probably not the right board but I bet yall know.

my kids are 5 and 3 and we are going to do Disney World next year for the first time. I know this takes a lot of planning far in advance.


however I went to Disney Land when I was like 12 and the way I remember it was it was basically just a Disney themed theme park that you can walk up to and enjoy for a day without a ton of planning. Kind of like Six Flags. is that accurate?

Having never actually been to DisneyLand, I would agree with your assessment. I believe that park is actually 2 parks confined to a smaller geographic footprint and surrounded by LA and all that comes with that, some of it undoubtedly not great.

Disney World is also just a theme park, albeit a much more spread out park comprised of 4 separate parks. My understanding is that DisneyLand actually has many of the same attractions that you can find at Disney World, just in a much more compressed area.

Something to keep in mind about your trip next year: as with any theme parks, there are height restrictions for certain attractions. Your youngest might not be able to ride everything that the oldest will. Rides like Rock N Roller Coaster (which includes loops and barrel rolls in a dark environment), Space Mountain (fairly tame but is an interior coaster), and Expedition Everest (this thing takes you backward at some point).

https://disneywire.com/2022/06/28/height-requirements-for-disney-world-rides/#:~:text=The%20Magic%20Kingdom%20minimum%20height%20requirements%20are%3A%201,inches%206%20Seven%20Dwarfs%20Mine%20Train-%2038%20inches

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when I was like 12 and the way I remember it

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Just a note...

The fact you said "12" and "remember" is extremely relevant. Do it if you want to go for yourself and the pictures.

However, speaking from experience, your 3-year-old absolutely will not remember this trip. Your 5-year-old will only have vague memories of it.

oh absolutely. we will go because they will have a blast and we will too being able to see them enjoy it.

DisneyWorld.

Only mentioned it because we never planned on making two trips to Disney, but these little teenage ****ers are claiming they don't really remember the insanely expensive trip we actually made.

We did Disneyland last year with similarly aged kids. It is not like it was back in our day. You pretty much have to buy the genie or lightening pass or whatever the mouse calls it. You plan your whole day using the app on your phone. Some lines are hours long, so if you are there for 8 hours, you could theoretically only ride 4 rides and each ride is only a minute or two. And, there are 2 parks there now. Cali Adventure and old school dLand. If you want to do it, each park probably needs its own day. Cali adventure is newer and built with more modern conveniences. The cars ride is great. Watch a bunch of youtubes and it will help you plan your day. Just showing up blind is a really bad idea.

gigemJTH12 said:

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oh absolutely. we will go because they will have a blast and we will too being able to see them enjoy it.

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My daughter doesn't remember dressing up like Belle and meeting Belle. But I do and the look on her face and how happy she was when Belle said she had a pretty dress.

She doesn't remember carrying around a Jessie doll and how excited she got when Jessie signed it, but we do. She does remember the fat bear stealing her Jessie though.

but all in all its still a much more manageable trip with less planning that Florida right?

I appreciate the info!

Going to Disney World in a few weeks with the wife and 3 boys ages 11, 9, and 5. Driving there and back and in parks for 6 days. Really looking forward to it.

Super paranoid about reserving spot for RotR and definitely want to do the Falcon multiple times….wife and I are building sabers and kids droids….and there's a lot more planned as well……

A lot of the things you can see/do at DW you can't do at DL cause of it being a smaller park….the only negative towards DW is it'll be humid as hell, but we're from Texas so it's too far outta left field for us….just bring sunscreen and water bottles

I will never take the kids to another theme park ever again! It's miserable and a huge waste of money. Like someone said you spend 95% of your time waiting in line or walking to wait in line....not to mention waiting to spend $120 bucks on a crappy lunch, that the kids will throw away most of..., oh and the tears , sooo many tears, too hot, too much walking...hungry, hated the sunscreen, completely miserable. Go to a national park or the beach instead! My opinion. :-)

ttaggie said:

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I will never take the kids to another theme park ever again! It's miserable and a huge waste of money. Like someone said you spend 95% of your time waiting in line or walking to wait in line....not to mention waiting to spend $120 bucks on a crappy lunch, that the kids will throw away most of..., oh and the tears , sooo many tears, too hot, too much walking...hungry, hated the sunscreen, completely miserable. Go to a national park or the beach instead! My opinion. :-)

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sounds like your kids suck

Downer award of the day goes to you.

