First Trip With a Child-Help!

Sam33

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Me and my mom were planning one more adults only trip for Mother’s Day this year which we have now rescheduled for obvious reasons. I felt like trying to recreate that trip with how perfect our reservations and fast passes were would just be depressing so we decided to invite my daughter! Which turned into adding my husband. And then grandpa decided he didn’t want to miss out :laughing:

I am an expert at planning trips for two adults so I’m looking forward to this challenge!
My daughter will be two (birthday is a couple weeks before our trip starts).
Aside from extra patience and breaks are there any tips for taking a child this age? Luckily we are easy-going touring people. We’re used to 3-4 hour resort breaks every day so getting good naps in won’t be much of a change.

I like to be ultra-prepared: anything we should pack that we normally wouldn’t think to take?
In your experience, what rides were their favorites?
What rides did they hate that you thought they would love?
I’ve heard this age can be fairly indifferent when it comes to rides but I’m hoping to get a feel for things.
Thanks for any help! I’m so excited to take her. We never planned on her first trip being so early but I think after everything that’s going on, watching her in Disney for the first time is something we will all need!
 
You know your kid. If your kid is the one who has to be talked onto the slide at the playground, you might be stuck on the carousel.

My 2.5 year old was always the smallest one on the biggest slide, and we ended up at Extra Magic Hours on Wednesday night. My 2 year old didn't have a chance of sitting still through fireworks. So between fireworks and the extra time, we felt like the place was ll ours. We rode Barnstormer six times in a row and were IN LOVE. Extra Magic Hours are great because all the little kid rides will just be walk on - Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, the Carousel. My 2 year old made it all the way to the end, and loved the night ambiance.

My 2 year old was indifferent to the characters, so that was a waste of money. Now, a three year old was a whole different story and we ponied up for some princess meals.
 
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My then 20 month old hated everything that moved, practically. Dumbo was never a scary ride until she tried to CLAW her way out of the flying elephant mid air. She didn't mind the living seas ride or frozen ever after. We just focused on characters (she loved fur characters and aside from Elsa/Anna wasn't thrilled with face characters). Honestly my in-laws slowed us down more than she did 🙄

Get take and toss sippies, so if you lose one or it needs to get thrown away, it's not the end of the world. PACK AN EXTRA CLEAN ONE. We got a smock like bib. Have the diapers delivered to the resort via amazon prime or something like that.
 
You know your kid. If your kid is the one who has to be talked onto the slide at the playground, you might be stuck on the carousel.

My 2.5 year old was always the smallest one on the biggest slide, and we ended up at Extra Magic Hours on Wednesday night. My 2 year old didn't have a chance of sitting still through fireworks. So between fireworks and the extra time, we felt like the place was ll ours. We rode Barnstormer six times in a row and were IN LOVE. Extra Magic Hours are great because all the little kid rides will just be walk on - Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, the Carousel. My 2 year old made it all the way to the end, and loved the night ambiance.

My 2 year old was indifferent to the characters, so that was a waste of money. Now, a three year old was a whole different story and we ponied up for some princess meals.
She’s pretty adventurous so I’m hoping she’ll at least let us try some rides! We decided no character meals this trip, though. I would hate to put up the cash for a character buffet to have her hate them! We’ll experiment with some of the characters with shorter lines and if she digs it maybe next trip we do something special.
thanks!
 
My then 20 month old hated everything that moved, practically. Dumbo was never a scary ride until she tried to CLAW her way out of the flying elephant mid air. She didn't mind the living seas ride or frozen ever after. We just focused on characters (she loved fur characters and aside from Elsa/Anna wasn't thrilled with face characters). Honestly my in-laws slowed us down more than she did 🙄

Get take and toss sippies, so if you lose one or it needs to get thrown away, it's not the end of the world. PACK AN EXTRA CLEAN ONE. We got a smock like bib. Have the diapers delivered to the resort via amazon prime or something like that.
Good call on amazon for diapers. I’ll probably try and get some of her favorite snacks delivered, too. Was currently imagining packed them all. They just deliver to the front desk and we pick it up? i think she’ll do ok with slow moving rides. I’m nervous for things like dumbo, like you said. Or even Peter Pan. I feel like I don’t have an equivalent experience to test her at home but she does well on actual boats.
I really think her favorite things might just be walking around and seeing new things so I’m glad we have so many extra people to watch her so some of us can get on some rides
 
Good call on amazon for diapers. I’ll probably try and get some of her favorite snacks delivered, too. Was currently imagining packed them all. They just deliver to the front desk and we pick it up? i think she’ll do ok with slow moving rides. I’m nervous for things like dumbo, like you said. Or even Peter Pan. I feel like I don’t have an equivalent experience to test her at home but she does well on actual boats.
I really think her favorite things might just be walking around and seeing new things so I’m glad we have so many extra people to watch her so some of us can get on some rides

An actual boat is more hazardous than Dumbo. Your kid might surprise you. Barnstormer was a surprise to me!
 
