A lot to ask, but...Help?

[lilmissy7789]

My husband, daughter (will be 2.5 when we go), and my parents are going to disney world Aug 20-24. We'll arrive before noon on the 20th & will leave early morning the 24th so Tues thru Saturday...
this is our 1st time with a little one.. She is taking 1 nap a day, approx 2-3 hours....She's not huge on the princesses, but she'd tolerate them, for sure! My LO Loves Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Vampirina, Mickey, Minnie & Donald Duck so meeting them is a must if we can make it happen! She is a VERY Busy little one, loves to go go go!!


With all that information if you were us, how would your day look?
So, is there any thing you would suggest we do for sure? Any fast passes we should try for 1st? She's never been on a "ride" but I think she'll love them!
Any info on taking a 2.5 year old is much needed & appreciated!

Thanks!!

 

[Dismama2boys]

We rope drop, and then end our day when the kids are “done”. Sometimes that’s 8pm, or 4pm, or noon. We have luck with stroller naps about 50% of the time, and the other times we leave. We plan fast passes for about 2 hours after the park opens, and add more if we stay later. If we return for a night time show, we take the next day off from the parks. That has worked best for us, and we have had exactly zero meltdowns.

 

[lilmissy7789]

We rope drop, and then end our day when the kids are “done”. Sometimes that’s 8pm, or 4pm, or noon. We have luck with stroller naps about 50% of the time, and the other times we leave. We plan fast passes for about 3 hours after the park opens, and add more if we stay later. If we return for a night time show, we take the next day off from the parks. That has worked best for us, and we have had exactly zero meltdowns.

Only plan fast passes for the AM... that's a good idea!! Would hate to miss one due to a cranky toddler!! yeah, stroller naps are hit or miss with us, we'll see what happens! I'm crossing my fingers she takes them!

 

[Dismama2boys]

Only plan fast passes for the AM... that's a good idea!! Would hate to miss one due to a cranky toddler!! yeah, stroller naps are hit or miss with us, we'll see what happens! I'm crossing my fingers she takes them!

Good luck!

 

[OpieDoodle]

I have taken kids at that age a couple times now and our next trip my youngest will be almost 2 so I feel your pain! Biggest advice I can give is plan everything in advance. Our last trip I had a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a newborn. We had a hard set rule, we left right at lunch or right after. We would go back to the room for a "chill", take naps, adults can shower if they want (it was really hot when we went so extra showers were great lol). We would hang out a couple hours to give the 2 year old a time to really sleep.

Keep in mind they'll get grumpier as the day goes on, so try not to do things they have to sit still and be quiet for example right before nap time. My goal was minimize waiting around, so I avoided big lines, utilized fast passes, went in right at open or used breakfasts to get in early rode as much as we could before the lines got bad and fast passed the rest of the morning, stopped for snacks and popcicles often, then just went back to relax. Usually we'd hang around the resort a few hours and go back for dinner time and then we'd ride some more and watch shows/parades/etc.

 

[OpieDoodle]

I also found that although stroller naps were great in a pinch they wouldn't sleep nearly as well as allocating a good nap time. When my 2 year old takes a GOOD nap he wakes up a whole new man happy as can be, it was always hit or miss with stroller naps. We even had times we did our "chill" session in the car in the park's parking lot!

 

[lilmissy7789]

I also found that although stroller naps were great in a pinch they wouldn't sleep nearly as well as allocating a good nap time. When my 2 year old takes a GOOD nap he wakes up a whole new man happy as can be, it was always hit or miss with stroller naps. We even had times we did our "chill" session in the car in the park's parking lot!

That's completely understandable -- stroller naps probably won't cut it for my little one either. She likes her bed! She won't even transfer from her carseat, on the rare occasion she sleeps in the car, we have to just drive around! haha. I also have to remember to slow down & not push her to do too much, it is very over stimulating for the little ones, i'm sure!!

 

[QueenIsabella]

Mine never napped in the stroller. Ever. Not one of them (I have four), not once. Not that I'm bitter! So, I'm hopeful for you, but it may not work. We always did mid-day breaks (but stayed longer). My recommendations are: stay flexible. You're smart to book fastpasses in the morning, so afternoon rides are gravy. Go with the flow. Be prepared for the unexpected. Some kids hate the furry characters. At that age, my older son had a whole technique to charm the princesses into giving him extra time and lipstick kisses--he'd pull this whole "shy" act, giving them just enough to keep them trying--it was hysterical. My younger son, at that age, absolutely loved Big Thunder--he was barely tall enough, but we rode 7 times in a row one time!

Take the time to see the parks through her eyes--soar with Dumbo, giggle at the ducks, literally stop and sniff the flowers. She will show you aspects of the parks that you never considered. Most important, know that you'll go back. It's not a race to get everything done in this one trip. You are not going to set any land-speed records, and that's okay.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Every kid is different. Our toddler is not an early riser, so we didn't get to the parks until 10-10:30, and we still had to wake him up to get going that early. We'd schedule our FP for 11, 12, and 1 and grab some quick service lunch somewhere in there as well. After that, we'd try to pick up more FP as well as hit up shows and any shorter lines. He fell asleep in his stroller usually around 3 or 4 and slept for a couple hours. We spent that time doing some grown up rides with rider swap. Going back to the hotel for naps would not have worked for us as he wouldn't have willingly taken a nap there. He hadn't been regularly been taking naps at home and is more of a spontaneous napper than one who will do it if you try to put him down. At Disney, he'd wake up around time for our dinner ADR, be nice and refreshed after a full belly, and we'd close the parks out. We got back to our resort anywhere between 10 and 1 am.

