Taking my nieces looking for opinions

hermione8

Earning My Ears
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Mar 3, 2009
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My husband and I are taking my two 9 yo nieces to Disney world in November 2016. We are veterans we have been going 2-3x a year for many years. The thing is, our daughter is 24 now so it's been a long time since we did Disney with kids and we don't remember how lol. I'm just trying to figure out what 9 year olds are into these days. We don't know whether or not to do EP or not. I don't think they are really into the characters at this age but I'm not sure. I'm afraid to ask in case they still believe those are real princesses! I know that they are pretty fearless about rides and they want to do splash and btmrr, so do we skip the little kid rides like winnie the pooh? Sorry for all the questions, I know I could ask them but they have never been so they don't really know what I'm talking about.Any advice would be appreciated!
 
By 9 my DD, now 11, had pretty much abandoned rides like Pooh in favor of Space Mtn and Mission Space but she still has her favs. We could never skip Small World and she loved Figment last year. Since they've never been to WDW you should be flexible and adjust as you go along.
 
I would plan on skipping pooh and planned character meets. They may be up for it if they happen to see the character IRL and then want to jump in line to meet them. From age 8 on (now 11) my daughter hasn't had any desire to take time away from rides to meet characters, but all kids are different.

Depending on their height don't forget about the big coasters. My daughter has loved them since she was a smidge over the required height.

If there is a swimming pool involved in your trip make sure to allow enough time (and their energy) for daily swims. Keep the absolute must do attractions to a minimum so plans can be modified easily.

Let their energy level determine how much you do. At that age it isn't about how much they get to do/ride but how special and magical it felt just being there. After two trips with 7DMT open my daughter still hasn't wanted to ride it. She would rather use the time and take three trips on Space mountain than one ride on Mine train.

Oh and shopping for the perfect stuffed animal may take loner than you realize :)

Have a great trip! It's so great to see Disney through their eyes.
 
My youngest ds just turned 9 over the weekend..He's still interested in doing some character meets when we go next week and loves a good character meal (as does his 12 year old brother lol). For my boys a trip to Disney wouldn't be complete without a ride on Peter Pan or Pooh - don't get me wrong they love the big rides too but they also still are nostalgic about the others. So don't be surprised if they want to try everything.
I would ask them how they feel about swimming before you go. My boys love to be in the water but at Disney they can swim once or twice and be fine - they would rather be in the parks doing things they can't do all the time at home.
I would be prepared for them to have endless energy at that age too!!
 

It depends on how long you will be there. Our kids are teens now and they still enjoy Winnie the Pooh, but only if we are going to be there several days. We do 7DMT, Splash, SM, etc. first and then we will do all rides. Our kids know that we have to start with IASM. Our kids do love character meals. Our youngest kids do love to pin trade. You might want to start them off with some pins. Also our DDs love BBB. Enjoy!
 
We don't know whether or not to do EP or not.

Each kid is different. We took our soon to be granddaughter when she was five (her mother got proposed to by my son on the trip) and her mother and I planned on things we thought a five year old girl would like for her first trip. And my soon to be daughter-in-law hadn't been to Disney World so I was trying to guide her through things. I figured Magic Kingdom would be a hit but the only thing the granddaughter liked was the parade there. My husband and I love Epcot so we decided that we would leave the younger crowd each afternoon and go to Epcot. After my granddaughter's first time at Epcot, she decided she wanted to go with us each time we went there. She said she like just strolling around and listening to music and seeing different things. No one expected that at all.

So I would suggest that if you have the time, take them to Epcot if only to show them World Showcase and explain the different countries, etc. We took a world map with us so our granddaughter could see where the countries were and she talked with the Cast Members at the Kidcot stations and really had a good time.
 
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Maybe you can ask their parents what they are into, as each kid is different. My DD at that age was very into characters and getting autographs, and we did BBB and castle brft at age 8, and Akershus at age 10. We also did 1900 PF , which is a lot of fun even if you are not that into princesses, for the stepsisters antics. At 12, she is definitely less into characters, but still loves Tusker house brft. I would FP the rides you know they want to do, but still plan to hit some of the classics. My kids also love Toy Story, even though they are tween/teens now. You might want to do a couple meals like one with Mickey and the gang, and then some other fun ones like Whispering Canyon. Also if you are there with Christmas decor, hop over to GF to see the giant gingerbread house and do the The Jingle Cruise.
 
My DD(10) was 9 on our last trip. Even though she has been to WDW every year since she was 2, she still loves the rides like Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World Etc. She would not be pleased if we skipped them. She is particular about thrill rides- she likes 7DMT and Space Mountain, is not big on Splash at WDW (likes it at DL), and hates BTMRR. She has always been a character nut and even though she is older still wants to meet a lot of them-- although not ALL of them like she wanted on trips when she was younger. She "knows" about them- but it doesn't matter to her- she still wants to meet them, hug them, get pictures with them etc. So, I would say that it really depends on your girls. Having never been before, they may want to experience everything. I have seen plenty of kids that have a first trip at age 9 or 10 (or heck even adults) go nuts about the Pooh ride or Small World etc. Those rides are just special and designed so all ages will love them. I would plan on doing as much of everything as you can fit in. Being a first trip for them- they likely will be excited by all of it. My DD still loves character meals. As far as the pool, in November it may or may not be warm enough to swim- the weather is unpredictable- especially if you are later in November. We don't take the time out of the parks to swim every day-- we might hit the pool once or twice in an 8 day trip. DD likes to have some swim time- especially if we are at YC/BC, but the parks are far more important.

