DW Initial Plans - What to do on the first 1/2 day we are there? & Other ?s

[marymoo86]

Time will soon be here to make ADRs. I know we will do Chef Mickey's on the morning we leave as a last hurrah. Hoping to get BOG for lunch. I want to plan on one other character meal and seems like the biggest bang for our Princess buck is the Princess storybook meal at Askerhus. Initially hadn't though to visit Epcot on this trip as DDs will be 5 and 2. Thinking it would be good to plan for the day we arrive? Driving in so will be late morning arrival. Not to sure what to do with this day. Have no idea if DD1 will be okay with pool time (staying at BLT) or should visit Epcot so she can go ahead and get some Disney in. Seems like a good time to do the dinner so she gets the Disney feel?

We are there for 7 days and have park tickets for 6 so plenty of time to have Epcot on that basically 1/2 day. Focusing on mainly MK, HS, and a day for AK. Have a flex day built in for a break - pool/Downtown Disney or whatever we didn't get to fit in.

I'm thinking logically but I am sure DD will not be with all the excitement of being there. Does this sound reasonable? With Askerhus and Chef Mickey's I think we hit the majority of what she would like to see. Anything else I am missing. Getting bogged down in the details now.

One other question - DD2 will be just over 2 and should be at or above the 35" height requirement so can ride quite a lot at MK. However for those things that big sister can ride (most things under 48"), what did you do with the sibling? I know she will pitch a fit if she can't do what big sissy can. I know with the big crowds it will be easy to distract but if some of these rides/waits are long did you take the smaller child to another ride and meet up?

[rkold]

Time will soon be here to make ADRs. I know we will do Chef Mickey's on the morning we leave as a last hurrah. Hoping to get BOG for lunch. I want to plan on one other character meal and seems like the biggest bang for our Princess buck is the Princess storybook meal at Askerhus. Initially hadn't though to visit Epcot on this trip as DDs will be 5 and 2. Thinking it would be good to plan for the day we arrive? Driving in so will be late morning arrival. Not to sure what to do with this day. Have no idea if DD1 will be okay with pool time (staying at BLT) or should visit Epcot so she can go ahead and get some Disney in. Seems like a good time to do the dinner so she gets the Disney feel?

We are there for 7 days and have park tickets for 6 so plenty of time to have Epcot on that basically 1/2 day. Focusing on mainly MK, HS, and a day for AK. Have a flex day built in for a break - pool/Downtown Disney or whatever we didn't get to fit in.

I'm thinking logically but I am sure DD will not be with all the excitement of being there. Does this sound reasonable? With Askerhus and Chef Mickey's I think we hit the majority of what she would like to see. Anything else I am missing. Getting bogged down in the details now.

One other question - DD2 will be just over 2 and should be at or above the 35" height requirement so can ride quite a lot at MK. However for those things that big sister can ride (most things under 48"), what did you do with the sibling? I know she will pitch a fit if she can't do what big sissy can. I know with the big crowds it will be easy to distract but if some of these rides/waits are long did you take the smaller child to another ride and meet up?

Are you doing a meal plan? I think some of my decisions would be based on whether you are doing a meal plan or paying for everything out of pocket. Both have pluses and minuses.

Just to warn you now, I find Aksherus is one of the slowest restaurants ever and it will take you 1.5-2hours to eat there. It's not even waiting for the characters, it's the whole set up and the speed in serving you and getting the bill.

If your DDs want to meet Rapunzel and Anna and Elsa, Aksherus is not going to help you much. I've never seen Rapunzel there. I think someone said they tested Anna and Elsa as greeters there, but I don't think it will stick, I can only imagine how much worse it made the line for greeting kids.

Are your kids into Sofia and Doc? If so you might want to add a meal at Hollywood and Vine. We tend to do breakfast there so DD can meet Doc and Jake. (She's just decided she likes Sofia again as well.) Doc only meets there. Sofia and Jake can get long lines and there is no FP+ for them so I find the meal is an enjoyable way to get both down.

