What I Thought They'd Hate They Loved!

[dakotix]

What is some of the most surprising thing your kids liked at Disney [which you thought they would hate] ? This could be a ride, a particular food item, or Disney Experience.

 

[SwanVT2]

What is some of the most surprising thing your kids liked at Disney [which you thought they would hate] ? This could be a ride, a particular food item, or Disney Experience.

DD (now age 6) prefers Epcot over Magic Kingdom! We are going to MK again this February but she specifically asked to go back to "apricot" (what she calls Epcot), ha ha! She is into "real stuff" and does is not quite impressed by fantasy, although she will not say no to dining with the princesses

 

[katyjeka]

Our daughter hated the princesses(she said they looked weird)but loved the masked characters. Seemed so strange to us... Another hates Small World but loves the coasters. She is absolutely terrified of the spooky dolls. Same kid loves the Haunted Mansion. Our oldest has always hated the smell of the Contemporary Resort, several trips later we still have no idea what she is talking about.

 

[xlsm]

My kids don't really dislike anything at WDW, but sometimes the things they end up really loving is surprising, and fun! For example, on our most recent trip over the new year holiday, my 15 year old LOVED watching the Green Army Men do their show in Toy Story Land where they pull up little kids from the audience, and the kids play little games like tossing a ball into a bucket, and running through hula hoops. It's a cute and funny show, but the fact that he wanted to stand and watch the whole thing surprised me. Considering he can be a real grump sometimes, it brought me joy to see him enjoy something so simple. He also loves Toy Story Midway Mania...but that's because he likes beating me at the game, LOL!!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

What is some of the most surprising thing your kids liked at Disney [which you thought they would hate] ? This could be a ride, a particular food item, or Disney Experience.

weirdest love was special needs grandson who was 4.5 at the time loved and repeated a number of that trip was TOT. he loved the drop part of it so he put up with the preshow so he could get to the drop part. also loved Dinosaur but hated Haunted Mansion said it was boring

 

[sjberg79]

The first time we went to Disney World my son was 3 and he has high functioning autism, sensory processing disorder and ADHD. He gets easily overwhelmed by loud noises, bright lights... we came on that 1st trip because my husband had a work conference at Disney so it didn't cost us much money and I figured what the heck. But I honestly thought my son would hate it like he hated other carnival type places. Behold the power and magic of Disney! It was love at first sight! We were staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and they gave us a Savanna view room, that right off was magical to him. Then the parks... he loved everything! Sure, some rides I have to put on his noise cancelling headphones for but over all for a kid who has meltdowns when I turn on the vacuum cleaner he tolerates that park noise pretty well. I never expected it to go as well as it did, the only meltdown he had was when it was time to go home and he tried to hide under the bed at the hotel and told us he was going to stay and live at Disney forever. We've come back a few times, we're coming back again next weekend, we went ahead and got annual passes on our last trip last month because we might as well... the kid is hooked.

He's also surprised me with how much he will engage with the characters. He's 5 now and he still thinks they are all real. He doesn't make a lot of eye contact with people but I've noticed he does look at the characters (even the human ones like Peter Pan) more in the eye than he does with everyone else. Again... Disney magic.

 

[dakotix]

Awesome stories

 

[Nancyg56]

2 years ago I took my two little Princesses who live on my street. We had a stay at teh GRand, every character meal imaginable, and went on so many attractions. Their favorite attraction, outside of teh monoraol, AkA The Limo, was the grand Fiesta in Mexico. What?????? Yup....8 days of every park and meal, and their favorite was The Theree caballeros. Okay then. ae go on it again! LOL!!!

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

When we went last, my dd was 2.5. Prior to the trip, she was terrified of characters at any local event we went to that had them. I mean like breaking out in hives and screaming terrified. I figured she would hate the masked characters. We ended up doing an obligatory character meet at Epcot (I was fearing the worst but my in laws were there and paying for the trip and just NEEDED to see her with Minnie....) and she LOVED the characters. She even ran right into Minnie’s arms. There wasn’t a dry eye in my family watching it. We were then lucky enough to get last minute chef Mickey brunch reservations and she adored every minute of it. Kids!!

 

[bigbabyblues]

My kids are 18 and 15 now, but MK has never been their favorite park. Epcot has always been their favorite, then HS, and then MK/AK. I can't say that they "hate" anything at WDW, though. They prefer CS meals to TS because TS takes up too much time.

 

[Coolname]

When my two oldest were 11 and 5 they loved carousel of progress. I thought they'd think it was boring, but they both said it was one of their favorites.

 

[lookame]

I was sure my daughter wouldn't like getting her first haircut...she LOVED it. They gave her spinning toys and Mary Poppins stopped by to talk with her and it was a truly magical experience.

My total thrill ride loving son who thinks kiddie rides are so boring, loved the Pooh ride his first trip so much that at the end of the night we rode it over and over again.

 

[wendlle]

When my oldest was 19 months old she LOVED the characters so much that she would cry when it was time to go, but she HATED the face characters. She didn't want a bar of them.
She's now 3 and loves them both - weird!

 

[ilovebassets]

When my two oldest were 11 and 5 they loved carousel of progress. I thought they'd think it was boring, but they both said it was one of their favorites.

Same here. We last Memorial Day 2017 when my boys were 6 and 4, and they still like to sing, "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..."

 

[rideswithchrist]

Epcot is their favorite park. TT/Mission Space/Crush pretty much sealed the deal for them. They enjoy the other parks very much- but they want to go to Epcot first, AK second haha.
We still go to MK first because it is DH favorite.

 

[KenHutch]

The gitls are 19 and 10 (next week) and what surprised me most was food. Last week they saw me online starting to research the 2012 trip and both came back with a long list of must eat, well OK and a rather long list of never again in this lifetime restaurants.

 

[NickC]

I was surprised that my kids loved coloring Duffy on a stick. They never colored at home, but for years we had to drag them away from the KidCot stations. Maybe they just needed a rest.

 

[hhbettymu]

My 3 year old loved spaceship earth! She said she thought we were really going into space! It was so cute. Even though the ride stopped about 5 times and someone in the seats in front of us threw up

 

[wilbret]

There's not really anything like this on my list, it's more of the opposite.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

When my two oldest were 11 and 5 they loved carousel of progress. I thought they'd think it was boring, but they both said it was one of their favorites.

Kuddos to you for doing this attraction with your sons!! I bet there are many who pass it up because of the naysayers, but....you never do know!