My wife and I will be taking 2 small children to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2 weeks. I get to go as a bonus thru my work. We are staying at the Hilton. My question is what is the weather like down there in January? Any good ideas on what to see and do with twins that are 2 years old? I am kind of looking forward to it. A chance to get out of Iowa in January. Oh well, enought blabbing. Any responses are greatly appreciated. [Reply]
You can always skip magic kingdom and take a tour of Orlando's downtown area...save ya a ton vs what you'd pay at Disney; don't forget to hit Parramore st. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Alton deFlat:
Check out this Disney message board. . You don't have to join, to read the messages, and might answer more of your questions.
Originally Posted by Phobia:
I would say that your children's experience is atypical of the average Disney patron. They may be shuffling memories and assigning them to various trips. My kids went when they were 2 and 3 and again when they were 8 & 9. They have zero recollection of the 2 and 3 trip even when shown pictures. We found 8 and 9 to be very good ages because they were tall enough to get on all the rides. We had a blast.
How about we agree to disagree.....
Look around you when you go to WDW.....there are just as many kids under 5 there as there are any other age group. Disney knows that many families are diverse in age so there are many things now that cater to the very young....things that they remember.
The best place to take kids that are young, and I forgot this earlier, is to Disney-MGM where they have stage shows for all the Toon Disney and Saturday morning cartoon characters... (Roly Poly Olie, Bear in the Big Blue House, etc.)
Originally Posted by Brianfo:
Thank you all again for the information. I know that my kids are too young, but it's a free trip, so I'm going to take advantage of it. Sounds like Animal Kingdom and Magin Kingdom are the places to go. I will have my wife call tomorrow about lining up a character breakfast.
I haven't been around lately, but any thread concerning WDW usually catches my attention...I am a Cast Member at Magic Kingdom, and specifically I work in a restaurant.
Some advice, if you intend to eat at any of the full service restaurants, call 407-WDW-DINE and plan ALL of your meals, characters or not. There are lots of dining packages out there that Disney is selling, and the full service restaurants are busier than they have ever been before...you will have a much better dining experience if you plan ahead a little.
Also, if you're eating in the theme parks, your experience will be MUCH better if you plan a little around the peak food times...don't hit a fast food restaurant between 12-3 for lunch, and for dinner don't come between 7-8:30 or 9:00. These are the busiest times, and you will have a much better food and beverage experience if you don't come in those times. Grab an early lunch and dinner, or even a late lunch and dinner and pack snacks to hold you over...you'll appreciate it much more. :-)
Originally Posted by mmaddog:
How about we agree to disagree.....
Look around you when you go to WDW.....there are just as many kids under 5 there as there are any other age group. Disney knows that many families are diverse in age so there are many things now that cater to the very young....things that they remember.
The best place to take kids that are young, and I forgot this earlier, is to Disney-MGM where they have stage shows for all the Toon Disney and Saturday morning cartoon characters... (Roly Poly Olie, Bear in the Big Blue House, etc.)
mmaddog
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It's not that 2 year olds won't be able to enjoy the moment, it's that they typically won't have any recollection of it when they get older. There might be a minority of kids that age who will retain a vague memory or two, but thats about it. That's not an argument that you shouldn't take young kids to Disney, it's a warning that you shouldn't expect them to have memories of the trip and it gives the new parent information to help them make up their mind about how to divide their time between doing things for the kids' enjoyment versus doing things for their own enjoyment (to the extent that those "things" are different). [Reply]
Originally Posted by DrNick:
I haven't been around lately, but any thread concerning WDW usually catches my attention...I am a Cast Member at Magic Kingdom, and specifically I work in a restaurant.
Some advice, if you intend to eat at any of the full service restaurants, call 407-WDW-DINE and plan ALL of your meals, characters or not. There are lots of dining packages out there that Disney is selling, and the full service restaurants are busier than they have ever been before...you will have a much better dining experience if you plan ahead a little.
Also, if you're eating in the theme parks, your experience will be MUCH better if you plan a little around the peak food times...don't hit a fast food restaurant between 12-3 for lunch, and for dinner don't come between 7-8:30 or 9:00. These are the busiest times, and you will have a much better food and beverage experience if you don't come in those times. Grab an early lunch and dinner, or even a late lunch and dinner and pack snacks to hold you over...you'll appreciate it much more. :-)
We went on our Honeymoon 2 years ago. It did get cool on some nights, but it was useually warm during the day. I'd just say layer. Animal kingdom has some great kid features and interactive shows. the fireworks at the end of the night at every park is fantastic! [Reply]
Hey Brian, get them one of those autograph books when you get inside and let them meet all the characters and get their autographs. My kids loved it. They will be starstruck when they meet Micky-I know I was. [Reply]
My mother-in-law is offering to cover the cost of a WDW package this summer for my family...All we have to do is get there.
Unfortunately she wants my wife and I to shop around for package deals...I don't know if I have the attention span to do that. Plus, based on air fare quotes, this would likely be a road trip. Turns out we're about 35 miles closer to Orlando than we are Anaheim. Go figure. [Reply]
I would never take any children that young to WDW. They are miserable and they make the parents / adults miserable. I wouldn't take any kids to WDW until they are about 10 years old. But, you've got a freebie from work. So, you can't pass that up. Enjoy it the best that you can. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Stinger:
I don't get this waste of time and money comments on here? You get to spend time with the family in sunny FL enjoying each other, and kids under 3 get in free.
I agree that it's not a bad deal since it's free.
When it was our money, though, we didn't take the kids there until after they turned five years old. We wanted to make use of all the parks. At two, the parks would have frustrated our family. At five, our kids could walk the entire park and ride almost all the rides. And remember it all.
The best time to go is when they offer the free meal program to families staying in a WDW resort. We saved a bundle on (really good) food while going at a time that wasn't that busy (just after Labor Day this fall).
With two year olds, I think we'd be spending even more time at the hotel swimming pool than the parks.
Be prepared to 'throw down' if you run into Buzz Lightyear. :-)
My daughter is a big fan of Toy Story so the three of us (my daughter, my wife, and I) posed for a picture with him. Buzz was in the middle and put one arm around me and the other around my wife. The arm that went around my wife included his hand being placed on her side/waist.
As we were waiting for the picture to be snapped, he "tickled" my wife on her side and slightly grazed her breast.
I was ready to go intergalactic on him, but thought my daughter and the rest of the children standing in line would be horrified so I held myself in check. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Rick:
Be prepared to 'throw down' if you run into Buzz Lightyear. :-)
My daughter is a big fan of Toy Story so the three of us (my daughter, my wife, and I) posed for a picture with him. Buzz was in the middle and put one arm around me and the other around my wife. The arm that went around my wife included his hand being placed on her side/waist.
As we were waiting for the picture to be snapped, he "tickled" my wife on her side and slightly grazed her breast.
I was ready to go intergalactic on him, but thought my daughter and the rest of the children standing in line would be horrified so I held myself in check.
I'm surprised she didn't say anything. I would have. He would not have had his arm around my waist either. [Reply]
