What I learned today!

[FairyGodmotherJen]

66 to go. Making a B-Line for less than 2 months.

I was talking to a coworker and told her about my trip. She was excited for me but offered this caveat. "That sure is a lot of money to spend considering your kids won't even remember it."

My tip today is about what I think taking this trip means.

I cannot deny that my 3/4 year old will likely have no memory of this experience when they are adults. I can't say I remember anything about my preschool years. But I am not taking my kids to disney world so they will remember the experience forever. I am simply taking them so they can experience it. The memories are all mine!

Here are somethings that make me all misty eyed just thinking about it.
* Seeing their face when we take off in the airplane for the first time.
* Seeing Sophie in her princess dress when we meet Cinderella.
* Seeing Noahs Face when we ride up front on the monorail the first time.
* Having my shy little guy hide behind my legs when the first character tries to shake his hand. With that watching my shy little guy warm up as the week goes on and we meet more and more characters.
* Looking into their eyes and seeing the reflection of Cinderellas Castle with fireworks all around it.
* Hearing them laugh when the bears start singing and dancing at the Country Bear Jamboree.
* Singing it's a small world with them on the way back to the hotel much to the shagrin of every passenger on the bus that didn't ride the ride just so they didn't have that song in their head for the rest of the day.
* Experiencing deathly motion sickness because they wouldn't quit spinning those damn teacups.
* Watching Sophie when she sees tinkerbell fly down from the castle during Wishes

I could go on and on but finally, crying with them when it is time to go home!

Mommy and Daddy have spent roughly 100 hours a week combined at work every week of their life so far...I'm glad they are to young to remember things.

We thought the exact same thing the first time we took our two older kids...DD (4) was the perfect age for the "magic", and ...well...DS (20 months on our trip) would have great pictures. We were completely surprised when our little guy talked just as much as his big sister about the trip afterwards, and how he remembered so much when we went back with family in 2007!! Especially with pictures to look at - don't think they won't remember anything! My youngest now was not-quite-five months old when we took him for the first time, so I KNOW he'll only have the pictures, but the other two still had that magic. Now we're planning a (very) large extended-family trip next summer, and the little guy who was 20 months old on our first trip will be 6. He keeps asking how long it is until 2010. I think we've started at least two (hopefully three) new Disney addicts!

Love your thread, by the way. I'm looking forward to coming back to read the updates!

 

[WTP]

I think your kids will remember it.

My MIL and FIL talk about how their daughter, who was about 2 at the time of their first trip, was showing my DH (who was in utero during the first trip) all around the world 2 years later, when they were 4 and 2. She was pointing toward rides and telling him all about it.

I plan on making a scrap book for my DS to look at for our trip memories.

 

[onemaybaby]

66 to go. Making a B-Line for less than 2 months.

I was talking to a coworker and told her about my trip. She was excited for me but offered this caveat. "That sure is a lot of money to spend considering your kids won't even remember it."

My tip today is about what I think taking this trip means.

I cannot deny that my 3/4 year old will likely have no memory of this experience when they are adults. I can't say I remember anything about my preschool years. But I am not taking my kids to disney world so they will remember the experience forever. I am simply taking them so they can experience it. The memories are all mine!

Here are somethings that make me all misty eyed just thinking about it.
* Seeing their face when we take off in the airplane for the first time.
* Seeing Sophie in her princess dress when we meet Cinderella.
* Seeing Noahs Face when we ride up front on the monorail the first time.
* Having my shy little guy hide behind my legs when the first character tries to shake his hand. With that watching my shy little guy warm up as the week goes on and we meet more and more characters.
* Looking into their eyes and seeing the reflection of Cinderellas Castle with fireworks all around it.
* Hearing them laugh when the bears start singing and dancing at the Country Bear Jamboree.
* Singing it's a small world with them on the way back to the hotel much to the shagrin of every passenger on the bus that didn't ride the ride just so they didn't have that song in their head for the rest of the day.
* Experiencing deathly motion sickness because they wouldn't quit spinning those damn teacups.
* Watching Sophie when she sees tinkerbell fly down from the castle during Wishes

I could go on and on but finally, crying with them when it is time to go home!

