Best attraction suggestions for 3yo

[slug]

My question is: What are the things that are absolute "must do's" for kids of this age?

We've been a bunch of times to the World, but this is our first trip with our dd. So I have a good idea of what's out there, but really no idea about attractions that are geared to 3yo's.

We're going to the 4 major parks and she'll probably be about 38 inches tall when we go so we don't have to worry about taking her on any adventurous rides as she won't be tall enough.

I've been planning this trip for a year now so I've read about the attractions but I'd love to hear about other kids her age and what they've liked / disliked.

Also, what's the opinion on the Haunted Mansion? Is she too young?

Thank you very much in advance for any helpful hints!

 

[Robo]

Here's how this question was answered yesterday:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1318816

Its for a 2 yo, but use your imagination.

 

[bzzymom]

When DS was 3, he loved everyride. He was not afraid of HM or ToT......if wasn't until he was 6 (6th trip to WDW as well) when he started becoming leary of those 2 particular rides but always rode them anyway.

 

[Suebie]

It really depends on your child. My older DD was up for all the rides at 3, however, my younger DD was afraid of EVERYTHING! In fact, the younger DD, who is now 8, still refuses to visit the Haunted House but started riding rock-n-roller coaster at 7 while the older one didn't start until she was 9. Go figure!!

 

[mudd061202]

went when dd 3 and again at 4 some of her favorite at 3
peter pan, small world, parades, haunted mansion, goofy barnstormer, cinderellabration, meeting the princessess, story time with belle, pirates, philharmagic, little mermaid at mgm, beauty and the beast at mgm, muppet in 3d, seeing the animal at animal kingdom, tough to be a bug scared her a little but still liked just hid her eyes at scary parts, she was amazed at the chinese acrobats in china at epcot.
more into meeting characters at 4 than 3.
the only ride that scared her at 3 was snow white.
the things that she liked alot more than I thought she would were the parades she was just in awe.

 

[slug]

We're going 1 week before her 3rd b-day.

We'll probably try the HM.

I've heard Snow White is pretty scary?

 

[mickeysgirl17]

We just got back and had our 3 yr. old dd with us. This is how it went:

She loved:
Peter Pan's flight, winnih the pooh, snow whites adventures, dumbo,the carousel, small world, little mermaid show, aladdin ride, the barnstormer, the living seas, kilimanjaro safaris, live street entertainment and most characters.

She did ok with:
haunted mansion, spaceship earth (except for the dark parts), most of the shows at mgm, phillharmagic, pirates of the caribbean, fantasmic.

She was terrified of:
tough to be a bug, the country bears (as characters walking around outside), journey into imagination with figment, the loud noises in indiana jones and fantasmic.

With the haunted mansion, we had to just keep telling her it was fake, and she did better than I thought she would. Also, in the 3D shows, I recommend you keep the glasses off her and keep her on your lap to keep her from getting scared, but don't bring her to tough to be a bug or honey, I shrunk the audience. The other two, phillharmagic and muppetvision are suitable for toddlers though.

 

[Tam1067]

My youngest was barely 4 when we went in July.

She loved: Small World, Peter Pan, Pooh, Dumbo. Tiki Room, Jungle Boat, safari, Playhouse Disney, Lion King show in AK, bird show in AK (Flights of Wonder I think?), Turtle Talk with Crush

She tolerated: Pirates, Mickey's Philharmagic, Muppets 3D movie

She did not like: Haunted Mansion, Goofy's Barnstormer, Test Track, Soarin', Little Mermaid show in MGM.


It really depends on your child. Generally, mine is not afraid of a lot, but we realized she does not like to go on anything fast or bumpy, and she's not crazy about getting wet during a show, either!

 

[slug]

Thank you guys so much for the information.

I've scheduled a bunch of character meals b/c she is very much into mickey mouse and especially anything to do with princesses, which is convienient.

My biggest concern is whether she'll like dark rides. I guess I'll find out when we're there. Seems like every kid is different.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Playhouse Disney at MGM! My Daughter thought that was the coolest thing ever when she was three.

Mine also LOVED Mickey's Philharmagic. You might have to remind your little one that she can take her glasses off if it gets scary.

The other that she LOVED was Goofy's Barnstormer. Your little one should be tall enough to ride it and it is like a roller coaster, but nowhere near as scary.

 

[skier_pete]

We went with our 3.5 DD in October. Each kid is different, my recommendation is do a progression. We took our DD on Winnie the Pooh early on, and she told us it was "too scary", and then didn't want to go on any dark rides. She did go on Small World, and loved that. So, start with Small World, then Peter Pan and/or Pooh. If she is OK with those, try snow white or PotC. If she likes those, then and only then consider HM. I would not take our daughter on HM. I would also put Buzz Lightyear late in that list. Likewise for the 3-D movies, do not go to It's tough to be a bug first, as this is the scariest of the bunch. I would recommend the muppet one first, then Philharmagic. (We didn't take our DD to any of these.)

Things I can almost gaurantee will be hits:

MK: Jungle Cruise...my DD LOVED this, Ariel's Grotto (the fountains), Small World. She liked the shows a lot (Woody's Cowboy Camp, The Castle Show, and Storytime with Belle)
AK: The safaris, FotLK were HUGE hits
EpCOT: The seas with Nemo and Turtle talk were a big hit. Also, she liked the living with the land ride a lot. (Didn't take her on soarin', i think she was still undersized.)
MGM: VotLM, BatB, Playhouse Disney all popular, she also loved the HIstK playground at MGM, though for a parent this is a nightmare unless you put a GPS collar on your kid.

The funny thing about going with a 3 yo was that when we went no kids before she was born, we were focused mostly on the rides, and with her we went to more shows than rides, but in the end found that we enjoyed the shows so much, and we hadn't even known what we were missing.

