Disney World recs please
tallica55
member
Hi,
I am planning a week long trip to Disney in Orlando with my 2 1/2 year old that loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We are probably going there during mid March.
I know Disney is huge. Can anyone please recommend some good activities for a child of that age? I know he will be too small to ride lots of the rides, but I know there are things for him to do. Should I stick to Magic Kingdom and Sea World, or do all the parks have a variety for all ages? (I haven't been there since 1988 when I was a kid!!) I've read that Epcot is more suited for older kids and adults. I don't know anything about Universal.
Also, is there a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse exhibit in any of the parks? It's his favorite show and I would love to do something with that.
TIA!!!!!
Re: Disney World recs please
You can answer all of your questions about Disney on this page... https://disneyworld.disney.go.com
Overall, Disney's rides and attractions are for the whole family. I think you'll be surprised just how many rides your son can ride.
Sea world doesn't have a lot of rides. But, if you like shows, or if your son is into animals, it is worth visiting.
Universal has two amusement parts, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Islands of Adventure has a cute, Dr. Seuss themed Kiddy area. If you and your H like to ride roller coasters, then you should go to Islands of Adventure. But, if you are designing this trip around your son, then I'd skip it. As for Universal Studios... It's been too long since I went. I can't recall how family friendly it is.
Some general tips about Orlando...
1) How long are you do you plan on taking for vacation? It will be very difficult (near impossible) to visit Disney, Sea World and the Universal parks all in one week. If I were you, I would choose to visit Disney, and wait to visit other Orlando parks until your child is older.
2) Disney has several character breakfasts. I have never attended one, but I hear great things about them. If you think this is something your family would like to do, then make sure you make reservations AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. That goes for every other sit down restaurant you want to eat at.
3) If you are looking at buying the Water Parks and More pass, then you should know... For every day of regular parks you attend, you get a day at the water park. What does this mean? Let's say you buy a 4 day Water Parks and More pass. This means you can attend 4 days at the main parks (I'd recommend one day at each park), and an additional 4 days at the water parks. So, in essence, you get 8 days of vacation.
4) If you can swing it, stay at one of the Disney resorts. Staying on site has several advantages...
(a) You get magic hours. Meaning you can arrive early, or stay late at certain parks throughout the week.
(b) The souvenirs that you buy can be sent to your room. Meaning, you won't have to walk around the park carrying 10 bags of merchandise.
(c) Buses, boats and Monorails, oh my! Think about this... you just got done walking around a busy park all day. Do you really want to load your family into your car and drive for 20-30 minutes to wherever your staying? No! If you stay on Disney property, you can just catch a bus, boat or monorail back to your resort.
We did Disney in August right before DD turned 3. It was so much fun!
Yes, Disney is huge, but you don't have to do it all in one day. Your son will probably be able to ride more than you think. Our daughter was able to go on a lot.
If you go to Hollywood Studios, they have a Disney Junior Live Show for kids. Your son would love it! The kids and adults sit on the floor. The show is up on a small stage and it's all puppets and one live actor. It includes puppets from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins. I did hear that Handy Manny/Little Einsteins were going to change to Doc McStuffins/Sophia the 1st, but I'm not sure when they were switching them. It was a great show. We saw it a couple times the first day. And we actually went back to that park again because DD talked about it so much.
We didn't do Sea World, so I'm not sure about that. We loved Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.
Magic Kingdom has so much for little ones. DD really loved Fantasyland. And we did a breakfast at the castle with the princesses. There are lots of character breakfasts at all of the parks.
Animal Kingdom has a great safari ride. Just try to get a Fast Pass for it first thing since it gets busy. Lots of parades and shows, too.
I would probably try to do one day at AK, one day at HS, and 2 days (or more) at MK depending on how many days you have available for parks. We didn't do Epcot. It just seemed like most of that was not age appropriate for DD.
I agree with PP about Disney Junior Live at Hollywood Studios. Both of my kids loved it because it showed JAke and the NEverland Pirates. As far as I know, that is the only Clubhouse related thing at the parks, but of course you can find Mickey, Minnie, Donald and I think goofy at every park.
He will probably enjoy MK the best so I would plan two days there. Especially since you are going during a busy time of year. Here are my tips.
