Rides for little ones!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-22-2004
Rides for little ones!
2
Sun, 07-30-2006 - 10:12am

Can you give me a list of rides that is good for each park?


I will have a six and two year old when we go. TIA



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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Sun, 07-30-2006 - 2:12pm

Just got back from WDW w/ my kids, who are 6, 9 and almost 3.

At MK, rides everybody loved included: Pooh Bear, Small World, Peter Pan, Mad Hatter tea cups, Indy Speedway (not my favorite; I hate the smell and the wait), Buzz Lightyear (over the course of the week, we did it over a dozen times!), Pirates of the Carribean, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo,...what else? My 6-yo DD loved Splash Mountain (my 9-yo doesn't like roller coasters in general). DS-2 liked Mickey's ToonTown Fair -- we just went to MIckey's house and the little kid playground there. They all did just fine at Haunted Mansion, to my surprise. I thought the moans and screams were pretty creepy. We all liked both the afternoon and evening parades, and the fireworks.

At Epcot, my 2-yo wasn't big enough for some stuff, but loved Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey through the Imagination, and Maelstrom. My older kids loved Soarin' and Mission Space as well. My 6-yo didn't want to try Test Track (it's pretty loud, and she doesn't like loud stuff). They all liked the first half of Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but the show was cut short by technical difficulties. Following Journey in the Imagination, they all liked playing in the Kodak area, where you could morph your photo into different animals, etc. And they all liked hanging out in China where some kids taught them to use mambo sticks (well, the 2-yo just pretended it was a light saber, but he had fun).

At Animal Kingdom, everyone LOVED the safari -- go as early in the morning as you can, the animals will be much more active and closer to the vehicle. The older kids loved the Kali River Rapids. My 6-yo loved Dinosaur, but DH and DS-9 didn't like it so much. Triceratops Spin (another version of Aladdin's carpets and Dumbo) was popular with the younger kids (and it had a much shorter line than Dumbo ever has!). My 2-yo liked the bird show at AK, but DH said that it had a lot of humor that my oldest son would have liked. I didn't get to see the Lion King show; my older kids said it was pretty good, and my DH was surprised that they didn't all-out love it. He said it was the kind of think he thought they'd really love, and he was sorry our DS-2 missed it (DS-2 was having a bit of a meltdown that afternoon and stayed behind to nap).

At MGM, they all liked Muppetvision 3-D and Ariel. We never made it to Beauty and the Beast (bummer! I hear it's a great show) or Fantasmic. The older kids liked Star Tours. We all went to the Indiana Jones show and loved it, though it was a bit long for my 2-yo with the long wait beforehand (and we had used Fastpass -- still had to be seated a 1/2 hour before the show, though). MGM had *lots* of characters hanging around -- the cars from Cars, the Power Rangers, Mickey and friends, Pooh Bear and friends, Chicken Little, Stitch, etc. The kids also liked the Honey I Shrunk the kids playground.

All in all, plenty for the little one. I might add that my almost-3-yo is really not afraid of fireworks, loud noises, scary dinosaurs or pirates, etc. Every kid is different, though. I'm sure there are more rides that are enjoyable for these ages, this is just what we happened to do during our week. We had very few waits over 10-15 minutes, and we used Fastpass a lot. Getting to the park as early as possible helped us avoid lines; we were so glad we made the effort -- it was totally worthwhile for us, and we are normally not morning people.

Happy planning!
Chris

Avatar for cl_ktbugsmom
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 07-30-2006 - 4:16pm

There are only a few things that your 2 yo will not be able to go on due to height- a very few things.


My girls were 7,2 &1 in Dec when we went and here's a quick run down of what the 1 &2 yo went on with everyone.


MK- Buzz lightyear, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress (open seasonally which translates to whenever they decide to open it), Astro Orbiter, Tomorrowland Speedway, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Small World, Pooh, Peter Pan (the younger two hated it), Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean (they loved it), Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, Train (a favorite)


They're convinced the monorail & boats are rides too.


Epcot - hmmm we didn't do any of the rides in the countries that trip now that I'm reflecting on it. In fact the only rides that were done was Test Track by my oldest & dh.