hoosll
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2000
- Messages
- 1,506
Travelers:
Me, age 61, retired. I love Disney World as a place where adults can be kids again unless they are traveling with tweens and teenagers who are too embarrassed to be seen with “crazy” parents.
My daughter (DD), age 37. Last trip was as part of a business conference so did not see much.
Darling grandson, age 4 (DGS4), first trip. He is sense-sensitive so he is afraid of loud noises and will usually comment on smells. Not very adventurous but will go with the flow as long as there are no sudden drops, explosions, fireworks, or dirty bathrooms. He likes to wash his hands.
Darling grandson, age 2 (DGS2), first trip. This child is in full “ego gear” -- terrible twos. He is a late bloomer and can be characterized as independent, headstrong, stubborn, defiant… and he hits! When he is having a good time, he’s having a GREAT time. When he’s having a bad time, he’s in meltdown. We would have delayed the trip if we had ANY hope that this phase was going to end before he is emancipated.
Menfolk. Daddy and PawPaw stayed home.
Schedule: April 22-26, 2012: I hoped that the Spring break and Easter crowds would be gone and April would be cooler than May. Well, the crowds were some of the worst I have ever experienced in Magic Kingdom. It looks like the recession is over and people headed to Disney. Many Europeans as the dollar is so weak right now. There were lots of kids who should have been in school. Also, there were many teen groups from band, choral, cheerleading and dance competitions. The jet stream dipped so we had north winds for the first 3 days … definitely didn’t pack enough long pants.
Resort: Wilderness Lodge. This is my favorite resort. First, because I love the boat to Magic Kingdom; also, the resort takes you to another world away from Florida. It feels like a lodge in the woods and there is no view of another hotel or park to remind you that you are in the middle of Disney World. With pre-schoolers I learned that housekeeping will bring you a pack-n-play, bed rails and even a stool so the kids can reach the sink to wash. When you travel with little kids you look at some of the amenities differently – the beds were so high they needed the stool to get on … then you were afraid they would fall off and kill themselves. I’m not sure why they don’t show Disney Junior on the TV, they have all the other Disney channels. We liked the food choices at the quick service Roaring Forks and usually had no trouble getting a table. We had dinner there 3 nights and breakfast most days. As we would spend the most time at Magic Kingdom, it was convenient to stay in one of the close resorts. They now have movies on the beach at night and a campfire for roasting marshmallows. One night DGS4 got to stay up and watch the Electrical Water Parade from the beach. You cannot see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom but you certainly can hear them.
Meals for kids throughout the World are about $5.50 each. Since they are designed for all kids under 9, it seems like a lot of food for our little ones and we wasted a lot of food that they just could not eat. We often split the meal if the kids wanted the same thing but if they wanted different choices then we had a lot of food left to throw away … I hated this!
Touring: We brought a stroller which is a must for DGS2. The mistake we made was that we did not explain to DGS4 that the stroller was a way of improving travel times to the next attraction; he thought his little brother was getting special treatment until we explained that we could only move as fast as the shortest legs. Often, we would park the stroller and then do 2 or 3 rides clustered nearby. We also put the boys in matching shirts so we could track of them easier. It seemed like it took a couple of days for the kids to adjust to the crowds and pace of touring. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon for naps and pool time. It was the last day that we really were able to do more things.
It seemed easy to keep the kids out of the shops at this age; perhaps because you can hustle them along. They did see the pirate swords on the first day and with every little boy having a sword, they wanted one, too. So we declared that our last day would be “sword day” and we would return to the pirate shop for them to pick out a sword …. This kept mayhem limited to the last day and gave us a chance to bargain for other souvenirs …”do you really want THAT more than a SWORD?!?” It seemed ironic that years ago the dropped the pistol from the Jungle Cruise spiel as being “politically incorrect” but you get off the boat and see thousands of little boys brandishing swords.
Magic Kingdom:
Jungle Cruise – Boys loved it
Aladdin carpets – kids wanted to get wet with camel spit
Tiki Room
Pirates of the Caribbean – DGS4 did not like the drop or the cannons firing. DGS2 loved it all
Tea Cups – hands down the kids’ favorite
Carousel
Winnie the Pooh
Mickey’s Philharmagic – My favorite and I loved watching the kids reach out to touch things
Tomorrowland Speedway
People Mover – DGS2 loved it!