I don't have 2 children, but my DD who is about the same age as your DD1 is very petite, so I do understand the whole not making height lines. The two most popular activities at MK are meeting Anna and Elsa and the Mine Train, your DD2 is not going to make the height line for Mine train. One plus is, because she is 2, she doesn't get her own FP+s. So maybe as a family set 2 of your FP+s (2 adults+1 kid) for Anna and Elsa and say Peter Pan, and then do (1 adult+ 1 child for mine train and 1 adult (with DD2 who doesn't get a FP+) for Winnie the Pooh) You won't be able to do the parent swap, but I think your DD2 would be pretty disappointed to make it that far and then not be able to go on the ride. Other ideas, take DD2 to Dumbo. They have an indoor play area there now and some kids like the play area as much as the ride. Go on the carousel. If the line is short there is always Small World. I would definitely take her some place else and meet up. The crowds are huge but unless your DD2 is really into people watching I think she will be bored. Even with a FP+ for a ride it will generally take you 15 minutes from start to finish, just because of the walking. And depending on time of day and year, a lot of the 38+ inch rides are among the most popular in the park so if you don't have a FP+ the line can be substantial. *cough 7 Dwarves cough*

I honestly, think the Studios is going to be the hardest park for you with an under 40 inch DD. We generally leave that park early. While there are lots of shows, they're not always well timed so we always find ourselves with 1 hour to kill, no shows, no character meet-n-greets, and pretty much nothing to do. That happened to us last time. We finished Disney Jr. and had 1 hour+ to kill with nothing to do but shop. So we left the park.

DD now likes the 3D movies, especially Philharmagic in MK, but when I tried to take her to one at 2 it did not go well because she wouldn't keep the glasses on. DD was also terrified of Fantasmic (even before it started!) and it had I think a 30-45 minute pre-show which felt like it went on forever and ever and ever.

AK is one of the best parks with a little kids. If your DD1 wants to ride one of the 40+ inch rides, you can split up and take DD2 to see animals or let her burn off energy in the Boneyard Playground or try the Triceratop Spin (think Dumbo but with triceratops) since it usually has a short line.

My DD likes Epcot. There are lots and lots of characters there and most of the lines are shorter than the equivalent elsewhere. About the only ones with longer lines in Epcot than in MK are Snow White and Aurora, who have much shorter lines in MK. Recently, we've been trying to do some of the activities in Innoventions. We failed at the piggy bank one, but I think would try it again.

[klwa]

We've only eaten at Akershus once, but I really enjoyed it. And, my kids enjoy Epcot, especially the meet & greets. So, I think that heading there would be a decent plan for that first day. Or, head to the pool & eat supper at 1900 Park Fair (Grand Floridian Resort) to meet Cinderella, the Prince, and the step family.

As for the younger child issue, have everyone head to the ride & get a child swap pass. Then take the younger one to do something fun for her. Once big sis & one parent are done with the ride, the parents swap off & big sis gets to ride again with the other parent. I agree with PP that DHS is the hardest park to find fun things for the younger during the big kid rides, but you still have the character meets, the Bug's Life playground, and the Disney Junior area.

[npace19147]

When we go the Magic Kingdom is always the first stop, it's what kids think of when they think Disney and trying to do anything else is a confusing letdown, IMO, at least at that young age. I think CRT is absolutely magical, lots of princesses and such a great atmosphere. So that would be my recommendation for a first day.

[boilermakermom]

We returned a few weeks ago. DD (age 6) loved the World Showcase in Epcot almost as much as MK. There were a few days she asked to leave the MK and head to World Showcase. MK after 1-2 pm is a crying child fest. Seemed to get better around 5-ish.

DD liked the activities in World Showcase. Plus, lots of room to run around and dance, lots of live music playing. I know you mentioning not going to Epcot, but if you do, pick up a Kidcot Passport for your girls. The kids go to each county and get their passport stamped, it's super cute!

