Where should I start reading/touring for these interests?

[Skipadeedoodaa]

I would just be sure that you have the medical logistics figured out before you start talking up the planning too much with the kids, just in case things don't work out as you hope, kwim? I saw your other post about the logistics of this trip for your family, and it indicated a much higher level of medical needs than I realized when reading the original post in this thread. (I didn't originally even realize that both posts were about the same family, or I would have probably answered differently in some of my posts, such as the ones about splitting up and leaving one adult with most of the kids, for instance.)

Thank you! I'm fine with this being a 5 year plan or whatever is needed. I'm not spending that kind of money to be miserable. As much as the logistics will have to be tailored to our abilities, they're still kids who want to experience the magic and being able to keep the priorities in the forefront of planning will help to keep it all in focus.

 

[Skipadeedoodaa]

You should just borrow the 2019 from your local library (if they have it), because the 2020 will be out in August-ish and will surely have new info.

The video used to be mailed to you (I got mine in 2017), however when I searched for it, I only found the online thing through their website: Here! Enjoy.

Super helpful. Thanks!

EPCOT for frozen related for the youngest but mk could work as well, princesses and all plus the awe of it.


All the mountains in mk for the middle one, fast pass selections are the key with the time frame

For the oldest a backstage tour at mk while everyone is riding meeting characters but also sounds like he/she might enjoy just walking around and experiencing world showcase in EPCOT.

Staying on site will help with logistics

It looks like Magic Kingdom and Epcot continuously rise to the top for us. Thank you!

I hear there's a museum type exhibit in Morroco in EPCOT. The countries can definitely be educational, especially if you look up things about each country ahead of time, try to identify architecture, artwork, etc.

Thanks!

Here is a list of tours I have taken for Epcot. Just a word of warning for the oldest, some tour there are not too many people, others you can be split into groups of about 12-15 people if it is a popular tour.

Future World: History of bringing Epcot to life, facts and ride on Spaceship Earth, Fountain of Nations history, significance of moon outside of Mission Space, view of aquarium at Coral Reef before opening for lunch, history of the Land building, since there was just 4 people total on our tour we got a bonus look at how they wash all the 3D glasses from all over WDW, history of Imagination building and Figment, information on monorail, Wonders of Life building and Odyssey building, visit to one of the 3 VIP lounges, backstage and ride on Test Track then finishing the tour backstage at Cast Members Services.

Destinations: Picks up where Future World left off with Fountains of Nations history, stop and history of each country of World Showcase (I never realized how much artwork is on display for each country), history of and backstage view of Illuminations barges and globe, and lunch at Rose and Crown.

Behind the Seeds tour is short and for all ages. You become part of the Living with the Land ride as you learn about aqua and hydroponic gardening, the variety of plants within the area and how everything in the ride is used by Epcot restaurants.

The Royal Tea Tour was another short but very informative tour of the tea cup planters in the garden during Flower/Garden Festival, a history of the Twinnings Tea Company and ends with tea and scones at Rose and Crown.

I can recommend the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour as a shorter tour. You will get a history of Main St that reflects Walt's life growing up that starts at the train station progresses down Main St. The best part of the tour is stories in the Haunted Mansion que, a ride on and then going under the ride to see how it functions while the ride operates. We took a break at Tangled area and finished the tour with the history and ride on Carousel of Progress.

The Keys to the Kingdom is also a good tour relating a history of Disneyland which inspired WDW with rides on Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. We went backstage to the parade barns, trash collection area, and ending with the utilidors,

Super helpful! I'll let the teen read it and watch videos from/on those tours. Thanks!

Yes, Anna and Elsa only meet in Epcot. (Though OP they are hardly the “image of Epcot” - Spaceship Earth is the icon and Figment is for all intents and purposes the mascot.)

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean they are "THE image of Epcot," I meant when I was on the Disney World website, the four parks each had an image to click, and Elsa and Anna were the image for Epcot so I was concerned if we went only to Magic Kingdom that we'd miss them, which turned out to be a confirmed assumption.

One good place to start is with a list of each attraction in each park.

I started by looking at each park one by one. Then I wrote down a list of what I thought my family would particularly like in each park. (There are awesome things in all 4 parks)

Then I sat down and looked at the list as a whole and narrowed down the absolute must dos and the "would be nice to do".

As a newbie, this gave me a very good starting point as to the major attractions and what my family would like.

Alternatively, what a PP suggested with watching a planning video is a great idea. This is a good one:

When I was planning a trip for a newbie friend, I got his whole famiky to sit down to watch it with me. Paying close attention to each person's reactions really told me a lot about what they would like/dislike.

Thanks! The video makes ME want to visit all four! LOL But it looks like the family would most like Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

I think you need to approach this as general blocks of time, then fill in the specifics. Your problem is that you have 3 kids with very different interests/tolerances.

Are any of them willing to spend time doing what someone else wants? If the middle one can only spend 3 hours in the park at a time, are you going to use any of those three hours to do something which only the little one wants to do? Conversely, what are you going to do with the little one and the oldest one while taking the middle one on a roller coaster? How much time is the oldest one going to be off on their own?

For example:
Day 1:
Go to Animal Kingdom park.
Adult # 1 takes middle child on thrill rides from 9:00 am to noon.
Adult # 2 takes youngest child to meet characters and do easier rides from 9:00 am to noon.
Oldest child can accompany adult # 2 or go off on their own from 9:00 am to noon.
You can have a tour booked for oldest child during this time slot. (Although at this particular park, there are tons of educational opportunities just walking around, if this person likes animals.)
At noon, everbody heads to a sit-down restaurant inside the park for which you have a reservation.
Or, everybody meets up at a spot inside the park near the exit and then you head over to a nearby hotel for lunch.
After the meal: if eating at a hotel, does anybody want to explore the hotel? Animal Kingdom Lodge has things to see and do, for example. If not:
Adult # 1 takes middle child back to your own hotel.
Adult # 2 takes youngest child back to the park or back to your hotel, depending on energy level.
Oldest child accompanies adult # 1 or adult # 2.

After you decide which park for each day, you can read up on rides and tours and fill in specifics. You also can read up on restaurants in nearby hotels.

If you have a limited number of days, focus on Epcot. Princesses for the youngest kid, thrill rides for the middle kid, educational stuff for the oldest kid.

AllEars.net has menus for all of the restaurants.

Thanks! I would like to choose a character meal for the preschooler but I'm disappointed that none have the princes, and Elsa isn't in any. We typically use homemade food over 90% of the time when traveling. It's looking like we'd do MK and Epcot.

I imagine our days would roughly look something like early morning and early evening day, split day with dad out in morning and mom out in evening, down day not in the parks, early morning and early evening day, afternoon and night all together in the park, down day not in the parks, lots of support for a long day with plenty of trading-off to get anything we'd missed or loved. There'd definitely be some overlap, like the teen going to a tour while we're split up. I just don't know enough yet to figure that out.

Do you know when the least humid months are? I can start looking at the typical park schedules for then.

 

[sponica]

I'd avoid June through September if you're trying to avoid the humidity.

I've done an August trip, I really don't remember the humidity. You can tell my brain switches into a different mode in Disney, I literally remember NONE of the annoyances.