Please reassure me...

[cmbelle]

A last minute decision - we are taking our kids to WDW to celebrate the 7 year old's birthday. The youngest is a young two, and I now have a fear that this great trip will be horrible. I fear that the two year old will be scared of everything, and he'll cry to go home. How have your experiences been?

 

[Aristocath]

We took our 2 1/2 year old last May and had a wonderful time! He wasn't scared of anything or anyone except the Mad Hatter. He loved the character meals with Pooh and even had fun with his own autograph book. I think what you do to prepare him for what he will see is a big factor at that age. Have a great trip!

 

[cinjam]

I think you will be fine. We took our son last April (he was 14 months) and he loved EVERYTHING! - no fears. We are about to take him again next month (he will be 2) and I am not anticipating any major problems. The trip in April was WONDERFUL - we have some outstanding memories!

You know your children better than anyone. If you think the 2YO will be nervous around the characters then approach them slowly & watch your son for any signs of being freightened. We took DS on every ride w/out a height restriction. Some are dark (Great American Movie Ride - Aliens section - comes to mind) so I'd be careful of that kind of stuff if your DS is afraid of the dark.

If you haven't already check out this web site:
http://www.wdwig.com/infant.htm
This is the infant/toddler page - but the entire web site has excellent info.

I think you'll have a great time!!! Enjoy

 

[crisi]

We had a great time with our 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old last year.

Our 3 1/2 year old was not comfortable with the characters - but quickly reached a "Mom wants to take a picture, I'll stand three feet away from you, won't look at you, and you won't touch me" accomodation. He did like looking at them - particularly during the parades, interacting was too much. My 2 1/2 year old treated them like large stuffed animals.

We stuck to the non-scary rides. We did get on Pirates - my son sitting between Grandpa and Dad - he was nervous about it. We tried the Haunted Mansion but didn't make it through the doors. We did Universe of Energy at Epcot, and he did go on the Norway ride (also seated between Grandpa and Dad and was a little scared). We pretty much stuck to the Fantasyland type stuff at MK. I've never taken a trip where I've spent so much time in Fantasyland. But there was plenty to do at almost all the parks (and they don't tire of riding Small World over and over and over again).

You may have to be willing to split up a little - especially if your seven year old is the type that will want to ride Space Mountain.

 

[Eponine]

No experience here with that situation at WDW, but when our son was a young two (his birthday was 3 weeks before the trip), we took him to Disneyland. He's a moderately timid child, and of course had to be kept off certain attractions. Haunted Mansion we didn't even consider. We did make the mistake of taking him on PoTC, and let me tell you, he took some convincing to ride Small World after he saw that the ride vehicle was a boat similar to those used on PoTC (did I mention that he's INCREDIBLY observant for his age?)! However, he was fine with all of the Fantasyland rides (the only one we didn't do was Snow White), as well as all of the other stuff that he was allowed on. The characters were okay with him, too...meeting Mickey was the definite highlight for him! I was a little bit worried about the Disneyland trip, but he had a wonderful time overall, he was as good as gold, and he actually still remembers and talks about it.

Realistically, you won't be able to do several things that you'd like to, unless you do Baby Swap with your husband and/or ride them with your 7-year old. However, it probably won't be the disaster that you think it will. There's plenty to keep a little one occupied, or at least on so much sensory overload that all they can do is stare in complete shock and awe!