Which rope drops for 3 year old and other ?'s.

[Nztara]

After visiting Seaworld this weekend with DS, I am rethinking my park plans for January. I was originally planning mostly early mornings because he is usually awake by 7:30, a mid-day break and then back to the parks for about three hours in the afternoon.

I was hoping to tour straight through at AK since most feedback says it is not a full day park, but if I do that I will have to change my days for visiting certain parks. Our rest day will certainly need to be the following AK.

I've also learned that after an early morning, we will need to sleep in a bit. Getting him to unwind after 5.5 hours at Seaworld took quite a bit of time!

So...if I must plan only two rope drops during our 5 park days, which do you suggest? I'm leaning towards MK and AK based on reviews of opening ceremonies. DSS will be two weeks shy of his 3rd birthday when we are there at the end of January.

Also, DS seemed to really love the shows with acrobatics at Seaworld. Knowing this, if we have to choose between the Lion King and Nemo shows at AK, which do you suggest?

We are planning two MK days, one day at the other three parks. I know we will not see it all, but am now thinking we will see even less than I thought. DH and I will have two date nights thanks to my parents who will be staying close by offsite and not visiting any parks. One date night will be the wishes dessert party. Any suggestions for the second date night in a park without expensive dining?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BubblyTrip]

Since MK has the most to do for a 3 yo, I'd definitely RD that one. You'll get so much done in FL before the crowds hit. Since we have gone only at high crowd times, I let my son know that the first few hours are for rides, and shopping and wandering happen a little later in the day. It's a long walk past a lot of tempting stores on Main Street when you get in MK.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I think you have a good plan. There are not that many rides in Epcot for a 3yo. Nemo had a wait in the morning but was walk on at 5pm. Ditto for DHS. Just plan your FP+ and it will be fine that you are not there for rope drop.

Between the Lion King and Nemo I would pick the Lion King, especially since your son likes the acrobats.

We were there two weeks ago for ds's 3rd birthday and did rope drop at the MK, between 9am - 12:30p we did Buzz, Speedway, Teacups, Dumbo, Great Goofini, Under the Sea, sat and had a snack, SDMT FP+, Winnie the Pooh FP+, Peter Pan, and IASW.

For your 2nd date night I would just walk around the countries in the World Showcase, browse the shops, see the movies (I love the movies!). You don't have to do a pricey meal, I'm happy with the fish and chips in England, a drink along the way (usually a champagne in France or Presecco in Italy) and a dessert (I like the caramel shop in Germany).

Enjoy!

 

[abh413]

MK rope drop welcome show is nice. I'm not sure how the crowds are in Jan but we just got back and Peter Pan had a 45 min wait every day we went. If you don't have a FP, you might want to hit it pretty early.

My just turned 3 year old has already given up naps & we are pretty hard core in the parks. He took naps as needed in the stroller since we didn't break out of the parks midday. My 5 year old is very hard to settle but she was so exhausted each day, nighttime was easy... Straight to bed. We didn't plan any sit down dinners either... They would've been too tired for that.

Both my youngest & my 5 year old loved AK. We were there until close & still didn't get to see everything we were hoping to do. Lion King was great. We didn't get to Nemo. We did a bunch of character meet & greets too. I disagree with the majority that AK is not a full day (at least when they close at 6 pm).

 

[jacknsally19]

So I just returned from WDW with an almost three year old. Based on our experiences, I would probably recommend doing MK as the early morning park.

I noticed that AK was actually a lot busier earlier in the morning and then by 2 - 3 the park completely cleared out. In fairness, the day I was there was early morning hours for resort guests. I would certainly recommend the Lion King show over Nemo. That being said - you could probably swing both. There are not a lot of toddler friendly attractions at AK. I love that park and encourage people to try it out but my daughter was very, very upset that she couldn't go on more rides. Also, a significant portion of the park is behind construction walls right now.

I feel like DHS is completely a 1/2 day park with toddlers. The only things that I did with my child at that park was Toy Story Mania, the Disney Jr Show, Buzz & Woody Meet and Greet, and the Frozen sing a long. I think we arrived at 10 AM and left by 2:30.

We certainly enjoyed Epcot. There is Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Journey into Imagination, the Three Callbaeros (sp?)... lots of character meet & greats, and fun shows sprinkled throughout the world showcase.

Anyway, I would probably plan on making longer days out of MK & Epcot and using DHS / AK as your days with more down time allotted (and potentially your date nights! I totally agree that strolling the World Showcase and watching Illuminations is an excellent plan)

 

[tina.tina]

AK cleared out after the parade when we went. I've seen that park no longer has a parade but still clears out in the late afternoon. I think a child your DS's age would love walking the animal trails and I would be sure to plan plenty of time for that. When you're in a hurry, you can miss a lot of magic!

 

[Nztara]

Thank you for the input! My FP+ date is this week so I'm making lots of notes. There's no way to see and do it all, but we'll make the most of the time we have!