help and advice for planning trip with 3 year old

[kgrimley]

Hi can any one help:grin:

I am planning a trip to orlando in dec have booked flights and hotel etc, can anyone help or adivce if they have been with a 3 year old. ie attractions, parks to visit, parks not to visit, do the disney parks have a person that looks after the child when you want to go on the rides like disneyland paris.
I have also been told that if i purchase a 14 day disney ticket that it expires 14 days after use is this correct or can i get something called valid for llife ticket.
i must be mad:d:
also i forgot i would like to book a character breakfast and dinner on different nights were is the best place to go, my son love mikey mouse and pooh bear, can i book before or do i have to wait till i get there????

[MattF]

Hi and welcome to the Dibb!:wave: :wave:

We are off in August with our DS (3yrs) and DD (18 months). You can do what is called switching off on the rides where they are not big enough. Our DS is quite tall and can go on most of the rides (which he won't!), but there are still loads of things to do. Our DS and DD both love Animals so Animal Kingdom is a must for us. We are going to go to all the parks even if we only spend 1/2 a day in some (likely to be MGM, Epcot). You will probably want to book a character meal. You can do this 180 days before you go. Look at this link about ADRs for details.

As for the passes you can upgrade them to no expiry for an additional fee.

Hope this helps

[MattF]

If you are mad, what does that make us!!:grin: :grin:

[MattF]

Bumping this thread up, in case anyone has any ideas we haven't thought of!!

[orlandosgr8]

We are taking DS who is just 3 at the end of April, and I was surprised that there is a good selection of things to do. Here is a small selection
Magic Kingdom-Walt Disney Railroad, Dumbo the flying elephant, Mickey&Minnie's house, Donald's boat(water playground), Pooh's playful Spot.
MGM-Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney.
Animal Kingdom- Safari, character greeting trails, Lion King, Boneyard (playground)
Water Parks have special areas for babies and toddlers.
There are the parades in the afternoon
Islands of Adventure and Universal have some great play areas, again with water fountains etc. Seaworld also has an area called Shamu's happy harbor which has ball rooms, water maze etc.
When we took him last he was 14months, but everywhere we went to eat all the servers were really friendly and they used to bring him out crayons etc to occupy him. If your son likes stickers, pack a couple of sticker books for meal times, car journeys.
Crystal palace is the dining option which has Pooh as a character meal.
Hope that helps a bit :wave:

[MattF]

also i forgot i would like to book a character breakfast and dinner on different nights were is the best place to go, my son love mikey mouse and pooh bear, can i book before or do i have to wait till i get there????

You can have din ner at Chef Mickey's (Contemporary Resort), Donald's Breakfastosaurous (Animal Kingdom)or The Garden Grill (Epcot) to see Mickey. Crystal Palce (Magic Kingdom) to see Pooh and Friends. We are doing all of these!! :) You can book as soon as you hit 180 days before you go. If you are staying at a resort hotel you can book 10 days further

[Sam]

Some excellent suggestions above for you. We've just got back & our youngest is just 4 so he might be into different things.
Our little boy loved Buzz & meeting all the Toy Story characters. His favourite ride is the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin in MK where you get to shoot at Emperor Zurg amongst other things. He also really enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic & 3d show in Fantasyland in MK.
Fantasyland is a must as it has loads of rides perfect for the little ones. I would strongly recommend heading there on park opening as the Qs build up pretty quickly.
Animal Kingdom was another favourite with him expecially the safari which he asked to go on time & time again. He also loved the Triceratop Spin in Dinoland which is basically the same as the Dumbo ride but with dinosaurs. We also did Donald's Breakfastauras on our first day which gave him a good introduction to the characters.You get to see Donald,Mickey,Goofy & Pluto.

MGM- he loved Playhouse Disney, Fantasmic(although this does have a few scary bits for little ones), his favourite bit of the holiday was meeting the Power Rangers(but your little one may not be into them just yet) & he also loved the Stars & Motor Cars parade at MGM because of the cars plus the PRs were in the parade & so were Buzz & Woody.

Epcot - he loved playing in Innoventions & liked the Figment ride. He also loved Soarin but I don't know if your little one will be tall enough for this. All 3 of my kids also enjoyed going round the World Showcase & collecting different country stamps. You get given a mask to decorate & then at each country they have a kidcot station set up where they can collect a stamp & a paper shape will be attached to the mask eg Dreamcatcher for Canada, dragon for the UK.
He also loved all the Dinosaur stuff at Islands of Adventure & there were a few good play areas there.

[TinkTatoo]

Hi kgrimley :wavey: and welcome to the Dibb

We first took our kids when they were 3 and 21 months and there is plenty for them to do. MK was their favorite park and there are loads of rides they can go on. There is no one to mind them while you go on the "grown up" rides but there is a facility called baby swap where you both queue up - one parent rides while the other minds the baby then you just swap so the other parent gets to ride without having to queue again

Because there is so much going on your son might not nap in the stroller - if that is the case try and take a break in the afternoon so he can get some rest. My two were just as happy by the pool but in December that might not be an option.

You have plenty of time to do some research on hear and I'm sure you'll have a great time

[kgrimley]

many thanks everyone there is some ideas i will check out, can anyone tell me if they took a car seat on board the plane or did you hire one over in america????

[rafiki]

Hi Kgrimley, welcome to the DIBB

There have been a few recent threads about car seats (try this one http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=82732&highlight=car+seats)

Personally I will take my own as I know where it has been and how to fit it.
Most airlines will carry these in addition to the luggage allowance for free.

Hope that helps

[cazza]

We took dd at age 3.

Magic Kingdom is superb for kids. We spent all day in there (and i mean until 11pm) and didnt get round everything.

Seaworld is another good one. DD enjoyed the shows and there is a grest kids play area that she really enjoyed.

I'm going to try ioa this time as we missed it out last visit.

Main piece of advice-don't plan too much!! We had some friends who went with little 'uns and they made loads of ADR's etc and had there fortnight fully planned.......when it came to it the kids were quite happy to stay in the villa pool and got moody being dragged round the parks!!

We went at dds pace....if she was tired we stayed in the villa. If she had an early night we did a park etc. We didnt do all the parks but had a really nice, relaxed holiday, enjoyed by all. Relax and go with the flow (as with most aspect of parenting!!)