She also really liked meeting the characters, but we eased her into that as well by having the first time she met characters be at CP buffet, so she saw the Pooh characters walking around and saw the other kids being excited when they came to their table, and then eventually coming over to our table. By the 2nd day, she wanted to see the characters herself.

Basically, listen to what she says, if she doesn't want to do/ride something, don't force her. There was a lot of things ours just didn't want to do. Another trick I used is I took lots of video of the trip we were on, especially rides that she wouldn't go on at the time. She watches that video all the time, and asks all the time about going back. I am convinced that she will go on much more things on the second trip because she has already seen them on the video.

Hope that helps a little,
SkierPete

 

[slug]

We went with our 3.5 DD in October. Each kid is different, my recommendation is do a progression. We took our DD on Winnie the Pooh early on, and she told us it was "too scary", and then didn't want to go on any dark rides. She did go on Small World, and loved that. So, start with Small World, then Peter Pan and/or Pooh. If she is OK with those, try snow white or PotC. If she likes those, then and only then consider HM. I would not take our daughter on HM. I would also put Buzz Lightyear late in that list. Likewise for the 3-D movies, do not go to It's tough to be a bug first, as this is the scariest of the bunch. I would recommend the muppet one first, then Philharmagic. (We didn't take our DD to any of these.)

Things I can almost gaurantee will be hits:

MK: Jungle Cruise...my DD LOVED this, Ariel's Grotto (the fountains), Small World. She liked the shows a lot (Woody's Cowboy Camp, The Castle Show, and Storytime with Belle)
AK: The safaris, FotLK were HUGE hits
EpCOT: The seas with Nemo and Turtle talk were a big hit. Also, she liked the living with the land ride a lot. (Didn't take her on soarin', i think she was still undersized.)
MGM: VotLM, BatB, Playhouse Disney all popular, she also loved the HIstK playground at MGM, though for a parent this is a nightmare unless you put a GPS collar on your kid.

The funny thing about going with a 3 yo was that when we went no kids before she was born, we were focused mostly on the rides, and with her we went to more shows than rides, but in the end found that we enjoyed the shows so much, and we hadn't even known what we were missing.

She also really liked meeting the characters, but we eased her into that as well by having the first time she met characters be at CP buffet, so she saw the Pooh characters walking around and saw the other kids being excited when they came to their table, and then eventually coming over to our table. By the 2nd day, she wanted to see the characters herself.

Basically, listen to what she says, if she doesn't want to do/ride something, don't force her. There was a lot of things ours just didn't want to do. Another trick I used is I took lots of video of the trip we were on, especially rides that she wouldn't go on at the time. She watches that video all the time, and asks all the time about going back. I am convinced that she will go on much more things on the second trip because she has already seen them on the video.

Hope that helps a little,
SkierPete

That actually helps a lot. I completely agree with the progression idea - I had not thought of that beyong doing HM last if everything else went OK. I think doing something like Small world earlier than something like Snow White makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the great idea.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We took our 3 year old niece this past October and here are her favs:

MK: Loved the POTC, she rode it 4 times while we were there and wanted to keep going back. Thunder Railroad was a blast with her, she laughed the entire time and said faster, faster. Stitch was so so, she started off scared and then she got really into it and told Stitch he was a bad boy. The people mover was not so good for her, too dark and scary at times. She loved the Buzz Lightyear and the Indy Cars, had to ride them twice. She did like all the rides in Fantasyland and she loved the carousel. We tried to get her on the HM but she said NO WAY! The CM's out front scared the heck out of her.

EPCOT: She was a Soarin fanatic! Did that 3 times. Loved the Nemo ride because she got to see the fishies after the ride was over. Figment was a hit with her and the ride in the Land, she wanted to pick the veggies off the trees! Mexico and Norway were fun for her too.

AK: She like the Safari Ride but wanted to leave after that, she saw the animals and she wanted to go back to MK and ride the horsies (the carousel).

 

[slug]

We took our 3 year old niece this past October and here are her favs:

MK: Loved the POTC, she rode it 4 times while we were there and wanted to keep going back. Thunder Railroad was a blast with her, she laughed the entire time and said faster, faster. Stitch was so so, she started off scared and then she got really into it and told Stitch he was a bad boy. The people mover was not so good for her, too dark and scary at times. She loved the Buzz Lightyear and the Indy Cars, had to ride them twice. She did like all the rides in Fantasyland and she loved the carousel. We tried to get her on the HM but she said NO WAY! The CM's out front scared the heck out of her.

EPCOT: She was a Soarin fanatic! Did that 3 times. Loved the Nemo ride because she got to see the fishies after the ride was over. Figment was a hit with her and the ride in the Land, she wanted to pick the veggies off the trees! Mexico and Norway were fun for her too.

AK: She like the Safari Ride but wanted to leave after that, she saw the animals and she wanted to go back to MK and ride the horsies (the carousel).

I think my daughter would love thunder mountain but there's no way she'll be tall enough - she'll be a week shy of 3 and I'm estimating around 38 inches. Gives us a good excuse to go back!

 

[LaraK]

At 3 my DD loved most things, but the top hits were Buzz Lightyear, Ariel's Grotto, Mickey and Minnie's houses in toon town (careful, these can eat up a lot of time), Pooh's playful spot (ditto on the time comment), Splash Mountain, Mickey's Philharmagic (or "Donald's Butt" as we call it in our house), Storytime with Belle (she was Lumier), POTC, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Aladdin and the hotel pool!

 

[disneyfan2]

with re3gards to the 3D shows that tend to be alittle scary. Anyone have there little ones tolerate the shows WITHOUT 3D glasses