Taking a 3 Yr old to Disney World
Welcome 😊
I recently travelled to Disney World Florida from the UK and I wanted to share my experiences with you. I have a 3 year old boy who suffers from asthma, acid reflux and a dairy intolerance so not the easiest trip to make.
It was the first time our little one had been on an aeroplane and what better way to experience it than a 9 1/2 hour flight!
We flew with Virgin Airlines and they were fantastic, always coming to say hello to the little man, giving him snacks and making him feel at ease. The only downside was that due to him having a dairy intolerance he could not have a children's meal so had to order the Vegan adult option which was not particularly suited to him. After the odd tantrum here and there (which was expected) we had arrived. At the end of the flight the air-hostesses gave my little man a Junior Jetsetter certificate and asked him if he wanted to go to visit the pilot in the cockpit, it was these little touches that make you realise why Virgin have such a good Virgin reputation
After what felt like an eternity to get through US Customs and Baggage Reclaim we made our way to our hotel. Despite only having 2 hours sleep the little man was determined he wanted to go swimming.......... normally this wouldnt be a problem but it would have been midnight back home.
The Hotel - All Star Movies
During our stay at Disney we were based at All Star Movies Resort. The hotel is approximately 30-40 minutes away from Orlando International Airport by Coach. The hotel was clean/tidy, the rooms were small but that was because we had a pull out bed for the little man so it took a lot of space up. It didnt bother us as it was just our base for sleeping. The hotel had a food court which had 4 stations to it and a refrigerated section for fruit, drinks and sandwiches etc. The 4 stations consisted of an Italian which served food such as pasta and pizza, an american which served chicken strips, burgers, foot-longs and fries, a what I would class as a hodgepodge station with chilli in a bun and stir fry. The remaining station was an ice-cream parlour. As my son had a dairy intolerance there was an allergy station where you ask for the chef and they cater for your requirements by telling you the options and cook it fresh to avoid cross contamination.
Within the hotel there is a drinks station, for around $20 you can top up your drink unlimited times at the hotel. This was a money saver with drinks such as Fanta, Coke, Sprite, Root Beer, Hi-C on tap.
We used to fill our cup up before we went to the park so we had a drink for the morning then fill the cup up with water where needed.
The hotel had an on site shop which sold souvenirs, bread, crisps etc. There was an arcade with a variety of games (at a cost) and two swimming pools. At the Fantasia pool there was daily entertainment and we spent most of our afternoons there. By the pool was complimentary towels so you didnt need to bring your own, and near the pool in the early evening each day the entertainment crew hosted a fire pit where you could toast complimentary marshmallows. My little one loved it.
In the room we had a mini fridge, a tv, wifi and a coffee machine. There was a hair dryer but my wife preferred to bring her own.
The whole place was just a clean, polite and magical place.
The Parks
Magic Kingdom
There is nothing more magical than the moment you hit Main Street and see Cinderella's Castle. We arrived for opening and seeing the little mans face light up when Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy performed on stage was magical. Staying at the Disney Hotel we had 30 minutes early entry which allowed us to go on some of the rides with little queuing.
After being a little overwhelmed we began to make our way around the park and rides. Our little man was 100cm tall, we had done our research pre holiday as to which rides the little man was able to go on and across the different Magic Kingdom days he went on the following rides:
- Astro Orbiter – Any height
- The Barnstormer – Guests must be 35 inches (89 centimeters) or taller
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – Any height
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – Any height
- Haunted Mansion – Any height
- “it’s a small world” – Any height
- Jungle Cruise – Any height
- Mad Tea Party – Any height
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – Any height
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – Any height
- Peter Pan’s Flight – Any height
- Pirates of the Caribbean – Any height
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – Any height
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – Guests must be 38 inches (97 centimeters) or taller
- Tomorrowland Speedway – Guests must be 32 inches (82 centimeters) or taller
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – Any height
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – Any height
- Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room – Any height
His favourite rides at Magic Kingdom were Pirates of the Caribbean, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, People Mover and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger. A good collective mix of rides from a water based boat ride to a rollercoaster, shooting targets and gentle ride around Tomorrowland. Queuing wasnt too bad for the time of year, we didnt utilise lightening lane at MK which is a paid for skip the line service as we didnt feel the need to with the number of days we were there. The longest we queued for was around 65 minutes which was for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We didnt have much luck at times, the Seven Dwarf Mine Train broke down for approximately 30 minutes whilst we were near the front of the queue, the People Mover broke down whilst we were on it, that resulted in us being stuck in a tunnel for 40 minutes before being escorted across the tracks and Buzz Lightyear also broke down whilst we were on it, again sat there for around 10-15 minutes before it moved again. I dont recall these issues when I last visited Disney 4-5 years ago.
