What it's like taking a toddler to Disney ?

[Lilohulagirl]

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Hey everyone, I apologise if this has been posted before.
As some of you may know me and my husband are taking our then 17mth old to DLRP in Dec. And this will be our first trip there as a family.
How different will it be. I am always planning ahead and running round non-stop trying to take in as much as I can.
I know it wont be like that I want my daughter to enjoy as much as she can.
Whenever we go I never feel I have taken enough photos. So I want to take my time.
How different was it. And how did you plan. And did you get whole milk out there ? Is it a different taste ?
I've got 4 days there and 2 of them are travelling on the eurostar. Im guessing we would try the baby switch when she takes her nap if she does lol
Loving this site. Im spending more and more time on here !

Many Thanks​

 

[cap'njack.]

It is absolutly amazing!

I have just come back from DLRP having taken Kacee my 18 month old little monkey with me. See the links in my signature for the trip report.

You can buy baby milk from the shop next to the Train Station where the Eurostar arrives for 96cents per bottle (about 12oz)

You will have a brilliant time and you toddler will love it. Here are a few tips for you:

1) Make use of Extra Magic Hours in the morning to get Fantasyland rides done, you will do more in these two hours than the rest of the day trust me!

2) Take baby reigns for use on the water rides, you don't want the little toddler falling in!!

3) Try Phantom Mannor, I thought Kacee would hate it but it was one of his favorate ride's

4) Make sure to catch the character express at the times printed on the programme

5) They have a character dance and sing along at 4pm at the Disneyland Hotel, you child should love this.

6) In the studios try Cars, Flying Carpets and the Studio Tram Tours also this seemed to be the place for meeting characters while we were there. Mickey has a meet and greet from 10am and it was dead everyday at 10am.

7) They will provide a travel cot for you in any Disney Hotel this may save you some space.

8) If you toddler loves to walk, they will adore Alice's Curious Labrynth!!

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to PM me if you need anything else!

 

[sunbeam03]

Thanks I found that useful, we are off in less than a week with a 15month old. Thankfully he is really confident and steady on his feet and fears nothing!!

 

[cap'njack.]

Thanks I found that useful, we are off in less than a week with a 15month old. Thankfully he is really confident and steady on his feet and fears nothing!!

Sounds just like Kacce!

Be prepared for multiple goes on Cars, Dumbo, Teacups, Orbitron and Flying Carpets over Agrabah. Basically anything that spins round quite fast. They love it!

Oh and if they don't like a ride the 1st time, try again the next day. I know this sounds slightly cruel but Kacee hated Pirates and Buzz the 1st time we did them but Pirates turned into one of his favorates and on the 2nd to last day he asked to do Buzz three times in a row!!

 

[claireybella]

i think there should be a sticky post on this forum covering the basics of disney with toddlers coz its so difficult coz they not quite babies and nor kids so they dont want to be pushed in a pushchair all the time like babies nor are they the right age to go on the bigger rides like the kids its like trying to find the happy medium place lol

 

[cap'njack.]

i think there should be a sticky post on this forum covering the basics of disney with toddlers coz its so difficult coz they not quite babies and nor kids so they dont want to be pushed in a pushchair all the time like babies nor are they the right age to go on the bigger rides like the kids its like trying to find the happy medium place lol

How odd! I've just PM'd one of the moderators requesting if this is possible or not!

 

[claireybella]

lol great minds think alike.. well im going to disney on the 28th of this month and im more than happy to do a trip report based on having a toddler and toddler ideas/hints/tips etc photos etc

 

[Cyrano]

We've never done the baby switch since we have never liked the thought of making a child queue up for a ride that they cannot go on or would be afraid to try
But what we have done is allow the children to set the pace. You will see DLP through the eyes of a child. You will marvel at the horses on Main Street. Want to queue for characters that previously you would have rushed past for the next thrill attraction.
As others have said Fantasyland will become your land of choice

 

[PJackson]

My kids are a bit out of your age group (3.5 years and also 5 months baby) but I agree about EMH - make the most of the rides on FL then as you don't want to have to queue for hours for Peter Pan when you can pretty much walk on once or even twice first thing!

Take your own pushchairs as the hire ones are hideous for a baby - don't recline for them to have a nap and tbh just look uncomfortable. Would be OK for an older child just to save their legs I guess.

I found my 3.5 year old just go so excited about meeting characters and loved the parades. She was on Daddy's shoulders a lot for them and loads of characters came over to speak to her

Have a lovely time.

PS - don't know about the other hotels but in the DLH a lot of people just helped themselves to the milk from the cereal area for their kiddies beakers etc. If you were desperate I suppose you could fill two beakers (for how much they have) and put it in your mini bar in your room for the evening?? We didn't as DD1 doesn't have milk but it's worth a try if you are desperate and can't get it anywhere else...

 

[Samf1971]

Our little boy is 3, but as he has Autism, not sure how he's going to react to the whole experience - even the train ride there will be difficult as at the moment he's frightened of them (I know it seems a bit cruel to take the journey by train when we know he's frightened, but we're de-sensitising him at the moment and figure that he has to experience these things and get over them as you just can't shy away from things in life)

We're going to handle the trip by just taking one step at a time and getting him used to the characters rather than just expecting him to love them - especially when he's confronted by a 6 foot Pluto lol

I've been reading your TR with great interest Cap'n' as I was wanting to know how Kacee handled the characters as I would expect my DS to react in a similar way to a toddler of Kacee's age so that's helped a lot.

We're taking his buggy with us as it's a special needs one and also hope to get a pass for him to help with queuing.

Perhaps another type of thread for DLRP with Disability/Special Needs might be of use too

 

[mommy2ash]

i have just got back from my first trip and i have a 22 month old girl. i had planned to do so much but to be honest i didnt get what i wanted done and i didnt rush around from one thing to another. my dd set the pace and basically decided what we would do. luckily she enjoyed all the rides for her age and loved the characters. unfortunately she picked our holiday to be the time to boycott the buggy and spent the whole day walking on the reigns so we were going around at a leisurly pace. but after all is said and done i couldnt have enjoyed myself more than i did when i saw it all through my little girls eyes it really was magical.

also i so agree with doing emh they will be your best friend lol. we did the carosel like five times in a row my lil girl was in heaven

 

[Disney Princess Elli]

Hi I suggest doing baby swap - it's what my parents did with me! Also, you might want to take baby reins as she might get really excited when she sees the characters (especially Minnie Mouse!) and run towars them!

 

[Tillybud]

we took our daughter on her first trip in June 07 and she had her first birthday when we were there, we took her back in June this year the week after her second birthday and we were there last week and she's now 26 months.

Our first trip with her was just amazing but I took lots of nappies and tetrapacks of milk, she was on baby milk for longer than usual as she was prem but on her 2nd and 3rd trip I just used the milk from the hotel for her cereal (we took some weetabix with us) and we gave her a bottle on the morning just to fill her up a bit as she doesn't normally do breakfast at 7 am

Our little girl loves Dumbo, Flying Carpets, IASW, Teacups, Storybook Land, Casey Junior etc and it really was amazing to see the difference the last few months have made in terms of her confidence with the characters. When we were there in June she loved Mickey, Minnie etc but was shy of the princesses but this time she loved them all and was so excited when running over to see them to give them hugs and kisses. She also sang to Ariel which was a proud moment for mummy & daddy !!

On the eurostar we took an In the Night Garden Magazine which came with stickers and crayons and it kept her occupied which was a relief.

Think the idea of a permanent thread for hints and tips would be a great idea.