Favorite attractions for 4 year old?

[pcgmom]

What are your favorites for cool, must-sees for a 4 yo? I have heard about riding in the front of the monorail. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that you would like to reveal to a fellow planner to make this the best trip ever? Thanks.
aw:

 

[ticofan]

3 and 4 are my favorite ages to bring children to WDW. They love absolutely everything, but mostly - not - the rides. A lot of them are in the dark and very scary. My children loved playing in all the water areas. We have wonderful memories of changing their clothes everyday aftery they soaked themselves in the play area. My children loved all the characters (but some are afraid). I have darling photos of the biggest hugs and smiles after greeting Mickey and everyone else.

At the end of the day at Epcot we would stop to play in the lights in the cement outside innovations.

My kids actually liked the tram from the parking lot as well as any other ride.

Oh -- and one year a frog jumped onto the glass when we were in the driver's compartment of the monorail. They watched him all around the track. He finally hopped off at the Transportation Ticket Center. They still talk about that frog.

My advice is to let the kids enjoy themselved. I found myself taking them away from things they loved doing to show them something else (sometimes because I wanted a change of scenery.)

We took a double stroller until about a year ago. My kids played and then slept at the parks. They cried if I passed up entertainment at Epcot and would never let me pass a drum without banging on it.

There is pure joy watching these children discover Disney.

Ticofan - mother of 3 Disney boys

 

[MareSINY]

My 4 year old niece absolutely ADORES It's a Small World. She can sing that song for hours. On our last trip we finally convinced her to ride Pooh, and she was instantly addicted. We ended up riding it about 4 times on that trip. She doesn't like any of the rides that are in the dark, POC is definitely out of the question, she did it once and I think she'll never do it again. She loves the race cars, teacups, and amazingly enough has told me she wants to ride Goofy's Barnstormer again when we go next month. Oh, and lets not forget Dumbo, her all time favorite ride.

I think she's come to know MK by heart, she knows where all her favorite rides are and she knows which ones she wont go near.

 

[mamaminnie]

It all depends on your 4 yo. By 4, my (very tall) ds was riding Test Track, BTMRR, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc.

He also loved all the 3-D movies--Muppets, Philharmagic, etc.

The only thing he hated (and still hates) is the Haunted Mansion--go figure!!

 

[Tammi67]

We just got back from our second trip the WDW. Last year my then 5yo and 2.5yo rode loved and rode everything they were tall enough for. We took them on everything without telling them what would be scary/dark. I didn't put any preconceived notions in their heads. HM and Dinosaur were not tops on their lists, but they didn't cry or freak out. When we got back I bought the Happiest Celebration on Earth CD and they have listened to it A LOT, to get them familiar with the rides. When we went back this year, my now 3.5yo was tall enough for TT and ToT. We did Dinosaur again with them saying they wanted to ride (still not a big hit) and they loved HM, maybe because they were now familiar with it through the music. TT was a hit with DD3, but she didn't like ToT. No crying but just said she didn't like it and didn't want to ride again. I think it all depends on your kid and how you present the ride to them.

With that said, some of the favorites of my 3yo are Teacups, Carousel, Buzz. On the other hand, with her liking HM and PotC, she is scared to death of the costumed characters. Go figure.

 

[mhingher]

I went to WDW in JUne 2004 with my family, which included a niece and nephew who were 3 1/2 and a another nephew who was 5. They loved just about everything in Fantasyland, except I don't think they went on Snow White. My 3 1/2 y/o nephew loved Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain also. Buzz Lightyear was also a big hit with all of them. I believe they were a little scared in the Haunted Mansion, and didn't care for the It's Tough to be a Bug show in AK.

 

[disneyphanatic1911]

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[prestonsmomma]

There wasn't ONE thing my DS didn't like (at 3 1/2). His favorite things were the monorail, the characters, and Buzz (he beat his Daddy and still talks about it....................and yes they were both playing hard). He even loved Stitch's Great Escape but then again he is a huge Stitch fan.

ETA anything in 3D was a HUGE hit with us.

 

[POB14]

Went in November - our 4yo (almost 5 now) loved small world, Peter Pan, Dumbo, and the Carrousel. Liked Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean(!) and Hall of Presidents (!!). Did NOT like Philharmagic -- too loud. (Although she thought the ending was funny.)

But most of all she loved meeting the characters, especially Minnie (her favorite).

 

[4theloveofdisney]

I started to write down all of the things my kids like but then realized it was better to write down things to avoid as there is too much to do that they like or liked at that age!!

So, things that my kids didn't like or we avoided because we did our research: Snow White, BTMRR (mine love small coasters but didn't like the dark part), Space Mountain, Stitch, The Tikki Room, POTC, ITTBAB. Have not even thought about putting them on MS.

HTH!