How to Prep Your Kid for Disney World
And then not be prepared for any of it.
We had been “prepping” our 1½-year-old for her first trip to Disney.
Yes, it was perhaps way too early to bring her. But, her aunt and uncle were going with her 2 cousins; as were her nana and papou (that’s Greek for babysitters). We hadn’t nailed down any plans for the summer yet, and our little tax deduction basically paid for the trip herself. So: Done.
Our “prepping” involved: taking her to Liberty Science Center months prior, when they had a visit from Elmo — so we could gauge her reaction to larger-than-actual-size characters. We didn’t have her go up to (or bother with the incredible line to take a picture with) the human-size version of her favorite furry Muppet. But we did see Elmo walk right by us and waved at him while other kids stepped up to meet him. She seemed to be okay if not nonplussed about him. Good.
We had ordered the Now That’s What I Call Disney CDs — Volumes I and II (for regular car rides, really, but it also helped her brush up on her Disney tunes). II has her favorite, “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid, and (unfortunately) the incessant “it’s a small world” from the hellish ride my wife insisted on booking FastPasses for a month or so in advance. Fine.
Being a child under the age of 2, my wife and I choose not to let her have much screen time — yes, this is recommended by doctors for little developing minds, but it is nonetheless a choice. We did, however, let her watch a couple short videos of Winnie the Pooh and friends (she also has a lovely little book set and she loves books, so that helped), a few The Lion King and The Little Mermaid songs, and a smattering of Mickey and Minnie Mouse (also a fave) cartoons.
Our child is rather open to new things and often good about new environments, so we really weren’t terribly worried. We had been to a number of zoos and she loves animals, so there was the Animal Kingdom park to visit. If nothing else, there was a bunch of pools and splash pads where she could play at back at the hotel. And really, she’d be completely happy just seeing her cousins*.
(*because to kids: cousins = rock stars)
As we taxi out to the runway, my wife hands our baby girl her bottle and she begins to drink away. I sat on the aisle worrying she was maybe jumping the gun and our little chugger would be done before we even left the ground — leaving her tiny ears to pop like they never have before and send her wailing cries through the pressurized cabin. Never doubt the mother of your child; not five minutes into our ascent, our little flying angel finished her bottle and promptly fell asleep on my wife. Phew. Amazing.
Cut to: us entering the Magic Kingdom to meet up with the family (who had already hit the Orlando park grounds running before we took off). It was roughly 3-ish and, of course, we hit Main Street, USA just as a parade was coming down. Loud music, huge crowds, costumed characters on floats, tons of stimulation! Oh boy. I held onto our daughter and made our way up the block as best as we could to not have her mind completely blown before we even get started.
We get to the end of the parade, thankfully, in the open-air circle just before Cinderella’s Castle. There we stopped. I spotted Minnie, at last someone she was vaguely familiar with — from her stuffed animal, small foldable couch she got as a Christmas gift, a few t-shirts, etc. She looked up and squinted at her in the afternoon sun. Mama had caught up to us (making her way through the crowds with stroller in tow) and pointed up and said her name to our girl, “There’s Minnie!” Boom: Smiles.
The rest of our trip could have gone to crap, I would not have cared. Seeing her smile at her dancing Disney deity was worth it. Heart: mush. Riding the Dumbo the Flying Elephant carousel, then meeting Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and awestruck by Piglet (showed her little Piglet figure, blew kisses, smiled, and sat next to for a good long minute) at that night’s dinner was quite the first day full of adventure.
The Winnie the Pooh ride, The Little Mermaid ride, the Finding Nemo ride, meeting Mickey and Minnie at the Animal Kingdom were all fun times for her in the days to come. Taking breaks to make sure she had her naps among the multitudes of stimulation proved our best deterrent against her tantrums (yes, she did have a couple).
Nothing, though, could have prepared us for the way she reacted to the it’s a small world ride. Not all the months of planning, prepping, worrying or parenting advice. Ten minutes before our scheduled FastPass+ time, our small world dozed off in her stroller. Surely the wait time in line or the jostling of us entering the boat would wake her. My wife and I smiled at each other the whole ride. She slept the entire time. After all.
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