Disney with 2 year old

[TS8213]

Originally Posted by dancermommy1 How did you explain the rides so your kids weren't scared, before you got on? DS is just now where he'll ride a carousel without being afraid.

I can't think of any rides (except the roller coaster types) that parents couldn't go on with either a lap rider or a kid sitting right next to them. All the parks are really very family friendly.

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[babylove921]

Originally Posted by dancermommy1 How did you explain the rides so your kids weren't scared, before you got on? DS is just now where he'll ride a carousel without being afraid.

I would think it would be a waste of money. JMHO.

[TS8213]

Originally Posted by babylove921 I would think it would be a waste of money. JMHO.

Children under 3 are free, so it'd just be parent tickets ($95-ish/pp/day).

[babylove921]

Ohh.. I still don't think I would go till he's more capable of enjoying it. I won't be taking mine till at least 5/6.

[shanree]

My just turned 4 year old completely enjoyed our trip this year and he got to ride almost every ride in the parks. He rode Dinosaur, Splash Mountain, Test Track, Star Wars, and even Tower of Terror and LOVED them all. The only ones he was slightly too short for was Space Mountain, Everest, and Mission Space.
The baby even got to ride a ton of stuff!

[dancermommy1]

Originally Posted by babylove921 Ohh.. I still don't think I would go till he's more capable of enjoying it. I won't be taking mine till at least 5/6.

Yeah, that's always a possibility that he won't like it but WE want to go, so we are.

[soonerfan]

We've taken ours to Disney 8 or 9 times, starting when oldest was 18 months old. Each time has been amazing, worth every penny and the kids love it, even tiny ones. Our youngest was 8 months old her first visit, and the memories are priceless. We have a pic of her toddling toward Mickey who has his arms stretched out to her---priceless! She may not remember, but then I don't focus all of my life energy on only doing things when they can remember--I remember, and I want those times!

If this is a one time trip, I think 8 is the magic age. Otherwise, seeing Disney with a baby or toddler is awesome, and you will be pleased at all of the rides they can do.

[jjordan]

I would definitely double-check the hotel shuttle situation. We have stayed offsite before where the Disney shuttle consists of one run to Disney in the morning and one run back in the late afternoon/evening. With a 2 year old, that might be really tough. When we took our 2 year old to Disney, it was EXTREMELY helpful to be able to come back to our room after lunch for naptime. Even if your child doesn't normally nap, Disney will tire him/her out. If your child will nap in a stroller then that is an option, but otherwise it might really help to be able to go back to the hotel mid-day.

Our 2 yo loved the Magic Kingdom and parts of Epcot (eg Nemo ride). It's a nice age, though, in that they can almost always find something interesting, wherever you go. However I would try to approach it from the standpoint of planning around the child instead of hoping that the child will go along with what you want to do. If you are trying to accomplish your own agenda and the child doesn't cooperate, it will be frustrating for everyone, and you won't have fun. So try to adjust your expectations ahead of time!

[dancermommy1]

Originally Posted by soonerfan We've taken ours to Disney 8 or 9 times, starting when oldest was 18 months old. Each time has been amazing, worth every penny and the kids love it, even tiny ones. Our youngest was 8 months old her first visit, and the memories are priceless. We have a pic of her toddling toward Mickey who has his arms stretched out to her---priceless! She may not remember, but then I don't focus all of my life energy on only doing things when they can remember--I remember, and I want those times! If this is a one time trip, I think 8 is the magic age. Otherwise, seeing Disney with a baby or toddler is awesome, and you will be pleased at all of the rides they can do.

Definitely not a one-time trip unless we were to fall into some sort of misfortune (which of course no one can ever predict). No, I hope to go again when he is closer to 5 or 6. I remember going when I was maybe 8 or 9.... It wasn't all that magical to me at that age. I was old enough to know none of it was "real" and so while I remember enjoying it, it wasn't the same as for a child who truly believes in their imagination.

I think DS will be terrified of some of the characters, honestly, but I also think he will be totally entranced by the surroundings. He's pretty shy in a crowd, but I remember late september being pretty mellow in terms of crowds. All the kids are just back in school and can't take days off, and it's between summer and the holidays so most families are broke from vacation and are saving up for Christmas I recall our longest line wait being about 10 minutes when we went at exactly the same time a few years ago. We got fast passes but never had to use them, really. At that time we did all the parks in 3 days (whew) but of course we wouldn't do that this time. We talked about it and I think we'd end up just doing magic kingdom.

We went to san diego last year and went to the wild animal park, the san diego zoo, and sea world, and DS loved all of it but he did seem to get a little bored with the wild animal park cause the animals are spread out so much--I am thinking it would be about the same at animal kingdom, if I recall correctly.

Anyone ever stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort in Disney? We have looked at prices on travelocity and now we're thinking about staying there... It has a beach and playgrounds etc for little ones...

[lanwenyi]

We've gone to Disneyworld 4x since DD was born (DS has been 3x) and LOVED it everytime. It's so *magical* while they are little. We've taken my nieces too and my fave age is 6ish. By then they are tall enough to do almost everything, but still young enough to get wrapped up in the magic. I think your plan to go now and later is a great idea.
(Since we're in SoCal, my kids have been to DisneyLAND more times than they, or I, can count, but we've made the trek to FL only 4x).

We've stayed at Carribean Beach in 2008 and it's a nice resort. If your son is into Pirates, he might enjoy the new pirate themed rooms (however, those are further from the main ammenities at CB).

My fave places to stay are the DVC villas. We're DVC members now (we joined DVC after our 08 trip) so we stay in 1bdr villas and LOVE the space, relaxed feel, and easy transit to and from the parks (if you have your own car, on-site guests also get free parking at the parks). If you book a DVC villa through Disney it's very expensive, but you can rent points from a DVC owner (I'd rec Daddio) on mouseowners.com for about $10-12/point (a night in a 1bdr will prob cost around $150 depending on the point cost for that resort). At this point, you'd most likely only be able to get Saratoga Springs (SSR) or Old Key West (OKW). Of those two, we LOVE OKW. We haven't stayed at SSR yet.