Fun for Toddlers

[MudQueen22]

My older child (dd) was 5 and I was pregnant with my little one (ds) the last time we went to Disney.

I have never been with a toddler. What kinds of attractions do they enjoy?
We have a meal at the Crystal Palace booked.
What kinds of rides might appeal to him?

Info on him: He will be 23 mos when we go. He enjoys a lot of free play with balls or cars. He is easy-going for a toddler, but toddlers do tend to be irritable creatures. He doesn't watch a lot of tv, but will dance if it has music. He enjoys playing with 7-year-old dd, and will mimic her. We've exposed him to local characters in costumes at ball games, etc. and he has been tolerant.

Any advice from toddler veterans would be appreciated.

 

[Jennytoon]

People will tell you that Epcot is the least child-friendly park, but we found Future World to be pretty toddler friendly -- we found stuff in the Pavilions and in Innoventions, although I'm not familiar with the current (sadly depleted) list of Innoventions offerings.

• There's a crawl-through playground at the end of Mission Space. This can be a good place to wait out a rider swap if you're doing that.
• In the Imagination pavilion at the end of the Figment ride there are a couple of reactive exhibits -- a musical play-floor and several stations where you can wave your hands to make Figment fly around the screen and play music
• In the Seas Pavilion there is a humongous fishtank. 'Nuff said.
• Not 100% sure about what is in the Pavilion at the end of Spaceship Earth; I can't remember any offerings at the moment that are good for toddlers although your older one is a good age to enjoy them.

There is also a splash and soak zone on the bridge between Future World and World Showcase.

Animal Kingdom too -- it's a big zoo which in and of itself is a bonus with kids but in particular when small our kids loved

• The Boneyard -- you enter into an active playground-style area, but if you go up the stairs and cross the bridge you will encounter a huge sandpit. We probably could have left our kids there and done a couple rides on Everest and they wouldn't have noticed our absence. It's shaded and has big fans as well, so a good spot to get out of the sun for a bit on a hot day.
• The Affection Section at conservation station, although he'll need a bit of supervision.
• Harambe often has musical entertainment, and just out of Harambe as you head towards Asia there are drums of varying sizes for kids to play with.
• He may or may not enjoy the shows -- if he'll sit still and pay attention they are colorful and with music.

 

[westie55]

My son (17 mos) loves all of the dark rides, like Ariel, Small World, Pooh, etc. He liked Country Bear Jamboree and was enthralled with the parades. He also loved swimming in the pool when we were there in warm weather. At 11 mos he was fine with characters, but was afraid by 16 mos. We'll see how that changes on our next trip. I also think Epcot is a great park for kids. DS loved the aquarium in the Seas. To me, HS is the most problematic because of the high volume of shows to sit through, but DS did surprisingly well with those at 16 mos. The only thing he wouldn't sit through was Mickey's Philharmagic in the MK, so I took him outside into the gift shop while the others in my party finished the movie.

 

[ArielSRL]

My son was 2 yrs 3 months on our trip in June. He enjoyed the Fantasyland rides, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, People Mover, Tomorrowland Speedway, Nemo & Friends, TSMM, character meals and meet & greets though it did take him some time to warm up, fireworks.

ETA: He loved the Disney Jr show.

 

[MudQueen22]

Thanks so much for responding. You've given me some good ideas!!

 

[jeepwreck]

We took our 22 month last nov with us for a big family trip there was 4 other older kids to keep him busy but we took him in on every ride we could and he loved them all

We went to a blizzard beach and he loved it the wave pool was his favourited

I bought a bubble gun and that was great to keep him busy when all the older kids wanted to go on rides and it was a great way to make new friends because every kid loves bubbles

He went to a lot of characters meals and even thou was did not want any of the characters to come close he loved watching them walk around

We were there for 11 days so we did all the parks multiple times so we were able to take our time and just let him go at his own pace and let him explore everything that he wanted

Disney does a great job at making a lot of fun interactive items all over all the parks to keep everyone entertained

It was one of the best trips because of my son, he was just in love with everything
I would totally recommend travelling to Disney with a toddler

 

[SweetMissy]

It's a good, yet crazy age. There's so much to do. MK is obviously the best place to be, IMO. EP is nice as someone else suggested but I found the aquariums to be a bit of a nightmare. It was just too big and my 18 month old was just running around like crazy. He spent quite awhile at the little play area by Splash Mountain. There's also the splash area in the circus section....we haven't tried that out yet with him but kids love it. Just take it slow and enjoy.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

My older child (dd) was 5 and I was pregnant with my little one (ds) the last time we went to Disney.

I have never been with a toddler. What kinds of attractions do they enjoy?
We have a meal at the Crystal Palace booked.
What kinds of rides might appeal to him?

Info on him: He will be 23 mos when we go. He enjoys a lot of free play with balls or cars. He is easy-going for a toddler, but toddlers do tend to be irritable creatures. He doesn't watch a lot of tv, but will dance if it has music. He enjoys playing with 7-year-old dd, and will mimic her. We've exposed him to local characters in costumes at ball games, etc. and he has been tolerant.

Any advice from toddler veterans would be appreciated.

watch him carefully at playgrounds as there are older kids running found this esp at Splash Mountain area. height not held to a lot of older kids running. try to be back some at Disney Jr show as it has a raised stage sitting in front toddlers cant see stage

 

[MudQueen22]

I'm very hesitant to let him run free unless I can see him at all times.
I probably need a kid leash.

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm very hesitant to let him run free unless I can see him at all times.
I probably need a kid leash.

I'm actually thinking of getting one of those backpack ones...just in case. I have a very active almost 3 year old and I doubt he will want to stay in the stroller as much as he did last time. I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've read about a lot of good experiences.

 

[AshleeH]

Anything with no height requirement is toddler friendly - and that is a lot. I'm taking my daughter to Disney in three weeks and we have a ton of things planned. Most of our time over 10 days will be split between MK and EP. We have plans for HS for one day and AK for a half day, but this is a "princess trip" for us, so we'll be meeting a lot of characters. She loves every park.