Just Back - Any Kids/Park Questions

[Trip2Dis]

We just came back from a 6/1-6/7 stay at the Polynesian. My DW, DD7, and I visited Epcot, MK, MGM Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, and AK. What a blast! What blisters...

I'm available for questions, but let me highlight the trip (in 12 paragraphs or less...)

--Animal Kingdom rocks! We planned half a day for Monday (EE day), did Kilaminjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids (3 times), It's Tough to be a Bug (great show), and played in the dig site at dinoland. We left by 1:00 to go back to the Polynesian. Well, I left Friday open for revisiting wherever my daughter wanted to go, and don't you know we were at EE for AK on that day as well. KS, KRR (first family on that day), then the Festival of the Lion King and Pocohontas shows. Lion King was great, but my daughter loved seeing the animals in Pocohontas. Make this at least a full day on your schedule.

--Magic Kingdom was magical. We visited it every day except Tuesday. No big lines, and fastpass helped on the bigger lines. Don't ever,ever,ever think that Dumbo is a fast loading line. It was the slowest line in the park, but DD had to ride... Buzz Lightyear is awesome...give it a try. Space Mountain died shortly befor I walked on Friday night during E Night (which was a good bargain for us - Buzz 20 times, Astro Orbiter in the rain twice, Big Thunder, Splach Mountain, Alien Encounter).

--MGM Studios - We saw Fantasmic! Secretly this was the one thing I didn't want to miss, but we just got seats at 7:40 for the 9:00 show. DD7 wouldn't have lasted until the late show. It was worth the wait! Best show we saw the whole week. The barges carrying belle and airel collided and we about got to find out if ariel really could swim... We saw the Muppet 3D show and played at the Honey, I shrunk the Kids playground, but didn't leave ourselves enough time to do everything I would have wanted to do, ToT, RNRRC, IJ, etc. but my wife said she couldn't see a whole day there...

--Typhoon Lagoon - We got everywhere early, and this is one place that it really paid. We got our stuff put down where we wanted it, we rode all the raft rides, swam with the sharks, did the body slides, and hung out in the wave pool all before noon. It's a good thing too. About 12:00 the sky let go and they ran everyone out of the pool and told us to take shelter (of which there was room for about half of us). We went back to the Poly, where it never rained that day, and swam in the volcano pool there. TL was fun though, and we could have stayed longer. DW never got to do the lazy river...

--EPCOT - Wow! I never thought that DD7 would enjoy it soooo much. The kidcot stations with the stamps and masks made it very memorable for her. Her favorite thing the whole week was eating at Chefs de France, because Caroline, who waited on us, was so sweet to her and the food was so good. I got talked out of hanging around for Illuminations and had to deal with an angry DW who wanted to see the whole show from a spot on the other side of the lake from the monorail and i wanted to watch it from the monorail - I won the battle, but sometimes winning is losing. We could have spent more time here as well, we didn't really spend much time on the countries history, just their food The living statue in Italy is not to be missed, and the street show in the United kingdom is cute as well

I'm sorry for such a long post, but send me any questions. We left a lot to do next time, but we learned a few things along the way...

 

[luvaladdin]

Thanks for shairng. Our first trip to Disney was in 1996 with DD14 who was then 7. IT was a purely magical trip, just as yours was. We spent a lot of time at Epcot and as a family with 3 kids now, we spend at least 3 or 4 half days at Epcot, mainly visiting the countries.

Luckily for me, my DH just goes along with the plan, asking, "Okay, what's next on the list?"

Thanks,
Cheryl

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

I really enjoyed reading your mini-trip report. Hopefully, you can give me some advice...

I'll be at the Dolphin June 19-23 with my DH, BIL & 2 nieces. Im trying to get a "feel" for what sort of crowds to expect. We've always gone in off-season...this is a first-ever summer trip.

From your report it sounds like you were able to manage crowds just fine by utilizing early entry & fast pass. How was e-nite? Would you do it again?

Also, what day of the week did you go to TL? Unfortunately, our visit falls on a Fri, Sat & Sun...and I 've heard that the waterparks get really crowded with locals on the weekends.

Thanks!

 

[Trip2Dis]

Originally posted by Lori of the Lodge
I really enjoyed reading your mini-trip report. Hopefully, you can give me some advice...

I'll be at the Dolphin June 19-23 with my DH, BIL & 2 nieces. Im trying to get a "feel" for what sort of crowds to expect. We've always gone in off-season...this is a first-ever summer trip.

From your report it sounds like you were able to manage crowds just fine by utilizing early entry & fast pass. How was e-nite? Would you do it again?

