DisneyWorld with toddler - how many days would you stay?

[SaraTMommy]

We are excited to plan a disneyworld trip with our DD who LOVES Disney. She will be about 20 months.
I'm looking for tips from mommies with experience. I am trying to decide on the number of nights to stay and want to stay long enough to not feel rushed and yet am wondering if there is such a thing as "too long" being with a toddler. Would they burn out by the end of the trip?

Would love your input. As well as any advice you can offer on which resort would be a good one to stay at with todler (we were thinking Caribbean beach) or anything other tips!

Really appreciate it!

[ChetMC]

Disney

I've been to Disney World twice before kids, and we just took our older DD and baby DS to Disneyland.

Definitely consider how long your toddler can handle a stimulating environment like that. Our four year old was fine with two twelve hour days, and a day of down time (beach and visiting family) in between. That was enough time for us to do both parks at Disney Land in the off season when lines were short. However, if we'd had our three year with us we would have had to stay quite a bit longer to do the same stuff. With a 20 month you probably need more time than you think.

Others who've been to Disney World more recently, and with kids, will probably have more advice. My immediate thought is that you can skip the water parks, spend several days at the Magic Kingdom, you should definitely do Wild Animal Kingdom, and you can probably skip Epcot unless you and your DH want to go. I have no clue about Hollywood Studios with a toddler, but my guess is that most toddlers would rather go back to the Magic Kingdom.

[Amberoxy]

I haven't been to Disney yet but we are planning to go after Christmas for a week. Sam will be 2y 4m and new baby will be 5 months. I'm hoping new baby will be a happy sling baby while we are there. Anyway....more to the point...I watched the DVD vacation planning video and I think longer is better so that you can take time out for naps and can end the days early as needed for tired little ones. I have to admit though, this is easy for me to say since we are not paying for the trip... I mean, as long as your finances allow I wouldn't want to try to cram too much into a shorter amount of time 'cause I think that might just be too much. But, since I haven't been - I could be wrong - that is just my opinion after watching the DVD. Sam is 18 months old now and takes anywhere from a 2 - 3 hour nap during the day but will only nap in a quiet environment. If your DD is similar, that will take a huge chunk out of your day, especially when you consider going back and forth to your hotel and the parks and stuff. My DH and I were hoping after watching the DVD that 7 days would be enough time.

We are staying at Port Orleans in the French Quarter section. My parents are the ones taking us on this trip and they have stayed there before and love it. They have made sure to get us rooms near transportation and food which they said makes the trip much easier.

I hope you have a great trip!!! It sure looks like fun We can't wait to go and are planning to hoping to make it a yearly thing if we can afford to do it on our own for subseguent trips.

[Jessy1019]

It all probably depends on the kid's personality, but with mine . . . we'd stay as long as we could afford. I've gone with mine at all different ages and it's never been rough, just lots of fun. I think if your child is fairly easy-going, you don't have to worry too much.

[SaraTMommy]

Disney is offering pay 4 nights get 3 nights free. So I'd say we are kinda deciding between 5 nights or 7 nights max. I know there's hidden costs to those extra days of course.
We definitely aren't trying to see and do it all, especially since DD is so young and would not remember the trip anyways.
I guess I should ask if 5 nights would seem like enough time to have a good time

[SunshineJ]

We just went this past October with a 6 yr old and 4 yr old. We planned the trip for 8 nights, and let me tell you how it went. We arrived on Saturday and took the Magic Express. That was hell- it was a 2 hr wait, and we were waiting until we got to the hotel to eat. Sunday all the kids wanted to do was hang out and explore the hotel (we stayed at Animal Kingdom), so that's what we did. Monday we hit one of the parks for about 4-5 hrs, then the kids got tired so it was back to the hotel for a nap and a leisurely evening. Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. We did not see everything or even most of what was at any park, but that was ok - this trip was mostly for them anyway. Wednesday DD woke up with 101 fever (happens when she gets overextended) so we camped out in the hotel room most of the day. Thursday they were both raring to go and that was our busiest day - 6 hrs at Magic Kingdom, then back that night for the Halloween Party (we followed their lead on when to leave). Friday we spent about 2-3 hrs revisiting one of the parks we'd already been to, the same on Saturday. That was about all they could handle park/crowd wise, and we had very little planned agenda wise other than a few character experiences. Hollywood Studios was a huge hit because of the Star Wars stuff, but there's also Ariel's Grotto and a section of Pixar stuff that would entertain most small children. We didn't bother going to Epcot, and I don't think we missed a lot given their ages. Either way it was still a full trip.

