Three Days, First Timers, 4yo Girl: Help Me Plan My Friends' Trip!

[TigerlilyAJ]

Hi, DISboards! I've missed you. My family last visited WDW in Dec 2016 with Free Dining and holiday fun. Our friends (DH, DW, and DD, age 4) are going for the first time in January after school has resumed, as one of them will be already there for a work conference. So, they'll be in Orlando longer than three days, but have three days for parks. The daughter needs Princess Content. I know a lot can change in two years, so I thought I would ask for recommendations here.
Questions:
-Best place to stay for comfort and ease in getting to parks? They are looking at the Contempo and GF to be close to the MK. (This is not a budget trip.)
-Do they need Park Hoppers, or should they focus on hitting one park hard each day?
-What park would you skip? They're not big Toy Story or Star Wars fans, so skip DHS with construction? (But what about the DHS shows like B&B and Frozen? I loved those.) Or should they skip AK if they're not going on Expedition Everest? Or is Pandora worth it all? I thought Epcot might be a nice, slower day at the end of the trip, and there are princesses there, too.
-Character meals: I recommended these as an easy way of getting their daughter to meet some characters. I was not thrilled by Akershus, so thought they might enjoy Cinderella's Royal Table for princesses. Other meals that might be good with a young child?
-"Enchanting Extras": I'm always going to have to put that in quotes. Nevertheless, we LOVED our MK EMM from doing Seven Dwarves several times, to the food, to photos without others in the background with the castle and on the carousel (which they opened early, although it is not promised), to the food, to being right there to jump on Small World at RD and see Ariel with no line. Still worthwhile? Better ways for them to spend $200 to have a magical time?

How about the million considerations I have missed?

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

park hoppers- Yes if they want to maximize time however w. a 4yo in tow it's probably biting off more then they can chew for a first time visit. As far as which parks in 3 days, for princess focused, probably 1 to possibly 2 days of MK and then filler with either Epcot for Frozen Ever After or DHS for the shows. AK won't offer much for princesses but I think it makes up for that in uniqueness and animal encounters. I guess they would need to see what they feel like they "have to do" vs what they would like to do. Character meals we've liked are Ohana for Mickey and friends like Stitch and Lilo, we also loved 1500 Park Fare for Cinderella, Prince and her stepmother/stepsisters. Even my DH enjoyed the entertainment.

 

[rwdavis2]

No hoppers. One of the monorail resorts. 2 Days at MK then DHS for the shows as was mentioned above. Character meals: Crystal Palace and probably Chef Mickey's or CRT. Skip EPCOT. There's not much there, IMHO, for a 4 yo.

 

[Tksolomom]

I would stay at the Contemporary because they can walk to MK. I would probably do 2 days at MK and 1 day at HS or AK. AK doesn’t have princesses but the animals and Lion King show are great. They might want to do breakfast at La Tratoria so DD can meet the princesses and princes. My daughter also loved 1900 Park Fare. I would not get park hoppers as the parks are not open that late in January and you would waste too much time. The only exception would be if they did HS to see the two shows and go to Toy Story land then hop over to Epcot and go see the princesses and donrides like Finding Nemo, Frozen and Turtle Talk.

 

[Marthasor]

Hi, DISboards! I've missed you. My family last visited WDW in Dec 2016 with Free Dining and holiday fun. Our friends (DH, DW, and DD, age 4) are going for the first time in January after school has resumed, as one of them will be already there for a work conference. So, they'll be in Orlando longer than three days, but have three days for parks. The daughter needs Princess Content. I know a lot can change in two years, so I thought I would ask for recommendations here.
Questions:
-Best place to stay for comfort and ease in getting to parks? They are looking at the Contempo and GF to be close to the MK. (This is not a budget trip.)
-Do they need Park Hoppers, or should they focus on hitting one park hard each day?
-What park would you skip? They're not big Toy Story or Star Wars fans, so skip DHS with construction? (But what about the DHS shows like B&B and Frozen? I loved those.) Or should they skip AK if they're not going on Expedition Everest? Or is Pandora worth it all? I thought Epcot might be a nice, slower day at the end of the trip, and there are princesses there, too.
-Character meals: I recommended these as an easy way of getting their daughter to meet some characters. I was not thrilled by Akershus, so thought they might enjoy Cinderella's Royal Table for princesses. Other meals that might be good with a young child?
-"Enchanting Extras": I'm always going to have to put that in quotes. Nevertheless, we LOVED our MK EMM from doing Seven Dwarves several times, to the food, to photos without others in the background with the castle and on the carousel (which they opened early, although it is not promised), to the food, to being right there to jump on Small World at RD and see Ariel with no line. Still worthwhile? Better ways for them to spend $200 to have a magical time?

How about the million considerations I have missed?

If this isn't a budget trip and the DD is into princesses, I would stay GF. It's quite "princessy" and in terms of ease and comfort - it's got it. Beautiful rooms and on the monorail line. CR is nice, but it screams "airport hangar" and it's only real convenience is the walk to MK. GF will also offer a great character breakfast (with Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Pooh and friends) and a character meal (Cinderella, stepsisters, etc.), so is quite convenient for a great character meal as well.

If they want heavy princess content, I would skip AK unless the DD is into animals. Pandora would not be worth it with a 4-year old. They may want to consider MK for two days (as there will be a TON for DD to do there) and EP for one day.

