What did you appreciate for the first time through your toddler's eyes?

[kollerbear]

I'm a new mom, DD is one month old! I have lots of time to read the boards while she is nursing or sleeping on me (still too small for the baby ktan, says the pediatrician, but she doesn't sleep by herself during the day. Her eyes pop open within five minutes of being put down!) I keep thinking of how exciting our first trip will be! I was wondering-- when I read the boards, so many people say their trips with toddlers make them appreciate new things in the parks. Like, when I was a kid, my mom said I spent an hour watching flamingos. Or, my sister was obsessed with the koi pond in Japan and the fountain outside Journey to Imagination. What things did your toddlers love or notice that you had never noticed or spent time with before? (Sorry for the stilted grammar, I'm typing with one hand on my Kindle while baby sleeps, heavily, on my other arm. These are the days, right?)

 

[rer1972]

I have been to Magic Kingdom countless times at different ages, but only rode Dumbo once in all that time. The first time for my then DD1 now DD3.5 she rode Dumbo three times in a row. Looking back at her and my wife from the Dumbo in front of them was awesome. The huge smiles and laughs were something I won't forget. Heck we even had to ride Triceratops Spin three times when we visited AK.

We are going back in just over a week, and now her sister DD2 is getting her first trip to WDW.

 

[mcjaco]

Mulch. Oh. My. God. Mulch. One of my boys spent hours at DHS just picking up the mulch in a planter and moving from one part to another!

 

[kollerbear]

Mulch. Oh. My. God. Mulch. One of my boys spent hours at DHS just picking up the mulch in a planter and moving from one part to another!

Never in a million years would I have expected that response. That is too funny!

 

[kollerbear]

I have been to Magic Kingdom countless times at different ages, but only rode Dumbo once in all that time. The first time for my then DD1 now DD3.5 she rode Dumbo three times in a row. Looking back at her and my wife from the Dumbo in front of them was awesome. The huge smiles and laughs were something I won't forget. Heck we even had to ride Triceratops Spin three times when we visited AK.

We are going back in just over a week, and now her sister DD2 is getting her first trip to WDW.

That's so sweet, what a great memory. I don't think I've done Dumbo since I was 18 months old!

 

[BabiesDaddy]

The way my toddler girls were at CRT and at other character interactions, was really special to me. To them, that was really the Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White, etc. The way they got excited seeing Mickey,Pluto and other characters at Chef Mickeys, melted my heart.

 

[kayemgi]

The little tucked away corners. I always thought I appreciated them, but I didn't really until I had a walking 14-month old eager to burn off her energy! We spent many ours in the fenced-in FP+ areas in front of Cinderella Castle, in little-traversed areas of the World Showcase, and many other little nooks and crannies in the parks. I feel like I know the parks even better now!

 

[mizzoutiger76]

We took our 20-month old in March. He also played with the mulch, he LOVED the ducks, but we also couldn't get him off the carousel. We went at least 30 times during the span of our 7 day trip. It took a little bit of coaxing to get him on a horse without being scared, but after that first ride, it was all over.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

My DS9's first trip to Disney he was 3. We were staying off site and at that time he really didn't know much about Disney. Hes on the spectrum and also has ADHD so at that point in his life to sit through a whole Disney movie was very very hard. He didn't know any of the characters either. The only character he knew was Tigger, bc when he was 6 months old I bought him a BUNCH of stuffed animals put them in his crib and let him choose who he would love. He picked Tigger out of all of them. Anyways since that was the only character he knew I booked a breakfast at Crystal Palace. We saw Piglet, then Eeyore, then Pooh, but Tigger was the last to see. My son was also working on potty training at that time and he said he had to go (seriously? it was right before Tigger was due to come to our table), but I had to take him. We ran to the potty and he quickly did his business and he ran back to the table, only to find out that he missed Tigger! He was heartbroken! Then our waiter asked if we saw everyone and we told him what had happened. The waiter arranged a little private meet with Tigger, my son was on cloud 9! His eyes lit up like christmas morning, lol...to this day Crystal Palace will always have a special place in my heart because of that. Tigger will always have a special place in our heart as well and we always make reservations to Crystal Palace and sometimes even breakfast at 1900 Park fare...my kids just LOVE tigger!

 

[scdak]

The bugs on the ceiling of Pizzafari..........in all my years going there to eat I never looked up by my 18 month old nephew saw them and chattered to me about it for a long time!

 

[mrsabbott]

When my DD was about 2 1/2, we went to Disney. Someone handed her a plastic magic wand outside of Cinderella's castle. To her, that wand was MAGIC! Especially during the fireworks and she waved it and BOOM!! The fireworks exploded! Her eyes got huge and she says, "Did you see me?!?! Did you SEE me?!" We love fireworks, but never had we viewed them with such wonder and amazement!

