We took our 2 year old to Disney World and guess what?

[DSNY4ever]

We had the BEST TRIP EVER. If you are ever debating taking your toddlers and thinking it might be too much work- STOP THINKING ABOUT IT AND DO IT. I thought I'd share the video I just finished and you will see how much fun we had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMQcu9WFIIw&feature=youtu.be


I know threads pop up all the time about the best age to take your kids, tips for going with toddlers, where to stay with toddlers, etc. And I can tell you I read them all and I worried about all the usual things, but it was worth every penny.

I hope this gets some of you excited about taking your little ones And for all you naysayers who say 2 is too young, I know he won't remember this trip but my husband and I will remember this FOREVER

*And no we didn't pool hop, we went for two weeks- one week at AKL and one week at AoA, both were fantastic for little ones. We used Disney transportation (which I worried about a lot with a toddler, but it went off without a hitch). He napped in his stroller, he loved the characters, he even loved the airplane, and he was seriously better behaved than he is at home (there must be something in the water there, and I wish I could bottle it and bring it home!).

 

[jennyjinx3]

That is awesome. We had a similar experience with our then 3rd daughters first time she was 23 months. Just an amazing trip. Happy for you!

 

[DSNY4ever]

That is awesome. We had a similar experience with our then 3rd daughters first time she was 23 months. Just an amazing trip. Happy for you!

So glad it was a good age for yours too! Before we had kids we said we would never do Disney in diapers, but then we realized that would mean we'd have to wait to go...haha forget that! And once you have kids you realize that seeing them light up in the parks and re-living the magic through them makes carrying around diapers, pushing a stroller through crowds, and walking back to your room with a 30 pound kid sleeping in your arms (when you are already exhausted) is all worth it!

 

[LindseyLou2222]

Awesome! We took our two year old a few weeks ago and had a great time too. Can't. Wait to go back!

 

[JulieODC]

We took our 2yo DD in November and had an amazing time as well --- we didn't want to leave, and still comment about how we wish we were back already!!

 

[JediBonas]

We had a great time as well in Oct with our 23 month old twins! Watching my daughter in awe of everything, especially It's a Small World, and my son's excitement meeting the characters made the trip so worth it.

 

[wallskm]

AWESOME VIDEO!! I was nearly in tears reliving our trip while watching it. We went in April when my boys were 16 months and 3 1/2. We had a magical trip too- we are going back this April, I can't wait! My boys loved your video too, they were captivated. Especially my older son, whose name is also Lucas (we call him Luke). You have a precious little boy, I love his dimples

 

[blessedby3]

We have taken our kids at all ages over the past 22 years (youngest was 3 mod at first trip) and they have all been great! I have never understood waiting till the kids are 5 or 6 to take them. I love WDW as much as my kids and we vacation other places with them without thinking twice….WDW is no different to me.
We have loved taking our kids as babies/toddlers and have great pics and memories of all their trips!

 

[LilyWDW]

Thank you SO much for this video.

First off I want to say how ADORABLE your son is and that you have a beautiful family. Thank you for letting us be a part of it with your video.

I admit to being worried about taking young ones. Mostly because I don't have my own! But in 2015 I am taking my cousin, her husband, and her two boys (my "nephews") to Disney. The boys will be 2.5 and 4.5 (and one is also named Lucas). I am nervous about it, but at least we will outnumber the kids! HAHA.

So, let me ask you some questions (and really, anyone with experience please answer). What were the biggest challenges? What did your son enjoy the most? Was there anything that surprised you (good or bad)?

Again, thank you for your post and video. It makes me feel so much better about our trip!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Thank for all the kind comments everyone I am glad that so many Disers have had good experiences with their toddlers- but we are Disers so we know how to plan!

Thank you SO much for this video.

First off I want to say how ADORABLE your son is and that you have a beautiful family. Thank you for letting us be a part of it with your video.

I admit to being worried about taking young ones. Mostly because I don't have my own! But in 2015 I am taking my cousin, her husband, and her two boys (my "nephews") to Disney. The boys will be 2.5 and 4.5 (and one is also named Lucas). I am nervous about it, but at least we will outnumber the kids! HAHA.

So, let me ask you some questions (and really, anyone with experience please answer). What were the biggest challenges? What did your son enjoy the most? Was there anything that surprised you (good or bad)?

Again, thank you for your post and video. It makes me feel so much better about our trip!

Oh that is so special that you will get to join in on that trip. My sister and brother in law joined us for the first 5 days of the trip (they don't have kids) and my son just loved having them there! It was their first time in WDW and I think they were overwhelmed!