Mommy and Daddy have spent roughly 100 hours a week combined at work every week of their life so far...I'm glad they are to young to remember things.

This comment just baffles me, I hear it all the time from people when I say I am going to take my kids to Disney. (Mine are 9 and 5 at next trip time, last trip they were 6 and 2) I just don't understand why the children have to "remember" the vacation. Just simply being together in the moment and having great experiences as a family, isn't that the point of the vacation. Someone just recently said this to me after they just returned from an all inclusive Mexico trip with their 2 and 6 year old.
Okay I better stop my rant, and get back to my planning.To me that in itself is so much fun, especially if you get the kids involved in it as well!

 

[Tinkerbell3014]

I agree with you 100%. My son was 2 when we took him on his first trip. We went with my parents and although he doesn't have memories of that trip, he has the pictures of him with his grandparents. And that is priceless! My daughter was 4 1/2 on that trip and she still has some memories of it. Things that we don't have a picture of so I know it is a true memory. Again, priceless!

Thanks for the great thread.

 

[Pixieflip]

Oh, that comment makes me crazy. They do remember an awful lot of the trips and our scrapbooks help reinforce that. And yes, those memories are MINE too! That is a great way to say it, thanks for sharing!

Love this thread. We are going for Christmas, but my lists are in full swing.

 

[poohbear8]

Preschoolers will remember. I have a few vivid memories from when I was 3. It's the little things that matter. You are spending time as a family and that is all that matters in the end.

 

[loritemp]

SO glad you posted this tip today and that so many people agree. My son will be 18 months when we go and I know he won't remember it. But I will and his dad will and his grandparents who are coming along will. We will have fantastic memories of an amazing family vacation and will start wonderful traditions that we can share through the years. If one more person tells me I am wasting money taking a kid so young, I might scream!!!

 

[kristinlynn]

I am simply taking them so they can experience it. The memories are all mine!

I completely agree…You will have such wonderful memories that you will be able to share with your kids forever.

* Having my shy little guy hide behind my legs when the first character tries to shake his hand. With that watching my shy little guy warm up as the week goes on and we meet more and more characters.

This reminds me of my sister…she is 10 years younger than me so I clearly remember her first trip to Disney. She was just over a year old and just learning to talk…didn’t speak in complete sentences yet…just key words here and there. She too was very shy as a kid. I remember walking down Main Street and there were characters in front of the castle, the fox from Robin Hood picked my sister up, we were all so happy and excited to see her first interaction with the characters because I loved it so much when I was young. My sister looked my mom square in the face and clear as day shouted “I HATE THIS”. The character quickly returned my sister back over to my mom.

20 years and 20 Disney trips later, my sister is as big of a Disney fanatic as the rest of us, but whenever we vacation to Disney as a family and walk down Main Street, we remind her of her first full sentence and all have a great laugh at the memory.

I hope you have many wonderful memories on your upcoming trip!!!

 

[jamieguffey]

65 to go

On a lighter note. I have read in two different guide books now, had someone PM this and saw it on the sneakytips section of wdwinfo.com

Everyone says that if there are two lines to a ride and you can see the end of either line ALWAYS go to the left. Since most people are right handed their instinct automatically sends them down the right hand lane. So that line will be shorter.

I cannot confirm nor deny the practical application of this tip but I guess in the grand scheme of things it makes sense. Does anyone have real world experience using this. I guess you could easily test it out if you have a group. Split up and see what happens.

 

[chell]

My first trip to WDW I was only 3 years old. Now I don't really remember a lot about it, but I do remember going. The only thing I really remember is riding the ferry boat from over to the MK and seeing the Poly. Ever since then I've wanted to stay there. One of these years we will stay at the Poly.

 

[mickeytattoo95]

My kids were 2 1/2 years and 2 months our first trip. Even I thought I was nuts, but we had a convention we were going to. We got great discounts on tickets and the kids were still free so we gave it a shot. My 2 1/2 year old still remembers stuff from that trip.