We disliked Akershus. The food was terrible, and the princesses flew each table, yet the meal still took 2 hours. I felt we got more one on one time with the princesses and better pictures at the character meets. Which Princesses are you wanting to meet specifically? Are you on a Dining Plan?

[marymoo86]

We returned a few weeks ago. DD (age 6) loved the World Showcase in Epcot almost as much as MK. There were a few days she asked to leave the MK and head to World Showcase. MK after 1-2 pm is a crying child fest. Seemed to get better around 5-ish.

DD liked the activities in World Showcase. Plus, lots of room to run around and dance, lots of live music playing. I know you mentioning not going to Epcot, but if you do, pick up a Kidcot Passport for your girls. The kids go to each county and get their passport stamped, it's super cute!

We disliked Akershus. The food was terrible, and the princesses flew each table, yet the meal still took 2 hours. I felt we got more one on one time with the princesses and better pictures at the character meets. Which Princesses are you wanting to meet specifically? Are you on a Dining Plan?

This the hard part. She loves them all :) This is our first trip so she has no concept of what is out there and whom she can see.

We aren't on the dining plan and was thinking to use that 1/2 day to do a park that we wouldn't spend much time in so Epcot or AK. I was gravitating toward Epcot because of being able to meet the Princesses at Akershus but also seemed easier to do Character meets as well. We are going 2nd week of December so thought we might be able to catch the Candlelight Processional as well.

Planning to do Chef Mickey's on our last day as we are staying at BLT before we head back home.

Open to other suggestions. Just trying to make final plans before our window opens for ADRs. Seems completely impossible to plan 6m in advance not knowing how littles will react :D

[rkold]

This the hard part. She loves them all :) This is our first trip so she has no concept of what is out there and whom she can see.

We aren't on the dining plan and was thinking to use that 1/2 day to do a park that we wouldn't spend much time in so Epcot or AK. I was gravitating toward Epcot because of being able to meet the Princesses at Akershus but also seemed easier to do Character meets as well. We are going 2nd week of December so thought we might be able to catch the Candlelight Processional as well.

Planning to do Chef Mickey's on our last day as we are staying at BLT before we head back home.

Open to other suggestions. Just trying to make final plans before our window opens for ADRs. Seems completely impossible to plan 6m in advance not knowing how littles will react :D

My DD's favorite activity is meeting characters, we go a lot. We're DVC and DD and I have APs. I've also started doing Disney races recently. >>;

As of Feb 2015 the following princesses were out where you can meet and get pictures of them:

MK:
Ariel as a Mermaid (Ariel's Grotto) FP+
Anna and Elsa (Princess Fairy Tale Hall) FP+
Cindy+Rapunzel (Princess Fairy Tale Hall) FP+
Snow White (near Town Square in the front of the park, usually has short lines)
Aurora (over near Guest Relations (usually has short lines)
Tiana (in the gazebo near Liberty Square, if you go post the parade Naveem meets with her)
Merida (near the castle in this garden area near the Tea Cup ride and Cosmic Ray's)
Jasmine +Aladdin (near the Flying Carpet ride in Adventureland)

Cindy's restaurant: *usually* the line up is : Cindy, Jasmine, Ariel as a human princess, Aurora, and Snow White. We once got Rapunzel, but that's pretty rare. I've only ever seen Tiana, Merida, Rapunzel and Mermaid Ariel in MK. you can get a picture with Belle at her Enchanted Tales, but she doesn't sign.

Epcot:

China has Mulan
Norway has the Princess meal, it's usually Belle in her yellow dress, human!Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, and Cindy. I've seen Mulan there, I think someone posted they've seen Jasmine.
Germany has Snow White the line tends to be a longer here than in MK, especially bad during F+W
Morocco has Jasmine+Aladdin
France has alternating Belle in the blue and white dress and Aurora. Both tend to be popular especially Belle.

Belle only signs in Epcot. Mulan only meets in Epcot.

