Help! Need advice planning out days with almost 3yo for trip next week :) help please!

[Nhenn83]

My husband and I are taking our almost 3yo princess obsessed daughter May 7-10 and I'm a bit overwhelmed trying to plan out our days. This is our first time since we were kids, so totally clueless. We are staying at DLH so I'm hoping to utilize the early mornings. We are ok with missing out on the coolest rides (except radiator springs) since she's only 36" and this trip is really for her. If anyone has suggestions or advice I'd really appreciate it!

 

[DLRExpert]

#1 Avoid Early Magic Hour at Disneyland, in some cases it is not worth it. If you do go, make sure you are at the entrance to Disneyland 30-40 minutes before it starts. Especially if the EMH starts at 8am. A 7am start is a bit more manageable. EMH at DCA is fine.

#2 Fantasyland starts to get busy at 9am. Make sure you do as much as you can in this area before this time. If the park opens at 9am, you have about 30 minutes before it starts to get crazy.

#3 Make sure you check out the Fantasy Faire area. That is where they have the princesses and some pretty good stage shows at Disneyland (Anna and Elsa are at DCA). I would try to be in this area by 930am. If she is into Tinkerbell and her friends, you can find them at Pixie Hollow, right across from the Fantasy Faire

#4 Toontown opens one hour after park opening. Try to be there for the Gate Drop? Anyways, it can be pretty cool when it opens as the main characters will come out to meet you and walk you to their homes.

# 5 If the crowds at the Princess Meet n Greet at Fantasy Faire are too much, check into getting a reservation at Ariels Grotto (DCA) for the Princess dining option.

#6 You and your husband should have fun too. Use the Child Swap Pass and enjoy some of the bigger attractions. Disney is really good at having kid-friendly attractions near the bigger attractions.

ME

 

[Xenorye]

#1 Avoid Early Magic Hour at Disneyland, in some cases it is not worth it. If you do go, make sure you are at the entrance to Disneyland 30-40 minutes before it starts. Especially if the EMH starts at 8am. A 7am start is a bit more manageable. EMH at DCA is fine.

FYI to the OP: DLRExpert has some great advice, but he is in the minority regarding this. 7am Early openings are the best, because fewer people go, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of it regardless of the time.

 

[Nevada Jen]

Make time for the frozen show at DCA. Its pretty amazing, especially for a 3 year old. If you haven't considered it, consider bippity bobbity boutique. It sounds like something she would love. You may want to get her an autograph book ahead of time so that she can have the characters sign her book when she meets them. If you are going to use baby swap to ride some of the bigger rides, you only need one fastpass and the baby swap ticket you get is good all day, which means you can use the swap during naps. Last tip, bring single serve snacks to have on you at all times. Inability to get food for my kids fast enough used to be the downfall of many days! With that many days and using early entry, you will have plenty of time to take it slow and enjoy.

 

[Winnowill]

#3 Make sure you check out the Fantasy Faire area. That is where they have the princesses and some pretty good stage shows at Disneyland (Anna and Elsa are at DCA). I would try to be in this area by 930am. If she is into Tinkerbell and her friends, you can find them at Pixie Hollow, right across from the Fantasy Faire

Note: Tink is the only fairy currently. She no longer has friends with her.

 

[Nhenn83]

Make time for the frozen show at DCA. Its pretty amazing, especially for a 3 year old. If you haven't considered it, consider bippity bobbity boutique. It sounds like something she would love. You may want to get her an autograph book ahead of time so that she can have the characters sign her book when she meets them. If you are going to use baby swap to ride some of the bigger rides, you only need one fastpass and the baby swap ticket you get is good all day, which means you can use the swap during naps. Last tip, bring single serve snacks to have on you at all times. Inability to get food for my kids fast enough used to be the downfall of many days! With that many days and using early entry, you will have plenty of time to take it slow and enjoy.

Do you by any chance know how strict they are about the age cutoff for the bippity boppity boutique? Online it says 3yo but she will be 2.8 so I didn't want to try and book it and be turned away. That would be heartbreaking for her! Lol

 

[RobertaMomof2]

We always plan to take afternoon breaks (when there for more than 2 days), especially when the kids were younger. We would go at rope drop (or early morning hour) and then leave around 11-Noon, get some food, head back to the hotel (nap when the kids were under 3) and then hit the pool for a hour or so, refresh, and go back to the park around 3-4, do a few things we got fastpasses for, and then have dinner in the park and do a few more things until the kids were ready to head back (at 3 that was around 7-8pm). Nothing worse than a full on melt down at 7pm because they are super tired. When my husband came with me, we took turns going back into the park (I would pull FPs before leaving, or hit the single rider lines) in the evening alone to ride the big people rides we couldn't miss while the kids slept (and usually my husband slept too, I am a night owl). It was a different kind of fun, but still fun! Enjoy your time.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Do you by any chance know how strict they are about the age cutoff for the bippity boppity boutique? Online it says 3yo but she will be 2.8 so I didn't want to try and book it and be turned away. That would be heartbreaking for her! Lol

They are very strict. You can't do it yet, sorry, but there are some fun face-painting options she might like by Pixie Hollow!