Probably the hardest thing for us was ADRs. Planning so far out where and when we would eat was really hard (plus we were dealing with a 3 hour time difference that we didn't know if it would throw him off or not). That did end up backfiring a little especially for dinners we booked because he surprised us by taking two short stroller naps everyday instead of his long regular afternoon nap at home. Sometimes he would be asleep when our ADR time would come and waking up a toddler and bringing him straight into a restaurant is a BAD idea! Haha. Twice I went in and ordered the food and my husband had to wake him up and let him get "situated" before coming inside.

We went before they started this new credit card rule for all restaurants. That will be tough because we skipped two ADR's (we were nice enough to call and cancel once we knew he was asleep and didn't want to wake him up). Rose & Crown was nice enough to let us roll the stroller in with him asleep and he slept through the whole meal and my husband and I had a wonderful dinner

Definitely plan pool time (I hear this a lot from families). My son LOVED the pools, he still talks about them. We had two break days planned spread out during the trip where we just swam in the pool, but we ended up adding in more pool time because he just had so much fun and constantly asked to go to the pool.

We were also surprised by the character meet and greet times. On previous trips my husband and I only stopped for characters if they happened to come out and there was no line, but DS would see a character and just had to meet them. I was shocked at how the waits for some of the scheduled meet and greets (especially in DHS) were longer than ride lines (30-40 minute waits!). The Epcot Character Spot in Future World was the BEST. Never a wait longer than 10 minutes and always a group of Fab Five characters that he loved.

FP+ was hard to plan with little ones and didn't always work well for us (toddlers schedules are just too unpredictable!), but the one thing we appreciated it for was scoring a prime spot for the afternoon parade in the MK. Our spot was right in the sun, but I don't think I have ever had such a good seat for a parade with a perfect view and no one crammed all around us. It was awesome.

Good luck with your planning. It will be a special trip for sure! I was impressed with how "flexible" our son was while we were there and that he never had a meltdown. Of course the second we got home he walked inside and fell apart...apparently the 2 weeks of go go go had finally caught up with him! Haha.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I LOVED your video-it made me cry. We're taking our 2 yr old granddaughter next year for the first time. DS wanted to wait tip she was older to experience it, but seeing those smiles and giggles on your darling little boys face answers the question "Why do it now?"

 

[buzznina]

We have been going since our 1st DD was 6 months old and have been having a great time ever since Our DD's love watching the older videos of themselves when they were infants. We would have missed out on so much if we never did those trips and listened to the ones that say "their to young" or "you won't enjoy it" I could go on and on with the naysayers lines Here's what we learned, do not schedule many ADRs, we never did more than 2 per trip(usually just 1) and they were always character meals. Our DD's slept better in their strollers then going back to the room. We made every 3rd day an R&R day and the main thing we knew we were not going to do a lot of big rides and it will be at a lot slower pace. We always wanted them to have their sleep, so no early mornings if the night before was a late night.

 

[wiigirl]

Super cute video!

 

[LilyWDW]

Oh that is so special that you will get to join in on that trip. My sister and brother in law joined us for the first 5 days of the trip (they don't have kids) and my son just loved having them there! It was their first time in WDW and I think they were overwhelmed!

Yes, I am blessed that my cousin and her husband want me to come with. I mean, I am paying for the whole trip except transportation, but still. I do not see myself having children of my own due to my physical (and mental) health. But I want to experience the parks with them as it is a totally different experience. Luckily, my cousin is allowing me that moment with my nephews.

We are hoping to do 7 days at Disney not including travel days (so 9 days total) in either September or October staying with 2 rooms at POFQ. Right now we are looking at 3 TS with the boys (Chef Mickey's, Raglan Road, and Biergarten) and then 2 TS for the adults (my cousin and I will be going to Victoria and Albert's and then my cousin and her hubby will take a "date" night at a restaurant of their choice).

I know this will be a much different trip then I am used to, but that is okay. It will be about the boys and what they want to do plus some fun thrown in for their parents. I saw you did MNSSHP. Did your son like that? My cousin's hubby is a HUGE Halloween fan so I thought about trying to fit that in maybe.

 

[jgive]

Great age! We took my son at 13 months and he loved it (and has been loving it since).

