Quick Questions

[smallsteps]

Oh geez, you all are going to get sick of my silly questions....sorry, I'm a newbie . If you want to skip my rambling, the questions are in bold.

A little back story: we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of which still rest/nap in the afternoons. Since we need a mid-day "breather" (will be walking with the double stroller back to the Hojo), I ultimately decided to do a personalized tour plan (the ones in the unofficial guide were too jammed pack for our unpredictable girls). We will be going at the end of April (the 23rd through the 27th with park passes on the 24th, 25th and 26th). The plan is to do DL the first 2 days and CA on the last day.

I bought a subscription to touring plans so that I can personalize our day. Everything looks good but the wait times seem off (as in too short). I check the crowd levels for those days and they are 7/10. My personalized plan puts wait times at under 10 minutes for each ride, but it's obvious that they will be at least 3 times that length. Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

 

[profa]

I wish I could help but both shows were really good. I think our kids might have enjoyed Fantasmic more?
We did DL, beach, CA, DL on our trip w/ afternoon breaks because dd4 needed rests after those busy days. .
I brought my daughter's dress to wear to breakfast w/ Ariel and she also wore it for the princess faire and that morning.
Oh maybe swimi suits for Splash because you can get pretty wet. Just use a rain poncho from the $$ store or go before your break. That's what we did - rode it right before returning to hotel.
I don't know about Fliks.

 

[DadsRmatt]

Oh geez, you all are going to get sick of my silly questions....sorry, I'm a newbie . If you want to skip my rambling, the questions are in bold.

A little back story: we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of which still rest/nap in the afternoons. Since we need a mid-day "breather" (will be walking with the double stroller back to the Hojo), I ultimately decided to do a personalized tour plan (the ones in the unofficial guide were too jammed pack for our unpredictable girls). We will be going at the end of April (the 23rd through the 27th with park passes on the 24th, 25th and 26th). The plan is to do DL the first 2 days and CA on the last day.

I bought a subscription to touring plans so that I can personalize our day. Everything looks good but the wait times seem off (as in too short). I check the crowd levels for those days and they are 7/10. My personalized plan puts wait times at under 10 minutes for each ride, but it's obvious that they will be at least 3 times that length. Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

Even though both shows are awesome I would definitely, if I HAD to choose, go with fantasmic. I love that show, just awesome, I could watch it over and over. However WOC while awesome I could watch once or twice and be ok....hope this helps

 

[Chuckers]

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Both shows are wonderful, but World of Color is water fountains and videos on 'water screens', where as Fantasmic has a story and LOTS of characters. I think the girls would enjoy Fantasmic more because of all the real moving characters.. however, it might be a bit scary when Mickey fights the BIG dragon. (All is good in the end tho)

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

I think Flik's Fun Fair would be good for the girls... they're Bug's Life themed rides that aren't scary or extremely fast. Perfect for little ones.

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

As for the Princess Outfits, I would definitely bring them if your girls like to dress up. Disneyland is more of a loca'ls park and the young girls dress up a lot.. a lot more than at Disneyworld. The chance of meeting the Princess that your daughter is dressed up as is pretty high and I've been told the little ones get really excited when that happens.

I don't understand the need for swimsuits unless they want to change for the water rides, of which each park only has one, so that seems like a waste of time.

 

[tiggerjay]

Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

From an overall perspective for the entire day they seem rather accurate. There is some variation from day to day, ride to ride, for actual wait times but you will get everything done as long as you factored in the proper amount of breaks in the custom plan.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color?

Considering your daughters ages I would suggest World of Color. They are both excellent shows, but Fantasmic can be a little intense for younger kids, especially those who scare easily.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls? [/B]

My boys love it, even my 6 year old son who loves the roller coasters still enjoys it, especially when introducing his younger 3 year old brother to the rides. Even though they are not very familiar with the movies, they enjoy it.

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

Yes, bring dress up things if they have them. Just remember only kids can dress up in the parks. Also regarding swimming suites, a good idea for the hotel, but not really sure about in the parks. There is a fun water feature in Flick's Fun Faire, but only on a warm day.

Have fun!

 

[starshine514]

A little back story: we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of which still rest/nap in the afternoons. Since we need a mid-day "breather" (will be walking with the double stroller back to the Hojo), I ultimately decided to do a personalized tour plan (the ones in the unofficial guide were too jammed pack for our unpredictable girls). We will be going at the end of April (the 23rd through the 27th with park passes on the 24th, 25th and 26th). The plan is to do DL the first 2 days and CA on the last day.

