How many days for a 2nd birthday trip?

[NZDisneyFanGirl14]

We live in New Zealand and my brother in law is getting married in Toronto in July 2019. We thought since we are travelling so far we might as well stop at Disney World as part of the trip, especially since our daughter will be "free" since she will be under 3. In fact she would be turning 2 while we are there.

My question is how long is too long to spend at Disney for a 2 year old. DH and I went before we had a child in October 2016 and spent 10 days at Disney World (including arrival and departure days). We would be mostly there to meet characters and ride the rides that our daughter will be able to ride (plus ride the rides in Pandora and toy story land which will be new to us).

I understand touring with a child is a lot different to the 9am-midnight days we spent at the parks last time. So my plan was to take almost two days to do each park under the assumption that our days would be a lot shorter, probably getting back to the hotel at around 7pm each night.

Here is what I was thinking:

Day 1 Arrival Day
Day 2 Epcot Day 1
Day 3 Magic Kingdom Day 1
Day 4 Rest/Disney Springs
Day 5 Animal Kingdom Day 1
Day 6 Hollywood Studios
Day 7 Epcot Day 2
Day 8 Rest/Disney Springs
Day 9 Magic Kingdom Day 2
Day 10 Animal Kingdom Day 2
Day 11 Departure Day

DH is worried that its too much Disney and that it will be too much for a 2 year old, especially since we are going to have big jet lag coming all the way from New Zealand, and it will take 3 flights and about 30 hours to get to Orlando. we are thinking of stopping over for a night in Houston after our 14 hour flight, before we get to Disney to try and reduce the jet lag.

Any advice? thanks in advance.

 

[srwarden1928]

I don't think its too much Disney, especially with your total break days. Of course I can never get too much Disney.

 

[katyjeka]

You can never spend too much time at WDW!!! We love our trips that are 10 days and longer as do our girls.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Personally, I think at most 2 days is fine for a first trip to Disney given the age of your child.

Children that age are not going to remember the time spent there in later years plus they will already be dazed by plane travel, being kissed by a horde of people they don't know, and might not enjoy being fussed over by characters who will probably appear bigger than they recall them in books, film, or videos.

Every child is different but at the end of a 6 or 7 week long trip from Oz to Aruba (for a wedding), up to NYC to spend the holidays with family, up to Connecticut to visit with college friends, back to NYC, and then off to Australia via California with a 1 day side trip to DL, my 2.5 y/o grand niece told her parents she didn't like "that place" with the furry people (DL) and "let's not go again". My nephew was a tad crushed and said that was $1000.00 wasted but his wife is working on his psyche (and wallets) for their next North American trip, LOL.