OK, Hubby and I are hardcore disneygeeks. We go and have a wonderful time....Problem is, we dont have kids...we ARE the kids. Well this year we just purchased our first ever annual passes (yay for us) and although they have already paid for themselves with our one 10 days trip we took at Christmas time we want to try to go a few more times this year. My husbands sister has two kids 8 and 4, they have never been ,and I highly doubt, were it left up to her that she will ever take them. We desperately want to take them away for a nice weekend trip to allow them to experience Disneyland. For the first time we are thinking that maybe kids wouldnt ruin it for us ;). Thing is we are going to be a tight schedule, we want to go when it's warm (so they can have fun splashing around in the water stuff) but not stifling (we live in the mountains and hate the heat)... and we want to try to avoid the summer crowds. We don't know the weather patterns in SoCal well enough. Can anyone tell me when is the best time to go? Maybe when school is still in session so it wont be so so crowded so that even with our tight schedule they can experience as much of the magic as possible? But warm enough to allow for water frolicking? But when there wont be a ton of stuff down for regular refurbs? We anticipate spending the bulk of our time in Fantasyland, NOS and Adventureland in Dland and then maybe in Bugs Land in DCA (we HAVE to allow them to expericence the Electrical Parade at least once).....they wont enjoy the Matterhorn or the Mansion, or Indy I'm pretty sure.

Thanks in advance

I like 'late' May as a rule, weather is usually nice, the rehabs are ususally finished because of the summer rush. As for which rides they will/won't like... don't discount the MH or Indy or even the HM, Brandys been going on them all since she was tall enough to ride and loves them. When we were there in October I took wanabee-disneygeeks then 7 year old on the MH and she LOVED it. Most of all, if you want them to have a magical time, remember their limitations and base the activity time in the park on that and not your stamina :) You are a good auntie/uncle to take them and they'll always remember it.

Sounds like you want maximum fun with little downtime.

The problem is that generate crowds. Right now is a ton of downtime with most of it opening in March.

Best time in march? A Weds or a thurs?

Right now? 5 Major rides are down. Come in March when they are all open, and it's a bit warmer.

What an absolutely cool thing for you guys to do for your nieces/nephews. My favorite time to go when water activities are in the plan is either May or mid-to-late September. In May you can try to hit one of those "summer preview" weekends when the Parks are open late and the parade and other nighttime stuff is running.

Yes, the kiddos would miss some school but there are other threads here on MP to discuss independent studies and missing school work to make it less painful than coming back to a huge load of missed school work. And I've had several teachers say, and I agree with them, that traveling in and of itself is benefical for all kids.

Thanks :D. Unfortunately late May is out (silly brother decides to get married on Memorial Day weekend :rolleyes: ), and THAT is in South Carolina, so it will be a little hard to swing ;)

We were thinking maybe late April if funds cooperate. We were hoping that it would be warm by then and maybe not horribly crowded.

The little one (Michael) is more likely to like Indy and other more daring things, the older one (Crystal) is really shy and quiet and I'm afraid the Mansion would scare her. She's all about the princesses though so we want to try to get her to meet as many of them as possible. We are definately planning on doing the autograph book thing with them. I want to make her an autograph book ahead of time...and I want to have pics of her with each character on one side with their autograph on the facing page.....I want to get lots of little stickers so she can help decorate it. (we want to try to do the same for him, although I'm not 100% sure he will get into it quite as much, although he is all about Buzz Lightyear and other boy stuff. ;).

I think we are more excited about it than they will be once we let them know.

Here's a trick that always works for us:
1. Ask them what they want to do before you go. It allows you to do some planning, or at least to make a list and to strategize an order for the day. Show them a map and point out rides.
2. Just go on the rides. If a kid balks at a ride at the loading, do a parent swap. If a kid wants to ride Dumbo and it has a 45-minute wait, then wait for Dumbo. Not your day: it's their's.
3. Eat when they're hungry, let littler one nap if he/she has to.

