Balancing Dilema

[Sunshein]

We are going this September with our two DD's 4 and 3. It will be their first time at Disney but for my husband and I, we went once when we were dating and then again for our honeymoon. We love Disney! I know going with preschool aged kids means we are pretty much going to be doing preschool aged actvities but there are a few things we would love to do the the kids just can't do. We are traveling with friends so we will be trading off one day without the kids which is great. But there are parks where there is just one or two rides (like EE at Animal Kingdom) that we don't want to miss and I don't see myself going back to the park on our own just for one ride. Does anyone have any experience with the swapping method? Do preschool aged kids get bored or cranky having to wait for their parents to finish each riding the ride? How long does it usually take? I should get a fast pass as soon as we get to the park and try it that way?

I would love to try EE and Soarin' at Epcot, but on our day off I imagine we wil split it between MGM and Magic Kingdom. Any advice?

 

[KTSMOM]

Here's what we did when we went with some friends of ours to DW when my DD was 3. What we would do is just swap off with taking the kids to ride other rides while our friends would ride the rides they wanted to ride. Basically we would swap off with the kids and that would allow us time to ride the rides that they (the kids) could not.
Now last year it was just my DH, DD and me. What we ended up doing there was getting fast passes for the rides she could not ride and then switching off with our DD and taking her to do something else while the other was riding the ride. That worked pretty well for us. I've never actually waited in line and done the switcheroo thing but my guess is that the kids would get bored and it would be much easier for you just to entertain them elsewhere.
Either way..you are going to love Disney with your children. My DH and I honeymooned in DW. When we took her for the first time, it was like a whole new Disney experience. We really enjoyed ourselves!
Have fun!

 

[Hannathy]

If they are tall enough soarin is a very gentle ride quite appropriate for pre-schoolers, so I wouldn't rule that out and if the 4 yr old is tall enough and the 3 isn't do the baby swap and then the 4 yr old gets to ride twice!

 

[Jen414]

Our girls are 4 1/2 and 41" and they road Soarin' and really liked it. (I think they had to be 40", but I'm not completely sure about that.) For EE, we got fast passes and my husband went on and we went and got ice cream. Later, I got on by going in the single rider line and waited maybe 5 minutes. The girls actually loved to "watch" this ride---meaning they were transfixed by it but made it perfectly clear they weren't the least bit interested in going on it--and were happy to watch for me. My husband even got some pretty cool pictures of me on the ride.

 

[Sunshein]

Thank you so much for your advice! I really like the fast Pass idea. The friends we are traveling with do not consider themselves "ride" people so I would feel badly leaving our kids repeatedly with them without returning the favor. They haven't been to Disney World in a very long time so I am hoping that when they do get here, they discover they really are Disney "ride" people and then your first suggestion is great!

My DD4 is definitely tall enough to ride Soarin'. She is 43 inches tall, but she is also very resistant to new things she has no control over. Monkey bars or a jungles gym, no problem. Anything dark or loud, forget it. Does Soarin' pull out at all people's fear of heights? My second DD is only about 37 inches so I am pretty sure she will be too short for a lot of stuff although she is the more open to new things.

I am really looking forward to experiencing this with the girls. I think we will have a great balance of kid things and mommy daddy things. Thanks again!