Large group and "scaredy" 5 year old boy- advice needed.

[Jewel3k]

I would start in Fantasyland. Hit up Peter Pan (because a flying boat is awesome, not scary), head to Winnie the Pooh, go drive the cars in Tomorrowland, try The Little Mermaid (if its to scary, then you have a baseline of what to skip), see Enchanted Tales with Belle, ride ITASW, see Philharmonic, eat lunch and then go ride Dumbo and play. See if Barnstormer looks to scary. I'd head to Tomorrowland next. Do Buzz, TTA, Monsters and try and catch the parade. After the parade (in any order) I'd check out Tom Sawyer's Island (a great time for you to take some of the adults on Big Thunder and Splash), the magic carpets, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Tree house and grab a Dole Whip. A nice train ride or a cool down at the Country Bears or Hall of Presidents could be nice. If you want him to meet a character I'd go with Mickey Mouse at the front of the park in the evening. If he is not familiar with any of them, he might not be into meeting them. I'd find out if he likes Santa Clause first though. My youngest, at 6, still wants nothing to do with any character ever, though he was brave at school and touched Santa this year.

 

[tink9702]

I've never met a 5 year old boy that didn't like Tom Sawyer's Island! He will probably like the Speedway too and the train ride. I'd also play up the "this is so much fun" and never ever mention something is scary PERIOD!!!!

 

[Mikie]

At 3 and 5 my son loved Tomorrowland speedway, the Railroad, and thought the monorail was the best ride there! As one prior poster said, the unstructured/non-passive things like Tom Sawyer, Dumbo play area, dancing fountains at Epcot, Agent P Adventure, Kidcot stops were very engaging for him.

Since you go often, you probably won't mind going a slow pace and spending time in these areas; in order to make sure your adult relatives still get a taste of other Disney things (classic rides and attractions too scary for nephew) maybe take turns watching the kiddos in these play areas while adults get to ride a ride.

If you can get them to talk about anything in advance (I found that difficult even with family who loves Disney and just didn't want to plan!) try to find out whether your family likes rides at all, thrill rides, or shows. No matter how "magical" I think shows are, if you've got someone who doesn't like them sitting through several a day, they won't be loving Disney!

With the babies, you may find yourselves using the Baby Care Centers - bring nephew along in there if he's well behaved. ANYONE can get overstimulated at Disney and they're one of the few places where you're not inundated with lights and music. When I was nursing, I was glad myself when it was time for a care center break! It's a peaceful re-set button.

Tip for the very little ones: I found that my kids needed a short "leash" (figurative, not literal!) they could behave through and enjoy a show if they were allowed to move about in our family's 4-foot area, but not if they were expected to be on mom's lap the whole time. They weren't perfectly still but they were content, quiet, not bothering other guests. When my sis-in-law tried to require her 2 year old to sit ON her lap at shows, not stand on a bleacher, or on the floor in front of her, he chafed and screamed and had to be removed from literally EVERY show they tried. Same for waiting in lines. Let your 9 month olds hold on to a rail and stand when possible if they're doing that by then (and douse with hand sanitizer after!)

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

Not referring to him as a "scaredy cat" is probably a good first rule of thumb to follow.

THIS!!!!

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

WHY are you taking them to WDW? Legoland sounds all sorts of perfect for him. I wouldn't waste anyone's time with Disney at this point. Sister doesn't like it, her son doesn't know it...WHY?

This was my primary thought when reading the OPs comments.

If the family is not into Disney, the son does not know anything about the characters and the sister is not into amusements parks, why in the world would you push so hard for them to go? I hope this turns out better in reality than I am thinking it will. Disney is a wonderful place, but if you are not into it, you may as well go to a foreign land.

 

[ttintagel]

The first time I went to WDW I didn't know who most of the characters were, but that didn't affect my enjoyment in the least. They're very appealing to kids in and of themselves. Heck, I had probably only seen a handful of Disney movies, and I still had a blast.

Since your family has been there so many times, and you're going to have time there before this kid and his family arrives, it would probably be a very nice gesture if you or your husband offered to stay with him if there was a ride everyone else wanted to go on except him.

