2 or 3 Park Days with 2 Year Old

LR123

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 14, 2020
We have an upcoming 5 day trip planned, arriving Monday, leaving Friday with our 2 year old. For Tues/Wed/Thurs, we were planning on doing 2 park days with Wednesday being a non-park day. However, I have found a 3 day ticket on Get Away Today that would be ~$100 more for an extra day. Do you think this is worth it? Or would you stick with the 2 park days plan? While this is not mine or my husband's first Disney trip, it is our first with our toddler who still naps.
 
If you think you'll be back again soonish I guess go fewer days?

I went with a 20 month old who stroller napped, we did 4 park days from open to about 7 PM.

I just don't know what I'd do with a COMPLETE day off...a lighter pool/half day in the parks maybe but not a complete down day.
 
We have done all four parks over four days with our two year old. What time are you getting in Monday and leaving Friday? A four day ticket is probably not much more than the three day. Even if it is only for a few hours, you can take it slow and take that middle day to hang around the resort, go to the pool, go to Disney Springs. No matter what you do, definitely take the time to go back to the room and nap/rest in the afternoon.
 
I've gone with a 2 year old three different times. All kids are different, and I would only say that you should never do more than 2 (full) parks days back to back. Not for the kids sake, but for yours.

In your case, I'd probably get the third ticket and just do a half day in a park you'd like to check out. Or go in for fireworks/dinner one night.
 
We get in Monday morning and leave Friday morning. We're staying at Old Key West, so I was thinking she'd like taking the boat ride to Disney Springs for a bit on Monday and spend some time in the pool before we hit the parks on Tuesday. So, if we did that on the day we arrive, then I definitely am leaning towards the 3 day ticket. We're planning to rent a car, so my husband is also interested in a trip to the Kennedy Space Center but I think she'd be bored out of her mind there and the cost of those tickets would be roughly equivalent to the extra day at Disney.

Right now, we're thinking our next trip to Disney would be in a few years, for her 5th birthday.
 
We did 5 back to back days with a 2.5 year old in September. The parks were open super early every day that month, and since he is an early riser we were there at opening. However, after an early lunch about 11ish we went back to the resort for a long mid day break nearly every day until about 4, and except for one night we were back at the resort by about 8. Of course one day there was the compulsory toddler melt down required by Disney law when he didn't want to leave the park, but we all lived through it and everyone had a great time.
 


If you think you'll be back again soonish I guess go fewer days?

I went with a 20 month old who stroller napped, we did 4 park days from open to about 7 PM.

I just don't know what I'd do with a COMPLETE day off...a lighter pool/half day in the parks maybe but not a complete down day.
Same here. I would run out of stuff to with DS for a complete no Park day.
 
If you think you'll be back again soonish I guess go fewer days?

I went with a 20 month old who stroller napped, we did 4 park days from open to about 7 PM.

I just don't know what I'd do with a COMPLETE day off...a lighter pool/half day in the parks maybe but not a complete down day.
Slightly off topic, but what did you do about dining as far as seating? Do you know if the booster seats at wdw have straps? We don’t eat out too much with DS anymore b/c it’s not worth the stress, but when we do we still use a high chair sometimes or pick a booth to contain him. We did that in wdw too when we could when he was 17 mos, but he will definitely be too big for their high chairs now. At home we use a booster seat, but it has a straps. A lot of local restaurants’ booster seats don’t have straps. What was your experience?
 
At the time, my 2 and a half year old would nap at home, but never on the go, and was usually fine with several days of no naps...2 days in the park broke her. We had a dinner ADR at Tusker House for the character meal at like 545 and we showed up around 4 to see if we could get a table. She spent the prior 30 minutes going back and forth between begging to have the stroller laid flat and having her FOMO kick in and want to sit back up. We live in the eastern time zone so weren't battling that and she was still asleep by 6pm that night.

So totally depends on the kid. If it were me, I think 3 park days is fine, but I would end up spreading out all the things you had planned for 2 days over the three. A slower pace would probably help everyone, not just the little one.
 
Slightly off topic, but what did you do about dining as far as seating? Do you know if the booster seats at wdw have straps? We don’t eat out too much with DS anymore b/c it’s not worth the stress, but when we do we still use a high chair sometimes or pick a booth to contain him. We did that in wdw too when we could when he was 17 mos, but he will definitely be too big for their high chairs now. At home we use a booster seat, but it has a straps. A lot of local restaurants’ booster seats don’t have straps. What was your experience?

We just stuck her in the high chair, she definitely wasn't too big (and she was 35ish inches tall). My booster seat we had at home was super portable...folded up real nicely. https://smile.amazon.com/OXO-Tot-Pe...+tot+perch+booster+seat&qid=1579115209&sr=8-1
 
I personally wouldn't do a non-park day with only a 4 day trip. My 2 year old is going to have 7 park days with no breaks, and she is going to be fine. We go to a park for a few hours, go back to the resort for maybe a nap (don't expect them to always nap, though.. it is setting yourself up for failure), and then go back out. I would at least do the 3 day ticket. You are not going to get much done, and you might push your 2 year old too hard on those park days. Relax, take it slow.
 
I personally wouldn't do a non-park day with only a 4 day trip. My 2 year old is going to have 7 park days with no breaks, and she is going to be fine. We go to a park for a few hours, go back to the resort for maybe a nap (don't expect them to always nap, though.. it is setting yourself up for failure), and then go back out. I would at least do the 3 day ticket. You are not going to get much done, and you might push your 2 year old too hard on those park days. Relax, take it slow.
That’s what we do. Although DS will nap in the stroller he needs a stimuli break. We go take a break & then go back out.
 
You are the only one here that knows your kid well enough to make this call. We took our almost 2 year old on 3 days back to back to back and he was fine for the most part. If we would have had the time, it would have been great to put a non-park day in between. There is so much to do at the different resorts to keep from getting bored outside of the parks.
 

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