Toddler Travel Archives - Page 3 of 16

Feb 23 2016

Daring to Disney: Dining Reviews

180 days before our trip, I made some advanced dining reservations (ADRs). Out of those, I kept Via Napoli, Biergarten, Chef Mickey’s, Be Our Guest (lunch), and I made a new reservation for the Coral Reef restaurant. I ended up canceling Le Cellier just because Jess and I didn’t want to spend half of our date night at Epcot at dinner.

Just as a refresher, Disney allows you to make ADRs at most of their sit down restaurants up to 180 days in advance. If you are staying on site, you can book for your entire trip 180 days before the first day of your trip. Here are my impressions of the five places we hit up with reservations in chronological order, and a few thoughts on some of our favorite counter service experiences at the parks as well.

She pretty much faced that direction the entire time

Coral Reef Restaurant (Epcot)

Located outside of The Seas with Nemo and Friends, the Coral Reef restaurant is essentially what you would expect if you were dining in an aquarium. Seating is set up across four levels, all with views of the gigantic ocean tank of The Seas. You’re definitely making this reservation for the view, not for the food – which is passable but nothing spectacular. We arrived at our 5:30 PM reservation to find the restaurant already quite full. We were seated on the second level – I wonder how early you have to get there (or who you have to know) to get seated at the tables right up against the glass. Still, we had an amazing view and M spent most of the time staring at fish and sharks instead of eating.

IMG_20160105_181551973

The food is general seafood fare, portions are decent, and if you or your kid likes eating fish everything will be fine. M doesn’t really order from the kids’ menu so I can’t speak to that, though you pretty much can get chicken fingers anywhere you want in Walt Disney World. I thought this was a nice restaurant for the view, but if you’re pinching pennies or not into aquariums this is definitely an easy place to cut off of your list in my opinion.

Biergarten (Germany Pavilion, Epcot)

Ever since we visited Bavaria two summers ago, I’ve been craving some good schnitzel. I figured the Biergarten in the Germany pavilion would have some decent German fare, plus I was interested in checking out the musical performance. The Biergarten was a bit of a mixed bag, I really enjoyed it but my wife and parents were a bit cooler on the whole thing. It is a buffet and thus it can feel pricey (about $30 for adults for lunch), but think of it as paying for the show as well.

Speaking of which, the show only happens at certain times – pretty regularly but if you are scheduling around a naptime or don’t think your kid can sit for forty five minutes to wait, make sure you note those times. (I want to say they happened on the :45s, but don’t quote me on that. I’m pretty sure the show we saw was at 12:45 because we had a 12:00 reservation and I was like how are we gonna kill 45 minutes).

I thought the food was great – fried schnitzel, sausages, and spatzle are enough for me! Soft drinks are included, though you have to pay extra for beer – I got a flight and was quite pleased (maybe that’s why I enjoyed it the most?). Everyone agreed – the show is great, there’s a lot of fun to be had plus they showcase some unique instruments like gigantic horns that stretch from the stage to the floor that keeps things light and fun. Plus M got to hit the dancefloor at the end which is always a plus. You’ve also got the added benefit that the Germany pavilion is further inside World Showcase so you can work off the calories on your way back to Future World!

Via Napoli (Italy Pavilion, Epcot)

While I wasn’t blown away by those first two restaurants, I’d have to say that Via Napoli might be one of the best restaurants on all of Disney property. Good pizza? Check. Good pasta? Check. Low price? Check in spades. The great thing about Via Napoli is you are ordering pizzas to share, so while they still run on the expensive side (like $30), two pizzas for four people at $60 is way cheaper than four $25 entrees at other restaurants.

We were so excited about eating the pizza I forgot to take a picture before we started

We ordered the Candele pasta and a Mezzo Metro sized pizza ($41, supposed to feed 3-5 people). Add a salad and it was plenty of food for all of us and our cheapest non counter meal in all of Disney. What makes this all even better is that the pizza is excellent and the pasta was very good as well. Generally the food at Disney felt marked up, but it felt like average food marked up to the prices of excellent food. This was excellent food marked up to excellent food prices, and it still was cheaper than everywhere else. Make a reservation for Via Napoli 180 days in advance and ENJOY.

The Italy pavilion is beautiful at night

Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom)

Be Our Guest gives you the chance to eat in the Beast’s castle. This is another restaurant worth the reservation with an added benefit: at lunchtime it’s counter service so the prices are only a little higher than you’d pay to eat anywhere else in the park. After you order, you are given a “magic beacon” of sorts and then your food magically appears 5-10 minutes later. Think of it as the most beautiful cafeteria you’ve ever eaten in. There are three distinct rooms – each with their own themeing and feel. We ate in the ballroom so that we could take in the Christmas tree that was still up.