 

[msmama]

You say they don't like amusement parks, probably because they don't like rides, so take the rides off the table. There's TONS of stuff to do at WDW without riding rides. Take the boat to Tom Sawyers Island and explore. Explore the resort. Make a game of finding Hidden Mickey's. Get him a book about WDW secrets and trivia - I bet it'd be right up his alley.
You could spend some time at the Lego store in Downtown Disney, plus the other stores (I have an awesome window shopper so it's something that we always have to do, obviously if a child has a case of the "gimmies" it's probably a bad idea).

You didn't mention Animal Kingdom at all. Sounds like another thing he might like.

The best thing about WDW is that there is something for everyone, so try to find the stuff that fits his personality rather than force him to like what others like. My son and I went to Disneyland last year and we rode maybe 10 rides total in 4 days. Some people would think that was an awful trip, but he loved every minute of it!!

 

[Moonwolf]

Is there a specific reason your sister doesn't like amusement parks? Is she not a fan of the type of rides found in a typical park or is it the long lines that she hates? I don't like going to amusement parks myself because I don't ride big rides. I hate anything that drops significantly so I find myself waiting around a lot while everyone goes on rollercoasters. That being said I've fallen in love with Disney because it's focus isn't on those big thrill rides.

 

[coolbrook]

Please do not pressure him to ride things he in uncomfortable with and never lie to him about what he will experience to trick him into riding.

 

[Kathryn777]

I just wanted to make one other comment. Your sister has raised her child as she sees fit. If she is protective she will not change just for her Disney vacation. Lay out what you'd like to do with her and let her handle her son. We have travelled with my sil who prefers her kids stay off fast rides. The first trip I tried to "help" her see she "needed" to let her kids grow up, that was a disaster. Luckily I got to do it again and we focused on what she wanted her kids to experience, not what I thought they should.

 

[skier_pete]

Every kid is different. Our DD went on Winnie the Pooh @ 3.5 years old and deemed it too scary, and she has never gone on a new ride without a fight since - or at least any ride she can't SEE the whole ride - which at Disney is pretty much everything. We've gradually added to her repertoire and Now she is 12 and says she's going to try Everest and Dinosaur but NOT ToT or RnRC. Eight trips now we've gone where we have to cajole or beg. Meanwhile our friends DD at six would ride EVERYTHING.

My only advice is take it slow. since you have so many infants, you are going to have to trade off on a lot of rides anyways. If he doesn't want to ride something, don't try and force him. Show him other kids coming off the rides. Try the mellower stuff first and see how he reacts, then graduate to bigger stuff if he wants to try it. (We got our DD to try Pirates when she was about 7 only by taking her to the exit and showing her the little kids coming off the ride. Shortly after riding it she declared it her favorite.)

 

[ttintagel]

Every kid is different. Our DD went on Winnie the Pooh @ 3.5 years old and deemed it too scary, and she has never gone on a new ride without a fight since - or at least any ride she can't SEE the whole ride...

Show him other kids coming off the rides. Try the mellower stuff first and see how he reacts, then graduate to bigger stuff if he wants to try it.

That's why I always recommend the Barnstormer as a first WDW coaster for little kids. There's no mystery about it - they can SEE kids their own age enjoying it and not being scared, from beginning to end. Then, if they like it, they'll be more apt to agree to go on BTMRR because you can truthfully tell them it's not much rougher than the Barnstormer.

 

[Ava]

Tip for the very little ones: I found that my kids needed a short "leash" (figurative, not literal!) they could behave through and enjoy a show if they were allowed to move about in our family's 4-foot area, but not if they were expected to be on mom's lap the whole time. They weren't perfectly still but they were content, quiet, not bothering other guests. When my sis-in-law tried to require her 2 year old to sit ON her lap at shows, not stand on a bleacher, or on the floor in front of her, he chafed and screamed and had to be removed from literally EVERY show they tried. Same for waiting in lines. Let your 9 month olds hold on to a rail and stand when possible if they're doing that by then (and douse with hand sanitizer after!)

