Disney with Preschoolers - Need some advice

[bethnburke]

We are planning a 5 day trip to Disney next month with DS (turns 5 during the trip) and DD (almost 3). We are staying at the Nick Hotel which is our first time staying offsite. Our last trip we spent the whole time at MGM and MK.

We booked the princess storybook breakfast for DS on his birthday so this will be our first trip to Epcot with the kids. I would love to get some advice on what to do in the parks especially Epcot. DS is now 42" tall so he will finally be able to ride some of the big kids rides. DD is completely princess crazy and easily scared (she is terrified of the characters in costume) so we are trying to find things for her to do, especially while DS is doing the big kid stuff that she cant.

I would also love some advice on the Nick Hotel. Is this the kind of place that we could spend a whole day? Both my kids love the water.

Thanks for your help
Beth

 

[mamaminnie]

In Epcot, while DS rides Test Track, DD can color parts of a necklace/badge in the shop area, Mission Space has a nice little indoor play-space in the ride exit area.

Soarin' also has a kidcot station I believe.

I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them now.

 

[Minnie824]

Rides DS can go on: Test Track, Soarin, Maelstrom(in Norway)
Rides all of you can: Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Journey into Imagination, visit The Living Seas, El Rio del Tiempo (in Mexico), and walk thru all the countries. I wouldn't take your DD on Maelstrom if she scares easily. Also, theres lots of shops your DD may want to look in, princesses are around too....we saw Aurora and Belle over by France.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

I have learned from my own 3 children that you never know how they will act on vacations to WDW. This past May, my younger ds had just turned 5; and my dd was 2.5. The first couple of days of our trip, they both scared easily. DD would want to stand in line to see characters then shy away when it was her turn for a visit. Both seemed to enjoy walking around and checking out the people/sights more than the actual attractions. By the end of the week, dd was over her fear of characters. However, we still couldn't anticipate her reaction to the rides. To make matters worse, sometimes she loved an attraction then would cry in fear the next time on it. (i.e., Pirates and HM) Ds rode pretty much everything that wasn't a thrill ride.

During our Oct trip when dd was getting closer to 3 and ds to 5.5), the kids rode nearly everything within their respective height ranges. Dd was not afraid of anything. She hugged characters and even rode Snow White without batting an eyelash. The Barnstormer became her favorite ride of all. Ds began to discover the thrill ride junkie lurking inside. During this trip, he rode BTM and SM.

Christmas, however, was when he really came out. He rode Mission Space over and over and over again. His older brother won't ride TT, so he talked dh into taking him on it...and loved it. Dd wanted to ride with him and cried when she found she wasn't tall enough.

My advice: Let the kids decide what they want to do. Go expecting them to not want to ride, do, or see anything. Then, be pleasantly surprised when they decide to try something new.

BTW, while the food was less than impressive (not bad...just not as good as say CP), the younger kids LOVED CM's on Christmas Day. We caught a cancellation about 4 weeks before Christmas then were surpised to find they were taking walk-ups!!

If you have a princess-in-training like us, don't miss dinner at 1900. The price of this meal is worth the smile it brings to our dd. (Of course, it doesn't hurt that the food is fantastic!) Older ds won't set foot in here and 5 yo ds grins at the characters but doesn't go into orbit like at CM or CP, but we still plan a visit here whenever we can.

Here's dd's first sighting of Cinderella at 1900.

Here's a shot of dd with Cinderella.

 

[mkutch]

Innoventions are not to be skipped with preschoolers. Mine loved both sides. they were able to explore, play games, pretend, build things and take free things with them. We spent over an hour in both places combined.

 

[MinnieGi]

My 5 yo DD and 16 month old DS had a wonderful time in Epcot. There is so much for them to do. In FW the pavillion side with Imagination, The Land and The Sea will offer the best bet for your crew.

Imagination: Everyone can ride and do the fun stuff in ImageWorks.

The Land: Your DS will be able to ride Soarin. In here there is also a Circle of Life Movie, The Land boat ride and also a Jr. Chef program where kids can help make chocalate chip cookies. My DD has done that twice and loved it. They get a chef hat and a sample of cookies to take with them. There is also a food court and sit-down restaurant here too.

The Sea: Both my kids enjoyed watching the fish, dolphins, sharks, turtles, manatees etc. They also liked the arts and crafts inside and the scuba diving presentation. Also the Crush show.

In WS there are KidCot stations that both my kids enjoyed plus the two boat rides in Mexico and Norway. They also enjoyed watching some of the live entertainment offered in the countries. My kids also love the character bus, the acrobatic team we saw in FW and a singing group we also saw in FW in Oct.

Enjoy!!
The

 

[Wendy31]

We were there last year w/ our DD (who was then 5 1/2) & our DS (who was three, 2 months from being 4), and we had a wonderful time at Epcot!

Regarding rides, both of our kids loved Soarin' - although our DD was a bit nervous at first. We didn't try Test Track, but we plan to this year. We also rode El Rio de Tiempo in Mexico, the Land ride at The Land, Spaceship Earth, the Figment Imagination ride at _________ (can't remember the name of this Future World showcase!), and watched the show at the USA World Showcase.

