by Jolly Frogger Diva
While our recent trip to Walt Disney World was actually my daughter’s second trip, it was the first one she was old enough to have some input in what we did each day. I knew traveling with a 3 year old would mean a different trip than any of us were used to, but it also meant we got to experience things in a whole new way. Since my family didn’t visit Walt Disney World until the kids were older (I was 9, my sister was 7) none of us had ever looked at things from the perspective of a young child before. In fact, we weren’t quite sure how my daughter was going to react to certain things like characters, certain rides, and fireworks. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised how well she did and how much she enjoyed the trip. The most surprising thing, however, were what she found to be the most entertaining parts of our trip. Based on her feedback, I have complied a list of her top 5 Must-Dos while visiting Walt Disney World.
1) Ride the Bus. Of all the rides at all the parks we visited, the bus actually ended up being my daughter’s favorite thing to ride. Her favorite buses were the ones with a back row that had seats all the way across it. She always went for the furthest seat to the right, where she was practically sitting in the window. Throughout the ride she would say “hi” to anyone she saw at the window, and randomly exclaim “weeeee!”. She would also be sure to point out any wildlife she saw on the side of the road, as well as any drivers who would wave back at her. Funniest of all, on more than one occasion, she literally kissed the bus seat goodbye.
2) Fountains. One of my daughter’s favorite things park wide ended up being fountains. I’m not sure what the appeal was, but it was a sure bet she’d ask for some money to throw in every single fountain she came across. Her favorite fountains were the one in the lobby at Port Orleans French Quarter, where Mr. Arneil would give her “gold doubloons” to make wishes, and the Innovation Fountains at Epcot, where she could dance around while enjoying watching the water fall.
3) Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. To build a little excitement before our trip, I started playing music from various park rides and attractions before our vacation. For some reason I never understood, my daughter’s favorite quickly became the soundtrack for Tiki Room. Within a few short days, she had parts of it memorized and would sing it at random. I feared that she would be disappointed once she learned the attraction was nothing more than a short show with singing animatronic birds but she remained very excited to experience it even after I explained it to her. In the end, she seemed to really enjoy the show. Since one of our party members uses an ECV, we were seated on the front row in the handicap seating area so, my daughter was able to stand up and dance along with the music.
4) Meeting Characters. We were a bit worried about how my daughter would handle meeting characters since she tends to be a bit timid around the characters we see at our local restaurants. Luckily, the familiarity of Disney was enough to help her overcome her shyness. She was still a bit hesitant about the characters in full costume- she didn’t want to hug any of them- but she absolutely loved the face characters. Once she realized that characters could be found throughout the parks, she was on constant lookout and would beg to stand in any line we came across, even if she wasn’t very familiar with that particular character. It took us 5 tries to meet Gaston, who she was smitten with, and 3 attempts to meet the Wicked Stepsisters, who I didn’t even know my daughter was aware of. Her absolute favorites were Ariel, Gaston, Anna, and Elsa and luckily we had purchased the Memory Maker so those meetings were well photographed for posterity.
5) Swimming. We have recently discovered that our little girl is a big fan of swimming pools. We don’t live in an area where they are abundant, so swimming on vacation is something she really looks forward to. In fact, she was asking to swim before we even boarded the plane for Orlando. Luckily, we had 2 non park days built into our schedule where she would have plenty of time to swim to her heart’s content. Walt Disney World’s resorts have great pools and even provide life jackets for small kids so you don’t have to worry about packing your own. Our resort had great poolside activities as well, such as a Disney Junior trivia game, so it’s no wonder swimming was one of my daughter’s favorite part of this trip.
Honorable mention bathrooms. My daughter has a tendency to want to visit the restroom at every public place we go, just to check them out. We had a running joke among the adults of our group that we’d see the inside of every bathroom on WDW property if my daughter had her way. Luckily the parks provided enough distraction that our prediction didn’t really come true. However, my daughter was quite taken with 1 particular bathroom- the Tangled themed restrooms in Fantasyland. Rapunzel is one of her favorite princesses so it’s no surprise that she adored the theming of the whole area.
These were my daughter’s favorite things on our last trip. What does your little one enjoy? And if you’re ready to plan your next vacation, why not contact our own Disney Diva Travel Agent Patricia from All for Dream Travel? Because she is paid by Disney, her services are free to you! Click here for a free quote! Enjoy!