The correct answer is: universal Studios.

ttaggie said:

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I will never take the kids to another theme park ever again! It's miserable and a huge waste of money. Like someone said you spend 95% of your time waiting in line or walking to wait in line....not to mention waiting to spend $120 bucks on a crappy lunch, that the kids will throw away most of..., oh and the tears , sooo many tears, too hot, too much walking...hungry, hated the sunscreen, completely miserable. Go to a national park or the beach instead! My opinion. :-)

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Disney lets you bring in picnic lunches.

Here's a good one if you have little ones: Boil the **** out of some hotdogs in the morning then put them in a bun and wrap them in foil. Wrap all of the hotdogs in foil. Leave it on the roof of your stroller. It'll stay warm all day.

gigemJTH12 said:

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but all in all its still a much more manageable trip with less planning that Florida right?

I appreciate the info!

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Haven't done Florida yet. From my research, Florida requires about 4x the planning. For Florida, best bet is to use one of the Disney travel agents. They don't cost you anything and they get deals you can't. Looks to be one of those deals that if you go cheap on it you will probably regret it. Just beat it with your wallet. Also, there is beer at Cali Adventure. Just sayin.

All that said, I will do Florida once, then I am done. I don't enjoy Disneyland. I hate lines. The rides are fine, but not worth standing there for 30-45 minutes for 2 minutes of fun. My wife loves it. Once I put in my time,I am out.

I took my niece and nephew (ages 4 and 6 at the time) to Disneyland a year ago. They loved it!

As for planning - I did do a bit of planning beforehand to:
- Learn how the Fast Pass / Genie pass (whatever it's called) works. This is app-based system was not intuitive and, if you get it, I'd recommend figuring it out before you go so you're not struggling with it in the park.
- Research which rides have the longest lines at which times.

So my planning was all around how to get the most efficiency out of the day and take the kids on the most rides.

If you're going to Disney world, I might also look up the transit systems that exist between the various parks so you know how to travel between them. And if there are any rides you know you want to do, double check to make sure you know what park they're in and how popular they are.

But mostly don't stress. Have fun.

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The rides are fine, but not worth standing there for 30-45 minutes for 2 minutes of fun. My wife loves it. Once I put in my time,I am out.

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At least your wife loves it. Why does she make you wait?

Learning how to use Genie+ and on what rides is the difference between a good trip and a great one

This web app makes booking rides waaaay easier
https://joelface.github.io/bg1/

This website has data on what return time you'll have for lightening lanes : https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/hollywood-studios/


Also, when I was there you could get on the same network via a phones hotspot, then have two separate MDE accounts, open, then book two lightening lanes simultaneously if you pressed confirm at the exact same moment. That was a game changer. That might be gone now.

Look up how Virtual Queues work for Tron and Guardians of the Galaxy.

My advice as a multi-trip veteran ... learn the app, but don't try and over plan the day, especially with little ones.

Go slow. Take time to go back to the hotel and rest. Maybe get some pool time in. Don't stress about what you are seeing and not seeing. If the little ones get cranky, take a deep breath and be flexible.

Kids don't care about your highly engineered schedule designed to maximize ride-to-wait time efficiency. They just like being there. They'll have more fun and you'll have more fun. And you'll still have plenty of memories.

When your kids are older, you can go all out to "beat" the parks. Now is not the time.

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there is beer at Cali Adventure. Just sayin.

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There is also beer at EPCOT.



Don't recall the name of this beer, but got it in the Germany section of the World Showcase. Had a big stein full of German beer the Biergarten restaurant as well on another trip.

every WDW park has beer now....

