Should we wait to go to WDW or go now with a 3yr old?

[KJMAX1]

Our little girl will be turning 3 in April and my husband wants to go to WDW in August. I am thinking that our daughter wont like it very much cause she is too young, or am I wrong? This will be VERY different from what we are used to because we have only gone when we were single. BTW, a side note is that we adopted her in Jan. and has never been introduced to rides or anything but is always eager to try them at the stores. She also loved meeting the Easter Bunny and wasnt afraid to go sit on his lap. She even stayed there and wouldnt get off!

Thanks

KJ

 

[LKS]

She is not too young to enjoy it. Disney's rides are really geared toward small children, IMHO. There will only be a few that she is too small to ride. Of course, if you can squeeze that trip in before her birthday in April, her ticket and buffet meals will be free. We took our two youngest each just before they turned three and they had a wonderful time. If you go right before that third birthday, Disney is THE best deal!

 

[Steffi]

Your little girl will LOVE it! (And seeing Disney through your child's eyes for the first time is one of the most magical memories you'll have of the place.) 3 is not too young, it is, IMO, the perfect age. She will love the shows, the characters, the rides...well, EVERYTHING!

If your plans for August are not set in stone, maybe you could set the date for around the second week of September, when everyone's back in school & the crowds are considerably smaller & more manageable. Before my daughter started school, we always went in September...it was heaven! Especially when she was a toddler/preschooler, not having to wait in mile-long lines was a god-send.

Whenever you go, you & your husband & your little girl will have a lot of fun & a lot of memories to look back on. Happy Disneying!

P.S. Congratulations on the adoption...what a lucky family!

 

[elemusing]

GO!!! We took my son when he was two and he had a ball! Still talkes about it. We have since taken him back at 3.5 and are going again right after he turns 4. She will absolutely love it.

It is very different with a child. My hubby and I went several times when we had no child. Just remmeber this trip is for HER and take lots of little breaks. IT forces you to actaully stop and enjoy everything.

Also, try a night out by hiring a sitter from Fairy Godmothers. They are awesome and only use American older ladies to sit. My little boy called our sitter Helen, gramdma!

Angie

 

[smarro]

I would say go and follow her lead. She may like things you never expected and very well might not like things you would think she would love. Just be prepared to let her linger at an interesting water fountain or play on some inviting walkway. Also be ready to take a break when she needs it or to walk around while she takes a nap in a stroller (if you are that lucky). I think if you let her lead the way, you can have a glorious time. One thing that we did which helped a lot was to have our kids watch the Disney vacation planning videos several times (actually over, and over, and over........). Of all the things I did planning our trip, that was one of the things I was most glad I had done. I was worried it would take some of the magic away, but in the end, I think it helped them enjoy it more.

 

[caskar]

I have to tell you one of the most memorable moments for me was seeing my daughter at age 3 see Mickey for the first time. I almost cried. She was so happy and excited. Her smile on her face made it worth every penny! "Somethings money can't buy!"
She also had a great time with just about everything else. I think we went on the "It's a Small World" ride 4 times in a row.

 

[DVC-LEROY]

I just read the last post and I almost cried too. And so will you - Take your 3 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Took our son for the first time at 2 years old, then at 3 and bought into DVC mostly because I see how special it is for him. He thinks its the greatest - dreams about it - remembers more than you'd imagine. And if you can put it off till the fall - even better - that's when we always go (end of Sept - beginning of Oct - best to go at a low season for a first time with a child - its overwhelming enough without the crowds and as we found out - a whole different experience with a child - even better! Take lots of photos and video - my son is constantly reviewing them - that in itself is a riot to watch. And it's the little things that your daughter will remember that will make it even more special. Don't worry about seeing and doing it all - just enjoy the moments! And don't forget the umbrella stroller and lots of juice boxes! Have fun!

