Doing Disney In Odd Numbers?

[JAMIESMITH]

Our first trip to Disney World was as a group of four (three adults and a four year old). It was wonderful! Most rides seem to be done in pairs. The rides that my daughter wasn't tall enough for still left two adults to ride while the third waited with her. Our next trip will either be as a group of three or five. Is it strange to get on a ride and be strapped in next to a stranger? Do any rides fit three people to a seat/cart/clam?

 

[Sparkly]

We're a family of three, and certainly on our first couple of trips when I was nine and ten all three of us fit in one ride on most of them. A bit squashed as I grew older, but no problem. Now one of us has to sit in another row but it's no big deal really. On our last trip I sat with Mum and the Dad sat behind us on rides.

 

[spectrecat]

My first trip was with my dad and my younger sister. I'm sure as a kid I wasn't always thrilled about sitting alone, but it wasn't a big deal. It happened again when we went with the grandparents and there were rides that hubby, my mom, and I wanted to ride, but my in-laws did not. Lots of rides will accommodate three, especially some of the clams/carts.

 

[SmallWorld71]

How old are the members of your group?

Many more rides fit 3 than you think. I was there most recently in April with DS14 and DD10. We did not do DHS this trip but went on almost everything at the other 3 parks and split up at the following:

Animal Kingdom:
Expedition Everest - this is only 2 across and they will usually pull someone from the single rider line to fill the empty space

Epcot: nothing here requires you to sit alone; unless you count that on Spaceship Earth we sat 2 and 1 front and back in the same car
(3 people fit fine in a Nemo clamshell)

Magic Kingdom:
Astro Orbiter - 2 young children would fit with one adult if that is your scenario, the odd person out is not with anyone else but gets their own rocket; same with Tomorrowland Speedway

Dumbo - I've seen people with 3, but we've always split up so that the kids can fly their own so I can't speak from experience

Buzz Lightyear - fits 3, but we split up so everyone gets a laser; we have never been put with anyone else

Barnstormer - I don't like this one so the kids just ride without me.

Some that fit 3 across fine that you might not realize: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder (Splash was a little tight now that both kids are adult height (plus I had just bought souvenirs) so we chose to split up on BTMRR; there was a group of college aged men all together on it though)

Just let them know the size of your party and the CM's will instruct you. They often asked us if we wanted to ride 3 together or 2 and 1 since I was traveling with older children who could ride alone. It's much easier than you might think.

 

[bumbershoot]

Is it strange to get on a ride and be strapped in next to a stranger?

I don't think so. And they don't really do that for many of the rides. On a roller coaster you'll be with other people, but it's not like they throw people next to you on Dumbo.


family of 3 here, and DH is definitely DS's favorite when it comes to who to sit next to on rides, so I'm quite used to being alone or with someone unrelated! You usually can't even SEE the person next to you on rides where you might have a stranger, so it hardly even matters.

 

[Woodmnky]

We just got back. We are 2 Pooh sized adults and a nearly 3 yo. On rides where all 3 of us did not fit in one seat such as Toy Story or Buzz Lightyear one adult rode alone. They never put someone else with us. Some rides we were able to fit easily in one car and others like Nemo it was a squish and DS rode on our laps.

The only time we were seated with strangers was on the roller coasters.

One of the times that we were riding Dumbo there was only 1 car left and they asked if we wanted to ride together (meaning during the same cycle) and since we said yes they let the next person go since they were a group of 2. We then road on the next cycle in Dumbos that were next to each other.

The main issues that I saw were situations where there was 2 (or more children and they were arguing over who got to sit with the person of their choice and/or ride alone).