Studios

Sofia (you can wait in line next to Disney Jr or eat in Hollywood+Vine for BR or Lunch)
There are a lot of Princess shows, but they don't do pictures or sign at them. If your DDs are happy just seeing them, you can see Beauty and the Beast, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and The Frozen Sing-Along.

AK

Pochahantas (she is only out in AK, her line is usually short.)

If you get to most meet and greets in Epcot 10 minutes before the Princess is supposed to come out, you won't be waiting more than another 10-15 minutes. I think early December is not so bad from what I remember of December 2014. And since the line is outside and more informal, one parent can wait in line while the other takes the kids to color in the pavilion. I'm usually alone with DD and we bring markers for the wait.

If you're in MK find out if they are filming the Christmas Parade. The Christmas parade snarls traffic like no tomorrow. Also Santa being there changes where Snow White and Aurora meet, and instead they meet near the Castle wall, or at least Aurora does, since Santa evicts her. It makes the line much longer since people can find her easier. We were there 12/7-12/11 2014 and I spent a lot of time cursing the parade and what it did to traffic flow. At times you could not get to various parts of the park. The only good thing is it kept a lot of the lines for attractions down. I want to say we waited only 30 minutes for Anna and Elsa.

You might want to consider a Christmas Party. The Christmas Party is not as awesome as the Halloween Party, but if you like meeting characters it is an amazing opportunity, though the lines are long. The princes come out, so we waited 1+hrs to meet Snow White+her prince and Aurora+philip. We then waited 1+hrs to meet Uncle Scrooge and we waited a long time to meet Cindy+her prince and Rapunzel and Eugene. It's a great time to meet Ariel and Merida, since neither meets with anyone additional. Another reason to do the parties is MK closes so early on so many nights for it. If areas of the park are closed or barely accessible because of the parade, it can be really hard to do a lot before they kick you out at 7. Last year it really altered Merida's schedule as well and she met a lot more infrequently making her lines much longer. I don't know how it affected Tiana because we couldn't easily get to her.

[elbenn]

Rkold, you know a lot about the princesses at WDW. I have reservations to both the Royal Table and to Aksherhus. It sounds like there is a lot of overlap between the princesses at those two character meals. Do you think these character meals would be too similar? Do you prefer one over the other?

[rkold]

Rkold, you know a lot about the princesses at WDW. I have reservations to both the Royal Table and to Aksherhus. It sounds like there is a lot of overlap between the princesses at those two character meals. Do you think these character meals would be too similar? Do you prefer one over the other?

*blush* Thanks. We go to Disney probably more than we should and DD likes meeting characters more than anything else. To be fair, until she turned 3, she was free, so we were only paying for me to visit the parks and eat at restaurants. (I tend to travel with my mom who stays at the resorts and DH stays here and works.)

The meals are really similar. We use to do them both before DD turned 3 since we were only paying for 1 person. Neither is too expensive when it's just 1 adult you are paying for and the under 3 year old is eating for free. I'm debating seeing if I can get Cindy's at the last minute for our Oct trip. In February we will skip both Cindys+Aksherus and do the special race meals instead. For 2015, we got Rapunzel+Eugene and Ariel+Eric at the race breakfast and for the race dinner we got Jasmine, Aladdin, Abu, the Genie and Jafar. I've never seen Eric out in the parks before and I've never seen Jafar sign.

Do your DC(s) have certain princesses they like best? If they have to meet Belle in her yellow dress *AND* get her autograph, then I would do Aksherhus. She's almost always the greeter there. But if they are happy to just get a photo with her, I prefer Belle's Enchanted Tales. It's really cute seeing the kids perform. We then meet blue+white Belle in France in Epcot. (Besides the blue+white dress is the one she wears mostly in the movie!)

Are you on the dinning plan? If you're on the dinning plan, Aksherhus use to be the better deal, since it was 1 credit while Cindy's is 2, especially if you do Aksherhus for lunch or dinner.

