some of whatever we got, usually oatmeal, waffles, a biscuit, and a banana.

Our son didn't mind the dark rides. He got nervous at the Indiana Jones show when the guns were firing. Also he didn't like the teacups. He sat thru one 3D, but when we went to another, he was way too fidgity and broke the glasses.

We were there 7 days. I think we were exhausted after 6. There's quite a bit of carrying to do there. There were a few buildings at Epcot that wouldn't allow strollers in the builder, so we carried our son. He can walk, but we'd never get anywhere. He likes to stop at every little thing embedded in the walkways, climbs on park benches, checks all the trash cans, etc.

As far as schedule goes, if it had been cool enough, I think he would have taken his afternoon naps in the stroller. But it was too hot so we went back to CBR for the afternoons.

Did 7 table services and 7 counter services. His favorites were Garden Grill (got to kiss Mickey on the nose), Coral Reef (got a tank side table), and Cosmic Rays (great burgers and cute little show). At the table service restaurants, we preordered our desserts as soon as our entrees came out so we could keep the pace of the meal going.

As fas as a schedule of which parks, I had heard that which ever park has extra magic hours might be more crowded. So we worked on going to parks that didn't have extra hours that day in hopes that we might dodge a few people. Definetely get ADR's for your table service restaurants. We did good at scheduling most lunches at 11:15 and suppers at 4:30. To us, going early avoids the crowds. We got the park hopper option so we could choose a different park in the evenings if we wanted.

Hope that helps. Have a great time!!!

 

[twins4mimi]

I have been working on mine for two weeks. Happy to share what I have so far and get some tips from others .

How old is your little one? Mine is 20 mos and we are going Sept 22-29

Hey, my girls are 2 years old. I would love to see what you have planned for you, kind of clueless but getting a little better with some research!!! We go Sept 17-22.... thanks so much

 

[rrobin3051]

we took our almost 2 year old in july and took a soft sided cooler and made ppj sandwiches and fruit cups or yogurts and that is what he ate for lunch. Then he would usually pass out if we didnt go back to the house and we would eat in peace and quiet and at a later time. But I rented a house so it was easy to have snacks and such on hand. My biggest tip is to take a little swimmer to teh parks everyday so when in the water play areas you dont have to change them and have wet clothes, and bring pj's for night before they fall asleep, so on the way home just pop them in bed.

 

[LadyShea]

Hey, my girls are 2 years old. I would love to see what you have planned for you, kind of clueless but getting a little better with some research!!! We go Sept 17-22.... thanks so much

I'm kind of anally methodical at preparation, so I will tell you how I made our schedule, that way you can maybe use the techniques to create your own special itinerary.

Calendars

I started with looking at the calendars at the link above and comparing them to the days we planned to be there. MK was closing early some days, due to the MNSSHP, so I chose one of the two days that had 9-9 hours for MK.

Special Events

Then I looked at special events for anything special we wanted to see. For example, during our trip Choo Choo Soul will be at the Playhouse Disney theater at MGM on Thursday, so I put MGM on Thursday.

Character Dining

I knew we wanted to eat with Mickey Mouse, since he's DS's favorite, and I knew I wanted this experience at the beginning of the trip, while DS was still bright eyed and bushy tailed. Mickey Mouse dining is available at The Garden Grill at Epcot, so our first park day is at Epcot and I have already made reservations at GG.

Magical Beginnings

I went through all the suggestions for preschoolers at Magical Beginnings and put "must dos" on our daily itinerary for each park, clustering the most active/stimulating ones in the morning. I also included the location of the baby center for each park, and any ways/places to relax or quietly stroll/shop so he could nap perhaps.

I also didn't want to push us all to exhaustion, so I scheduled a day off right in the middle. So, we will go to parks Sunday and Monday, have Tuesday off to hang around the pool, relax, maybe shop at Downtown Disney or eat at the Boardwalk or something, then parks Wednesday and Thursday.

I scheduled 4 park days, though we are buying 5 day passes. That way, on Friday, we can revisit any park we feel we didn't "finish", or go to a water park perhaps.

Hope this is helpful to you, and that you and your twins have an amazing time!