I had to be in Orlando for work, and seeing my wife and I are thinking of bringing our 4 year old daughter to Disney, I got there a day early to take a quick check of the park. I was interested in checking out the "scary" rides to see how scary they were and do rides we won't do together.
I first went to check out the Contemporary. I couldn't believe how close it is to the park - Space Mountain is literally at the edge of the North Wing's parking lot. The MK side of the contemporary has great views from all floors. Chef Mickey's and the Concourse Lounge are huge and look great, and the shops have all the necesseties (autograph books and pens, 100 years of Magic pins and squirt bottles with fans).
When I got into the park, I first checked out all the shops on Main St. I believe it's "Le Chapeau" that has a Mickey Mouse ear hat that you can have your name embroidered on for only $6.00 - pretty good deal.
I then checked out the rides, starting in Adventureland. Looking at the rides through my 4 year olds eyes, this is what I came up with. The Tiki room is kind of scary - in the middle of the show there is loud thunder and a Tiki god that rises in the middle of the room in the dark with glowing eyes. Not sure if we'll do this. Pirates of the Caribbean is definitely out - ride is spooky and even waiting in line has some things that were scaring kids. The rest of Adventureland is a go.
Frontierland - I like Thunder Mountain (she won't), and I'd love to put her on Splash Mountain because of the Brer Rabbit tale they tell - this will be Mom's call. The Country Bear Jamboree is a definite.
At Liberty Square I did the Hall of Presidents - I thought it was great, but will put her to sleep. The Steamboart ride is a definite. The Haunted Mansion is too scary. Although the part where you look in the mirror and see a ghost with you would be neat, the rest of the ride would not go well.
In Fantasyland, Peter Pan will be big, as well Small World, Dumbo, Ariel's Grotto, and Cinderella's Carousel. Snow White's Scary Adeventure is scary - the Queen as the old peddler woman is large and has scary eyes. I'd probably say no - but when she sees Snow White it'll be tough to keep her away. Pooh's ride is great, and she'll also like the Mad Hatter's Teacups.
Toontown is neat, and she'll enjoy that. The rollercoaster may be too much for her, which is too bad because it's so clever.
In Tommorrowland, Buzz Lightyear is very clever and colorful - should be a hit. The racetrack and Tommorowland Transit Authority will be good as well. I tried Alien Encounter and was disappointed - not as scary or thrilling as I expected. Space Mountain is great.
There were 2 resaturants that stood out to me as they had great views of Cinderella's castle and the center of the hub - Cosmic Ray's and I believe it's called the Terrace restuarant - both in Tommorowland.
I left around 7:00pm, and took the monorail back to the Contemporary - just to look at it again. I noticed that by the time the hotel monorail got there, there had bee 3 monorail trams to the transporation ceneter.
At about 7:30 in the Contemporary, Chef Mickey's and the Concourse had plenty of space available, and the Concourse in general had a light crowd.
I have a few closing thoughts on my day there. First, the food seemed reasonably priced for a park. Secondly, just the number of shops in the park amazed me. We'll have to bring LOTS of souvenir money - the stores are themed great and really draw you in.
Lastly was the fact, an obvious one, that this is an amusement park. We've brought my daughter to other amusement parks for a day, and at a certain point I always get a feeling that enough is enough, and I got that feeling here as well. I'm glad I came to the park to find this out, because looking at all the planning literature and websites, I really didn't think I would get that feeling. Originally we thought we'd have to spend a full week and go to the parks everyday to get the full experience. I now think differently. Ideally I'd like to spend 5 days there. 1 day at the MK and 1 at Animal Kingdom, then a day off - for swimming or shopping at Downtown Disney. Then a day at MGM and one more at MK. We'd have to break up the days with a mid-day rest at the hotel to keep everyone fresh and entertained.
Disney World is a neat place, and I'm sure will bring my daughter a lot of lasting memories.
I first went to check out the Contemporary. I couldn't believe how close it is to the park - Space Mountain is literally at the edge of the North Wing's parking lot. The MK side of the contemporary has great views from all floors. Chef Mickey's and the Concourse Lounge are huge and look great, and the shops have all the necesseties (autograph books and pens, 100 years of Magic pins and squirt bottles with fans).
When I got into the park, I first checked out all the shops on Main St. I believe it's "Le Chapeau" that has a Mickey Mouse ear hat that you can have your name embroidered on for only $6.00 - pretty good deal.
I then checked out the rides, starting in Adventureland. Looking at the rides through my 4 year olds eyes, this is what I came up with. The Tiki room is kind of scary - in the middle of the show there is loud thunder and a Tiki god that rises in the middle of the room in the dark with glowing eyes. Not sure if we'll do this. Pirates of the Caribbean is definitely out - ride is spooky and even waiting in line has some things that were scaring kids. The rest of Adventureland is a go.
Frontierland - I like Thunder Mountain (she won't), and I'd love to put her on Splash Mountain because of the Brer Rabbit tale they tell - this will be Mom's call. The Country Bear Jamboree is a definite.
At Liberty Square I did the Hall of Presidents - I thought it was great, but will put her to sleep. The Steamboart ride is a definite. The Haunted Mansion is too scary. Although the part where you look in the mirror and see a ghost with you would be neat, the rest of the ride would not go well.
In Fantasyland, Peter Pan will be big, as well Small World, Dumbo, Ariel's Grotto, and Cinderella's Carousel. Snow White's Scary Adeventure is scary - the Queen as the old peddler woman is large and has scary eyes. I'd probably say no - but when she sees Snow White it'll be tough to keep her away. Pooh's ride is great, and she'll also like the Mad Hatter's Teacups.
Toontown is neat, and she'll enjoy that. The rollercoaster may be too much for her, which is too bad because it's so clever.
In Tommorrowland, Buzz Lightyear is very clever and colorful - should be a hit. The racetrack and Tommorowland Transit Authority will be good as well. I tried Alien Encounter and was disappointed - not as scary or thrilling as I expected. Space Mountain is great.
There were 2 resaturants that stood out to me as they had great views of Cinderella's castle and the center of the hub - Cosmic Ray's and I believe it's called the Terrace restuarant - both in Tommorowland.
I left around 7:00pm, and took the monorail back to the Contemporary - just to look at it again. I noticed that by the time the hotel monorail got there, there had bee 3 monorail trams to the transporation ceneter.
At about 7:30 in the Contemporary, Chef Mickey's and the Concourse had plenty of space available, and the Concourse in general had a light crowd.
I have a few closing thoughts on my day there. First, the food seemed reasonably priced for a park. Secondly, just the number of shops in the park amazed me. We'll have to bring LOTS of souvenir money - the stores are themed great and really draw you in.
Lastly was the fact, an obvious one, that this is an amusement park. We've brought my daughter to other amusement parks for a day, and at a certain point I always get a feeling that enough is enough, and I got that feeling here as well. I'm glad I came to the park to find this out, because looking at all the planning literature and websites, I really didn't think I would get that feeling. Originally we thought we'd have to spend a full week and go to the parks everyday to get the full experience. I now think differently. Ideally I'd like to spend 5 days there. 1 day at the MK and 1 at Animal Kingdom, then a day off - for swimming or shopping at Downtown Disney. Then a day at MGM and one more at MK. We'd have to break up the days with a mid-day rest at the hotel to keep everyone fresh and entertained.
Disney World is a neat place, and I'm sure will bring my daughter a lot of lasting memories.
