Which WDW parks for 5 and 7 yrs old?

[hipmaman]

Hi,

We'll be staying at the Coronado Springs Resort from 21-29 April 2006. The kids will be close to 5 and 7 yrs old. I'll be with them for 4-5 days, and the other days I have to work. So dh will take them to the parks on the days that I work.

Can anyone help me with which parks are appropriate or worth visiting? We have been to DL last May and spent 2.5 days at Disneyland and only 1/2 day at California Adventure. DWD is so different and I need help working out an itinerary for dh and kids.

I also hear about the water parks and such but I have no clue which ones should we buy tickets. I would also need to decide what kind of ticket to buy and for how long. I would also appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[digskat]

All are great! I'd diffinately make sure you do MK and AK. My son age 6 loves MGM also.

 

[CharlesTD]

Our kids all love Epcot it is their favourite park.

 

[Debbie]

We're not a helpful bunch, are we?

MGM has Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Muppet Vision 3D, Playhouse Disney, Indiana Jones and the new Cars shows, as well as Catastrophe Canyon and we always like the Movie Ride (good place to rest, too!). It has the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground for a "recess" break. I haven't seen the new Narnia show, so I'm not sure about that one.

Funny that this is a favourite park, since when the kids were little, I kept saying that since they didn't know the movies, they wouldn't have fun. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

So, my choices for you would be, Magic Kingdom and MGM, but whatever you decide, I know that the kids will have a really GREAT time!

 

[cslittle999]

I think it depends on what your kids like to do.

Our kids like all of the parks. DD's (9 now but 7 for the first trip) favourite park is Epcot. Mostly the World Showcase because she likes learning about the other countries. DS (7 now but 5 on the first trip) likes MK best because of the rides. They both like AK for the animals and the shows. MGM they both like for the shows.

You can't miss MK and there is definitely a day or more worth of touring there. After that it depends on what your kids like to do.

We haven't been to the water parks so I can't say how suitable they are for your kids. Our kids were happy enough with the slides at the hotel pools.

You can either add the plus option to you MYW tickets and use them for entry to the water parks or buy one day tickets. One day tickets cost $37.28 for adults and $30.89 for kids. You can get more information on the water parks here, http://www.allearsnet.com/btp/beyond.htm, and here, http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/themeparks.htm.

 

[hipmaman]

I read the descriptions on the parks and they are all so interesting. Now, I'm thinking 8-9 days will never be enough

Thanks for your help and perspectives.

 

[cslittle999]

Be careful with the "not enough time" feeling. You start thinking that you have to see everything in one trip and this can cause a lot of stress that you don't need, especially with young children. I would buy tickets to cover your trip but not be pressured to do it all. You'll have more fun if you can keep it low key.

 

[hipmaman]

Be careful with the "not enough time" feeling. You start thinking that you have to see everything in one trip and this can cause a lot of stress that you don't need, especially with young children. I would buy tickets to cover your trip but not be pressured to do it all. You'll have more fun if you can keep it low key.

Thanks Chris,

I was just kidding about not having enough time. Believe you me, I hate stress during vacation, so we go with what we know we can do.

Plus, half of the time there will only be dh and the kids. So the itinerary would probably be something that they can handle on their own w/o me (the organiser of the family, an extra pair of hands, eyes, etc.) Dh can get frazzled fast

I think I might get 7-day ticket but not sure if I would upgrade to Hopper or not. That's another exercise for tonight.

 

[cslittle999]

We had the park hopping option for both of our trips. We might have used it once or twice each trip. Mostly for an unplanned trip to the park after dinner.

With young kids a half day at the parks and then afternoon around the pool and the occasional evening out for fireworks may be best. Park hopping would let you keep the evening planning spontaneous (you could go to any park and not just the one you were at that morning). You just need to be accepting that you might not actually park hop.

 

[digskat]

As for the waterparks I like Typhoon Lagoon the best as do my kids.

 

[HaleyB]

We never used the park hopping on our last trip (well we did once but only out of guilt).

You will find something they like in every park, but if this is your first trip to WDW I would plan on at least 2 maybe 3 MK days, 1 AK, 1 MGM, and 1 or 2 Epcot.

This is how our last trip broke down (our dd was 7 and our ds was 9)

2 MK days, 1 MGM day, 1 Typhoon Lagoon day, 1 AK days, and 3 Epcot days, plus a trip to Disney Quest. We are repeat visitors and go to Disneyland often so MK was less of a draw than some of the other parks. I think our overall favorite park is Epcot. If we had one more day we would have gone back to AK again. Although we say that every time but always end up spending extra time in Epcot.

We hate crowds so we are very careful to plan to go on 'best days' and it relly helps us to be able to see more in less time.

 

[hipmaman]

Thanks for the break down schedule. That helps me to plan the itinerary, especially on days w/o me.

 

[damo]

If you have boys, you might want to consider a trip to Universal. The little guys would love the Superheroes as well as Sponge Bob, Shrek and all those guys!

 

[CharlesTD]

Tae them to see the KID COT parts of each place in World Showcase our kids love it there they get a stamp from each country and a mask with a different symbol from each place also. Our kids just love doing this they learn about each country and get to experiance a different culture even if for just 15 minutes or so at each place.

 

[disney funseeker]

My girls were 5 1/2 & 7 on our last trip.

They always have to do 2 days of MK.
AK is more relaxing, so we all enjoy this park.

Actually very hard to choose because our girls like all the parks.