 

[Hessie628]

We took my 2yo DD in December. She still talks about the tea cups and the mouse that pops out of the teapot in the middle. I don't do well on that ride, but her love of it and "Mousey" is worth it. She loves the parades too. Her excitement about the characters waving to her was too cute.

 

[ladybug0506]

The "snow" on Main Street during MVMCP. I will never, ever forget him jumping up and down dancing in it and squealing. Also, his interaction with the characters. We have the best most precious picture of Chip and Dale tickling him and he was just laughing hysterically. Also, we met Aladdin and Abu during a day at the parks but didn't get a chance to meet Genie and Jasmine until the party. Genie and Jasmine were going to take a break right after my son was done visiting with them and Aladdin and Abu walked up. Aladdin looked at my son and said "Aww, it's Carter! I remember you from the other day!" and then turned to Genie and Abu and says "Carter is the coolest little dude!". It seriously touched my heart that a couple of days later and who knows how many meet and greets, Aladdin remembered my sweet 2 1/2 year old little boy. We were able to get a picture with all 4 characters and got some extra time with each of them. Carter was literally beaming the rest of the night and he literally still talks about when he got to meet the foursome and now he is 5 1/2 We are taking him and his sister (2 1/2) this fall and I am SO excited to see the memories we will make with the two of them.

 

[keepswimming76]

Mulch. Oh. My. God. Mulch. One of my boys spent hours at DHS just picking up the mulch in a planter and moving from one part to another!

My kids are now 9 and 6 and I still can't keep them away from playing with mulch. I don't quite understand it's appeal!

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

The joy of meeting the characters. My daughter (14 months at the time ) was thrilled to meet Mickey and friends and the Winnie the Pooh characters. She had the biggest smile on her face and would loudly call their names in a high pitched squeak each time she saw one. That was my favorite memory from my last trip, seeing her so happy to meet her favorite characters.

 

[Caseheidi]

We always appreciated the details Disney does, but never fully appreciated them until our DD (19 months at the time) was fascinated with everywhere she walked. Have you ever noticed how often the ground changes at the parks. And the sparkly tikes at Epcot were so fascinating for her. We noticed so many details that are knee level and below for us that we never ever realized we're there. Noticing everything through the eyes of a small child really make it all new again.

 

[cbreg1]

My grandson was just 13 months old on his first trip to Disney World. So many fascinating things to see and do- one of the most intriguing things was the light up sidewalk tiles at Epcot. He spent almost every night looking forward to the walk on top of the sparkle. His happiness gave all the adults in our group an added sprinkle of pixie dust- to enjoy such a simple thing. Going back in September for his second trip- we are all excited to see the World through his eyes again.

 

[cjparker0110]

Mulch. Oh. My. God. Mulch. One of my boys spent hours at DHS just picking up the mulch in a planter and moving from one part to another!

Haha....I grew up in an area that put mulch down all over the place to help it look "beautiful" I guess. I never thought twice about the stuff. But I remember one of my cousins visiting and being obsessed with it. He literally would not leave it alone. Weirdest thing ever.

 

[cjparker0110]

I haven't been with my kids yet (next year) but we have watched a couple of videos on youtube and they get excited about so many little things. I was always pretty much driven by rides and not by characters. I did like seeing Mickey or Donald as a kid, but never was overly crazy about it. We did a character breakfast on our trips and got that out of the way. But my kids freak out (in a good way) every time they see a character on a video. Another thing is the music. We all know how important music is. Growing up, i never really thought about how important music is to the ride experience (though I knew its important in movies and such). We watched a POV video of Splash Mountain (because my wife was worried it would be a terrible ride) and my daughter started picking up on the song. She asked me to play the video a couple of times so I did. A few minutes later she was at the piano trying to figure it out (she's 5 with no lessons yet). I was just blown away. When I asked her about it she said that if she could play it she would be able to remember the scenes from the ride in her head! Awesome. BTW...I'm planning to start teaching her piano VERY soon since she obviously has a natural inclination to it.

 

[Tina Martin]

My DD (not a toddler, but..) had just turned 4 when my DH and I took her to WDW - it was the first time for all of us. When we drove under the WDW sign, my DD lost her mind with excitement. I cried because she was so happy and because she and I got to see it all for the first time together! Every moment of the trip brought tears to my eyes - checking in to POR and getting the scroll from Tiana, her first roller coaster, her first character encounter, her costume for the MNSSHP - literally every single moment. As someone with a 4th of July bday, fireworks have always been pretty cool, but nothing super special. When we watched the fireworks at MK and I saw the amazement in my DD's eyes, it was like watching fireworks for the first time. And you guessed it, I CRIED! A LOT!