The fanciest cafeteria I've ever eaten in — The fanciest cafeteria I’ve ever eaten in

If you have a reservation, one super clutch thing you can do is order online beforehand. This gets you past the lines to order at the counter (and your reservation gets you past the line to get in). So you’re basically going straight to your seats and waiting for your food. You can also amend/add to this order when you’re paying, so I’d highly recommend it.

Croque Monsieur = fancy grilled cheese. Though I'm not sure if they forgot the bechamel or what... — Croque Monsieur = fancy grilled cheese. Though I’m not sure if they forgot the bechamel or what…

I thought the food was a notch better than regular park counter food – it’s all French themed. French onion soup, croque monsieur, coq au vin, that kind of stuff. We all thoroughly enjoyed our food. Dinner is an even hotter ticket, as the restaurant transforms into a sit down restaurant – see Tiny Urban Kitchen’s review for that (and better pictures!).

More visual trickery from the Imagineers

Chef Mickey’s (Contemporary Hotel)

We saved our best ADR for last. I wrote about Chef Mickey’s in my last post, so I won’t go into it too much here. But I had a super happy three year old and I had eaten three Mickey waffles and like 15 chicken fingers by the end of it so I’d say it was a rousing success all around. The one downside is you don’t get to spend too much time with the characters, but it makes up for lack of depth with tons of breadth, plus in our experience they were fairly nice about taking extra pictures later on anyway (some of our original pictures got washed out from bad sunlight).

Counter Service restaurants worth mentioning

Here are a couple of counter service highlights we had.

Columbia Harbor House

One of the best options for healthy-ish food in the Magic Kingdom. You can get grilled salmon with a ton of broccoli to help balance out all the french fries and chicken finger you’ve been eating. There were also serving a pretty sweet looking seafood (lobster?) macaroni and cheese when we were there if you’re not feeling healthy. I took my wife on a date there Friday night and then took my daughter on a date there the night after – both enjoyed it!

Harambe Market

Flame Tree Barbecue is supposedly the place to go in the Animal Kingdom and I totally buy that. But for shorter lines, check out Harambe Market in Africa. The themeing really was top notch (apparently Dia’s talked to the people behind it) and there was a good variety of food to choose from. I’d say the only thing to avoid are the corn dogs, there were two Spaniards who bought some and didn’t seem too pleased, haha.

L’Artisan des Glaces

Really, it’s tough to go wrong across the entire World Showcase, it will pretty much have something to suit your tastes if you just poke around. I want to give a special shout out to L’Artisan des Glaces though. We love eating ice cream and the ice cream there was top notch. Jess and I stole away thirty minutes when the kids were napping to go enjoy this place one afternoon and we ended up going back on another day. I will just leave you to think upon these pictures of the Croque Glace – any flavor of ice cream in a warm brioche bun.

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Final Thoughts

Obviously, it would take months to review all the Disney food out there, so take everything I said here with a grain of salt, PUN INTENDED. I would say from my experience and what I’ve read though, I am quite confident in recommending Via Napoli and Be Our Guest. Also – Mickey Mouse ice cream bars. Bon appetit!

Other Posts in this Series

Flights, Hotel, and Car

Making Disney Dining Reservations

Saving Money on Disney Tickets

Using Touring Plans (the non-touring plan parts)

Optimizing a visit using Touring Plans’ touring plans

Saving money by staying off site

When a Disney annual pass makes sense

Touring Epcot attractions with a toddler

Touring Animal Kingdom with a toddler

One perfect day at the Magic Kingdom

Dining Reviews

Tips for parents of toddlers and infants

Things I wished I knew before I went to Disney

Feb 17 2016

Should I bring my own car seat or rent it at my destination?

At this point we’ve traveled enough with our three year old (and even our seven month old son) to have a general idea of what to consider when making those all important trip planning decisions. So when Points for Later was curious as to whether to rent a car seat or bring his own, I thought I’d put down some thoughts as to what I generally consider when making the decision.

Obviously, no two families are the same, but hopefully this post can give you a framework to start with.

If your child is still an infant whose car seat doubles as his or her stroller seat (with a caddy), I generally recommend you bring your own and just gate check it. I think that’s what is going to be most convenient for the majority of people unless you find it a major hassle to have your stroller in the terminal. And boosters are easy enough to check for the older kids.

But for toddlers with those large-ish car seats, the decision for me boils down to three things: safety, cost, and convenience. Here are six questions to ask yourself as you decide whether to bring your own car seat or rent it at your destination.