With the little mans dairy intolerance we had to be careful where we ate, the main items in the quick service kiosks we chose were chicken strips, beef burger (no cheese) (brioche bun was dairy free), plain footlong hotdog, fries. Snack wise we had ice creams at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor along Main Street which had a really nice vegan option with peanut butter sauce, mickey pretzels without the nacho cheese sauce and frozen lollies.
Everything was clearly labelled if it was plant based but other than the above we struggled to find suitable alternatives that weren't a full on sit down meal with a child with little attention span.
The parades were fantastic especially the Cavalcade Parade. The little man was so excited shouting daddy daddy look its Chip&Dale, Elsa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy etc etc as the cavalcade/floats headed through the park. The parade lasted for around 15 minutes with "Festival of Fantasy" on repeat through the tannoys/speakers. It was the same parade each day but that did not matter, the little man was engaged and truly believed he was seeing Mickey Mouse from the TV and that was all that mattered.
We met a number of characters at Magic Kingdom which included Pooh Bear, Tigger and the Chipmunks.
We attended Disney during Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party which was an additional paid ticketed event so we had to plan our trips to Magic Kingdom around this due to the park shutting early these days. We did not attend as we felt that he was not ready for this setting, coincide that with him struggling to get past 7pm each day. It looked great and something we would most definitely do in the future.
Out of our 4/5 days at Magic Kingdom we did manage to attend the fireworks on one occasion, it was a long day for the little man but he managed to stay awake until we boarded the shuttle back to the hotel. The fireworks lasted around 17 minutes, we watched them from main street. The lights went off and the lasers and fireworks flashed above the castle into the sky to the sounds of Disney classics projected onto the castle front. The fireworks are worth the entrance fee alone.
Animal Kingdom
During our holiday we spent approximately 1 1/2 days at Animal Kingdom. What can I say, I love this park. It offers something very different to Magic Kingdom, think of a theme park zoo.
Animal Kingdom was the closest park to our hotel it was around a 15 minute shuttle ride away. The little man was too small to go on some of the rides but there was still plenty to do and see for his age and height.
The rides we managed to go on were as follows:
- Conservation Station – Any height
- Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail – Any height
- Kali River Rapids – Guests must be 38 inches (97 centimeters) or taller
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – Any height
- Maharajah Jungle Trek – Any height
- Na’vi River Journey – Any height
- TriceraTop Spin – Any height
- Wildlife Express Train – Any height
When we got to the park we headed straight to the Avatar Navi River ride as this was going to be one of the rides with the longest average queue time throughout the day, I think we ended up queuing 40 minutes with early entry. Another attraction we headed to early on in the day was the Festival of the Lion King show which is live action show with characters from the Lion King and tumblers doing acrobatics etc, the little one loved it. We decided to see the 1st show in case it got too busy later in the day with many people utilising lightening lane.
The main rides the little man loved were Kali River Rapids which he was made captain for (and we got soaked on), the Wildlife Express Train and the Kilimanjaro Safari. With the safari we ended up queuing over an hour as the animals had blocked the route around, we were not anticipating such a long queue time and as we set off the dreaded words of "I need a wee" came out. Cant say I felt relaxed for that 25 minute ride around.
Character wise we queued for Mickey & Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and the Chipmunks (also known as the Dino Chipmunks). The longest we queued for a character was an hour which was for Mickey & Minnie and shortest was 5 minutes for Daisy.
Foodwise there were plenty of quick service restaurants too choose from with the usual burgers, hotdogs, fries etc. Dinner wise we ate at Flame Tree BBQ which was a more gourmet quick service where I had an amazing pulled pork mac and cheese that was full of dairy.
