Laidback is probably the last word my parents would have chosen this year 
2 Likes
Ok. Maybe the wrong word. You stay busy… but you seem to float from park to dining to park to other dining, etc. I’m different in I take park by the horns and pound away at it.
We have done that in the past. But I don’t feel the need to now. We are in the parks for a long time - we never take a rest day - and we are going ride to ride when we’re there, but equally if we decide to switch things up I’m not married to my plan. I’m just happy to be there!
Ok. You’ve hit it.
You’re attitude is more laid back. I’m so uptight about not doing something very single minute. Taking time to hop stressed me out once much less over and over.
1 Like
Haha. I Have two girls 3 and 6 so a different Disney experience, although last trip the oldest loved the 7dmt… so maybe the baby rides comment will be here before I know it!
Loving your report— and go with the flow attitude OP!!
3 Likes
DS has never been when he was younger, I think that makes a big difference.
1 Like
Hahaha, yes, my husband would also not use the word laidback. He much preferred Universal (particularly with Express Pass) because we could be more spontaneous. But he really appreciated that I’d picked up the tap-grab-modify knowledge here.
It totally helped to have a lot of days there, and most days (Epcot World Showcase excepted) we were just happy to be there. It also helps that our general vacation M.O. is I research like crazy before hand, have a bunch of options for the day in mind but then we go with whatever everyone’s in the mood for (barring fixed-time tickets to the Sagrada Familia or something like that) and sometimes do random stuff that I didn’t research. I know when I’m researching we won’t do everything but I also know what our can’t miss things are so those get worked into the trip and then a bunch of other fun stuff happens too. Except at Epcot, apparently, though the can’t miss stuff (Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space) all happened and were fun.
The other thing about hopping from Epcot to MK was that it let us ride the monorail, which was fun.
I think you’re right, @missoverexcited, about the age of first visit making a big difference. My kids were ok with Haunted Mansion because they’d watched a youtube video about Disney special effects so wanted to see the Pepper’s Ghost effect, plus the humour of the tombstones in the queue was the right level for them (unsophisticated North Americans vs witty Brits, probably 
). But DS7 was so very offended by IASW. If he’d thought of it he probably would have threatened to wait in the car park/at the hotel too. I’m both laughing at and sympathizing with the 7-years-ago unhappiness of your youngest.
ETA: after writing up the HS/'Ohana/MK day and realizing how low our ride count was I asked DH if he remembered doing the rides-per-hour math at Epcot and if he’d realized how low that ratio was the next day. He said he remembered the math but that at HS all the meeting Kylo Ren and Chewie and BB-8 felt like near-ride experiences so they should be counted in the ratio, unlike “just walking around doing nothing” in World Showcase. Also, DH pointed out that “World Showcase was nothing like Expo 86”, which is what we’d kind of hoped it would feel like.
So he’s still holding a grudge against Epcot (which makes me laugh.) I also think he was in pain and the weather that day was really unpleasant – I was carrying ponchos in the bag because there’d been a high-ish chance of thunderstorm that afternoon, but the weather just brooded humidly with lots of sun and sweaty heat instead of letting it out with a good rain. I remember after getting the poutine we noticed a quartet of older women touring together on scooters with fans on the handlebars and that was the only day I felt a bit of envy for people on scooters.
2 Likes
My DS did actually miss out on IASW after his HM meltdown because my brother took him on Splash He finally did it this trip, but only the second time. In fact we hadn’t been planning to do it again but he insisted because a liner we’d met a couple of days before was on it.
1 Like
I remember being impressed that the Liner was enough to get him on IASW. Someone important to them might have made IASW tolerable to my kids too. Splash would have been a much better choice, I should have learned from your earlier trip report!
In case anyone else wants data points for kids who think they’re too old for babyish rides and because I like making lists:
The lapbelt-free or otherwise little-kid-geared attractions my kids went on without complaint:
- Cat in the Hat (weren’t thrilled but didn’t complain)
- High in the Sky Trolley or whatever it’s called (though afterwards they were a bit questioning the point of it)
- ET (sort of enjoyed)
- the Hippogriff kiddie coaster (mildly enjoyed but found too short)
- Aladdin’s Magic Carpets (sort of enjoyed, though if it hadn’t had a lap belt I think they might have been upset)
- Haunted Mansion (enjoyed)
- Philharmagic (enjoyed)
- the People Mover (enjoyed seeing inside Space Mountain)
- Pirates of the Caribbean (enjoyed in a one-and-done way)
- Peter Pan’s Flight (not impressed but didn’t mention it until the next day at Epcot)
- Carousel of Progress (weren’t thrilled but didn’t complain, still mention sarsaparilla occasionally)
The ones they went on with complaint:
- Pteranodon Flyers – more of a negative review than complaint but they went on first thing in the morning with no wait and were disappointed because it goes slow and doesn’t feel as cool/thrilling as it looks like it ought to from below
- Navi River Journey (only DS7, with much complaining because we wouldn’t let him stay watching the Pandora drummers with DS11, we were ruining his life, whyyyyyyy, ugh, he’d watched a youtube video and this ride would be boooooring, relatively quiet during the ride then “see, I told you” at the end. He is usually my mellower, more agreeable child.)