Chuck Cunningham said:

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ttaggie said:

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I will never take the kids to another theme park ever again! It's miserable and a huge waste of money. Like someone said you spend 95% of your time waiting in line or walking to wait in line....not to mention waiting to spend $120 bucks on a crappy lunch, that the kids will throw away most of..., oh and the tears , sooo many tears, too hot, too much walking...hungry, hated the sunscreen, completely miserable. Go to a national park or the beach instead! My opinion. :-)

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Disney lets you bring in picnic lunches.

Here's a good one if you have little ones: Boil the **** out of some hotdogs in the morning then put them in a bun and wrap them in foil. Wrap all of the hotdogs in foil. Leave it on the roof of your stroller. It'll stay warm all day.

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so you're the guy I was behind on the Slinky Dog ride last year that smelt like farts the whole time.

Disney World is a destination, Disneyland is something you do if you happen to be going to LA.

gigemJTH12 said:

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probably not the right board but I bet yall know.

my kids are 5 and 3 and we are going to do Disney World next year for the first time. I know this takes a lot of planning far in advance.


however I went to Disney Land when I was like 12 and the way I remember it was it was basically just a Disney themed theme park that you can walk up to and enjoy for a day without a ton of planning. Kind of like Six Flags. is that accurate?

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Yep, that's a great description. As someone who mostly liked to ride the fun rides as a youngster and didn't care much at all for all of the Disney stuff...plus the amazing SoCal climate vs hot and swampy Florida...Disneyland was the clear favorite. That being said, I was like 10 or so at the time and it was the early 90's. Disneyland could be a gang banger infested cesspool now for all I know (hope not). But it was awesome back in the day.

Six Flags Magic Mountain was pretty fun too.

Been to both parks in the last 4 years or so and my advice to you is to skip DW and go to DL instead.

Like you said, they're young and probably wont remember and the summers in FL are more brutal than the ones in CA. The reason why I say this is because DL is a smaller park that with enough planning is doable in a few days. DW is a whole different animal that without proper planning can be a nightmare because it is bigger. I feel like DL has enough to do for your kids that you won't miss the experience at DW especially if you haven't been there.

Save the DW trip for when they are older and they will actually remember the experience. I took my kids to both DL and DW and they remember DW the most because they were older and have been itching to go back.

There's really not a wrong answer here, if you want the whole immersive Disney experience go to DW, but if you want to go a Disney park for nostalgic reasons and want to show your kids what it was like when you were little, then I'd say DL is the choice for you.

You won't go wrong either way, but I feel like DW, in summer, takes a heck of a lot of planning(hotel, parks to visit, rides to ride, food) and be a repeated guest in order to know how to have the best time there.

Just got back from Disney World Friday. My four and eight year olds had a great time, as did their mother and I. There were a few stressful moments, but they were easily outweighed by the good. I did spend a lot of time planning things out which was very beneficial. There was a lot to it, but I enjoyed the process. It was an expensive trip, but I knew that going in. I had set the money aside and tried not to think about it.

GrayMatter said:

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Been to both parks in the last 4 years or so and my advice to you is to skip DW and go to DL instead.

Like you said, they're young and probably wont remember and the summers in FL are more brutal than the ones in CA. The reason why I say this is because DL is a smaller park that with enough planning is doable in a few days. DW is a whole different animal that without proper planning can be a nightmare because it is bigger. I feel like DL has enough to do for your kids that you won't miss the experience at DW especially if you haven't been there.

Save the DW trip for when they are older and they will actually remember the experience. I took my kids to both DL and DW and they remember DW the most because they were older and have been itching to go back.

There's really not a wrong answer here, if you want the whole immersive Disney experience go to DW, but if you want to go a Disney park for nostalgic reasons and want to show your kids what it was like when you were little, then I'd say DL is the choice for you.

You won't go wrong either way, but I feel like DW, in summer, takes a heck of a lot of planning(hotel, parks to visit, rides to ride, food) and be a repeated guest in order to know how to have the best time there.