Since you aren't eligible for Extra Magic Hours anyways, I would avoid the park that has them. They tend to be busier. My favorite DIsney Blog is easywdw.com. The author goes to the parks almost every day and he has tons of great info and tips.
I would do whatever you have to do to get to the parks ( esp MK) before it opens. The first hour or two are the least busy time to be in the park so I would go to the busiest attractions during the early morning and get them out of the way. Try to use fastpasses ( it is free to everyone) for the rides you couldn't get to.
This mid-March? My planning brain is going to explode with the thought of doing Disney in two weeks with a toddler and no plans! It is super busy time, so if you are going in a few weeks, you likely will not be able to eat at a sitdown restaurant because you need reservations way in advance. I would check out some Disney forums.
All that aside, we went in Dec. with a 2 yo and a 6 month old. 2 yo loved it there is a ton to do. You got good advice. Just stick with Disney and avoid the others for now. DD is obsessed with MMCH, liked the live-show, but her favorite was the Dumbo ride at the MK.
Sent you a PM
What makes March so busy? Spring break? I was there at the end of January and it wasn't busy at all.
We went with our daughter who was 25 months. She's very tall (37 inches) and was able to go on basically everything except the roller coasters. She loved all of the rides, even the 'scary' ones like pirates and the haunted mansion (after she did do well on the tame ones we tried the rest). The fast pass system worked really well for us and the longest we really waited for anything was 10 minutes. The 3d show mickeys philharmagic was good too- it's mostly Donald Duck who's dd favorite so she was happy with it.
We were able to meet all of the Mickey characters in fantasy land (theres a circus tent near dumbo where you can wait in line) which was probably her favorite part. We also did the Pooh character breakfast, which was great. If your son loves Mickey I'd try to go to Chef mickeys or something similar for a meal if possible.
We just went one day. IMO this was plenty for her age. I read about disney junior show at HS and had we gone there I would have definitely checked that out too.
Your LO can ride most of the rides. We took DD who was 2, and my nephews who were 3 and 1. The kids could ride just about everything that was age appopriate for them. In the MK DD liked the Dumbo ride, the parades, and we tried Winnie the Pooh and Its a Small World. DD freaked out b/c most of the rides were too loud for her. We spent most of the day in MK doing meet and greets with the characters. We did the fast pass to meet Minnie and Mickey and the princesses.
We spent another day at AK. The safari ride was a lot of fun and DD and my nephews had a blast in the Dinoland.
We did dinner each night in Epcot, so while we didn't spend a whole day at the park, we did get to walk around a good bit. DD LOVED the Nemo ride and the huge aquarium area when you get off the ride. Epcot is also a really great place to be able to see a lot of characters. Winnie and Tigger hang out in a shop in England (and they have a really cool concert with a Beatles tribute band every night), Snow White was in Germany, Donald in a sombrero was in Mexico and the lines were WAY shorter in Epcot to see a character than any other park.
The first night we arrived, we didn't have tickets to a park, so we hit the Downtown Disney area. There was a lot to see and do, tons of dining choices, and a massive Disney store. We also ran into Buzz and several other Toy Story characters outside of one of the gift shops.
We live close to Disney & recently purchased FL Resident Seasonal Passes (figured we would try it while DD is still free). DD just turned 2. I worked at Magic Kingdom many years ago which has definitely helped on our park trips.
Mid-March will be very busy b/c of spring break. We went to Magic Kingdom last week with the plan that it will be the last trip until May b/c of crowds (& pass black out dates). Restaurant reservations are often booked months in advance even during non busy times, especially for popular restaurants.
The great thing about Disney, especially Magic Kingdom is that young children can ride most rides. DD is even tall enough for the kid roller coaster in Fantasyland (haven't taken her on it yet though). Use FastPass whenever possible. We haven't waited longer than 10-15 minutes for any ride during our visits.
We have found that shorter visits where we don't try to cram things in work best. If you can leave mid day for a break and go back for evening entertainment I'd highly recommend it.
Sea World is a great park and the do have a Sesame Street show, but there was very little that DD could do other than watch shows & view animals. She will really love it in a few years, but it wasn't great for this young.
Whatever you decide to do keep flexible with your plans.