As far as EPCOT, it has been DD's absolute favorite park other than MK since she was 2 years old. It is a 2 day park for her. At age 9, they will probably absolutely love the Agent P missions throughout WS, especially if they are Phineas and Ferb fans, but even if they are not. DH likes those about as much as DD does-- I have had to make him give her back the communicator. At EPCOT, DD loves Soarin, Test Track, Club Cool, Figment, Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, the Aquariums, Mission Space, Living with the Land, the boat ride inside Mexico, wandering through and shopping in WS, Pick a Pearl in Japan, the performers throughout WS, and even the movies about the different countries (she likes seeing the other cultures). In WS at EPCOT, you can buy them passports and they can get them stamped at the Kidcot stations in each country- she has done that a couple of times, so she is done with that- but for a kid that age that has not done it, I would think it would be fun. The person at the KidCot station is someone from that country- and DD always enjoyed talking to them and maybe learning a word or two in their language. She also does still love meeting all the characters throughout EPCOT. Her favorite meal in all of WDW other than Princess meals is Biergarten- and she calls it a tie with Princess meals. She loves the German Band and the show they put on during the meal. If I told DD we were going to WDW and not going to EPCOT, there would be tears. If I told her we were going to WDW and not going to AK, she could care less--- not saying you should skip that one- DD has just never been a big fan. When DD was 7 and 8, she really enjoyed getting the Wilderness Explorer book and doing those tasks around AK and your nieces might really enjoy that-- after she had finished the book (it took 2 trips) she was back to not caring about AK. Personally, I like AK. She just prefers rides and princesses--- and she hates Dinosaur and doesn't really like Triceratops Spin (although she loves Dumbo and Aladdin- so I don't quite get that one).

I would say even though it is their first trip, I wouldn't book BBB for either of them unless they said it was something they really wanted to do. The girls in there are typically younger. DD's last time was age 7- and although she still loved Princesses (unlike a lot of her friends), she was the oldest girl in there at the time and felt a little too old for it.

Your nieces might really enjoy pin trading- if you want to spend the money for that. DD is all about that right now. If you want to try that, I would suggest trying to buy pins ahead of time, instead of waiting until you get there. You can find authentic pins for cheaper than you will find them at WDW. If you have a Disney outlet near you, they sometimes get pin booster packs in for cheaper prices. You also can find reputable pin sellers online or on ebay-- but there are a lot of people that sell cheap scrappers so you have to watch out for that. There are a bunch of threads you will find on the dis about that if you are interested.
 
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My 8 year old has always loved Epcot. Probably his favorite park of all. This last trip we got him a passport to take to all the countries to get stamped. He loved that. He also loves Agent P missions in World Showcase. Figment and Spaceship earth might be his favorite rides in all of WDW.

As for rides like Pooh, I think they're good for anyone of any age, personally. We'd never skip it. That said, he's been riding it since he was a baby so it has memories for us.

The older he gets, it seems like character meals work better than actually waiting in line to see characters. HE still loves the characters, but doesn't want to take the time out of doing other things so a character meal is like multi-tasking.
 
I would get them each a WDW guidebook geared for kids and have them make a list of the top 10 things that seem cool to them.
 
My DD is 9. I brought up the characters on Disney's webpage and she listed the ones she wanted to see at each park. I did the same thing for the rides. This allowed her to help with the planning. She is also allowed to pick 1 character meal and for the last 2 trips she has requested Mickey's BBQ.

For our trip next week she requested we go to AK, Epcot and MK. She loves to do Agent P,even though she is not Phineas and Ferb fan, because she loves mysteries.
 
For our trip this my DD will be 14 and DS will be 11, and both were very clear that they wanted many character meals and still want to do character meets. Dumbo is a must ride for them even though they like some of the thrill rides too. EPCOT and MK are the favorites.
I suggest having hem each pick a must do attraction a day and go from there
 
As PP mentioned I would let them have SOME input on what they want to do. Give each 5 rides/attractions/meals if you are there over multiple days. Reduce to 2-3 each if weekend. I would also cover that you are letting them pick their favorites and they may ride some things that are your favorites that they may not love/think childish but that we all make sure everyone gets to do the things they enjoy.

I would not skip the classics like Peter Pan, Small World if they have never ridden them. Each child will be different but other than technology they really are not that different now.
 
