toddlers

[jdorman]

My wife and I are planning a trip to WDW this June. Although we have both been before, we are bringing our daughter for the first time. She will be 18 months and we are very much looking forward to this experience. What I am looking for is advice from others who have brought children this young before. We are staying on grounds at POFQ and will be returing from the parks midday for naps and general relaxing. Any other advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Carrieberry]

I think really the most important thing to do is just go slow. Sounds like that is your plan since you will be taking afternoon breaks. They can probably give you lots of tips over on the family board. Will you be taking your own stroller? We underestimated how much we would need a stroller outside of the parks with our 2 year old (way back in 98!) si I would recommend least bringing an umbrella style stroller for outside of the parks. You will have such a good time!

 

[BobbiG]

You'll have a ball! WE took our's when she was just a little over 2. We spent alot of time on the carrousel and dumbo...and then of course with the characters. She is a shy little girl, but loved the characters. She watches a lot of the disney movies and sing a longs, so she loved the characters. The character meals were also a good place for her. She also loved Toontown at MK, and all the playgrounds, etc. She was not fond of the shows at MGM, like voyage of the little mermaid. I think they were too loud, long and intense for her. But every kid is different, so you may want to give it all a try, and be ready to be flexible. One of her favorite parts was riding the buses! Little kids can be so so easy SOMETIMES!!! Be sure to bring a comfy stroller for her. And go slow. It will be very busy in June...so just go with the flow and enjoy yourself. We're leaving this Sunday, and I just can't wait!

 

[horner5]

We just got back from our recent trip and at that point, my youngest daughter was 18 months old. This was her 2nd trip to WDW and she absolutely loved it this time. French Quarter is the perfect moderate resort for you, as it is so much smaller than all of the other resorts. I highly recommend building 5 because of its proximity to the main building with the food court.

Definitely bring your own stroller-we brought our large one this time and it worked out wonderfully. Even though it was somewhat bulky on the Disney busses, it was so worth it because if she fell asleep in it, we could recline the back of it for her. We brought about 5 of her sippy cups and washed them at night (we bought Palmolive Dish Wipes-what a wonderful invention!). They sell milk and various toddler goodies at the food court and at the gift store. We didn't rent a refrigerator, but were able to get one free because she was on an antibiotic for an ear infection and her medicine needed refrigeration. I recommend a refrigerator if your daughter is like mine and wants cold milk as soon as she wakes up.

Our daughter loved the characters immensely. She couldn't get enough of them and kissed every one! The only problem was that she didn't feel like she needed to wait in line behind everyone else! She was able to ride on 90% of the rides and we could babyswap everything else if we wanted to, but we had my parents with us, so we didn't need to.

Have a wonderful trip!!! This age is really a great one for your daughter to visit Disney-they're still in awe of everything and not really aware enough to be afraid of the characters or rides.

 

[jl3614]

Our daughter was about 21 months on her first trip (Apr 02).

First of all she enjoyed many experiences, but 3 weeks later did not remember a thing - the trip is more for you, than it will be lasting memories for her.

I second the advise from above - take your own stroller. Take a mid day break. Keep her out of the sun as much as possible, use a hat and lots of lotion.

Have plenty of snacks and liquids with you at all times.

We did go to all 4 parks, but there is not much for a 18m child at Epcot, or MGM. She may like Playhouse Disney show or the Honey I Shrunk the Audience playground at MGM.

Our DD liked some of the things at AK - she especially liked her visit with the Pooh characters. Some toddlers are afraid of characters - ours loved them. AK has the shortest lines of all the parks for visiting characters. She also liked Boneyard Playground and the Triceratops Spin. She enjoyed the Lion King show.

At MK, Fantasyland and Mickey's Toontown will be your major destinations. If you can get up early enough for EMH, go directly to Fantasyland, you will be able to do alot with short lines.

Take advantage of fast pass as much as you can.

If the posted wait was more than 20 minutes we skipped that ride, our DD just can not wait very long. Also she always wanted to be held, standing in line holding a 25lb squirmer for any length of time is no fun for anyone.

Take it easy and slow. The best we could do was 4 hrs in the AM a break and then 3 hrs in the PM.

We stayed at AllStar Movies. She like the colorful Icons. She enjoyed splashing in the kiddie pool as much or more than any of the parks.

Our DD was not restuarant trained. She could not eat anywhere that had more than a 30-40 minute meal, unless she feel asleep. So for us that rule out all the sitdown restuarants - we got food from the food court and ate in the room many meals. If your DD is more used to restuarants, you may enjoy a sitdown meal or two - maybe even a character breakfast, the Pooh characters are at MK - Crystal Palace.

Have a fun trip, just don't over do it.

Jeff

 

[Naisy68]

My advice to you is check out the stroller swap on the budget board. It seems like it would be ideal if you don't want to take YOUR stroller from home.
That will be so exciting for you to see the magic through your little ones eyes. It also sounds like you made a great choice in resorts.
If you go to Downtown Disney, be sure to let your little one play in the sidewalk sprinklers. I think your daughter will love it. That's the one thing that I am really looking forward to with our toddler this summer. Take Pictures!
Another great idea I've read online here is to take a family picture in a certain location and then whenever you go back take another one in the same spot - We started this in 2000 and it's a fun way to watch how everyone changes over the years.
Another bit of advice is if you don't think your little one needs a long nap you might want to check out the baby center at the four main parks, that's a great place for a little one to unwind at. That's what we did when we went last time. The Magic Kingdom has a great baby center.

Have a Great Trip!

 

[jcemom]

We took our 16 month old DD last month and it was great. We also "did parks" for about 3-4 hours in the morning, took a break (about 3-4 hours including travel time) then went back to the parks in the evenings. We had one sit-down meal every day and DD did just fine. She loved the character meals best, though. Her favorites were:

MK- Fantasyland, Toontown-especially the playground, feeding the birds on Tom Sawyer Island, Share a Dream parade, Wishes
AK - TriceraTop Spin (over and over and over again...)
MGM - Playhouse Disney, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasmic
Epcot - Ellen's Energy-the dinosaur part, Illuminations, the lighted sidewalks, the fountain

I think the trick is to take it easy and watch them to see what they are enjoying. She had to "tolerate" some things that definitely would not be at the top of her list due to having a couple of older brothers...lol. It's all of the "little things" that she tended to focus on, things that I maybe wouldn't even have noticed otherwise. She was especially taken with the big bunches of foil Mickey balloons on Main Street! (Unfortunately we couldn't buy one as they aren't allowed at AKL. Next time I'm buying her one for sure! lol)