Need help from a pro! Our 1st trip with 3 year old!

[hoffmann2828]

Okay, we are going July 19-July 25th. The 24th is my daughters 3 year birthday and the last day we are there.

MK is extra magic PM hours that day, so from what I've heard, that will be a really busy day at the park (besides being summer too, lol).

We want to do a character meal for her birthday, so who has the best "birthday" meal? Anyone do anything special for birthday girls? My daughter is very character friendly (we went to a DVC event here in Chicago and met Mickey, Minnie, Tink, Aladdin, and Genie - he freaked her out though!) and loves everyone. She isn't crazy about any one character or princess, etc.

Side note, but on the "free birthday day" for her to get in, is that ONE park only? Or will they let her in free if we hop to another park for dinner, etc?

Any help would be super appreciated - I have 2 days to decide for my ADR window.

Thanks!

Jenny

 

[brendaziz]

Ok, well starting w/ the bday ?- yes that only covers 1 park ticket, but if you already have park tickets bought in a package or something- there are other options for bday things such as a bday fast pass and a gift card in the amount of a tickets cost.

2nd- woohoo on getting to go when she's still free!!! enjoying your last trip w/a 2 year old! I'm jealous!

Last- I think you should def go w/ a character meal for her bday and since she seems to love all characters- I would just go w/ whatever place has a menu that appeals to you most. If you're planning on being in a certain park then just look up every restaurant menu and figure out what u and she would like adn then let the characters fall into place.
I do think Magic Kingdom may be a little overcrowded on that day- but if that's her favorite park and she wants that on her bday then go for it!

If you're looking for a meal IN Magic Kingdom- For a girl that age i'd go w/ either Cinderella's royal table or Crystal Palace. Well - mostly cuz those are hte only character ones really there!
If you're looking at a resort- Ohana or Cape May would be great.

 

[Faldred]

The free birthday ticket is a one-day, one-park ticket, so no hopping.

There's more variety in character meals for breakfast than for dinner (and even fewer for lunch), but there are still options, of course. Do you have a time of day preference? Or a specific park you want to visit that day (doesn't sound like you're "sold" on MK...)?

You also aren't limited entirely to the parks. 1900 Park Fare has dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother, and the wicked stepmother/stepsisters. There are characters nightly at the Swan & Dolphin resort as well.

 

[hoffmann2828]

Thanks for the help so far. I should also mention we will have a car and that I really want her to have a birthday cake (even if I have to pay for a nice one). We have been hyping Disney and her birthday and everytime we mention one or the other says "Birthday Candles" so we can't disappoint!

Jenny

 

[Mom2JPL]

We've celebrated two of our kids birthdays at WDW; we were there this past Nov for 1st dd's 5th b'day, and Oct of 2008 for 2nd dd's 1st b'day. We celebrated at EVERY restaurant we went to! When you make your adr's, tell the CM that you're celebrating a b'day at every meal you book. They will do something special at pretty much every place...maybe pixie dust on the table, or a b'day card signed by the characters, or a cupcake w/a candle at the end of the meal (or all three!).

We received cards and cupcakes at all of these character meals meals:

MK: Crystal Palace (breakfast and lunch, food is good and my kids loved Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet);

Epcot: Akershus was wonderful, saw LOTS of princesses (breakfast and lunch, both meals were great!);

Polynesian: 'Ohana breakfast w/Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto was great;

Grand Floridian: 1900 Park Fare, we celebrated here w/Cinderella, her prince, step-mother and step-sisters, my kids loved it but the food was just ok; interaction was brilliant!;

AK: Donald's Breakfast, we saw Daisy, Donald, Mickey and Goofy; food is excellent!:

Also, don't forget when you're checking into your hotel to tell them when your daughter's b'day is - we did this at OKW last year (they asked us who her favoritre princess was) and when we got back to the room on the day of her b'day they had a birthday card signed by Sleeping Beauty and balloons. It was a great surprise for our daughter (and FREE!).

Oh, and we also dined at CRT for breakfast in November and ordered the glass slipper dessert for our daughter ahead of time (call the cake line) and she was thrilled! And, it was delicious! LOL!

Have fun planning!

 

[skier_pete]

First off, if you have a multi-day (more than 4 day) ticket, it doesn't do you much good to get the free ticket on her birthday. Adding a day at the end of your multi-day only costs like $3. You probably are better off getting the gift card for the equivalent amount, or the free FastPasses. (More info on the birthday rebates are available on the disney website.)

As far as birthday meal, I would do lunch at CRT if you don't mind the expense. Food is just OK, but the experience is wonderful. Don't do dinner though. Dinner doesn't have all the princesses there. I did the birthday slipper for a friend's DD in 2007. It runs about $14, and actually she didn't much like the mousse, *actually she preferred the ice cream that came with her meal. But it was a pretty awesome treat. I think you can pre-order it through the ADR phone #, either that or they will gladly transfer you to the cake hotline. (You can also order all kinds of cakes ranging from about $20 and up to be delivered at any on-site restaurant.)

Alternates I can think of: Crystal Palace has good food, too as well as Pooh and Friends. If you end up not in MK, you could do Chef Mickey's (at the Contemporary) or Akerhaus (at Epcot).

 

[ktlm]

So she's 2 yrs 9 months now? My DD already had definite opinions at that point. You might ask your DD now if she would rather see Pooh, Mickey, or the Princesses on her birthday. If you want to avoid MK, you could do Chef Mickey's or the 1900 Park Fare dinner. Has your daughter seen any of the Cinderella movies yet? Once mine did, she was completely hooked on the characters. We took her for her 1st trip at 2 yrs 10 months last December and for a couple weeks beforehand she kept asking to meet Anastasia and Cinderella. I've heard the 1900 Park Fare dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the stepsisters and stepmother is wonderful. We did not do that one, but we will next time. In MK, the Crystal Palace is a lot of fun. DD loved being in the parade around the restaurant with the characters. I'm sure your DD would probably love the castle (we missed out on that ADR), but I would suggest at her age you do lunch instead of dinner so she could see a variety of princesses. DD loved Akershus and meeting the princesses there, but I don't know if they have anything for a birthday. For dessert, they bring out a plate for the whole table. It includes rice cream, chocolate mousse, and lingonberry tart. It is good and DD ate some of it, but it was nothing a kid would get excited about as a birthday dessert. As great as the place is, because of the dessert I don't think I would pick it for a little one's birthday without confirming they had a cupcake or something special to give her.

 

[ktlm]

Since you are talking about cake, I figured you are probably wanting lunch or dinner, but I should probably add that our worst character meal was the Tusker House breakfast. The food was excellent, but we had very poor character interaction. I think this was probably due to where we were sitting. We were crammed up against the half wall near the restrooms and the other tables were so close to us that the characters could barely get through to see my DD. There was not really even room for her to stand and take pictures with them. None of them gave her much attention because they didn't have any room to bend or get close to her. Also, when they did the restaurant parade, she and another little kid got separated from the pack by people coming back from the buffet and the CMs didn't even notice. My poor DD was wandering around the restaurant trying to find us or see where the parade was while I was trying to get through the crowd and across the restaurant to get to her. People in other areas of the restaurant seemed to be having much better luck than we were. I don't think it was the characters themselves, I think it was just a poor table spacing/crowding issue. I would definitely try it again to see if we had better luck, but I wouldn't pick it for a birthday meal.