3yo First Trip

[slaball1]

My daughter just called and told me she is taking her 3yo girl cousin to WDW for her first visit. It's been a LONG time since I have traveled there with a small child.

Any suggestions for me to start researching? All I do know is that she loves the princesses. TIA

 

[tinkerfan1]

My youngest son was 3yo when we took him for the first time and it was a wonderful age! She will have a great time! I would definitely recommend, if they can, to do a character breakfast or two. We love Chef Mickeys. However, since she loves princesses, she should try to go to the Castle. I'll let other people with little girls give you all the recommendations on what to do. I just wanted to say that reading this brought back wonderful memories of that age. And those truly were magical days. I can't wait to take DGD so I look forward to hearing the responses you get. I hope they have a wonderful time! I'm sure they will.

 

[sunburnin]

Princesses:

Plan on early morning visits to DS and MK. MK for Fantasyland of course (fun rides, meet ariel, etc.) DS to see Beauty and the Beast show, Voyage of the little mermaid show, playhouse disney live.

An option for dining at Cinderella's castle is Akershus in Epot (Norway). Both fill up quick but the castle goes first.

She'll have a blast!

 

[mainegal]

Look in library or bookstore for books on WDW with children.

 

[claryche]

Look in library or bookstore for books on WDW with children.

Read the books...I did...but then don't go by them 100%. Every child is different, so some will be scared of things such as characters and dark rides, as mentioned in the books. And some won't. Disney World's website also has some tips for preschoolers. So check it out.

 

[MCazer]

If she has a princess dress, bring it. My daughter got so much attention when we ate at Cinderellla's Castle, she was dressed like Cinderella, as well as my neice and friend's daughter was Tinkerbell. Everyone made such a big fuss over her, we let her wear it most of the day. We just brought shirt to change into when she wanted, as she wore her short underneath.

Oh, get her an autograph book too!

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

We just returned a few days ago with our 3 year old (and almost 5 year old). Fun was had by all! We learned that you have to take things on the kids' schedule. Lots of posts here stress the importance of rope drop. That didn't really work for our family, as my 3 year old woke up after 8 most days, needed time to wake up, get dressed, eat some food etc. before we could go out. For this reason, we ended up not doing any early breakfasts. We also needed to eat dinner at a normal hour and get her to bed at her normal bedtime to avoid tiring her out. Also, a stroller is very important and your cousin needs to decide whether to rent one or bring one (I'd bring one because it is helpful in the airport).

As for research, I found the Unofficial Guide to be helpful but the DIS was most helpful. If she likes princesses, I'd definitely do breakfast at Akershus. We did a 10:30 breakfast and my girls loved it. That was the only character meal that we did. My 3 year old collected autographs and really "got" that. She liked meeting all the characters that she saw milling about.

As a first ride, we did Dumbo. Luckily the line was only 20 minutes at 3:30 PM. We were able to walk on to similar rides - Aladdin and Triceratop Spin were both walk ons when we did them. My 3 year old really enjoyed the teacups. Philharmagic was a HUGE hit too. I would say that Fantasyland and toon town are "must do's." The 3 year old may be afraid of indoor rides, so I'd try something like It's a small world first that is not remotely scary and then work your way up to rides with scarier themes/characters. We did Pooh first and my 3 year old was fine but my 4 year old was terrified by the dream sequence! After that she refused to go on any indoor rides for the rest of the day and for much of the next day.

Also, prepare to stop for shows and parades. Fireworks are nice, but if you have to stay up late for them, be prepared for the 3 year old to sleep in the next day. Also, be prepared for the 3 year old to be afraid of fireworks. We didn't have this issue, but many are scared.

The other thing that we did was dress up our girls in character clothes. I got shirts and outfits on etsy and ebay and my DDs were so excited to have special and unique clothing. People fussed over them and the characters always pointed it out.

A 3 year old will likely be too short for many rides. My 3 year old is 39.5 inches and skipped out on a lot of things. If she is traveling with another person, it may make sense to use fastpasses if possible rather than baby swap so that the 3 year old won't be disappointed to knowingly skip a ride. We avoided meltdowns this way. We are a family of 4 and we got 4 fastpasses for rides with height restrictions. Then DH would take my 4 year old. If she liked the ride then I'd use the other two fast passes and ride with my 4 year old while DH hung out with the 3 year old.

Bottom line - every kid is different. But be prepared to do things on the 3 year old's pace and not on the pace you might want.

 

[djp0630]

We just took DD3 at end of Sept/early Oct and she loved it!!! Loves the princesses too. Such a great age! We enjoyed eating at the castle, Akershus, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare Breakfast & Chef Mickey's. But I definitely recommend the castle & Akershus for the princesses. We did both and DD enjoyed both very much. Also saw princesses in Toontown & in the World Showcase in Epcot. Never too many princesses. Oh, we also really enjoyed Belle's storytime at MK.

A few suggestions. Be at MK for rope drop to see Dumbo. DD3 didn't really care too much about it, but it was nice to get out of the way early. If the niece likes the fairies (tinkerbell, etc), that line can get crazy, so I recommend hitting the Toontown Rope drop (~9:45) and heading right there. DD loved Fantasyland and her favorite ride was Snow White. We also did BBB for her and that was cool. We had such a great time, that we are going again in May. This age is so fun at WDW especially if you don't mind all the princesses!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We took our DS when he was 3 for his first trip and it was great. Be sure and slow down and take your time and naps are super important. Our first ride was Dumbo right at rope drop and we were one of the first on. I sat in front of DS and DH to take pics (DD and MIL were in the Dumbo behind them) and I got the most priceless pictures of him and the amazement on his face when they were flying. It was truely magical seeing MK thru a kids eyes for the first time.