We've been every year since and are now avid pin traders. Each trip we make sure to "trade" for a pin with the year on it. This helps everyone remember just how many times we've been. When I start hearing, "We haven't been to Disney in sooooo long," I pull out the pins and remind them of the 5 trips they've been on!

 

[1stWDW]

Just got back last night and wanted to share the worst tip I got from disboards. Someone said for a different perspective on Wishes, to view it from Fantasyland. It was like watching a tennis match. The lower fireworks were over the Snow White and Philharmagic buildings and the bigger ones were over Pinocchio Village haus. Yes, it was a different perspective: a bad one. We only planned one evening at MK so my kids never got to see the full effect with the castle in the foreground/fireworks in the background. My biggest regret of the trip. I am a newbie and thought that the fireworks are directly above the castle. Oh well, time to plan another trip to fix things.

One last tip that a newbie should be aware of if you are staying at a WDW resort. They say the buses will come approximately every 20 minutes. We planned to try to get to DHS to catch the last Jedi training. We waited for a bus for 35 minutes, so we missed Jedi Training. When I talked with one of the CMs about this he said what probably happened is that a bus got behind because they were loading/unloading a person on a scooter or wheelchair.

 

[CarolAnnB]

SO glad you posted this tip today and that so many people agree. My son will be 18 months when we go and I know he won't remember it. But I will and his dad will and his grandparents who are coming along will. We will have fantastic memories of an amazing family vacation and will start wonderful traditions that we can share through the years. If one more person tells me I am wasting money taking a kid so young, I might scream!!!

We took my daughter when she was 18 months old (her sister was 7). We ran to Dumbo at rope drop so we were near the front of the line. The CM running the ride came up to me and asked if my 18 mo old would like to ride the first ride with Mickey. She had a daughter the same age, that's why she picked my daughter. (The 7 year old rode with them also.) Although she is now 10 and of course doesn't actually remember it, she thinks she does when looking at the picture and "First Flight" certificate. So 18 months was a perfect age for her!

 

[jamieguffey]

64 More Days

In the past 6 days I have seen no fewer than 10 threads regarding little ones and scary rides. One of which I started

One of the families from our day care just got back and they had a little advice. Their kids are the same age as ours and they basically said it is a crap shoot. They did almost all the close ones and the said there was no predictability to what would scare their kids. What they thought was scary the kids loved what they thought was tame scared the kids. They have 7 kids under 12 by the way.

One piece of advice they did offer was to be careful on the timing of the rides that might be suspect. They hit Snow White early on one day and spent the rest of the day trying to talk their kids into riding anything else. Once they got through a couple of really cutesy ones everything settled down.

So I guess the tip here is either way do not expect to jump off of one dark possibly scary indoor ride and hit another one for several hours. They also said if the kids ask if the ride is scary, Try to smooth over the issue but DO NOT tell them it is not scary. You don't know if it is going to scare them or not and if you tell them it isn't and they think it is you will lose credibility and it will be even tougher to get on the next one.

Their tactic was Mommy(or daddy) will be right next to you, if you get scared you can hide your eyes. They even practiced it ahead of time. Of course that only works on some attractions. I don't think hiding their eyes will help much on ToT.

 

[DisneyLiz44]

Our last trip to Disneyworld (first with kids) was in September 2007. The crowds were low so we figured we would not bother with the fast passes. Our longest line on day 2 was Test track which took about 15-20 minutes. Not long to wait but it seems like an eternity to two young boys who are not to sure if they are up for this ride (6 & 8 at the time) and they are waiting in line with others who might be noticeably nervous. One ended up backing out and one went on the ride.

After that ride, is when we decided to use the Fast Pass system not so much to not have to wait on a line, but so that our boys would not have time to work themselves up into being too scared to go on the rides. It worked like a charm. Once they conqured the two coasters in Frontierland..(using our new Fast pass to avoid anxiety method) it was not an issue anymore.

