Reflections on Taking a Toddler to Disney

Dear John,

Three years old is a terrible time to go on a Disney vacation.  It's okay.  Your dad and I knew this trip would not be easy for you... the newness of everything, the lack of routine, the strangers in strange costumes, the intense sensory overload.  We knew you would not get the full enjoyment and we knew that we would have to be extra patient with you.  We also planned to only do two parks and to revisit them both in the hopes that even if the first day at each park was hard, the second should go better.

Your dad was trying to get you to smile here.  It was the first official Disney picture and I felt that the pained look on your face was somehow appropriate for this trip and told your dad to let it go.

We went at this time because it was the right time for your sister.  She is at the downward slope of her Disney princess stage and we wanted to capture the magic of it for her before that ship sailed.  We also knew that a later trip, when you are five or six, would be more fun for everyone if we had already had one Disney experience to reflect back on.  If we had only planned one Disney vacation for our family, we would never have taken it while you were so little, but since this was the first, not the only, we felt like it would work.

The first day was the hardest for you.  A Disney vacation is really just one transition after another... house to plane, plane to plane, plane to bus, bus to hotel, hotel to bus, bus to Magic Kingdom, ride to ride, ride to show, show to ride... it never ends and transitions are so hard for you right now.  At each stage, you were happy in what we were doing.  You even liked the plane and bus rides.  But just as you got accustomed to a thing, we changed things on you.  We finally had to decide as a family that there was nothing we could do to make it better for you, short of picking something like Tom Sawyer Island that we could stay at all day.  So we let you work through all of those transitions on your own.  It was hard. 

I swear you were working so hard to make sense out of things that you kept asking to look at maps.  Like somehow that would totally help things.

End of Day One.  I credit you, boy, for my five pound Disney weight loss.  Carrying your sleeping body burns a lot of calories.

On Day Two we just got you a stroller and let you sit and mope.  Really.  The only thing that perked you up during the morning and afternoon of Day Two was sugar.  We would feed you gummi bears, chocolate mousse, popcorn, etc. and you would be happy for up to thirty minutes and then the sugar crash would come and we would have to find a new source of energy.  You also lost some weight at Disney.  You just couldn't eat enough to keep up with the calorie burn.

Proof that not all of the first part of Day Two was miserable for you.  There were these moments, like the drums in the strange "not on the map" African village that you loved.  It was just that we would never stay in these spots long enough for you and to be clear, you have just eaten a bowl of soft-serve ice cream, too.

But at the end of Day Two, something shifted for you.  I know a big part of the shift was Nemo.  Mrs. Ford had told us there was a Finding Nemo ride and after a full day of walking the World Showcase at Epcot, we thought we might try doing something you would like.  Once you saw Nemo and heard you could go find him, you were off and running.  After an entire day in a stroller, in which you could not walk more than five steps without breaking down in tears or asking for more to eat or drink, you were running.  I had to break into a run myself to keep up with you.  We rode Nemo twice, saw the Crush show, and explored the aquarium at The Seas pavilion.

After Finding Nemo (and after finding the leaping fountain.  You have just been splashed by the water and are ecstatic.

Then on Day Three we went back to Epcot and finally you had a frame of reference to understand the mechanics of the day.  Finally you knew what to expect and were able to enjoy yourself.  We rode rides and saw shows and you had a great time.  Day Four was back to the Magic Kingdom and you had the most amazing time.  You knew which rides you liked and which ones you didn't and we rode all of your favorites over and over and over again in the way that three year olds like to experience their world... on repeat.

You loved, loved, loved Spaceship Earth.  You talked about it all day long and we rode it twice, just for you.

On Day 4, you were so happy.  We rode so many rides and finally you started to understand that leaving one ride just means going to another.

You really wanted to ride this "rocketship."

We rode Pirates of the Carribean so many times that I lost track.  Some piratey things should be arriving in the mail for you this coming week.

The rest of the family wanted to ride Haunted Mansion but you (reasonably) thought it was too scary.  Your daddy gave you a special ghost fighting laser, though, and you were ready to ride.  You even went an additional time or two after that.

I cannot express the lengths your dad and I went to keep calories in you.  This lollipop was 400 calories of pure sugar and you burned it all off.

You loved the Prince Charming Carousel.  You just like carousels.

We didn't meet a lot of characters at Disney.  Mostly we were unwilling to stand in line for them.  Mostly, your dad wasn't willing to stand in line for them.  But you and I stood in line for Buzz and Tigger and Pooh.  We also met several of the princesses at the breakfast, but the only one you wanted your picture with was Ariel. 

 

 

I am so glad we went to Disney.  I am glad that we took your sister when she was still little enough to be taken in by the magic and I really think both of you will remember this trip enough to be even more excited when we go back in a few years.

Love,
Mom