Resort Trip /w Nearly 2 Year Old

[Brob2132]

Looking for some additional perspective on our trip.

The plan:

Heading down early April a few months prior to our daughter’s second birthday. She loves the classic six characters with some interest in Winnie the Pooh and friends. We’re planning to stay in the Dolphin on points since I travel for work. Will schedule a character meal daily (which I think she will love) explore DW as a whole, but likely spend a lot of pool time around her nap (she loves the water).

She’s still at the stage where she’s happy running around regardless of location. Therefore, don’t really think she would get much out of the park’s attractions outside of seeing characters (which we are doing at meals).

So with all of that being said, anyone have a different perspective in regards to whether I should enter the park (with obvious financial down side)? I don’t want to short change her but do think she’s going to be just as happy going to the character meals and swimming with another visit in the next couple years.

 

[jo-jo]

Are you going into the parks? Your title says resort trip.

 

[Brob2132]

Are you going into the parks? Your title says resort trip.

I should be more clear. Any thoughts on whether I should change plans and go to the parks.

 

[lanejudy]

I suggest looking at what character meals are available outside of the parks and what characters you are hoping to see that your DD will recognize. For example there may not be a non-park character meal with Pooh, so if you really want to see Pooh you'll need to go to a park.

 

[Brob2132]

I suggest looking at what character meals are available outside of the parks and what characters you are hoping to see that your DD will recognize. For example there may not be a non-park character meal with Pooh, so if you really want to see Pooh you'll need to go to a park.

Yea CP is one of the reasons I am doubting my original plan.

 

[SG131]

Yea CP is one of the reasons I am doubting my original plan.

Honestly, Crystal Palace and a day at MK seems like a good idea to me. There's some areas for little kids to run and explore like tom sawyer island and the dumbo big top area and there's the winnie the pooh ride that she'd be big enough for. Plus a lot of other rides she'd be big enough for. I had an under 2 totally amazed by small world. It was worth the memories.

 

[jo-jo]

Honestly, Crystal Palace and a day at MK seems like a good idea to me. There's some areas for little kids to run and explore like tom sawyer island and the dumbo big top area and there's the winnie the pooh ride that she'd be big enough for. Plus a lot of other rides she'd be big enough for. I had an under 2 totally amazed by small world. It was worth the memories.

Add flying with dumbo.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

And flying carpets and carousel. If she likes animals there is a dinosaur version at AK, plus the boneyard playground and an animal affection station.

How much your kid will “get out of” being in the park is definitely relative, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a great experience at any age.

 

[Specter]

Whether or not it is worth it is always a very subjective question. For DW and I, since we are out of state and, frankly, out of reasonable driving distance, if we take the time to make the trip we are not going to do resort only. I won't pretend that the parks aren't costly, but we're already in for the cost of airfare, hotels, and meals so we figure we might as well get the full experience. Additionally, our neighborhood has a community pool, DWs parents who live less than half an hour away have a pool, and my parents who live a few hours away have a pool. We all enjoy pool time, but that is not a rare thing for us so we actually do very little of it when at Disney.

We took DD when she was 10 months old, 34 months old, and 40 months (that was a crazy travel year, definitely not like us to go twice so close together). Each time we took her into all of the parks and each time was just a little bit different.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan and when she was 10 months old Galaxy's Edge was open for the first time for us. I did the lightsaber building experience and DW held DD while I did that and she was cooing and aahing throughout the whole thing to the point that the cast member leading the build actually started interacting with her, talking about how strong she was in the force, etc. That was definitely more a memory for me but at the time she was wide eyed and enthralled too.

As for rides, at every age she has enjoyed Ariel, Haunted Mansion, Dumbo/Flying Carpets/Etc, Spaceship Earth, the Safari at AK, and believe it or not there was no height requirement for Runaway Railway at HS, or Toy Story Spin for that matter. If you are thinking of only one park I would definitely make it MK, but they have all given us special memories with our little one at each age we took her.

