DHS w/ 7 and 8 year old?

[2BEKs]

So after reading the ride / show descriptions on AllEars - I really don't know if my kids will really be madly in love w/ the park.

Since we're not adding hopping to our mil. tickets - should I just skip this park or consider it a 1/2 day park and plan on doing DTD or the boardwalk or something for the other 1/2 day?

Is there really enough to do for that age group?

Note - DS6 (turning 7 while there) is MAD about Star Wars, so that holds a lot of promise...


thanks!

 

[Mkrop]

We are there all day or at least until dinner time usually. My oldest does the thrill rides but we all go to the shows. We all ride TSMM, the Backlot Tour etc.

 

[LoveToT]

Last year we had a few days where we didn't plan which park we would go to. We ended up spending 3 of our 7 days at DHS because our DD and DS wanted to keep going there.

They are daredevils and they have been riding ToT since they turned 4. We live in CA and are AP here, they thought the ToT ride was soooo much better here, so they wanted to ride that over and over and over.

Also, some of their fav movies/shows are represented at DHS Indiana Jones (show) , Star Wars (S.T. weekends & parade/Star Tours), Chronicles of Narnia (Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian), Toy Story (Toy Story Mania), UP (Character meetings at The Magic of Disney Animation), The Little Mermaid (show) and Little Einsteins (Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine).

Good luck and have fun

 

[LuvBug1977]

My children loved DHS! My DD was 5 last year and DS was 6. We spent 2 days there! They loved all the shows and rides! However, no one knows your children like you do!

 

[2BEKs]

wow! so this is why I love these boards!

I was so ready to just write it off, but now I'll go back and take a much better look at all that is there.

 

[palavra]

DHS was my 7 year old daughter's least favorite park. She did like Tower of Terror and Toy Sotry Mania, but not much else. When we return, it will most likely be a half day park for us.

 

[djp0630]

Do they like thrill rides? My brother just took my nephew who is 6 and it was his favorite park, they went 2 days. He LOVED RNR, Star Tours, Star wars tutorial, Toy Story Mania, TOT. Plus they did Beauty & the Beast show, Toy Story Pizza Planet (arcades), Indiana Jones shows, Stunt show, etc. If they don't like thrill rides, I think it could be a half day, but I'd plan a full day if you want to go on the big rides, especially if you want to ride Toy Story Mania twice. Now with my little kids, it's a half day for us!

 

[imthatgirl]

DH?S is my 9yo's favorite park. Do your kids like the thrill rides? It wouldn;t be a trip if my daughter doesn't get on ToT.
There is actually a lot to do there, we love muppets(all ages love thi), star tours, ToT, Rockin rollercoaster, toy story mania, the different shows they have in the streets, the great movie ride....and I'm sure I've forgotten some.

 

[Hannathy]

My DS was 7 when we were there and he loved the studios. In fact he and I had an extra day by ourselves and this is were he wanted to go back to. There is Star tours (of course), Indiana Jones, The stunt show, TOT, RNC-which he rode about a half dozen times!, Now they have TSM. and the Honey I shrunk the kids play area is fun. The movie ride, back lot ride. plus Little mermaid is nice at least once. I really like the Studios.

Personally I think there is nothing at DTD other than the Disney Store and the Lego store for a 7 yr old and even less at the boardwalk.

 

[ancestry]

My twins were 6 1/2 years old last year when we went. DHS is by far hands down their favorite park. They didn't particularly care for for the MK and kept asking to go back to DHS.

 

[jngwright]

ITA with PPosters. My 7 year olds love:

Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Midway Mania (Hit this first!)
Backlot Tour
Prince Caspian
Star Tours
Indiana Jones Stunt Show
Muppet 3D
Tower of Terror (well-they are williing to TRY it each trip)
Rock n Roller Coaster
The Little Mermaid (though they won't admit it..)
Fantasmic!

Have a great trip

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

As others have suggested, consider your family's personality (both individually and as a collective) and that will help determine whether DHS is a good fit for you.

Personally, it's the park that our family chooses to skip. As we plan our next trip in a few weeks, again it looks like DHS will not make the list for the 8 days we're in the parks (there's a small sliver of a chance that we'll do it the evening we arrive if we're too tired from travel to trek to one of the other parks or DTD). Many families are fervent fans, however, and would never imagine skipping it, so clearly it has a lot of appeal.

The reasons we don't care for it is that our two children don't particularly enjoy thrill rides, or more correctly, one is too young and the other doesn't enjoy them, and in our opinion it's not worth the effort just for the shows. Given the choice, our DD would always choose an extra day at MK, Epcot or AK, so DHS always ends up on the short end of the planning.

 

[Disneynut71]

My DS 13 and my DD 7 like DHS...

We spend at least 1 day during a trip.

My son and daughter love Rock n Roller coaster, The Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Star Tours and Muppets 3D. We have not been back since Toy Story Mania was added, but we rode in Disneyland and it was awesome.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I would think those are the perfect DHS ages. Our kids (4 & 8) loved it last trip and can't wait to go back this trip.

Our girl (8) is a little tom boy so Indy, Jedi Training, and Star Tours are right up her alley. She also loves RnR. We all love TSM, Muppet's, Little Mermaid, Fantasmic, and the charecter interaction. DS and DH love Lights Motors Action and everything else above.

We spend at least a day at DHS and usually much more time.

 

[bdoyledimou]

I think that DHS provides the most opportunity for "random adventure" and interaction, what with the "streetmosphere" and wandering entertainers. (althuogh i may be biased as i or my family have been "picked" to participate a few times now..

 

[pixarmom]

We have three boys, ages pre-school to pre-teen, and DHS is our favorite park.

First, they all still like characters (and they LOVE Pixar, as you can see from my name) so the meet-and-greets are a big draw. DHS has lots of meet-and-greets - including Cars, Monsters, Inc. Buzz and Woody, Up!, Mickey, Incredibles - they all have their own themed areas. Then Green Army Men "patrol" near TSM, and other characters appear in different areas of the park at different times. They also love the Block Party Bash parade (even though they usually don't watch parades.) TSM, Star Wars, ToT, and RnR are favorites - they ride these multiple times. And I always underestimate the amount of time they want to spend in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground - they always say there isn't enough time in there. That list doesn't even include many of the shows and the Great Movie Ride and Backlot (when it opens again.) And we've never even seen Fantasmic!

Brown Derby is one of my favorite TS restaurants, our boys like Toy Story Pizza Planet, and we also enjoy Mama Melrose for dinner.

So we spend two days at DHS, but I know that's not the case for most and depends on interests. When our oldest was a toddler, we were straight-thorough-the-castle to Fantasyland at MK, and now it's hard to get them to even stop in Fantasyland (even our pre-schooler - no Pixar there!) So we always try to stay open to all the parks because things change so quickly!

P.S. OP, when our older boys were ages 7 and 8, DHS tied MK for favorite park - so it wasn't their only favorite then, but they loved it!