 

[ASFCurly]

I would take her now too, but as she gets older it is very likely that she won't remember very much, but she will have pictures, and you will have wonderful memories. I went to Disneyland at the age of four, I don't remember anything except that my aunt's dogs chewed up the cups that we bought, but we have great pictures and my mom has the memories.

 

[KJMAX1]

Yeah we arent too worried about if she will remember or not. We loved to go just to relax. So this trip was different because we have a child now and I didnt know how she would handle all of this. Is it too much for them to handle and its overload, and you need a very laid back kid? My husband thinks she can be laid back at times. My only thing is we are flying from Seattle!!!! Thank God we will be there 7 nights. I dont want to come off like a kill joy, but sometimes the less stress the better with her until she settles in a little more. But it will be in August, so that is plenty of time.

 

[Gillian]

Congratulations on your newly-expanded family! By August I think you'll know exactly how to handle her. It will be so much fun!!

We are taking DS in september. He will be 2. We are so excited to take him to see Mickey! We are planning on a slow placed trip, adjusting to his needs. Even if he hates everything else, I know he will LOVE the swimming pools!

Change you trip to the second week of september & we can introduce our children. My little one loves older women

 

[Mish]

I would go. We took our DS in Novemeber he just turned 3 and he is still talking about it. Everytime he hears an airplane he says "mommy me see Micky Mouse in the airplane more". All he ever talks about is our trip. Needless to say it wasn't hard to convince my DH to take him back again this November. I cant wait to go back to see his joy again. Go and have a great time believe me you will. Michelle

 

[cookie2001]

We took our 2 DDs last year when the youngest was just 3. She had a fine time and still remembers it. If you go when park hours are shorter I would plan on some days with her napping in the stroller if she will. One day we came back to the room to get her to take a nap, it took her a while to fall asleep but once asleep and taking a good nap we didn't want to wake her up. So we didn't get our money's worth that day. I set our expectation low because of her and we weren't disappointed.

She had a few fits but would eventually get distracted and settle down. What I thought was so funny is that people would look at her and say, "Poor thing, she must be tired." She wasn't tired, she just wanted to have her way like pushing the stroller out of Fantasmic instead of riding in it. That was no fun but it is no different than dealing with her at home. A year later she is still the same.

 

[KJMAX1]

LOL Cookie, thanks for the support. Believe or not after 5 years of planning to adopt not because we couldnt have children, but because we wanted to adopt a child in need first, you would think we wouldnt get comments from our family. However, we still get suggestions and comments on what she might need. Our daughter has her mind made up most of the time as well. It will definitly be interesting to see her at WDW and to hear peoples comments.

 

[Atlantis~crystal]

Hey there!Please go & bring your little one..you will all relish in the magic of it all.My girl (who almost five now)went...when she was three.I call her my spit-fire grill...She is full of life, adventure..&did great.If you take some time outs..I mean little breaks...go back swim,nap,relax..that's good too.She loved it.When I told all the people(she did great) that" told me not to go"..That she was too young etc etc....they were very quiet.I guess it could depend on the personality..but I say go ahead...& find out.It's good memories for everyone.Enjoy...Don't pospone JOY.

 

[sha_lyn]

I have a friend who has never been that thinks 12 is too young. She has an anunt and uncle and 2 adult cousins who go every yr so she thinks it is only for adults and tells me I am just wasting my money everytime we go. Of course she also said she her DS visited her aunt and uncle down there and he went to AK MK MGM and Epcot that they took him to everyting in Orlando but Disney world. LOL

My point is .... as others have said above only you know when your child is the right age. My DH told me when I planned our first trip that I better be certai nthat that was when I wanted to go because we would never go back. Well he was planning our next trip while we were still there. He thought DD was too young (2 1/2). The only way I convinced him to go was that she was free and 10DS was at the perfect age.
On our second day we were eating lunch at CP. The look on DD's face when piglet came to the talbe was priceless. DH said it was worth the price of the entire trip

DD really enjoyed our trip. I think she still remebers bits and pieces. One day last yr just days after our US/IOA trip (and a full yr after our WDW trip) DS was talking to a friend about US/IOA and their favorite rides. DD piped in "my favorite ride is the tea cups at Disney".

