Ideas for older visitors and non-riders

[rottie155]

Hi all,

Some of you may remember me jumping for joy a couple months back when I booked DLP (again) but this time for 5 days over St. Patrick's Week...

I am taking my parents, my mum recovering from cancer (all is ok..) and my dad is a total non-rider, other than the likes of POTC, Phantom Manor and IASW

We will be celebrating my dad's birthday - which is actually on St. Patrick's Day on the Thursday, but we have from Monday to Friday to enjoy the trip.

I need to pick your DisBrains as I want to try and plan a few bits and pieces for the whole family to enjoy their holiday... I've been to DLP countless times - and my parents have been a good few times too - but we're talking 10 years ago for them... (boo!) So does anybody have any ideas/suggestions what we could do as a group for everybody to enjoy themselves?.... Don't get me wrong, my Mother and I will be on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster as much as we can handle! haha

Thanks all

 

[zinderella]

I visited with my Mum at Halloween this year (she is 60) and she really enjoyed the shows in the Studio and all of the gentler rides and especially enjoyed the walk thru's - Nemo's submarine being her fave.

 

[rottie155]

I visited with my Mum at Halloween this year (she is 60) and she really enjoyed the shows in the Studio and all of the gentler rides and especially enjoyed the walk thru's - Nemo's submarine being her fave.

Thanks, this is what I was thinking of doing... Whereas my Mum is a bit of a thrill-seeker, my dad cannot stomache literally anything that moves bless him!

I was thinking of having a day or so where I can take mum on all of the rides whilst dad has a bit of a calm one in the Sports Bar or what not... and then we can do a few days where we watch the Moteur Show and bits for him... I just don't know what else there is for them to do, I'm so used to me going and having fun with the rides and characters lol

 

[A Small World]

We took my Mum who was in her mid 70s and she really enjoyed the character meal at cafe Mickey (we had the breakfast ). She did the gentler rides and enjoyed Pirates, Small World and PM but also enjoyed the shows (we only did the main park not the studios on that trip) and also enjoyed sitting people watching outside the Cowboy Cookout (with a coffee or two)

 

[Danauk]

I took my mum and dad (early 60's) who were never thrill seakers (although I did get my mum on BTMRR which I was amazed at!) They enjoyed POTC, Alices Labyrinth, the Fantasyland rides and Phantom Manor in the Disneyland Park. They really enjoyed the Studios for the shows (especially the Moteurs Action car show) and the Backstage Tram Tour. They also loved going up in the Panoramagique balloon.

 

[hildasmuriel]

Your Dad may enjoy queuing with you and using the chicken exit on some of the rides - the queueing areas of BTM and RnRC (for example) are quite interesting to see and if you go when it's not busy he won't have to hang around too much.

 

[rottie155]

Thanks everyone for your ideas... I was definately thinking shows, parades, meals and drinks... In the evening I was thinking about 'hotel exploring' too to keep things a bit varied for them both.

As for the chicken exit on the rides, I was actually wondering if there were exits incase people didn't want to ride as I really would love for my Dad to see the inside of a few of the rides, especially Space Mountain, Rock and Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror... does anybody know if there are definately ways out of these rides for him? I don't want to get him to the ride and then force him on kicking and screaming

 

[hildasmuriel]

Every single ride has a chicken exit - I would know! Have you seen my tag?

Space Mountain - stairs that go up and over the ride.
Tower of Terror - when guests enter the lift, non-riders just exit directly to a waiting area.
RnRC - has a corridor marked 'for non-riders' which is right at the point where guests get on the ride, so you get to see the ride go off (3....2....1....cue scared looks on faces) but don't have to ride it.

 

[rottie155]

Every single ride has a chicken exit - I would know! Have you seen my tag?

Space Mountain - stairs that go up and over the ride.
Tower of Terror - when guests enter the lift, non-riders just exit directly to a waiting area.
RnRC - has a corridor marked 'for non-riders' which is right at the point where guests get on the ride, so you get to see the ride go off (3....2....1....cue scared looks on faces) but don't have to ride it.

That is fantastic!! You are my chicken exit hero!!

I've never noticed any of this... I feel like I've missed out on a whole lot of Disney here!!!!!

 

[FiFi Rose]

Would your Dad wnjoy a round of golf at the disney golf course? Never done it but seems like a manly thing to do

My mum (70) enjoys all the shows and people watching. She also loves IASW, Buzz, POTC etc

 

[loladelorean]

We were recently there with my mum (first 4 days of trip report are up) and while my sister and I love all the thrill rides over and over again, mum can't handle anything scarier than BTM!
She had a great time though. She popped back to the hotel for rests or had a lie in while we charged over for EMH, she mooched about the shops, ate endless amounts of Mickey brioche, and loved all the shows. Cinemagique was her favourite, she went back twice while we were doing big rides! She said she just loved taking in the atmosphere and people watching - we stopped worrying about her after the first couple of days of feeling guilty about all the rides we were doing. Plus, doing the "kiddy" rides all together provided a lot of fun! I'm sure you'll have a magical trip with your parents too

 

[rottie155]

Wow lots of food for thought! Thanks again everyone!

Golf could be a nice idea actually... I may even have a "lazy day" and take Mum swimming or something, never actually used the swimming pools at the resort - I don't even know what time they are open till?! (Does anybody have any idea of opening hours for the swimming pool at SL??)

loladelorean you're right! I am actually tempted to drop off my parents somewhere to see a show or eat whilst I have a mad run around the parks alone for a couple of hours and tackle a couple of rides and, of course, meet and greets

March seems like forever away right now but it feels like I have loads to plan! I want to get a birthday cake for my Dad at some stage too but cannot work out whether or not it'll just be better off to wait until we're there and speak to a concierge or in a restaurant whilst we're eating (I speak French and Dad doesn't so I could order one in front of him without him being none the wiser )