Top 10 Things For Toddler

[Brygida]

We recently visited WDW with our 16 month old son. Using his screeches of delight, screams when we were about to leave, and the sheer joy/awe on his face, I have come up with the following list of his favorite activites during our 6 day stay.

#1 - Pooh's Playful Spot at MK - especially the fountains of water shooting up from the ground - lots of screeching and smiles

#2 - Thomas The Tank Engine train table at toy store in England, EPCOT - So engrossed, he would not leave. Had to carry him out kicking and screaming.

#3 - Pools at Wilderness Lodge - Toddled straight for the pools every time he saw them.

#4 - Cinderella's Carousel at MK - Tried to run... fell... tried to run... fell... till he reached it.

#5 - It's A Small World - fascinated by the clock in the loading area.

#6 - Seeing a zebra and then an elephant at Safari in Animal Kingdom - dumbstruck at the live animals that were close enough.

#7 - Castaway Creek at Typhoon Lagoon - happy, wriggling, almost fell asleep in my tube.

#8 - Pooh and friends meet at toy store in England EPCOT - when his turn was up and I walked him out, he turned around and walked right back.

#9 - Getting a Mickey Mouse balloon on Main Street - I attached it to his stroller for hours of entertainment.

#10 - Strolling around the walkways, geysers, waterfalls at Wilderness Lodge - Actually, being in his stroller anywhere in WDW, could cause him to spontaneously erupt in smiles as he turned to look at us pushing him.

Brygida

 

[Alice's Mom]

sounds like he had a marvelous time, thanks for sharing!

 

[amarberry]

What a great post! We leave with our 14.5 month old DD on Tuesday...I can't wait!!!!!

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Thanks for sharing!!! We leave next week for a quick trip with our little one. I'm getting more excited by the moment!!!!

 

[GEM]

Oh, that all reminds me so much of my little guy. All those things you mentioned were HUGE hits with him, too!

I'll add a few others -

-The little bridge over the spring in the Wilderness Lodge lobby. He could have walked back and forth over that thing all day long!

-All elevators! He would just grin an bounce up and down in his stroller whenever we got close to one. Then he'd look back at us to make sure we were enjoying it, too. Really cute!

-Illuminations! He just about danced out of his seat during this show! I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about everything.

-The "Mo Rockin'" band at Epcot. Seriously. Paul is their biggest fan ever. We had to buy a CD.

-The birds: Ducks, Cranes, Egrets, whatever. He LOVED all the birds.

-Festival of the Lion King! He was so upset when this show was over that we had to see it again!

 

[Lulu's Mom]

Thanks for posting this.... we leave in 10 days with our 16 month... Any other tips I would love to have as many as possible.

I am so excited I can barley stand it

Anyone that is going son with little ones this little, are you going to MNSSHP?

Thanks for the great post again.

 

[GEM]

We haven't taken our little one to the Halloween Party yet, but I would, in a heartbeat. We did do the Christmas Party last December. He was 19 months old. He did great! We just took it very easy that day, hung around the resort, took a good nap, etc. He was alert, happy, and totally in awe for the entire party. We stayed to the very end. He fell asleep on the boat ride back to the WL and we just dropped him right into bed. It was a great night. I will say, though, that he is generally a pretty easy going guy and he's always been a night owl - so it might not work as well with a different type of toddler.

 

[Steph H]

#2 - Thomas The Tank Engine train table at toy store in England, EPCOT - So engrossed, he would not leave. Had to carry him out kicking and screaming.

That's what I'm afraid of!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Brygida]

Thanks for posting this.... we leave in 10 days with our 16 month... Any other tips I would love to have as many as possible. ...

#1 - rent a car - Don't use Magical Express... or use it to send luggage with some passengers, but at least one of you get a rental car. This will save you oodles of time on getting to the parks (15 min vs 45 min (or more) using a bus) and more oodles on getting to a resort for meals/visits (15 min vs 1 1/2 hours (or more) using a bus). Only you know how much stress this will save (asking your toddler to do something for 15 min vs 1 1/2 hours). If you use Magical Express, pack in carryons everything you may need for first 12 hours... another reason not to use Magical Express!

#2 - bring your carseat on the plane - This will buy you the max time that the toddler is used to sitting still for. 3 out of 4 flights I have taken allowed me to install carseat between us on a seat for no additional charge (talk to person at gate!)... or you can always gate-check it.

