Originally Posted By Dalia3001 As I've posted numerous times on various threads (sorry for the ridiculous repetition, but I start planning early and go in bursts, lol), I will be visiting DL with my extended family including my wonderful niece who will be three and a half. She is very excited about meeting princesses, and I want to be sure I don't miss out on anything that would be especially fun for her. We will be in the park for six days, so we should have time to do everything if we get in early each morning as we are planning, even though we will be there during spring break, April 14th through the 20th. We will see how she handles the darkness in the dark rides, and I am pretty familiar with all of the regular attractions, I am wondering specificly about little extra experiences that I have generally skipped, like the Sword in the Stone presentation. Having never been to DL with a child, I would love any advice on not to miss experiences for young children. What is the story with the Princess Fair? Is it now a meet and great with no special ceremonies or dancing? Are there any scheduled activities there that we should be aware of? Sword in the Stone seems to be cancelled, does any one know if it might return in the short term? Is she too young for the Jedi training academy? Are there any scheduled events at the Tinkerbell Hollow area that we should be aware of? At DCA, we are planning on seeing Playhouse Disney, going to Flik's Fun Fair, Seeing the Totem Ceremony in the Challenge trail, and we have a reservation to eat with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. Are there any other events that would be great fun for young children that we should be sure not to miss? Thanks in advance for any input, I'm so excited that our trip is right around the corner!
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD I would also recommend seeing Crush in the Animation building at DCA. You will have so much fun. It is incredible seeing DL thru a little one's eyes.
Originally Posted By MomluvsDisney I take my DD who is 2 1/2 to Disneyland several times a month. I have yet to make the stand for the princesses, since each time we have gone in the last month; the line was a minimal an hour wait. And that was going to be too long a wait for my little princess. (plus she is not a huge princess fan...WHOHOOO..lol) I know she would love the Pixie Hallow meet and great (she is a Tinkerbelle fan), but again the shortest line we have seen for that was 40 minutes (and this was the middle of the week three weeks ago, prior to the start of spring break!) Now depending on what admission type you are using to get into the parks, there maybe some perks coming your way. If you purchase a Park hopper pass, you may have an early admission day. This would allow you to enter the park an hour prior to the regular opening time. I believe (since I have not done it myself in over 4 years) that you can access fantasyland and possibly Tomorrowland at the early time. Even if you do not have this it is still possible to do some of the slower moving rides quickly. I find that if you arrive and access the park when it opens, you can do most of the rides in Fantasyland within the first hour (depending on how many potty breaks you might need). To avoid any issues, I tend to take my DD potty every so often. If I do not, she is so excited by being there that she will keep going until she cannot wait anymore (necessitating several changes of clothes). She will ride every ride that she is tall enough for. But the first time she rode Snow white, Mr. Toad, and Pinocchio's big adventure, she looked a bit shell shocked when coming off of them. Oddly enough, she liked the Haunted Mansion her first time, and we ended up riding that one four times more (at her request!) I would recommend taking the 3 year old on small dark rides and work up to bigger ones. I took my DD on the Jungle Cruise and because she did well with that, I took her on Pirates. The only "big" ride she is tall enough for is the Matterhorn, which she has ridden. I think she gets a little scared on the ride, but when she gets off she tells me that the Monster roars and proceeds to roar very loudly. This is usually accompanied with a request to ride again. The last time we went, I took her on the very short coaster ride in Toon Town, and she loves that one as well. (Mmmm....maybe I have a thrill ride junkie for a toddler...lol). Oh and she loves the Astro Blasters in Tommorrowland, and most of the small children I saw riding this ride did as well. When we first went on the ride, I would try to engage her about various points of the ride. When we rode the ride again, she would take the ride in and be ok with it. HTH!
