Name Your Favorites for a 3 Year Old.

[PatsGirl]

HI everyone! Hoping to take my granddaughter to WDW in October 2026 for her third birthday. My D28 would be joining us, we like to consider ourselves "experienced WDW'ers". There is the potential that her parents and baby brother would join. Anyways....

My proposed itinerary is three park days, AK, HS, and MK., all based on crowds on a given day. We would arrive lunchtime first day, get settled...pool and Chef Mickeys. Day 1 in the parks would be Animal Kingdom, Day 2 Hollywood Studios and Day 3 at MK. Feels weird to do MK on the last day but the crowd level lowers from a 6 to a 4 on that day.

My choices for restaurants (dining plan) are: Night 1: Chef Mickeys, NIght 2 (at AK) Boma, Night 3 (at HS) not using the plan, Night 4 (at MK) Crystal Palace for breakfast and then the morning we leave Ohana for breakfast. Any recommendations are welcome!

My real question is what 2-3 rides and 2 shows/experiences would you recommend in each of the parks for a 3 year old? I understand Bluey is coming to AK so that would be a definite. Pooh is a huge favorite so we'll tackle that at Crystal Palace. Love your input. Thanks!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Does she like thrill or no? I took my daughter for the first time when she was 3 but she wasn't into the "big" rides like barnstormer or slinky at that time. Went with my son at 3 and he loves "big" rides like barnstormer and mine train. You also need to know the height to avoid offering things she can't go on.

 

[Boopuff]

My GS was 4, but he's a big dare devil. His fave thing, monorail! go figure. He loved "mountain of terror" (tower of terror) all the boat rides (small world, pirates, etc) He loved Speedway. It was so much fun watching his reaction to everything. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Peaseblossom36]

We went at 2.5 and with the rides I thought might be a bit "scary" for her we watched youtube video of ride thrus. Her favorites were Winnie the Pooh, Ariel and (of course) Small World. Something I hadn't considered doing but we did because there was no line was the show with Belle. She LOVED it. She was picked to be Chip and my husband was one of the suits of armor, it was really fun.

We did Crystal Palace, and I was kind of disappointed. Pooh actually skipped our table and then never came back around to us. We ended up waiting in line by the ride to meet him.

At Animal Kingdom we got the Wilderness Explorer book and she enjoyed that quite a bit too. The CMs did a great job bringing some of the things down to 2.5 year old level.

A HUGE favorite of hers was actually at Fort Wilderness. We went to see the horse stable and she rode a pony. This is now a running request with our trips and she still talks about it a lot. We've done it both trips now.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mountain moments before midnight with her screaming ‘One More Time Daddy’ all the way.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The character breakfast at Tusker House is really good.

My daughter did not like going to buffets when the kids were too young to get their own food. She preferred regular restaurants where the food was brought to the table.

 

[NickC]

I was kind of surprised what my kids loved at WDW when they were that age. Coloring at the KidCot stations at Epcot was a hit. I don't know why. The next year we did passports in Epcot, which they loved. They liked collecting pressed pennies one year. And pin trading another. Playing in the splash pads. The little playgrounds that they used to have --Honey I Shrunk the Kids and the Boneyard. Drawing class at AK. So, I would say, don't overlook the little things.