Post by Jalapeñomel on Mar 12, 2019 8:26:02 GMT -5
My folks have been planning a Disney trip for like 20 years to celebrate their 50th anniversary. We will be there for 9 days (park hopper including the water park)and then end with a 3 day cruise. We plan on doing the Sci-Fi diner and the new tapas restaurant, as well as the Jedi Academy and breakfast at the crystal Palace. DH and I have gone, but never with a 5 year old. We know about fast-passes and reservations, and we plan on spending the afternoons swimming when it’s super hot (we’re staying at Shades of green).
Are there must-dos or ‘must-sees for my 5 year old? Anything you think we should skip? What must we plan for ahead of time?
I would recommend getting the Birnbaum’s Disney Guide (I’ll link below). I bought one and wrote all over it and it really helped me to understand the basics.
I’d also recommend a Disney travel agent. Tami Taylor is one and she is on the boards a lot and has a ton of great tips.
My folks have been planning a Disney trip for like 20 years to celebrate their 50th anniversary. We will be there for 9 days (park hopper including the water park)and then end with a 3 day cruise. We plan on doing the Sci-Fi diner and the new tapas restaurant, as well as the Jedi Academy and breakfast at the crystal Palace. DH and I have gone, but never with a 5 year old. We know about fast-passes and reservations, and we plan on spending the afternoons swimming when it’s super hot (we’re staying at Shades of green).
Are there must-dos or ‘must-sees for my 5 year old? Anything you think we should skip? What must we plan for ahead of time?
Feel free to PM me. I am a Travel agent at a authorized Disney Ear Marked agency. Even if you have everything booked I can help talk out what you are wanting. I can share what J liked the best. He’s 6.
How tall is your son? Does the like thrill rides?
This is what J loves.
MK: Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Under the Sea, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear. Pretty much there’s not a ride he dislikes here Epcot: We LOVE Epcot. Soarin, Test Track, Frozen, FIGMENT, Nemo. We always do KidCot too. AK: obviously Pandora, but we love the safari and expedition Everest. Also the shows. Depending on time of year, Kali River Dapids HS: Toy Story Land is awesome. We love Star Tours, Muppets, Voyage of the Little Mermaid. J has ridden ToT once and is still not y’all enough for Rockin Rollercoaster
Post by countthestars on Mar 12, 2019 9:18:50 GMT -5
Hi! When are you traveling? It sounds like you're already booked, but if you aren't or you still need tickets or anything I'd be happy to help you through my travel agency for free. No pressure though!
I'd say it's important now to have at least a rough plan for which parks you'd like to visit each day. I like Kenny the Pirate's crowd calendar, but some people prefer Touring Plans. To totally contradict myself, I'd say that the next important thing is to be flexible (especially when it's really hot!).
We love watching rides on YouTube to get a feel for them since my kids aren't good with the unknown. It also helps me figure out which to get FastPasses for!
I'd say top things to not miss with a 5 year old include: Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear Animal Kingdom: Lion King Show, Safari Epcot: Soarin', Test Track, Frozen ride Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania, Slinky Dog Dash, maybe Tower of Terror depending on how thrill seeking he is!
Post by jeaniebueller on Mar 12, 2019 9:50:21 GMT -5
I would have TamiTaylor help, but also go into the trip with the expectation that you may not get to do everything you hope and that is okay! Also, look at the crowd calendars for the week you are going to decide what day you should do what. They have never failed me. When my DS was 5, he liked:
Animal Kingdom: Safari, Festival of the Lion King, Triceratop Spin, Primeval Whirl (this was his favorite and actually at age 4-5, both of my kids loved the basic carnival style rides more than anything...go figure) Hollywood studios: TS Midway Mania, Star Tours, Indiana Jones stunt show Epcot: Soarin', Mission Space (green), Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land (I thought he would think it was boring but he loved it), Finding Nemo, Turtle Talk Magic Kingdom: Pirates, Tom Sawyer Island (we only went there to kill time while everyone else went on Big Thunder Mountain but he loved it), Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, the Tea Cups, CArousel, the Barnstormer, the People Mover, Aladdin Magic carpets
Post by Jalapeñomel on Mar 12, 2019 11:44:59 GMT -5
Thanks! All of our reservations are booked, but I’d love help with the day to day stuff.