Originally Posted By dlkozy Here is a trick to riding dark rides with little ones. Use a glow in the dark marker (you find them in office supply stores) and draw a mickey face on their hands and bingo they have something to look forward to when they are in the dark. My teenagers have found it fun to outline their ears with a yellow highlighter so that just their ears glow-ya know teenagers! :0)
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Thanks for the tips guys! MomluvsDisney, I recently read your Birthday trip report which I thoroughly enjoyed, and thank you for the additional tips. From reading various guides about DL with toddlers I am trying to not form any expectations, but am looking forward to seeing what my niece enjoys. She and her parents will be coming from Brisbane, Australia, and they report that she is very excited at the prospect of meeting the princesses, so I think that will be on our list for sure. dlkozy, thank you so much for the tip about the marker! What a fun idea! I will certainly pick some of those markers up and include them my bag of tricks, ha ha. I am putting together little gift bags for everyone, printing out stickers,autograph books, thank you notes for CM's and possibly iron-ons for t-shirts (if I get the printer working, lol), as well as bringing some little gifts for the travelers that I picked up at our local Character Warehouse. I also plan on bringing disposable bibs, and our usual arsenol of garbage bags with head holes for the water rides. I can include the glow in the dark "magic" pens in the gifts for the kids or something. My sister in law sent over a big box of breakfast cereal, diapers for the baby and other stuff they were worried they might miss from Oz, and the trip is now right around the corner! I can't wait. Does anyone know if the Princess Fair or The Tinkerbell Hollow is open during Magic Mornings? We do have access to the early entry Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and plan on taking advantage of that. The relatives from Australia are planning on keeping their usual schedule (hopefully), and trying to disregard the time change and get going at their usual early hour. They are very early risers at home (5 am!) so if we manage to get everyone going early (they are very optimistic that this will be possible) I am hoping we can get a nice chunk of touring done each day before 11 am, and then just laze around in the afternoons and evening without to much of a schedule for the adults, and with early bedtimes for the kids.
Originally Posted By MomluvsDisney I cannot speak to the princess fair, but the Pixie Hallow experience opens with the park, but not the magic morning.
Originally Posted By charming husband Our favorite disposable bibs that my very smart wife always brings for the kids are the disposable lobster bibs that you can buy at party supply stores. Covers them up from chin to toes!
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains I would play the princess fantasy faire by ear... you are already seeing many princesses at Ariels Grotto..... Don't forget to get an autograph book - Some (if not all) have a place to sign and a picture sleeve... Great inexpensive souvinear! I would also ask at the information center (near coke corner where the time table is) about some of the other character stuff - ie... Mary Poppins and Bert, Alice and the Mad Hatter.... I have seen Mary do a little performance in front of the castle a couple months ago, and Alice will get down and play games and such...
Originally Posted By tinkerbell1962 Here's what worked for me. My kids loved the glow in the dark nail polish and lip gloss. I could always find this at either a Claire's or Hot Topic store. And for my friend's daughter and my niece I had them watch the dark attractions on You Tube. Happy to report they actually went on all the dark ones!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Another glow in the dark tip: I've bought the glow in the dark bracelets in the tube at Target or Michaels. 20 for $1.00. I'll put 4 or 5 on when it gets dark and put them under my sleeve. When we get on an attraction like HM and I see a scared child I quietly offer one to the parent They are always grateful and it gives the child something else to focus on. Or we'll just be standing in line and I'll see a child staring at my arm and again, I'll offer it to the parent or ask their permission to give it to the child. Just mentioning this because your niece might like bracelets or necklaces and sharing at DLR is always fun I can't offer any advice on the Princess Fair but your idea of being there at the opening of the "Fair" is a great one. Maybe post a specific question in DL or DL trip planning section about the Princesses? Never worry about too many questions
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Thank you for all the tips for the dark rides, those are great ideas! I do need to get my hands on an autograph book, and the ones with the photo sleeves look great. I looked at the character warehouse and a few dollar stores, but no luck yet. I will either try to print my own, (but with the laminating and binding that's not really a savings and time is getting short) or just bite the bullet and buy one from the laughingplace shop or something. I will put glow in the dark bracelets on my list too! I love sharing stuff at Disneyland, what a great idea. : )
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains You can just pick up the autograph book at the store in the DLH or the newstand on your way into the park also. I am not sure if this has changed or not, but others have mentioned with the PFF that you don't know which of the princesses you might get until it's your turn. For Cinderella, you can see her over in DCA during Drawn to the Magic Show - it should be in the time schedule - usually it's Cinderella, Sorcerer Mickey, and Woody. Although we have been there in the past when Hercules was out instead of Woody.
Originally Posted By murfsmom were going to miss you by one day, were there on the 13th ! also don't know if your niece has been around characters, but sometimes kids are ere overwhelmed when they see mickey, pooh,tigger and etc because but we found if we held them up to eye level they were ok with them ! just an idea ! have a wonderful time, going to disneyland with a child for the first time is the most magical thing ever !!
Originally Posted By charming husband Right before Christmas the fam scored on Disney autograph books for 50 cents each at our local Disney warehouse. They were 50th Anniversary autograph books, but the kids could have care less!