Try not to throw in your 20(?)+ years of Disneyland experiences and knowledge. Kids cannot absorb it all that quick, and it's usually better for kids to learn on their own.

As for weather: nothing you can do about it. Perfect weather days usually attract a crowd, and perfect weather days usually means just a little too cold for GRR (for me). The other water attractions won't get you near as wet.
I would, however, recommend a weekday instead of a weekend, if at all possible.

Wow a 4 year old on Indy, that's a bit rough for him?

I was going to suggest the Single line but I do not recommend leaving a 4 year old alone in the Indy line.

For the 8 year old, in DCA is a store called Off-The-Page. Which has a bunch of nice Princess stuff.

My vote is for late September. The crowds are low the weather is still warm, plenty warm for the water rides and the pools.

I do not think the kids will ruin your trip at all, I think you will have more fun watching Disneyland through their eyes, a fresh approach. I hope they are allowed to go, I think it's going to be a lot of fun! Don't be afraid to try all the rides with them, they will hopefully not be afraid of them. Height restrictions will probably keep the youngest off some of the rides, like GRR and Indy. I don't know the childs height so check in advance of your trip so you'll know.

Have a great time!!

First the negative: If you take them to Toon Town, tell us their impressions, okay? My kids (then 9 and 6) hated it. They weren't crazy about Fantasyland, either but that's undoubtedly because I spoiled it (My idea is Fantasyland should be raised to make room for the new and improved Tomorrowland expansion).

Haunted Mansion was too scary for them. Tiki Room was dusty enough but the jokes and impersonations were even dustier to their young ears.

Now the positive. They loved:
-Small World
-Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (we went twice in a row)
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-Jungle Cruise
-Tom Sawyer Island

Have a great time. And don't forget to tell us about it!

I know May is out for you because of the wedding...but we like early to mid-May.

But...we love, love, love October. Mid-week...it's fairly empty...the weather is nice...not too hot. :)

I love it that two of my girls have birthdays in May and October, as it makes a great excuse to get to the parks!

And...you'll have a blast taking your neices/nephews. You'll be able to see Disneyland for the first time through a child's eye...now that you are an adult.
Plus, they'll always remember their first trip to DLR was with their 'Auntie'.:)

I haven't lived in So Cal long enough to give you weather advice, we haven't quite been here a year. But, I do have an 8 year old son and a 3.5 year old daughter. They love going to Disney. Matterhorn is my 3 year old's favorite ride...she also loves Splash Mountain, Pirates and Haunted Mansion. My 8 year old loves all of those and at DCA loves Screamin', Maliboomer and Mulholland Madness. They both like all the little kids rides too. My three year old would go on Screamin if she was tall enough. :-) She just reached 40" on our last trip so that was her first time on Splash...she had to go twice. She also got to go on Soarin and Star Tours for the first time. You might be surprised what rides the kids end up liking. My 8 year old used to like Indy, but last time we went he said he didn't care for it anymore.

Originally posted by mystycalchyk
The little one (Michael) is more likely to like Indy and other more daring things,

One thing to keep in mind: Height Restrictions. Chances are that Michael's not tall enough for Indy ;) My 5-year-old is very tall for his age and he's not there yet.

Adrienne

My husband and I have done this and it can be a lot of fun. Keep in mind though, that parenting in DL is difficult -- even for favorite aunts and uncles. We were surprised how taxing it was because we generally have no trouble with discipline.

My advice:
1) Read all of the threads about ways to direct the kids' spending. Make sure that you have a plan so that you don't overspend. You CAN do this and still have fun.

2) Find out their heights in advance so that you know what rides are out of the question, but be careful not to promise that they'll be big enough to ride anything that their height is close on. If they're not planning to ride something, and then find out that they can after all, they'll be happily surprised. The reverse experience is killer.

3) Plan for naps. Even an hour of downtime will help everyone have more fun. You'll be surprised how much more tired you are when with kids.