My son is 44 inches, but he’s kind of hesitant when it comes to rides. He says he wants to ride the Toy Story slinky dog ride, but I’m guessing he’ll change his mind once he sees it.
We are going the first two weeks in August, so it’ll be hot as hell.
Post by countthestars on Mar 12, 2019 11:50:40 GMT -5
Jalapeñomel, if you can start with Seven Dwarfs, it might help - it's tamer than Slinky Dog. My very timid 5 year old did both.
Knowing that he may not love thrill rides, I would skip Big Thunder and Tower of Terror from my list. I'd add on the Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, Meet Mickey and Minnie, The Little Mermaid Ride - basically everything haha. For Epcot, I forgot that my kids also loved Turtle Talk with Crush, Living with the Land, and the boat ride in Mexico.
Thanks! All of our reservations are booked, but I’d love help with the day to day stuff.
My son is 44 inches, but he’s kind of hesitant when it comes to rides. He says he wants to ride the Toy Story slinky dog ride, but I’m guessing he’ll change his mind once he sees it.
We are going the first two weeks in August, so it’ll be hot as hell.
Bring rain ponchos. It was the best advice someone gave me. It rains a lot in August. Since a lot of rides are inside you can still enjoy the parts but it is just very hot and wet.
Are you doing the cruise by Disney as well? I advise not book any ship related evens during the private island. That place is wonderful.
That's going to be a great trip! Your five year old will LOVE it. My youngest two were 4 and 6 last week on our trip. My 6 year old loves all the thrill rides, which blows my mind b/c I do not. My 4 year old was 40" but didn't like the roller coasters. B/c we had a mix of ages, they all did a lot of different things and mostly liked everything.
I liked using Touring Plans (you buy a cheap subscription) b/c it helped me create some kind of loose framework for our days. I changed it a ton and we did a lot less than planned, but it was really helpful to me to have it somewhat mapped out. Then I could also look at wait times on the app while we were at the parks to help decide on next steps.
Both of my youngest really enjoyed the character meals. They also loved the parade at Magic Kingdom.
I would say some favorite rides for my youngest were MK: Buzz Lightyear, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Carousel, It's a Small World, Belle, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Tiki birds, Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, etc. Pretty much everything, except my youngest did not like Mine Train or Splash Mountain, and they didn't go on Haunted Mansion and I'm sure they would have been terrified. We did Pirates of the Caribbean but I have really never been a huge fan and I thought that was kind of scary/skippable. I wish we had time for Tom Sawyer Island and I think they would have enjoyed running around exploring.
Epcot: They all loved The Land boat ride, Turtle Talk, Spaceship Earth (my 6 year old loved this for some reason), Nemo, Soarin', Turtle Talk with Crush (very cute), Pixar movie show, Mexico boat ride, drinking sodas in Club Cool, etc. They liked Mission Space green (the easy one). We thought Figment was kind of weird and lame. My youngest didn't like Test Track but the others loved it.
HS: Toy Story Land is so super cute, even just to walk around. We LOVED Toy Story Mania, much more than Slinky Dog for some of us. Slinky Dog is great, but if you don't have coaster lovers I'd try to FP Toy Story Mania instead. My bigger kids loved Slinky but my youngest by that point wouldn't ride, so we did rider swap. We missed Muppets but that is supposed to be really cute. Frozen sing along is cute but maybe you can skip if your son isn't into that. The Mermaid one isn't that great. Indiana Jones show is fantastic, and my kids liked the Jedi Training. We all liked Star Tours. My youngest was kind of scared, but I kept telling her she could just close her eyes. They have a ton of character stuff at HS you can do, and some dance party activities. Incredibles area sounded fun but we didn't make it over there.
AK: Lion King show, we didn't make it to Nemo show, Triceratops Twirl ride and Dinoland dance party, playing at the Boneyard. Safari. Seeing Pandora at night. Pandora rides. I really liked ROL and it was nice for my youngest b/c she didn't like fireworks, and it's a quieter show. You can walk on all sorts of zoo-type trails if you want to. We didn't do the UP show.
Rides my kids loved or tolerated (my 6 year old daughter does not like thrill rides) but my younger 3 year old son does.
