How best to use EMH and get everything done in a weekend?

[RoseBug]

I need some help planning. We are there Sat and Sun, staying onsite so have EMH.

DD will be 3 years old and I know there are a few rides she can go on and will really enjoy.

What are the MUST do rides and shows and how best to get them all in to what will be a busy 2 days in the parks?

Thank you!

 

[disneyamy4]

i'm not entirely sure what a 3 year old can and can't go on, but i'll try and help.

if you go into disneyland park with your extra magic hours on the saturday and head straight for fantasyland, there you will find peter pan, the carousel, dumbo and the tea cups as walk ons, which really are some of the headline rides. then you could head over to buzz, and then back to fantasyland for opening where you can then ride it's a small world, snow white, pinocchio and any rides you want to do again with minimal queueing. i would check the character times and probably queue for the princesses, they can have really long queues but if you are there before they open the queue you can probably get a shorter want.
then there is also pirates of the carribean and various other character meets.

on the second day i would use emh again, to the same effect, and then head over to the studios for opening. go on slinky in toy story playland and then check park maps for the show times, Animagique is a must do with kids. then you can see what other attractions you may want to do before heading back to disneyland park for a few favourites!

 

[jothp]

3 is a lovely age to visit, our DD was three on our trips last year and it was all so real for her

Make sure you get to EMH as early as you can because it tends to get busier the nearer you get to 10.00. Ride Peter Pan, Dumbo, Orbitron, Buzz first as these are the rides that will get longer queues most quickly.

One morning I would go and start waiting for princesses before 10 (even though they don't start until 10.30 lots of people will probably go straight there when the park opens fully) then you can play it by ear for the rest of the day doing rides, meet and greets, watching the parade. For my three year old her favourites in disneyland park are: casey junior, IASW, teacups, snow white, pinocchio, pirates. Be aware that lots of children do find the snow white ride quite scary and my older two didn't like that or pirates when they were 4 and 6. Youngest DD though loved both even at 2.

The other morning I would go to the studios at about 9.30 and go and wait for toy story playland - your DD should be able to do parachute drop and slinky dog. Do parachute drop first because queues for this tend to be longer. Then she may also like stitch live, playhouse disney, animagique, flying carpets, cars. When you have had enough of the studios you can hop back to the main park and do anything you missed or favourites.

 

[PJackson]

Echo what the others have said. Would personally do Peter Pan first as imo it's the most 'magical' of the Fantasyland rides and queues build up quickly. If you're not bothered about doing any adult rides you'll get much more done - so that is a bonus Another that gets queues quickly is dumbo (why I don't know as for me it's not the best ride but hey ho), teacups have a faster queue as there are more seats so might be best to do other 2 first....

Don't forget fastpasses - I'm not up to speed on what is FP in Fantasyland - probably just Peter Pan? - might be worth grabbing a FP when the machines open (before the queues build up just for the FPs!) if you want to ride it again later that day.

Having been to Disney before you will be familiar with these rides and the FPs system anyway.

I can't advise on the Toy Story stuff in WDS as it's all new since we went. Would say defo do Animagique and Playhouse Disney with Rose - I'm sure she will love them - both my 2 did last time.

Like others say, where possible queue a fair bit beforehand for shows and character meets to get the best views/shortest queues etc. That does eat into your day quite a lot but probably worth it.

I'm sure you'll get a fair bit done, most of what is suitable for your DD anyway.

NB - My DD1 didn't like Snow White or Pinnochio (dark rides) or Pirates of the Carribean the first time we went (3.5), she warmed the second time but some of it was bravado I think - depends on your child though and worth trying.

Might be worth checking out overall which rides are fast passes to get an idea of what can be done using those too but I can't honestly remember them all and I'm sure it's probably changed since we were last there!