Will she be scared of everything at WDW??

[Picabo]

DD is about 21mos old right now and when we go to WDW in Dec, she will be 2 1/2. My older daughter (3) is fearless.... but my younger one is definately a "Momma's girl" and much more intimidated. She is scared even of the horses on the carousel at the local mall! (She's ok if we're in the t-cup part of the carousel or on the bench seat but she will NOT sit on those horses!) We took her to a huge, HUGE park today and she was afraid of many of the playground things there that move. If it's stationary, she was ok. But she didn't like the things that bounced (springy things...) and also refused to go on the slides. (Even baby slides!)

Now I will say that at Chuck E Cheese a few weeks ago she did just fine. She was a bit scared of Chuck E at first, but did fine after a few minutes.

My total fear is that she will be terrified of EVERYTHING at Disney and one of us will end up sitting out on all the rides with her...and it'll slow us down. Am I making a huge mistake taking her at age 2 1/2? Or won't it matter what age? Anyone else have a kid like this and if so, how'd they do at WDW???

THANKS!

 

[mom2meiko]

there really is no way to know until you get there unfortunately and at her age, she is going to change so much before you go - it seems like my dd changes every day! we're taking her at 2.5 yrs as well and are hoping she won't be afraid of everything. if she is, we'll find a way to deal with it - somehow!

one thing we are doing in advance is showing her a lot of pictures and videos of wdw so that things are slightly more familiar to her - hopefully that will help. we're also going with another family w/ older kids and she loves to do what the older kids do so hopefully they will be able to help as well - as long as they aren't afraid! lol!

good luck!!!

 

[soccerchick]

Start brainwashing.

"You LOVE Mickey. Mickey is so nice. Goofy is so funny. When you meet him, shake his hand. Which dress do you think Belle will wear? Oh, my favorite rides are Peter Pan and It's a Small World. What do you think your favorites will be?"

Do all the tame rides first if she is still reluctant. December is still a long way away in toddler time.

 

[brymolmom]

One of my best WDW scrapbook pages is from when dd was just over 1 and we were at Crystal Palace. She was fine when the characters were in the distance -but when they got up close - she SCREAMED at them! It was rather humorous. I clicked lots of pics and have a 'Don't Cry For Me' scrapbook page as the result. It is one of my favorites.

She's 5 now and still not a HUGE fan of characters - she likes them and in certain moods will get in pictures with them, but not always.

Keep the camera handy!!! And just go with the flow...

 

[Picabo]

I think I'm more worried about rides than about the characters. Now truth be told, I'll be sad if I can't get any pix of her WITH the characters but as someone said - I'll go wtih the flow and if nothing else those will make great keepsake photos as well. haha Inface when I was a kid I grew up near Disney and my parents had plenty of photos of me refusing to even LOOK at the characters!

But it's the rides - my tour plan will get all screwed up if we have to take turns going on EVERY ride so one sits out with her!

 

[erin327]

I am wondering the same thing. We leave in 2 weeks! My daughter is 21 (almost 22) months old. She is pretty afraid of a lot of things. As I look over our touring plans, everything I come to I think "she might be afraid of that". I am just hoping she won't be afraid of EVERYTHING. Sorry I can't offer any real advice yet, but I am wondering the same thing.

 

[DISNEYNV]

She might surprise you! Many of the rides that a two year old can do are family friendly! Which means you can sit her in your lap or ride with her to ease her fear. We took DS at thirteen months and he loved all the rides Even the Pirates of the Carribean and Haunted Mansion! I would start slow. Say Small World or Dumbo. They are each pretty tame. If she dies well with those then try Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan. I would skip Snow White and Pirates if she doesn't like the dark. I have heard of parents bringing a small flashlight on the dark rides. Just act upbeat and say"lWhee!" And "This is fun" while on the rides to ease her fear. Don't make a big deal about her possibly being scared because she might pick up that there might be something to be afraid of before she even gets on! Chances are she will be fine. If not there is so much more to see and do for the little ones. Don't be too dissapointed. She is just an overly cautious child and might need some reasurrance that all will be fine, hence the easy going rides first to ease her into the ride thing! Good luck and have fun

 

[ScotsMinnie]

My advice after taking my 2 year old last year is to ignore their jitters in the ride queue. My DD started saying she was not going on and I just ignored her and acted like it was no big deal and so exciting. If you make a fuss and acknowledge it then you are almost justifying it. If she said "Its too scary" I just said "don't be silly - its fun" and went ahead with her. We sang songs and played a spotting game in the line to stop her thinking too much about it.

