Please list your "can't miss" things for a 3 and 5 year old

[tommygunn]

I'm a disney fanatic, have been many times. But would be interested in seeing what everyone thinks are the absolutely must do's for my 3 year old boy and 5 year old girl. Please don't be shy! This can be any attraction or even a little thing like a certain shop in a hotel or a certain restaurant. What's your fave????

Thanks,

Tommy

 

[EeyoreFan1]

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh
Dumbo
Philarmagic (If they like 3D)

 

[vicki845]

My 3 and 6 yr old love Playhouse Disney at MGM and all the rides at fantansyland. Oh Toontown, Mickey and Minnie's house and of course seeing all the characters and getting their autographs.

 

[IluvDonald!]

I would HIGHLY recommend a character meal! To me, character meals are a MUST every trip.

Have fun!

 

[nhpgator]

here's the things my 4 year old complains if we don't do
at WDW
Buzz, Space Mtn, HM, Splash Mtn, Big Thunder, Goofy's Roller Coaster, POTC,
at EPCOT,
Soaring, Figment ride, ride the boats,
at AK
Everest, the train to the animals (as an aside -the only ride that has ever scared her is dinosaur)
at MGM
it used to be Playhouse Disney, but now it is Tower of Terror
at the resort
swim in the pool at whatever resort we are at and we have to ride the bus from the resort - that may be her favorite ride!

things she really likes to do but
character meal, autographs, trade pins, drive the monorail, get popcorn and ride the TTA

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Do not forget the show in front of the castle- done several times daily! No better way for your little ones to see tons of characters without waiting forever! I think it is a much better option than camping out for an hour in the hot sun to see the 3pm parade!

 

[kimkarli]

Turtle Talk with Crush in Epcot
Playhouse Disney -MGM
Voyage of the Little Mermaid-MGM
Beauty and the Beast-MGM
All of Fantasy Land-MK

 

[Kae]

Don't forget TTA in Tomorrowland when my kids were little they thought it was so cool to ride thru Space Mtn & Buzz.

Kae

 

[yxe dad]

Nemo the Musical at AK

 

[vickiea]

subscribing - my kids are the exact same age, and we leave in 26 days

 

[Ellasgirls]

Early Magic Hours for Little Ones and make sure you get them there for the rope drop that day because our 2 kids (7 & 4) got to throw mouse ear confetti as they counted down over all the speakers. They were both amazed when they got back to Fantasy Land and the characters were there to PLAY with them. Our little girl (3 going on 4 the next day!) got to play duck duck goose with Minnie and Daisy and when Minnie picked her they had to waddle around the circle like a duck. They my dd went around saying Duck, Duck, Duck and got to Daisy, stopped, smiled and said "I want to say Goose but your a DUCK!" and picked another little girl! Everyone was laughing! Rides that they loved were:
MK: Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World, Carosel (sp?), Buzz Lightyear (even girls love it), toon town, Philharmagic (4D), basically everything in Fantasy Land!
EPCOT: all the building in the front of the park (innovations), Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, Soarin if they are over 40" it is very fun and worth using the parent swap if one of the kids can get on. They also enjoy doing the kidcot things through Epcot and the countries.
MGM: Playhouse Disney, Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground
AK: Safari, Parade, Dinasaur Dig, Triseratop Spin

Definetly look into the Early Magic Hours for Little Ones at MK...it is an hour before the park opens so for us it opened at 8 am and we got there at 7:30 (I wish we had been sooner because I think the families that got there 1st got to be taken back sooner than us because we at the rope at the 1st rope drop (there are 2) and then you walk back to Cinderellas castle and there is another rope drop and there were already people back there! Good luck and just take your kids lead..they will tell you what they want to do!

 

[Jedi5]

I would HIGHLY recommend a character meal! To me, character meals are a MUST every trip.

Have fun!

This will be my first time at WDW so excuse my ignorance...
How does one sign up for a character meal?

Is there a link with details?

Thanks

 

[Ellasgirls]

I just saw that you are looking for fun eating also.
Any character dinner/lunch/breakfast is fun because you don't wait in lines for them! Non character places that are fun are:
Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Resort (ask for an extra large drink)
50's prime time cafe
Hollywood and Vine for lunch (Playhouse Disney characters are there; however, we went for dinner and got the Fanstasmic VIP seating tickets included in the dinner...it doesn't cost extra and well worth it!). Fanstasmic is absolutely a must for us now! If you don't have the VIP ticket to use (you get to go in the back way and just walk in), we saw the line was all the way back to the big hat at MGM! Granted don't let that make you think you won't get in if the line is that long because it is a HUGE stadium and I think everyone got in that night. It was just nice for us and the kids to be able to just go and find a seat and get a little snack vs standing in another line.

