I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the Parents section but here goes:

As an AP family with a 3 Y.O., I was wondering if there are any recommendations anyone can make for doing things outside of our norm. In a nutshell, this is what we do everytime we go to DLR.

Dumbo -> Casey Jr -> Storybook -> Carousel -> Eat and Rest -> Parade -> Jungle Cruise -> Eat Dinner.

Many of the rides are out the question as they scare our child. I think Mr Toad may have scarred her for life and Alice was just as bad for her. I would imagine Snow White and Pinnochio would also frighten her. She won't do coasters anymore as the Gadget ride freaked her out. Haunted Mansion would probably give her nightmares.

So, we promised to do something different on our next visit (maybe in a week or two) like the Baking and the Princess activities (sorry don't know the exact names), as well as watching the Aladdin show.

Maybe someone could fill me in on some of the things those with APs can afford to do? Heck, we rode Mark Twain, which was the first time I got on that in the 14 years I've been going. Not that thats a big secret ride or anything, but as you can probably tell, a lot of things go missed by us. :D Sad, because we've had APs for two years now and besides having a more laid back approach when we go to DLR, I don't think we've really done much outside of the rides. Riding Casey Jr on the seat facing backwards for the first time was a treat though.

Oh, suggestions for DCA also apply as the only thing we really do there is go to the Bug's Life area. :rolleyes:

I'm not seeing small world, or just the train itself, how about riding the horse drawn trolley or any of the main street vehicles? spend a few minutes in the cinema, take her to toontown and let her play in that play area...check out the interactive things like the talking mailbox or manhole cover...go on Donalds boat....

We actually did the horse trolley thing yesterday, but I didn't list it because it wasn't one of the things we almost always do on our visits. I have always wanted to do the other Main Street vehicles but I can never seem to catch them at their stops. I've always thought that a bit weird as Main Street is pretty much one way, so there isn't anywhere they can hide, but I rarely see them. :crying:

We always ride Small World as well, but I must've forgot to include that as we didn't ride it yesterday due to the 'facelift'.

I will definitely be on the lookout for those other suggestions.

Thanks!

Letting the kid run in innoventions (upstairs) is good, the talk with Stitch thing was great. The carousels are a big hit with my kids. My kids also love just running in Toontown (which is about all they can do there anyways). Peter Pan and small world are musts, too.

Don't forget Turtle Talk with Crush. I know it's late in the seasion, but if it's hot, kids love the water fountains in Bug's Land and the Farm area. Jumping Jellyfish may be a bit too scary, but it's something else. Avoid Buzz Lightyear, as the noise along will traumatize her. What about Brother Bear play area?

Bytebear: We have done Brother Bear thing. The only thing that kind of detracts us from going more often is that the older kids have no reservations about safety for the younger kids in the area. Our child LOVES the 'water park' in the Bug's Life area, but unless its really hot, we avoid it because she wants to stay in there WAAAAY to long and she loves to crawl around on the foam floor while a bunch of other children are running around.

We once went to see Crush but for some reason, even though she loves the movie, she began crying when the show started. As we were leaving, Crush even pointed us out and comments about her needing a change of diapers and feeding her. Quite embarassing. :rolleyes:

But we will be sure to check out the Jumping Jellyfish and the talking Stitch that mommy-san suggested.

What about Winnie the Pooh? My 4 y/o was terrified of the rides (we had to leave from the entrance of Casey Jr, pinnocchio, couldn't get up the stairs for the train) and she went on WTP twice. She agreed to go on Haunted Mansion when her sister said it was fun and she could just close her eyes...but it was closed by that time :(

And don't forget the performances. We didn't make it to Aladdins Oasis in DL, but I wish we did; it was filling up 45 minutes before the show!

She loved the Aladdin musical at DCA, it was one of her favorite parts of the whole trip.

Walk through Tarzan's tree house

Tom Sawyer Island? (and take tons of pics, just in case it really does disappear into the Pirates hullabaloo)

Stuff a Potato Head box. Its a good science lesson, can fill an hour, and is just plain fun :P

Sword in the stone ceremony? Go on a character quest...to find and hug all the characters (and get pics, maybe autographs.)

She seems to have grown out of Winnie the Pooh. When she was younger, that was one of only two rides we went on, but she doesn't seem interested in it anymore.

Tarzan's Treehouse is something else that I forgot we added to our to-do list.

