Fun things for 3-year-old girl

[maroogreen]

I know we'll be doing some character meals, but for our first trip with a girl, what else would you consider a "do not miss" event?

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Our DD will be three next trip. We plan on doing the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Also the princess character meals, the tea at the Grand Floridian, and the character meal in MGM that has Little Einsteins and JO JO. There are also some cool hair pieces that I've seen pics of that we can buy, and do our girls hair with pretty tiarras and such.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Our 1st trip with the kids was in 05 (just started planning our next for fall of 08!). DD was 3 and DS was 4 - every kid is different and you really must know your child - but musts for my DD were:

Dumbo & Alladdins Carpet Ride (basically same thing!)
Race Track in MK (she drove!)
Carousel
Princess Breakfast in the castle - she dressed up as Cinderella and LOVED THAT!
Country Bear Jamoboree
Tea Cups
Poohs Playground
Playhouse Disney Show
Playground in MGM
Safari in AK
Kids area of the water parks
I had also picked up a cheap Walmart crown/tiara she enjoyed wearing all over the place - even with shorts & a T-Shirt!

She did not like anything she could not see what was going to happen in - even Snow White, Peter Pan, etc. If she couldn't see what the ride did out in the open she wanted nothing to do with it. 3-D Movie shows - Tree of life, Mickeys Philharmagic I think there was screaming involved She also LOVED doing the character meet and greats - autographs galore, and pin trading. Best advice is take things at the childs pace. As the adult we think they will like certain things but you really need to take a Q from the child. It took us a day to adjust to how she saw WDW but it was a time we will never forget!

 

[bkreitzel]

we went when our daughter was three and it was the BEST. some special things ...
1. tinkerbell presents...we purchased gifts and had them wrapped and packed and every night while she was sleeping tinkerbell left her a gift b/c she was such a good girl the day before...the first night was a new gown to wear to the sleeping beauty tea party the next day! other things included a light spinner, tee shirt, princess sunglasses etc...you can find a lot of princess things at the dollar tree and even kmart!
2. mickeys barber shop...we did an updo w/ glitter ...it was inexpensive and so fun!!!! it is right when you walk into the magic kingdom and it is a barber shop so you are not tempted to buy up a lot of princess stuff!
3. the coin presses ... someone told us to pack the M&M minitubes w/ two quarters and a penny alternating to use in the coin presses ... what a FANTASTIC idea that was! we never searched for coins...and she LOVED looking for the machines and putting the coins into her book.
4. we made our own autograph book w/ clip art and the disney font ... she got LOTS of attention w/ that.
5. the princess dinner at Ecpot was awesome.
6. animal kingdom = AVOID BUGS LIFE
7. animal kingdom - she LOVED the kali river rapids and the lion king show.
8. pack water sandals for wet rides...and the 60 cent disposable camping ponchos so you are not dragging wet raincoats around.
9. pack thick soled flipflops and huge fluffy hair scrunchies for meeting height requirements on rides ...we kept them in the stroller.
10. BRING A STROLLER. you will be glad when you are running to meet a dining reservation ... or for the monorail or when she crashes after the parade ..
11. ask the monorail attendant to ride up front w/ the pilot...we did that on the first ride and the kids were awestruck.
12. take a mid-day break for nap even if she doesnt nap at home, it will make the evenings sooooooooooooooo much better even if you are just sitting in the pool...we did it every day and had NO meltdowns or fits. our friends that came along teased us BUT we could hear their kids SCREAMING at night thru the hotel wall and I swear ours DID NOT CRY FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK!! it was heavenly.
13. i am not sure if they still do cinderellabration but it was AMAZING
14. try mypublisher.com to make a digital photobook when you get home..our girls love looking at it!
15. we brught sippee cups for the kids to use in the stroller when they were thirsty.
16. glow in the dark necklaces

 

[QueenGoblin]

You've gotten some great advice. The only thing I would emphasize is follow your DD's lead. We took our DD last Sept and she was 3 at the time. She loooved POTC. We ended up buying her a pirate costume and Captain Hook was the first character she felt brave enough to approach for a picture. Don't know what that says about her future taste in men. We took her to dinner at 1900 Park Fare and she enjoyed it, but in general she was more impressed by the pirates and even Haunted Mansion. She would have wanted nothing to do with getting her hair done etc. at that age. I know some girls are into that, but she isn't and I didn't want to push it on her. She liked seeing the Winnie the Pooh gang at Crystal Palace and I think she would have really enjoyed the Playhouse Disney meal at Hollywood and Vine but we couldn't convince her to leave the pool that morning so we had to cancel that ADR She refused to wear the glasses for the 3D movies, so we didn't even try any of those except the muppets (which she liked even without the 3D effects.) She really liked the Nemo theming at the Living Seas at EPCOT and she also enjoyed Figment. Loved the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Dinsey shows at MGM. She liked the Bird show at AK along with the Lion King show. But mostly she just wanted to hang at MK and ride her favorites over and over and over....The only ride she didn't like was Snow White...she was stoic about it, but when we asked if she wanted to go on it again she politely declined.
So I guess what I am saying is, if your DD is into the princesses and having her hair done etc. at home, then most definately try to the BBBoutique etc. with her. But if she isn't already into it, don't expect her to like it at Disney. And even if she is into the princesses, you might be surprised at what else she gets excited about!