Under 2's at DLP - many many questions!

[Catherine100]

Going to DLP at the end of March with our son who will be 16 months and very excited! He needs constant stimulation and his idea of fun is being spun around as fast as possible in the buggy / trolley / my arms so we think it will suit him down to the ground! (a city break on the other hand would be a nightmare!)

But very apprehensive about first mini holiday with a toddler especially at DLP and brimming with daft questions for anyone with experience...

1. Do I need to order a full kid's meal for Sam in non-buffet restaurants? he has a great appetite but even with that this seems a bit wasteful. Any alternatives? He's well beyond baby food and eating off our plates never works well for us.

2. There seems to be loads of rides and attractions he can go on but how do those work? Can he sit on our knee on all of them? Don't really want to have to sit in a 2 with him and have either me or Daddy sitting behind and anyway he's likely to try and disembark It's A Small World boat thing etc straight into the water if he's not restrained!

3. What do you do when your toddler naps? Sam has a 1-2 hour nap in the middle of the day and sleeps best in the buggy. But I assume there's no attractions/shows we can look at with the buggy?

4. Can you put a buggy lock on your buggy while in queues/on rides I hear conflicting tales of whether it's allowed! And if you don't is your buggy safe (don't want to hire as would be a nightmare travelling from the parks).

5. Is it possible to get a table and find a highchair in most restaurants including quick serve ones? Last time I was in Disney (Florida) we ate lunches wherever we could, usually on the edge of a fountain or similar. Hopind mid-week in March will be quieter though.

6. How do you entertain your under 2 in queues? He's too young for colouring and gets bored easily. He does love people, esp kids so it might be ok.

6. Any other tips? Did your toddler enjoy it? Rides/attractions that are a must? Ones to be avoided?

Sorry - excess questions for first post! Be delighted with an answer or suggestion for even one or two of them though!

 

[Happy Tappy]

Welcome to Dis!

My son had been 3 times before his 2nd birthday so hopefully I can help.

1 - No you don't have to order a full meal. Order what you want! In some restaurants I'd order myself a big meal and let him have some of it. Sometimes I'd just order him an adult starter. The restaurants are pretty flexible. My son often falls asleep during the evening meal so we'd just sort him out with a sandwich from the train station later.

2 - They're not normally allowed to sit on your laps. On most rides you can fit 2 adults and a small child on one row. Just make sure he sits in-between you and your partner.

3 - We tend to head back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. That way he's bright and fresh for the evening in the park. My partner hates rollercoasters so if my son falls asleep in his buggy I'll nip on a rollercoaster and she'll grab a snack or something.

4 - I've never heard that you can't use a lock. We only take a cheap basic buggy so we don't bother with a lock. We've never had a problem with it. If you're taking something expensive it's probably worth taking a lock as I've heard that buggy's do get stolen.

5 - You shouldn't have a problem finding somewhere to sit in the counter service restaurants. Even in August I've always managed to find one easily enough.

6 - The queues mid-week in March should be very small. My son has never had a problem standing in line. I just talk to him and pick him up, play with him etc... He normally tries talking to the other kids but gets confused when they don't understand him.

6 (the 2nd one!) - Mine really loves it. His favourites were Small World, Animagique, Playhouse Disney Live, Tea Cups and Stitch Encounter. He even likes the darker rides like Pirates and Phantom Manor.

Other tips:

I tend to find that an adult counter service meal is easily enough for an adult and a child to share. The pizza meal is especially good for this. I eat the pizza and my son has the salad.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of little kids don't like the characters. They get scared and cry. It's worth approaching them with caution! My son was a bit funny at first but soon took to them.

If you or your partner want to go on some of the bigger rides, use baby switch

Avoid the character scrums in the park. People are pushy and they'll happily push a very small child out of the way to get to a character. Sad but true, I've seen it many times.

If your son likes the characters, take him to Cafe Mickey. It's by far the best way to get some personal character time. On my last visit Eeyore fed my son his dinner!

I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time. I was a big Disneyland fan before I had children, but visiting with children makes it all the more special. Seeing the look on their faces truly is priceless.

 

[jothp]

On our first trip our youngest daughter was about 15 months old so I will try to help with your questions.

Going to DLP at the end of March with our son who will be 16 months and very excited! He needs constant stimulation and his idea of fun is being spun around as fast as possible in the buggy / trolley / my arms so we think it will suit him down to the ground! (a city break on the other hand would be a nightmare!)

But very apprehensive about first mini holiday with a toddler especially at DLP and brimming with daft questions for anyone with experience...

1. Do I need to order a full kid's meal for Sam in non-buffet restaurants? he has a great appetite but even with that this seems a bit wasteful. Any alternatives? He's well beyond baby food and eating off our plates never works well for us. You could try ordering some extra sides then sharing your meal plus the sides.

2. There seems to be loads of rides and attractions he can go on but how do those work? Can he sit on our knee on all of them? Don't really want to have to sit in a 2 with him and have either me or Daddy sitting behind and anyway he's likely to try and disembark It's A Small World boat thing etc straight into the water if he's not restrained!We were not allowed to sit our 15 month old on our laps but we could easily sit three in a row on most things with her in the middle between me and one of my other two daughters.

