Rides to take before gates open or after gates close to public??

[goitsme48]

Great forum !!

We are first time visitors to WDW. Going with 2 girls: 7 yr old and 18 month old in January; 6 night trip staying at Pop.

Any ideas which rides to take or places to go before the public is let in or after the gates are closed. Just trying to beat the crowd so that our 18 month old is not stressed (or should I say, so that we are not stressed out with 18 month old .. LOL)

Thanks for sharing !!

 

[orljustin]

You can't get to any attraction before the gates are open.

Most attractions will let you in after park closing if you are in line, but after closing time, the line closes.

Wait a second. Are you talking about the extra magic hours? If so, during those times, you'll have a list of available attractions. Just go to the ones you want to.

 

[Robo]

Great forum !!

We are first time visitors to WDW. Going with 2 girls: 7 yr old and 18 month old in January; 6 night trip staying at Pop.

Any ideas which rides to take or places to go before the public is let in or after the gates are closed. Just trying to beat the crowd so that our 18 month old is not stressed (or should I say, so that we are not stressed out with 18 month old .. LOL)

Thanks for sharing !!

If you are talking about EMH mornings and evenings...
The entire park is not open, but only certain attractions.
So you won't really be on a secret quest to find a hidden attraction that nobody else is riding.
In fact, there will be thousands of on-site resort guests attending these EMH's along with you.

In MK, for instance, AM EMH is Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

The trick is to arrive EARLY... even well-before the EMH opening time... and be standing toward the front of the lines to enter. Once they do open the gates to WDW resort guests, go directly to, say, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh, Buzz, etc. and ride until the park gets busy.

Other parks likewise, but they are not as "kid-centered" as MK.

Evening EMH is a different deal altogether.
Many times, as they just begin, they can be as crowded (or more so) than regular hours.

The later you stay, the less full they become.
With little kids, its hard to stay up that late.

 

[Mme. Leota]

At Magic Kingdom, I would recommend going directly to Fantsyland during morning EMH. You don't want to miss those rides with little ones, and those lines can get long. As for evening, I'm not sure, in my experience, evening EMH can be really crowded, but sometimes Fantasyland (again) is not so bad since people will turn in earlier with little ones.

At AK, probably the safari in the morning. Or EE if you want to child swap that one.

At EPCOT, I recommend doing the child swap on Soarin' during morning EMH. That attraction is fantastic and the lines do get long.

Others with more experience will probably have more elaborate strategies for you, but those are my recommendations.

Have fun!!!!

 

[pooh2001]

MK wonderful for your girls ages...
Do early mornings at the parks...

For MK do:
Cinderella's Golden Carrousel
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
"it's a small world"
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Mickey's PhilharMagic

For EPCOT do:
Living with the Land

For MGM STUDI's do:
Muppet*Vision 3-D

For AM do:
It's Tough to be a Bug
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Pangani Forest Exploration

There is a guide for kids by kids on WDW - it give ratings on fear, loudness, darkness, etc.
Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids by Kids 2007
by Birnbaum Travel Guides, Jill Safro (Editor)
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781423100492&itm=27

 

[goitsme48]

Thanks for all the info !!

 

[Frantasmic]

Take ear plugs for your 18 month old. The kind sold at sporting goods stores with a little head band will work wonders. Some of those shows are LOUD.

 

[cosine4]

I would recommend doing Peter Pan's Flight during morning EMH, because the line for that is usually longer than the other fantasy land rides.

I am not sure if they are still doing the Little One's EMH, but if they are you should try to make that. When we were there in September, the Little One's EMH were actually uncrowded. Also, my daughters got to ride Peter Pan's Flight with Wendy, the Carrousel with Chip and Dale and Snow White was out playing games with the kids. There were other characters out to, but we didn't get to them.

In our experience, the evening EMH aren't worth it at all. There wasn't a wait for anything less than 40 minutes...during the regular hours the wait times were less than 20 minutes. I know that others have had different experiences, but that is what it was like when we were there.