Railroad – we did the railroad every chance we got, great way to avoid shops and crowds
Haunted Mansion – DGS4 was a little wary of the storm effects
Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster – DGS2 loved it, DGS4 hated it (too fast)
Buzz Lightyear
It’s a Small World
Country Bear Jamboree
Epcot:
Soaring – DGS4 was tall enough to ride it. He enjoyed it all except the fireworks over Disneyland
Nemo Ride and Aquarium at Living Seas
Crush Talk – Kids loved it!
Hollywood Studios:
Disney Jr Show
Lights, Action Stunt Show – Tech problems delayed and shortened the show but boys loved it
Muppets 3-D
Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground – Wow, kids loved this, it was hard to get them to leave but it is also easy to lose track of your kids in all the tunnels.
Animal Kingdom:
Safari – kids loved it
Jungle trail
Flights of Wonder bird show – kids loved it
Nemo show
Characters: The boys had autograph books but we didn’t put too much time into chasing the characters. We did breakfast with Pooh at Crystal Palace, then saw Phineas and Ferb at Hollywood Studios, lastly we saw Buzz at Tomorrowland. Waiting in lines got to be a drag especially for a 30 second character meet and greet. I got tired of telling the boys not to swing on the ropes, railings and fences which are part of every line, seemed like an accident waiting to happen.
Special Meals:
Breakfast with Winnie & Friends at Crystal Palace – A great buffet meal. It takes about 90 minutes if you want to see Winnie, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger; we saw Eeyore and Piglet up close, danced with Winnie and Tigger then boys were ready to go.
Hoop de Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness – Wonderful chicken and ribs. In spite of a meltdown by DGS2 on the boat to this meal and the resulting spanking delivered on the dock, once we got to the meal and show, the boys were mesmerized. Afterwards, we visited the horses and ponies in their paddock. There is a great playground near the restaurant as well. It is worth the boat ride to the Fort to have some space for little ones to run around.
Best meals:
Crystal Palace breakfast
Hoop de Doo dinner show
Columbia Harbor at Magic Kingdom
Flame Tree BB-Q at Animal Kingdom
Meatball Sub (kid size) at Pizza Planet at Hollywood Studios
Souvenirs: The boys each got
One sword and one hook
One souvenir Magic Kingdom book
One Pez
Three Disney racers – very cute new “matchbox cars” of Disney characters
One stuffed animal – Alien (DGS2) and Dale (DGS4) – most expensive items
Two pressed pennies
One ray gun (DGS4) and one keychain ray gun (DGS2)
One set Mickey ears
One Mickey t-shirt
One pin lariat and pin plus some pins I bought in bulk on eBay
Things I learned on this trip
1. If you know a child is in the throes of the terrible-twos, delay the trip. This phase will pass but memories of a ruined trip may stick around longer. Update: DGS2 came up and told me how much fun he had at Disney World - so sweet.
2. Unfortunately, you will see more of the back of the kids’ heads than the smiles on their faces.
3. Disney sinks are too high for pre-schoolers to use
4. Four days traveling in the car is a LONG time. Add 2+ hours to whatever the GPS says for potty breaks and meals.
5. You WILL pack twice as much stuff as you need, and still not have what you WANT.
6. Invest in inflatable bed rails for the trip down and back so you don’t worry your miniature bedmate will roll over and hit the floor. Sleeping with a pre-schooler is not sleeping.
7. As soon as you get halfway through a line, a child WILL need to go potty.
8. A two-year old is not going to understand the rules of …. Riding on boats, riding on buses, staying in hotels, playing near swimming pools, or standing in lines. The level of supervision that they need is intense, they feel like a prisoner and you feel like an enforcer.
9. A vacation with pre-schoolers is NOT a vacation, it is a death march with some wonderful happy moments thrown in to keep you moving.
10. It will take longer for kids to adjust to a new experience especially if they have nothing to compare it to. These kids had met Red Robin at the restaurant so they were not scared of giant characters. If your child was scared at Red Robin then they will not magically adjust at Disney World.
11. The stroller may seem like a hassle but you can only move as fast as the shortest legs and carrying a struggling child kicking and hitting is a miserable way to walk around the park.
12. Carry 8 oz water bottles and label one for each person. Then buy large bottles of water to refill the smaller bottles. You could refill from water fountains but some people do not like the tap water taste.