3. What do you do when your toddler naps? Sam has a 1-2 hour nap in the middle of the day and sleeps best in the buggy. But I assume there's no attractions/shows we can look at with the buggy? When Evie napped I would generally just find somewhere quiet to sit with her and take in the atmosphere. Having said that we found that everything going on meant she napped far less than she would have done normally at home.

4. Can you put a buggy lock on your buggy while in queues/on rides I hear conflicting tales of whether it's allowed! And if you don't is your buggy safe (don't want to hire as would be a nightmare travelling from the parks).We have never bothered with a lock and haven't had any problems but our buggy was never a really nice one so if you are worried a lock won't do any harm. I haven't heard that they are not allowed but have seen CMs rearranging/moving buggys.

5. Is it possible to get a table and find a highchair in most restaurants including quick serve ones? Last time I was in Disney (Florida) we ate lunches wherever we could, usually on the edge of a fountain or similar. Hopind mid-week in March will be quieter though.We have never had a problem finding a high chair even in the quick service restaurants but they can be quite busy at usual meal times so we often try to eat earlier/later than normal to avoid the main crowds

6. How do you entertain your under 2 in queues? He's too young for colouring and gets bored easily. He does love people, esp kids so it might be ok.In a lot of the ride queues there are things to look at to help pass the time. My husband has also got some short cartoons on his phone for the girls to watch if we do have to queue for a long time. If the parks are quiet you are unlikely to have to queue too long for any of the rides your son will be able to go on

6. Any other tips? Did your toddler enjoy it? Rides/attractions that are a must? Ones to be avoided?Evie did enjoy her first trip but like the previous poster said she was very wary of a lot of the characters and spent a lot of time waiting for her big sisters. She is quite small for her age so we didn't take her on dumbo or any of the other rides which said over 1 but she loved small world and the playhouse disney show in the studios

Sorry - excess questions for first post! Be delighted with an answer or suggestion for even one or two of them though!

On our first trip we mainly went for her older sisters and I'm not sure we would have gone just with her but I think she loves it far more now because she did go when she was that small and has now been another 4 times since. She already knows the words to its a small world off by heart!!

 

[tinks_1989]

Going to DLP at the end of March with our son who will be 16 months and very excited! He needs constant stimulation and his idea of fun is being spun around as fast as possible in the buggy / trolley / my arms so we think it will suit him down to the ground! (a city break on the other hand would be a nightmare!)

But very apprehensive about first mini holiday with a toddler especially at DLP and brimming with daft questions for anyone with experience...

1. Do I need to order a full kid's meal for Sam in non-buffet restaurants? he has a great appetite but even with that this seems a bit wasteful. Any alternatives? He's well beyond baby food and eating off our plates never works well for us. I asked about under 3's eating at restaurants the other day here is the link

2. There seems to be loads of rides and attractions he can go on but how do those work? Can he sit on our knee on all of them? Don't really want to have to sit in a 2 with him and have either me or Daddy sitting behind and anyway he's likely to try and disembark It's A Small World boat thing etc straight into the water if he's not restrained! Last year DD was only 6 months but went on quiet a bit she sat on my knee as I could keep hold of her easily as like you DS she would of tried to get in lol!

3. What do you do when your toddler naps? Sam has a 1-2 hour nap in the middle of the day and sleeps best in the buggy. But I assume there's no attractions/shows we can look at with the buggy? Not sure about this only thing I can think is the parade but that isnt till 5pm :/ DD never sleeps in her pushchair doesnt want to miss out lol!

4. Can you put a buggy lock on your buggy while in queues/on rides I hear conflicting tales of whether it's allowed! And if you don't is your buggy safe (don't want to hire as would be a nightmare travelling from the parks). Yes we have a buggy lock never used it last year though didnt have anything go missing obviously talk all bags etc with us!

5. Is it possible to get a table and find a highchair in most restaurants including quick serve ones? Last time I was in Disney (Florida) we ate lunches wherever we could, usually on the edge of a fountain or similar. Hopind mid-week in March will be quieter though. Yes there are plenty of highchairs every where we ate.

6. How do you entertain your under 2 in queues? He's too young for colouring and gets bored easily. He does love people, esp kids so it might be ok. DD is very nosy and is happy to people watch but we never queued for more then 15 minutes for anything.

6. Any other tips? Did your toddler enjoy it? Rides/attractions that are a must? Ones to be avoided?

DD loved Its a small world colour music etc was brilliant for her! Also loved Pinocchio and Peter Pan. Pirates of the Caribbean was really good she loved the drops but that is closed in March you will have to check for when you are there
Character interaction with the little ones is amazing DD got so much fuss from all characters it really made the trip

Sorry - excess questions for first post! Be delighted with an answer or suggestion for even one or two of them though!

Have a lovely trip I hope you share some photos of your DS enjoying some Disney

 

[Catherine100]

Thank you so much for all the really helpful responses! Really appreciate it!