For character meals, I would definitely recommend CRT and the two meals at GF that I mentioned. If they want to mix a Mickey meal in, consider Garden Grill in EP, Chef Mickey's at CR or H&V (if they go to DHS).

In terms of "extras", EMM in MK is great, also consider Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in MK, perhaps an MK fireworks dessert party.

 

[jacknsally19]

So everyone is going to have a different take but - as a mom of a 6 yr old girl - here is what I would suggest.

I would definitely do Contemporary over the GF. We have stayed at both but the Contemporary was far more impressive for my little one. She loved all the Mickey stuff at Contemporary whereas the the GF was a bit meh for her. Also, the QS food is better at Contemporary.... and with a young one this is a big, big plus.

As for parks, I tentatively suggest 2 days at MK and 1 at Epcot. If after one day at MK - they felt it was enough - I would switch to AK. In January, Epcot is doing its Art festival which is really fun. Great art activities for a little girl! There is a lot of princess fun to be had a Epcot - Akerhaus, Frozen ride, and lots of princesses in the various countries (Snow White, Belle, Aurora, Jasmine).

As first time visitors, I wouldn’t do a park hopper.... frankly, we have annual passes and we rarely hop. (Worse case - it’s easy to add on)

Also, my daughter LOVES Pandora in AK. It gets dark early in January so there’s is plenty of opportunity to enjoy the nighttime beauty of Pandora.

 

[Brett Wyman]

No hoppers. One of the monorail resorts. 2 Days at MK then DHS for the shows as was mentioned above. Character meals: Crystal Palace and probably Chef Mickey's or CRT. Skip EPCOT. There's not much there, IMHO, for a 4 yo.

As a father of a DD age 4, Epcot is well loved because of Akershu's (her absolute favorite character meal) and the Frozen ever after ride and Ana and Elsas M&G. We personally would fit in a half day there on a three day trip, especially if I was skipping HS.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Hi, DISboards! I've missed you. My family last visited WDW in Dec 2016 with Free Dining and holiday fun. Our friends (DH, DW, and DD, age 4) are going for the first time in January after school has resumed, as one of them will be already there for a work conference. So, they'll be in Orlando longer than three days, but have three days for parks. The daughter needs Princess Content. I know a lot can change in two years, so I thought I would ask for recommendations here.
Questions:
-Best place to stay for comfort and ease in getting to parks? They are looking at the Contempo and GF to be close to the MK. (This is not a budget trip.)
-Do they need Park Hoppers, or should they focus on hitting one park hard each day?
-What park would you skip? They're not big Toy Story or Star Wars fans, so skip DHS with construction? (But what about the DHS shows like B&B and Frozen? I loved those.) Or should they skip AK if they're not going on Expedition Everest? Or is Pandora worth it all? I thought Epcot might be a nice, slower day at the end of the trip, and there are princesses there, too.
-Character meals: I recommended these as an easy way of getting their daughter to meet some characters. I was not thrilled by Akershus, so thought they might enjoy Cinderella's Royal Table for princesses. Other meals that might be good with a young child?
-"Enchanting Extras": I'm always going to have to put that in quotes. Nevertheless, we LOVED our MK EMM from doing Seven Dwarves several times, to the food, to photos without others in the background with the castle and on the carousel (which they opened early, although it is not promised), to the food, to being right there to jump on Small World at RD and see Ariel with no line. Still worthwhile? Better ways for them to spend $200 to have a magical time?

How about the million considerations I have missed?

At this point I've stayed at the 3 monorail hotels (2 CL as well as standard) and my all time favorite for every age is Polynesian. There are no princesses @ Poly but that want can be accomplished via character meals, the Princess Promenade @ GF which is open to all, character meets and the like.
This doesn't change my thoughts that I look carefully at the seasonal pricing when choosing a monorail hotel and can easily be influenced by the best priced one. They all have different advantages and are equal in service level and amenities.

Poly has the biggest rooms, fantastic landscaping and a very relaxed vibe; GF is a bit more quiet in overall atmosphere and formality trying hardest to be Deluxe outside the "bubble", whilst the Contemporary, is very sleek in design and easiest of all the hotels to get to MK (you can walk there) and AK is about a 20 minute bus ride away.

I suspect for their DD's age she'll prefer MK, AK, and Epcot and yes I'd do one park per day if at all possible. I'd split all the parks into quadrants in order to use time wisely with early afternoon resort downtime followed by an early evening dinner and return to the day's park. There will be fireworks and on the water spectacles in the evening that can be readily seen at the Contemporary within the Atrium Club Lounge thus negating the need for a further upgraded room (standard is fine). Poly, no matter what room type you stay at has ready open to all access to the waterfront's fireworks and electric water display float.

Haven't paid further for "Enchanting Extras" so opinionless and can't offer any thoughts on the worthiness of any character meal since my traveling kiddos are past that age.

 

[amberpi]

We just took the kids twice in 6 weeks - 4 and almost 3. See avatar for most recent trip

The kids loved Epcot and we saw SO many princesses there. With small kids, you want flexiblity so PHs are clutch. We skipped the boutique because I understood the dresses were super itchy, so that's a thought.

Ya'll have a great trip.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

You guys are so helpful! TY for all these thoughts and experiences. Keep 'em coming!
I hope it helps them clarify what they want most out of the trip (which would help me help them plan!).