One Day With a 20-Month-Old

MinnieLizzie

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Hi all - we are just back from a Southern California vacation with our 20-month-old daughter. We visited Coronado, Carlsbad, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Malibu and did one day at Disneyland. I so appreciated reading about other people’s experiences before our trip and thought I’d share a few things that worked well for us!
  • We arrived in Anaheim Wednesday afternoon and stayed for one night at the Residence Inn Convention Center. Having a separate bedroom was great to ensure that the baby got a good night’s rest. This hotel definitely felt businesslike, but would recommend for a pre-Disneyland night.
  • Thursday morning we checked into the Disneyland Hotel at about 7:30am so we could get our room keys for early entry. The front desk attendants were so nice, but the check in process was very slow!
  • We arrived at security a few minutes before 8:00am. There were lines, but nothing outrageous.
  • We didn’t have an agenda for early entry - it was just nice to have a little head start on the day.
  • Before our trip, I focused on getting Lizzie familiar with three things: 1. It’s a Small World - we watched the ride through video on YouTube almost daily and she couldn’t wait to see it. 2. Winnie the Pooh - we read books and watched movies and 3. Mickey and Minnie. This worked great as it gave us a few things to focus on that we knew she would recognize and enjoy. Totally recommend this strategy for the really little kids who aren’t as familiar with movies, Disney Jr. etc.
  • Fantasyland was already really busy when we arrived so we rode the carousel - this was a huge hit and a relaxed, fun way to start our day. In fact, she wanted to ride multiple times and since we didn’t have an agenda, we really enjoyed that with her. (The major theme of our day was just enjoying what she was enjoying - not rushing from attraction to attraction.)
  • We went straight to Small World when it opened at 9:00am. This was also a big hit and we rode a couple of times. I think it blew her mind to see it in person - she LOVED it.
  • We waited outside Toontown and went straight to Minnie’s house when it opened. We waited about 15 minutes to see Minnie. The wait flew by while we explored her house - so much for a toddler to see and play with!
  • We put MaxPass only on my husband’s ticket. This saved a little cash as we could use rider swap if I also wanted to do an attraction. (I am not a roller coaster rider.)
  • We made a FastPass reservation for Indiana Jones at 10:50am and used rider swap. While I waited on Jared, Lizzie and I hung out in the little courtyard next to Aladdin’s Bazaar. This was a great quiet and cool spot to rest, have a bottle etc.
  • Our room at the Disneyland Hotel was ready when we were done with Indy (about 11:30). This was AMAZING as Lizzie was able to get in a great nap. Cannot recommend the Disneyland Hotel enough - the room was lovely and the convenient location really allowed us to maximize our time. Totally worth the cost.
  • We headed back to the park rested and refreshed a little before 4pm.
  • Mickey was greeting in the Square - Lizzie loved this meet. Again - making sure she was familiar with a few characters totally paid off. She couldn’t have been more thrilled.
  • We went straight from there to Critter Country with hopes to meet Pooh. This was a longer line than we realized as we wound around and met Tigger, Eeyore and THEN Pooh. It was fine in the end and so glad we did it as Lizzie was tickled to see Pooh and Tigger, but we just didn’t know what we were getting into initially.
  • After meeting Pooh, we had Lizzie’s portrait done at the Silhouette Studio on Main Street. This was such a fun experience for all of us. Bonnie, the artist, has been working at Disneyland for 44 years and was so sweet. She did 3 copies at once for us so we can give them to the grandmas for Mother’s Day - I think this is going to be a huge hit.
  • Jared had a FastPass for Space Mountain after this. When he was done we met and had dinner at Pizza Planet (Redd Rocket’s). Nothing special, but it was a good Caesar salad and fusilli pasta with chicken. We all shared along with an order of breadsticks and enjoyed.
  • After dinner we rode Buzz Lightyear. I hadn’t thought about this being scary for Lizzie, but it was loud and we kept stopping - she didn’t love it.
  • We rode Small World once more and then the carousel twice more. At this point it was about 9:00. Lizzie was tired but still having fun. We decided to walk towards the front of the park. We were by the train station at 9:20. We thought about watching the fireworks from there, but Lizzie was asking to go to bed. We had had such a great day that we didn’t want to end with an over tired meltdown so we headed back to the hotel.
The next day we checked out of the hotel and had brunch at Goofy’s Kitchen at 11:10am. Lizzie had a great time with the characters - they were so fun and visited our table multiple times. Again - totally worth it and the perfect thing to do before heading to the airport for our flight home.

To sum it up, we are SO GLAD we took her to Disneyland at this age. I know lots of people say to wait until they can remember, but honestly - I wouldn’t trade this day for the world. We didn’t ride a lot of rides or watch a lot of shows - in fact, by most standards we didn’t get much done at all. But we enjoyed a magical day with our daughter seeing things through her eyes, going at her pace and just enjoying her enjoyment of the little things. We have also visited Disney World with her and found Disneyland to be much more enjoyable at this stage. Not having to plan every move 6 months in advance was so much nicer and more relaxed working around the schedule of a baby/toddler.


I hope this is helpful to future travelers. I’d be happy to answer any questions!

-Emilie
 
I love your strategy of just going with the flow and letting Lizzie set the pace! I totally agree that Disneyland is much easier vs. Disney World to do with a small child. I took my son to Disneyland when he was 14 months and 26 months old (he's 10 now), and both trips we were able to be relaxed and just take the day as it came. It was nice to not have to plan everything far in advance and then try to fit the child to the plan.

Oh, and we had Bonnie do my son's silhouette many years ago, too! I love that she's still there!
 
We are heading to DL in 3 weeks and our LO’s (mine and my sisters) will be 20 months so this is super helpful, thank you!
 
This was super helpful, even though my daughter will only be 11 months when we go, thanks!
 


I liked reading about your trip! I'm so glad you had a great day, and that you took cues from your cutie about what she was up for! I hope we get to stay in the Disneyland Hotel someday. Definitely on my bucket list! :)
 

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