 

[JonHM]

we just took my DS in January, at the age of 19 months, and he ***LOVED *** it!!! We thought that he would enjoy himself, just because it's a fun place, but he got ALL into everything that was going on. After being a tad tentative on his first character interaction, until Dale sat down on the floor with him and patiently coaxed him to play - after that, he LOVED playing with the characters. He liked a lot of the rides but I think he just had a blast BEING there - like the fountain in epcot where the water comes out of the sidewalk - I didn't know he could laugh so hard - he would have spent all day there if we'd let him! He didn't know Mickey Mouse before we went, because he doesn't have any Mickey Mouse cartoons, but he sure knows him now! He did get extremely excited when he saw the characters he knew - like Buzz and Woody, and Mulan. But the biggest thing for him was getting to see Bear in the Big Blue House live at MGM - you would have thought he was in the presence of royalty. When he saw Bear from up on my shoulders at the Stars and Motor Cars parade, he waved so hard and shrieked so loudly with joy that all 5 rows of people lined up in front of us all turned around, smiling, and watched him instead of the parade for a few minutes.

I would say *definitely* take her. If you guys liked to go already when you were single, and she's so young now, you should maybe consider looking into the Disney Vacation Club when you're down there. It's what is making it affordable for us to be able to take DS back many times while he is still very young.

 

[sparkspeak]

Go! We stayed at OKW in January with my almost 3-year old granddaughter and she's still talking about "Relli" and her beautiful princess dress. She was thrilled to see the characters but kept her distance from all but the unmasked, like Alice and Snow White. Having viewed the classic Disney movies again and again . . . and again, she was well-prepped for the experience. I missed the parade because I was watching her beam with each passing performance in it.

 

[KLL]

My daughter-in-law and I laughed when we saw this post. Last summer we took our 6 year old grandaughter and 2 1/2 year old grandson. They had a ball!! The grandson was not afraid of much. Besides there was so much for the kids to do that we did not worry about what attractions they did not want to do. Our grandson was a little shy of the charcters at the beginning, but warmed up quickly. He still amazes us with comments he still makes about the trip (he remembers so much that the trip was definitely worth while). Besides, he really enjoyed it at the time and asked when we are going back. We are in the early stages of planning a trip for 2003. By all means, GO!

 

[carone0318]

Go, she'll love it! Once you see her face light up, it is like a drug and you will most definitely be hooked!!! We are and now when we go back in June, I will not only have my 5.5 yr old dd (her 3rd Disney trip) but my new addition, my ds who will be 16 months.... In regards to the plane, just go with the flow. We were suppose to be on a flight that would of taken a little over 2 hours, well, between flights getting canceled and delays our ordeal ended up being 36 hours long. Dd was great! Sometimes they can amaze you. Go and get hooked

 

[jaret]

We took our 3 kids when our youngest was 3 ,it was their 1st disney trip.He loved it!We knew we were going for the characters and the kids sections.We bought all of them disposible cameras,little flashlights(for any dark rides and they knew that is what it was for,my 3 yr old used it a couple of times) and bubbles(for waits in line) to keep in their own fanny packs.The pictures he took(my 3yr old )gave a wonderful perspective of disney,things we never noticed,like flowers or even how he sees the world.My son loved the costumed characters,but was terrified of the real people characters(we did cindy's breakfast and he hid under the table)But my 5 and 7 yr old daughters loved cindy's.We let him decide what could be done and stayed away from the rides he did not make the height requirement for,thus no hurt feelings.It is wonderful at this age as they are free spirits and seeing disney with them at this age is truly a wonderful experience.I still remember him dancing down main street USA as he had seen in a video we had.Buy some videos and see if Disney appeals to her and target the visit to her favorite characters and she should enjoy it,All that has to be remembered is that if she is tired and does not want to do something it just doesn't get done,eberyone will be soo much happier.