4) Be careful not to be negative about their parents not taking them. The parents are making a sacrifice in letting their kids to go to DL for the first time with someone else. Even if they never would have taken the kids themselves, they'll feel the loss. Include money in your budget to get something very special for each parent, and let the children pick it out. My niece made a teddy bear at build-a-bear with her voice recorded saying "I love you Mommy". My SIL was very surprised and happy with the gift.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!!!!
:) Melinda

Wow, Thanks all for the great help and suggestions!

(Oh and sorry I put this in the worng spot - my bad)


We think Michael will be tall enough for most things. He's pretty tall. But we will definately measure beforehand.

I'm so looking forward to seeing them as they watch the fireworks and parades. The fireworks and EP bring a tear to my eye I'm sure they will 'wow' them. (I hope I hope I hope).

It's starting to sound like it might be better to wait till after summer instead of rushing it this spring. It will definately give us more time to save up the money. We plan on giving each one their own personal 'throwaway camera' so they can take pics on their own. And we want to allow them to go at whatever pace they want. For us we just love walking around and experiencing it so if we miss something we normally do we don't mind one bit. It's funny though...like I said...for years we always thought that kids would ruin it, it's only in the last year or so we've begun to think "Hmm..kids might be fun here".
I fear that we are going to get our hearts set on them loving it as much as we do....I cant imagine they wont but there's always that chance. That would be sad for us. We're so excited about it.

We are planning on telling them we're going till either the week before or maybe even while we are on the way. I know I can rememebr as a kid knowing something wayyyyy in advance sure made it come all the slower. I think a shorter advance notice will be better for them.

We know we want to do at least one character breakfast....which one in your opinions is the best???? We figure maybe doing it on the second day will be better...that way they have a chance to sort of 'get used' to the characters and arent freaked out by them.

Again, thanks to you all

Reading your earlier post, I was going to warn you about one thing, but you've already identified it:

I fear that we are going to get our hearts set on them loving it as much as we do....

You may have to let them discover it at their own pace/place. They will probably ho-hum things that you think are amazing. On the other hand, they might find immense joy in something you've begun to take for granted.

And I second the afternoon break/nap recommendation. We have a handful of ironclad rules when visiting any amusement park: one is that we spend no more than 4-5 hours in the park in one continuous stretch. It's just too exhausting.

Others: Make sure you stop to eat something every few hours. Don't ever try to ride something you aren't tall enough for, even by a few millimeters. No one ever has to ride anything they don't want to ride, especially if they are changing their mind on the load platform.

As for the telling in advance: check in with their parents. Some kids (like mine) don't do well with short-term surprise changes in plans. Even really exciting cool changes.

Oh, yes, we are all about napping. We always do. Our normal day is going in early and out of the park by noon to nap and then back in the late afternoon.

Umm as far as their mom (the dad's not around) I know she wont have a problem with us taking them but we are not going to even tell HER unitl a week before hand either. I know this may sound a bit underhanded but we don't want her to go. She's kind of a leech and will expect us to pay for her too.
If she's given enough notice she will insist on going too. It sounds weird I know, but my husbands family has a weird dyanmic going on.
She will have no problem with us taking them, truth be told she will be glad to have a weekend off....she would only want to go not to be with them but for her own selfish reasons. We have waited a long time for her to take them and its clear she's never going to. She's really not a 'good' mother (and no, not because she hasnt taken her kids to Disneyland, for a myriad reasons) she's just not. My husband and I have not been able to figure out where he came from actually, because he is totally cut from a differnet cloth than any of his siblings. His other sister has 4 kids and we've seen how bad they've turned out and I hate to say it's too late, but I'm afraid it might be...they are well into thier teen years and are wayyyyyyy out of control. We are hoping that maybe by having a positive influence on these two young ones they may have more of a chance to find some happiness. We dont live in the same city (they are in Phoenix we are in Flagstaff AZ). We just want to give them this gift and not deal with his loser sister.

I know...you all think Im horrible now. But I just dont want to see these two children turn out the same as their cousins...and without some intervention they will be heading that way....They are sweet children and love their uncle more than just about anything and he adores them.

