toddlers and certain rides??

[DisFam95]

Can I get some opinions on people's experience with this. we are going with our then 18mo DS, he's very easy going and is not one of those kids scared of everything...my niece freaks with anything out of the norm (20mo). We've been to Dis many times so are familiar with all the rides but what we think he could handle might be totally off! How were your experiences with...

Magic Kingdom:
- Pirates
- Haunted Mansion
- Hall of Pres.
- Snow WHite

MGM:
- Voyage of Little Mermaid (sitting through shows)
- Beauty and the Beast
- BackLot Tour
- Muppets
- Great Movie Ride
MGM is mostly shows, are they intriguing enough to keep a toddlers interests??

AK:
- ITTBAB (heard it's too intense for toddlers)

EPCOT
everything???
- spaceship earth
- journey into imagination
- cranium command
- universe of energy

world showcase:
all the movies

what should we avoid? What is great for toddlers? Any help appreciated!!

 

[swilphil]

We took our 1 year old and 3 year old sons. Neither gets scared easily. The 1 year old (exactly 12 months) really wasn't bothered by anything we went on, except for the loud noise at Fantasmic. Here are our experiences with the 3 yo:

Magic Kingdom:
- Pirates--My husband took the 3 yo and said he did fine, but DH isn't always reliable with such information.
- Haunted Mansion--We really had to talk the 3 yo through this one. We had a light-up spinning toy to use when it got dark. He never said he was scared, but we kept telling him what everything was and there were funny ghosts. He was completely quiet for the whole ride, and then said "That was a good one" when we got off.
- Hall of Pres.--didn't go.
- Snow WHite--didn't go because heard it was scary.

MGM:
- Voyage of Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast--Did very well.
- BackLot Tour--Didn't go.
- Muppets--Enjoyed, but didn't keep glasses on.
- Great Movie Ride--didn't go.
MGM is mostly shows, are they intriguing enough to keep a toddlers interests? Yes. The shows are worth the trip. We also saw the parade, lots of one on one with characters, and the Playhouse Disney show.

AK:
- ITTBAB (heard it's too intense for toddlers)--didn't go for that reason. Actually, I think all of AK is kind of wasted on toddlers.

EPCOT
- spaceship earth--didn't go
- journey into imagination--Great!!
- cranium command--didn't go.
- universe of energy--didn't go.
Our kids loved Food Rocks and the cookie baking area at The Land.

world showcase:
Movie/boat ride in Mexico was great. We didn't go to other movies, but we definitely spent more time in WS than FW. We loved walking around. Climbing on the play area Viking Boat in Norway, seeing the train in Germany, going through the maze in UK, and the coloring at the Kidcot stations in every country. It was a great break from the other theme parks.

Every kid is different, so I don't know if this helps. Good luck!

 

[WeLuvBuzz]

Whatever you do, DO NOT take your toddler to ITTBAB at AK!!! We took our 2 year old last year and it totally freaked him out. It ruined the rest of the trip for him. Not only that, but he now refuses to go to any movie theaters at all because they're dark and he's afraid the bugs will come out.

Out of your list, these are the one's he was ok with:

MK:
Haunted Mansion
Pirates
Didn't try Snow White (and won't this year either)
Hall of Presidents would have bored him to death

MGM:
Only really liked the Disney Playhouse show. That one was GREAT for him! Don't miss it!
At this point, he had been to AK, so wouldn't see any of the other shows. Cried through the first 5 minutes of Muppets until we left.

Epcot:
Spaceship Earth-He really liked that one, almost put him to sleep!
I can't think of anything he was afraid of at Epcot, of course we didn't take him on Test Track or anything too big for him.

Good luck and have a great time!!!!

 

[tink2]

Yes, every child is different. My 4 DD was SCARED to death of Snow White- took us forever to get her on anything else after that!!!! She cried the entire ride! My 2 DS was a little scared- but OK. Nothing else really scared her though. For some reason, Snow White terrified her!

 

[tar heel]

Stay far away from ITTBAB. Our youngest son did it when he was four and flatly refuses to do it again. We've been to Disney six times since and he does all the thrill rides, but he says he will probably NEVER do it again. BTW, he also intensely disliked HISTA.

 

[nasmith]

We've taken our son to WDW a couple times a year since he was born, and some of the rides that didn't bother him at 18 months (Snow White, Haunted Mansion) scared him at 3 years. I think as long as you explain everything to your son- and act like you are having fun and that things are "silly" then he will pick-up on your response and copy it. As far as sitting is concerned- I think if he can sit thru a TV show, then he'll be fine.
My son has always liked Pirates. Bored thru Presidents (Maybe a napping option?).
At MGM--- Mermaid was so-so
Bear - a Must-see
Backlot tour (this last an hour- so you have
to gauge their patience)- was okay, but bored
Muppets- Great
Great Movie ride-- He was bored
AK- His favorite place of all at WDW was the boneyard - with it's crawl-around nets and dinosaur bones to "dig up"- he could have easily spent hours there! We took turns with him there while the other parent did Dinosaur. He also loved the Lion King show and was mesmerized by the Tarzan show (but be forewarned that it's loud), and the tricerotops spin is basically just "Dumbo". He also liked the safari. ITTBB is a bit rough on kids this age though.

Epcot- He loved the Living Seas (Big aquariums); imagination; Maelstrom; and the Mexico ride. Didn't do Energy, and I think Earth is a bore. They have a new playground at the Mission Space Exit (inside) for small kids with tubes to crawl around in and other cool stuff to play with that he can play with while you "parent-swap" to ride Mission Space (or test-track for that matter since that's close by). Don't forget about all of the water fountains at Epcot for kids to run thru and play in- bring a change of clothes as it's really popular with the toddler set! My son likes the movies- but he really likes movies in general and sat thru Monster's Inc. at the theatre when he was 18 months (and then asked if he could see it again!). Have fun- Jill

 

[capnho]

We've been to MK several times, AK and MGM with DS (now 6) and DD (now 4 and 1/2). My parents brother's family live nearby, so we usually do day trips, although we did stay at OKW for a few days last year.

We haven't tried any of the rides you mention at MK. DS gets very scared of ghosts, so we haven't even considered Haunted Mansion with him. The first time we went with them, DS was 3 and DD was about 18 months, they were both completely fried by 1:00 from all the stimulation. They loved the various Fantasyland rides (except Snow White, which we didn't ride), though.

DD was bored with MGM by lunchtime last year when she was 3 and 1/2. She's just not into shows, and she was scared by the giant Ursula at Voyage of the Little Mermaid. DS loved it, though and we hung around for several more hours after DW took DD back to the hotel.

My first trip to WDW with one of my kids was to take DS to AK at 18 months. My original plan was to take him to the Orlando Science Center (which is near my brother's house), but we discovered at the last minute that it was closed on Mondays. My DW and sister-in-law suggested I take him to AK - who was I to argue?

So, I go there for the first time with NO plan, which I never do at WDW. We get inside and I start looking at the map. I see the Boneyard and figure he could play for a half hour while I figured out what we wanted to see.

2 hours later we left. He just had no interest in leaving the Boneyard. I was standing there thinking that I was paying $50 so that he could play in a playground.

I did eventually coax him out and we did a couple of other things before we left, but he would have happily stayed there all day.