Disney with toddlers

Doubletrouble12 · May 2014

We are going to Disney World in September.

Any advice on going with two almost two year olds?

Any must sees at Disney or travel advice?

TIA

spikeinc · May 2014

We were just there with our 16 month old. She wasn't so interested in the parks themselves nor the rides for the most part. It was 90 degrees when we were there two weeks ago so after the first day, we spent the hottest part of the rest of the days at our resort pool. She loved that.

She loved the character breakfasts as she was able to recognize most of them since we had her watch a lot of Disney Junior. Make sure to book them ahead of time. Get one in the Magic Kingdom before they open the park and you can be there before the rest of the crowds if you have a first open reservation time. She also LOVED the Disney Junior show at the Hollywood Studios. That was our favorite moment with her since she smiled and danced the whole time. She also liked the teacups ride and the splash station at the Casey Junior circus area.

If you can afford to get a room at one of the hotels on the monorail line, I highly recommend it with two toddlers. You don't have to fold your stroller on the monorail and it makes it so much easier when you have to come back for nap time. It would definitely be worth the extra money imho to save the nearly hour to an hour and a half on busses to the other resorts.

Disney also has babysitters that come to your room. I highly recommend this! You can go out to super nice dinners with your H or just go to the parks in the cool evening hours and do whatever you want. It was the break we needed. They are all checked out with the same thorough background checks that they use to hire the personnel at the Disney parks and then even more so since they work with kids. The one we used was kidsniteout.com. We had the same woman Dee for all three nights and she was wonderful. They don't bathe your children. We just made sure we got her bathed early if we left earlier than dinner time. HAVE FUN!

Doubletrouble12 · May 2014

Thanks for the tips!! We are really excited about our trip. I will definitely check out the Disney Junior show.

LSU628 · May 2014

My DD was 2 1/2 when we went. Most of the rides terrified her b/c they were so loud. She enjoyed the outside ones like the Dumbo ride, teacups, etc. that weren't dark and enclosed. She had the best time just wandering around finding the characters. Epcot was great for a lot of character encounters that weren't very crowded. DItto the character dinners. We did the Chef Mickey one and DD almost lost her mind she was so excited. Chef Mickey is the more traditional Disney crew- Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey- the ones that our LOs would recognize from MM Clubhouse. If possible, make your dinner reservations ahead of time. We liked the Coral Reef restaurant in Epcot- the aquarium kept DD and my nephews entertained. Some of the other sit down dinners are kind of long and slow for a kid. The restaurant we went to in Italy was good, but the dinner ended up being about 2 hours. That's a long time for a kid to sit still and behave.

baloneydisc · May 2014

When DD was 23mo we went to Magic Kingdom for a couple of days. She didn't really care about looking around the park, she loved the parade, the show we watched & meeting the characters. She did like the rides, we only did a few of the "track" type rides (Small World, The Little Mermaid, Winnie the Pooh, those type things). We went in December, but it was very hot, we spent a day at Downtown Disney and had to find the fountain to let her cool off. I would also bring lots of snacks. DD is pretty picky and was too distracted to eat most places, but if we sat on a bench away from the "action" she would eat fruit and sandwiches.

ThatWasAHoot · May 2014

We just went with our kids. They loved it! We went to the parks in the morning and returned to our resort for naps/pool. Then we'd go out again in the late afternoon. Our son could have skipped his nap, but the baby refused to sleep in the stroller. She was too busy looking at everything and pointing at "dat!"
We went to Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace for character meals. Chef Mickey's is in The Contemporary Resort and has the classic characters, which both of my kids really loved. And Crystal Palace is in Magic Kingdom and has Winnie The Pooh characters. The baby especially loved this! She kept yelling "mine!" and pointing at the characters.
They loved It's A Small World a lot and the Disney Junior show in Hollywood Studios. Must-do's for the little ones!
Also, if your baby is afraid of loud noises but you want to see fireworks, you can watch the ones from Magic Kingdom at the Polynesian beach area.

myjohnsonboys · May 2014

Has anyone done Sea World with a toddler? Also I am thinking of staying at The Walt Disney Swan for our stay has anyone stayed at this property?

LSU628 · May 2014

myjohnsonboys said:

Has anyone done Sea World with a toddler? Also I am thinking of staying at The Walt Disney Swan for our stay has anyone stayed at this property?

We did Sea World with my DD right around 12 mo. She enjoyed it, but not enough for the ridiculous ticket prices. She could have cared less about the Shamu show, but did really enjoy watching the dolphins swim around in their enclosure. They were big enough and active enough to keep her attention. We used our credit card miles to pay for the tickets, but I don't think I'd do Sea World again until she was much, much older, if ever after watching Black Fish.

mhickey426 · June 2014

We just went with our dd and 2 nieces (6 and 2). The 2yr old was hit or miss but my dd loved it. My DH found a great website Strollersandgroceries.com. We rented a double stroller which was in terrific shape. We also ordered juice, milk, snacks and other stuff. It was all brought to the hotel. It was cheaper and easier then buying it all at the parks or hotel or bringing it from home.

If you want to go to restaurants for dinner I suggest reservations and soon. Places fill up quick and you don't want to get stuck trying to find a place with the kids.

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Disney with toddlers

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