1) Do I feel safer renting a car seat whose history I do not know, or do I feel safer trusting airline cargo handlers to handle my car seat with care?

I used to think the answer to this question was easy: I’d trust the baggage handlers to not bash my car seat around much more than some random car seat that isn’t my own. But having checked my car seat in many times, I can’t help but notice the incredible wear and tear that my car seat bag has endured. There are places where the bag looks like it is literally going to rip at the bottom.

Baggage handlers aren’t going to lay the car seat down gently, they are just going to toss it onto the belt/into the baggage truck willy nilly. That is not the force that a car collision generates, but it is a decent amount of force. So are you comfortable with that? Or are you comfortable with a “stranger’s” car seat?

M's first trip to Italy at 6 months. Car seats are much easier at this age — M’s first trip to Italy at 6 months. Car seats are much easier at this age

Full disclosure: I have never rented a car seat at my destination. However, I’ve seen car seats at many rental agencies – they look pristine. Either they are hardly used, they are replaced often (like they do with the cars), or they do an incredible job of cleaning them. My guess is those car seats just get strapped into cars and taken out of them – aka they aren’t tossed around. So maybe they have less wear and tear than your own car seat?

I don’t have the answers – it’s all about risk mitigation and what you and your family is more comfortable with.

2) Do I trust the car rental company is using car seats that haven’t expired?

Again with risk mitigation – just because I’ve seen five or six rental agencies with pristine car seats doesn’t mean that every agency does it that way. When I first was making this decision years ago, this Consumer Reports article adequately scared me away from renting a car seat. My stance has changed considerably since then, but it is a fair point.

There is not going to be a ton of oversight going into those car seats, so I’d recommend calling the rental agency and asking some questions about how they treat their car seats if you are going to rent. Not the 1-800 number, I mean go out and find the number of the actual location you are renting from.

Remember, car seats expire – heck, yours might have expired and you don’t even know it. The foam breaks down, general wear and tear, models get outdated, etc. Just something for you to weigh in your decision making.

3) Are you traveling enough to make the cost of buying a car seat bag/carrier worth it?

If you are going to travel once with your toddler before they hit booster size, obviously one car seat rental isn’t going to set you back moneywise. If you are traveling regularly, it’s going to make a big difference. This question kind of boils down to what is your travel philosophy for your family? If you plan to be flying a lot, it’s going to change the budgetary considerations.

Car seat carriers range in cost but are usually going to end up being cheaper than a car seat rental. Car seat rentals are usually $10-$15 a day up to a max of $70 or so, though if you are a member of AAA you can get one free from Hertz.

I personally purchased this car seat bag. $15 is a great price, but it’s also wearing down quitea bit – I’d give it a 50/50 chance it’ll survive the year. I bought this car seat roller for $60 but my wife convinced me our daughter wouldn’t sit in that thing so we returned it. The roll and go has the benefit of doubling as a stroller for the terminal.

Obviously, if you are traveling more than once, it’s going to be cheaper to bring your own car seat – just remember cost is only one of the factors worth weighing in the decision.

I have a love/hate relationship with this thing

4) Can your car seat carrier double as a “free checked bag”?

I have yet to find an airline that will not let you check a car seat in for free. The majority of airlines (even Ryanair!) let you check a car seat in for free and a stroller at the gate (or even both at the counter). If you have a bag like ours, there is a lot of empty space. We generally stuff that space with a small bag with an extra set of clothes for everyone in the family plus diapers and other miscellany. If you don’t get free checked bags, the amount of money you can save can really add up. Of course, if you are flying internationally you probably get free checked bags anyway so bear that in mind.

5) Is the hassle of dealing with a car seat at the airport worth it?

There is no getting around it – car seats are unwieldy. When I took M to D.C. alone, I had to walk about twenty minutes from my gate to the car rental agency. That was a major pain while trying to wrangle her stroller, our check-in sized rollerboard, and the big car seat bag. When I got to the rental agency and saw those pristine car seats in plastic bags, I had one question for myself: “Is this really worth it!?”

On second thought, maybe it's time to buy a new bag already... — On second thought, maybe it’s time to buy a new bag already…

There is also the scenario where you aren’t even renting a car but want to bring your car seat. We did this when we went to New Orleans this time last year and we also did it when we went to Turks and Caicos – we literally brought our car seat for about three cab rides. It is the law – it is also a major inconvenience. As you add kids, years, and notches on your belt – renting a car seat starts looking less and less expensive.

5a) No, seriously, is it?

I cannot stress this enough – when you are hot, sweaty, stressed, trying to find your bearings, got a whiny kid, crying infant, bickering with your spouse, just trying to get to the hotel – do you want to be dragging around a giant, unwieldy bag?

