6&4 year olds...must do rides/attractions

[muffinmclean]

Hi everyone

We go next month and I am going to start planning roughly our days. I have only been to Florida once 9 years ago and it was pre kids, so I wondered if any hardcore Disney/Universal people had advice on must do rides/shows that are suitable for my kids ages. I can look into booking fast passes for any of these too.

Thanks for any help or advice

[GezzasGem]

Hi there you will have such a wonderful experience! We went in 2016 for the first time with our DD who was 4 and it was amazing to view things through her eyes and see her reactions!
She loved 7DMT, Test Track, Frozen (both the Epcot ride and DHS sing a long), splash mountain, Kali river rapids, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, Muppets - tbh the only thing she didn't like was Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror (although it was the theming not the ride that scared her). I think though it is all quite subjective and you can gauge what they will like 😊
We didn't do Universal that trip but are doing so next year when she will be 7 and she can't wait for the Despicable me attraction, Shrek, Simpsons and Harry Potter (but don't think she will like forbidden journey because of the dementors..)
Enjoy it! X

[Th1nkT1nk]

Hi 👋🏻
How exciting for you, it really is a different holiday when you go with children. I found that I needed to slow it all down and enjoy the little details / moments more, rather than rushing from ride to ride (which is what I did when I went without my daughter!) I agree with the rides GezzasGem mentioned, my dd was 6 when we went. She also loved both Pandora rides, Peter Pans Flight, It’s a Small world and Soarin’. Enchanted tales with Belle is lovely for children that age too. Oh dear there are just too many to mention! I found the Brits Guide a helpful book for giving a brief overview of each ride. You will probably want to plan in for meet and greets too. My dd also loved pin trading . We were there this time last year so I have the Disney blues atm
Happy planning!

Edit... Don’t forget the new Toy Story area!

[Eccle]

On our most recent trip, my older two were 9 and 6, and we were also travelling with friends with 8 and 4 year olds. On our previous trip our boys were 6 and 4. The first thing is to check your 4 year old's height, 40 inches is a restriction for quite a few rides which they will hopefully make. Flight of Passage is a higher limit which the 4 year old in our group didn't make, but all the older children loved it.

Other rides that they liked were 7 Dwarfs, Test Track, Soarin, Splash Mountain, Kali River Rapids and Big Thunder Mountain.
My middle son at 4 didn't enjoy Big Thunder (partly as the lap bar over an adult and a child meant he was slipping down), but my elder son and our friends' son did. Tower of Terror was loved by my 6 year old this trip, but I don't think I'd take a younger child.

Fantasmic and Happily Ever After were big hits, Illuminations and Rivers of Light less so of the evening shows. Festival of the Lion King is great, Frozen Sing Along is good if they like Frozen (my eldest wouldn't do it on our last 2 trips).

If they have any interest in Star Wars, Jedi Training is a must do

[muffinmclean]

Thank you all for your replies. I am going to get the notepad out and write what rides/attractions are in each park (only been once so not sure where they all are), then roughly plan days with what rides we should focus on The exciting bit!

[WDWfangirl]

As Eccle said, check heights and height restrictions before you go.

We last went when children were 6&4 and the 4 yr old was just tall enough for Soarin’ and Splash Mountain. Their favourite rides were Splash Mountain, 7DMT, Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Test Track and Frozen ever after. They loved the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows in AK and the parades in MK.

The best reactions we got from them were:
6 yr old son - seeing the miniature train in Germany and getting the guts to ride tower of terror again after crying on it the first time
4 yr old daughter - the long drop on Splash Mountain, meeting Anna and Elsa and riding out that there was a Frozen ride.

We had watched lots of Disney vlogs before we went but to keep some surprises for them I deliberately kept the Frozen ride and the miniature train secret and their faces were priceless when they saw them

You’ll have a great time

[highlander447]

Hi just to say don't forget Legoland as for those ages it's a great park just back from taking my GS age 4 and he loved that park we did 2 visits and 2 visits to BG due to the Sesame Street area there he had a ball where as in MK he wanted to leave after a few hours as we was fed up with crowds