Sounds like you've got a preliminary plan of attack. I remember the first time I brought my son to wdw. It was right before his third birthday. I flew in from texas, just him and I.
My buddy who lives in tampa met us at the airport at 11pm. Those were the days when I had
about $5 extra per week to take my son to Mickey D's and buy him a happy meal, and I got the 2.99 special. I had timed it so I wouldn't have to buy him a ticket to get in. We used my buddy's car, and he had free rooms at the hyatt. We flew in right before spring break. I remember going into the mk, around 9am, then taking off in the afternoon for a hour break.
The grand floridian didn't fit into my budget. We had to drive off property, then drive back.
The mk was the only park we went to. I look back on it now, and not really sure what I would change. He didn't take his nap, would you on your first trip to wdw?
Getting in at 3pm? You have to check in(not sure of the wait there) find your room, drop off your luggage. Then drive over to ak, shooting for 4pm, right?
The highlights of ak for small children:
Dinoland play area
Pocohantas show
Character greeting at camp minnie-mickey
Bug's life under the big tree
Conservation station(train ride, petting area)
Tarzan rocks show
Triceratops spin
Hester & Chester's Dinosaur store(most every child would love a dinosaur souvenir, heck, my
son could spend 1/2 hour alone playing with all the stuff in here)
Not sure you could cram all this in in 3 hours. Why not go to epcot, like the other person says, which is open later? Check in after you're done at the park you choose.
It's more time consuming than you think. The parks are only open for so long.
Your kids are only going to be this age once in their life. I remember I did wdw when I was 27yo, just going with my buddy. Now I've taken my son four times, and not sure when he's going to outgrow it. Every year, it's a little bit different. And I'm not really sure if it was worth taking him when he was 2yo, just for one day, but hey, I did it.
I would therefore suggest taking the family to epcot on the afternoon you arrive, because it is open later than ak to see:
Honey I shrunk the audience
Living seas
Character greeting bus
Cranium command
Kitchen Cabaret
Innoventions
They don't have playgrounds or small children rides at epcot
Pick the best ones the kids would like, then the last hour tour the world showcase, just looking at stuff, then watch the fireworks(they do get loud and the flames are pretty intense)
Check in and hit the sack for the next day:mk or ak.
At mk, get there early! For hitting some of the big rides early:
Go straight to splash, then big thunder, then over to jungle cruise, and the pirate ride(if your children are not too scared it is a pretty dark ride)
They opened alladin's magic carpets which is right there in adventureland, the kids will love that. When you enter the park, be sure the get the info on character greetings.
Kids love the characters, getting pictures and autographs. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had gotten a certain character for my son.
If you want to appease the children right away:
Hit fantasyland right away. You can go directly there through the castle.
Peter pan, dumbo, and winnie the pooh are the ones you should hit right away.
Then take them over to autopia to ride the cars.
After that, use fastpass when you can.
Children do love the parades, try to be in frontierland when the afternoon parade rolls around.
The fireworks are great at night, stand near the castle to see those and tinkerbell.
There is too much info to give you regarding a plan of attack for specifically at each hour, just thought I'd give you something to start with.
Either way, with my advice, or someone else's take the good and leave the bad. The important thing to remember is to have a great time with your family. Pretty much anyone can take their family to wdw, but the info that you get here can help you to make is special for the ones you love.
By the way, you can get guest of honor badges and autograph books ahead of time through
Jane at:
www.gifts of a lifetime.com
There is absolutely no way you can do everything at mk in one day. Believe me, I have tried!
Good luck!
We leave on April 2nd by car. Since we won't be arriving at CBR until 3:00pm, I have outlined the following plan (which isn't cast in stone, since the kids come first) and I need some input from everyone on whether it's viable or not... here goes -
