Preparing a two-year-old for Disney

[clara115]

Hello! We are planning to bring my daughter, who will be 2 years and 1 month old at the time, to WDW in February 2019. Right now she doesn't really know any Disney characters and I'm wondering what the best way to introduce her is? Should I try to show her Disney movies (I don't think she has the attention span for that quite yet) or would YouTube videos or Disney books be better? Should I buy her a Mickey plush now so she can get to know Mickey or wait and make it a special treat once we get there?

Any advice at all about setting up my daughter to get the most out of our trip would be much appreciated! Thank you!

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

We booked the trip with our 2 year old only 3-4 weeks in advance. Maybe we showed her a couple of movies - Lady and the Tramp sticks in my head. I don't think it mattered. She was so excited to meet Stitch when she saw him in MK. She had never seen any movies with him though.

If you want to show her some videos, it can't hurt, but I think you all will have fun whether she recognizes characters and themes or not.

 

[ManalapanDad]

I took my one year old in May for hIs birthday he is mostly firmiliar with Disney junior characters watching them on the Disney junior channel. We are headed back next week and he really loves vamparina I was excited to see they added her to the Disney junior show at HS and then at Hollywood and vine but that doesn’t start till four days after we leave so that was dissapointing. The muppet babies is a newer show your child might also enjoy. No matter what age Disney really is one of the most magical places on earth your going to have a blast

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

It's so hard to know what to suggest because every kid is different. We took my son when he was days shy of 2. He was petrified of Chuck E Cheese (the character) when he met him and had some strong social anxiety issues around strangers so I had little hope that he'd like the characters. He also had had VERY limited exposure to characters through tv/movies/ books. He was familiar with the Frozen characters because of his sister, and vaguely knew of Mickey, but didn't really have an interest in him.

I was shocked when we went and he LOVED all the characters. He immediately ran up to them, hugged them, babbled at them, didn't want to let them go. This included many characters that he had previously had absolutely zero exposure to (no movies, books, etc) like Pooh and friends, several other princesses, etc.

I've also heard of numerous little ones who've watched all the movies and shows, been read all the books, and own everything character related and still bawl when they see the characters. There's really not a way to predict how kids will react.

Books/videos/plushes are great for introducing kids to who characters are- they certainly can't hurt anything. Just be prepared for any reaction when they actually come face to face with them.

 

[KrazeeK120]

My son went to Disney last year at 18 months and will be going back next month, the week before his 3rd birthday.

I’d showed him some videos and stuff before we went, but he was almost completely non-verbal until after he turned 2 (and now he won’t stop talking...), so I didn’t really know whether or not he really recognizes the characters. He had a great time meeting them, though!

He still won’t sit through a whole movie, but he’s seen enough movie parts that he knows several characters by name. We actually bought him a Mickey plush when he was 8 months old, and he’s received a few other Disney themed things as gifts since then.

My son is one who loves meeting characters, mascots, etc. If your daughter is into that kind of thing, she’ll have fun regardless of whether or not she’s really familiar with the characters.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

My little guy turns 2 in 2 weeks. We just came back from Disney. He didn’t know who any of the characters were (except Mickey) ahead of time. He won’t sit through a movie or tv show. He does watch a few minutes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Muppet Babies here and there.

He absolutely loved every character he met. He hugged Dug (from Up!) for five minutes (thankfully we were the last guests so we weren’t holding up the line). He has never seen one minute of the movie. He clapped and squealed at the Nemo musical. He strutted up to many characters and hugged them and gave them a high five. He went nuts for MuppetVision. It was so awesome to see how into it he was.’

 

[clara115]

Wow, thanks everyone, this is really encouraging to hear! I know there's no predicting how she'll react to the characters but it's good to know there's a chance she'll be into them, even if she doesn't really know who they are ahead of time. And I think I will try a little bit of Mickey's Clubhouse, etc., just to expose her a bit before we go.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I wouldn't worry too much about introducing all the characters and getting some Disney movies watched before your trip. Believe me, about two hours into your trip, they'll start figuring it out Nearly everyone is super excited about meeting characters, there are a TON of gift shops, there are cartoons playing all over the place, it's pretty immersive.

 

[unrequited23]

I would check to see if your local library has some books with Disney characters you can request. I've seen tons of Disney themed golden books and an animated character encyclopedia on Amazon, too. If there is anyway to see how she would react to characters before hand I would do it--Chick-fil-a sometimes has the cow visit on family nights, Chuck E Cheese or if a local sports team has a mascot. Otherwise the welcome show or the parade seems to offer a safe distance to first show the characters.

 

[sapphirerose915]

Coloring books and Mo6ckey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Jr to help learn characters... at least the fab 5!! My 2 yo is obsessed with nemo, lion king, toy story, and winnie the pooh. Play YouTube videos of maybe some music scenes. Or pick up a few movies. Also I know in my area there are kids nights at restaurants that have characters.. maybe look around in your area to see if there is anything like that.. or a chick e cheese as others suggested!!! We are making our 1st trip in Dec and my DS will be 29 months.. cannot wait!!! I have character meals.planned so we dont have to wait in lines... I've done lots of research about toddlers in disney... I hope.it all works out.. we know with toddlers nothing is ever as planned tho!!!