Usually Cindy's is faster. They will get you in and out in about 1 hour. Aksherhus will take you closer to 2 hours because the service is just very very slow. All the cast members there are very young and to be blunt, are only so good as waitstaff goes. (I still remember the time my party had checked in and was inside, but they couldn't remember and wouldn't let me in to join them for 10 minutes.) They're also pretty bad with special needs. I won't go back there after they forgot my DD's birthday cupcake in Oct 2014. She was heartbroken (having just turned 4) and was suffering from Lyme and could not walk. The tables were packed too closely and they were not helpful or sympathetic to the fact DD could not walk at all. Before this experience in Oct 2014, I would have recc'd Aksherhus more, but it really left a sour taste in my mouth. The princesses also seemed to be dialing it in more in Oct. There are definitely times we have eaten there where the princesses were great, but that trip they were overall disappointing and not overly friendly. When DD could walk, she loves the princess parade. One lucky child gets to hold a princesses hand and the other kids follow behind the princess. It's cute but I imagine can lead to hurt feelings if your DC is not holding a princesses hand.

I think the breakfast at Cindy's is better than their lunch or dinners. But please remember, we're also a family of vegetarians. Table service restaurants tend to have 1 veggie option and places like Cindy's and Aksherhus never change it. They also can't alter it. It gets old. Cindy's also didn't have a kid's veggie option which is a huge problem when your kid is veggie. Mine won't eat squishy white bread like in an uncrustable, and paying all that money for uncrustables sort of stinks. Since we are vegetarian, I prefer places like Jiko's, Sanaa, and California Grill or at least places where there is more wiggle room like Kona Cafe, The Wave, and GF Cafe, where you can get the meat dishes without XXXXX or a nice veggie burger or sandwich for lunch.

I admit, lately, I've been cutting back on the character meals. Sometimes the interactions are great, but sometimes they are just disappointing and as someone not on a meal plan, it adds up! We deal with just meeting Belle in her blue+white dress and Ariel as a Mermaid.

[Dayzy]

We just got home and did the princess breakfast at Akershus was fun for my 3 year old DD. I think it took about an hour, maybe a few minutes more, but we had a pre-opening reservation. We really enjoyed Cinderella's Dinner at 1900 Park Fare though. It was Cindy, Lady T, Prince Charming and the stepsisters. We had a blast!

[elbenn]

Rkold, thank you so much for all the great info! So I'm thinking Akershus might be a bit too similar and Belle in her yellow dress isn't a must. Do you need FP's for the Belle Enchanted Tales or for meeting Belle or Ariel? I know FPs are needed for Elsa and Anna. I will be booking FP's soon.

I'm going to check into 1900 Park Fare because that sounds fun, but we will also be at the Royal Table, so maybe too much overlap again. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

ETA: OP, sorry to go off-topic on your thread! Hopefully, the info will be helpful to you, too.

[marymoo86]

Rkold, thank you so much for all the great info! So I'm thinking Akershus might be a bit too similar and Belle in her yellow dress isn't a must. Do you need FP's for the Belle Enchanted Tales or for meeting Belle or Ariel? I know FPs are needed for Elsa and Anna. I will be booking FP's soon.

I'm going to check into 1900 Park Fare because that sounds fun, but we will also be at the Royal Table, so maybe too much overlap again. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

ETA: OP, sorry to go off-topic on your thread! Hopefully, the info will be helpful to you, too.


I know!! Decisions, decisions - I have no idea if she will be interested at all in meeting them or care about dresses or care about an autograph. And since I have no idea, hard to figure out park plans in terms of arranging FP+. She's never been on coaster rides and trying to guess what she may like to do and figure out how to not to spend endless amounts of time in line - makes me want to cry in exasperation.

Definitely skipping the Christmas party but hoping they do the Frozen wishes again and try to catch that. I will probably just stick with Epcot and Akershus b/c we will eat breakfast in our room since I will have a full kitchen unless we need to get into a park early one day.

[rkold]

Rkold, thank you so much for all the great info! So I'm thinking Akershus might be a bit too similar and Belle in her yellow dress isn't a must. Do you need FP's for the Belle Enchanted Tales or for meeting Belle or Ariel? I know FPs are needed for Elsa and Anna. I will be booking FP's soon.

