Toddler Favorites

[merryc17]

I am thrilled to be taking our 18 month old for the first time! Luckily the grandparents and an uncle will be traveling with us, so the ratio of adults to children is 5 to 1. (Woohoo!)

I would love some toddler recommendations for favorite rides. We are so used to doing things the adult way, that we had forgotten what the little guys like to do. Which Toddler favorites would you recommend getting fast passes for? Which would you recommend, that don't need a fast pass/ or shouldn't waste a fastpass on?

No matter what, I'm pretty sure he is going to love the pool at the resort the most😊

[MrPeetrie]

We brought our daughter at 17 months old. Some said, she's too young to remember anything so it's a waste of money. Trust me: you'll NEVER forget their face when they're overcome with excitement!!!

Her favorites were:

-- Triceratops Spin. We rode that several times.
-- Festival of the Lion King. Her legs kicking wildly while she pointed at Simba were precious! Unforgettable.
-- Kilimanjaro Safari. We were animal fans then, and we still are 11 years later.
-- Main Street Parade. Again, she recognized some characters and become excited.
-- El Rio del Tiempo (Now, Three Caballeros) We rode that about four times.
-- Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Nice, relaxing ride.
-- Playhouse Disney.
-- Train ride.
-- Monorail ride from Magic Kingdom to Epcot.

We had to avoid things with loud noises because that upset her. No Fireworks at all.

[MrPeetrie]

We brought our daughter at 17 months old. Some said, she's too young to remember anything so it's a waste of money. Trust me: you'll NEVER forget their face when they're overcome with excitement!!!

Her favorites were:

-- Triceratops Spin. We rode that several times.
-- Festival of the Lion King. Her legs kicking wildly while she pointed at Simba were precious! Unforgettable.
-- Kilimanjaro Safari. We were animal fans then, and we still are 11 years later.
-- Main Street Parade. Again, she recognized some characters and become excited.
-- El Rio del Tiempo (Now, Three Caballeros) We rode that about four times.
-- Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Nice, relaxing ride.
-- Playhouse Disney.
-- Train ride.
-- Monorail ride from Magic Kingdom to Epcot.

We had to avoid things with loud noises because that upset her. No Fireworks at all.

[lawgirl]

We love going with our kids (4 and 6 now). We've been taking them ever since they were 3 months old. One thing I have noticed is that they really just love being at the resort, and also riding the bus around! One of their favorite things to do is to go visit the Art of Animation resort to see the cars!

How sensitive are they? My kids are both pretty sensitive to sounds, so we really had to scale back rides. And the characters really scared them until recently. I always thought having a character meal/ standing in line to meet characters would be the perfect thing, until my daughter freaked out at Ohana! Now they love it. I think its key to really be flexible and not have too much booked. And to also be flexible when they get scared or don't want to do something. Some of our favorite early memories were when we just let them play or visited the baby center (ha!).

Their favorites have always been Small World, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, Pooh, and Dumbo. At Epcot, my daughter had an EPIC meltdown on Spaceship Earth. She was about 3 at the time, and was terrified. I had no idea it would have that effect on her it's my favorite ride, but it scared her to death. I guess it totally depends on your little one and their personality! My son would ride pretty much anything at that age. They both love the boat ride at the Land pavillion and the Mexico ride.

Don't forget about the WDW train- my son is obsessed with trains since age 2, and we rode multiple times on our last trip.

[lawgirl]

We had to avoid things with loud noises because that upset her. No Fireworks at all.

Oh my gosh....YESSSS! My kids both were absolutely terrified of fireworks (they love it now). We had another EPIC meltdown during fireworks, and its hard as heck to get away from them when you are in the middle of the magic kingdom. If you want to try to do fireworks I highly suggest getting some Peltor Junior earmuffs (we used to always stick them in the backpack for loud rides and fireworks) and get a spot way over to the right in tomorrowland...that way you can get away if needed. Yikes, we tried to watch one year and were behind the castle, and we had to RUN away. It was intense at the time. Now we can laugh at it. But be prepared:)

[Figment104]

We took DS for his first trip when he was just shy of 18 months, and also had one set of grandparents and an uncle along, definitely a nice ratio of adults to toddler lol. Below are his favorites from that trip.

- TTA
- Small World
- WDW Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear
- Jungle Cruise
- Peter Pan
- Winnie the Pooh
- Little Mermaid
- Dumbo
- Seas With Nemo and Friends
- Three Caballeros
- Living with the Land
- Safari
- Walking trails at AK
- Train to Rafiki Planted watch

Also riding the boat from the WL to MK was a huge favorite and riding on the monorail. Pretty much anything that was boat based he really enjoyed, even Pirates, thought the dark parts in that one and some of the cannons he wasn't totally a fan of. We took him on pretty much everything that didn't have a height requirement that we thought he would sit through, and overall he did really well. The end of Journey Into Imagination was a bit startling for him, but he really enjoyed the rest of the ride. I'd say his top two faves were TTA and Small World though. We rode those soooo much!

[pcoleman]

Took our daughter at 2 and everything mentioned above is true. I would suggest something to cover her ears. Some of the music even on tame rides can be loud. We brought ear muffs and set wireless headphones designed for children. I got a set of Minnie ones. When things got loud, even in restaurants they worked great. Also bring little flashlight. Sometimes my DD did not like the dark like on Peter Pan. I turned on the light, held it so she could see me and her blankie. She did great after that. I would add the animals in AK. Not on the rides, the animal spots where CM have an animal and you can ask questions. My DD stood and petted so many animals. To this day it is her favorite park. Yes, the characters will be scary. We never rented park strollers. We always took our own stroller with us. Much more comfortable. We could take it to the transportation area while waiting in line and of course have it at the resort. In fact my husband has mentioned several times he misses having it now that DD is teenager. Could pack lots of stuff without having to carry it most of the time. I hope you enjoy your trip.

[magicofdisney]

Anything slow moving worked well for my youngest. One that ended up being my all time favorite was Living with the Land at Epcot. It was especially great just before nap time because I'd hold him in my lap and he'd fall asleep. It was so peaceful. I'll always have those fond memories.

[PirateLover]

We took DD for her first birthday. Every kid is different, but loud noises don't bother her. She did fine in the 3D shows and Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and loved the parades and fireworks. She also loved Disney Jr. Live. Probably her favorite thing was dancing with characters in Club Disney (behind Rock N Roller Coaster), but I heard they already nixed that? I'm a little out of the loop lately so not sure if I'm right on that. Overall, she just absolutely love love loved the fur characters so we spent a lot of time character hunting, which we never did before kids. She was a little shy with the face characters, though.

Her favorite rides were probably Winnie the Pooh and Small World.