Animal Kingdom: safari, Triceratops Spin, Lion King Show, Nemo Show, Kali rapids, dinosaur play area, all the drummers/performances around the park. They’d also like Navi I think we it wasn’t there when we went.
Epcot: They loved Frozen, Nemo, and the Donald Duck ride in Epcot. Son loved Soarin and test track but my daughter didn’t. We did not ride Mission space. They liked all the other rides too.
HS: They likes the Star Wars stuff but did not do the ride. We also did not to ToT or RnR. My son would like all the toy story rides but my daughter would not like Slinky I don’t think. For shows they liked Muppet 3D and Frozen.
MK: we did not do Pirates or Haunted Mansion with them but I think some kids would be fine. They’re not thrill rides, just potentially scary. We also skipped Splash, Space, and Big Thunder. Seven Drawfs and Barnstormer were fine for my kids. They both love love Ariel, Tea Cups, Dumbo, it’s a small world, Winnie the Pooh, and buzz. I think we rode Tea Cups, Ariel and small world 10 times each lol.
Thanks! All of our reservations are booked, but I’d love help with the day to day stuff.
My son is 44 inches, but he’s kind of hesitant when it comes to rides. He says he wants to ride the Toy Story slinky dog ride, but I’m guessing he’ll change his mind once he sees it.
We are going the first two weeks in August, so it’ll be hot as hell.
Bring rain ponchos. It was the best advice someone gave me. It rains a lot in August. Since a lot of rides are inside you can still enjoy the parts but it is just very hot and wet.
Are you doing the cruise by Disney as well? I advise not book any ship related evens during the private island. That place is wonderful.
Yes it’s the Disney cruise. I heard the Cay is pretty awesome, and I wish we were spending a couple days there.
Bring rain ponchos. It was the best advice someone gave me. It rains a lot in August. Since a lot of rides are inside you can still enjoy the parts but it is just very hot and wet.
Are you doing the cruise by Disney as well? I advise not book any ship related evens during the private island. That place is wonderful.
Yes it’s the Disney cruise. I heard the Cay is pretty awesome, and I wish we were spending a couple days there.
There is a longer cruise that goes twice. I may do it someday as I really liked the island. I know some folks don't see the added value of the Disney cruise but we loved it. I wouldn't pay Disney prices for just me an DH but with kids it was perfect for my very picky kids in terms of food and they really liked the kids clubs. Be sure get seats EARLY for beauty and the beast. It is very good. The two early shows were fine but it is OK to miss them. B&B was packed.
Post by curbsideprophet on Mar 13, 2019 19:54:51 GMT -5
I would try to research what rides/activities are inside and what things are outside. Going in Aug you need to space out the outdoor things and make sure you are getting some breaks from the heat with an A/C ride/show/etc.
I would put the things you think you want to do into a touring plan and see how they would organize it. Shuffle things as needed. This should give you an idea if you are trying to plan too much.
EP: Living with the Land (a favorite when you need a break/rest), my DS loved Test Track and my DD loved Soarin' (but my DS did not like Soarin' and my DD didn't really like Test Track)
HS: Toy Story Mania and the Indiana Jones show
AK: Safari, Kali River Rapids, and the Lion King show (they did NOT like It's a Bugs Life)
EP: Living with the Land (a favorite when you need a break/rest), my DS loved Test Track and my DD loved Soarin' (but my DS did not like Soarin' and my DD didn't really like Test Track)
HS: Toy Story Mania and the Indiana Jones show
AK: Safari, Kali River Rapids, and the Lion King show (they did NOT like It's a Bugs Life)
My 7 y/o has flipped his shit every time at It's a Bugs life. The first time we tried, he was 3, and about 30 seconds in he is screaming "GET ME OUT OF HERE". He's not a fan.
ANd yes, another vote to you tube the rides and let your kid watch them. He definitely helped him figure out what he was willing to try and what he was decidedly not getting on at any cost.
Post by firedancer10288 on Mar 15, 2019 18:14:13 GMT -5
Shades of Green is a beautiful resort! There is a PX there, so you can get Disney souvenirs at a much cheaper price. They also sell booze and wine
The spa at SOG also does Pirate and Princess makeovers (just like BBB). I’m not sure how far in advance you need to book them, but they were super cheap.
Rides my kids loved or tolerated (my 6 year old daughter does not like thrill rides) but my younger 3 year old son does.
