3-day adventure with a 2.5-year-old

[daoVinci]

We're planning a trip for early November '04. My wife and I have been several times, but this is our first trip with our son, who will be two-and-a-half. I've got the Birnbaum's guide, but would love to hear about any first-hand stories from other parents of little one's out there.

What's a must, what's a bust and what should we definitely plan for?

 

[daoVinci]

Oh, and we're staying at Pop Century...so bring on your stories about this resort as well!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Hi there, sound like fun. I am kind of an expert at this (with only one kid, next year I will have two (due Aug 2004) and that I hear is an whole other stroy. :lol:

Ok our DD is now 33 months old. We just got home from her 4th trip to WDW. We went when she was 9 months old. When she was 23 months old we got Annual passes, returned Aug 2003 when she was 2 1/2 then again last week.

We have created a monster.

Our last trip we took friends with a son her age, it was their 1st trirp. Check out my trip report, I will try to gear it more towards what it was like with 2 pre-schoolers.


Ok for advice. MK is great. So much to do, perfect for kids that age. Hit Fantasy land early and leave when it gets busy (12:00 or sooner.) Don't miss toon town (there is a great play area there.) Also Tom Sawer Island is great when the park gets busy, lots of places to run and play. Start off slow with rides and build your way up, based on your kids recation. We alway start with Dumbo. It is a tradtion. Use fast pass. Don't want in line with a child that age if you can avoid it. (espcailly for Pooh and Peter Pan) Don't forget there is tons to do in the rest of MK also. TTA is wonderful!!! My DD favorite ride.

While MK is great, don't miss the other parks, they each has fun stuff for young kids. Also if it is warm do a water park. Blizard Beach is best for young kids. It really is ton of fun. I can list the most sees later if you want.

Get a good stroller that folds up well. We like our combi Tavel savey Dx, but there are cheaper light weight ones that also work well.

Buy a light spinner and a auto grapgh book. It helps to break the ice and give the kids something to do. It also gives them a good reason to interact with the charcters (face ones are less scary at 1st.)

Get the sing along viedos that have park footage in it. Our DD loves it. We just got the AK one, and it really is rather good. (you can get it a amazone.com for 10$, the rest are cheaper and are at target and Toys R Us.

I have tons more advice, pm me if you want.

My only problem now is DD wants to go back and our next trips isn't until March 2005 or later (depending on how things are going with the new baby.)

 

[vanryan]

Wow DisneyPhd I am jealous of your track record!

My dh and I have made 2 trips with our little ones. We will be back during April with our 3 kids, our littlest who is also 2.5. Here are my additions:

Honey Pot Ride and Crystal Palace Pooh and Friends character meal. If you have the Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh video it is a great prep for these. I agree with DisneyPhd about the sing-a-long videos with character and park footage.

We are going to go to the barbershop for a hair cut and some pixie dust. Our son is infatuated with lights so Spectromagic will be a must for us.

AK is so much fun for little ones. Take the train to Rafiki's planet watch. The ride will be fun for a 2.5 yr old, and there is a petting zoo. There is so much hiking and animal viewing there it is a definite sure thing. When he gets hot or overstimulated go to the boneyard. They have a huge bone playground and there is a walk way to a Disney sized sand box that has dinosaur toys and bones buried. The sand is more like very fine colored gravel so it just brushes off, it's not sticky and annoying like regular sand. We did a character breakfast a Donald's restaurontasaurus (sp?) and entered the park early, which was great. That is a nice character meal.

 

[MouseMadness]

I didn't see It's a Small World mentioned in the must see attractions! A definite must for us. We're taking our sixth trip in 15 days (have I mentioned it today?) 15 days! with my *takes deep breath* 9 year old, 6 year old, 4 year old and nearly 2 year old, who will in fact HAVE her 2 year birthday while we're there! The little ones have ALWAYS loved Small World! The colors and lights and yes, that damnable song... EVERYTHING! TTA is fun for them, too, just to cruise around up there above everything, it's just a silly fun way to pass some time. Winnie the Pooh, DEFINITELY! They've always liked Epcot, too, believe it or not. Particularly at night, the lights in the sidewalks, and the music. I'm always surprised at how much they REALLY take in. People don't give little ones enough credit most times, I don't think. My husband and I took the four of them ourselves last October, and we only had 4 days, too. We decided to skip MGM. Not enough we could all do together. I know i'm really just reiterating what's been said before, but I just need to chatter to somebody... I'm so excited! :sohappy: :wave:

 

[vanryan]

Yeah!! A birthday at Disney! I am so excited for you!!! I read in Birnbaums that if you go to Guest services at the entrance to MK and get a "It's myBirthday" button good things will happen to you! Have a magical time, I know that sounds so corny, but I really mean it.

Also, I completely forgot It's a Small World, we love that. No matter what compaints people have about the song!

 

[frazierle]

Don't forget MGM - Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Muppets 3D. This is actually my kids second favorite park. My kids are now 7 and 4 but we have been going a few times a year since the youngest turned 1. Although folks may disagree, I've taken the approach of going at the kids pace, do what they want to do. You may need to guide them, but if they want to ride Small World twice - let them. You want them to enjoy it also. We have had trips where we spent the whole week at Magic Kingdom and MGM - not stepping foot in the other parks. There were things I wanted to see at the other parks, but in the end watching your kids dancing on Mainstreet singing songs you then realize what the magic is all about.

 

[vanryan]

That's a great point. Our first trip we had only 2 kids and they were 3 and 5. I had planned to go to MGM on our last day. They wanted to go back to MK and do all the same rides they had done before. We did go, and they loved it. I thought why show them something brand new and risk them remembering how they didn't get to go back to the hunny pots? Of course at 2.5 you have an easier customer to please!