I bought a subscription to touring plans so that I can personalize our day. Everything looks good but the wait times seem off (as in too short). I check the crowd levels for those days and they are 7/10. My personalized plan puts wait times at under 10 minutes for each ride, but it's obvious that they will be at least 3 times that length. Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

WOC generally runs every night of the week. So, if you switch you CA day to Thursday (I'm guessing you aren't getting hoppers, which is why you have only one park per day), you could probably see both WOC and F! My girls prefer F!, but the dragon part did scare my youngest when she was 2.

I would say that 7/10 is a little high for a Wednesday/Thursday in the shoulder season. We're going the following week and I was thinking that the weekdays would be more like 5's. Some waits will be less than 10 minutes most of the time (unless it is really busy in the parks) - Pinnochio, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Golden Zephyr, Little Mermaid, Monsters, Inc, all of the rides in Bug's Land. So, I wouldn't be surprised if you're seeing a lot of short waits. We also often wait less than 10 minutes for Mater's.

My girls often wear their princess dresses in the park. They wear them the whole day (sometimes switching to something else if we go back to the room for a break and it's going to be cold that evening).

There is a small water play area in Bug's Land. I've never seen kids changing into their swimsuits for it, but that would be the only reason that I could see for swimsuits. In contrast, I often see kids in swimsuits at the water play area at Sea World.

 

[Congo Queen]

I am w/ Tiggerjay on suggesting WOC over F! If your kids do not like the scary parts of kid movies (you know stuff like the witch in Wizard of Oz or the part when Ursula gets mad and becomes huge and tries to drown Erik and in the Little Mermaid), then F! could be too intense. F! has much more of a narrative structure (which is why I personally like it a bit more than WOC), but that just makes it more powerful during its scary parts which include a giant fire breathing dragon. You can find video on both shows on youtube and give them a preview and see what you think as you will of course know your own kids best and what they will enjoy. Have fun!

 

[lana772]

I am w/ Tiggerjay on suggesting WOC over F! If your kids do not like the scary parts of kid movies (you know stuff like the witch in Wizard of Oz or the part when Ursula gets mad and becomes huge and tries to drown Erik and in the Little Mermaid), then F! could be too intense. F! has much more of a narrative structure (which is why I personally like it a bit more than WOC), but that just makes it more powerful during its scary parts which include a giant fire breathing dragon. You can find video on both shows on youtube and give them a preview and see what you think as you will of course know your own kids best and what they will enjoy. Have fun!

I agree with this. It really depends on how your children react to "scary" things. We were watching F! once and a boy around 3 started screaming and crying when then dragon came out. The father was frantically trying to comfort the boy when another man actually told him to quiet down. My husband (a large man) just turned and glared at the man doing the shushing. Not a word more was said from him. When the other father calmed his boy and started squeezing through the crowd, he turned and said thank you to my husband. I guess it was one if those Dad to Dad moments.

Lana

 

[Rubygoose]

I've done both Fantasmic and WOC with little kids. First trip with DS almost 2 and DD4 we did WOC. The older one liked it, but the younger one wasn't too interested, so he sat in the stroller and played with the spinning light up toy that came with the picnic. I was glad he wasn't interested, since my shoulders were getting tired of keeping him up there.

The next year (DS almost 3 and DD5) we saw Fantasmic. We got a table at Riverbelle Terrace about 2 hours before the show, in the off season. It wasn't a great view, but it was good that the kids didn't see everything and get scared. They really liked seeing the boat go by with all of the characters. It was so nice to have a table and chairs to sit on.

My kids liked bugs land. Especially the spray park. We brought swim suits once for the spray park, but there isn't a close by washroom to change them.

We brought DD's princess dress, but she didn't wear it often. I guess it depends on the time of year and the weather. We went during a heat wave in Sept, so DD only wore the princess dress for dinner at Ariel's.

 

[k3chantal]

Oh geez, you all are going to get sick of my silly questions....sorry, I'm a newbie . If you want to skip my rambling, the questions are in bold.

A little back story: we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of which still rest/nap in the afternoons. Since we need a mid-day "breather" (will be walking with the double stroller back to the Hojo), I ultimately decided to do a personalized tour plan (the ones in the unofficial guide were too jammed pack for our unpredictable girls). We will be going at the end of April (the 23rd through the 27th with park passes on the 24th, 25th and 26th). The plan is to do DL the first 2 days and CA on the last day.

