Disneyland Florida with a 2.2 year old - am I mad?

[trolleydolly2411]

Just exactly that!

Family trip planned so not going by choice. Would rather we went when DS is school age.

I am pretty sure he will have a great time once there but thinking the journey is going to be horrendous. We travel a lot so he is familiar with going on planes but as he's got older, flying has got more and more difficult since hes learnt to walk etc. He's a lively thing and wont sit still for more than 5 mins. Last flight was only 1 hour 30 and ended in a melt down (with lots of starey onlookers ) as he was so tired and just wouldn't go off on board. The thought of 2.5 hours to airport then another 10 hours in a metal tube is not filling me with joy right now

So, has anyone experience of this? Is it really worth it at this age? Also, how did you find the jet lag both sides?

Thank you!

When did you last travel with him? We did Malaysia at around that age with DD and it was much easier than even 6 months earlier.

That included 3 internal flights and a delay on the tarmac on our return night flight, meaning we were on that plane over 14 hours.

It was hard work but honestly fine. My suggestions would be to relax all rules about diet, take some new toys (wrapper up is good), and lots of stickers, and games/favourite shows on a phone or ipad.

There will be lots of children going to Orlando too so I imagine you'd find some company!

You do have to be up for it though. If the flight was hard work but ok would you want to go?

Just back sunday from a 4 day trip. He is 17 months old at the moment. Florida is planned for next year.

I took every single thing imaginable for him and it ran out very quickly! Tons of snacks, toys, books, ipad etc. He just wanted to get down and run about.

I probably just need to go with it and relax like you say and I guess he will be older by then. But not sure how much calmer they are at that age? Thinking not very much

Oh goodness well they are all different but I'd say 14-19 months is the absolute worst phase! My DD got heaps better after that. But they are all different.

Thanks glorious. That's interesting to know re the age thing.

Will just try and go with it and be well prepared like you say!

I took my DD at around that age and she's The Worst. I love her but it's true, she can't make it through life without a tantrum or throwing something or running away at least every 3-5 minutes... I knew the plane was going to be bad, I prepared myself for everyone to hate me, to constantly walk up and down the aisle with her, to feed her crap for 9 hours... And it wasn't that bad. We booked seats upstairs so there was a bit more space and a few less passengers. The general airplane noise actually drowns out a lot and we had a 'shelf' storage box thing beside us that we kept all her stuff in, iPad pre loaded with episodes, games, toy story 1/2/3... YouTube videos of kids opening eggs. (Made available offline.) I bought her a happy meal in the terminal and wrapped it up in my bag, and didn't give her anything to eat or any milk (she loves milk!) in the terminal.

The first half an hour was obviously getting settled and taking off, she was a wriggly nightmare but it was so noisy, and she had to keep her seatbelt on regardless so it made no difference. As soon as the sign went off I gave her the happy meal, a few pieces at a time, and passed another half hour... Then I did a colouring book with her and pointed out every Disney princess and every colour, shape etc, another 20 minutes... Then milk, then movie etc etc.

I had so much stuff prepped I didn't run out. And something I had had actual nightmares about was actually okay.

Plus the destination is so worth it

(And if you get a night flight home it's likely they'll sleep the whole way!)

Just been to Disney with 22 month old DS. It was fine - the plane you just have to get through. We got him his own seat, which helped. He sat on my lap for most of the way there (annoyingly) but the extra seat got us more space. On the way back we used the car seat that we'd bought out there for him to sit in and it was much better.

Actually at Disney he was a valued member of the team. He could go on the rides that didn't have height restrictions (which is quite a few of them, particularly in Magic Kingdom) but for the ones where there was a height limit we used fast passes and did rider swap and got 2 rides for the price of 1. First person goes to the fast pass queue and asks for a rider swap ticket, they go on the ride and bring back the ticket, which can last a few days in some cases, then the second person goes on the ride - using their fast pass if they have one. Then up to 3 people can go on the rider swap ticket.

Having a buggy was quite useful to put stuff on (make sure you have a raincover because ours got rained on a lot).

Thanks both thats really useful advice. Going to get mega prepared then like you did marypoppins and hope for the best.

Guess there will be lots of children on the flight, hoping my ds wont be the worst one on board

Thanks again, really helpful

If you don't really want to go on this holiday why do you feel you have to go?