The find and hug/autograph all of the characters is a very good idea, though, it seems very time consuming. It took us several visits to fill up one autograph book. Is there a way to know the times for every character that will be appearing for the day?

Also, I've seen several people do this and want to try it out one day. Sharpie in hand, I've seen guests that have had T-shirts signed by the characters. Does anyone have any suggestions or cute ideas for getting the best results? We were thinking a pink Disney Princesses related T-shirt to get signed, but if anyone has any good ideas, I'm open to them as well. :D

Stuuf for the three-and-under crowd:

DL railroad
MS Omnibus
MS Fire truck
Visit the firestation
DL 50year film in the Opera House
Watch fudge being made on MS
Visit fortune teller on MS
Clydesdales trolley
Snow White wishing well
Tarzan's treehouse
Jungle Cruise (cover her ears w/the gunshot)
Aladdin's Oasis
Tiki Room
Mark Twain
Columbia ship
Winnie the Pooh
Feed the ducks at Hungry Bear restaurant (downstairs)
Watch the train on the trestle (upstairs at Hungry Bear)
Winnie the Pooh
Visit Pooh/ Tigger at photo spot outside WTP ride
Get a snack at Fowler's Harbor & watch the river trafffic
See a show at Golden Horseshoe
Shooting Gallery in Frontierland
Woody's Roundup Petting Zoo
Casey Junior
Storybook Land
King Arthur's CArousel
Princess Dress shop in Castle courtyard
Autopia
Innoventions
Watch a hat get stitched at the Mad Hatter
Small World
Princess show in the former "Snow White Live" theatre
Visit Mickey in Toontown
Visit Minnie in Toontown
Play area in Toontown
Character visits in Toontown
Birthday party at Main Street restaurant
Get a special pin by visiting City Hall (birthday... or DL Honorary Citizen)
Push the giant "wet marble" outside Space Mountain
Share a giant pickle near the canoe ride

I'm leaving out Honey I shrunk the kids, Pirates of the Carribean, Snow White, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, and the Orbitron rockets as it sounds like these would not be a good fit for your child. My child LOVES the pirates and the rocket ride, but HATES the Haunted Mansion (I *thought* he might like the HM because he went bonkers for POTC. They all develop their own likes and dislikes at different speeds.).

I personally think DCA is GREAT for toddlers. The water splish-splash areas are fun. In general, Flik's area is superb. Try Heimlich's chew-chew. Flik's flyer is fun-- but I don't know if your daughter will like the spinning aspect of the ride. Brother Bear is a nice show... and maybe she'd enjoy the challenge trail.

Hope this helps.

ladodgerjon: that is a fantastic list of things to do. thank you for your input.

Just out of curiousity, I've seen the birthday party on MS. Is that something that you must pay to rent out for your child's actual birthday or is it a mock celebration they do that you can pay a small fee to attend?

Make sure she gets a break from all the stimulation - this is good for the long run, trust me (see adorable toddler in avatar left :rolleyes: ). A visit to the hotel room to read books or a quiet ride on the monorail might help. Have fun!

ladodgerjon: that is a fantastic list of things to do. thank you for your input.

Just out of curiousity, I've seen the birthday party on MS. Is that something that you must pay to rent out for your child's actual birthday or is it a mock celebration they do that you can pay a small fee to attend?

You pay a fee (wish I could remember what it was, but I'm guessing around $20 for a bucket that is filled with a cupcake (along with icing and other doodads to decorate it with) and some party favors (special birthday button, etc).

The party is outside the restaurant, is hosted, and takes place with other families celebrating birthdays. 'Tis a group event. I am not aware of "private" birthday parties (save for the million dollar bash for Liz Taylor).

My two-year-old loved, loved, loved Autopia. I had to press the gas and he wasn't quite strong enough to turn the wheel so I acted as a kind of power steering. I just helped him turn the way he wanted to though. If it was wrong, it was wrong and the track kept us going right.

Oh, suggestions for DCA also apply as the only thing we really do there is go to the Bug's Life area. :rolleyes:

Playhouse Disney? We don't watch it as much anymore because I can't stand the Doodlebops.

Have you been to the Redwood Creek trail? A 3-y/o won't be able to do everything there but there are lots of things she can still check out.

There's a carousel on the Boardwalk (Although I think it's down right now,) and the Sunwheel and the s.s. rustworthy boat to crawl around.