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Have four young kids, weve been to Disneyland 3 times in last 6 years. It's a much better time with little. You can put them in a stroller and everything is walkable.

EclipseAg said:

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My advice as a multi-trip veteran ... learn the app, but don't try and over plan the day, especially with little ones.

Go slow. Take time to go back to the hotel and rest. Maybe get some pool time in. Don't stress about what you are seeing and not seeing. If the little ones get cranky, take a deep breath and be flexible.

Kids don't care about your highly engineered schedule designed to maximize ride-to-wait time efficiency. They just like being there. They'll have more fun and you'll have more fun. And you'll still have plenty of memories.

When your kids are older, you can go all out to "beat" the parks. Now is not the time.

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Best advice by far.

I budgeted fairly for the trip - realizing I would get annoyed by what I was paying if I didn't. That removed stress for me.

Our kids were 6 & 4 at the time, we took breaks and stopped for a ton of pictures... I'm guessing we had over 150 pictures taken by photopass or whatever it is called. Worth it for us.

We closed each day down at the resort pool - usually after a fairly early dinner at one of the parks. We were leaving as others came in for fireworks. Sure, we missed that, but my kids loved being at the pool. It was nice to walk a few hundred yards back to our room with them wore out vs. getting in a bus line.

We did DL in 2019 with 7 year old and 5 year old twins. Loved every minute.

Highly recommend DL for convenience and less stress. The park is beautiful and original…history is very interesting. The grounds are amazing…I never saw trash and no bugs…not even ants. Weather is also incredible…we went in Feb.

California Adventure is just as nice and the Cars ride is coolest ride I've ever been in…6 Flags, DW, Silver Dollar City, Opryland, etc…

Stayed at the Grand Californian with easy park access.

My family has been to both and we prefer going to Disneyland over World every time.

-Weather is better
-Being able to walk between parks and manage rides at the same time is a plus
-We like the old school feel.
-At WDW the princesses and princes are just wearing wigs and are meh, but with all the starving actors and actresses in LA, they WANT it. They really try to be the characters.
-Yeah, you can't go to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios but we're fine with the trade off.

Just our observations.

We've done both several times with the kids, and we look fondly back on all the memories and pictures. As mentioned above, it's about the kids, so if they start melting down and getting tired, take a good break (or take the break before they get to that stage). I'd do either one again if it wasn't for all the other summer obligations, so enjoy the day and cherish the time with the kids.

I know there are lots of apps/web pages that can assist in crowd numbers or when you should do what ride. We liked touringplans.com and will use them again if we ever get to go back.

A good strategy is to stay onsite and take them open til around 2-3. Take them to the hotel for a nap, cartoons, etc, eat diner and go back in the evening.

I honestly would work with a Disney Travel Agent so they can take care of most of the difficult crap for you, plus their service is free. I'm sure there's an Aggie that can help you out with that.

gigemJTH12 said:

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probably not the right board but I bet yall know.

my kids are 5 and 3 and we are going to do Disney World next year for the first time. I know this takes a lot of planning far in advance.


however I went to Disney Land when I was like 12 and the way I remember it was it was basically just a Disney themed theme park that you can walk up to and enjoy for a day without a ton of planning. Kind of like Six Flags. is that accurate?

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The way it is now, Disneyland/California Adventure is much more than the old school walk up and enjoy for a day. Granted, it's definitely not as big and spread out as WDW, but it's far more than "just a thing to do in LA while you're there" as one poster suggested. Last year we were there 4 days and still didn't do everything we could have done.

Also, if you're into the Marvel side of Disney, California is the place to go. With the deal struck between Marvel and Universal, California Adventure is the only place for most of the Marvel stuff. The Avengers Campus is fairly small but it's really cool. The Dr Strange show is awesome.

Disneyland is definitely a plan ahead, learn how to use the app destination type place these days.

I can't stand theme parks for the most part, but Disneyland is still fun to me for the nostalgia aspect. Florida, not so much, although I would like to see the new Avatar world they built.