This would make it easier...I guess — This would make it easier…I guess

6) Are there other options that are more convenient for you?

A lot of people ship car seats to their destination – that can be great if you are staying for a long time. Others borrow from friends or Google “car seat rental” and their destination name to find cheap places to rent from. While it can be inconvenient getting these car seats to the airport, sometimes you aren’t renting from the airport, or you can be flexible, etc. etc.

There are plenty of options out there that might make things more convenient at a cost premium (or discount). Make sure you explore all those avenues before putting together your final decision.

Final Thoughts

Our personal policy: we use our aforementioned car seat bag. We travel plenty and it would definitely be cost prohibitive to rent every single trip. I will say this though – I think at this point I am convinced (without empirical evidence, so take this with a grain of salt), that it is probably safer to rent from the car rental agency, though I’d probably put in a phone call first. Both in the “the car seat is less used” sense and the “if our car seat gets lost we are screwed” sense. On balance, though, bringing our car seat is what’s best for us, though I think we’ll have to revisit that if M isn’t in a booster by the time H outgrows his Chicco Keyfit. If anyone has insights on their own decision making process, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

Feb 11 2016

Daring to Disney: One perfect day at the Magic Kingdom

So I haven’t decided whether I’ll do a ride by ride analysis for Magic Kingdom like I did for the other parks, but what I would like to do is go through one day we had at the park. I made a conscious decision not to go into detail about what most of our days at the parks were like, but I think our last full day at Disney World warrants a bit of detail if only so people can get a feel for how wonderful a day at Disney can be. Sorry I couldn’t think of a less saccharin adjective, but I think it truly was one of our best days ever! Dare I say: one perfect day at the Magic Kingdom.

Previously…

This was our seventh straight day in the parks. M had already visited Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom twice each. At this point it was firmly established that MK was her favorite park and which rides were her favorites. So knowing all that, I put together a brand new touring plan the night before, my goal being to give her the greatest day in her young life.

We had also picked up a “Happy Birthday” pin at Animal Kingdom the day before. Although in some sense the entire week was for her birthday (at least we used her birthday as the benchmark for when we’d go to Disney World when we first told her about the trip months earlier), in my mind this final day at Magic Kingdom was her birthday celebration. Here’s how our magical day unfolded:

Making it to Rope Drop

Everyone with an infant under the age of one knows that feeding can be sort of on demand at times. And, that’s right, we have more than one kid, oops! (Just kidding, H, love you buddy). Now M and I had already rope dropped Magic Kingdom once (aka get there before the park opens), but I really wanted Jess to be able to make it with us this time. To accomplish this, she fed H a little earlier, but at 8:10 she was still a little hesitant to leave him. I can’t remember how exactly it went down, but eventually we YOLOed and we were on the road by 8:15. Big shout out to my parents for watching the little guy, though I think they probably were a little relieved I didn’t force them to rope drop.

We parked our car by about 8:30 and were on Main Street by 8:57. OK, so we didn’t make the rope drop itself, but close enough! First up, a visit with Mickey Mouse at the Town Square theater. This is the Mickey Mouse to see because via the magic of technology he talks! I am 99% certain that the person in the costume isn’t actually talking, it seems to be some kind of computer run talking program (this is my hypothesis because I heard the same things twice across two visits). But who really knows.

All that matters is this happened:

Mickey and M’s entire two minute interaction has been recreated no less than twenty times in our household over the last month. Somehow it seems to be my birthday every single day and “Mickey Mouse” sings to me on the reg. We could have gone home right then and there and it still would have been one of the best days of her life. As a bonus, she met Snow White on the way out. Snow’s line was six deep and slowed us down, but whatever, girl needed to get her autograph book filled!

We made our way to Future World to hit up some of M’s favorites. We walked right up to the front of the line of the Astro Orbiter and began our ascent of the trifecta of Magic Kingdom flying carousels. After that, M really wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Jess took her while I soloed Space Mountain, but they made sure to come with me first so we could grab a rider switch.

PhotoPass_Visiting_Magic_Kingdom_Park_7576158133 — A little short…

I ended up beating them timewise since I had a FastPass for Space Mountain. The Space Mountain queue actually looks kind of fun (there are random space invader type video games) but TIME is a hot commodity if you want to have the best day ever! Of course…we got right back on Buzz Lightyear. But hey, birthday girl is in charge, right?

You spin me right round baby, right round

At that point it was about 10:45 or so and we wanted to make sure M got the chance to ride It’s a Small World at least twice, so we hit up the Mad Tea Party on the way. After a ride on M’s favorite ride ever, it was time to get over to the Contemporary for Chef Mickey’s.