Animal Kingdom: safari, Triceratops Spin, Lion King Show, Nemo Show, Kali rapids, dinosaur play area, all the drummers/performances around the park. They’d also like Navi I think we it wasn’t there when we went.
Epcot: They loved Frozen, Nemo, and the Donald Duck ride in Epcot. Son loved Soarin and test track but my daughter didn’t. We did not ride Mission space. They liked all the other rides too.
HS: They likes the Star Wars stuff but did not do the ride. We also did not to ToT or RnR. My son would like all the toy story rides but my daughter would not like Slinky I don’t think. For shows they liked Muppet 3D and Frozen.
MK: we did not do Pirates or Haunted Mansion with them but I think some kids would be fine. They’re not thrill rides, just potentially scary. We also skipped Splash, Space, and Big Thunder. Seven Drawfs and Barnstormer were fine for my kids. They both love love Ariel, Tea Cups, Dumbo, it’s a small world, Winnie the Pooh, and buzz. I think we rode Tea Cups, Ariel and small world 10 times each lol.
We took DS at 4.5. He was tall enough to ride most of the rides, but the thing he liked the best was meeting all the characters. It took me by surprise, but we were able to fit in a lot of character meals while we were there. He was scared of a lot of rides but did really like Buzz Light Year and Toy Story Mania. When he was getting tired or done riding the rides ILs would either take him back to the hotel or shopping on Main Street. Having family around will really help. We did the same thing - go to the park in the am and pool in the pm. It worked out well.
Post by debatethis on Mar 17, 2019 15:30:27 GMT -5
If you plan to see Fantasmic and have a dining plan, use one of your table service credits for the Fantasmic dinner package - it's at Mama Melrose's or one other restaurant that I can't remember. It is only one TS credit but you get passes for front and center reserved seating for Fantasmic later in the evening. (And don't forget that tips aren't included with the DDP and are billed at 18% automatically for parties over 6 people, so factor that into your budget).
We're going with DS (5 turning 6) in November, and we've spent a ton of time watching YouTube videos people have recorded while on various rides. He says he wants to do virtually everything he's tall enough for, but we will see how that plays out once we get on a ride or two Right now his must-do's are Mickey's Runaway Train, Slinky Dog Dash, Test Track, the Safari at AK, and Big Thunder Mountain at MK, plus Jedi Training and meeting Belle & Beast.
If you plan to see Fantasmic and have a dining plan, use one of your table service credits for the Fantasmic dinner package - it's at Mama Melrose's or one other restaurant that I can't remember. It is only one TS credit but you get passes for front and center reserved seating for Fantasmic later in the evening. (And don't forget that tips aren't included with the DDP and are billed at 18% automatically for parties over 6 people, so factor that into your budget).
We're going with DS (5 turning 6) in November, and we've spent a ton of time watching YouTube videos people have recorded while on various rides. He says he wants to do virtually everything he's tall enough for, but we will see how that plays out once we get on a ride or two Right now his must-do's are Mickey's Runaway Train, Slinky Dog Dash, Test Track, the Safari at AK, and Big Thunder Mountain at MK, plus Jedi Training and meeting Belle & Beast.
We did this, not sure if it was the Sci-Fi Diner?
Definitely not taking D to Its A Bug’s Life. He’d never trust me again—-it’s the popping out that will scare him.
I did a lot of my research on the WDW website. It is pretty nice and user friendly. If you download the My Disney Experience (MDE) app, you can view current wait times. It displays as a map, so that can help give you an idea of how close things are to each other and what to plan on the same day. This is pretty much what Touring Plans does for you, but I didn't find it user friendly (I think I might be alone on this).
We went in December with an 11 year old and two 5 year olds.
Split MK into at least 2 days and do half the park on each day. There is lots to do for someone who doesn't like thrill rides. Small World, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Magic Carpets, Tea Cups, Buzz Lightyear, Carousel, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean.
At Epcot, my kids loved Soarin. They liked Turtle Talk with Crush, Spaceship Earth, Frozen Ever After, the Donald ride in Mexico. We did 2 days at Epcot because FEA and Soarin are both tier 1 fast passes.
