Our first trip with our daughter. Suggestions!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Our DD is two now (Monday is her 2nd B-day to be exact) my DW and I just returned from our trip to WDW by ourselves, DD stayed w/ granny. We are thinking about a fall 2007 trip w/ our dd, we can't wait to take her! I only wish we could go sooner. She will be three then, almost four. Tell me about your experiences with your 3 or 4 year olds. We are thinking about 4 or 5 nights, what value or mod. resort is best for a toddler? Should we bother taking her to Epcot? Do you bring or rent a stroller? I have tons of questions.

 

[mommystieg]

DD#2 has been visiting WDW since she was 2 and DD#3 made her first visit last June when she was 7 months old. We stayed in a moderate (POR) our first visit and now own DVC. If I had to choose between a moderate and an All Star, I would definitely choose the moderate. We found the All Stars to be a little more "lively" -- but that's just us. We bring our own stroller--we find it a lot easier than renting; especially when leaving the parks - after a long day at the parks, who really has the strength to carry an exhausted toddler? Our kids love Epcot -- there really is a lot to see and do besides rides. DD#2 enjoyed The Living Seas, the Imagination pavilion, Living with the Land and just walking around. There used to be a great list of things to do with kids at Epcot on here somewhere but I can't find it now. IMHO, the least toddler-friendly park is MGM -- with the exception of Playhouse Disney Live there isn't much our DD could do (Ursula in The Voyage of the Little Mermaid scared her when she was three and we haven't been able to convince her to go back)
To help prepare her for meeting the characters we bought the Disney sing a long videos (I recently found these on DVD at Babies R Us). These sing a longs show the characters interacting with kids and they provide a great between trips Disney fix for Mom and Dad. We have:
Disneyland Fun
Beach Party at Walt Disney World
Camp Out at Walt Disney World
Flik's Musical Adventure at Disney's Animal Kingdom
She also enjoyed watching the vacation planning video. At first, she was shy around the characters but was soon chasing after autographs like her big sister. Happy planning!!

 

[susykt4]

We just got back from our trip with DD5 and DS3. We stayed at Pop Century and the kids (and adults) absolutely loved it! We stayed at POR last year when the kids were 4 and 2 and while it was wonderful, it was so huge we had to use strollers to get the kids around the resort. We also liked that Pop had only one bus stop compared to the 5 at Port Orleans. Pop had a great kiddie pool with fountains as well as a pop jet fountain. The Pop food court seemed more kid friendly and had frozen coke on the drink bar.

My kids are crazy about Epcot. DS3 especially enjoyed The Living Seas, that jumping fountain outside the Imagination building, the Imagination "playground" and Living With the Land. He liked Soarin' ok (DD's favorite) and did fine with Universe of Energy and Spaceship Earth. We met TONS of characters at Epcot this trip, especially in World Showcase. Both kids loved making the Kidcot masks in WS.

I agree with the previous poster about MGM being the least kid friendly. We went there mostly to meet the characters. They liked Playhouse Disney and the Muppet 3D movie and absolutely loved the Honey, I shrunk playground, but didn't enjoy Little Mermaid or The Great Movie Ride. DH loved the new stunt show but the kids could have happily skipped it.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

 

[nickelsfamily]

we took our DS for his first trip on his 3rd birthday. We stayed 2 nights and 3 days....we weren't sure how he wold handle it so we figured a shorter trip for the first visit. We stayed at Pop and we all loved it. I was pregnant at the time, so we all loved the kiddie pool/fountan area. The pool is not heated so the shallow water in the kiddie pool was nice and warm!
We only went to MK and he loved it so much!
We went back last week for a long weekend again this time with DS5 and DS11mos! We stayed at ASMUSIC, it was nice but we like POP better.
We are all going back in March for 5 days....all the parks! Staying at POP and are so excited.
We like to bring our own stroller much easier IMO, no so bulky. I also brought my carrier and we used that too and it was a big help for when he got restless in the stroller.
Julie

 

[hannahsmomma]

we took dd when she had just turned 4. We stayed at POR and loved it! We did all the parks and typhoon lagoon, which was her favorite part of the whole trip. She loved Playhouse Disney and the Beauty and the Beast show at MGM. We did CRT and and the princess breakfast at Norway in Epcot. She loved them both. She really liked the Lion King show at AK. We were there for 7 days, but could have stayed longer. She held up better than I did, found out when we got home I was pregnant with ds. We rented a double stroller for her and for all of our stuff. Worked out great. Didn't have to worry about keeping up with one on the buses and stuff. Though when we go in April with DS 1 we will take our own, but I think at 3 and 4 the park ones work great.