#3 - bring your lightest weight stroller (like the Graco CitiLite) on the plane and do a gate check-in. Install toddler in stroller for the long trip to your car via monorail, then baggage claim, etc. Strollers are allowed on boat launches, resorts, etc. where you may not be able to rent one. Especially important if your toddler has just begun toddling and is off the height/weight scale... as ours is! You don't want to be carrying him/her around.

#4 - Once at WDW, Stop at Goodings or your favorite supermarket and stock up on anything you did not pack.... e.g. jars of baby food, goldfish, milk, etc - We also stocked up on large bottles of seltzer for our room, and bottled water, and milk & cereal for ourselves. One trip was enough for our 6 day stay... except for extra milk we got at Wilderness Lodge Mercantile.

#5 - Be Prepared to do laundry for the toddler every few days. I thought I had packed enough clothes, but.... I ended up doing 2 loads of laundry for him during our stay. I had brought detergent and dryer sheets from home so it was relatively painless.

#6 - Stay at a Disney Resort. Do not expect to spend more than 2-4 hours at a time at a park. Then go swimming... or let your toddler play in his room. Plan on going back to a park 2 or even 3 times in one day.... hence, staying on property is the most beneficial.

#7 - Take your car to the parks. If you are staying at a resort across from MK, then take the monorail/launch. If staying at EPCOT resort and can walk, then walk to EPCOT. To get to any other park, take your car. If you have booked with AAA, don't forget your Diamond Pass allowing up-close parking... so you skip the trams.

#8 - Bring a rain cover for your stoller. They don't sell these like they do rain ponchos... and using a poncho just does not work.

#9 - Bring a collapsible travel gate with you. We used our gate to block off the bathroom from the living area, which allowed him more walking space. We baby proofed the living area as best we could.

#10 - pick up a lifevest for your toddler at the pool/marina of the resort. WL let us keep the same one for our entire stay.

Hope that gave you some ideas....

Brygida

 

[GEM]

#1 - rent a car - Don't use Magical Express... or use it to send luggage with some passengers, but at least one of you get a rental car. This will save you oodles of time on getting to the parks (15 min vs 45 min (or more) using a bus) and more oodles on getting to a resort for meals/visits (15 min vs 1 1/2 hours (or more) using a bus). Only you know how much stress this will save (asking your toddler to do something for 15 min vs 1 1/2 hours). If you use Magical Express, pack in carryons everything you may need for first 12 hours... another reason not to use Magical Express!

This is the only one I would argue with, and I guess it just depends on your vacation style. We never rent a car, and even on the trips where we drive down, our car stays in the resort lot the entire trip. We've been on three trips with our little one (at 12 months, at 19 months, and at 26 months) and we've never used the car once we were at Disney World. We find the Disney transportation to be great, and much nicer than driving, parking, getting on the tram to the gate, getting back in a hot car in the afternoon, getting stuck in traffic after the fireworks, etc. Paul loves the Disney boats, monorails, and busses. In fact, I'd say the transportation has been sort of a highlight for him! We've been at all different times of the year and at all different resorts and had no transportation problems at all. I spent two weeks last December at the Wilderness Lodge Villas with Paul (19 months old) and my 65 year old mother. I was a little worried about relying on Disney transportation with those two, but everything was great. No complaints!


One other thing - Our little guy has always been able to do the parks for way more than two or three hours at a time without any problem. He's great at napping in his stroller when he needs to. We do usually go back for a swim and a rest at some point during the day, though. (But that's more for DH and I than for Paul!) We like to go out first thing in the morning and head back to the resort around 3pm to swim or relax for a few hours before we head out to dinner or some evening activity.

Everybody's different, though! Just wanted to throw a different opinion out there.

Also, on trips where we fly down, we use www.wegoshop.com to have all sorts of things (fruit, milk, snacks, sandwhich meat, yogurt, etc.) delivered right to our resort room. It's great when traveling with a little one! They're a really great company and I would reccomend them VERY highly!

 

[Brygida]

... We find the Disney transportation to be great, and much nicer than driving, parking, getting on the tram to the gate, getting back in a hot car in the afternoon, getting stuck in traffic after the fireworks, etc.
...
Also, on trips where we fly down, we use www.wegoshop.com to have all sorts of things (fruit, milk, snacks, sandwhich meat, yogurt, etc.) delivered right to our resort room. It's great when traveling with a little one! They're a really great company and I would reccomend them VERY highly!

About your Disney transportation comment... I have to assume that you choose NOT to eat at resorts, and that may be the overriding consideration. We prefer to have our meals at the resort... each day. Hence, travel time to the meal would be way over what my husband and toddler want to endure. I would estimate on average that you need about 1 1/2 hours to get to a resort for a meal. Double that and it is 3 hours. When I compare 3 hours to 30min roundtrip.... I would prefer to be doing other things at WDW. My husband would never agree to doing this every day.