Unless your child is uncomfortable being away from home overnight (that was a concern about DD, but she was so excited about being at Disney she didn't start asking to go home until Friday!) I would definitely try to plan for longer. We were completely not rushed, the 2 days at the hotel didn't mean we missed something, and we were able to completely go by the kids schedules. In a few years we'd like to go back, and then we may be more concerned with seeing more of the parks.

Have a great time!

K.

[Drummer's Wife]

we went to Disneyworld this past summer (so our youngest was 17 mos.) and were gone for 9 days. If we didn't have older kids, I think it would have been better to stay for less, like 5-7 days. That said, there is soooo much to do when you don't only have an infant/toddler that 2 weeks would be ideal to get to see a lot of things.

Regardless of how long you go, I'd plan to have a lot of down time to relax instead of being over-booked and rushing. Kids notice all the little things and will have fun even if they don't get to see all the shows or hit every park. My kids honestly love the time they got to lay around in the hotel and watch the disney channel and hang out at the pool more than standing in line at a theme park.

[aprildawn]

We took our almost-three-yr-old last January. She had a great time. She's not really one to enjoy crowds and lots of noise and stimulation. We'd take our time getting up and eating breakfast every morning. Then we'd hit the parks until sometime around 2 or so. Head back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. We'd go back into the parks for dinner and rides or parades. Usually one of us would take her back to the hotel room around 7 or 8 while the other one stayed in the park with DD1 until later.

She was just beginning to use the potty, but refused the whole time we were there because of the auto-flushing toilets. I was in tears imagining how much that would set us back as far as her being out of diapers. We had brought our little plastic potty for her to use in the hotel room. Our last night DH discovered worms in her poop!! She said to him, "Snakes? I don't like snakes in my poo poo." DH went to see what she was talking about and says there were worms in it. Yuck!!

Other than the potty issues, we had a great time!

[brackin]

Our trips to Disney World/Land since having children:
1. DD was 15 months
2. DD was 5.5
3. DS was 21 months

During trip #1, we had 7 day parkhopper passes. It was too much. I left thinking if I heard one more bit of canned music, I might just lose it. And I love Disney--it was just too long.

Trip to Disneyland: had 4 day passes. Perfect amount of time with both children. Recommend it highly.

At Disney World, be sure go to the the Animal Kingdom for the live Lion King show (and the rest of it). You'll also want to spend a lot of time at the Magic Kingdom with a child that age. If you can afford it, stay on Disney property. Have fun!!

[StephandOwen]

We are going in April, but my ds is older than your child (he's 5). We will be leaving our home (we're driving) on a Saturday morning and arriving at Disney World Sunday afternoon/evening (staying overnight along the way). We will leave the following Sunday and get home Monday (staying overnight along the way). We are staying at All-Star Sports. We have 7 day passes, but may not go to the parks every day (or we may just go for a little bit on some days to do favorite rides).

[AnalogWife]

Our trip to Disney World made me realize how much of a homebody my DS is. He was 18 mos, we were there 7 days, he was completely overwhelmed by Day 2. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and he did really like it there, where it was more "homey", but as far as the parks were concerned, he wasn't that into them. Thankfully they have the Baby Care Centers where he and I could get a quiet nursing moment to calm down and regroup.

[NYCVeg]

We're going in a few months, when dd will be almost 3. We're planning on 4 nights/5 days. We're planning on doing only one full day at DisneyWorld, and then probably a half day at the Animal Kingdom. If dd is absolutely crazy about the park and wants to do one more day, we will. But I think most of the rides will be too intense for her, and she doesn't know any Disney characters, so things like the "character breakfasts" don't seem worth it. We'll do the Small World ride and some of the other kiddie rides (Dumbo, etc.) if she's interested, maybe watch one of the parades, stuff like that. Otherwise, we just plan on doing regular vacation stuff, like going to the beach.

The thing we're looking forward to the most is taking dd to a restaurant. She has severe and extensive food allergies, and we've heard the Disney is *phenomenal* with food-allergic kids. She's never had restaurant food before--when we go, we always bring her her own meal, separate placemat and cutlery, etc.