Me, age 61, retired. I love Disney World as a place where adults can be kids again unless they are traveling with tweens and teenagers who are too embarrassed to be seen with “crazy” parents.
My daughter (DD), age 37. Last trip was as part of a business conference so did not see much.
Darling grandson, age 4 (DGS4), first trip. He is sense-sensitive so he is afraid of loud noises and will usually comment on smells. Not very adventurous but will go with the flow as long as there are no sudden drops, explosions, fireworks, or dirty bathrooms. He likes to wash his hands.
Darling grandson, age 2 (DGS2), first trip. This child is in full “ego gear” -- terrible twos. He is a late bloomer and can be characterized as independent, headstrong, stubborn, defiant… and he hits! When he is having a good time, he’s having a GREAT time. When he’s having a bad time, he’s in meltdown. We would have delayed the trip if we had ANY hope that this phase was going to end before he is emancipated.
Menfolk. Daddy and PawPaw stayed home.
Schedule: April 22-26, 2012: I hoped that the Spring break and Easter crowds would be gone and April would be cooler than May. Well, the crowds were some of the worst I have ever experienced in Magic Kingdom. It looks like the recession is over and people headed to Disney. Many Europeans as the dollar is so weak right now. There were lots of kids who should have been in school. Also, there were many teen groups from band, choral, cheerleading and dance competitions. The jet stream dipped so we had north winds for the first 3 days … definitely didn’t pack enough long pants.
Resort: Wilderness Lodge. This is my favorite resort. First, because I love the boat to Magic Kingdom; also, the resort takes you to another world away from Florida. It feels like a lodge in the woods and there is no view of another hotel or park to remind you that you are in the middle of Disney World. With pre-schoolers I learned that housekeeping will bring you a pack-n-play, bed rails and even a stool so the kids can reach the sink to wash. When you travel with little kids you look at some of the amenities differently – the beds were so high they needed the stool to get on … then you were afraid they would fall off and kill themselves. I’m not sure why they don’t show Disney Junior on the TV, they have all the other Disney channels. We liked the food choices at the quick service Roaring Forks and usually had no trouble getting a table. We had dinner there 3 nights and breakfast most days. As we would spend the most time at Magic Kingdom, it was convenient to stay in one of the close resorts. They now have movies on the beach at night and a campfire for roasting marshmallows. One night DGS4 got to stay up and watch the Electrical Water Parade from the beach. You cannot see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom but you certainly can hear them.
Meals for kids throughout the World are about $5.50 each. Since they are designed for all kids under 9, it seems like a lot of food for our little ones and we wasted a lot of food that they just could not eat. We often split the meal if the kids wanted the same thing but if they wanted different choices then we had a lot of food left to throw away … I hated this!
Touring: We brought a stroller which is a must for DGS2. The mistake we made was that we did not explain to DGS4 that the stroller was a way of improving travel times to the next attraction; he thought his little brother was getting special treatment until we explained that we could only move as fast as the shortest legs. Often, we would park the stroller and then do 2 or 3 rides clustered nearby. We also put the boys in matching shirts so we could track of them easier. It seemed like it took a couple of days for the kids to adjust to the crowds and pace of touring. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon for naps and pool time. It was the last day that we really were able to do more things.
It seemed easy to keep the kids out of the shops at this age; perhaps because you can hustle them along. They did see the pirate swords on the first day and with every little boy having a sword, they wanted one, too. So we declared that our last day would be “sword day” and we would return to the pirate shop for them to pick out a sword …. This kept mayhem limited to the last day and gave us a chance to bargain for other souvenirs …”do you really want THAT more than a SWORD?!?” It seemed ironic that years ago the dropped the pistol from the Jungle Cruise spiel as being “politically incorrect” but you get off the boat and see thousands of little boys brandishing swords.
Magic Kingdom:
Jungle Cruise – Boys loved it
Aladdin carpets – kids wanted to get wet with camel spit
Tiki Room
Pirates of the Caribbean – DGS4 did not like the drop or the cannons firing. DGS2 loved it all
Tea Cups – hands down the kids’ favorite
Carousel
Winnie the Pooh
Mickey’s Philharmagic – My favorite and I loved watching the kids reach out to touch things
Tomorrowland Speedway
People Mover – DGS2 loved it!