HS - We were not able to do Slinky Dog (couldn't get fast passes and the line was just too long), but they liked Toy Story Mania and the Alien Swirl, but the Alien Swirl ride is short so I wouldn't stand in a long line for it. They also liked the Star Wars ride.
AK - we did the Tricera Top Spin and the Boneyard (which is really a play area) and the Safari. All big hits with the kids.
Post by Jalapeñomel on Apr 6, 2019 14:53:09 GMT -5
Question: someone mentioned having a bag of tricks when we are waiting in lines for rides. Does anyone have recommendations for that?
Also, apparently we’re supposed to join this FB group and then do a gift swap with random people on the cruise. We declined, because I’m not at all interested in giving or receiving things from strangers, but my mom made it seem like we will be the only people to opt out (which I know can’t be true), so she’s making some trinket for our door. Did you participate in this?
Question: someone mentioned having a bag of tricks when we are waiting in lines for rides. Does anyone have recommendations for that?
Also, apparently we’re supposed to join this FB group and then do a gift swap with random people on the cruise. We declined, because I’m not at all interested in giving or receiving things from strangers, but my mom made it seem like we will be the only people to opt out (which I know can’t be true), so she’s making some trinket for our door. Did you participate in this?
I see no need for a bag of tricks. Yeah I think those are called fish extenders in the cruise. We didn’t do them and from judging based on doors, the majority didn’t.
Question: someone mentioned having a bag of tricks when we are waiting in lines for rides. Does anyone have recommendations for that?
Also, apparently we’re supposed to join this FB group and then do a gift swap with random people on the cruise. We declined, because I’m not at all interested in giving or receiving things from strangers, but my mom made it seem like we will be the only people to opt out (which I know can’t be true), so she’s making some trinket for our door. Did you participate in this?
I did not. While it wasn't uncommon, the majority of people don't do it and have probably never heard of it.
Re: waiting in lines, when DD was 3 I brought her a mini magna doodle that she drew on to stay busy. When she was 5 she brought a few books and also played games on her camera.
Also, apparently we’re supposed to join this FB group and then do a gift swap with random people on the cruise. We declined, because I’m not at all interested in giving or receiving things from strangers, but my mom made it seem like we will be the only people to opt out (which I know can’t be true), so she’s making some trinket for our door. Did you participate in this?
We don't do the Fish Extender on the cruise (gift exchange). I would say most people don't even know what it is. You won't be missing anything by not doing it.
As for door decorations, we did do those. DS loved being able to find our room by our door decorations. It's not a must do either, though there were a fair amount, but still not a majority.
My folks have been planning a Disney trip for like 20 years to celebrate their 50th anniversary. We will be there for 9 days (park hopper including the water park)and then end with a 3 day cruise. We plan on doing the Sci-Fi diner and the new tapas restaurant, as well as the Jedi Academy and breakfast at the crystal Palace. DH and I have gone, but never with a 5 year old. We know about fast-passes and reservations, and we plan on spending the afternoons swimming when it’s super hot (we’re staying at Shades of green).
Are there must-dos or ‘must-sees for my 5 year old? Anything you think we should skip? What must we plan for ahead of time?
Which tapas restaurant? Toledo or Jaleo?
Toledo has finally opened up dinner reservations, and Jaleo is now open for lunch, instead of just being open for dinner.
We went to Jaleo about a week after they opened, and we have Toledo reservations on or around July 19th.
My folks have been planning a Disney trip for like 20 years to celebrate their 50th anniversary. We will be there for 9 days (park hopper including the water park)and then end with a 3 day cruise. We plan on doing the Sci-Fi diner and the new tapas restaurant, as well as the Jedi Academy and breakfast at the crystal Palace. DH and I have gone, but never with a 5 year old. We know about fast-passes and reservations, and we plan on spending the afternoons swimming when it’s super hot (we’re staying at Shades of green).
Are there must-dos or ‘must-sees for my 5 year old? Anything you think we should skip? What must we plan for ahead of time?
Which tapas restaurant? Toledo or Jaleo?
Toledo has finally opened up dinner reservations, and Jaleo is now open for lunch, instead of just being open for dinner.
We went to Jaleo about a week after they opened, and we have Toledo reservations on or around July 19th.
It's Jaleo, I think...the rooftop one?
We got all of our fast passes, so that's exciting!