Play areas for little ones in Magic Kingdom and Epcot?

lacroix

Earning My Ears
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
5
Howdy all. I get the feeling that my 4-year-old will enjoy taking a break from the rides and waiting in lines by just doing some free-form playing and climbing etc in some "play areas" or playground-type areas.

Any recommendations? I'm kind of a newbie, only been to WDW once.

For example, last year I recall stumbling on a run-of-the-mill playground area in Epcot and my daughter was happy as a clam there for a little while.

Thanks!
 
In Magic Kingdom there is a little play area under the bridge by splash mountain if you are headed to where Woody and Jessie do their meet and greet. It's shaded and has a little playhouse. It is small but my kids liked resting there a bit.
 
In EPCOT there's one between The Land area and World Showcase, if I recall correctly it's Monster's Inc themed. If you're there during flower and garden there's often an extra playground or two setup near the world as well.
 

MK:
- Great one is inside Dumbo. Last couple years have yet to see it so crowded you can't go in and play for awhile.
- You could get in the line for Winnie the Pooh and at the beginning is a nice play area. You don't have to go any further, just play the interactive items.
It has the bump out so guests going on ride will just go past you.
- Splash Mountain playground under the train station.
- Dumbo WATER playground in Storybook but I have seen n cooler days the water is not running.

EP:
- If you are going during Flower & Garden then they will probably have the playground built for that with a new theme every so often.
It is not open any other time. It's usually a wall of planters blocking the area.
- While not a playground, the Imagination Pavilion has the interaction play area inside.
- While not playing it is fun to watch and move around the Train Garden in Germany.
 
In EPCOT there's one between The Land area and World Showcase, if I recall correctly it's Monster's Inc themed. If you're there during flower and garden there's often an extra playground or two setup near the world as well.

That sounds neat! I wonder if it's permanent or something they had setup temporarily. Is it the one pictured here?
 
MK:
- Great one is inside Dumbo. Last couple years have yet to see it so crowded you can't go in and play for awhile.
- You could get in the line for Winnie the Pooh and at the beginning is a nice play area. You don't have to go any further, just play the interactive items.
It has the bump out so guests going on ride will just go past you.
- Splash Mountain playground under the train station.
- Dumbo WATER playground in Storybook but I have seen n cooler days the water is not running.

EP:
- If you are going during Flower & Garden then they will probably have the playground built for that with a new theme every so often.
It is not open any other time. It's usually a wall of planters blocking the area.
- While not a playground, the Imagination Pavilion has the interaction play area inside.
- While not playing it is fun to watch and move around the Train Garden in Germany.
This is all very helpful. So many ideas. Thanks!
 
/
My just-turned-4 year old had a blast at:

*Mission: Space playground (go in the gift shop to the exit of the ride, there are video games and a playground in there). I thought I would need to deploy snacks and iPhones while the adults rode test track and mission space, but she played "spaceship" in that playground the entire time.

*AK's Boneyard. Not sure if you're going there, but the Boneyard was her absolute favorite - she could have played there for ages.

*MK - Dumbo play area. Again, she could have spent hours there. And it's air conditioned (yay).

*MK - Tom Sawyer Island. Not really a playground, but definitely an awesome spot to run off some preschooler steam.

*Fountains, trees, random statues, whatever - if she had energy, she would run circles around it. (DHS's muppet fountain was her playground for about twenty minutes).

*Don't forget live shows with music for dancing or just jumping - definitely a good chance to get moving. MK's Move It Shake It dance party was something I had never even had on my list of things to see, but she (and her baby brother) LOVED that show and it definitely got some of the wiggles out.

You will stumble across so many things for them to do - have fun!
 
I agree with Mission Space it's a great one. I would add the exit area of test track, lots to do there. Also the aquarium might be of interest.
 
My 2yo could have stayed all day in the area at the end of test track. He loved sitting in and "driving" all of the cars.
 
There's also a play area at the end of the Imagination Ride at Epcot that I haven't seen mentioned.

The new Hub at MK seems to have a lot more space for running and playing, too that's kind of out of the way (haven't used it, but it seems that way, so it's possible I'm wrong).
 
In addition to the ones mentioned above:
Epcot: Play area/aquarium by Nemo/Turtle Talk
Although not a playground, the twinkling sidewalks at night in Futureworld held my 3 and 5 year old's interest for a long time!
 
We actually had to make a special trip back over to Dumbo for my 5 year old to use the play area. We didn't even want to ride, she just wanted to play on the stuff!
 
Our kids loved the "mister" stations. One by Space Mountain in MK and one by Test Track in Epcot. They could have ran back and forth through the mist for hours
 
At AK, you can also take the train ride over to Rafiki's Planet Watch/Conservation Station. There is probably what is the world's cleanest petting zoo, where you can pet and brush the goats. Lots of room to run around there, and space to explore in the building.
 
In addition to the ones already mentioned, there is a maze in the UK pavilion that my daughter loved running around. I would also suggest doing the whole Duffy thing at Epcot with your daughter. My daughter is 4 and started doing it at 2. She loves it - it really makes going through the countries more fun for the kids.
 

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