Good call on amazon for diapers. I’ll probably try and get some of her favorite snacks delivered, too. Was currently imagining packed them all. They just deliver to the front desk and we pick it up? i think she’ll do ok with slow moving rides. I’m nervous for things like dumbo, like you said. Or even Peter Pan. I feel like I don’t have an equivalent experience to test her at home but she does well on actual boats.
I really think her favorite things might just be walking around and seeing new things so I’m glad we have so many extra people to watch her so some of us can get on some rides

She hated everything...the picture from buzz lightyear's space ranger spin is her buried in my husband screaming. My MIL doesn't ride big rides, so for those we just left her with my MIL. We took her to a local theme park before she turned 3 and took her on a log flume ride, her reaction at the bottom "that was not a good idea". I wish I had bought the picture, she just looked so unenthused.
 


We took our DD to Disneyland right before she turned two. She was not overly adventurous, but she enjoyed lots of rides. Small World was her favorite. She also loved all characters, but you never know how that will go at that age!

Just be prepared to go at her pace, which it sounds like you are. Where will she sleep? Pack and play or bed? I always brought my own pack and play sheet and a light blanket. We still bring the kids’ blankets, actually. It helps them sleep away from home. Definitely bring a stroller, even if she likes to walk.
 
My DD was almost 2-1/2 her first trip. She loved most everything. Favs were Small World and the MSEP. She was a bit frightened of fireworks noise (but liked watch them) and Goofy. She loved all other characters. Every time we went in a restaurant, she fell asleep and slept through the meal. Be sure to bring snacks and be prepared to buy counter service to feed her when she is hungry.

A great help is the old Disney singalong video, “Disneyland Fun.” I think you can find it on YouTube or find a copy on eBay.
 
2 year olds are a mixed bag. I have been with both of my sons at age 2. They did well on all the rides, although at 2 I didn't attempt to take them on anything with a height restriction. My cousin's son, however, hated all dark rides. He freaked out in Pirates and every ride after that he didn't want any part of. My boys did fine with Pirates and HM, but I would save those for last so a bad experience can't ruin your trip. They weren't crazy over Dumbo but they didn't hate it. No screaming, but they were happy to be off. Regarding characters, neither loved characters at 2 although they liked watching them from far away. We had to tell all the characters at Tusker House to move along once :( My friend's son loved characters at age 2. You just never know. Bottom line, be prepared for anything! I had great trips with my boys at age 2.
 
My DD was almost 2-1/2 her first trip. She loved most everything. Favs were Small World and the MSEP. She was a bit frightened of fireworks noise (but liked watch them) and Goofy. She loved all other characters. Every time we went in a restaurant, she fell asleep and slept through the meal. Be sure to bring snacks and be prepared to buy counter service to feed her when she is hungry.

A great help is the old Disney singalong video, “Disneyland Fun.” I think you can find it on YouTube or find a copy on eBay.
Yes, the Disneyland Fun sing along is awesome! My son loved it at age 2. It should still be on YouTube. He watched it every night while I cooked dinner for...many months 😆
 
We "prepared" our 2-year old for her first trip by taking her to a local theme park, and she didn't like any of the rides. A month later, she rode every ride at Disney World she could and didn't bat an eye. Nemo and Dumbo were her favorites.

We pushed her too hard the first 2 days and paid for it with cranky nights, so we slowed way down for the rest of the trip and had an amazing time. Go with the flow, lower expectations, and have fun!
 
We took long walks in the stroller to prepare so our first day at Disney wouldn't be spent fighting her to ride instead of be carried. We trained like a marathon. 😂😂
 
My son was 22 months when we brought him. He didn't like rides at first, but by the end of the ride he usually liked them. We packed lots of snacks and had heavy sit down lunches. Those were great to give us a chance to sit down and cool off. Also, We usually hit the park right away in the morning (my kids are early risers) and would leave early evening and have dinner back at our condo. We knew once we left, it wouldn't be worth it to come back, so we dicided to just stay at one park until we were done. We did EPCOT, AK, then a day at the beach, then MK. This was a great way to split up the parks so they had more energy for MK after a more relaxing day.
 
Have breakfast in your room This way while you are getting ready the other can help the 2 yo eat and I am sure it will get done quicker then ordering food and finding a spot to eat. We do cereal, bagels, muffins, pop tarts, oatmeal, etc....

Go early, leave the Park for that good nap and return at dinner. We do non park days to catch up on sleep. I will say because of that good nap, I never heard my kids cry at night in the park. I remember my oldest and we were walking around the hub at MK before fireworks or right after and all you heard was moaning kids.

Each of my kids were different. Oldest was 15 mo. She hated the face characters but loved the others. My son, He was 22 months, he loved them all but clung to me liKe glue if we tried to take a picture. My youngest was 2 1/2 and she followed her almost 5 and 7 yo siblings where ever they went and who ever they met.
 

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