3 year old's first trip- ideas please!!

[brandip22]

Hello! I am open to all of the wonderful ideas you can share with me! Here's the deal- DH and I are new DVC owners. We will be taking our first trip "home" to SSR from Sept 3-9- that's the week after Labor Day, by the way. We will be arriving Saturday, 9/3 probably around noon or so. We will be leaving Friday morning 9/9- not sure exactly what yet yet, but probably as soon as we wake up. It'll be me, DH and DS who will be 3 at that time. My mom may come too, but not sure yet. Oh, and we have a 1 BR, so we do have a kitchen and plan to use it at least for msot breakfastes and maybe lunches or dinners. What itenerary(sp?) do you suggest? I know we'll be back every year, so I am ok with not seeing everything. We will also use this as a guide to what type of passes to get. We won't be back in time to get APs this time as I am hoping to become pg again after this trip! However, Dh and I haven't been since our Honeymoon back in 2000, so we do want to ride some adult things, which is why we are hoping my Mom will come along- so we can leave DS with her some! We would also enjoy going to a waterpark for at least half a day with DS- he loves waterparks and would have a big time in the kiddie areas. What else? Don't want to do Hoopty Doo again this time, but would like a Character meal- was thinking of Donald's breakfastasarus. Will probably need naps, too. Thanks in advance- we totally appreciate it!

 

[Disney Fool]

Hmmm, 3 year old boy....I would say, take him immediately to MGM to see Buzz and Woody; or Mike Wazowski and Sully, and Lilo and Stitch. Take him to Toon Town at the Magic Kingdom and let him ride on Goofy's Barnstormer. (It's a rollercoaster for tots and parents can ride,too) While you're at it, ride the train that circles the Magic Kingdom. Have lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner so he can eat in a car at the Drive-In. I would opt for a character meal at Chef Mickey's, either breakfast or dinner, lots of character interaction. At Epcot, hang around the United Kingdom for some character interaction with Tigger, Pooh, and friends, and possibly Peter Pan.

 

[keagansmom]

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I was right in the middle of my reply when my computer went haywire. Anyway-- we took our DS when he was 3 and his favorites were:
Tom Sawyers Island -- lots of space to run and play, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger ride, toontown playground, fountains at Epcot (bring extra clothes for this one, he was soaked!), most of the Fantasyland rides, Indy speedway- loves cars, WDW Railroad, THE MONORAIL, and his all time favorite was the Boneyard at AK (we like to never got him out of there). We took things slow and when he was tired left for naps and such. He loved the characters and had a ball with Minnie Mouse at Chef Mickey's -- he pretty much only had eyes for her the whole time-- Take snacks with you. He loved the pool at the hotel. Really, the simple things but it was nice. Now he's 7 and it's grat fun to do more, but he also views things differently now, and I'll always love the special excitement he had on that 1st trip. Have fun!

 

[brandip22]

So, we're thinking- arrive on Saturday and maybe go to a park- epcot or something or maybe jsut relax after long drive. Then on sunday, go to Animal Kingdom, Monday- Magic Kingdom, Tuesday- MGM, Wednesday- Waterpark and down day- maybe seaworld? he loves fish and whales, Thursday- epcot and maybe another day at MK

How's that sound?

 

[brandip22]

self serving bump for any other ideas on how many days in which parks, etc? thanks

 

[Kallison]

Don't miss Turtle Talk with Crush in the Living Seas, get him down in front on the floor.

 

[ErinInCT]

DVC is great. We ate every breakfast & most lunches in our room (we usually got to the park around 9am & stayed until noon - came back for lunch & naps or swimming). We went in Sept too & it is very uncrowded so you can easily get ANYTHING you want to do in the time frame you will be there.

Here is my recommendation, you can fit it in any way you want. I usually plan an AM park & a PM park (so half days) & then we nap/swim in btwn.

You need 2 full days at MK (either 2 am's & 2 pm's, or 4 am's, 4 pm's - you get my point). We usually do Fantasyland during one half day; Toontown & Tomorrowland during a half day; Liberty Square, Frontierland & Adventureland during a half day. We usually only ride on things the kids will go on. You can do child swap so you can go on some "big kid" rides if you want (if your mom does not come). That still leaves a half day for going back on favorites or hitting stuff you missed or making sure you see the parades/fireworks. A good character meal for a 3yo boy is CP (Pooh characters) in MK.

