It's your first time.......

[CuteKatCar]

I agree with walking down Main St. toward the castle. There is truly magic in that walk. I feel it every time I return.

Head for that castle and you're in Fantasyland. Our first ride with our then 2 1/2 yr. old was Dumbo (when they see those elephants it's all over!!).

The best rides in Fantasyland are Peter Pan and Pooh. But I might agree with others - do IASW - it's a wonderful moment and will be a memorable one as well.

A hint also. Will your 2 yr. old sit and watch the movies? You might want to start watching them again. Especially Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh, Cinderella, Snow White.

Good Luck - you're gonna have a wonderful time!!!


Anna

 

[GoofieRuthie]

A hint also. Will your 2 yr. old sit and watch the movies? You might want to start watching them again. Especially Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh, Cinderella, Snow White.

I have been trying to do this. She will watch a little bit of Cinderella. She loves the work song. "Cinderellie Cinderellie, day and night it's Cinderellie". She's too cute running around singing it, but she won't finish the movie. She is a major Jungle Book and Toy Story NUT! I can barely get her to watch anything else right now. I take that back. Country Bears and Lilo and Stitch are her new ones that she'll watch too.

MOQ, I would love to do HM first, but I want to save that one to see how she reacts to some of the other indoor rides and shows.

Pintrader, thanks for the reassurance. I think I am leaning toward the Pooh ride for now. That may all change once we get there though. I guess it will partly depend on where she wants to go. I'm starting to get weepy just thinking about it all. I know I will probably start sobbing as soon as I look up at that castle. Thanks for the tip on the picture taking too. I will also have our handy cam, if it's not too dark I may try to video tape her reaction. (I know not to use flash and stuff).

Everyone has mentioned the photographer on Main Street is he in a certain spot or does he roam around taking pics? I definately want to do this.

 

[mommystieg]

I see by your countdown that it is almost time to go so it may be too late for my suggestion. Do you have any of the Disney sing-a-long videos? That is what my 2 y/o loved watching before our visit. Disneyland Fun is a good one-it has lots of the attractions on it and shows the characters interacting with kids. These videos are only about 30 minutes long-perfect for a toddler's attention span.

 

[panfan]

HANDS DOWN--ITS A SMALL WORLD

Dont even think about it any further!!!!!!!! Always the first ride for us--Its great for every age ---Even though my son doesn't really "like it" anymore--He still wants to do it first--Its just a tradition with us and heps set the mood for the week!! I t just represents all things disney!

 

[DisneyBen]

I would say that either Peter Pan or Pooh would be a great ride. One of the good things about riding Pooh first thing is that sometimes Pooh, Tigger, and some of the other Pooh characters are in the first cars of the day. The only thing is that you have to be right at the rope when it drops and speed walk or run straight to Pooh. (Hey, worked for us )

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

If you need to do Fantasyland, I'd head back there because you have a lot of slow-load rides that can build up long waits fairly soon. Your 2 yr old will be ready to go on something and then later on when he/she is sleeping (in the stoller), the older ones can go on the bigger rides.

Just have the discussion with the family beforehand, so they know what to expect and don't give you a hard time when you are trying to do Dumbo, etc. first.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

Another thought, I'd hold It's a Small World for later. This is one ride that I will NOT wait in line for because it is ALWAYS a walk-on later.

We were just there and mid-day people were waiting 30 minutes. Late afternoon it was a walk on with each of the boats only 1/3 full.

Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh are all slow load rides and even a short line can mean an hour's wait. If the lines are short, do these first! There is nothing worse than to wait in line for something and then walk by it later when it is a walk-on!! LOL.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

Photographers will be standing right in the middle of Main Street flagging people down.

 

[Gillian]

We took our 2 year old twice this year, once at 24 months & again at 30 months. The first time he was a little disturbed by Pooh, but I think just because it all goes by so fast! He just didn't like it. At 30 months he liked it much more & was not scared or disturbed.

At 30 months his hands down favorite was small world. We rode at least 3 times & asked to sit in the front. He was amazed & thrilled by everything. Not what I expected at all!

He was indifferent to Peter Pan both times. He isn't familiar with the story & the only thing he liked was the croc.

He was fine in the HM, but I do think they need to get used to the rides & the dark first. POC was another one he didn't care for. It wasn't engaging to him. He didn't understand anything except that we got to ride in another boat.

To me, the rides that say Disney are small world, dumbo, the carousel, HM & POC. And space mountain. These are the rides I remember from childhood. Winnie the Pooh is not a classic disney ride to me! I still miss Mr. Toad's wild ride & get nostalgic for it when I ride Pooh. It is fun & cute though, so I guess it's still a favorite for me.

 

[erinch]

part of the answer depends on how long you're staying--whether you're staying on or off property --and how many days you've got for the MK.

There are 2 separate issues--one is the first experience--the other is getting on the rides you want to experience without waiting in huge lines.

If you have 2 days available, I'd suggest getting there as early as possible. When you go in, there will be probably be characters to your left--and your kids are gonna want to see them. Then walk toward the castle, savoring the sounds and sights of early morning Disney--again, push the whole circus to get there as early as possible. If you are eligible for early entry, then try to make that your first experience.

Walk through the castle; if the kids want to ride Dumbo consider making that hte first magic moment (you can ride with them) because the Dumbo line is hellish all day. Then get a fastpass for Peter Pan, and go do Small world as your first "together" ride and catch other attractions, while waiting for Peter Pan (far more classic than Pooh). Depending on lines, get fastpass for Buzz Lightyear, do Pooh, mad teacups, then buzz, then make way to family attactions jungle cruise, pirates of the caribbean.