 

[Ellasgirls]

This will be my first time at WDW so excuse my ignorance...
How does one sign up for a character meal?

Is there a link with details?

Thanks

1-407-WDW-DINE to make advanced reservations. Just know the date, time, restaurant and park it is in and they will help you. If you don't know where you want to eat you can talk to them or do some research on the dining boards. When is your trip?

 

[dixipixi]

When he was 4, my son loved anything to do with dinosaurs, so Dinoland at the Animal Kingdom wound up being his favorite spot. He loved the Dinosaur ride...but unless yours really love dinos or thrill rides, I wouldn't recommend it.

Overall, his favorite park was Epcot. Universe of Energy made him very happy with the dinosaurs!!!

I was sure we would spend most of our time at the Magic Kingdom, but that's not how it worked out. He wanted to spend most of his time at Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

Another thing...he loved the hotel pool (we were at Caribbean Beach). We had to spend time there everyday!!!

 

[Jedi5]

1-407-WDW-DINE to make advanced reservations. Just know the date, time, restaurant and park it is in and they will help you. If you don't know where you want to eat you can talk to them or do some research on the dining boards. When is your trip?

My trip is not until January.
That's the one thing I'm that bothers me with.
With a 2 yr old, I'm afraid to make reservations we might not be able to keep
because my son will need to nap, etc...

 

[DisneyBarlans]

MK-all of Fantasyland, Buzz Lightyear, TTA, Goofy's Barnstormer, Mickey & Minnie's House, Pirates of the Carribbean (5 y.o. DS loves this), Aladdin's carpets, Tiki Room, Country Bears, Jungle Cruise, riding the train, meeting the characters, Spectromagic, Wishes, afternoon parade.

Epcot-Nemo ride (DS2's favorite), Turtle Talk, Ellen's Energy Adv., Spaceship Earth, all the interactive fountains, Illuminations.

MGM-Playhouse Disney, Muppet 3D, Lights Motors stunt show, Great Movie Ride, Little Mermaid, B & the Beast, meeting Buzz & Woody, meeting Power Rangers, Seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater, Fantasmic.

AK-Safari, Nemo show, Lion King show, Triceratop spin, Jungle trek, Rafiki's plantet watch, Jammin Jungle parade, dinosaur playground, seeing the characters come by on a boat while eating at Flame Tree.

 

[Ellasgirls]

My trip is not until January.
That's the one thing I'm that bothers me with.
With a 2 yr old, I'm afraid to make reservations we might not be able to keep
because my son will need to nap, etc...

We also have a napper (3) and I made all our reservations for either before naps (around 12:15 so we could go back to the resort after lunch) or a later dinner (6:30ish) so we could get a nap and back to the parks for some fun. It worked out great and I think if you are going in January you won't have any problem getting a time changed that day if you need to. We went when free dining was offered so if you didn't have ressies you were either out of luck OR eating at 9:00 at night.

 

[TylerAggie]

MK-all of Fantasyland, Buzz Lightyear, TTA, Goofy's Barnstormer, Mickey & Minnie's House, Pirates of the Carribbean (5 y.o. DS loves this), Aladdin's carpets, Tiki Room, Country Bears, Jungle Cruise, riding the train, meeting the characters, Spectromagic, Wishes, afternoon parade.

Epcot-Nemo ride (DS2's favorite), Turtle Talk, Ellen's Energy Adv., Spaceship Earth, all the interactive fountains, Illuminations.

MGM-Playhouse Disney, Muppet 3D, Lights Motors stunt show, Great Movie Ride, Little Mermaid, B & the Beast, meeting Buzz & Woody, meeting Power Rangers, Seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater, Fantasmic.

AK-Safari, Nemo show, Lion King show, Triceratop spin, Jungle trek, Rafiki's plantet watch, Jammin Jungle parade, dinosaur playground, seeing the characters come by on a boat while eating at Flame Tree.

We plan on eating lunch at Flame Tree, when do the characters come by on the boat?

 

[nhpgator]

concerning character meals - a tip someone once gave me was to not go at peak meal times - go earliest reservation time or near the end - you supposedly get more time with the characters. We usually choose earliest - just b/c we usually do breakfast - so if we take the earliest - we can usually get in before the park opens and it is neat to see the park with no a lot ofpeople in it...

our other favorite is to skip a real lunch (just snack around) and then do an early dinner at LTT - it's all you can eat, so you fill up, the characters are entertaining and then you're set for the night.

My 4yo really likes the character meals, really beats standing in line for them other places.

I forgot one thing she loves as well in EPCOT - is to do teh kidcot stations in the countries and future world. She has to do them everytime - (I've had to start throwing away passports and masks at this stage!!)