Chef Mickey’s Brunch

I’ve been avoiding talking about food because I want to cram it all into one post, but Chef Mickey’s deserves a bit of attention since it played such a key role in this day. Getting to Chef Mickey’s was M’s one and only ride on the monorail this entire trip so that was noteworthy in and of itself. We met up with my parents and H before taking some pictures as we were waiting for our table. We were seated at 11:35 for an 11:30 reservation so not too bad at all. At our table was a birthday card for M signed by all of the characters – very nice.

If you’re not familiar with Chef Mickey’s, it’s pretty straightforward. As you eat some standard American brunch fare (I basically ate my fill of chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and Mickey shaped waffles because I am a seven year old), Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto rotate around the restaurant. The restaurant is broken up into sections and they’ll all hit a section at the same time so you see them all in quick succession. You can take pictures, get autographs, or whatever really.

At various points they sing some song which I have since forgotten the name of. During this song they run around the restaurant waving napkins around like it is the AFC Championship game for the Steelers or something while everyone in the restaurant does the same. Why yes, we do have to do that at home sometimes now, thank you for asking! At the very end of brunch they brought out a cupcake with a candle in it for M, just tell them you are celebrating a birthday at least 24 hours before you get there. You can also get a cake for $20 if you’d like.

perfect day at the Magic Kingdom — H: “What the what?”

I’d say the one downside of this character meal was we were sat in a section where the sun was beating down on us pretty hard. Other than that it was amazing and there was an ear to ear grin smile pasted on M’s face for an entire hour. I think her father had a similar smile.

Incidentally, the Contemporary was a great place to feed H since there were plenty of comfortable chairs in the lobby where Jess could find some space. The timing worked out perfectly. After feeding and all the excitement, it was already 1:45 so we convinced M that if she napped in her stroller we wouldn’t have to leave the park. We made the fifteen minute walk back to the Magic Kingdom and she was asleep before we even reached bag check. In a happy coincidence, so was H, resulting in this wonderful family picture:

Splitting the team all throughout the afternoon

With both the kids asleep, my parents offered to watch H&M, which played right into my master plan. I had FastPassed Big Thunder Mountain for Jess and myself, but we had my mom walk up to the queue with M in the stroller so we could grab another rider switch. After Jess and I finished the ride, my dad and I took the kids and hung out by Sleepy Hollow Refreshments while my mom and Jess went to go see the Hall of Presidents.

They emerged about ten minutes before the parade was about to start. I realized on the little walkway up to Cinderella’s Castle there is a little bench with a direct view of the bridge that the parade crosses, so I set up shop there with H while my parents, Jess, and M set up right in front of Sleepy Hollow. Our seats for the parade were excellent (though into the sun). M realized that parades were what she had always wanted from life but never knew existed!

Instead of looking through the crowd they could just look diagonally at the bridge

After regrouping, we split up once again – my mom and dad gave Jess and myself an hour to go ride as many adult rides as possible while they took M on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and the Jungle Cruise (FastPass). Now my initial plan was to use our rider switch tickets to go on Big Thunder, Space Mountain, and then hit our 5:00 PM FP+ reservation at Seven Dwarves Mine Train, but we decided to axe Space Mountain. Still, it was pretty sweet to get straight onto Big Thunder and then get straight onto Seven Dwarves which had a wait time of 100 minutes at the time. Seven Dwarves has a lot better themeing and things to look at, but Big Thunder is the more fun roller coaster. Just my opinion!

Saving her favorite rides for last

Jess and I caught up with my parents and our kids at Dumbo. Jess took H to the nursing center while I hung out with M in the waiting area. If you haven’t been to Disney for awhile, they have done something brilliant with the queue at Dumbo. Instead of lining up, you get a pager and go into this huge circus themed playground. When your pager buzzes it’s your turn to get on the ride (I think). Of course, we hung out in the playground for awhile even though there was no line for the ride. Slides are fun! We then rode Dumbo though my mother insisted we all get in the same elephant which was a tight squeeze, indeed.

The timing worked out perfectly – I took M for one final ride on It’s a Small World (her first and last of six rides were with just me, I’ll cherish that). We went into the Pinocchio Village Haus to eat but it was already closed, so Jess walked over to Gaston’s Tavern to get us some beef stew. While we were waiting, M declared herself the mayor of It’s a Small World and waved to every. single. boat.

Originally we had planned to go home for dinner but M was so into parades that we decided to stay for the Main Street Electrical Parade while my parents wandered off on their own. M had to forego the Tomorrowland Speedway (the one ride she wanted to hit that she couldn’t on her last day) but it was worth it. Having seen the parade twice already, I was content sitting away from the crowds with H eating my final Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. When asked which parade she preferred, M replied with the Chinese equivalent of “same same”.

