"Must Dos" for a first timer-Realistic??

[newtodis]

What are the tips/tricks? I was reading another thread this morning and didn't know you could go to City Hall (I think) and get a button for your first visit. How cool! My oldest will love that. I'm going to put some goals and ideas that I have for this trip. As it's our first time, I don't know if I'm being too ambitious at all and really need someone to give me a bit of a reality check as to what you can actually do during the day.

Currently, we have reservations for the Play and Dine lunch on Saturday at 1:25 and breakfast reservations at Chef Mickey's for Sunday at 7am. Other than that everything's pretty open to whatever we want to do while we're there. The boys are 3 yrs and 15 months so I know we're not going to be able to do a lot. 3 yr old LOVES rides so once he gets going, it'll be hard to get him to stop at the end of the day. I'm just worried about him having enough to ride on. He's pretty tall and I've looked at different height charts so I think he'll be ok there. (he's about 43" at 3 yrs old!)

The attractions we have been talking about are the safari in AK, Playhouse Disney before or after lunch in DHS, Seas with Nemo in Epcot and a couple of rides in MK. We will only be at Disney Saturday and Sunday. Normally, I'm a VERY organized person and plan our vacations out with lots of lists of things to see and such. What should be on my list for this trip?? Any suggestions on places to eat for the other meals?

I'm also very interested in the photopass program and plan to take advantage of this as often as possible. Are the photog flexible in regards to taking a family picture then taking one of just the kids or with my camera so I'll have a "backup"??

Thank you all SO much for all of your help!! This board is wonderful!

 

[wahoostampingirl]

It looks like you're planning to hop to all 4 parks in 2 days. With such small children, you might want to rethink this and just pick the two parks you want to see the most. Of course, for a 3 year old, my top choice would be MK. Your ds can go on most of the rides there. After that, I would pick a park based on your family's interests. DHS doesn't have many rides (especially for small children), but my kids (age 6) do love it for the characters and the shows. Epcot has the kidcot stations and lots of neat stuff to do for kids, but it's very large and you won't see even close to everything in one day. AK is nice for children who love animals and we've also had good luck with character interaction there.

The one thing that surprised me the most on our first trip to Disney (Jan. 2007) was the amount of time it took to do everything. Even with a touring plan, it took time to get ourselves oriented and of course, with kids there are the inevitable extra potty breaks and stops for snacks. Also, our kids aren't the type to go from rope drop to closing. We found that they were done after 6 to 8 hours of park time. Or alternatively, we stay in the parks for 3 to 4 hours, take a few hour break and go back to a park for a couple of hours. However, since you'll only be there for 2 days, you'll probably want to stay longer. Just be sure your kids are drinking a lot of water and get plenty of mini breaks.

We didn't get to all of our "must dos" on that first trip, so of course we planned another trip as soon as we got home. We went 3 times in 13 months and still haven't seen everything that we want to, but each trip was so much fun and we've learned that at Disney, it's not about seeing it all, but enjoying what you do see.

I can't really answer your photopass question. I always mean to stop for photos, but then we get so involved in other things that I forget to. Most of the photograpers that we have used, have been very good about taking multiple shots and you can always take your own pictures too.

 

[surfer_ed]

We visited with our daughter at 18 months and then close to 3 years old. Both trips were wonderful. I love the park with little ones, every is REAL.

Must dos and tips for us:

• GO EARLY, go to Fanatsyland and get Dumbo and some of the slower loading rides done first. If you show up late you are wasting money and asking frustration.
• Have a mid day nap
• 2 Days might make it hard to do MK, DS and Epcot. Playhouse Disney is at Studios, Nemo is at Epcot and MK will have the most for young kids IMHO. In fact we usually just to MK but are planning DS in the fall since the kids love Playhouse Disney.
• There are great baby care centres for changing diapers etc
• We normally do counter service to eat since my 3 year old doesn't really want to sit still long enough for a table service meals.
• My DD loved the parades and characters (on her second visit), first visit wanted to look not meet.
• Take ear plugsfor the fireworks
• Did I mention Go Early

Check the Family board for some other tips for visits with young ones.

Have fun!!

 

[cinderkelli]

Here is my list of must do's for rides at each Park. I also think you are right on track with Chef Mickey's for breakfast. The kids will love that!

Epcot- Soarin' (not sure if kids are too short, but YOU have to ride it!), Spaceship Earth

Magic Kingdom - Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Carousel of Progress, Jungle Cruise - all kid friendly, except HM might be scary

Hollywood Studios - Honestly, not a ton of kid friendly rides here. Great movie ride is only one I think is a must see. Little Mermaid show is good too.

Animal Kingdom - Kilamanjaro Safari, Flights of Wonder show, Finding Nemo show

 

[DAZY3BYZ]

It looks like you're planning to hop to all 4 parks in 2 days. With such small children, you might want to rethink this and just pick the two parks you want to see the most.

I was thinking the same thing. With such small children 4 parks in two days would be really tough to accomplish. (It would be tough for adults too!) I'd pick MK of course and then a park based on your kids interests. DS has great shows but not much in the way of rides for small children. Epcot has Turtle Talk with Crush, Nemo, and Soarin'. AK has Safari,great shows. Your kids might want to meet the characters. When my boys were little, this was a huge part of our visits and I hadn't anticipated it. It's amazing how time gets swallowed up at Disney so just be careful about trying to do too much in one trip. I think if you take it slower, even if you don't see as much this time, you'll enjoy your trip more. You can always go back

 

[tlriv5]

Wow, I can't even imagine trying to do all four parks in two days. The first year we went our twins were 4 and our oldest was 7 we only did MK, all day long! We went back the next year and only did MK (along with Mnshhp) We started early both times and left late both times. My dd's love MK. THeir first trip to all the parks were when they were 8,8 and 11. MK is still their favorite park. THere is so much for a little one to do there, you will never get bored. I can't think of any rides at HS a 3 year old would like. My girls had fun there, but only because they loved ToT! Epcot is a neat park and it does have Nemo, but it is a lot of walking. And I mean a lot! If he likes animals I think he would enjoy AK and if he likes dinosaurs. Just take your time and enjoy yourself. If you try to do everything then you are going to get worn out. You know you'll be planning a second trip when your next little one gets older.

 

[caroline1851]

If i were going with kids those ages for only 2 days, i would stick to just MK. There is so much to do and things take so much longer with little ones. Maybe take the monorail from MK to Epcot to see Nemo.
I would do:
Saturday MK and take the monorail to Epcot for that Chip and Dale buffet lunch (instead of Play/dine)
Sunday just do MK

 

[ms*mountaineer]

I agree that you should plan on just 2 parks for your 2 days - you will enjoy the time so much more. You'll be able to be flexible and go where your kids would like to go.

We did one day at MK and one day at Epcot - there was something we missed at MK and considered hopping back over after dinner at Epcot, but DD was sooo looking forward to doing some things twice (like Soarin) that she didn't care to go back to MK. At both parks, we were able to hit their favorites more than once which they really enjoyed.

Regarding photopass - the photographers are VERY flexible and will take whatever combos you want them to take. (the more they take, the more pictures you MIGHT buy - so they're all for it). I don't know if they will take one with your camera or not - but they were VERY gracious about letting me get a picture with my camera too. At EVERY princess or character greeting - I would kneel next to the Photopass guy and he would tell the kids "Look at Mom!" and allow me to get a picture FIRST. Then he would ask everyone to look at him and take his pictures. Very nice touch!

 

[mamamary]

If you are staying on-site you can probably get the first time button when you check in. I was able to do that for my kids.