My husband and I are taking my two 9 yo nieces to Disney world in November 2016. We are veterans we have been going 2-3x a year for many years. The thing is, our daughter is 24 now so it's been a long time since we did Disney with kids and we don't remember how lol. I'm just trying to figure out what 9 year olds are into these days. We don't know whether or not to do EP or not. I don't think they are really into the characters at this age but I'm not sure. I'm afraid to ask in case they still believe those are real princesses! I know that they are pretty fearless about rides and they want to do splash and btmrr, so do we skip the little kid rides like winnie the pooh? Sorry for all the questions, I know I could ask them but they have never been so they don't really know what I'm talking about.Any advice would be appreciated!

9 year-olds won't believe the characters are real, but most will still enjoy meeting them. They'll love the coasters, which should be the priority. They'll also enjoy slower rides that aren't obviously toddlerish, like Haunted Mansion, Finding Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Small World, and Peter Pan. I'd only suggest Winnie the Pooh if you walked past it and there was almost no line- they still might want to give it a pass, but you never know. It depends on how "cool" they're trying to be.
 
Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! I should have mentioned that we are staying at AKL for 5 nights so we plan to do one park per day for the 4 days and no parks on travel days. I am definitely taking them to EP after reading about agent p they will love that! They love to swim so I'm hoping to build in some swim time weather permitting. I haven't been in November in quite awhile, but we were there December 2015 and it was too cold for the pool. I'm definitely going with the suggestion to buy them a travel book, I bet that will help a lot instead of me trying to describe the rides and attractions to them lol. I also forgot about character meals, duh. My daughter used to love them! Any suggestions on which are the best ones?
 
My DD is turning 9 and I have to agree that each kid is different and the 2 sisters might have different ideas of what they want to do amongst themselves. Agree with buying the travel book and encourage them to look at some ride-through videos as well if they are on the fence on anything. Re the character meals, it depends on what you are going for. You can choose by meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner), characters, style of eating and food offerings. You can also consider doing one that is not in the park on your arrival day for dinner (or do HDDR or Chip n' Dale's Campfire sing-along). Many are buffet style but some are served at the table (family style or individual servings) like BOG dinner, Ohana breakfast, and Garden Grill. I asked mine. DD doesn't want to meet the princesses this time so I skipped those meals but she did want to see the characters (she had a very special interaction with Winnie the Pooh in DLR). So I booked Tusker House which gets decent reviews for the food and has some of the big 5, including Donald and Daisy who both the kids love. Plus there weren't as many places I was dying to eat at AK so made it a little easier to use that time there! DD still loves some of the "younger" rides like the carousel. She also loves the thrill ones like BTMRR and Splash and is really looking forward to EE. It's one of those things where if I had to guess what she would love, I would probably have been wrong. So always good to put those kids to work to research! :D
 
I'm almost 18 and love meeting characters and doing character meals. Ultimately, it really depends on them. Why don't you ask? Give them a Birnbaum's guide and have them point out anything that looks cool to them. Ask them if they want to meet any of the Princesses or Mickey and Friends. Epcot is my favorite park, and always has been, so of course I'd say take them, but again, it depends on the kid.
 
The last time we took my niece to Disneyland she was 9, and she loved meeting characters and getting autographs. She did try all of the thrill rides, even though she was nervous on ToT, it ended up being her favorite ride. I agree with the PP that said to allow time for picking out the perfect stuffed animal. I'm amazed at how long girls that age can shop! My niece loved the gift shops of course, and wanted everything. Since I'm always the one to spoil her, I was worried abut going broke lol (shopping sprees at Disney are a lot more expensive than our local Claire's or Toys R Us) so I bought a few gift cards for her and gave her one each day so she had a limit.
 
Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! I should have mentioned that we are staying at AKL for 5 nights so we plan to do one park per day for the 4 days and no parks on travel days. I am definitely taking them to EP after reading about agent p they will love that! They love to swim so I'm hoping to build in some swim time weather permitting. I haven't been in November in quite awhile, but we were there December 2015 and it was too cold for the pool. I'm definitely going with the suggestion to buy them a travel book, I bet that will help a lot instead of me trying to describe the rides and attractions to them lol. I also forgot about character meals, duh. My daughter used to love them! Any suggestions on which are the best ones?

I would suggest one character meal with the princesses (CRT or Akershus) and one with Mickey (Tusker House is our favorite). Also note, if it is too cold to swim, you could always upgrade your tickets to 5 days while at the resort for a very small cost and perhaps revisit their favorite park.

Along with the travel books, youtube videos are also a great way to familiarize the girls with rides and even AKL and other attractions. In terms of touring, I would suggest getting FP+ for the major rides and then winging it from there. I was 9 when I first visited MK and small world was my absolute favorite, so you never know what someone may like! Tradition for us when bringing someone for the first time is going to Le Chapeau and letting them pick out their first Mickey ears.

Also, in EP, they may enjoy Innoventions and the more hands-on exhibits. Other activities they may enjoy - Wilderness Explorer's in AK, Sorcerer's and Pirate Adventure in MK.
 












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