Also, what day of the week did you go to TL? Unfortunately, our visit falls on a Fri, Sat & Sun...and I 've heard that the waterparks get really crowded with locals on the weekends.

Thanks!

Lori,

I think that the crowds weren't that bad to begin with and the EE just made it even less a problem, but I think that ee is the way to go. We'd take a nap in the afternoons to offset the early rise time. Fastpass worked great where we needed it (once - on peter pan in the MK), but would have worked well in other locations.
E-nite was great. It rained most of the time, so the crowds were even thinner than a normal eride night. Could have stayed on splash mountain, buzz lightyear all night. Definitely would do it again. It gave us a chance to do the rides we had bypassed during the days because of the lines....
Typhoon Lagoon - i can see that park getting crowed in a hurry. Go early - be in line by 9:45 - they let you queue up in the park, before releasing the crowds fighting for the good seats. Ride all the rides the first hour and then just hang out in the wave pool. If it rains and you have time, stick it out - lots of people will leave and you'll have the place to yourself.

Let me know of anything else I can tell you about.

 

[pmcnulty]

Thanks for sharing the details of your trip. We are visiting WDW next week with our DD7 and DS 13. Did your daughter need a stroller for any of the parks? Our last visit in 98 required a stroller for our then DD2 but our son (then 8) was fine without one. Our DD7 is pretty small for her age and I'm wondering if she can handle EPCOT and MK without a stroller.

How early did you arrive at the parks for EE days? We are staying at the Swan and would like to use EE as much as possible. Also, did you find that Typhoon Lagoon could be done in 4 hours or less, if in place by 10:00am?

Thanks for your advice.

7 days and counting!

 

[Trip2Dis]

Originally posted by pmcnulty
Thanks for sharing the details of your trip. We are visiting WDW next week with our DD7 and DS 13. Did your daughter need a stroller for any of the parks? Our last visit in 98 required a stroller for our then DD2 but our son (then 8) was fine without one. Our DD7 is pretty small for her age and I'm wondering if she can handle EPCOT and MK without a stroller.

How early did you arrive at the parks for EE days? We are staying at the Swan and would like to use EE as much as possible. Also, did you find that Typhoon Lagoon could be done in 4 hours or less, if in place by 10:00am?

Thanks for your advice.

7 days and counting!

Great question on the strollers! We did use a stroller for our DD7 at Epcot. What a great idea! She wanted one everywhere else we went after that, though! We showed some pix when we got backand she wanted us to explain why she was in a stroller. if you rent one from Epcot, they are plenty sturdy enough to handle a backpack and even have a few bottle holders on the back. Not that I'm an advocate of drinking and strollering, however

The coolest thing with the stroller was that when I panicked and wanted to leave Illuminations before the show was over and she wanted to keep watching the fireworks, I just pulled the stroller backwards towards SpaceshipEarth and she could continue to watch.

Epcot's too big for a kid to have the energy to get around it. This also kept us at our pace and not at DD7's walking pace. That was kind of handy with the space between the countries.

EE - I'd reccomend 30 minutes before the parks open. AK gates at 7:30 was already crowded on Monday, but on Friday was not.

TL had quite a few people at 9:30 as well. Get to TL early and you can definitely "get everything done", but I'd be wary of that attitude. It's the same one i had last week and I'm paying for it today with drowsy eyes and blistered feet (sandals and epcot don't go together). My revised attitiude is to make sure you enjoy yourself and relax, or it's not as much a vacation as a different type of job!!!!

 

[Goofy'sFriend]

OMG! Ariel fell in the water! Those boats collided two years ago when we saw the show too. All the characters kept their balance though.

I really enjoyed your sense of humor in your post.....a fun read!!

 

[Tinks]

Great trip report...thanks for sharing! It sounds like you had a fun trip.

PMCNULTY: I think I would recommend a stroller for EPCOT. It is a lot of walking because the park is SOOO huge. You may regret NOT getting one by the time you're in the World Showcase and the stroller rental place is at the park opening! Have fun.

 

[pmcnulty]

Thanks for your information regarding strollers. After reading the posts, I do think it would be a good idea to rent a stroller for Epcot. We can also use the stroller to hold all of our stuff.

Sounds like people are taking advantage of early entry so I will attempt to be there about 1 hr. before the stated opening. Maybe we can get to the really popular rides before the parks get too crowded. I do so want to be relaxed but I've been to Disney enough to know that this is not a "truly" relaxing vacation.

I'm now thinking that I may need a stroller at MK, but I do realize that once we get one, she will be spoiled to having it. Oh well, I'll play it by ear.

Thanks again...