Disney for 2.5 and 4.5 yr old boys

[sammieJ]

Hi all,
We are taking the boys on their second trip to disney. first time, they were almost 3 and almost 1, but now they are both old enough to know and love mickey. We are staying off site, but will have the sat - tues or wed after thanksgiving to play. Will probably get 3 day fla resident passes, unless I splurge for seasonal passes and gamble that I'll make the 4 hour drive again to make it worth it. Anyway, I know we'll be hitting magic kingdom, but I haven't been to any of the other parks, with the exception of animal kingdom on president's day two years ago when it was packed beyond belief and really hot. (so bad memories).

What would you experts recommend ? We'll have a car, and the property we are staying in is not far. I would like to take my 4.5 year old and my mom to the mickey christmas party. the 2.5 year old of course needs at least a full day at MK. I have read some reviews of epcot on this site - do you all think the kids would like it ? I am thinking 2 days MK and one day epcot ?? I probably won't get park hopper, unless I get the seasonal passes.

And, should I go out and buy glow necklaces at the dollar store ? What exactly are these ??

Finally, are those motorized wheelchair bike things hard to come by ? My mom has trouble walking distances. Anyone know if the day's rental would carry over to the mickey's christmas party ?

Finally, we stayed at contemporary last time because DH had a conference. Otherwise, probably would not spend the normal price. So, any recommendations for nice moderate resorts ?? Does it take a long time for the buses to come ? I loved the monorail....

This is a great site, and I am almost bummed that I found it - one other thing to be doing when I should be working !!!

 

[aussiegrl]

Hi there!! I am trying to plan our family trip for Nov 25th - Dec 2nd. We will be taking my 2.5 year old for the first time. So far I am thinking we will need to spend 2 days at MK and then I wasn't sure if I wanted to take him to AK or not. I know we want to do SeaWorld at some point during our week. We are hoping to stay at the Sheraton Vistana Villages which they say isn't too far from WDW.

Can't wait to hear what others respond back to you.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Hi there
There are lots of people who post so you will get lots of opinions. If I where you I would probably go for the Port Orleans French Quarter as a moderate. You can check them all out 1 by 1 on different sites but many of the moderates are huge & feel huge. Port Orleans 'feels' smaller for some reason. My previous favorite was Port ORleans Riverside (Mansion rooms) due to the quiet romance of the place but when we where there in Feb it REALLY needed to be renovated. The French Quarter side was done last year so from what neighbors have told me it was beautiful in September. Check out www.tripadvisor.com to see what folks have to say and look for the individual resort maps to guesstimate what layout you'd like and what building you'd like too. You can add this stuff as a request. About the busses, in all my years there have been very few problem rides. Just make sure you leave extra time in so you're not running anywhere and all will be well

About the parks, 2 days at MK sounds about right. I usually plan the 1st day and the last day there and pop around the others in the middle. To be honest in my opinion, the only other park that has lots to do for your age sets is MGM. The AK is fine but a 1/2 day park for us (Safari 1st thing/the animals are up, Tough to be a bug can be SCARY) and the same goes for Epcot(afternoon, Soarin is great) so a hopper would be ideal for those two. MGM can be an all day park with little ones because of all the shows little kids adore, Muppets, Playhouse Disney, Raiders of the Lost Ark and the night time show there, 'Fantasmic' is just amazing. Fantasmic uses sheets of water shooting up into the air as a screen and at the end you see almost EVERY one of WDW's characters on boats in a water parade.

In the end I would suggest picking up a WDW guide book (cheap on e-bay) and taking the time to read through the usually very accurate descriptions. This is the best way to gauge what you think your family would find most interesting.

Aussiegirl, as for Seaworld, we went this past Feb and it was fantastic. They seem to have worked a whole lot of Cirque d Soleil type acrobatics into the animal shows so they were all fresh & new. Also, I would totally recommend bringing an extra $4 so your kids can feed the dolphins and pet them. They only seem to come up to people with food. They have a restaurant there called Skark Reef which was cool although the food wasn't so great. I'd recommend going for lunch and splitting the pizza (I think it was an appetizer).

Whatever you do have fun

 

[aussiegrl]

LuvOrlando - Thank you so much for your input. Heck $4 all of us will be feeding and petting the dolphins. LOL I am thinking that 2 days at MK is all we will do this visit. Since there are other things in Orlando we are interested in. Like one of the Arabian nights or Medevil (sorry about spelling) times dinners. Then there is always just relaxing at the pool and maybe a drive to the coast. AHHH, I just can't wait.

 

[lisadisney2003]

Based on the ages of your kids, I would do parks in the following order

MK
MGM
AK
E

I would probabaly do MK twice before I would do E if I only had a few days. We could MGM really great for kids and I would not miss it.

 

[sammieJ]

I didn't know they had playhouse disney !! Ok, well, that is settled, then !!

Thank you so much for the great advice!

 

[aussiegrl]

My only problem with going to MGM was that I think Playhouse Disney is the only thing my son would like. I hate to spend the $$ for just that.

 

[susieq76]

My 4 year olds & my 2.5 year old love MGM- there really is more than Playhouse Disney for them to do. We find a lot of great character interaction there, the muppets 3D and Mermaid are favorites. My boys love the car stunt show, Lights, Motor Action and also Fantasmic. Actually my one 4 Yr old is constantly asking to go back and see Mickey fight the Dragon. My other 4 yr old is thrilled that we saw JETIX (that would be Power Rangers to all the rest of us) while we were there. And believe it or not- my 4 yr olds just loved the Star Wars simulator- had to go on twice!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Here is a link to a site that contains lots of pphotos so you can get a better idea of what the different parks have to offer you.

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/photo1.html


Uh-oh, looking through is making me miss the mouse. Time to plan my next visit!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

SammieJ, I agree with all the great advice you have gotten-Just make sure that you get the Birnbaums' WDW Guide! It's great!!!I have gotten one every year we've been! This year I also bought the Passporter WDW book! I will be using both for this trip!

Have you considered the All Stars? They are a little smaller, but they are well worth the price. The bus always worked out well for us.

Have fun!!