With no disrespect to the 2 yo, maybe consider a fairy godmother for her and go back wit hthe older kids to ride splash mnt, space mnt, and big thunder. Otherwise do those later in the day with fastpasses and do the switching off thing.

 

[LSU Tigerfan]

Erinch makes some good points. You're going to be there at a very busy time, so it's important to have a strategy that's going to let you experience as many attractions as possible so that you don't spend your whole trip standing in line. Get up earlier than you think necessary and make sure that you're there as early as possible (EE if you're onsite, rope drop if not). The lines and the whole park will look completely different at 10:30 than at 9:15.

If you're staying onsite, I would definitely advise you to leave the park at 11:30 or so and take a nap before coming back for the parade.

I would advise against riding Dumbo at all, if you possibly can. Aladdin's carpets and the Triceratops Spin in AK offer the same ride for much less line; but if you must do Dumbo, you should absolutely make it the first ride of the morning.

 

[Harambe]

Our first ride was The Great Movie Ride. We got to WDW around 6pm and wanted to catch Fantasmic. We were so excited we jumped on the first thing in front of us. DD 6 was okay but DS 5 wasn't quite prepared. After that we had a hard time talking him onto some rides that he now loves!

So good advice given above. Don't freak out the 2 year old! At MK, we go to both EEs offered on our trip (we stay a week). On one we will head for Buzz Light Year and on another, we do Peter Pan.

But if I had it to do over again, our first official WDW ride would be Pirates! Everyone loves that one, and the song is fun!

 

[Joyfulsnuff]

We usually go to MK first and our first ride is always Pooh and second is always Peter Pan! When we ride these I know I have finally arrived!

 

[Jomrog]

We always ride Peter Pan first, then It's a Small World, then off to the Tea Cups to get dizzy!

 

[tar heel]

The first time we took a child, we went straight to Pirates b/c I remembered it from the one time I had been to WDW and my 5-year-old was into pirates. He was so overwhelmed by the darkness and bigness of it that he spent the rest of the day afraid each ride was going to be scary. I would never recommend starting with Pirates when you have a young child.

For our second child's first trip, we started with It's a Small World and worked our way up to darker attractions. Worked perfectly --he's never been afraid of ANYTHING.

For our third child's first trip, we apparently lost our minds. We started at Epcot with Honey I Shrunk the Audience. He disliked it so much that he flatly refused to do the next attraction. We have been to WDW four times since that trip and he finally consented to trying the attraction again last summer.

My recommendation is to start with attractions that aren't dark or potentially totally overwhelming. Work your way up to Pirates and Haunted Mansion (Ride is fine, but preshow is scary.) Pooh, It's a Small World or Dumbo are both good choices. If you have several days, going to Adventureland and doing Jungle Cruise and Aladdin would also work well.

 

[Pig Pen]

I agree with the posters here. My brother and SIL took my 3 yo nephew onto POC for his first ride of the day, and he was scared the rest of the day.

As much as I hate to say it, to get that Disney feeling (and be safe with the 2 yo) I would go for Small World first after getting a fastpass for Peter Pan or Pooh. Then ride the teacups or Dumbo after getting a fastpass for the other ride. Then, finish up Fantasyland and head for Tomorrowland.

You must hit Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland. My nephew LOVEs Buzz, but my bro and SIL forgot about it - thinking Tomorrowland was all "big" rides. You may enjoy the TTA - it's a refreshing break.

Then, if things seem to be going well with the 2 yo, head to the POC. I would also try to catch Country Bear Jamboree. Then, everyone's favorite - Haunted Mansion.

Your 8 yo may enjoy Space, Splash and Thunder Mountains, but I don't think your baby can go on. I guess you could take advantage of the baby switch-off option.

There will also be lots of "events" going on such as the character show at the castle. If you can get a good seat, your children would probably enjoy that.

Of course, there is still Tiki Birds, Jungle Cruise, Hall of Prez, the entire Toon Town area and the race cars...so much to do, so little time!

Catch the parade, take a train ride around the "world" and you should have a lot of great memories.

(This plan may take more than 1 day unless you are a seasoned Rambo-tourer like me).

 

[wdwnut2]

Not a ride, but I suggest you get to Magic Kingdom by taking the ferry. The first time I ever went to MK was when I was 11 and we took the ferry there. It was soooo exciting to watch it getting closer and closer and going by boat made me feel like we were leaving the real world behind. To this day I still remember that ride, standing on the deck and talking to my Dad about everything we were going to see and do. I loved the monorail too, but being able to "watch" our arrival at Magic Kingdom was so memorable. Have a fantastic trip ( and I would ride Pirates first, its just classic Disney!)!

 

[disneymom3]

I would vote for Pooh. I have a very intense middle child and when he was not quite two, we were at MK. When we got on Pooh, he started to cry and didn't want to go, but then really enjoyed the ride. So much so, that when it was over, he cried again! I am sure that everyone around us thought we were terrible parents making this little boy go on a ride that he obviously hated!

I would then head for Dumbo because while the oldest child might not be thrilled with it, the line gets long and is slow and the littler ones will love it, so you need to get it done early.

Have a fantastic time. It really doesn't matter what your first ride is, my best advice is always arrive before opening and relax! It will be such a wonderful trip!

 

[Matty_Disfan]

Just look at my tag and you'll see how I feel about "It's a Small World"...... But I have to agree. You want a young kid to experience some disney magic, this is your ride.

Personally I would do BTMRR first..... but I doubt your kid would get on.

Good Luck.