I second this advice. My younger DD was 16 months old on our trip last year, and there's no way she would have sat still on a lap for an entire show. We'd put our older DD on an end (so she wouldn't complain that her sister was bothering her) and then leave a little space in between my wife and I where younger DD could stand or walk if she wanted to. This worked pretty well to keep her quiet and content. We'd also have some special snacks to bring out during the show if she got fussy.

 

[prudence64]

You might find that your kids are scared of rides at that age too. Pretty normal. At 4 1/2 my daughter hated HM, POTC, and BTR. She liked the parades, meet and greets, non dark rides, shows. It was a different visit at that age than when she was 8 and not scared of anything, but it was a great time.

 

[Raenstoirm]

First I wanted to say I followed some of you other threads and would love to know how some of the things worked out on this trip like restaurants and stuff! I love your attitude your kids are adjusting to your life! Was hoping you would do a TR

Its on the list of things to do. We just got back from WDW and we are heading to the beach for two weeks in two weeks, so I am in the process of literally unpacking stuff just to repack it. We usually go on a cruise and/or disney the last week of april, so we have a bit of a cushion between the spring trip and the summer trip (dh works insane hours so we take at least a week vacation each season Only way to spend any real time together), but the babies were too young this year so the spring trip got pushed into June and the summer trip is always in July. I am scrapbooker, so I need to write up something soon before I start to forget! lol

Is there a specific reason your sister doesn't like amusement parks? Is she not a fan of the type of rides found in a typical park or is it the long lines that she hates? I don't like going to amusement parks myself because I don't ride big rides. I hate anything that drops significantly so I find myself waiting around a lot while everyone goes on rollercoasters. That being said I've fallen in love with Disney because it's focus isn't on those big thrill rides.

Thats exactly her. She will not go on Tot or Everest or rnrc during our trip. But she LOVES water parks. And honestly Disney and Universal, to an extent, are the only places you have passive rides that aren't kiddie, so she can't really understand the difference. In a VERY basic sense, Disney is a water park full of animantronics. Heck half the rides in Mk are boats! lol And who doesnt love the omnimovers? She thinks disney is an expensive six flags. And I have never been to legoland, but based on the website, it seems like a kiddie six flags to me. She has been to legoland in Europe, Six flags, Sesame Place, Dorney Park and Hershey Park. The factory ride in Hershey is the only thing that even remotely seems like disney and she can't remember if she has ever ridden it. (Not that I blame her. Its not exactly an exciting ride, but dh and I drive the two hours to hershey park sometimes just to get a disney "fix" when a trip is too far away, so I know the ride well. lol)

I second this advice. My younger DD was 16 months old on our trip last year, and there's no way she would have sat still on a lap for an entire show. We'd put our older DD on an end (so she wouldn't complain that her sister was bothering her) and then leave a little space in between my wife and I where younger DD could stand or walk if she wanted to. This worked pretty well to keep her quiet and content. We'd also have some special snacks to bring out during the show if she got fussy.

Oh the babies throw a kink in the plans in a big way. Mine will be 9 months and my niece will be 10 months (babies were born 3 weeks apart). My girl twin will probably be walking by then disturbingly, (she is advancing through the milestones FAST). But I doubt my son or my niece will be. My boy might not even be crawling. I plan to let the crawlers burn off a little steam in the "secret" area of inventions that is always empty and I am hoping the stimulation at MK keeps them from wanting to get down, but there is no way to predict what we are getting ourselves into with them until we arrive and see how they handle things. We take the twins out to restaurants at least once a week so at least they are used to being out in public, but my niece barely leaves the house, so she might be in total overload. On the upside with that, they will have spent 4 or 5 days at legoland prior to disney, so she may have adapted to the onslaught of sights and sounds and people or at least the adults will have a found a way to shield her.

 

[caroline1851]

I bet he would enjoy:
Kilamanjaro Safari, the animals
Dumbo, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Pooh, the carousel, tea cups, It's a small world, People mover, buzz
Nemo, Turtle Talk, Spaceship 'earth
Toy Story Mania, Muppets 3d