I bought a subscription to touring plans so that I can personalize our day. Everything looks good but the wait times seem off (as in too short). I check the crowd levels for those days and they are 7/10. My personalized plan puts wait times at under 10 minutes for each ride, but it's obvious that they will be at least 3 times that length. Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

First of all, how easily do your girls get scared? I would stay away from Fantasmic if they do. It just seems scarier to me. If the fireworks are going I would choose that over both Fantasmic and World of Color. Always makes me tear up.

Bug's Land is one of the most worthwhile places to visit for two young girls. A) they can get on the rides and B) the lines are usually very short; thus working with your 10 minute wait period.

The reason people bring swimming suits is that Bug's Land has some water play areas. Personally, I would never bring my child's swimsuit because we are interested in going on the rides. And we have plenty of opportunities where we live to play in water play areas.
Instead of bringing the girls' princess dresses, I would choose a time to wear them. For instance, we dressed our princess in her dress when we went to Ariel's Grotto and ate with the princesses.

Have fun; don't stress!

 

[lana772]

About the Princess dresses... I agree with the above poster. Definitely pick a day or time for then to wear them. My mother-in-law made a Minnie dress for my DD (then 8) to take for her birthday trip. She wore it the first full day. She actually had one young couple stop her and ask for her autograph. It was sooo sweet! Really made her trip.

Lana

 

[lana772]

Oh... I almost forgot. DON'T have them wear the plastic princess shoes. You will regret that.

Lana

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Oh geez, you all are going to get sick of my silly questions....sorry, I'm a newbie . If you want to skip my rambling, the questions are in bold.

A little back story: we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of which still rest/nap in the afternoons. Since we need a mid-day "breather" (will be walking with the double stroller back to the Hojo), I ultimately decided to do a personalized tour plan (the ones in the unofficial guide were too jammed pack for our unpredictable girls). We will be going at the end of April (the 23rd through the 27th with park passes on the 24th, 25th and 26th). The plan is to do DL the first 2 days and CA on the last day.

I bought a subscription to touring plans so that I can personalize our day. Everything looks good but the wait times seem off (as in too short). I check the crowd levels for those days and they are 7/10. My personalized plan puts wait times at under 10 minutes for each ride, but it's obvious that they will be at least 3 times that length. Has anyone experienced this with the touring plan website? If so, is there a good rule of thumb to make more accurate plans? I ended up making our second day very sparse so we can fill it up with things we missed on the first day.

Next question.....which night show is better: Fantasmic or World of Color? I think the only night they will be showing when we are there is that Friday the 26th. With 2 little ones and 2 parks in question, we will probably only make it to one.

Next, is Fliks Fun Fair in California worthwhile for our two young girls?

Last questions are in regards to bringing things into the park. Should we bring the girls' princess dresses into the parks just in case? I read somewhere that people bring in swimming suits for their children....why? Is it necessary?

Touring plans isn't all that accurate for Disneyland crowd prediction.

WOC, as others have said, is shown nightly. My kids at that age couldn't get a decent view of WOC even if we held them the whole show. My kids like F! but I can see it being scary for some. We let them watch it on youtube ahead of time and discussed the story. Our take on the story is that its about the bad guys trying to give Mickey bad dreams and Mickey has the power to make bad dreams good again. We actually use this for when the kids have nightmares or are scared that they will have nightmares. They have the power to make their dreams good, and we "meet" somewhere fun in our dreams (usually Disneyland and they choose a ride they want to do).

Flik's is an amazing area for kids. It's one of our favorites and we downloaded the background music on our ipod.

My girls will pick a day to wear their dresses, but we usually have shorts and a tank top underneath in case they want to change. We do bring swim suits so they can play in the water area in the Bugs Life area. It's called Princess Dot's Puddle Park. It's right next to the bathrooms and a great place for kids to cool off and have a little run around time.

 

[mrswh]

2 and 4, great ages to visit Disney! Bugs Land is great for those ages, don't miss it!

I wouldn't bring princess dresses into the parks - just let the girls wear them all day. I would not bother bringing a swimsuit but would bring a change of clothes including underwear and socks for both girls. That way if their princess dress gets scratchy, or they spill or get dirty, or get soaked to the bone on GRR or at Bugs Land, they have the option of changing into dry comfortable clothes. It doesn't make sense to me to bring a swimsuit. Then you have to change into it and out of it, and it's not so comfortable to wear a swimsuit on rides. I'd rather just see how wet we get, and change into dry clothes if we need to. Sometimes, when it is hot (and it could be in April) it is nice to be wet for a little while and dry out in the parks. One other thing about getting wet - have them wear or bring crocs or flip flops, because wearing wet sneakers all day is really unpleasant!

