Disney newbie

Although I've been to Disney before, it's been years and I've never actually planned the trip myself. We're planning on going in October for 4 days, and my kids will be 1 and 3.

I plan on doing the dining plan with one table service and one quick service, and I think we're going to stay at art of animation. I also plan on having groceries delivered to our room.

I was thinking only 2 full days in the park:

Magic kingdom the first morning, and Hollywood studios after nap

Animal kingdom second morning and Epcot after nap the second day

Any suggestions on meals? Fast passes?

Dd is obsessed with frozen and princesses (obviously), but she also really likes toy story.

Will the baby be able to go on any rides? Or will one of us have to wait with the baby to go on rides with Dd?

Thanks!

Re: Disney newbie

I personally think it's an ambitious itinerary for kids that young.

I'd do a day in Magic Kingdom and take it from there. I wasn't a huge fan of Hollywood studios (even with the frozen stuff and a girl who loves princesses). I think you could easily do 2 days at Magic Kingdom... and baby will be able to go on almost everything. I'd do a mix of character meets, parades and rides, nap, another mix. You can see lots of princesses, have ice cream, and do it in a relaxed pace. If you feel like you had too much, then go to a second park the next day. I found it hard to go from park to park even without kids.

For fast pass, do early AM ones so you can keep renewing & do a mix of character meet and rides at that age (Peter pan always has a ridiculous wait). Mine train is popular as are the roller coasters, but your kids are too small.

Meal options is not my expertise. I'm not a fan of Disney food.

Disney newbie

I think the issue is we won't be there long and I want to do it all lol

Re: Disney newbie

Disney newbie

I would do more than 2 park days for sure. Spend an entire day at MK or 2, then do a day at the other parks. I would skip Holllywood Studios unless are huge Star Wars fans. Hollywood only has one Toy Story related thing...Toy Story Mania. You can meet Woody at the MK.

It's not that much more expensive to turn a 2 day park hopper into a 4 day non hopping ticket.

Re: Disney newbie

I agree, that's too much for kids that age. We just went in December for the first time. Kids were almost 3.5 and 1.5. We did one day at Magic Kingdom, one day at Epcot, one day at Animal Kingdom, and the evening Christmas party at MK. They were also not full park days. We either went in the morning and stayed until the afternoon or afternoon until early evening. I understand wanting to do it all, but it's going to be no fun for anyone with cranky, tired kids.

Definitely do the Bippidi Boppidi Boo boutique for your daughter. DD loved it and it was so sweet and special to share that with her. I have beautiful pictures and literally cried at her joy and happiness. Afterward, we went to Couture Castle and did additional pictures. I brought two dresses for DD. You can buy them there but they are more expensive so we just brought our own. Definitely get Memory Maker! So worth it.

We did the character meal (dinner) at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary. Food was buffet and only ok. We did the princess meal at Akershus at Epcot. We did lunch but I would do breakfast bc the lunch food was not particularly child-friendly. We did the character meal (breakfast) at Tusker House at AK. It was really good and had ethnic food related to the theme. We also did dinner at Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was ok, but also not particularly child-friendly. I found all these meals to be super expensive and the character interactions were limited, ie., we were pretty much just sitting at the tables, the characters would come over for photos and to sign our autograph book, but space was tight and we didn't spend a lot of time with them.

Get an autograph book for your DD. It's cute and she will love getting the character autographs. Bring glow sticks or something similar if you plan to be in the parks at night. I already mentioned Memory Maker. Also, the Anna and Else meet and greet at Epcot was super cute and DD also loved that.

We plan on going back every couple of years so the kids can experience it at different ages. This trip will really be for your DD, like it was for mine. My DS was along for the ride. He was able to go on some rides, esp at MK. There are height charts so you will be able to check. We took DS on the tea cups and Peter Pan.

HTH!

Re: Disney newbie

Disney newbie

Do you guys usually eat dinner in the park youre at for the day? I though Hollywood studios would be cute only bc of the character meal with the Disney junior characters and meeting Olaf. Do they have any junior characters in magic kingdom?

Unfortunately, we can only go for 4 days, and I figure the flying days we could spend at the pool/downtown Disney (it's a different name now though right?).

Message edited 2/7/2017 3:47:02 PM.

Disney newbie

Also, do you think the memory maker is good if we're only doing 2 days?

Disney newbie

I would do Magic Kingdom then for 2 days. Your DD won't even realize she's missing other parks, there is so much to do there for younger kids - and they have the princesses as well.

I brought an almost 3 year old and an infant the first time and we only made it a half day - after that they were done, even with a nap.

ETA - We only did the parks in the mornings the days we went when our kids were young. We spent the afternoon at the pool and then grabbed dinner (we were offsite though).

Message edited 2/7/2017 3:54:18 PM.

Disney newbie

Maybe I'll just do magic kingdom one day and epcot the other

Re: Disney newbie

Just saw that you might do one day in MK and one in Epcot so I'll revise my reply.

We've been 4 times now with kids under 5 and we always just do parks in the morning, have a table service lunch in park and then spend the rest of the day at the resort.

The pools at AoA are awesome and there's also a game room. Plus you can walk over to Pop Century across the lake and check out the decor and eat at their food court for variety. Also, they do movies in the evening by the pool if it turns out your kids do have more energy.

For your MK day I would concentrate on Fantasyland. I love the Be Our Guest restaurant. You could also try for the castle, but I'm not sure I'd spend that much $$ on kids that young... Another good option is the Plaza restaurant. For FPs I'd do Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales with Belle and Winnie the Pooh. That's assuming your kiddos are not tall enough for the Mine Train. If you still have energy after Fantasyland you might want to head to Tomorrowland and try to meet Buzz and go on the Space Ranger Spin.

For Epcot I'd concentrate on World Showcase because there are tons of princess meets. There's pretty much one in each country. Definitely get a FP for the Frozen ride and I'd probably also do Nemo and the Character Spot. For restaurants there you might want to look at Akershus because it has princesses. I'm also a big fan of all the Mexico restaurants.

Message edited 2/7/2017 4:58:18 PM.

Re: Disney newbie

Message edited 2/9/2017 11:20:02 AM.

Re: Disney newbie

Message edited 2/7/2017 10:07:38 PM.