[aran]

DS2 was 18 months old when we went to disneyworld in Nov. We stayed 5 nights, but could have stayed longer. We took the kids to parks in the AM, and when they started looking glazed over from all the stimulation, we headed back to the hotel. We stayed at the Beach Club, which we chose because it has a sand-bottom pool and sandy beach at the poolside. It was great for my 2 DSs to relax there and have free play every afternoon. It was so EASY for us to relax too because the DSs were happy. I can't wait to go back! Stay as long as you can! DS2 loved the four main parks - even Epcot!

[tabrizia]

We took DS at 5 months for 8 days, but 2 of those days were non-park days. Since he was so little he was pack and go and we don't tend to go comando so we had no problem going slow as needed.

We are going back in October with him at 28 months and his sister will be 6 months old. We plan to stay for 12 days, but only 8 or 9 of those days are likely to be park days. We like to go 2 or 3 days and then take a full day off and repeat, we did this even when we went before DS, we also aren't too worried if we don't make it to every attraction or even park, our main goals are Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, we would like to make one day at Disney Studios for the characters there, but aren't worried if we miss it. We go slow though and will leave in the middle of the day for a nap or the rest of the day if downtime is needed, which is why we like longer trips since it gives us more downtime and time to attempt to see the few attractions we do want to go on.

[seraphim0517]

We went last Sept. with a 4 yr old and 14 mo old. We did 6 nights and it was perfect. I had planned to have down time at the hotel every day, but after day 1 we figured out that was harder on them than staying out till dinner. We did every big park, and 1 water park, they both loved it all. Especially magic kingdom and epcot. My 14 mo old loved meeting characters, that was her favorite thing to do, she would squeel everytime we saw mickey. We stayed at one of the all-star hotels, I've stayed at some of the way nicer ones before, but really it was just fine for us. We managed to get through the entire week without one meltdown! It was amazing we hope to go back next year but will see if the budget allows it Oh and the hollywood studios has playhouse disney live, I think we did that 4 times, and the restaurant with those chars. But I think that park can be a half day with the really little ones.

[THANKFULFORFIVE]

we've been to all the parks a number of times at all different ages...I think our best deal was the 5-day Hopper pass. We always stayed the whole week and relaxed or did beach days on the extra days. One trip, we actually didn't even use all five days, so we used them the following year---they never expire. My kids actually liked MGM Studios the best. They were all into movies and stuff so they also loved Universal Studios. Have you read "How to do Disney"? (or something similiar?) I remember some great tips like the "secret bathroom that's never crowded" and especially---GO LEFT! It's some odd human behavior thing that when appoaching lines, most people tend to get in the right-hand lane.... We STILL use this silly tip when we go anywhere crowded! Works like a charm! Wear a backpack filled with fun things to do and snacks for dd while waiting in line. An umbrella stroller is much easier to manage through the parks vs. the Gracos or others. Oh---and definitely do at least one of the character breakfasts or dinner with the princesses! Have fun!

[newbymom05]

Loving this thread! I'm dying to go to DW--grew up in FL and went a LOT growing up--but DH says a coworker told him Disney rec's kids be at least 7 for the best experience. Do you ladies completely disagree? 'Cause I'd hate to drop such a huge wad of cash for a so-so experience, y/k?

[tabrizia]

Originally Posted by newbymom05

Loving this thread! I'm dying to go to DW--grew up in FL and went a LOT growing up--but DH says a coworker told him Disney rec's kids be at least 7 for the best experience. Do you ladies completely disagree? 'Cause I'd hate to drop such a huge wad of cash for a so-so experience, y/k?

DS loved Disney at 5 months, he had a ton of fun. That being said, if I want him to truely remember the trip I won't take him before 7 since I don't remember my first trip at 5 except for loving the big golf ball ride in EPCOT. It really depends on why and how often you plan to go. If you are only going to go once I would wait till 7 or 8, if you will go every couple of years or slightly longer spacing, then there is a ton to do at all ages, and I figure DS and DD will have fun no matter what age they are since there is so much to see and explore at all ages (we go every 2 to 3 years on average fyi).

[karemore]

We took DD just before she turned 2 and just before she turned 3. Both times we stayed a week (7 nights) and stayed onsite.

BOTH times, DD loves the resort better than the parks. She loved the characters at the parks, but when she was two she spent more time in the parks looking at the flowers than anything else.

At the resort both times she had a blast. Loved the pools, loved the themes, loved everything.

What we did was one park day then one resort day, we never did two park days in a row. It was perfect for us. DD loved Downtown Disney too.

We buy our tickets separate from booking our room and don't do the meal plan.