Disney experts?

nickschick! · March 2014

A few questions. We want to do wdw this summer or next. I like the idea of flying dd free this summer (early June), so I'm leaning this summer.

I haven't been since I was 3.5. Would it be crazy to take a 4 year old and 20 months old?

We plan to stay at one of the Disney resorts. What's the free transportation like between airport and resort? Do you use car seats? Sorry if that's a dumb question but *I think* it's a bus and so I didn't know if there was seatbelts. My bus experience includes school buses and a tour bus- no belts in either.

What are the must dos? We will hit Hollywood Studios as my son is Jake and the Neverland Pirates obsessed and they have Disney Jr stuff. We will of course to magic kingdom but I'm unsure of Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

chricast · March 2014

As far as using disney transportation from the airport I do not know. For the Disney bus around the parks and resorts you do not use a carseat and have to fold your stroller.

We enjoyed animal kingdom for the safari, lion king show, and dinoland. Emma likes zoos so she enjoyed the walk thru animal exhibits as well. "The Dig" I believe it is called at animal kingdom was awesome for kids to run free in an enclosed area with soft rubber flooring.

We spent a full day and probably 2 or 3 nights going to epcot. Emma loved the finding nemo ride (we rode about 5x) and the huge aquarium at the living seas. We ate dinner one night at the restaurant inside the aquarium, looking at the fish while we ate was fun. I love the firework show at epcot as well. There are some rides inside the countries in epcot I believe in Norway and Mexico that would be ok for the kids as well.

The Magic kingdom is an obvious one we spent 3 full days there riding everything multiple times.

We never went to Holywood studios during the day we only got to see the Osborne family light show (for Christmas) at night.

I think you can handle it there are plenty of families there with multiple kids and they survive!

wesleycrusher · March 2014

Most rides there you will be able to take both kids on, I don't know how tall your DS is or if he likes the bigger rides, but he's around the age where he might be able to do some of the bigger rides with you or DH. DD loved it's a small world, the Winnie the pooh ride, and dumbo- the queue lines for winnie and dumbo were interactive and I think she liked them better than the ride! Her absolute favorite place in the park was the play place underneath Splash Mountain.

I would definitely bring a carrier to hold DD during the lines for rides, especially if she isn't walking yet. We used our carrier a lot last year when DD wasn't walking, not as much this year since she was (except the day it rained- when we let her walk she got herself soaked falling into puddles, ugh). We'd park the stroller in whatever area we were in, then use the carrier around that area.

As for Epcot and Animal Kingdom- as an adult I like Epcot, DH and I spent a lot of time there when we used to go before having DD. I think all the countries are neat and I love looking (not buying!) all the stuff in the stores but IMO it has the least to do for younger kids. Animal Kingdom is fun, you could spend just a day there and see everything.

If you're interested in meeting characters, I would suggest a character meal or two, different restaurants have different characters and it saves you the time from having to wait in line. Hollywood & Vine restaurant at Hollywood studios has a Disney Jr character meal.

Between the airport and the resort Disney has buses that run but you can't take car seat on them. They have big plush seats like a nice tour bus. Disney will also bring your bags to you room, so you don't have to worry about getting them from the carousel.

The Buses between the resorts and park are more like city buses, and you do have to fold your stroller. In the morning and at park closing they will be crowded, but it's manageable for a 15 minute ride.

If you have any more questions just ask! I could talk about Disney forever, I love it!

nickschick! · March 2014

Any thoughts on hotels? We want to stay at Disney. Looking at all star movie, pop century and art of animation.

Wally3 · March 2014

Art of animation is brand new and more expensive (even though it is a value resort so similar to pop and movies in size and set up) - It does have suites but they seem really expensive and you can get 2 rooms in the other value resorts for cheaper. All the other value resorts are about equal. I have stayed at Music movies and pop century. Music movie and all star were on the same bus line and took a long time to get to during peak times. Pop century was on it's on bus line so transportation was faster. I'm not sure if Art of animation and pop share a bus.

wesleycrusher · March 2014

AoA and Pop don't share a bus. Pop Century is our favorite, but we haven't stayed at AoA yet because it's more expensive (not by much, maybe $10 per day, but it still adds up). We took a look around it last trip and it looks very nice and new. Pop and AoA are closest by bus ride to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. ASM is closest to Animal Kingdom.

nickschick! · March 2014

Thanks for the info!

