Toddler vs. Fireworks!

[StirlingSilver83]

How was the Pirate and Pals cruise? I personally love pirates and I think getting away from the crowds might work for us that time of night.

I took my older son on Pirates and Pals in 2014. We were staying at Contemporary that year so I thought it was perfect since it launches from there. The room that the goodies are in is very small and it was very hot as well, there was absolutely no circulation so the little chocolate coins that had out were all melty and kind of gross. We got to meet Captain hook and Mr. Smee which was super cool and they took pics and signed autographs. We were in that little room for about 45 minutes or so...then we walked to the docks to board the boats. My son got to hold Captain Hooks hand and walk to the docks with him he thought he was sooo special! Then once we were on the boats we sang all kinds of pirate songs and the boat captains were really funny and told pirate jokes it was a TON of fun! Once we got to where we needed to be for the fireworks they turned off the boat lights and piped in the music to the fireworks into the boat. The fireworks definitely aren't as loud bc they are pretty far away. After the fireworks you sail back to the contemporary and you get to meet a "special guest" my son was SOOO excited to say the least and that was probably his favorite part of the whole trip. I will tell you this we didn't get back up to our room until about 11:20PM thats a pretty late night and we were staying at the contemporary, lol. But I guess it would be a late night no matter what if you were staying at the Magic Kingdom for Fireworks or not. But still I don't think I would do Pirates & Pals with young kids if we weren't staying at Contemporary bc my kids get grumpy if they are up too late lol

 

[Allen Conway]

Would you take ear protection to tackle the fireworks with or would you chance her not being scared? She absolutely loves thunderstorms (yells BOOM and everything) but unsure about fireworks. Any help would be great... I've been many many many times but never with a toddler

My 3 girls have all had their bouts with the fireworks. To this day 2 of them still can't stand the loud noise. Considering Illuminations is probably my favorite thing at all of WDW, it kind of stinks. Often my wife has to go off in the distance and hold the kids and cover their ears.

I would say it really depends. I see other kids that love it. If it was me, I'd just have a $1 pair of soft ear plugs as a backup. Little cost or risk and can try it out. Visually they can always cover their eyes and the sound will be blocked. No need to whip out the airport tarmac soundproof headphones On the safe side though, I'd assume they might get scared. The cool thing at WDW is that the fireworks are typically really, really, close. That's good and bad for this issue. It's nice because they are big and beautiful, but stinks for the kids. It's not like some city fireworks show where you might be watching from 1/2 mile or more away.

 

[DisneyCAL]

Both my DS and DD loved fireworks at a young age. My DS has sensitive ears so we just tell him to hold hands over ears. A trick we did which you can certainly do since she says "boom" during thunderstorms, is saying "boom". When you see the dot shoot up say boom. Having the noise of her voice in her head helps lower the perceived noise of the fireworks. You can help by making "oohs and ahhhh and yeah!" so she knows that it's a fun happy thing happening.

 

[TinkerBell DVC]

Thanks everyone for your advice! we will probably look into the ear muffs instead of plugs.

 

[Fosteringaprincess]

Ear muffs are the way to go! We found out the hard way.....they stay on until they want to take them off and my kids could enjoy the shows without covering the ears the whole time. Matter of fact my 2nd hated fireworks with everything in her until we bought them! So we spent the 25 bucks each for our 3 youngest and believe it or not we use them many times a year. sometimes with very loud storms! Well well the cost! Have a great trip

 

[joplinmouse]

I'd say if you have the room throw in the headphones. Kids are really unpredictable. At age 2 my son loved it, age 3 he was terrified and cried, and at 3 1/2 loved it again.

 

[Momof3WDW]

My children never have had issues with fireworks. My oldest, DS, actually falls asleep when fireworks go off. Weird I know. However, an option could be to go to the TTC and watch from behind the ferry launch. They pipe the music in so you can hear it but it is far enough away that the noise isn't loud. It is also less crowded.

 

[Bork]

DS12 was terrified of fireworks when he was 3.5. So we just avoided them. We went into shops. But DD3.5 loves fireworks. Depends on the kid.

 

[hipporina]

My 4yo is pretty sensitive to loud noises and has been since he was little. I think his hearing is just more sensitive than average. He even covers his ears when I dry my hair with him in the room. We took him right before he was 3 and was scared of a bunch of stuff because of the sound. Even just a lot of dark rides are really, really loud. On our last trip, we took the snug ear muffs mentioned before and they made the trip much better! I'm taking them again next month.