DisneyWorld Question

[sancho]

Hi all,

Going to DisneyWorld in early May. I have 8 year old twins. We went once when the girls were 4 and it was a disaster. We did the 3-D movie first and it FREAKED my daughter out. She basically refused to do anything else for the rest of the trip. Which of course, made my husband very angry . . . which made me very angry . . . which made for a terrible vacation.

4 years later and we are going to try it again. The kids are now older and I'm trying to decide if we should do a character meal or not. We did a Mickey breakfast the last time and it was great. But, now that the kids are older, they aren't really into Disney characters. We also did a princess meal, but I don't think they will want that this time.

Those who have gone with 7-9 year olds, what are your suggestions about character meals and other special events? What worked, what didn't? Were your kids able to do all that walking? Thanks for any insight you can provide for this age group. Do they still find it "magical" at this age?

Thanks,

Lauren

 

[banslug]

Hey, Lauren! I hope you have a much better trip this time around.

I took my 2 boys to Disney in January of 2005 and they were 5 and 8. Keeping in mind that my boys are BOYS and not into Princesses, Princes, etc.....they LOVED the character meals with Mickey, Goofy, Donald, etc. I gave them an 'assignment' to get their autograph books signed by as many characters as they could. It made it more fun to wait in line, scout out the nearest character, etc. As for rides and amusements, I TOTALLY let my boys make the call! If they wanted to do it, we did, if not then we skipped it. I had my mom, my sis and a fellow Catheite with me, so we were also able to split up if just ONE of the boys didn't want to do it. Basically, I kept it completely low-key with no agenda, really.

My kids LOVED Animal Kingdom the best, with The Magic Kingdom their next favorite!

I hope this helps even just a little bit! ENJOY YOURSELF! It's all about family time and THAT'S what is important!

Gayle

 

[Stephanie0523]

We have a six year old and a 3 year old and did a character breakfast in Animal Kingdom and LOVED it, but I can see how you think your girls might not be as into it now. We tried to do this thing called a Family Magic Tour in the Magic Kingdom, but they were all booked. Apparently, the Family Magic Tour is geared toward kids ages 3 to 10, and parents can come along. You have a tour guide that meets you at Guest Relations in the Magic Kingdom and sets up the premise of the tour. i.e. Perhaps Peter Pan has stolen Captain Hook's favorite hook and the captain is so furious that his band of buccaneers is threatening to take over the whole Magic Kingdom. In order to stop him, you must follow a map that takes you around the park -- hopping, skipping, hiding and keeping an eye out for each new clue. At the end of the tour, you can meet up with a character or two and have a special closing surprise. For example, if you get Peter Pan out of trouble, he'll appear and thank you by being your personal tour guide on the Peter Pan's Flight ride. (I wrote all of this word for word from my Walt Disney World With Kids 2007 manuel, btw.) The number to call if you're interested in the Family Magic Tour is: 407-939-8687, and it cost $25 per person.

 

[sancho]

ohhh, I'd never heard of that Family Magic Tour. I will look into that further. If anyone has done this, please let me know how it was for you.

THANKS!

 

[Mikkia]

I went to Disney with a 2,3,4,6,7 year old kids (AND their parents LOL). The 7 y/o boy loved rollercoasters, the haunted mansion, epcot in general and the Mickey character breakfasts and lunches. The 6 y/o girl loved all of the above and all things "girly". I think that you can find something for everyone at Disney. MGM studios was also fun and had plenty for the 10 and under crowd. Hope it helps.