I am trying to decided the best time to take DS to Walt Disney World. DH and I went there for our Honeymoon and I would love to take DS when he is still small because I love all the photos of the toddlers with the characters. However DH thinks that it is a waste to take DS so young. Has anyone taken their LO as a toddler? Was it worth it? Any Advice on planning a trip to Walt Disney World with a toddler?
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My sister goes every year since her youngest was 2. We live near disneyland and go all the time with our little man. We started at 6 months old.
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@brownie: Do you feel like it is worth it? I mean we don't live near Disney World, but I love it down there! I would pick up and go tomorrow if we afford for me to just up and leave work.
Real responsible I know...
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@MrsRcCar: before they are 3, they are free so if you want to go I think it is worth it. If it is for you but better cause lo is there. I would take lo if we could afford it but we can't just yet.
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We went when my girls were 6 and 3. I honestly wouldn't take a child younger than 3. It was a great age, but still pretty overwhelming/exhausting for DD. This was a huge trip for us though-we don't live anywhere near Florida and we don't travel much (this was my first time there and my second time on an airplane EVER). If things were different maybe I would go when they are younger, but for us I thought 3 was the youngest we would consider with this LO.
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I went when I was 7 and barely remember the trip. I think older is better. Otherwise, I would bring someone to hang out with LO so that you and your hubs can still go on some rides together.
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We went last year when our LO was 2 (and I was 7 mo preggers) and she had the best time! I also worried about if she would remember but she still talks about it and asks her dad every week to go back. I say, gauge it with what you think your LO can handle. I thought my LO would have been freaked out by the characters and she surprised us by wanting to see every character there. She knew nothing about Disney until a few weeks before I would show her Disney tv shows or characters and even then she was not interested. When we came back, it's been Mickey this, Daisy that, etc.
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My son was a couple months before turning 4 when we spent a day at Magic Kingdom. We lived in FL for that summer, so it was on my bucket list to at least take him to MK. He loved it. However, he was exhausted. I couldn't imagine taking him many days in a row to all the parks at that age.
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Um we're going in may! LO will be just 8m (while we're there actually!). We go yearly anyway so...we're going more for me than her right now. Lol
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We live an 1.5 hrs away, so we go regularly, but I can't imagine taking a child younger than 2-3 for the day. And I wouldn't take a 2 year old multiple days in a row, if you go for the whole day.
We just went to Animal Kingdom 2 weeks ago with a 10 month old and only made it about 5 hours. We rode a total of 2 rides. He took both of his normal naps, so we did a lot of sitting instead. But we have friends who took their 2 year old for her birthday in January and she had a blast. But again, it's not a huge trip for us.
But as for time of year, don't even bother from June - September. It is way too hot and way too crowded. I prefer the Fall or January - March. We actually do Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party every year which is beautiful and the absolute best way to do Magic Kingdom. -
We're considering going this December when DD is 3.5 and DS is 21 molnths. My husband has a work conference down there anyway, so we would just tag a couple extra days on at the end for Disney World. I think as long as we take it easy and go in with low expectations it will be a really fun trip for everyone.
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@Honeybee: this is the key. Take advantage of the early/late hours and go back to hotels in the middle of the day for naps etc. My sister still does this and her kids are 4 and 6.
My son did 3 days in a row at Disneyland at 1 1/2 just fine. But he has always been easy to take places. We only stayed until about 8 pm on any night.
The last time we did disneyland, we stayed all day (got there as park opened for Carsland fast passes) and stayed until after the fireworks. Then because the fireworks didn't happen, we went back the next night just for the fireworks. That weekend we were in LA for 4 days doing different things all day.
So some of it depends on your kid. He had some breakdowns on the way home after 4 days but nothing else.
Pics from our last trip: his oh twodles ears, oh toodles, and his doubloons from the Disney jr live (highly recommend)!
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Also this is the first trip at 20 months that he was into Disney and the characters etc so it was fun watching him get excited.