And they participated in the Jr. Chef's cookie-baking attraction in The Land which they LOVED!

We also really enjoyed Turtle Talk w/ Crush at the Living Seas Showcase.

We were during the Flower & Garden Festival, so our kids (especially DD) loved the butterfly garden. This year, I want to try the ladybug release.

Our kids also did all the kidcot stops at each World Showcase country which was really fun. You can buy Epcot passports, but, since we already had the autograph books, I wanted the kids to have all their "signatures" in 1 place. Anyway, in addition to the World Showcase CM's stamping their masks at each kidcot stop, they also signed & stamped their autograph books. The CM in Italy was wonderful & so cute! And, in our DS's autograph book, the CM in England wrote "Welcome to Great Britain, the home of Thomas the Tank Engine" My son LOVES Thomas, and we hadn't said anything to this CM about Thomas. So that was a wonderful little surprise of Disney magic. In my DD's autograph book, she wrote, "Welcome to Great Britain, home of Mary Poppins". After they completed each kidcot stop & got a stamp on their masks from each country, they both received a small, full-color poster.

In England of the the World Showcase countries, we "happened" upon Mary Poppins & Alice in Wonderland which was a fun surprise!

For restaurants, we ate dinner at PSB - although the food wasn't very good, the restaurant is really nice & we had wonderful interactions w/ the princesses. This year, we're trying lunch at Garden Grill which is a character meal w/ Mickey & Pluto & Chip & Dale & Goofy - if your DS prefers Mickey over the princesses, this may be better for his birthday meal. However, I don't think they serve breakfast - just lunch & dinner.

We ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons. The food was okay, but our kids loved the dirt sundaes they had for dessert!

The monorail ride to Epcot from MK or the TTC (Ticket & Transportation Center) was also a favorite w/ our kids.

Epcot is really, really large, so I was very glad we our kids' strollers!

 

[bethnburke]

Thanks for all the great tips. I think we will find plenty for them to do in Epcot!

 

[jme829]

SInce everyone gave you plenty of advice on the parks, I will offer my 2 cents on the hotel. First it is very close to Disney ...About 10 min drive to the "Welcome to Walt Disney World" arch. Its a little secluded (not in the middle of everything so way less traffic). We haven't been there since they changed it, but we have stayed there 3 times and we love it. BEFORE the renovations, I think you could easily spend a whole day , but now with what I have seen on the website, you could probably spend 2 days there and not be bored. We are staying there this year, and a first for us will be spending a whole day at the hotel , then dinner and shopping in the evening. (we ussually only stay at the hotel to freshen up or take a quick swim, so spending a day not in the parks is new for us) We are forgoing the waterparks this year since HIFS redid the pools (while I realize that its nowhere near the same as going to a water park, we like the idea of just lounging around the hotel for a day, taking a lunch break in the room ). I really think you will like the hotel...the rooms are great. Its nice because you have a separate master bedroom, a separate living room and a sep. kids room (it has a curtain instead of a door but its still nice not to be all crowded in one room) so if someone wants to watch TV, you won't have to disturb everyong, there is a mini kitchen which helps with food storage (the fridge is small but is better than nothing a micro, coffe maker. WE stay free there with DH priority club points (he's a business traveller) but they raised the point level this year, so we decided to only spend 2 days there this time, which is part of why we are not doing parks one day. The only thing that I don't like ist that before the renovations, they offered a free, hot , huge breakfast buffet, but have done away with that for the character breakfasts..but then again by the time everyone dresses goes to bf and the leaves, it easily takes an 1 1/2 hr., so we are buying cereal, and micro pancakes, etc to eat in the room while everyone is getting ready so that way once we are dressed and have eaten we are out the door. When we were ther pre-Nick, they had free mini golf, arts and crafts time, the pool, movies, arcade, playground, kids spa, nintendo in the rooms, a train ride around the property. Not sure all that is there now,but should be more than enought to keep you busy . Whew this is long,,,,sorry I tend to ramble, especially when I am excited and keyed up about something..September can't get here fast enough Anyways, have fun and enjoy!!

 

[ImaDizneyNut]

I would also love some advice on the Nick Hotel. Is this the kind of place that we could spend a whole day? Both my kids love the water.

Thanks for your help
Beth

I have never stayed off site so I cant help you there.
but I can help with epcot
my son is 4 1/2 but we went when he was 1 1/2, 3 1/2, 3 3/4 & 4 1/2.
well the bigger kid is doing big kid stuff the little one can do innoventions. there is a race in there (bring water lol) at the end of the race you get to built your own robot out of recycled plastic. we came home with 15 of them lol mind you YOU will get tired lol he still plays with them. we got back in sept 2005.
there's also a place were they can check out what the ants are doing, the little one can play computer. My son has a ball at epcot. he loves the figment ride imagination and soarin. she also loves the living seas watching the dolphins, finding nemo etc.