Best Attractions for Preschoolers/Toddlers?

[kendrafitz]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the board and am going to Disney in November 2006 with my family and another family. The children in our group will be ages, 2, 3 & 4 1/2. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for the best attractions and activities for children this age?

Thanks so much!!

 

[o2bacelt]

Plenty!

We took our DD in March (she was 21 mos.) she loved the live shows like Beauty and the Beast, The Playhouse Disney Show, and Festival of the Lion King.

She had a blast meeting the characters in Toontown. If you're unsure about how the kids will react to characters, try visiting Chuck E. Cheese when the mouse is out, we also have a Disney Sing-A-Long DVD that takes you through Disneyland with the characters, the last thing we did was schedule a character breakfast our first morning so it wasn't so overwhelming meeting Mickey in the park the first time. By the end of the trip she ran up to Mickey and Minnie, we haven't heard the end of it yet.

Our DD loves It's A Small World, she rode the tea cups, the carousel, Pooh, played in the Pooh playground. She loved the Safari at AK and loved the Living Seas at EPCOT. She enjoyed the play ground at Imagination but wasn't too sure about the ride but she was really close to a nap at that point so that was most of the problem.

I hope that helps a little. I know you'll find plenty to do with your little ones!

 

[kitsch4]

At Epcot, each country has a Kidcot Funstop (I think that's what they are called), where kids can color a mask, and a castmember will stamp the mask and attach a cardboard shape of something representative of their country. In China and Japan, the castmembers will write your child's name on the mask in their language. My kids love these stops, and search for them in each country.

What not to do...The first time we took my DD to Disney she was 3yo. The first ride we took her on was Snow White's Scary Adventure. (Overlooked the "Scary" in the name. Oops!) Big Mistake! After that, she was scared of all of the indoor rides, since she didn't know what might be lurking around each corner. She liked the outdoor rides including Goofy's Barnstormer and the racecars (with my DH driving).

Also, she wasn't too keen on the costumed characters for a lot of the trip, but she didn't mind the face characters. My DS was the same way when he went at age 2. After awhile, they got used to them and began to approach them.

We also liked Small World, the Carousel, Dumbo, Aladdin, Pooh's ride, Festival of the Lion King, the Safari, and Playhouse Disney. I'm sure there are lots more. Just playing in the fountains in the parks was fun for them, too.

 

[all4fun]

Welcome to The Dis!

The Disneyworld site as a special page with preschooler tips: Click Here and Here

Allearsnet.com is also a wonderful site with a plethora of info. Here's their page with Preschooler tips as well: Click Here.

In short, there's tons for little ones to enjoy. I would say the thing my ds gets the least out of are the 3-D movie attractions, just because he won't keep the special glasses on. Otherwise he really enjoys being at WDW.

hth!

 

[drm2115]

we have brought our son twice
once at 2 and once at 2 1/2
epcot was not much fun
BUT he loved the Buzz Lighter ride esp when he was 2 1/2 ..... he went on it 6 times in one day
He loved the TeeKee Room.... with Iago and Zazzo
Character Dining was GREAT!!!!
he also loved the B&B stage show at MGM, the Little Mermiad and Playhouse Disney

 

[holden]

At 2.5yo, DD was afraid of:
Little Mermaid
Mickey's Philharmagic
Characters up close
Haunted House


She loved:
MGM Disney's Playhouse show (even though she never watched it on TV)
Princess breakfast (she was ok with face characters)
Dumbo
Cinderella's carousel
It's a Small World (multiple times a day)
Peter Pan (multiple times a day)
Toon Town
Ariel character greeting (in Fantasyland)
sleeping in the stoller while DH and I took turns on the adult rides!

 

[rlrx]

Just got back with my DS7 and DS3.5. The little one loved most of the rides at MK. He especially loved any ride that had a boat (It's a Small World, Jungle Cruise, etc.) and he loved riding on the train and the monorail. He wasn't scared of the characters at all, which really surprised me but we watched a lot of Disney shows and movies before we went so he may have been used to seeing them. Keep in mind that the kid swap takes a long time so we always tried to talk him into going with us and he ended up having a great time on the rides. Mickey's Toon Town is cute for small children as is Fantasyland. Also, we found the best place to meet the characters was at the character meals or at the Character Connection at Epcot.

 

[hannah's dad]

Pre-schoolers who are a bit more adventurous will have a great time on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. My daughter was two months shy of her 4th birthday when we went, and she loved those rides. She also loved many of those attractions listed above (IASW, Cinderella's carousel, etc). She also really enjoyed Soarin' at EPCOT.

 

[kendrafitz]

I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the great suggestions!!

 

[amyedreger]

I second the person who said to be careful what the first ride is you take them on. When we took our DD when she was 2 she FREAKED out on the Great Movie Ride and from there on out she was very scared to go on anything that went into a tunnel (small world and just about everything in Fantasyland). At 4 she was fine. Our second DD who was 14 months the last time we went loved everything, even the Haunted Mansion.

However, we are returning in February when they are 5 and 2 and I know it will be quite different with the two-year-old.

One thing that I noticed is that everything in Disney is very LOUD. You don't realize it when you are adult going solo. But with kids, it is another ballgame. When our first daughter was two, she covered her ears for every single ride. At four she was fine. Knowing that, I'll be taking earplugs with me this next time for DD2, just in case

We also had to be careful where we sat for the parades with our first daughter when she was 2. We thought we had great curbside seats for the MK afternoon parade - until the Villians globe stopped right in front of us and she flipped out. It was very loud too.

Just remember that everything is SO much large than life to a toddler/preschooler. Just don't take anything for granted and before you do anything, try and imagine it from their perspective.

You guys will have a blast!!!

 

[autumnsmommy]

My DD4(just turned) loved ToT, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Soarin', Star Tours, and Dinosaur. What can I say, she's a little daredevil...as in "that little girl is doing it, she's not scared" (overheard in HM told to approx 9yo boy)
She's not too thrilled with "head" characters except for Chip & Dale, Donald, Minnie. She'll run to her favorites and could care less about the others. Likes to see digital pics right away, will NOT get autographs.
Earplugs help...some attractions are "scary" loud. (lion king, tiki room)