I'm going to check into 1900 Park Fare because that sounds fun, but we will also be at the Royal Table, so maybe too much overlap again. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

ETA: OP, sorry to go off-topic on your thread! Hopefully, the info will be helpful to you, too.

Thanks, I'm glad I could be of help.

1900 Park Fare is: Cindy, her prince, the stepmother and the stepsisters. I've never done the dinner because it is very meat heavy and since we're all veggies it's just not worth it. I know a lot of people like it though. I personally find the stepmother and stepsisters a hoot, and I think as villains go, they are a lot less threatening than some (Jafar comes to mind.) They get a long line in the parks, so long we've only met them once! The time we did meet them, they were really funny, and the step sisters talked about eating goldfish crackers and accidentally eating cat snacks while DD ate her goldfish. She did offer to share heheheheh

I think it depends on time of year and your schedule whether you need a FP+ for Enchanted Tales or Ariel's Grotto. Both are definitely second or third wave FP+s vs you want to get A+E (if you can, sometimes even when you are on as early as possible you can't get them, that happened to me in Oct 2014 and Dec 2014) and 7 Dwarves right away as otherwise there will not be the option to FP+ The parade and fireworks FP+s also go, but I wouldn't get those unless you are spending more than one day in the parks as otherwise you can't get new FP+s until after the parade. We FP+ the parade in Feb because we were spending a whole week in WDW and so had time to FP+ other things we wanted on other days. In Jan 2015, between 9:15 and 10:00 we met Cindy+Rapunzel, met Ariel, rode Dumbo and still had a FP+ for 7 dwarves for 9:30-10:30. We would have been able to accomplish even more but we lost our autograph book and were desperately searching for it.

I also find after 7:30/8 the line for Ariel and Belle's Enchanted Tales really drops off. It's actually nice to do it with a group with fewer children, because then your children are more likely to get a part. We did it 2x after eating at BoG for dinner.


I know!! Decisions, decisions - I have no idea if she will be interested at all in meeting them or care about dresses or care about an autograph. And since I have no idea, hard to figure out park plans in terms of arranging FP+. She's never been on coaster rides and trying to guess what she may like to do and figure out how to not to spend endless amounts of time in line - makes me want to cry in exasperation.

Definitely skipping the Christmas party but hoping they do the Frozen wishes again and try to catch that. I will probably just stick with Epcot and Akershus b/c we will eat breakfast in our room since I will have a full kitchen unless we need to get into a park early one day.

We skipped Frozen wishes the crowds were insane and the actual lighting is over so quickly.

I always think we will do early entry, but I'm terrible at getting DD moving so we tend to get to the park at opening.

We also play the card game, Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom, so try to do the parties to get the cards. There is usually an exclusive for each party. Last year, the Christmas Party card was Elsa.

Personally, I would FP+ 7 Dwarves, because if you don't the line is going to be 45-90 minutes more than likely. You can test with the Barnstormer which generally has a 5-15 minute line if you go there early in the AM. If your DD doesn't like the Barnstormer, she's not going to like 7 Dwarves because the ride is wilder and longer. It's easier to grab another FP+ later than to get 7 Dwarves. It's like meeting A+E. If your DD decides she doesn't want to, it's easier to get a replacement FP+ then to later try to add them. The same is true for Toy Story Mania in the Studios. You might possible in a quiet time of year be able to get 1 FP+, but getting 2 is very iffy....

If your DD doesn't like 7 dwarves, don't try Space Mountain (I forget the height line for it my DD is not making it so...) I would still give Big Thunder a go though since it has smaller drops than 7 Dwarves or Barnstormer. You can also try Splash Mountain because it's a just different. If your DD doesn't like 7 Dwarves don't do Expedition Everest. Do you have a small amusement park near where you live to test what your DD thinks? We're hoping to go to one this Summer and maybe DL to get some idea of height lines before the 60 day mark.