Touring dilemma (with Nemo!!)

[DisneyAllison]

We will be visiting WDW July 8-14.
We will leave about 11:00 CST on the 7th, and arrive early on the 8th.

According to the WDW website, Spaceship Earth will be closed for refurbishment beginning July 9, after a short break from being closed in June. We definitely want to ride Spaceship Earth on the 8th before it closes on the 9th, so we will be going into Epcot for at least a little while that day.


We plan to arrive at WL , check in, and let DD(3) explore the resort a little. Then we plan to go into Epcot for a little while.

Here's my question... DD(3) ADORES Nemo - I think we have most of it memorized! Anyway, I'd love to take her to see Nemo that first day while we are there at Epcot. I know she will LOVE the ride and seeing the huge aquarium. This will probably be one of her very favorite things that we do while we are there. My question is - What if she wakes up each day and asks to go to Nemo? We plan to spend most of our time in MK. What would you do? Would you take her in to see Nemo before going into the main park for the day so she can get her "Nemo fix", or would you take her to the main park of the day, and then take her to see Nemo after nap / rest time; and then continue with evening plans elsewhere? Or, should we tell her "Nemo is asleep" if we don't plan to go in Epcot that day. (BTW, we plan to be in Epcot on Wednesday during our stay and eat at Coral Reef for lunch, so she'd definitely get her Nemo fix that day!)
I want this trip to be special for her, but I also don't want Nemo to dictate our trip, either. DD(3) is definitely not "in charge" at home; so I don't want anyone to think that we have a 3 year old "boss"! To put this in perspective, I am thinking that Nemo may be just as exciting to DD as It's A Small World! And we all know how many times preschoolers love to ride It's A Small World over and over again!!!


I would LOVE to hear your honest opinions!

Thank you!

 

[brymolmom]

It's a good point - but I wouldn't overanalyze if I were you. You're right- your 3 your old MIGHT ask for Nemo every day. But I would think that explaining (start now - even before you go) that there are really fun things to do at each DIFFERENT park when you go - it will be fine. Tell her that Nemo is in one park and Cinderella's castle is in another. And Mickey's 'zoo' (that's what my kids think of AK) is in another one. That way - you can explain that first day - 'we're going to the Nemo park today but Cinderella's castle tomorrow, but we'll come back to see Nemo one more day too '(if that's your plan to return to EPCOT). I'm sure she'll be fine with it.

 

[Princess Roo]

We told DS2 when we went on different things that he loved when (if) he would get to see them again, so he'd know what to expect, and it went fine. "Today we get to go see Nemo, and then we won't see him for 3 days", etc.

When we got to MK at opening one day and went right to Dumbo, my darling 2-year-old said he didn't want to ride then. We told him that that was his only chance that day (we don't do 90-minute lines for those sorts of reasons!) and that Dumbo was busy the rest of the day. He was fine with that when we had to remind him later in the day (when the cranky morning behavior was over and he wanted to ride!).

FWIW, I had heard that the Nemo ride had bad lines, but when we went ~1 hour before park closed (on a relatively busy day), we were able to walk right on a few times in a row! And DS LOVED the aquarium.

 

[cheyennemama]

I think she'll be so enthralled with everything else she'll get over. On our last trip, we hit MK again the last day so they could repeat favorites. We did not get park hoppers so that was that! And not a complaint from the peanut gallery!

 

[aubriee]

Don't forget there's also the new Nemo show at Animal Kingdom.

Off topic (sort of): I was looking for Hidden Mickey's when I was at WDW May 5th-13th. I spoke with the CM outside the Nemo ride at Epcot to ask if there was any Hidden Mickey's in the ride, since my Hidden Mickey book was printed prior to the ride's opening. He told me there was a Hidden Mickey in the ride itself (hidden in the coral) and that there was also a Hidden Nemo in the queu. Unfortunately there were no crowds that day, so no line in the queue, so despite riding the ride twice I couldn't look for the Hidden Nemo. Has anyone else found him and if so, where about is he?

 

[monorailsilver]

Honestly I think there is so much for her to see that Nemo will not be her sole purpose of this trip.

My oldest is, well was obsessed with Minnie Mouse. We took her when she was 15 mo & then again at 4. We saw Minnie & we saw other things.

Heck when she was 15 months old she didn't want to sit in the stroller & she wanted to walk but once she realized we were going on another ride she was fine with the stroller.

I really don't think you will have a problem & if you think you will then bring her a stuffed Nemo to hold for the trip.

 

[reginaastralis]

My dd is two and obbsessed with Cinderella. I don't say that lightly, this girl is in LOVE.

So, we headed for Epcot on our last trip. We walked in and she yelled "Cinderella's Castle!" No, honey, that's Spaceship Earth, we're in another park today. No momma, that's her castle here! O...K..

All around WS, I asked who she wanted to see ... and she would say Cinderella! We saw Belle, she asked if we could see Cindy now, we saw Snow White, and she asked "But where's Cinderella?" Then we met Wendy, and she fell in love.

She had a ball, but kept asking. So, on our way to our early dinner (and 1900 Park Fare no less) I asked if she wanted to see Cinderella now. She said "Nope, I got to play with my Princess Wendy." I asked, "You don't want to have dinner with Cinderella." "Nope, but I wanna eat!" So, we get to dinner, grab a plate and sit down ... we see the Mice who we played with and we kept waiting ... then Cinderella came up. She beamed, practically lunged over me to get her and said "There you are!"

My point, while long ... Nemo migh fascinate her ... but she'll still have a good time. And when she FINALLY gets to see him again, you'll be like a hero.