Dream Trip ---- Toddler might be to frightened to go on anything!... Post trip update...
 

So we've booked a two week trip for May 18.

We booked it about 6 months ago, and it will be our first trip with our daughter, who will be 2.5 years old when we go.
We are soooo excited to take her, and obviously want the trip to be amazing and for her to love it.

But this weekend we went to a local theme park... its Very small, and has a few rides that she could go on...small train ride, small boat type ride etc...anyone, she was too scared for any of it! She loved watching them, but as soon as we tried to take her on, she'd start crying and fight to get off.

We are now a bit worried she will be like this in Disney... we weren't expecting it! she's usually such a dare devil that we didn't think this would be an issue.

We are really pushing ourselves to afford this trip (booked when we were feeling flush...now not so!) and I'm slightly concerned we are gonna come away thinking we should have saved the money and gone somewhere else!

Anyone else have experience of this? Get all the way there and the kids refuse to go on ANYTHING!


*****************POST TRIP UPDATE****************

So we've been back two weeks :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

Our 2 year old DD went on everything she could go on...no fuss, no tears. Most of them she just sat there lol and didn't say much, but she went on them atleast and seemed to enjoy them.

She meet loads of characters and loved them all...running up for hugs and kisses, even from the ones she didn't even know!

Before we went all the princesses were called Belle and she was more obsessed with Spider Man... now she also loves Elsa & Anna and Lilo & Stitch! She'd never watch more then a few moments of a Disney film before we went, now she asks for them all the time!

It was an amazing trip and the 2 weeks we were there went SOOOOOOOOOO fast... its feel like we didn't even go! Would it be unreasonable to book for September? :d:

Even if she does refuse to go on the rides there is still so much else, the shows, street entertainment, character meets, shops, food, water parks, pool time etc etc you’ll still fill your time.

We went for 10 days this summer and actually probably only went on 3 or 4 rides a day, there was just so much to see and do.

That said, you’ve got 6 month, little ones can change so much in that time, you might get there and find she’s forgot about being scared of the rides and will go on them happily.

Hi, my youngest is one of the least brave at times! She was 5 when we first took her. Our first morning in Magic Kingdom we suggested several rides and she said "no" to them all almost crying with fear! We panicked wondering what we would do for the next 2 weeks! We tried a different approach letting her wander around with us following and let her look at everything and then asked if there was anything she would like to try. She picked "it's a small world" and went on apprehensively. She loved it and then pretty much controlled the whole of the first day! We had her on Expedition Everest and Tower of Terror by the end of the holiday( although she did say never again to TOT) I know your child is younger but just go gently and let them build up to the rides - see the characters and shows first :)

I agree with lilyrose...my older boys arnt big on rides at all we go on all the gentle ones! But there is so much else to do and see. We will also have our youngest boy who will be only 16 months! We will try and just accept how things go as tricky as that is after a lot of planning and money spent! Rides just a small part of it all 😀

Oooo my little one is the same. He will be 2.5 when we go in October and I'm hoping as we will be with family he will feel more brave.

He's normally such a confident little boy with no fear but he went on one of those supermarket rides the other day And screamed merry hell to get off- even though he wanted to go on!

I'm also worried about the charcater interaction but again what's the point in worrying, we still going for my pleasure lol ;):d:

We took DD back in March, she was just over 2 (but tallish for her age). Height wise she shouldn't go on that much anyway, she loved small world, the carousel and the characters most of all. Was having a "fear of the dark" phase, so Pirates, most of the 3d things ended up in tears. She actually fell asleep on the 3 caballeros ride in Epcot (Mexico IIRC)!

Loved Lion King show (until she was invited to take part, lost sight of us and came back crying!) and the tomorrow land speedway (had never been myself but she loved driving).

It was a very different experience to when I've been before (with friends and on Honeymoon), but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Her face when she saw Donald come back from his "tea break" even got the Photopass photographers laughing, she was just amazed (and this was on about day 10!)

Kids will enjoy the experience, but yes they might skip some rides, we did a lot of rider swaps and separate fast passes. My suggestion is don't worry too much about the rides, just go with the flow. Disney for me is more about experience than rides (I would say universal is more about adrenaline, more like Alton Towers) but each to their own.

Yes my wee one will def scream at characters! But me and other boys will love it 😀😀😀 ( hubby will endure it ha)

One of my friends took their 3 year old this summer and he hated the rides. Took him until around day 12 to start to be enthusiastic about any of it. I think the key is to get them into it gently. I.e. Don't start with anything too far out of their comfort zone.

We’ve taken our 2year old granddaughter twice now..third time next week...and we go at her pace...she loves it’s a small world, the carousel and Dumbo the flying elephant...there is so much to do and see. 🙂

That could well happen but the best way to deal with it is to not let it spoil your trip. There's so much to see and do that doesn't involve rides and if your daughter doesn't want to go on anything you can always use baby swap where one of you rides then while the other minds the baby and you swap over as soon as the first person gets off. As you said, she loved watching the rides so she should be happy enough to wait around.

If your daughter is scared to ride or meet any characters then just adjust your plans and let her experience things at her pace. I don't do many of the bigger rides and often sit and people watch while the others go on. One of the saddest things I've seen was a parent shouting at his screaming kid about how he paid good money for the vacation and the kid had better damn well enjoy it :(

Whether you all go on rides together or not, it will still be a magical trip where you can make lots of memories. As the others have already said, see what she likes and go from there and hope that you don't have to go on Its a Small World 100's of times :D