Hollywood Studios
We really enjoyed our time at Hollywood Studios, this park had a mixture of rides and live action shows. The little man was really looking forward to ride the Slinky Dog Dash in Toy Story Land, if you dont get in the queue immediately after early entry you can end up queuing 2 hours. We decided to purchase Genie Plus for one of the days we went to Hollywood Studios just to skip the queue for Slinky Dog. When I logged on at 7am the only time that was available for Slinky Dog Dash was 11:55-12:55 but at least we had a guaranteed slot albeit at a costs of $45. I think we only utilised Genie Plus twice for that day so it felt a bit like a waste of money.
The rides we visited at Hollywood Studios were
- Alien Swirling Saucers – Guests must be 32 inches (81 centimeters) or taller
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway – Any height
- Muppet*Vision 3D – Any height
- Slinky Dog Dash – Guests must be 38 inches (97 centimeters) or taller
- Toy Story Mania! – Any height
I know that doesnt sound like much in comparison to Magic Kingdom but alongside the rides we also watched the Beauty and the Beast live show which was a 45 minute stage show (which was incredible), Mickeys Dance Party and Frozen Sing Along which can only be described as a movie show with a touch of live action features. The best part of Frozen Sing Along was when Elsa came out and sang Let It Go where she made it snow in the theatre, the little man was in awe singing/shouting along at the top of his voice.
Character wise we visited Olaf and Goofy. Chip & Dale made an appearance in a grassed fenced area where they wave at you and you can take photographs from a far, we did bump into them as we were heading to the loo and they high fived/tickled the little man and gave him a sticker (which he loved) We watched a small parade of Woody, Buzz and The Incredibles pass through the park, it wasnt full on like the cavalcade but it filled the void.
Our favourite ride throughout the whole holiday was at Hollywood Studios, this was Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway. I enjoyed Slinky Dog but the little man found it too fast and I am sure he was getting paler and paler as it went round.
We rode the Disney Skyliner which was a free cable car service to Epcot, to get to Epcot I think it took around 25 minutes and it was nice not to have to wait for the bus and nice to rest our feet taking in the sights of Disney from above.
Food wise it consisted of more fried food and frozen lollies.
Epcot
I wasnt sure what to think of Epcot and whether it would be suitable for our little man. Utilising the early entry we headed straight to the Frozen Ride, we queued for 30 minutes before being taken on a journey through Arendelle. The little man loved it singing LET IT GO at the top of his voice. Monitoring the queue times throughout holiday the best chance we had of going on the ride again without a 2 hour wait was to rejoin the queue straight afterwards, unfortunately after 40 minutes and about 5 minutes from going on the ride it broke down and we were all ushered out of the building which left my little man devastated. We hung around the entrance for 10 minutes in the event it reopened and thankfully it did and we jumped straight on.
The rides we went on were as follows:
- Frozen Ever After – Any height
- Living with the Land – Any height
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – Any height
We didnt find too much to go on for his height so didnt spend all day at the park, I think we left at 3pm and headed back to the hotel for our daily swim.
Character wise we met Goofy, Pluto and Daisy duck. We did see various other characters around the park including Tigger, Donald and Pooh Bear but didnt feel it was necessary to see them as we had multiple pictures with them at other parks.
Typhoon Lagoon
During our visit we did venture to Typhoon Lagoon, we didnt stay long as my son was suffering from dry eyes and on eye drops throughout most of the holiday. I think the water park overwhelmed him a little bit. Due to him growing up during covid times he wasnt able to start swimming lessons until earlier this year, I would say this also had an impact.
To get to Typhoon Lagoon we had to catch the shuttle to Disney Springs, from Disney Springs it then took another 5 minutes. It was straight forward but the shuttles arent so frequent.
Surviving Hurricane Ian
Throughout the Holiday we had seen warnings that there could be a Hurricane on its way. We then received the dreaded news that the parks would be shut for at least two days. Whilst our main priority was keeping safe I did have to rejig some park reservations in readiness for opening again but wondered what we would do to occupy a 3 year old for 2 days.