Adrienne

Just out of curiousity, I've seen the birthday party on MS. Is that something that you must pay to rent out for your child's actual birthday or is it a mock celebration they do that you can pay a small fee to attend?
Its a group party. Its $10 per person.

You can also do birthday buckets and at Goofy's you get a birthday bag.

We have also done a full out birthday party (my daughter's 16th birthday) at Disneyland with the help of Disney Dining. We started with dinner at the then ABC Bistro, followed by preferred seating for Blast! then we had train seating to see fireworks, followed by Premium seating for Fantasmic! Disney Dining choreographed everything for me.

Did they make-over the Playhouse Disney show? Does it no longer center around Tutter (sp?) and his shyness?

Doodlebops are lukewarm as far as my daughter is concerned. Somedays she'll watch it and others she won't. I can't stand them as well. Still, it's worth a view to see if she'll enjoy the show if its changed. Thanks for the heads up~

Also, thanks to ladodgerjon and Malcon10t for the birthday info. One other question though, where/how do you pay to enter the party and how far in advance must payment be made?

One other question though, where/how do you pay to enter the party and how far in advance must payment be made?

You pay when you arrive for the party, as you enter. You pay and enter at the entrance to the Plaza Inn restaurant. You can make same day reservations IF they are available but I think they take reservations via the Disney Dining priority seating system, too. If you want to do it, I'd try Disney dining first.

Adrienne

Jr Chef is always a big hit here. We tend to go just as the boys start to complain that they need a snack...so we make them go make their own chocolate chip cookies.

My kids loved Jr cheafs. Marry poppins even baked with them once. They love to do it everyday and it is free they get 2-3 cookies each and you can sit back and watch.

Our son turns 3-years-old in less than two weeks. We do find that our visits to the parks are getting more and more into a fairly predictable pattern, although I don't find that we object too much to that as we are doing things that he really enjoys. At Disneyland, the Carousel, Dumbo, and the tea-cups are the rides he likes the best. He also is very fond of "It's a Small World" and he has a really good time at the Goofy-themed play area in Toontown (this is fairly new, so you might not know about it if you haven't been there for a while). He also really had a good time on the Mark Twain the last time we rode it, although it was pretty tiring for me as he was pretty much dragging me from deck to deck throughout the ride.

He has been very fascinated with cars lately and I really thought that the Autopia would potentially be a lot of fun for him, but when we tried it recently it pretty much bored him. He was well behaved during the ride, but not particularly animated or excited. When we got to the end, he just looked at me and said "get off now?" I think the main issue is that he is still a bit too small to actually steer or reach the pedals, so the ride was nothing more than sitting there while I controlled it. It doesn't move fast enough or have enough interesting scenery to really interest him much.

He does generally do alright with the dark rides (although Mr. Toad's and Haunted Mansion are too much for him), but he isn't overwhelmingly enthusiastic about them right now. He won't really sit through any of the live shows any more, even though he could more when he was younger. We have tried both Turtle Talk and the Tiki-Room fairly recently and he had to be taken out of each of them early. He isn't familiar with any of the shows featured in the Playhouse Disney show, so we haven't tried that one.

Over in DCA, he only has marginal interest in the rides in Bug's Land. You might not expect at first that Paradise Pier would be particularly toddler friendly, but that part of the park is actually probably what he enjoys the most. King Triton's Carousel (which was opened today), the Sun Wheel, and the Golden Zephyr are all favorites. He also enjoys watching the California Screamin' trains go by.

He does have a lot of fun at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, but that is another one that I should warn can really wear out the parents. The play area is very spread out with multiple levels. He particularly enjoys the big slide, which requires a lot of stairs to get up to. I have found that I get worn out from trying to keep up with him there much faster than he tires of it. While the Goofy play area in Toontown is much smaller and less elaborate, it is also much more contained.

My main advice with a toddler that age really is just to go ahead and try a lot of different attractions, constantly staying prepared to back off if something doesn't appeal. Also, don't forget that repetition is probably much less of a big deal for a toddler than it is for an adult. It is pretty likely that he/she isn't really bothered by doing the same things on every visit.

-Jeff

ladodgerjon had some terrific things listed. Try to think past rides and do other activities.
The Playhouse Disney show at DCA would be one I would definetly add to my to do list.