An example... we had planned dinner at Citricos and were staying at Wilderness Lodge. We decided to take Disney transportation for this because we had the time. We had to wait for the boat launch at WL. It went first to Fort Wilderness, then MK. We transferred to monorail, after waiting for next one. It experienced delays before arriving at each station (Contemporary, TTC, Polynesian), and then we finally arrived at Grand Floridian. All total 1 1/2 hours from our room to the restaurant.

About wegoshop... I have heard of it and it has gotten great reviews. I go to Goodings for sentimental reasons... because I have for the past 18 years!

Brygida

 

[GEM]

Oh, no. Not true at all. We eat almost all our meals at the resorts, actually. We always visit Boma, Ohana, Spoodles, Whispering Canyon, Grand Floridian Cafe, and many others on every trip. We eat very few meals in the parks. In fact, I just made 20 ADRs for our 10 day December trip, and only 5 of them are park restaurants. We just honestly don't find it a big deal to take the bus or boat to a park or Downtown Disney and then transfer to the resort. It may take a bit longer, but it's never been a problem for us at all. It's never taken us as long as we allow, just in case. We still find it more enjoyable than driving. And, Paul has a blast talking to everyone on the boats, busses, monorails, etc. But, like I said, everyone's different. We just prefer to leave the driving to Disney, both when we travel as just adults and when we travel with a little one. Obviously, if we had encountered long waits for busses, huge delays in getting from one place to the other, etc. we might not feel that way. I can honestly say, though, in over 16 trips to Disney World, that hasn't been the case for us. Like I said, though, everyone has different experiences and vacation styles. Glad you had a great trip with your little one!

 

[Hoosier Mom]

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't think about going in the toy store to see the trains. Good idea!

 

[Lulu's Mom]

Not to sound dumb or anything... but how exactly does this work. I assume I order the items I want online and then they are shipped to the resort?? Is there a fee for this? Sorry about the questions, I was just wondering.

Also thanks so much for the advice. Everyone is different with traveling and we did not book a car, so hopefully the bus will be ok. Our DD loves looking and seeing other people so I am sure it will be fine, but we will soon find out.

Thanks agian.

 

[rjthkids]

How long does it take Magical Express to get your bags to you at your resort? It never occurred to me they wouldn't be there immediately! My son is 17 months so I am glad for the heads up!

 

[forever-sunshine]

These are great tips, thanks for sharing!

I am so excited to go only 24 days left!

 

[traci]

okay now you have me worried about the magical express....I can't possibly pack everything for 2 babies in our carry on for 12 hours. Please tell me it doesn't really take this long for them to deliver the bags to your room. 2 or 3 hours I can deal with, BUT not 12!!

 

[Lulu's Mom]

Not that I know from expeirence or anything... but when I spoke with a Magical Express CM she said it could take upto 4 hours after you arrive to get your luggage.... if that is too long you do have the choice of just collecting your luggage yourself and bringing it with you. We may possibly be doing this since we will only have 4 bags.

 

[traci]

What do you do? Just go to baggage claim and then find the bus that takes you to your hotel? I have never done this and I hate not knowing what to expect

 

[abacobaby]

To the OP - thank you so much for starting this thread.

We took our DD to DW last year (18 months old at the time) and will be going again this November. She will be 2 /12 years old by then. I can't wait to take her to Pooh's playground. You mentioned "water squirting" - should I put her in her bathingsuit to play there or will she not get "soaked" enough to need it?

I'm also glad you mentioned your DC liked Typhoon Lagoon. We will also be taking our DD there and was worried there wouldn't be much for her to do there.

Isn't it just amazing how one balloon can keep them entertained for hours???

To Brygida - wow, you go back and forth to the parks 2-3 times a day? How do you do it? We have a very calm,well-mannered DD who always takes her nap (2-3 hours in the afternoon) in her stroller while Dh and I walk around, take turns going on "big" rides, having a bite to eat...etc. After all the time it takes to get ready and going in the morning it would never occur to us to come back to the room. We always go at a time of year when the parks close early so it's not worth it to us to come back to the room in the afternoon. I know every child is different....It just sounds like you are spending a lot of time traveling back and forth between the resort and the parks, which could be spent in the parks enjoying the scenery, letting the DC out at a playground etc. Please don't get me wrong - if it works for you, then great!!! It was just an observation I made while reading your post.