The hotel communications regarding the hurricane were very poor, we didnt know what was happening, it was all through hear say and Google. We pitched ourselves up in the food court so we had a base for the day that wasnt out hotel room. The swimming pool was open for half a day on day one until it closed due to increasingly volatile weather. The little man didnt want to go swimming in fear of the lightening (which didnt come). Over the two days we did have Woody, Goofy and Mr Incredible visit on multiple occasions posing for photographs and partaking in the activities that were going on. The hotel made the arcade free to play for everyone which was a nice touch and had various quizzes, games, arts and crafts. It was unprecedented times so queuing for food took a good 30 or so minutes longer than normal so you had to strategically decided when you wanted food and start queuing earlier.
The Hurricane hit us overnight, I woke up at 3am to strong winds and rain, it wasnt the weather that woke me it was my body clock. If it wasnt for that then I would have slept through it. The sound proofing of the room was brilliant. I understand it was downgraded to a Tropical Storm but I couldnt help but think of the other areas of Florida that were hit so much worse. I am led to believe that Disney have really good infrastructure that consists of hurricane proof buildings, own electrical grid and excellent drainage planning. We retained power throughout but from what I read over 2 million people were without power. Once the storm had passed there was visible debris of fallen branches and leaves but no major damage that I could see at our resort.
Disney had announced that the parks would re open in a phased manner which resulted in us having 2 hours early access to Magic Kingdom as a resort guest. This allowed us to go on some rides we might not have necessarily considered queuing for with a 3 year old i.e Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan etc. The park was clean, tidy and the sky was blue, it was as if nothing had ever happened. The trip to the park saw some localised flooding and fallen trees but that was about it.
Either Disney had escaped the hurricane or the cast members were working through the night to ensure the cosmetic reputation was not tarnished.
Eating Establishments
We dined at a number of quick service establishments throughout our holiday which were:
- Backlot Express
- Starlight Cafe
- Flame Tree Barbeque
- Restrauntosaurus
- Regal Eagle Smokehouse
The food for a quick service was really good quality. We didnt do character dining as we were working to a budget, what with a temperamental 3 year old a lengthy sit down meal seemed impossible. When he is a little older we will definitely do this.
Hotel Food options we consumed
- Chilli Cheese Dog & Fries
- Footlong Hot Dog & Fries (Dairy Free)
- Pepperoni Pizza (Vegan option cooked by chef)
- Margarita Pizza (Vegan option cooked by chef)
- Chicken Strips & Fries (Dairy Free)
- Chicken Parm with Pasta
- Pasta & Chicken (Special Request Dairy Free)
- Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich
- 2 Scoop Ice Cream (Special Request Dairy Free)
- Mickey Waffles, Bacon & Sausage (Vegan option available)
- Tatotots (Dairy Free
- Chilli & Cheese in Bread Roll
- Bacon Cheese Burger & Fries
- Cheese Burger & Fries
- Hamburger & Fries (Dairy Free)
- Soy Chocolate Milk (Dairy Free)
Park Food options we consumed
- Frozen Strawberry Pot (Dairy Free)
- Olaf Lolly (Dairy Free)
- Strawberry Lolly (Dairy Free)
- Mickey Pretzel & Nacho Cheese Pot (Pretzel Dairy Free)
- Chilli Cheese Dog & Fries
- Footlong Hot Dog & Fries (Dairy Free)
- Bacon Cheese Burger & Fries
- Cheese Burger & Fries
- Hamburger & Fries (Dairy Free)
- Pulled Pork Burger with Cheese (without cheese dairy free)
- Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Pulled Pork
- PB&J Uncrustable (Dairy Free)
Final Thoughts
Overall the holiday was as magical as we expected, not even the hurricane could dampen our spirits. The £ to $ conversation rate made the holiday noticeably more expensive than previous visits but as part of our booking package we received a $500 dining credit and a $200 gift credit. We spent approximately $300 on teddies, bubble wands and general Disney tac which of course could have been purchased cheaper at home but it all forms part of the Disney holiday experience. I did walk away thinking that maybe the rides and the park were becoming a little tired with multiple rides either being "temporarily closed" throughout the day or breaking down whilst on them..... so would I book to go again............. most definitely, in fact we have booked to visit Disneyland Paris in 2023 to see what Mickey Magic we will find there.
Comments
Post a Comment