Final Souvenirs – paid and free

M really, really wanted Mickey Mouse hands the entire time she was at Disney. We told her at the beginning of the trip that she could pick one souvenir on the final day to buy and bring home. For some reason, we convinced ourselves that Mickey hands were not the souvenir she should get, which in retrospect is one of the stupidest things we did that whole week. We were so convinced that we told her if she got something else she could buy two souvenirs. Again, what? It all seems so insane to me sitting here now. So she bought a stuffed Minnie (which she sleeps with most nights these days) and a Minnie drink/snack cup combo that isn’t dishwasher safe what is up with that Disney?

For some reason, we thought we could buy Mickey Mouse hands elsewhere if we changed our minds, like at the Disney store at the mall. NOPE! You lied to us, Siri and Google Now! Of course three days after we got back I regretted not buying them when M put tiny little socks on her hands and pretended they were Mickey Mouse hands. I KID YOU NOT. So I ended up buying some from Amazon Sellers aka China. They were only $20 which means they are probably bootleg but I’ll take it. Mental note: buy real hands next time so Money Metagame doesn’t troll my THREE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER.

On our way out we caught a bit of Celebrate the Magic which is straight up one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. They basically project cartoons onto the castle while playing soundtracks from your favorite movies. M insisted that we get out of there before the fireworks started because she is scared of the loud noises so we couldn’t watch, which was cool with us because Jess and I had seen it another night.

Not a bad view at all... — Not a bad view at all…

Disney had one last cherry on top of the perfect cake that was our day. As our ferry set off for the Ticket and Transportation Center, Wishes started up – we got to watch the entire show from the boat and the dock at the TTC. H&M could enjoy them because they weren’t as loud, and Jess and I really enjoyed seeing them from a different perspective. It was an amazing ending to an amazing day – even if the park closed at 8 PM that night, going from Rope Drop to Wishes was truly spectacular and a day I won’t soon forget.

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Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for indulging me. Or you know, hello to my wife since you’re probably the only one! Regardless, hopefully you have a taste for how wonderful a day at the Magic Kingdom can be. Our entire trip was amazing, but if I had to distill the experience down to one day – this day would be it. As long as Disney can produce special days like this one, I’ll throw all the money in the world at them (you know, after I buy 50 gift cards to save 10%).

Other Posts in this Series

Flights, Hotel, and Car

Making Disney Dining Reservations

Saving Money on Disney Tickets

Using Touring Plans (the non-touring plan parts)

Optimizing a visit using Touring Plans’ touring plans

Saving money by staying off site

When a Disney annual pass makes sense

Touring Epcot attractions with a toddler

Touring Animal Kingdom with a toddler

One perfect day at the Magic Kingdom

Dining Reviews

Tips for parents of toddlers and infants

Things I wished I knew before I went to Disney

Feb 02 2016

Daring to Disney: Touring Animal Kingdom with a toddler

They say that you should always be prepared for it to rain at Walt Disney World – for us the rain came the morning we planned on touring Animal Kingdom with a toddler. And oh boy did it ever rain. We were only operating with two ponchos, so this is what we decided was the best set up:

This was of course taken after the rain cleared

Honestly when we got to AK we just wanted to leave – but by the time Jess and M had gotten out of Mickey and Minnie’s Adventure Post the rain had slowed. So we found some shelter, ate lunch, and the sun came out. I’m glad we didn’t leave as Animal Kingdom definitely became M’s second favorite park – though I love the nerd stuff at Epcot it is a little above a three year old’s head, even precocious ones!

Like I did with Epcot, I’ll evaluate the various attractions we visited via the mind of a toddler and via the mind of a toddler in an adult’s body (aka me). I should point out, we had only planned on going to Animal Kingdom for one day but M enjoyed it so much it warranted a second visit. First, here are some random observations about Animal Kingdom:

Since a lot of the attractions are shows, you have to kind of plan around those times
Animal Kingdom definitely came in second in terms of food variety, including a lot of African/Indian influences that aren’t present throughout the rest of the parks
Mount Kilimanjaro looks huge – that Disney visual Jedi-mind trickery in action
I think the safari definitely can warrant a second visit since you’ll get a second chance to see the animals you missed
Dinosaur gave me my best jump scare in years

To the attractions!

Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurer’s Outpost

Meet Disney characters in adventure themed gear

Adult take: Disney really does a great (slash diabolically efficient) job of switching up all their different character meet and greets. They all feel different enough that you want to go to all of them. The benefit of this one? Taking a pic with both Mickey and Minnie together. Plus cool outfits

Toddler take: Mickey? Check. Minnie? Check. Pens for autographs? Check. A++

Kilimanjaro Safaris

A twenty minute tour through Disney’s very own animal park – the highlight of the Animal Kingdom

Adult take: Jess – “Wow, I feel like I actually learned something.” While I take offense on Epcot’s behalf for that statement, the guides were pretty knowledgeable about the animals and did a great job spotting the wildlife and pointing it out. I’m not sure if it’s because it had just rained but we saw what felt like a lot of the animals out and about on our ride(s) which really helped.

Note: Stroller parking is in the middle of the queue, not at the beginning.

Toddler take: M immediately went back on for a second ride (thankfully the wait was only ten minutes). She had as great a time searching for and spotting the animals as any three year old would.

The Boneyard

A large children’s play area with climbing, slides, and more!

Adult take: If your kids have energy to burn, this is the place to take them. Of course, if they are younger, you might burn a bunch of energy chasing them around, but it will tire them out for sure. Lots of fun stuff in here.

Toddler take: This is the kind of place little kids can kill tons of time at. My recommendation? Leave one parent, go ride Dinosaur which is a stone’s throw away, and then switch off. There’s so much to explore a kid can just get lost in here – in the good way!

TriceraTop Spin

Yet another Disney aerial carousel

Adult take: Seen one aerial carousel, seen them all. You can pitch back and forth if you are trying not to get too bored riding your 7th of these – I just like to sit back and enjoy the view.

Toddler take: What? It flies and goes in a circle and I can use a joystick to make things go up and down?! In for two.

Festival of the Lion King

Amazing rendition of songs from the movie with dancing and acrobatics

Adult take: Enjoyed this one thoroughly. At a half hour, it was a bit long, but you can’t go wrong with the song selection (all the Lion King hits). The acrobatics are great, the show is entertaining and funny, and the final music mashup is spot on. That’s without getting into how good the floats and sets look.

Toddler take: Probably ten minutes too long for any kid who hasn’t seen the movie. My three year old just doesn’t have the attention span to sustain this kind of show. She was into it for the first twenty minutes but spent the last ten asking when it’d be over.

Flights of Wonder

Showcasing free flying birds of all species

Adult take: I missed this one but Jess said it was pretty informative. I am pretty sure I saw a flock of…something flying overhead on its way to the show though. Pretty cool.

Toddler take: See above, this is probably too long. The birds are cool but if your kid isn’t into birds you might want to wait until they are older.

DINOSAUR

Go back in time on this ride to capture a real life dinosaur – what could go wrong?

Adult take: I went into this ride knowing nothing and expecting nothing – and it was great. The premise was completely silly (go back in time to get a dinosaur), but the ride was a lot of fun with a ton of jolts and dinosaur animatronics rivaling Jurassic Park at Universal. Loud, exciting, and one of my favorite jump scares in ages (even though I knew it was coming!)

Toddler take: M was too short for this, but I don’t think I would have taken her regardless. It is dark and loud and the stuff nightmares are made of.

Final Thoughts

Despite the rain, Animal Kingdom was well designed to keep our toddler engaged. The wildlife was great and the food was unique to the parks. I’m glad we didn’t listen to the people who were down on the park before we left. Solid family fun.

Other Posts in this Series

Flights, Hotel, and Car

Making Disney Dining Reservations

Saving Money on Disney Tickets

Using Touring Plans (the non-touring plan parts)

Optimizing a visit using Touring Plans’ touring plans

Saving money by staying off site

When a Disney annual pass makes sense

Touring Epcot attractions with a toddler

Touring Animal Kingdom with a toddler

One perfect day at the Magic Kingdom

Dining Reviews

Tips for parents of toddlers and infants

Things I wished I knew before I went to Disney

Jan 28 2016

Daring to Disney: Touring Epcot attractions with a toddler

OK, I’ve gotten a little bored about writing about saving money and maximization, so I’m gonna take a break from that stuff and get to the fun stuff – parks! Including the afternoon we arrived, we spent six and a half days in the parks. We broke up our time into three days at Magic Kingdom and two at both Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Here’s what it was like touring Epcot attractions with a toddler.

Never really tired of the view — Never really tired of this view

For this post, I’ll be discussing the attractions at Epcot and how my particular toddler (who was about to turn three) felt about them. She is by no means representative of all toddlers, but hopefully our experiences can give you an idea of what to expect if you’re going with young kids.

For each attraction I’ll include a brief description, M’s take, and my take.

Before I start, a couple random thoughts about Epcot.