We plan 1 1/2 days at EPCOT. Half day at FW & a full day at WS. My DD was 4 & she loved the KIDCOT stations (color a mask & get a paper charm from each country). My dd is very in to arts & crafts so you can decide if you think your ds will like it. I was surprised at what a great time we had at EPCOT. It turned out to be our favorite park!! Your ds will like the boat rides in Norway & Mexico, the viking ship playground in Norway, probably the trains in Germany, maybe some shows like the Chinese acrobats, candy lady in Japan, hedge maze in England. You'll find threads with lots of stuff for kids in WS. Lots of good restaurants too!

Plan a half day (or more, up to you) in MGM. Your ds will probably like Playhouse Disney & the parade for sure. If he likes shows he might like VotLM (trust me, I saw plenty of boys in there) & B&TB. Maybe the Indiana Jones show, Muppet 3D & that new car show too (My 4yo freaked out at the 3D Mickey's Philharmagic so we didn't even try it!). You can do child swap for the thrill rides if you want. There are tons of characters that boys love, especially Toy Story characters & JoJos Circus too I think. Go in the afternoon in time for the parade & stay thru Fantasmic. You won't need the dining package in Sept.

Plan a half day (or more, up to you) at AK. Your son will love the boneyard. Pick a show, FotLK or Tarzan (I recommend FotLK) or do both!! He will probably like the safari if he likes animals.

I recommend planning a separate day (from going to the parks) for the Water Park. I think your ds will have a blast at either one. Maybe that evening you can go to Fort Wilderness. We usually go to Trails End (cheapest buffet) & then go on the hayride, go to the campfire sing-a-long with Chip & Dale (have s'mores!) & then catch the cartoon b4 the movie (it is too late for my kids to watch the whole movie). A very fun time!!

We love Chef Mickey's (at the Contemporary) for a character meal. We go for an early dinner (5pm) & then ride the monorail afterwards. Ask the CM if you can sit up front with the pilot. No one seemed to know about it & we got to sit up front EVERY time we rode!! Your ds gets a co-pilots license.

Your son will probably like DTD & you are pretty close if you are at SSR. He would probably love the Lego place!

Here are other things we liked:
penny presses (dd was obsessed!!) & pin trading (dh & I were obsessed although we tried to fake like it was for dd!). The pin trading taught dd manners on how to approach the CM & ask for pins & say thank you, etc!!

Some good tips:
Bring glow necklaces from home. We used them every evening & dd even wore one during the day in case she got scared on a dark ride! Tons of people asked where we bought them!!!
The lids for soda cups make great drip catchers when kids eat Mickey Bars. Slip the wooden handle from the ice cream bar into the straw slit on the cup & it catches drips! (Bring Shout wipes just in case!)
Bubbles - we used them on the very few occasions we had a line or to kill time b4 a show. It always gave dd a second wind & all the other kids around us loved them too!
Go to the grocery store (we went to Publix) on your first day to stock up your room. We bought a case of water & a soft cooler so we brought them to the park. We also bought snacks, fruit, lunchmeat & stuff for lunches, cereal, etc!!

Well, I hope this helps! More then you needed probably!! I LOVE planning trips! Have an awesome time. Take lots of pics & hopefully you'll bring back the best souvenir of all - a new baby!!!!

 

[brandip22]

Wow Erin- thank you so much- that is exactly what I was looking for!! Now I know we'll be ok time-wise. I was worried it would be too short, but I also didn't want to kill the poor child since I know we'll be back! Thanks again for the awesome tips! I can't wait to go now!!

Brandi

 

[esk]

Be prepared ---- we've gone with DS at 2, 2 1/2, and 3 1/2 and each time, we rode rides again and again. I'm talking 12 times IN A ROW on the carousel, 3 times in a row on Pooh, 5 times in a row on the train around the MK, never in a row on Dumbo (lines too long) and major tears when we couldn't stay for several Playhouse Disney shows in a row. Had trouble getting him off the monorail too.

He LOVED Goofy's Barnstormer(still talks about the "blue airplane train"), the Boneyard and Dinosaur (is the same as Dumbo, really), Its a Small World, and was transfixed by the model train in Germany. Great Nemo display in Epcot at the Living Seas.

Best character meal, I think, is Crystal Palace with Pooh and Gang; hint --- go at the end of the meal (we did last breakfast seating, like 1045, which became lunch) and the characters have so much more time to come back to you again and again)

Do NOT miss Festival of the Lion King at AK.

