One kid too many for rides?!!

[daffodil1979]

Hi,
I've found this forum to be full of fantastic information to help us with our trip to WDW next year!

There will be myself and my husband travelling with our three kids aged 7, 4, and 1. We are expecting to spend most of our two week trip in Magic Kingdom! I am starting to worry now that a lot of the rides are two seaters meaning that our 7 year old would have to ride alone while myself and my husband ride with the younger two. I really wouldnt be happy about this and can see us ending up taking it in turns to ride which kind of spoils the whole family thing.

Can anyone tell me if a lot of the rides are two seaters, specifically the rides suitable for small kids which our one year old can ride on? I'm very grateful for any advice.

 

[figment3258]

Well a lot of rides will let your 1 year old sit on you lap so then you will be able to sit tow and two. What we normally do is each take on kid and sit front and back it works our nicely. You may have room to put you 1 year old down on the seats too two young kids don't take up a lot of room.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I really don't think this will be much of a problem. We had 3 kids up until 2 years ago (and are still uneven with 5 kids now), and most of the rides at Disney allow even 3 people in a vehicle. The seats are usually bench seats, not individual seats, so 3 can easily fit. I don't remember this being an issue at all when we traveled with 3 your children's ages.

 

[diamondpixienc]

The OP asked a great ques. This may be a dumb one but if all else fail, is the rider switch avail on all attractions or just more of the extreme ones like (Splash & Space Mountain)

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

I will weigh in on the rider switch - it is generally only available at rides with height restrictions where the younger children CANNOT ride - that is, even if you have a child afraid to go on Haunted Mansion, they don't do rider switch there because the child CAN go on it, just doesn't want to. Does that make sense? Of course, it never hurts to ask, but the general answer is going to be no.

 

[Manda]

On almost every ride, you can sit 3 across as long as the three of you fit - which, with 2 kids plus one adult, you likely will. We traveled as two adults and one toddler/preschooler and rode 3 across on almost everything. We didn't fit on Astro Orbiter, but with one adult and two kids, you probably will. I can't think of any other obvious exceptions right now. (At least not ones that your littlest ones could ride anyway). I don't know if you can sit 3 across on Pooh, but since it's a 4 person car, I'd probably put the 7 and 4 year old in the front seat, you and baby behind, and let the other adult fend for himself. Barnstormer is only two across as well.

 

[crisi]

A lot of attractions will fit three across. Particularly the ones the one year old can ride.

In some cases, seating is designed for four - in which case break out three and two rather than four and one.

A few places are two across and designed that way - but they tend to be things like bigger coasters, you con't be taking a one year old on them anyway.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

As the PPs have said, you should be fine on most of the rides you'd all go on anyway. On Pooh, you can fit five in one hunnypot - 3 in one row and two in the other. For Peter Pan, you'll need two ships - a group of three and a group of two. Same with Dumbo. You'll all fit in one row on IASW. Most of the rides without height restrictions have seats where you could squeeze your youngest next to you or they have bench seats.

 

[DVCLiz]

daffodil, even with three small kids, there's no way you can find enough to do in the Magic Kingdom to spend two weeks there!!!

Where are you staying? Are you planning to visit for only a few hours each day? Go back to the room for afternoon naps and pool time?

I just don't want you to get there and after two days look at each other and say, "Now what?" as you ride It's a Small World for the third time...

 

[tzolkin]

We are also a family of 5. We were able to fit 3 & 2 or all 5 in one row on nearly every ride.

The only two attractions I can think of that really only fit 2 are Expedition Everest and Rockn'Rollercoaster. In our family, we only have one child tall enough to ride them, so she goes with one parent while the other waits with the little ones and then we switch.

Buzz and Toy Story Mania can fit three across, but there are only two guns to play. The parent sitting with the youngest/baby just shared.


Oh, also the Goofy Barnstormer. Our oldest child rode in a seat by herself between my husband's row and my row. For us, this is not a ride anyone particularly enjoys, so we really could skip it.

 

[daffodil1979]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess its not something thats going to be a problem after all which is fantastic. One less thing to worry about!

We will be visiting all 4 parks over our two week stay but I'm guessing that with the kid's ages we'll be spending lots of time in Magic Kingdom! We don't have our hotel booked yet. We're deciding between the Pop Century and Wilderness Lodge, about 2000 dollars in the price difference. Can't decide whether it would be worth it to be so much closer to Magic Kingdom! I'll switch to worrying about that now instead!