And while Minnie is definitely in meals outside of the parks, one of our favorite pictures is from her 10 month old trip. We were actually leaving the World Showcase from the side with the Mexico pavilion and we saw Minnie and a handler walking over toward the small covered spot that they use for character meets. We ended up being the second family in line purely by chance. I don't know if it is because the character had just arrived and was still fresh, just a good cast member, luck, etc, but the pictures of DD with Minnie that time were just some of the best and there were no people at other tables in the background or anything like that.

How much your child will get out of a day or days in the parks is virtually impossible to predict, but you will likely get a lot out of it in memories that, at least in my case, are still as vivid as when they happened. We also create books with our pictures using Shutterfly after trips and look at them with DD from time to time and she swears that she remembers things that she clearly shouldn't given her age, but whether it is seeing the pictures regularly, DW and I talking about it, or just 3 trips in under 5 years for her, she is adamant that she remembers and is excited to go again whenever that may be. Whatever you decide, enjoy the trip!

 

[Anna131517]

A possible reason to change plans is if YOU want to go to a park. I’m sure a 2 year old will be fine with a resort-only trip but is there anything else YOU want to do at WDW?

 

[sponica]

Kids under 3 are a non factor for me. They're free to enter the parks, so it's really whether you want to go to one. It's when they're over 3 where the math gets harder.

But I'd bring a 2 year old into parks, we did 2 trips 4 years apart and my oldest was 20 months on the first trip. My second was 20 months on the second trip. Those freebie trips were REALLY nice.

 

[Isabelle12345]

We actually did the same thing you did when DD was 23 months - we went to Orlando and planned a few character meals; we were not planning on going to the parks.
However, once we were there, we decided we just couldn’t be in Orlando and not go to Magic Kingdom for a day!
We decided to cancel a character dinner at chef mickeys and instead buy a one day ticket to the Magic kingdom… it was more money but it turned out to be the best day ever and we never regretted that decision!! Seeing the magic in the children’s eyes is worth every dollar to me!
Maybe her mind doesn’t remember that day but the memories, pictures and somewhere deep down her heart remembers that beautiful day!

Ps if you are at the Swan, you should make a point of going on a skyliner ride to visit art of animation and pop for the giant statues - my kids were as excited about those as they were about the parks when they were that young - and a skyliner ride is just as much of a ride as anything!

Enjoy!

 

[fairytaledreamer]

We had an amazing time with my 1 year old at the parks, MK specifically! Did the rides and she loved the ones with music since she's a dancer at heart. We also went right when the park opened and it was pretty empty so we could get a lot done! Crystal Palace was also a blast with her. I feel like you can't go wrong with resort time though!

 

[hsmamato2]

A possible reason to change plans is if YOU want to go to a park. I’m sure a 2 year old will be fine with a resort-only trip but is there anything else YOU want to do at WDW?

this.... truth. At your kiddos age it won't matter to her at all.... she'll have fun playing etc and seeing characters at meals. It's the parents who need to decide if they want the parks or not.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Honestly I'd do a day at MK, or at least a few hours. Have a meal at CP, my kids loved it when they were young, one of mine was obsessed with Tigger. But other than that I am all for resort trips.

 

[DisneyDillyDally]

We took our 2 year old to the parks (MK and AK). Completely unnecessary, IMO. At that age they are thrilled with simple pleasures.

 

[jtopp]

Took our 2 yr old grandson last month. At least do MK. you will cherish the memories

 

[westie55]

Many 2-year-olds get uncomfortable around characters, so be prepared for that possibility. I have 3 kids and at that age they all liked watching characters, but didn’t want to get too close for photos.

I think a lot of this depends on if you’re flying or if you’re local. If you’re spending money on airfare I personally would go to the parks. I would always go to the parks, but maybe that would change if I were in driving distance and could get to WDW more easily. To spend all the money and effort and not do parks would be anticlimactic for me.

I agree with the others: your daughter is too young to notice so make this trip about what interests you! She will be along for the ride and everything is family friendly at Disney. If you want to go to the parks, go! If you’d prefer relaxing at the resort, do what makes you enjoy your vacation most.