Disney movies to watch before our trip

[pebblesjns]

We are taking our 3 kids (6 year old boy, 3 year old boy, and 1 year old girl) to Disney World in September. My 2 oldest have been once before in 2013, but the youngest was only 10 months old so he doesn't remember any of it, obviously. I am wanting to have them watch the movies to introduce them to the characters they aren't familiar with.

They know Cars, Planes, the Fab 5, Chip and Dale, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Lilo and Stitch, Big Hero 6, Cinderella, Frozen.

On my list to watch are The Lion King, Finding Nemo (again - they've seen it but not sure they remember it), Aladdin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, Up, Monsters Inc. What other movies should I introduce to make sure they have the best experience and are familiar with the characters we will see or rides will be based upon?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Pesky]

You have such a great list, it's hard to think of anything else! Maybe Princess and the Frog, some Goofy cartoons, Tangled, Star Wars (maybe try some of the Star Wars rebel shows -- that might work best with that age), Bug's Life, Inside Out, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Good Dinosaur (for all the dino stuff in AK). I'd probably also figure out what you're not going to see, both in terms of attractions or characters, and that can help figure out what you want to see versus can skip. For example, if you aren't going to see ITTBAB, not sure you need to watch Bug's Life. That kind of stuff.

 

[Tara1988]

Dumbo and Peter pan.

 

[keepswimming76]

Your list is good, as previous poster's list. If the movies are too long for them, maybe try to show them clips from Youtube.

My kids just made their list of what to watch before we go in May. They are 9 and 6 and know most characters. Besides the others already mentioned, we have Pirates of the Caribbean and Disney's Country Bears on our list.

 

[kreckl]

Your kids are young- personally I wouldn't push the movies. Something like Dumbo is just fun for the ride- a flying elephant! They don't need the movie for that. Or Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, etc. Mickey and Donald cartoons are good. I would read a few books...

 

[pebblesjns]

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely be adding these suggestions to my list. Our trip isn't until September, so we have 6 months to go! It's a surprise trip, but I am trying to prepare them for what to expect since my oldest remembers some parts of the trip, but not everything. I'm hoping by introducing the characters before hand, my 3 year old won't be afraid of the characters. He has always been afraid of characters in costume since they are so big, but he got over it to meet Mickey and Minnie (he LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) at our local play place. I'm hoping if he has seen the characters in the movies, he will realize they're nice and fun, like Mickey, and not be afraid. They also enjoy seeing pictures of Disney World and watching ride videos on YouTube (at their requests).

The movies are mainly for my 2 boys. They LOVE having a family movie night occasionally and we are always looking for new movies to watch, so figure why not do some older Disney movies they haven't seen yet. They go to Parent's Night Out at our local YMCA once a month and one of the highlights is the popcorn and movie they get to watch. They look forward to movies as special treats since we don't watch them a lot! Definitely not pushing anything on them They have discovered Lion Guard on Disney Jr. and my oldest has been wanting to watch the Lion King now. They read their share of books as well. We go through a ton of books from the library every week (we are homeschoolers so were are there ALL the time, it seems).

 

[MichellleH]

The Lion King, of course!

My daughter is 2.5 and she loves Disney princesses. She's only seen Cinderella and The Little Mermaid all the way through. But she can identify and sing all of the Disney Princess songs, from Cinderella to Pocohantas (you name it), because I turn on YouTube regularly and play the music from the movies.

That may be more effective plus Disney music is amazing so it won't ever wear out.