View Full Version : Something Special For The Kids
FloridaFamily
02-11-2013, 15:30
Hi All
We are going in Sept 14 to the happy world of Florida. Have been 3 or 4 times before and we trully love it but will be first time for 6 year old and 2nd time for then 9 year old (he was 2 or 3 first time) and since the expense means this wont happen often we would like to maximise the WOW of the holiday. At this time we have flights, villa, car, base tickets and Discovery cove booked and so thinking if there are any child WOWs to do. 9 year old loves animals and so Discovery Cove will be excellent but wondering if anyone has done any of the extra items at the parks like being a keeper etc...... Are there things at Kingdom that might also be wows?? Undecided about Arabian Nights, ahve done it a couple of times and cant quite decide if they would like it, am errrrring towards yes and maybe the vip to see behind the scenes as well
Anyone with experiences of this would be great. Open to ideas all of the place, parks and other ideas???
Thanks[:)]
How about a character meal?
Donald would do for me, I'm partial to a bit of Duck.....................................Sorry couldn't resist
Feeding time at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, not a zoo and all proceeds go to the cats. Very easy drive and easy to find.
Or Sea Screamer at Clearwater to see and swim with the Dolphins
DisneyFunVilla
03-11-2013, 13:24
How about a character meal?
I was going to suggest the same thing. Our favorite is currently the Cape May character breakfast at the Beach Club resort.
florida4sun
03-11-2013, 16:44
Mine really used to enjoy renting thepnotoon boats to watch the Epcot fireworks. You can take your picnic and drinks onboard. Take time to show them the small overlooked things in the parks. They will be fascinated by it all. Google hidden Mickeys, quite a few of the originals are still to be seen. Passports in Epcot are fun for the younger ones too. Do a bit of homework on what tricks were used to build the parks (it is really interesting stuff) and wow them with your knowledge. Did you you know the trashcan spacing is the exact walking distance it took Walt took to eat a hot dog? Or the business names in the shop windows are dedications to the original imagineers? There is tons of this info out there.
Arabian nights is ok, my daughter loved it- the meal you get isn't the best and its hard bench seats in the arena and smells horsey (which my husband hated) Didn't bother me cos I;ve got a horse lol.
But I reckon most kids will love it- and you can go down at the end pat the horses.
FloridaFamily
10-11-2013, 05:37
Mine really used to enjoy renting thepnotoon boats to watch the Epcot fireworks. You can take your picnic and drinks onboard. Take time to show them the small overlooked things in the parks. They will be fascinated by it all. Google hidden Mickeys, quite a few of the originals are still to be seen. Passports in Epcot are fun for the younger ones too. Do a bit of homework on what tricks were used to build the parks (it is really interesting stuff) and wow them with your knowledge. Did you you know the trashcan spacing is the exact walking distance it took Walt took to eat a hot dog? Or the business names in the shop windows are dedications to the original imagineers? There is tons of this info out there.
Hi MArtin
I really like the pontoon boat this is a great example of something I would never think of thanks, willl start hitting up Google now to try and locate info to do that one. I like the idea of the character breakfast as well but must admit whenever I try and find something it looks hard to book and I have no idea where to go for it as i thought they were all in the parks? If I am in a Villa within the usual range of the Disney is there somewhere that is easy to just drive up to where I can book in rather than a park where you have to park in the massive car parks and try and get in in time?
Thanks all for your comments
steph_goodrum
10-11-2013, 07:12
Some of the ones that are a bit different are chef mickey (where the children get to cook as well) and mickeys backyard bbq. In Disneys fort wilderness. If youu look for the one that are base at the hotels then you won't be going in general parking (and paying) youu just drive to the hotel and they will tell you where to park, you will need id to get through the security barrier but that is it.
steph_goodrum
10-11-2013, 07:20
Another one which would be a good one to do day after your arrival is the Pirates and Pals firweorks voyage.(Sets the holiday mood apparently) It is not cheap at $69 for adulys and $34 for children but is supposed to be really ood fun. One tip seems to be though to park at the Contemporary hotel when you go as afterwards there is a long trip back if you park at say Magic Kingdom. Do you travelling in the morning when everybody is fresher or drive outu of the park and over to the hotel.
DisneyFunVilla
10-11-2013, 13:48
Hi MArtin
I really like the pontoon boat this is a great example of something I would never think of thanks, willl start hitting up Google now to try and locate info to do that one. I like the idea of the character breakfast as well but must admit whenever I try and find something it looks hard to book and I have no idea where to go for it as i thought they were all in the parks? If I am in a Villa within the usual range of the Disney is there somewhere that is easy to just drive up to where I can book in rather than a park where you have to park in the massive car parks and try and get in in time?
Thanks all for your comments
Our two favorite character breakfasts are not in a park, but in resorts, where parking is much easier. Cape May, as mentioned above, is in the Beach Club resort. Ohana is in the Polynesian resort. The nice thing about Cape May is that you can go out to the boardwalk and walk around a bit either before or after breakfast (or both!) Very nice. You can book them both online at Disney's web site.
We have just returned from Florida and though we have our own villa rented the villa next door for there was 10 adults and 6 children, the children varied in age from 9 - 2. All the children apart from the 2 year old love Islands of Adventure and Universal especially the Harry Potter section and the new ride Transformers after that they all thought Disney tame apart from the Light show and the fireworks. One of the highlights of the 8 and 9 year olds was fishing off Redington Pier with my husband and catching the live bait for the men, they left the villa at 6.00am in the morning breakfast on the way and on the pier from 8.00am until 5.00am with sandwiches and drinks and apparently had the best time ever and according to my husband did not complain once, so you need not spend mega bucks for the children to have a great day
Val