Railroad – we did the railroad every chance we got, great way to avoid shops and crowds
Haunted Mansion – DGS4 was a little wary of the storm effects
Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster – DGS2 loved it, DGS4 hated it (too fast)
Buzz Lightyear
It’s a Small World
Country Bear Jamboree
Epcot:
Soaring – DGS4 was tall enough to ride it. He enjoyed it all except the fireworks over Disneyland
Nemo Ride and Aquarium at Living Seas
Crush Talk – Kids loved it!
Hollywood Studios:
Disney Jr Show
Lights, Action Stunt Show – Tech problems delayed and shortened the show but boys loved it
Muppets 3-D
Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground – Wow, kids loved this, it was hard to get them to leave but it is also easy to lose track of your kids in all the tunnels.
Animal Kingdom:
Safari – kids loved it
Jungle trail
Flights of Wonder bird show – kids loved it
Nemo show
Characters: The boys had autograph books but we didn’t put too much time into chasing the characters. We did breakfast with Pooh at Crystal Palace, then saw Phineas and Ferb at Hollywood Studios, lastly we saw Buzz at Tomorrowland. Waiting in lines got to be a drag especially for a 30 second character meet and greet. I got tired of telling the boys not to swing on the ropes, railings and fences which are part of every line, seemed like an accident waiting to happen.
Special Meals:
Breakfast with Winnie & Friends at Crystal Palace – A great buffet meal. It takes about 90 minutes if you want to see Winnie, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger; we saw Eeyore and Piglet up close, danced with Winnie and Tigger then boys were ready to go.
Hoop de Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness – Wonderful chicken and ribs. In spite of a meltdown by DGS2 on the boat to this meal and the resulting spanking delivered on the dock, once we got to the meal and show, the boys were mesmerized. Afterwards, we visited the horses and ponies in their paddock. There is a great playground near the restaurant as well. It is worth the boat ride to the Fort to have some space for little ones to run around.
Best meals:
Crystal Palace breakfast
Hoop de Doo dinner show
Columbia Harbor at Magic Kingdom
Flame Tree BB-Q at Animal Kingdom
Meatball Sub (kid size) at Pizza Planet at Hollywood Studios
Souvenirs: The boys each got
One sword and one hook
One souvenir Magic Kingdom book
One Pez
Three Disney racers – very cute new “matchbox cars” of Disney characters
One stuffed animal – Alien (DGS2) and Dale (DGS4) – most expensive items
Two pressed pennies
One ray gun (DGS4) and one keychain ray gun (DGS2)
One set Mickey ears
One Mickey t-shirt
One pin lariat and pin plus some pins I bought in bulk on eBay
Things I learned on this trip
1. If you know a child is in the throes of the terrible-twos, delay the trip. This phase will pass but memories of a ruined trip may stick around longer. Update: DGS2 came up and told me how much fun he had at Disney World - so sweet.
2. Unfortunately, you will see more of the back of the kids’ heads than the smiles on their faces.
3. Disney sinks are too high for pre-schoolers to use
4. Four days traveling in the car is a LONG time. Add 2+ hours to whatever the GPS says for potty breaks and meals.
5. You WILL pack twice as much stuff as you need, and still not have what you WANT.
6. Invest in inflatable bed rails for the trip down and back so you don’t worry your miniature bedmate will roll over and hit the floor. Sleeping with a pre-schooler is not sleeping.
7. As soon as you get halfway through a line, a child WILL need to go potty.
8. A two-year old is not going to understand the rules of …. Riding on boats, riding on buses, staying in hotels, playing near swimming pools, or standing in lines. The level of supervision that they need is intense, they feel like a prisoner and you feel like an enforcer.
9. A vacation with pre-schoolers is NOT a vacation, it is a death march with some wonderful happy moments thrown in to keep you moving.
10. It will take longer for kids to adjust to a new experience especially if they have nothing to compare it to. These kids had met Red Robin at the restaurant so they were not scared of giant characters. If your child was scared at Red Robin then they will not magically adjust at Disney World.
11. The stroller may seem like a hassle but you can only move as fast as the shortest legs and carrying a struggling child kicking and hitting is a miserable way to walk around the park.
12. Carry 8 oz water bottles and label one for each person. Then buy large bottles of water to refill the smaller bottles. You could refill from water fountains but some people do not like the tap water taste.