As for rides, again, every kid is different. Some kids are scared of the dark rides like Pirates and HM, but my son loved them. He fell asleep on Carousel and iasm, but many little ones love those. The Pooh ride is a big favorite amongst little ones, but the thunderstorm scared my guy. On the Theme Parks Board, there's a thread near the top about FP and it will tell you which rides in each park tend to have the longest lines (thus making them better choices to FP). Take a look at that and go from there. Also keep in mind that if you want to ride any of the bigger things without the little one, you can use Rider swap and it may make more sense to FP those rides as they generally will have longer standby waits than the majority of the rides the little one can go on.

Oh, and my VERY shy toddler who gets anxiety around strangers LOVED the fur characters but didn't care as much for the face ones. Some other toddlers are the opposite.

 

[OpieDoodle]

There was times on past trips with my older brothers kids that we got them to sleep and sleep well in the stroller. BUT the only way we did this was by finding a shady place and leaning them back and really letting them sleep. So not moving them around while I still was exploring the parks. This time in particular I was sitting on the ledge near the mad tea party ride, the rest of the group I was with went and rode rides and a couple of us hung out with the sleeping kids eating popcicles then we switched. So the adults still got to ride and the kids got good naps.

Midday breaks for us were the best tho. My kids are all pretty early risers. Heck I know I even napped a couple times when I went

 

[mkla2015]

Midday breaks are amazing! We have always planned for midday breaks during our trips- when the kids were little they would nap while DH and I got to relax. My kids don't nap anymore but we still take midday breaks most days to swim/relax/cool off. We always hit the parks in the morning, get our FP for 11, 12, 1 and then by 2pm we're leaving the parks heading back to the resort until 5-6pm.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

My husband, daughter (will be 2.5 when we go), and my parents are going to disney world Aug 20-24. We'll arrive before noon on the 20th & will leave early morning the 24th so Tues thru Saturday...
this is our 1st time with a little one.. She is taking 1 nap a day, approx 2-3 hours....She's not huge on the princesses, but she'd tolerate them, for sure! My LO Loves Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Vampirina, Mickey, Minnie & Donald Duck so meeting them is a must if we can make it happen! She is a VERY Busy little one, loves to go go go!!


With all that information if you were us, how would your day look?
So, is there any thing you would suggest we do for sure? Any fast passes we should try for 1st? She's never been on a "ride" but I think she'll love them!
Any info on taking a 2.5 year old is much needed & appreciated!

Thanks!!

with 18 month old grandson the worse day was the day we tried to do a room nap. fell asleep on way to room woke up as soon as bus stopped by time we got to room he screamed and I mean screamed for 2 hours no one on floor near us got any rest that day. by time we got to dinner Ressie he fell asleep and slept thru dinner where he would have been free and woke up an hour later hungry and we then had to buy him a counter serve kids meal. for the rest of week we tried stroller naps with no more melt downs

 

[stephk1981]

Both of my children have done much better if we go back to the room for nap time. It has helped us to keep them on their ' at home' schedule. We took DS( now 10) when he was 2, and have been on 5 trips with DD1.... No meltdowns at all. Three out of the five with DD1 I have done solo with just the kids and I. I keep the baby/ toddler on the schedule I do at home....which is: wake early, breakfast, head to park, do our fast passes plus maybe 1 ride. Get lunch at 11 am...go back to room and nap by 11:45 or noon. Wake by 1:45 or 2 pm, pool time then back to a park for a couple of rides/ dinner. In bed at the same 8 pm bedtime as home. We have missed all night time shows since DD has been born, but haven't had to deal with crying/ fits etc. I think it's worth it. We will pick night time shows back up after age 3 or so. Good luck, have a magical trip!

 

[Sarah H]

My husband, daughter (will be 2.5 when we go), and my parents are going to disney world Aug 20-24. We'll arrive before noon on the 20th & will leave early morning the 24th so Tues thru Saturday...
this is our 1st time with a little one.. She is taking 1 nap a day, approx 2-3 hours....She's not huge on the princesses, but she'd tolerate them, for sure! My LO Loves Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Vampirina, Mickey, Minnie & Donald Duck so meeting them is a must if we can make it happen! She is a VERY Busy little one, loves to go go go!!


With all that information if you were us, how would your day look?
So, is there any thing you would suggest we do for sure? Any fast passes we should try for 1st? She's never been on a "ride" but I think she'll love them!
Any info on taking a 2.5 year old is much needed & appreciated!

Thanks!!