EVERYTHING is sponsored. BTW this post brought to you by Siemens!
World Showcase is a lot more interesting than I remembered (haven’t been to Disney since the late 90s)
Wear comfortable shoes – it’s the most walking you’ll do at Disney
Soarin’ being closed straight up sucked. It reopens in June 2016.
Epcot is a great place to take a date (subject of a future post)

Spaceship Earth

Ride a slow moving vehicle to learn about how technology has evolved through the ages

Adult take: Spaceship Earth is a ride created by nerds and for nerds. Thus, I loved it. The animatronics are great, there are generally very low lines, and there are a lot of cool things to look at. They’ve added an interactive portion at the end which is nice, but they end at the personal computer – the house sized ones. Could use an update.

Toddler take: This was M’s very first ride at Walt Disney World. In what was to become a recurring theme, the dark portions of the ride were a little too scary for M to want to ride again. She thought some parts of the ride were cool, especially the end, but had no interest in going back. Great for infants in carriers though!

Living with the Land

A boat ride talking about farming and various agriculture innovations and experimentation

Adult take: Again, the nerd in me was a big fan, especially the science nerd in me. Not sure if Disney is BSing about the amount of research that goes on there (maybe a little?), but the experiments and different growing techniques are pretty cool, as are the large variety of crops.

Trust me, he's into it — Trust me, he’s into it

Toddler take: A nice, peaceful ride, though with a dark thunder and lightning section that can be scary. M had fun identifying different fruits and vegetables though obviously all the science stuff was over her head. Another great ride for an infant.

Journey into Imagination with Figment

Take a ride with a purple dragon and the power of your imagination

Adult take: One of my favorite rides as a kid, I was a little underwhelmed this time. I think they only play the chorus of the song in one section so as not to annoy people (a la It’s a Small World), but I liked it and kind of missed it.

Toddler take: Some scary moments, especially when they blow a big gust of air, but this ride made an impression on her and she still references the purple dragon. Pretty tame overall, though they could turn the volume down a little.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Ride a clamshell through a synopsis of Finding Nemo

Adult take: The tech was pretty cool, they were projecting Nemo onto real tanks and stuff. It was a nice ride but you don’t need to take the ride to go see the main tanks, which are the real draw. The tanks were great, as impressive as any aquarium and as we talked about on the last Observation Deck you can even go snuba diving in them if you’d like.

Toddler take: With no knowledge of the movie just another ride that was too dark for M. She was into the turtles though. M absolutely loved the main tanks though, we spent a good forty five minutes to an hour just looking at fish. One of her favorite places to visit in Epcot. Never got to go to Turtle Talk timing wise, but I think it would have been great.

Pure bliss for the 3 year old — This made her day

Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot

Greet three of the fab five (Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto) one at a time, grabbing pictures and autographs from each of them individually

Adult take: The Epcot character spot is probably my second favorite character meet and greet in Walt Disney World. The lines are low (and Fast Pass is easy), and it’s great meeting three characters all at once. It also moves very efficiently, you move from character to character in three different sections that are all in the same room.

Toddler take: The Epcot character spot kicked off M’s obsession with getting character autographs that lasted our entire trip. She didn’t have an autograph book the first day but they found notecards and a Sharpie to give her autographs. She slept with all three by her bedside that night and the only reason she didn’t go to bed holding them is because I told her she might wrinkle them. We were at the park with an autograph book the next day.

Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros (Mexico Pavilion)

Slow boat ride with a bunch of singing ducks

Adult take: Kind of a weird ride, but relaxing and with some nice scenery and a killer view of the Mexico pavilion.

Toddler take: Enjoyable boat ride for kids, good to kill time, singing ducks are funny.

Kidcot Fun Stops at World Showcase

In each pavilion, you can get a special stamp on a Duffy the Disney bear that they give you (basically a piece of card stock attached to a stick). Each pavilion has its own unique take on it.

Adult take: We didn’t realize what the fun stops were until late on our last day at Epcot, which was too bad. This isn’t for adults but requires adults to keep track of things and know what they’re looking for.

Toddler take: M was a huge fan of this and wanted to get every stamp (once we figured out there were multiple stamps to get). She got shy with a lot of the people giving out the stamps but I think it really made World Showcase “worth it” for her. I think this would appeal to some kids all the way up to even middle school.

Final Thoughts

You’d think Epcot wouldn’t appeal to toddlers, but I actually think it’s pretty good for them. You could spend a whole day at the world showcase exposing them to different cultures (or reminding them of places they visited when they were too young to remember!). The character spot was great, the lines are shorter, and there are lots of great places to eat. Also, it doesn’t hurt to try to turn your kid into a nerd sooner rather than later. Just kidding. Not really.