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Ahhhh!!! I LOVE DISNEY!!! No advice, but my parents took me when I was 4 and my sister was 2, then we went every year after that. My youngest two sisters got to come along when they were potty trained
I can't WAIT to take our LO to disney!
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I was just thinking about this and how LO loves spotting Mickey, but I'm not sure since he will only be 2 in April. I think my DH will say the same thing as yours and we live far away so it would be a big trip.
One of my friends took her LO before he was 2 and he had a blast. She has videos of him shouting the characters names and getting all excited!
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My friend lives close to Disneyland and had taken her 2yo several times. They have a blast!
My cousin just took his 3yo for her birthday, and she hated it. She was scared of the characters and cried the whole time!
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I favorited this thread because I realllly want to take LO around age 2, but DH is wary. I know that my friend just got back from taking her about-2 year old, and they had a great time! It seems like it depends a lot on the kid.
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I cannot wait to take DD to disney. I would suggest going in the fall so there isnt much of a line and hopefully its not too cold or hot. DD knows he cannot argue with me because I'm a disney fanatic and I think it would be wonderful to go to disney with a child. Also at this age your LO might not have to pay the ridiculous admission price
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@MrsRcCar: we're going in mid October with our dd and DS.
Dd will be 2.5 and DS 10 months old -
We just booked our trip for May. LO will be about 21 months. She is already excited. We are getting three day passes so we can not cram it all into one day.
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@T.H.O.U.: we are going in may!! What week?
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@sorrycharlie: The first week we have a condo on Cocoa Beach that we will stay at and then probably do disney that Wed/Thurs/Fri - 8,9,10.
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Its a yearly trip for us as of late. My daughter was 18 months the first time she went and my son was probably around 18 months as well. We are also heading back in May and they will be 4 1/2 and 3. We tend to stay at resorts surrounding Epcot, so boardwalk, swan, dolphin or the yacht and beach club. We went back to the room everyday for a nap and then headed back out. A benefit of staying at one of these resorts is that you can always get back to you room without closing the stroller unless you are at Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney. It is about a 5 minute walk into epcot and 10 mins to Hollywood Studios. To get to the Magic Kingdom you can either walk through epcot and grab the mono rail or the bus. I loved this because it took away one line, waiting for the bus and then teh bus ride and the stops. Plus if they fell asleep I could just push them right to the hotel doors instead of waking them up closing hte stroller and then waking them up again to get off the bus.
In terms of time of the year I love early May. I've done Jan but it can get cold, the summer too crowded and hot, and the fall was nice too but we hit a lot of thunder storms the one time we went in Oct. But a definite perk is Miskey's Halloween bash and also the food and wine festival at epcot. May is great because the crowd is less, weather is nice and early in the month you can catch the end of the Home and Garden at epcot.
Feel free to ping me if you have any other questions.
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@amy: @brownie: @T.H.O.U.: @sorrycharlie: @chopsuey119: @bunnylove08: @Bookworm: @Mrs. Jump Rope: @anbanan15: @char54: @Honeybee: @bree72: @katiew92081: @umlo: @Pink Champagne: @mrsmenow: Thank all of you for commenting. I feel much more prepared to talk to DH about it. We are looking into going soon!
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I think it's best when DD or DS is old enough to know characters, and can last a long day with lots of walking around. If you are going to have to spend a lot to go (and aren't a FL resident with a pass, etc) then it would be a waste of money if they meltdown due to a long day, or are too scared to be with characters. I think that depends on each child though, I think DEFINITELY above 3, more like 5 would be my comfort area. We live there and go for free tho so we'll take our baby whenever we feel like going! But if I had to pay I would be hesitant for a while.
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Bumping up because we are in the process of booking our trip for September. Ds will be a few months shy of three, so we still take advantage of the fact that's he's mostly free!
We're planning to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge because the pool is fantastic and we're taking it easy. No more than 1 park a day, and only really 4 day of parks. We might just do MK and AK, not sure about Epcot at the moment.
I'd love to hear any tips and tricks, especially with gear. We're planning on having some groceries delivered, any recs on companies to use?
Real responsible I know...
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