WOC is great for kids, but it may be running really late at that time of year. My son (now 6) still hasn't seen the whole show because he always falls asleep in the middle. (We have always gone to the 9pm as that was the earliest offered during our visits.)

Happy planning!

 

[Pesky]

From what I've read, touring plans aren't that accurate. You're better off scouting this board for what to do. For example, Peter Pan and Dumbo first as they tend to develop bad lines. Finding Nemo (if you want to do that) is another slow loader so beware. It's better to go by those kind of things and then play the rest by ear.

I agree with pps that it depends on your girls. I've seen F! but never WOC. F! has the dragon but a ton of characters and a lots of stuff to watch. Provided you can desensitize your girls to the dragon (maybe show them pics of it or a brief youtube clip or even just a "Mickey always wins so don't worry" line), I'd go with F!. If your girls are more likely to be freaked out, WOC.

I'd let them dress up as much as they like! Bug's Land is supposed to be great for the younger set. Don't think there is a need for swimsuits unless the water play area in Bug's Land is open and you are plannign to hit that. Check out the Trip Reports for DLR. I know Dizneeluver had quite a few pics there when she took her kids.

 

[SweetAlex]

Personally, I would choose Fantasmic! over WOC, especially for little ones. My girls were 3 and 7 last time we went and they were borderline bored through a good chunk of WOC. I think the hour+ wait before-hand and the mediocre seats that most people have to work with did them in.

Mind you, I haven't seen fanstasmic in 15 years but I do remember loving it then. We're going to see it this time around and I am so excited. I think the girls will appreciate the story and the characters better than the fountains.

I think WOC is great to experience at least once, but personally, I would wait until they are a little older. I think they'll appreciate it more.

 

[smallsteps]

Thank you all SOOO much! I have moved around my touring plans and decided to do Surf's Up and California on the first day, then our busy Disneyland day (where the schedule is fairly filled with the DL "musts"), followed by our last Disneyland day.

I put World of Color on our first day and we will play it out to see if the girls can handle the wait and the show. Their normal bedtime is at 8 pm at home, but they frequently don't go to sleep until much later so I think they can handle it.

I put Fantasmic on our last day (there are no firework shows while we are there... I'm pretty sure ). Our girls are not easily frightened but always surprise me. Just as a reference, they tolerate going into the Spirit Halloween stores in October. Our older dd LOVES the thrill and scares while in the store, but is very very eager to go back again and again. My younger dd is a hit or miss.

I plan to get Park Hopper passes but don't really want to go back and forth. On our last day, we may go to Ariel's Grotto after the afternoon break and head back to Disneyland for a few more rides and Fantasmic.

I am worried about the hotel stay with our girls. Sleeping is a nightmare as it is at home (surprisingly more so at night time versus nap time), but I'm hoping that all the activity will zonk them out. I read a suggestion about letting children sleep in a tent in the hotel room (as a separation since we are in a standard room at the Hojo). Has anyone done this? We have a small child's tent that will fit 2 children's cots.

 

[smallsteps]

Oh, I do have one more question .

I filled up the touring plans with my "musts," but there are a lot of vacant blocks of time. I figured that was important with two youngsters and their unpredictability (maybe they want to ride something multiple times, maybe there's a ride that catches their eye that I didn't plan on my touring plan, maybe we have to leave the park for whatever reason, etc.). Is this a bad idea or should I come up with a list of "maybe" rides so we are not stuck with all this extra time?

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

There won't be room for a tent in a hotel room.

Why do you think there won't be fireworks? Fireworks are shown year round. They will be going on Friday-Sunday that time of year.

Definitely prioritize your rides so you know what else there is to ride in the area you are at.

 

[mrswh]

I have found that my kids are so worn out after a day at DLR, they will go to sleep with no problem!

I'm not a big believer in a touring plan with little ones. Our MO is to hit the rides that get long lines later first (if they want to go on them, if not, skip it!) and then wander and let them pick what they want to do.

One thing a lot of people skip is Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at DCA . . . don't miss it! It's so nice just to wander and let them use their imaginations for a bit. It's a nice respite from the crowds and a great place to go when lines are long for the other attractions.