Meeting Cinderella
Fancy heading to Walt Disney World with the kids before they hit school age but think it might be too much for preschoolers? Well I’m just back from Florida with two four-years-olds in tow… and we had a great time. Follow my top ten Walt Disney World tips for preschoolers to make sure you get the best of your holiday.
Make use of stroller hire
You can lug your own pushchair across the Atlantic if you wish – and perhaps cry when you see the damage it suffers after being thrown around by baggage handlers – but it’s much easier to hire one when there. Each of Walt Disney World’s four parks in Florida (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios) has ‘stroller’ hire at the entrance where you can rent single or double buggies for $15 a day, or $13 a day if you want one for the duration of your stay. You can hire multiple buggies on the same day with the same receipt too.
Use your MagicBand as a kids’ ID
MagicBands are Disney’s best non-animated invention – a bracelet with magnetic chips that stores all your information on it. You can use them as your room key if you’re in a Disney hotel, to store your park tickets and your fast passes … and even to shop if you link them to a credit card. Make sure the ones on your toddlers are tied in with your Disney account – and hey presto, you have a homing device if they get lost.
Sand castles at Typhoon Lagoon
Take your ‘down days’ on weekends
Aside from the four theme parks, Disney also operates two water parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Both are great for a more relaxing day out from the parks, but make sure you coincide your relaxation with a weekend, when the parks are at their busiest and harder to get around with young ones.
Make use of Memory Maker
Family holidays tend to mean that someone is always the photographer… well forget about that with Memory Maker, a photo package that costs $199 on the park, but comes FREE with tickets bought in the UK. The package works with your MagicBand – look out for Photopass photographers in the park and get them to snap the family and the scan your band. In an hour or so, they’ll be online for you to download for free. You can get unlimited downloads and unlimited pics – and ride images and character interactions are also included.
Good for grub
There’s a long-standing myth that theme park food is all burger and chips. And while there are fast food restaurants on the park, both they and the higher-end restaurants offer healthy kids options from special balanced menus. Look out for special notices on each menu.
Plan ahead
Even when you go out of school holidays (make sure you check US holidays too before booking), there can be queues at some of the more popular attractions – when we visited last year, we would have had to wait five hours to see Anna and Elsa from Frozen. So as soon as you book your tickets, start to make use of the FastPass system. It’s free and you can book three rides/attractions a day before your visit – and when you’ve used them up on the day, you can add more at terminals around the parks. Obviously it makes sense to group those first three together by choosing popular attractions that are close to each other – and to do so in times that easily allow you to walk from one to the other. Also remember to check height restrictions – toddlers will only be allowed on height-appropriate attractions.
Light-up Mickey ears at Fantasmic!
You don’t have to get there early
Most people advise you to get to the parks early to get on your favourite rides – and to a point, that’s true. But the crowds tend to thin out in late afternoon, particularly in Magic Kingdom after the 3pm parade, so let the kids have a lie-in and plan a later visit that will also allow you to take in some of the spectacular night-time shows, such as IllumiNations at Epcot and Fantasmic! at Hollywood Studios.
Get to the daily parade at Magic Kingdom early
The daily parade at Magic Kingdom is one of the park’s highlights. It starts at 3pm, bang at the hottest time of day, so make sure you bag a shaded spot by 2.30pm that will allow the kids to watch it as close to the front as possible. Top tip: as you head up Main Street USA from the park entrance, the right hand side pavement is the one that will be in the shade when the parade starts.
Be mindful that some rides are in the dark
We had a disaster with our kids on some of the most sedate rides, just because they were in the dark. If your children are wary with the lights off, there are certain rides that won’t be for them.
Book hotels with character dining
If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll want to meet as many Disney characters as possible, so kill a few birds with one stone with character dining. At a set meal time, characters will come around to each table to pose for pics, sign autographs and chat to little ones. While there are some good ones in the parks such as the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom, it makes sense to do a character dining experience in your hotel. Hotels with character meals are:
Disney’s Grand Floridian,
Disney’s Beach Club Resort,
Disney’s Contemporary Resort,
The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort,
Walt Disney World Swan Hotel,
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Beware that staying in the hotel does not guarantee a place – you still have to book.
For more on WDW, see www.disneyholidays.co.uk