 

[branv]

Okay, I am absolutely in tears after watching your video. To be fair, I'm in the middle of the three-month-post-birth hormone flush so eeeeverything seems to be making me cry , but seriously...beautiful video. Your sweet little boy shares so many facial qualities to my little one that I swear it made me feel like I was looking at my wee baby boy grown up and at Disney. It makes me both want to hurry up for him to reach that age to take him to WDW, while at the same time wanting to slow the clock and take in every single second. He just rolled over for the first time today. I can't believe some day soon he will be just like your little one, running, jumping and laughing through Disney. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[epsmith921]

I can't watch the video yet, but my 2.5 year old talks about Disney world pretty much daily.

It was much easier than I thought and we did more than I thought we would.

It was the absolute best time!!!

So glad you went and enjoyed it.

 

[bostonminnie]

Love the video, thanks for sharing! We are going next fall when our son will be 2 so it was awesome to see how much fun your son had!

 

[DSNY4ever]

I LOVED your video-it made me cry. We're taking our 2 yr old granddaughter next year for the first time. DS wanted to wait tip she was older to experience it, but seeing those smiles and giggles on your darling little boys face answers the question "Why do it now?"

You will have so much fun! We invited my parents and my MIL and they all ended up deciding not to come because they thought it would be too hot for them and that they wouldn't be able to keep up in the heat. But once we got back and they saw this video they all admitted it was a BIG mistake to skip the trip. They missed out on special memories...and of course we would have let them take breaks whenever they needed!

We have been going since our 1st DD was 6 months old and have been having a great time ever since Our DD's love watching the older videos of themselves when they were infants. We would have missed out on so much if we never did those trips and listened to the ones that say "their to young" or "you won't enjoy it" I could go on and on with the naysayers lines Here's what we learned, do not schedule many ADRs, we never did more than 2 per trip(usually just 1) and they were always character meals. Our DD's slept better in their strollers then going back to the room. We made every 3rd day an R&R day and the main thing we knew we were not going to do a lot of big rides and it will be at a lot slower pace. We always wanted them to have their sleep, so no early mornings if the night before was a late night.

All good tips! We learned a lot of the same things, I don't think we'll do so many ADRs next time especially with all the new rules.

Yes, I am blessed that my cousin and her husband want me to come with. I mean, I am paying for the whole trip except transportation, but still. I do not see myself having children of my own due to my physical (and mental) health. But I want to experience the parks with them as it is a totally different experience. Luckily, my cousin is allowing me that moment with my nephews.

We are hoping to do 7 days at Disney not including travel days (so 9 days total) in either September or October staying with 2 rooms at POFQ. Right now we are looking at 3 TS with the boys (Chef Mickey's, Raglan Road, and Biergarten) and then 2 TS for the adults (my cousin and I will be going to Victoria and Albert's and then my cousin and her hubby will take a "date" night at a restaurant of their choice).

I know this will be a much different trip then I am used to, but that is okay. It will be about the boys and what they want to do plus some fun thrown in for their parents. I saw you did MNSSHP. Did your son like that? My cousin's hubby is a HUGE Halloween fan so I thought about trying to fit that in maybe.

My sister and her husband have chosen not to have kids either and I am glad that they got to share in the experience with us . We did do the party and while we all had a good time I sort of had mixed feelings. It was SOOOO hot and DH and I were sweating in our costumes the whole night. Even though we took a break day that day and just rested at the resort DS still fell asleep pretty early (he made it through only half the Halloween fireworks, but he he's only 2), and a lot of the stuff he wanted to do was stuff we could have done any time (we wasted a half hour in line to see Buzz Lightyear. But he did LOVE the dance parties with the characters. Dancing with Mike Wazowski and Woody really made his night. It WAS really fun to dress up and see all the costumes.

Okay, I am absolutely in tears after watching your video. To be fair, I'm in the middle of the three-month-post-birth hormone flush so eeeeverything seems to be making me cry , but seriously...beautiful video. Your sweet little boy shares so many facial qualities to my little one that I swear it made me feel like I was looking at my wee baby boy grown up and at Disney. It makes me both want to hurry up for him to reach that age to take him to WDW, while at the same time wanting to slow the clock and take in every single second. He just rolled over for the first time today. I can't believe some day soon he will be just like your little one, running, jumping and laughing through Disney. Thank you so much for sharing.

Aww, I cry when I watch it too (a lot of sweet photos and videos on the DIS have made me cry!). And I am glad it has gotten you excited about going with your DS someday, you will truly have a blast.

And the best part- we brought home a little souvenir that will be joining our family this July Now I have to start planning his or her 2nd birthday trip

 

[kiddisney]

we so agree - we took our oldest at 18months - and every two years afterwards - there are so many new adventures as they grow - and our memories are unforgettable - hope you continue making memories