- IASW (DS7 soooo unimpressed, DS11 endured in silence, DS7 was encouraged not to yuck on the yum of those around us but could not be cajoled into appreciating the mid-century modern esthetic
) - Muppet Vision 3D (polite complaint)
- Festival of the Lion King (mild complaint but they were indulging me)
The ones they actually chose and enjoyed:
- the Jurassic Park play area
- the Mystic Fountain
- Poseidon’s Journey
- Tea Cups
- Barnstormer
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- the Frozen sing-along (DS11 wanted to go to see Equity Ben, DS7 was just indulging him)
- the Main Street Vehicle trolley
The ones they vetoed:
- all the other Seuss rides at Universal
- Animal Actors on Location (I think because of timing and weather)
- the Carousel in Fantasyland
- Winnie the Pooh
- Dumbo
- Living with the Land
- Gran Fiesta Tour
- the Nemo ride (preemptive, I reassured them we weren’t planning to ride it)
- any particpation in Wilderness Explorers at AK
- the Edna Mode experience, meeting Olaf or Baymax or Mickey&Minnie at their MK Meet & Greet, or basically any non-Star Wars characters at Meet & Greets (due to wait time and/or lack of interest)
- Jedi Training (that one was a surprise to me)
- Lightning McQueen Racing Academy
- Rafiki’s Planet Watch area at AK
The ones I didn’t even suggest:
- Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid (though it was on my maybe-ride-at-night list)
- Triceratops Spin/The Boneyard (I think they would have liked the Boneyard but we never got to that part of AK due to taking an afternoon break)
- Journey into the Imagination
- The splash pad area in Fantasyland (we were never there when it was not raining or the wrong time of day to get soaked)
- Astro Orbiter (it was being refurbished – I think we would all have enjoyed it)
- anything princess-centric other than the Frozen sing-along
- any shows not mentioned above
1 Like
My kids must be strange as I’ve never encountered discussion about will or won’t ride rides.
2 Likes
Lately my kids have a very strong sense of whether things are designed for them or being marketed to someone else. If they’re not the target market, they usually want nothing to do with it. It’s kind of annoying (e.g. I want to go see Frozen 2 in the theatres, they have no interest) but I also can’t really blame them.
It sounds like your kids are smarter than mine. 
Or possibly just more obstreperous.
1 Like
Clearly your kids’ mother is smarter than my kids’ mother!
Ha! Sorry, one of my favourite words and it really does suit my kids some days.
1 Like
Not strange at all! My 7 and 12 year olds are ready to ride anything from Dumbo to TofT.
I think watching the ride through videos can back fire as kids will form their opinion before actually riding.
I also read posts here of older teens’ moms whose kids were very ‘picky riders’, but became less so when they are older.
1 Like
My kids are still at the age where they’ll ride any kid’s ride and think it’s the bees knees. DS7 is finally starting to get brave enough to ride BTMRR, etc. without too much coaxing. I probably pushed DD5 too far the last time - she rode GotG at DCA but she refuses to do it ever again and was much more reluctant to go on any other thrill rides after that, even the ones she had been fine on previously.
I need to work this one into my daily vocabulary!
adjective
- noisy and difficult to control.
2 Likes
Yes, but let’s give honor where honor is due-
We all need to use
more often. It would make the world a happier place.
2 Likes
Oh rats! I bet with a bit of time and letting her own the decision she’ll get happier about thrill rides before long.
My DS7 was so much more adventurous on this trip than I’d expected. He feels baby rides are beneath his dignity but he has no interest in going upside down – the only two thrill rides he was tall enough for but not willing to ride were Rockin Roller Coaster and Rip Ride Rockit (or, as I usually called them both, to my children’s dismay and amusement, Rip Ride Rockin Roller Coaster). I initially thought we might need to do child swap on Splash and Space Mountains,Expedition:Everest, and Tower of Terror (and Hagrid’s at Universal). Up until sometime in July he was opposed to the sort of long steep drops you get on log flume rides. He didn’t love all of the rides I thought he might opt out of but he did all of those at least twice (except Hagrid’s because waittime) and Splash Mountain was one of his favourites.
I think the key was giving him the decision-making power. It also helped that he loved the Hagrid’s ride and didn’t mind Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, so that gave him a baseline comparison point and a memory of a successful, delightful ride that helped him figure out before each new ride if he was up for it. I was happy that he decided that other than going upside down the answer was yes, but if he’d decided he wasn’t ready that was ok too because he was having fun anyway.
I think you’re right, @eug2506, about the POV ride videos backfiring when it came to the less thrilling rides. Having a bit more information about what to expect helped a lot with the thrill rides so I don’t really regret the youtube research the kids did. I think overall it increased their enthusiasm and meant we rode more rides together.
3 Likes
Too sweet for me. (It’s hard to believe that’s something I’d say.)
2 Likes