 

[jamieguffey]

63 more

This tip refers to the little ones again. This is very near and dear to my heart since Sophie Age 3 1/2 currently stands 40 inches with her new tennis shoes on. And noah is 44 inches with his new tennis shoes on. They are sleeping on the rack right now.


The tip here is, I don't really have a tip.

As best I can tell I am in for a LOOONG week when it comes to the whole ride height thing. From all accounts the devices used to measure the children are "roughly" 40 and 44 inches respectively with any error on the side of taller than that. I am also under the impression that there is a double check in place that is roughly consistent. You can pass getting in the que only to be turned away later.

On another thread I read what I think is the definitive answer. If your kids hit the mark with room to spare without shoes you are good to go. If you are counting on shoes to put your kids over the line you are going to have trouble.

I am probably going to skip all the 44 inch rides. That way I am not making both my kids feel bad. And as far as the 40 inch ones are concerned we will probably just try test track and splash mountain and hope. I can't see spending valuable time in line only to be turned away at the end.

If someone has a different experience or idea let me know. I am thinking of getting sophie some insole inserts. That way even if she can't ride at least she'd be gellin'.

Reminder: my tips are veiled excuses to ilicit advice any here would be awesome.

 

[mrstomrice]

I think you are right in avoiding the 44 inch rides...a lot less waiting around! Splash has a big drop that intimidated my ds 4, just 40 inches. It took some convincing, but he did it, then rode 3 more times. He liked BTMRR more though, so don't count that out. TT was great for him...he loved Soarin too...maybe more than TT. He was also brave enough to do Tower of Terror...see how they do with the roller coasters, it may be an option? He rode it 4 times and calls it his favorite ride!
As for the height, I measured him in all of his shoes to see which one gave him the best advantage. We never had an issue

 

[bjakmom]

Here's what I did for both of the boys when they were at that stage and really wanted to ride the bigger rides - we 'practiced' measuring their height. I noticed that many kids seem to shrink back a bit from a tall stranger (CM) who stands over them and comes in over their head with a big 'stick'. When you are on the edge height-wise, putting your heels together, straightening your spine, taking a deep breath and looking up (and smiling) can make all the difference
And my DGrD still says "Oma, remember when Mickey held me in his arms?!". . . she was only 5 months old. . . the trick is in the pictures! The entire rest of the family DOES remember how much she LOVED that trip (a 5 month old on Small World is a joy to behold).
Loving your thread!

 

[chell]

I think you are right in avoiding the 44 inch rides...a lot less waiting around! Splash has a big drop that intimidated my ds 4, just 40 inches. It took some convincing, but he did it, then rode 3 more times. He liked BTMRR more though, so don't count that out. TT was great for him...he loved Soarin too...maybe more than TT. He was also brave enough to do Tower of Terror...see how they do with the roller coasters, it may be an option? He rode it 4 times and calls it his favorite ride!
As for the height, I measured him in all of his shoes to see which one gave him the best advantage. We never had an issue

Heck I'm 35 and Splash intimidated me! I'm a heavy woman, but just over 5' tall. On BTMRR I came WAY up out of my seat. I can only imagine how much a little kid comes up out of their seat.

Here's what I did for both of the boys when they were at that stage and really wanted to ride the bigger rides - we 'practiced' measuring their height. I noticed that many kids seem to shrink back a bit from a tall stranger (CM) who stands over them and comes in over their head with a big 'stick'. When you are on the edge height-wise, putting your heels together, straightening your spine, taking a deep breath and looking up (and smiling) can make all the difference
And my DGrD still says "Oma, remember when Mickey held me in his arms?!". . . she was only 5 months old. . . the trick is in the pictures! The entire rest of the family DOES remember how much she LOVED that trip (a 5 month old on Small World is a joy to behold).
Loving your thread!

Thanks for that idea about practicing measuring them. We'll start doing this with our nephews. I never thought about that before. Awesome tip!

 

[chell]

Jamie you really have started an awesome thread! This was such a wonderful idea!!!