Knowing her likes, you can get all of those characters knocked out in HS. I would do an EMH morning (if available during your schedule), hit Toy Story area and meet those characters and ride Midway Mania. Then head over to Animation Courtyard to meet Vampirina and Fancy Nancy, do the Disney Jr dance party, catch one of the shows Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, or The Little Mermaid. Finish off with a lunch at Hollywood and Vine so you can see Minnie, Mickey, and Daisy. After that you could go back to the room and rest either for the afternoon or take the rest of the day to rest and swim, maybe check out Disney Springs.

We found with a little, they wake up early anyway so you might as well roll with it on vacation. We would plan our day until lunch or shortly after, then we were able to play it by ear. Any must do's, except for night shows obviously, we did in that time frame. We also use our first day for Magic Kingdom since their patience for lines, and ours for whining will be the best.

 

[lilmissy7789]

Mine never napped in the stroller. Ever. Not one of them (I have four), not once. Not that I'm bitter! So, I'm hopeful for you, but it may not work. We always did mid-day breaks (but stayed longer). My recommendations are: stay flexible. You're smart to book fastpasses in the morning, so afternoon rides are gravy. Go with the flow. Be prepared for the unexpected. Some kids hate the furry characters. At that age, my older son had a whole technique to charm the princesses into giving him extra time and lipstick kisses--he'd pull this whole "shy" act, giving them just enough to keep them trying--it was hysterical. My younger son, at that age, absolutely loved Big Thunder--he was barely tall enough, but we rode 7 times in a row one time!

Take the time to see the parks through her eyes--soar with Dumbo, giggle at the ducks, literally stop and sniff the flowers. She will show you aspects of the parks that you never considered. Most important, know that you'll go back. It's not a race to get everything done in this one trip. You are not going to set any land-speed records, and that's okay.

Mine doesn't typically nap in the stroller but we always make it a point to be at home for nap time! I assume if she were tired enough she'd fall asleep, but I doubt it would be a "GOOD" nap. and that's worse than no nap sometimes!! I am definitely going to try and slow down, and let this trip be about her. I have to remember that I will be back, there will come a day I can ride the big rides again and go from dawn till dusk at the parks, but I do imagine that won't happen this trip and that's ok! I need to measure her before we go so I know how tall she is, because to be honest, right now I have no idea! I really appreciate your comment. lots of help! Always a good reminder to just slow down & enjoy it! Someone else told me to also take time to let her chase ducks and jump in puddles and know that that's her fun at disney & that's ok!

 

[lilmissy7789]

Every kid is different. Our toddler is not an early riser, so we didn't get to the parks until 10-10:30, and we still had to wake him up to get going that early. We'd schedule our FP for 11, 12, and 1 and grab some quick service lunch somewhere in there as well. After that, we'd try to pick up more FP as well as hit up shows and any shorter lines. He fell asleep in his stroller usually around 3 or 4 and slept for a couple hours. We spent that time doing some grown up rides with rider swap. Going back to the hotel for naps would not have worked for us as he wouldn't have willingly taken a nap there. He hadn't been regularly been taking naps at home and is more of a spontaneous napper than one who will do it if you try to put him down. At Disney, he'd wake up around time for our dinner ADR, be nice and refreshed after a full belly, and we'd close the parks out. We got back to our resort anywhere between 10 and 1 am.

As for rides, again, every kid is different. Some kids are scared of the dark rides like Pirates and HM, but my son loved them. He fell asleep on Carousel and iasm, but many little ones love those. The Pooh ride is a big favorite amongst little ones, but the thunderstorm scared my guy. On the Theme Parks Board, there's a thread near the top about FP and it will tell you which rides in each park tend to have the longest lines (thus making them better choices to FP). Take a look at that and go from there. Also keep in mind that if you want to ride any of the bigger things without the little one, you can use Rider swap and it may make more sense to FP those rides as they generally will have longer standby waits than the majority of the rides the little one can go on.

Oh, and my VERY shy toddler who gets anxiety around strangers LOVED the fur characters but didn't care as much for the face ones. Some other toddlers are the opposite.

Wow, sounds like you had a good trip! Great advice, thank you! I'm jealous your little likes to sleep!!! HAHA mine is up between 6-630 every morning without fail. Phew, rough stuff! I can't see "rope drop" being an issue for us! haha I'll definitely do some rider swap since my husband & I both love some of the bigger rides!! I can't wait. It's going to be a very interesting experience!

 

[lilmissy7789]

Knowing her likes, you can get all of those characters knocked out in HS. I would do an EMH morning (if available during your schedule), hit Toy Story area and meet those characters and ride Midway Mania. Then head over to Animation Courtyard to meet Vampirina and Fancy Nancy, do the Disney Jr dance party, catch one of the shows Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, or The Little Mermaid. Finish off with a lunch at Hollywood and Vine so you can see Minnie, Mickey, and Daisy. After that you could go back to the room and rest either for the afternoon or take the rest of the day to rest and swim, maybe check out Disney Springs.

We found with a little, they wake up early anyway so you might as well roll with it on vacation. We would plan our day until lunch or shortly after, then we were able to play it by ear. Any must do's, except for night shows obviously, we did in that time frame. We also use our first day for Magic Kingdom since their patience for lines, and ours for whining will be the best.

That sounds like the perfect day!!! Thanks so much!!