Advice needed for parents of first-timer

[magicbri]

I've searched the forum and don't see where my question has been addressed, so I apologize if I just missed it.

It is 44 days until we get to see the "Happiest Place on Earth" through the eyes of our son for the first time. He is 4 1/2 years old and while he knows Mickey, Minnie and friends as well as most of the newer Pixar characters, he has not been exposed to many of the "classic stories" that many of the rides are based on.

Do any of you DL veterans have advice on the easiest/most efficient way to introduce a youngster to Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Dumbo and all the others we will encounter at DL? Is there a particular book (collection of stories) that would cover everyone we need? We would prefer this method to doing a movie marathon.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Magicbri

 

[DizNee Luver]

I don't have any particular book, but any Disney classic should be in book form.....you could always get them from the library. You could also expose him to the music from these classics if you have access to it. We did this, as well as the movies but had more than 44 days to do so......as you said, it would be a marathon......lol

 

[Nala83]

I'm taking a four year old for the first time next week, so I've just gone through this same process!

I picked up a classic story collection (based on the old Golden Books)- "Walt Disney's Classic Storybook." It has all of the original stories...Peter Pan, Dumbo, Alice, etc. I got it at Barnes and Noble, but I've seen it at other bookstores. I highly recommend it.

Slightly off topic, but the other thing I did to help get my little friend excited was that I pulled videos of "Disneyland Sing Along Songs" off you tube. It's totally outdated, but it shows rides and characters. She had fun matching the characters in the video with the characters in her classic storybook. (She actually kept making us pause the video so that she could flip through the book to find the corresponding story. Very cute!)

 

[tkitty]

I guess we trained my DGD now 3 1/2 well on Disney. My DD has most every classic Disney movie on the old VHS or DVD, and my grandaughter knows them all well. She's been to WDW and 2 trips to DL already. (Yep she's spoiled) We watch you tube videos tooHer first trip at 17 months of course the characters were pretty unknown, but by WDW before she turned 3, she could name any she saw.
Many libraries have the old Disney movies to borrow, too. Great deals on EBay and Amazon for used movies.
I think kids would love Disneyland/WDW even if they know nothing of the movies/stories/songs.

 

[gethane]

We started watching select Disney movies on a family movie night once a week about 8 weeks before our first trip.

 

[Mom2aJessieGirl]

We just got back from my 4 y/o daughter's first visit. We went to the library and checked out all the movies that we hadn't already watched and had a marathon one weekend! It was so much fun! And she understood the rides much better once she saw the movies too.

 

[lillybug]

Amazon has several Disney Storybook Collections. If you buy a used copy you could get it for next to nothing.
That would be a great way to introduce a little one to more characters.

 

[DahliaRW]

We bought a collection of Disney stories before we took my ds1 for the first time. It worked well and he knew most of the characters. I found one on the bargain book rack at Barnes and Noble.