That said I didn't take her on anything that I thought would scare her. I left out Snow White for sure! Actually she ended up loving it as I didn't take her on anything I thought would scare her. The one thing she was a bit scared of was Philharmagic. Just a bit intense so might be best to judge that one when you are there.

Good luck. My DD had an amazing holiday and I'm sure you will too.

Don't forget that when you baby swap on the things she is scared of that your older DD can ride twice. Once with the first adult and once with the second. My elder DD loved that one!!!

 

[Laurabearz]

I would stick with Princess Meals, they tend to be less scary.

If she is scared, maybe get her a special light thingy (we did fiber optic wands) that she can light up anytime she is scared... Something like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/Fiber-Optic-Wand-Light-Stick-LED-Party-Favors_W0QQitemZ250375096250QQcmdZViewItemQQptZElectronic_Toys?hash=item250375096250&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A15|39%3A1|240%3A1318

they were pretty enough to be novel to the girls but not bright enough to bother other riders...

And if she does freak out (((hugs))) sometimes that is how it is

 

[njziggy]

I had my guys watch one of the Disney sing-a-long tapes that traveled through Disneyland park. This way they got to know the characters& some of the theming. It's funny that they still remember the songs and sing them at WDW even thought they watched it over 10 years ago. Also, kids do better when they know what is going to happen. If you think something might be scary for them (ex/ ghouls popping out from behind headstones) & let them know about it. We made up a game of who could find the ghouls before they popped up. If all else fails- I always told my kids they could always close their eyes. Have a great trip.

 

[KJ and Crew]

We just got back end of Feb. IMO, it's not the age it's the personality type. I saw 1-2year olds on rides I couldn't take my 5 year on... The PP's are right about bringing a light source, and I would add that forcing a ride your DD might hate can really make it worse. Respecting her boundaries and making her feel loved and secure may help build trust.

OK, OK, so I admit on our very first ride of the trip I carried my 5 year old (slightly kicking) on to SpaceShip Earth b/c I just KNEW he had to see he was freakin' out for nothing. He was fine, but in hindsight, I should've started with Nemo!

He loved it, and made us ride it 4 times. There is a scary fish that jumps out to chomp Marlin, but we covered his eyes and he was OK. The sharks didn't do anything, so no problem.

JIYI startled all of us with a huge blast of wind in our faces combined with a loud noise... Thankfully, he let this go, but I didn't appreciate it, personally!

SHOWS: Muppets 4-D is perfect, we avoided HISK 3D (DHS) and IBL 3D (in AK) b/c of past TR. Fantasmic scared the heck out of him, so he burried his face and I held him so he couldn't see it. I was prepared for this, thanks to the DIS! Fantasmic is very intimidating to a child with even a slight sensitivity. Brave little kids won't mind it at all (my DS8 and DD7 love it).

By the end of the trip, we had carefully avoided the rides we knew were a no-no (Stitch, HM, SW) and he even rode Soarin' and loved it!!! He tried BTMR, although he really didn't like the dark caves and kept asking when it would be over! Oops! Wouldn't try TT b/c it was too loud...

At the start, I felt I was missing out on more than DH, but once we figured out how to swap it got much better. I love one of the PP's ideas of showing her the rides, pictures, and a video to help prepare her for the sights.

Have a great trip, and remember she will find moments of joy in places designed just for her: Pooh's Playful Spot, the PG at MTT, and areas perfect for little princesses! WDW has something for everyone!

 

[trennr]

I believe she will be fine as long as you or your DH is riding right beside her...maybe you'll miss Dumbo and Cinderella's Carousel...or Aladdin's Carpets.
Start off with something lite like "it's a small world" or the Teacups...then maybe Peter Pan or Pooh.

 

[ScrapperBelle]

We took our grandaughter last May (she was 14 mos. old). A lot of people kept telling us to wait at least another year. I'm so glad we didn't! At first she was a little 'shy' around the characters. The only time they made her cry, she was in desperate need of a nap. None of the rides or shows she experienced scared her.

Now, she's 2 and very "jumpy". We will be waiting until she gets through this stage before we think about the next trip. I don't think she would enjoy very many rides/shows now. She has also started some sort of 'screaming' thing. I attribute it to the terrible twos. She will be perfectly fine and just start screaming for no reason. I'm not about to share those episodes with my fellow vacationers. If it weren't for the screaming thing, I would be ok with taking her. We would just know going into it that we would have to sit some things out, spend a lot of time at the hotel pool, playground, that sort of thing. Character meals would be out. We could live with those things...but this screaming thing is just not ok for public situations with me.

Hopefully, she will outgrow this stage shortly and we will be able to plan another trip with her.