 

[slaball1]

Thank you all for all the wonderful tips! I'm glad to hear about all the places for the princess character meals and meet and greets. She is going to be so surprised!

Even though my dd is now in her twenties, I still remember her first trip to WDW and agree 100% there is nothing like seeing WDW through a child's eyes.

 

[MJMcBride]

there are several books designed specifically for taking toddlers to disney

we did a bunch of "Toddlers Guide to" and "preschoolers guide to" here

http://www.mouseextra.com/category/touring-tips-and-trip-planning/

 

[princesslover]

I am loving reading this thread! We leave a week from Monday for our first ever Disney trip with my two DD's who are 3 and 6. I can't wait!

 

[Mommydar]

I have a 6, 4, and 3 y/o princess, and let me say there is no shortage of princess pleasures in the world. It might be too late to try to secure a lunch at the castle, but EPCOT's Akerhaus usually has lunch and dinner availability. If you are on the dining plan, Akerhaus is a good way to stretch your dollar - you even get a photo with Belle.
My girls loved Snow White's Scary Adventures, but if your children tend to frighten easy, it is somewhat intense in parts. If you want to catch the Princesses and fairies at Toon Town - go early. A good strategy is to have someone in your party run to Fantasyland and get a FP for PP (you will need a FP for it), and then take the girls and line up for the fairies and then the princesses.
Not sure what kind of passes/tickets you have, but because children tend to tire easily and like the simple things (i.e. my daughters can spend well over an hour at the playful spot type places), I'd consider 2 1/2 days at Magic Kingdom. There are many things to see here.
Have an awesome time. It's truly amazing to be there with little ones. Tiring, but amazing.

 

[heidig]

We took our 3 year old dd for her 1st visit this past Sept (POFQ) and are going back in Jan (AKL). She did excellent. She no longer takes naps and that made it soo much easier. We did lots of character breakfasts around 9 AM and dd did great. We ended most days around 8 and then went back to the hotel swimming. We were constantly on the go and taking her stroller was def a needed item and soo easy because there is stroller parking by each ride. We had some items delivered to our room from gardengrocer.com such as a case of water, juice boxes, orange juice, grapes, apples, yogurt, oatmeal, bread, peanut butter and jelly and took a soft cooler bag to the park each day. We really didn't need the food but the water and juice were great to have because in the park a bottle of water is 3.00!
We had her made over at Biddity Boddity Boutique as Belle and then had reservations immediately after at Cinderellas Royal Table and she got her pics taken with all the princesses dressed up. We also ate at 1900 Park Fare with all the Princesses at Grand Floridian which was good too. None of us cared for Akershus Royal Hall in Epcot with the Princesses as the food was strange (cold fishes, cheeses, etc) for breakfast...but the princesses were good. Chef Mickey's was great and we are going again this next trip and our favorite was Tusker House for Breakfast and we are doing that one again too! It is soo magical to see your 3 year olds face thinking this is all real! We have on tape the 1st time she saw the castle and her expression was priceless. Her favorite ride was "snow white scarey adventure" and we had to ride it numerous times. Have a blast....I know you will!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

My daughter just called and told me she is taking her 3yo girl cousin to WDW for her first visit. It's been a LONG time since I have traveled there with a small child.

Any suggestions for me to start researching? All I do know is that she loves the princesses. TIA

Grab a guide book and look at the lists of attractions for each park and then you can decide your "maybe" dos.

AK - DS (2.5 @ the time) LOVED this park, but he loves animals. We found DeVine right at the park entrance and he was enamored (sp?) with her. We began walking the animal trails, went to Camp Minnie-Mickey (the Gathering Place is a great rest stop), and then on to Dinoland and the Safari. We didn't make it back to Conservation station, but it's definately on our list for the next trip.

DHS - IMHO, not much here for a little girl, especially one who loves princesses. There is Muppets 3-D and Playhouse Disney. Voyage of the Little Mermaid may be your only draw for this park.

EP - If you can't book Cinderella's Royal Table at MK, Akerhaus is your next best bet like PPs have said. Princesses are known to be dotted in World Showcase during the day too. Aurora and Belle in France, Snow White in Germany, Jasmine in Morocco, etc. The Nemo ride and Turtle Talk with Crush were also major hits for us.

MK - See if you can make Storytime with Belle in the garden near Cindy's castle. I believe "the girls" may be found in Toontown at times, but when we were there in April only the fairies were in the Judge's Tent. Otherwise, you'll be spending a lot of time in Fantasyland. If you need her to blow off some steam, try Tom Sawyer's Island (look for a paintbrush to turn in to CMs if you get there early enough). If you didn't hit up Turtle Talk, go to Monster's Inc Laugh Floor (Tomorrowland) - same technology, but I liked this show better. There is also a performance at Cindy's Castle, Dream Along with Mickey, that features Cindy, Aurora, and I believe Snow White. It was really cute.

HTH!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

If you are interested, there is a link in my signature for our recent trip with 3 and 6 year old girls. It may give you some ideas of things to do and what my little one did and did not enjoy!

 

[dollyd]

Ok, so everyone is saying princesses but lets not forget Tinkerbell. I just got back with my little 3 yr old grand daughter (10/27-11/4) And what a hoot. When she met Tinkerbell she went speachless even Tinkerbell thought it was so cute then when she saw Tinkerbell fly out of the castle (priceless). You really forget when your kids are grown but that magic reappears when you bring the grand children. Like most people said most of your time is in Fantasyland but really how many time do you go and ride the rides there as an adult? I can't wait to bring her back again and see what magic happens.
Enjoy