Movies to watch?

[TulipsNZ]

I know knowledge of some movies will make many of the rides much more memorable for my kids, we go in Sept so may not have time to fit in watching all the 'classics, best ride matches' so what would you prioritise?

 

[WTFetus]

Little Mermaid
Peter Pan
Toy Story 2
Cars

are the ones that come to mind.

 

[Dot2Vegas]

Alice in Wonderland (original)
Peter Pan
The Little Mermaid
Pinocchio
Snow White
Sleeping Beauty
Toy Story
Monsters Inc and Monsters University if you are going to DCA
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion (you can totally skip this one and be fine! My kids happen to n love it)
Mary Poppins
Mr. Toads Wild Ride (again fine to skip- not a great movie!)
Sword in the Stone

 

[Dot2Vegas]

I forgot to add that Cars is a must if doing DCA.

 

[BirdsSingWords]

Don't forget Dumbo!

 

[Melgar541]

Star Wars (the original).

While I don't consider this a Disney movie it is possibly my favorite movie (I was 9 when it was released) and this spring before we went to DL we were showing our kids all the classics (like those listed above). With one week to go I suddenly realized...DD8 and DS 3 had never seen Star Wars! They both loved it and it made Jedi Academy and Star Tours hits that they likely would not have understood or enjoyed nearly as much.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Here's another thread with a similar topic:

List of movies for a 3-yo before going to DL

We discussed it as our "Thread of the Week" on the 06/05/14 DIS Unplugged: Disneyland Edition podcast.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I'd prioritize with movies attached to rides and movies with your kids' (or your!) favorite characters (due to the meet-n-greet opportunities in the parks), with Cars at the top of the list because of Cars Land.

 

[lalasmama]

I didn't catch the ages of your children, but these are my movie recommendations, depending on age:

Disneyland:
Toy Story (ride: AstroBlasters)
Disney Sing-A-Long Songs: Disneyland Fun (rides shown in movie: Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Dumbo, King Arthur's Carrousel, Mark Twain sternwheeler, and others!)
Sleeping Beauty (that's *her* castle at the end of Main Street!)
Peter Pan (ride in Fantasy Land)
Snow White

Disney California Adventure:
A Bug's Life (a whole land!)
The Little Mermaid (two rides in Paradise Pier)
Cars (a whole land!)
Toy Story (again, for Toy Story Midway Mania)
Any other Pixar movies

For the record, my DD had only seen 2-3 movies when we took her DLR for her 8th birthday, and she still loved every thing about DLR It was shortly after her first trip that we found the Disney Sing-A-Long Songs Disneyland Fun DVD, and it's now a weekly rotation because it reminds us of all our fun trips.

 

[MouseEXP]

This is not a movie recommendation, but what about Disneylands 1955 opening Day special.

You can find it on Youtube easily.

I also find that attraction videos can give kids an idea what to expect when they get on the actual attraction.

 

[superlarz]

Peter Pan
Toy Story
Cars
Sleepy Beauty
Pinocchio
Dumbo
A Wind in the Williows (Mr Toad - its on netflix)
A Bugs Life

 

[pwillunlv]

This topic deserves more attention. Our last trip was in May and just two weeks after, my DD2 fell in love with Cars. I felt bad for not thinking of this issue ahead of time. LM was favorite movie at the time and LM was definitely her favorite attraction.

In fact, I've already started preparing her for our next trip with Toy Story and Sleeping Beauty. As suggested in one of the posts on Tom's link, I've also watched some of the Disneyland sing-a-long videos and ride videos--both available on youtube. I am hoping watching video of certain rides makes it less likely that she will be scared by POTC or HM.

Here is my rank-order for a three-year old at DLR:

1. The Fab Five (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, etc. Nothing is more important to a young kid visiting Disneyland than the Fab Five in my opinion. Also, sorry Daisy, the Fab Five sounds much cooler than the Super Six.

2. Cars - for Cars Land obviously (my second favorite land behind NOS).

3. Sleeping Beauty - for the Castle and Fantasmic!

4. Toy Story - two great attractions and some very popular characters.

5. Pinocchio - Pinocchio's Daring Journey, but most importantly, when you wish upon a star.

6. A Bug's Life - for a Bug's Land, lower than others because, even though its a land devoted to young kids, kind of lacks magic imho.

After that, not many movies get you more than one attraction.

 

[TulipsNZ]

I forgot to add my kids ages they are 6 & 8 year old boysbut this has been very helpful, I have never been so don't know the rides so didn't know what movies related to what. Coming all the way from NZ it is unlikely we will get back for a long time.
We watched who framed Roger Rabbit on the weekend, the kids loved it and then we watched the ride YouTube vid.

 

[TulipsNZ]

They have watched all the Star Wars movies they feel they are very imaginary, Indiana Jones seems a little more 'real' I wonder if they would cope with that?

 

[BirdsSingWords]

4. Dumbo - Dumbo, Casey Jr., and, most importantly, when you wish upon a star.

"When You Wish Upon a Star" is from Pinocchio. Jiminy Cricket sings it.

 

[pwillunlv]

"When You Wish Upon a Star" is from Pinocchio. Jiminy Cricket sings it.

Wow, that was a pretty epic brain collapse! By no means am I a true disneyphile when it comes to the films, but that's a bad mix-up, lol! Just fixed my list accordingly. Also, need to see if I can find an affordable copy of Pinocchio for our next trip!