Have only stayed in DVC and it is the way to go; we used our bedroom for the mandatory daily nap and then the pull out couch for nighttime. Lego store at DTD a big hit and have heard the petting zoo at FW is great too.

Enjoy! It is so wonderful, because they believe the characters are real! (He was just as happy to meet princesses as villans, Genie, JoJo, he didn't care as long as he knew who they were)

 

[loribell]

Oh Brandi I don't think you could ever kill the poor child with Disney, and if you did then what a way to go!

We have been DVC members since Aug. of 01. My DD, who turned 6 in Dec., was a Disney Veteran already by the age of two. She just put her hands on her hips and startred telling Grandma all about it. I will never get that picture out of my mind. Anyway, we always go for at least 10 days and she is never ready to leave. She has been tall enough to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountail since she was 2 months shy of 4 and loves them both.

On our trip in the summer of 03, when she was 4 1/2 she and I started our morning at the MK for an 8:00 PS at CRT, her daddy and big brother met us there later that morning, stayed for a few hours and then left. She never got tired, just wanted to keep doing different things. We ended up staying for Spectro and the fireworks, didn't get back to the resort until 11:30 that night. Of course she fell asleep in the bus on the way back but it was the best day we heve ever had. I don't know how she kept going, she was the energizer bunny for sure!

Sorry I got so off topic! LOL!

Now back to your question:

Will you be driving all night to get there Sat.? If so you will probably just want to take it easy at the pool. My family always starts our trip off with dinner at Chef Mickey's. It will give your DS a chance to see the great big characters at teh beginning of your trip in case he is frightened by them, maybe this will give him a chance to warm up to them before the trip is over. Also our most relaxing trips have been the ones that we spent our first afternoon just hangin' at the pool.

For the waterpark I used to always recommend Typhoon Lagoon. We had gone to Blizzard Beach once but I guess we just didn't get to the little ones area. It is absolutely wonderful IMHO. I think it has more slides and things for the little ones to do then TL does. My DD loved it last summer.

Personally I would spend the most time at MK. If you do mornings there, at opening and head straight to Fantasy Land you can get so much done. My DD is to big for Dumbo now but loves everything else. Also loves Buzz and the Tomorrow Land Transit Authority of all things! She has laso liked the Carosel of Progress for several years too so if it is running you mihgt check it out. She of course likes the cars, but do them on a second morning the very first thing, otherwise I skip it. The loading for that ride is so slow. We did it one EE morning after riding Buzz and it took up almost the rest of the hour. She also loves the Tiki Room, a great place for a hot afternoon, the country bears, the parades and fireworks.

As for MGM, she finds very little there that interests her. She does like the Little Mermaid show, when she was your sons age she liked Playhouse Disney, she loves the playground, hates the Muppets (says it is to loud), and loves Fantasmic. Other than that there's not much for her. I'd say 1/2 day, maybe a little more for him and if Grandma comes more time there for you and DH.

She also loves AK. Hates It's Tough To Be A Bug, likes the Safari, loves the boneyard, Tirceratop Spin and the games back there, loves Festival of the Lion King. This is where my favorite parade is. If it weren't for the parade you could easily do this park in a 1/2 day. Maybe go early, get out when it gets hot and if you feel like it go back one afternoon to catch the parade.

Epcot is one of those parks that took us a really long time to take a liking to. Last summer it really hit us and now we enjoy it alot. She loves Test Track, her favorite character is Figment and loves the Imagination Pavilion, but not HISTA. Really enjoyed Innoventions, loved making the masks in WS and getting a passport to get stamped. So maybe two 1/2 days here or so.

I don't know if you have them in Lousianna or not but we have little stores here called the Dollar Tree. At Christmas I found those light up mecklaces that Erin mentioned, 6 in a bag, for $1.00. I'm going back to get more to take with us on our trip.

Just remember to take it easy and have fun. Your DS will probably like spending time at the pool as much as anything else. I visited SSR last summer and took pictures of the feature pool, it looked great.

Have fun planning all those trips for the next 50 years!

Sorry I rambled. Hope I helped some.
Lori

 

[15MinutesFromWDW]

We took my nephew specifically for his third birthday. (We were trying to start a new tradition, since I had first been to WDW -- which was still just MK at that point -- when I was three.)