We have been going to Florida since our youngest was 14 months. There is no place more geared up for kids, it's fab. The flight is never as bad as you think it will be. I used to buy my 2 lots of cheap toys, magazines, games etc to produce as and when necessary. The plane will have lots of different programmes/ films for kids , and in my experience on both BA and Virgin, the airline staff have been great and really helpful. The flight, whatever happens, is so worth it for the holiday.

Re jet lag, you'll be up in the middle of the night for first couple of nights, but throw yourself into their local time and you'll all adjust quickly. Harder coming back as you feel as if you cld sleep forever.

Orlando and surrounding areas has so much more than parks to offer, try to get out and about. Everyone is super friendly, the shopping is amazing, eating out is cheap and everywhere caters for kids, lots of places have 'kids eat free days'. Gator land is great fun if you can get there. Enjoy it, am jealous, we're booked again for 2018.

Thank you for replying sunnydays that's really great advice. You sound like a pro with the whole thing!

Thanks for tips re jet lag and gator land too.

Plenty there to suit a two year old by the sounds of things, brill

You're welcome, and yes, there's loads for a 2 year old, but do things you'll like too! Hopefully you'll love it as much as we do and be hooked. 😀

We went in October last year with a 4 year old and 22month old. Youngest was a worry beforehand as we'd prepared by trying to see how long he could sit on a sofa...not great we managed 3 minutes tops!! Tried really hard to get him into watching Peppa Pig in the weeks beforehand but nope he wasn't into doing that for either! Packed for the flight really well, several zip lock bags filled with new cheap rubbish - lots of tiny snacks (Cheerios, rice Krispies) kept him busy for ages eating. Little rubbers from the pound shop which he pieced together. Giant Paper clips joined which he took apart. Little cars he could line up. More little healthy snacks. The thing that actually kept him going longest was putting the earphone jack into the plane to sockets over & over. So def bring your own set too. We also went up & down the stairs to the toilet numerous times. He also sat on the floor for a while just playing under the seat. Prob had only a couple of hours sleep total on flight. Good luck - Florida was fab, I'd love to go again despite the long flight! Disney amazing for wee ones! Have fun!

you will love DISNEYWORLD (sorry it is not Disneyland, that's the one in Paris)

we have been taking out two since before they were 2 years old and as other posters have said they will not be as bad as you think.

our strategy for the flight (even now they are 10 and 13) is to take lots to entertain them, when little you can get away with relatively cheap things, wrap them up like Christmas / birthday presents and they will enjoy it even more.

as for food take lots of different things, I find the small M&S rolls good to start with, then a banana, gradually getting 'worse' as the flight goes on (I don't let them have chocolate just in case they are ill on the flight ;( )

most flights have the in flight entertainment, but I'd recommend buying decent kids over earphones, much comfier for little ears. additionally load up the ipad with their fav telly program?

oh and a couple of light changes of clothing... you never know!

Disneyworld is amazing for all ages, I'm sure you will have a whale of a time!

"sorry it is not Disneyland, that's the one in Paris)"

Actually, the original Disneyland is in California.

We just did this in November! DD was 2 weeks off being 2.

It was a brilliant holiday. The flight was fine, much better than I thought. Virgin gave us one of the child seats, a bit like a car seat, I think without this it would've been a bit of a nightmare but she was happy to be strapped in watching peppa etc on the tablet. Also we had extra legroom seats - definitely recommend this as it meant when DD wanted to stretch her legs she could stand in the space in front.
Night flight home was a bit crap as she didn't sleep at all (until the second the plane landed in Manchester!!)

As for Florida itself it was absolutely fine, most parks had something for little ones although we avoided Hollywood Studios as there was nothing there for her and also Universal theme park side. Not much at universal film side but there is a big water area which she loved so we just took it in turns to wait there with her while others went on rides (went with parents).

Magic Kingdom was amazing, the whole trip was worth it to see her little face meeting minnie mouse. There's loads of rides there for little ones.

I'd say the main downside was that it was so so busy that she had to be in and out of the buggy a lot which meant a lot of tantrums and she ended up with a terrible sweat rash.

Sorry have probably gone on a bit there but as you can probably tell we loved it, it was hard work at times in that heat I won't lie, but brilliant. If you want to know anything else ask away!