 

[lcp9]

My daughter is almost 6 and still loves princesses although we've been to DLR enough now that the novelty has worn off a bit. That said back when she was 2.5-3 it was ALL about meeting princesses! I commented in a similar thread, so I don't know if you read that, but here's some of my advice:

1. It is possible to meet all of the princesses in a 2-3ish hour block. You have to plan really well but it can be done. Check the app the day before to get a good idea of where they meet, and what times, and make a plan. Check the morning of to solidify your plans. When we have done this it went something like:

9am - ariel at wishing well
*move to back of the line once you meet her
9:30 - ariel switches out for aurora, by this time you should be at the front again
9:45 - belle in fantasy faire
10:10 - jasmine in the oasis
10:30 - tiana in NOS
11:00 rapunzel in fantasy faire

etc etc etc. at some point you will probably also want to do royal hall, do not wait more than about 20 minutes. if you go during/right after the parade, you can get in in about 10 minutes.
park hop to anna/elsa, the wait for us has consistently been 20-30 mins regardless of time.

the goal is to be at each meeting place 10 mins before the princess actually gets there - that way you are 1 or 2 in line and it goes fast. every additional person you are behind adds a couple of minutes and throws everything off.

2. have an autograph book - skinny crayola markers are the best for this. Have it open to a page ready for her to sign when you go up.
3. no matter how princess obsessed she is, she might freak out and/or be very awkward. it's ok, she'll still love the pictures afterwards and forget she made it totally awkward
4. have at least a couple princess dresses to choose from, we usually take one per day. have one that is shorter/less bulky that is more ride appropriate (for us this was fawn.)
5. the shows at the royal theater in fantasy faire are super cute, and they let the kids sit up front which they love.
6. our kids are 5, 3, 1 - we take a double stroller and most everyone still takes a nap at some point during the day. we don't like going back to the hotel, but they definitely need naps or everything is miserable. even with naps they crash hard, so don't plan anything big for 8pm+ (our kids have slept through WOC every. single. time)
7. their favorite part of disneyland is honestly probably the parade.
8. we didn't do a ton of big rides when we had no one over 40", but the rider switch is really easy and good for the whole day - so you can go back if you want later, if not, whatever.
9. our 3/1 yo are boys. our daughter likes cars land, probably more now than at 3 though. if it weren't for our boys, DCA would have way less for us to do. when she was our only mobile kid, out of a 4 day trip, DL would be 2.5-3 days and DCA would be 1-1.5. Ariel's grotto, mermaid ride, monsters inc, disney junior show (which I understand is closed right now) was kind of it.
10. bring lots of snacks!!

Get as much done in the early mornings as you can! A lot of those silly fantasyland rides have painful waits in the afternoon (25 mins waiting for dumbo is torture.)

 

[Nhenn83]

My daughter is almost 6 and still loves princesses although we've been to DLR enough now that the novelty has worn off a bit. That said back when she was 2.5-3 it was ALL about meeting princesses! I commented in a similar thread, so I don't know if you read that, but here's some of my advice:

1. It is possible to meet all of the princesses in a 2-3ish hour block. You have to plan really well but it can be done. Check the app the day before to get a good idea of where they meet, and what times, and make a plan. Check the morning of to solidify your plans. When we have done this it went something like:

9am - ariel at wishing well
*move to back of the line once you meet her
9:30 - ariel switches out for aurora, by this time you should be at the front again
9:45 - belle in fantasy faire
10:10 - jasmine in the oasis
10:30 - tiana in NOS
11:00 rapunzel in fantasy faire

etc etc etc. at some point you will probably also want to do royal hall, do not wait more than about 20 minutes. if you go during/right after the parade, you can get in in about 10 minutes.
park hop to anna/elsa, the wait for us has consistently been 20-30 mins regardless of time.

the goal is to be at each meeting place 10 mins before the princess actually gets there - that way you are 1 or 2 in line and it goes fast. every additional person you are behind adds a couple of minutes and throws everything off.

2. have an autograph book - skinny crayola markers are the best for this. Have it open to a page ready for her to sign when you go up.
3. no matter how princess obsessed she is, she might freak out and/or be very awkward. it's ok, she'll still love the pictures afterwards and forget she made it totally awkward
4. have at least a couple princess dresses to choose from, we usually take one per day. have one that is shorter/less bulky that is more ride appropriate (for us this was fawn.)
5. the shows at the royal theater in fantasy faire are super cute, and they let the kids sit up front which they love.
6. our kids are 5, 3, 1 - we take a double stroller and most everyone still takes a nap at some point during the day. we don't like going back to the hotel, but they definitely need naps or everything is miserable. even with naps they crash hard, so don't plan anything big for 8pm+ (our kids have slept through WOC every. single. time)
7. their favorite part of disneyland is honestly probably the parade.
8. we didn't do a ton of big rides when we had no one over 40", but the rider switch is really easy and good for the whole day - so you can go back if you want later, if not, whatever.
9. our 3/1 yo are boys. our daughter likes cars land, probably more now than at 3 though. if it weren't for our boys, DCA would have way less for us to do. when she was our only mobile kid, out of a 4 day trip, DL would be 2.5-3 days and DCA would be 1-1.5. Ariel's grotto, mermaid ride, monsters inc, disney junior show (which I understand is closed right now) was kind of it.
10. bring lots of snacks!!

Get as much done in the early mornings as you can! A lot of those silly fantasyland rides have painful waits in the afternoon (25 mins waiting for dumbo is torture.)

Thank you so much these are all so helpful!