For character meals...we have done Goofy's Kitchen and Ariel's Grotto. Of the two, my kids preferred Goofy's...there were more characters there and the food choices were a lot more fun...it's a buffet and at Ariel's you order off the menu.

We know we want to do at least one character breakfast....which one in your opinions is the best? The character breakfast buffet at Storyteller's at the Grand California Hotel is really good. They have a wonderful selection of pastries, hot dishes and will make waffles to order. The maple french toast is sinful. Chip and Dale and Pluto are the characters who are typically present.

Originally posted by stan4d_steph
The character breakfast buffet at Storyteller's at the Grand California Hotel is really good. They have a wonderful selection of pastries, hot dishes and will make waffles to order. The maple french toast is sinful. Chip and Dale and Pluto are the characters who are typically present.

Yes, the breakfast buffet there is fantastic--did you know they published the maple french toast recipe in the DL AP magazine? I keep meaning to try it.

I have heard a few complaints from people who were expecting more characters at Storytellers. My kids were cool with Chip and Dale and Pluto--but if variety of characters outweigh quality of food for you, you might consider Goofy's.

Or, for something in between, Plaza Inn.

Well, speaking from someone who just went to Disneyland with a really little kid, there are NO crowds, of course like someone else said: EVERYTHING is closed! LOL. It was okay for us b/c we were going more to experience it as parents, but the only "e-tickets" open were Matterhorn & Star Tours, IMO. Gotta Love the lack of crowds though.

Maybe we'll go back in March.

Oh, and we went to the Character Breakfast at Paradise Pier (can't remember the restaurant's name). Is the food the same everywhere? There were two characters there at first, but later several more came in as we were making a fast and hasty exit (little one didn't like them).

Originally posted by Melaniee
Oh, and we went to the Character Breakfast at Paradise Pier (can't remember the restaurant's name). Is the food the same everywhere? There were two characters there at first, but later several more came in as we were making a fast and hasty exit (little one didn't like them).

That would be the PCH Grill, and I believe breakfast is Minnie and Friends. I haven't done the breakfast there in quite some time, but I remember it being OK. They used to do awesome Easter brunches, but those have really deteriorating over the past two years, to the point that we're probably picking somewhere else to go this Easter. Different character breakfasts offer different selections. I find the food to be best at Storyteller, with Goofy's Kitchen second (though I haven't been there in a while) and Plaza Inn's next.

Interesting, I was not sure if it was just geared more towards the single-digit crowd or the restaurant. It was an "okay" buffet. They did have mickey-shaped waffles.

Personally, I liked the Club 33 buffet more, but it's not like I'm going to be going back there ever again. ;)

well, I think we have decided to go in late summer early fall...maybe september...the kids will be in school (so less crowds) and yet it will still be warm enough for them to romp in the water.

Plus it gives us the chance to save up lots more moolah :D

I don't know about Sept. But August can be hot.

You don't need to make a photo album ahead of time, Disney has taken care of that for you (for a nominal fee of course). They have a princess autograph book that has a pocket for a photo on each autograph page. Also if she loves the princesses, talk up a couple of CMs near the castle to find out the princess schedule. Better yet if you can find a manager that's carrying around a 3 ring binder she'll be able to tell you exactly what time the princesses are going to be at the castle. Also, if a princess you want to see is coming soon, and there's no line, wait anyway. When it's time for the princess to go, it's time for her to go-- they don't care how many people are still in line.

Also, you should definitly take her to Belle's story time underneith the castle, she'll love it. For both kids, go to the Aladdin and Jasmine story time (I don't remember its exact name) it's over by the flying carpet ride. It is very silly and the kids will get a kick out of it (as well as get to meet Aladdin and Jasmine-- the only place to do so as far as I can tell).

Someone said they didn't care for Ariel's lunch. My daugter really liked it. In addition to Ariel, there was Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale, and Pluto. They did a kiddie conga line (where, as a side note, I saw the hairiest guy that I swear I have ever seen) which was a blast and, because you have to be eating there to go in, was one of the very least crowded character encounters I have experienced.

Hope this helps.