The biggest, best hint I can give you: Play-Dough Party Pack, lol. Play-Dough makes a pack of like 10 tiny little pots of Play-Dough. (Throw away the black and the deep blue, because they may stain.) Every morning before we left the hotel, I threw two pots in my purse (I was sure to switch colors). Whenever we hit a long line, or he got a bored look on his face, I'd pull out one pot, and let him go crazy -- INSIDE the stroller! The plastic rental stroller surface is PERFECT for Play-Dough!! It doesn't stick, and cleans right up with no mess, can't hurt the kid, won't hurt anyone if he throws/drops it, and is cheap enough to just throw away!! I can't tell you how many tantrums it saved, and he had a blast with it!! (I ended up giving several of the pots away to stressed-out moms who wished they had thought of it, lol!)

You sound like you'll do fine!! The main thing to remember is that kids are kids. Be prepared for them to be cranky, for them to hate the food, for you to have to walk out in the middle of a show/meal, and most of all, be prepared to just smile (and not think of the ticket price) when they hate the ride, but love the automatic sliding doors and self-flushing potties, lol!

 

[brandip22]

THanks guys- y'all are awesome! we will be drinving starting Friday night- spend the night in probably Pensacola or somewhere and then get up and finish driving that day. we''l drive as far as we can Friday night, though. Alex has no problem sleeping in the carseat, so we'll just go as long as we can stand it. If I can convince Dh, I think it would be best to spend that day jsut relaxing. It would save us a day of tickets we'd have to buy, too. I'm gona copy this thread and save it so I can remember all of your great tips! So excited now! Thanks again!

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

Although I've become quite a deliberate planner myself, my advice with a 3 year old is to not plan too much and just go with the flow. Our first evertrip (in adult life) was when we had just had one child, and he was 3. We totally did what he wanted to do. (We were forced to take it slow anyway because I was 7 months pregnant.)

Upon arrival, he took one look at the pool at Dixie Landings and announced that he wanted to go swimming. This was a child who we couldn't even coax into a wading pool....definite swimming phobia....but when he arrived at Disney and saw the cool pool the phobia was gone. We were sceptical at first but went ahead and got everyone dressed on that rather cool day, and he was thrilled. As you can tell, it was an equally big thrill for us!

Other highlights included taking the Disney bus to the parks (sitting in the very back seat of course!), being picked to sit in the front car of the monorail, the MK train, checking out the water fountains, watching the big water wheel in the food court, checking to see how Mousekeeping positioned his Teddy Bear, believing the CM at check-in who indicated that he thought he really was 8 feet tall (as he was sitting on DH's shoulders), standing under the 'Singing in the Rain' umbrella at MGM, playing with the Brinks truck hydraulic life (no longer there), etc.

He didn't want to go on any 'dark rides', had to stay at least 500 feet away from any characters, certainly didn't go on any wild rides, etc. Essentially he didn't want to do any of the things that would have been recommended in the tour books as "must do's" but we went into this with the attitude that we'd let him set the priorities.

Many years and 3 kids later, I still look back on that trip as one of our best ever, and the sole reason was because we got to see the world through our 3 year olds eyes. Life has never been so simple and carefree since, and may never be again, but I still have those memories to hold!

Have a great trip!

 

[brandip22]

aww buzz, you brought tears to my eyes. Hopefully, I'll be able to convince DH to look at the trip that way, too. Maybe I should move that ressie up!!

 

[siennacrew]

Thanks for the great advice! I will be copying it as well! My son will be 3 next week while we are at Disney. I'm trying to pack as many surprise items to occupy him as possible. I plan on mini bubbles, hand held games, pez (load them slowly...), suckers, stickers, fruit snacks, spinning tops, koosh ball, anything else I can find between now & then!!! I can't wait! I am also going to take the disposable sippy cups to split drink between my dd6 and ds2. I also have been trying to have him nap in his stroller once in a while so that maybe he will at times there. I am taking a night light. I want to buy some mini boxes of cereal for breakfast on the go. Anyone know how big the refrigerators in the resorts are? We are staying at WL and would like to get some milk...ds can't get enough of that! Also anyone know what the most absorbent diaper is? I want to buy some industrial ones for our trip...ie milk drinking boy not potty trained...lol. Oh I was at our Dollar Tree last week and found a big tube of glow sticks around 18 of them for a buck! I also found glow in the dark balls! I was at a card store over the weekend and found a heart necklace that flashes for my DD. I also found a flashing button for my son that says I'm 3 Today!