I think we are leaning pop century over all star movie since it has it's own bus. We'll arrive around noon on a Tuesday and leave early the next sunday. It's only around $30 total to have 5 day tix vs 4, so I'm thinking....

Day one-travel, check in, relax a bit, epcot (Nemo ride, possibly dinner) I was going to skip epcot but for $30...

Day 2- magic kingdom

Day 3- Hollywood studios-ds LOVES Jake. Okay, so does dd. I never let ds watch cartoons this young. Oops. HS has disney Jr stuff- character meal, meet n greet, show. Also ds will love seeing lightning McQueen and mater. Dh has something he wants to do there too but I forget. I've heard this is really a half day park, so I'm thinking hotel for nap for dd, pool/rest for ds then downtown disney.

day 4- Magic Kingdom

day 5- I'm torn. Another MK day or do AK?

Day 6- travel home.

We are planning to do the dining plan (1 snack, 1 sit down, 1 counter meal a day), but I need to decide which ones to reserve besides HS play and dine. I'd love to do princesses but DD is obviously pretty young and I don't know if she'd get much from it. DS might think the one at the castle is cool though!

nickschick! · March 2014

Thanks for the info!

I think we are leaning pop century over all star movie since it has it's own bus. We'll arrive around noon on a Tuesday and leave early the next sunday. It's only around $30 total to have 5 day tix vs 4, so I'm thinking....

Day one-travel, check in, relax a bit, epcot (Nemo ride, possibly dinner) I was going to skip epcot but for $30...

Day 2- magic kingdom

Day 3- Hollywood studios-ds LOVES Jake. Okay, so does dd. I never let ds watch cartoons this young. Oops. HS has disney Jr stuff- character meal, meet n greet, show. Also ds will love seeing lightning McQueen and mater. Dh has something he wants to do there too but I forget. I've heard this is really a half day park, so I'm thinking hotel for nap for dd, pool/rest for ds then downtown disney.

day 4- Magic Kingdom

day 5- I'm torn. Another MK day or do AK?

Day 6- travel home.

We are planning to do the dining plan (1 snack, 1 sit down, 1 counter meal a day), but I need to decide which ones to reserve besides HS play and dine. I'd love to do princesses but DD is obviously pretty young and I don't know if she'd get much from it. DS might think the one at the castle is cool though!

wesleycrusher · March 2014

You need to book reservations way early for meals. If you think you are going in June then book reservations now- you don't need a hotel reservation to book restaurants and you can always cancel with no penalty. But the spots fill up quick, especially for character meals.

If you stay on-site and want to eat at Be Our Guest, the new restaurant in the beast's castle, you can get a fast pass for lunch there (the only restaurant that has it for lunch), otherwise it can be over an hour wait to get in.

We use this site to look at the menus. https://allears.net/dining/menu

I like doing buffets the best, especially since with the dining plan they are good value for the money and since DD eats for free from my plate, I can just get her whatever I think she wants from the buffet. Some other character meals that we like are Tusker House (that's in Animal Kingdom so it depends on if you go there or not and has Mickey characters in Jungle theme) and Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom (which has Winnie the pooh characters). DD likes the plush characters a lot, but doesn't have any interest in the princesses (still too young) so we've never done a meal with them. Winnie the pooh ones are her favorite, I think cause they just look like big colorful stuffed animals.

Other restaurants we like:

At Epcot, Biergarten (German food buffet) is lots of fun for kids- they have an oompah band that does a show and the dance floor is always filled with kids. DD loved it! There is also Coral Reef, which has a huge aquarium so you can watch all the fish as you eat (not a buffet).

T-Rex at Downtown Disney, it's like a rainforest cafe only dinosaur themed.

Ohana at the Polynesian resort has really good food, served family styled and it's all you can eat. Probably DD's favorite meal food wise but there's no characters or anything.

stephcarter · March 2014

The creme brûlée at the coral reef is the best I've ever had.

wesleycrusher · March 2014

@stephcarter it's not on the menu anymore! I was so disappointed when I went.

Want a personalized experience?

Disney experts?

Re: Disney experts?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards