Summer+Small Children+FP+...share mini TRs or tips

[alicat8]

I thought it could be helpful (selfishly for me, but others too!) if we had a thread where we shared how things went with young kids (babies, toddlers, preschool-ish age) now that summer trips are starting. Since this is the first summer of FP+, I was thinking mainly along that line, but for other tips too.

I'm thinking maybe:
What did they love/hate for attractions
What character meals were your favorites
How did they handle crowds/heat
What was worth a FP+ for you (rides, shows) and what wasn't

I'm not going til the end of the summer, and it's my first trip with a child (2). I'd be happy to come back and share then!! Anyone else want to in the mean time??

ETA-just thinking I probably should have put this in the families board...but it still counts for strategies, right??

 

[mwebb10]

We took our two children (ages 3 and 6 at the time) last year about this time. Our kids really enjoyed themselves . Our best "character meal" was the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Epcot with Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, & Cinderella (even our 6 y/o son). They liked it more than Tusker House in AK (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, & Minnie). However, both had the best time on the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise our of the Contemporary . They met Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, & Peter Pan... we all had wonderful treats and snacks... saw the Electrical Water Parade... and watched Wishes from the Lagoon . The only thing both kids told us afterward was that they wanted to enjoy the resort pool more. Hope this helps. Here is wishing you and your family some Disney Magic and Pixie dust!

 

[alicat8]

Wow that pirate cruise sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

Something else I've heard is that it's not worth it to FP the Disney Jr show.

 

[alicat8]

anyone else want to share??

 

[CRod]

Our favorite character meals are (in no particular order): Akershus Crystal Palace Chef Mickeys We are doing Hollywood and Vine on our next trip in a few months since it finally has some of my girls' favorite Disney Jr characters! Favorite rides: MK: Literally anything in Fantasyland Epcot: The seas with Nemo and friends Gran fiesta tour (in the Mexico pavilion) AK: Kilimanjaros Safari DHS: Disney Jr Live on Stage (yes I agree no FP+ would be needed for this) Toy Story Midway Mania Of course there's doing a ton of meet and greets as well that we must do!

What was worth a FP+ for us based on our last trip in November:
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Peter Pans Flight
Princess Fairytale Hall
Voyage of the little mermaid
Mickey meet and greet and MK
Toy Story Midway mania

We had great crowds so that was best for us. But now with Anna and Elsa and the SDMT at MK those are on our list for our upcoming trip!

 

[alicat8]

Anyone else want to share?

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

There have been threads dealing with the changes to rider swap/FP+ use. It seems (some?) CMs are now requiring everyone who will be riding to have a FP+. This renders rider swap basically useless for those with small children. (For example...in the past, my DH would get one FP for Space Mountain. We would walk up to the FP line with our two young children (2&4) and ask for a rider swap pass for me. DH would ride while I stayed with the kids. Then when he was done I would bring the rider swap pass up to the FP lane and hand it to the CM so that I could ride while DH stayed with the kids.

Now...apparently that isn't what has been happening. Some CMs are requiring that both DH and I have a FP+ before being given a rider swap pass. Grrrrrrr!!!!! What's the point? Why would I even need a rider swap pass if we are both required to have FP+ anyway. So if we both have to have a FP+ to ride Space Mountain when using rider swap, then DDs corresponding FP+ has been completely wasted (she obviously can't ride any of the rides by herself).

So frustrating. I had to rearrange our entire FP+ schedule when I read this on the DISBoards.

Anyway, I think it would be helpful to have people with young children report back on the use of rider swap/FP+ to see how this is being implemented.

Thanks!!