Age-Appropriate Attractions for 3.5yo

Walt Disney World Attractions
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Would any of the following be appropriate for DD3.5? I’m assuming DS1.5 would be too young for all of them.

  • Wilderness Explorers
  • The Boneyard
  • Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground
  • Agent P
  • Affection Station / Conservation Station

And… thoughts on Swiss Family Treehouse, Indy, or Lights Motors Action? Or any of the movies in the World Showcase?

Haven’t done any of the above for a while (or ever), so I am not sure how age-appropriate they would be. If we do a longer trip, we would definitely have time to try some of these out.

Thanks for your thoughts!

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I can’t speak to all of them but here are my thoughts on the ones I know…

The Boneyard - GREAT for both
Honey - GREAT for both
Agent P - maybe with help
SFT - my kids thought it was boring but I’m sure some like it
LMA and Indy might be fun for both, although there are gun shots in LMA that might scare

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We took our 4yo son and daughter who just turned 2 last month. Out of the attractions you listed above, these are the only two we visited:

Honey I Shrunk the Kids - both kids loved it! I think it was their favorite part of HS. My husband and I split up and manned two different locations so we could keep track of them and just let them run wild in there!

Swiss Family Treehouse - both kids went through it. It was ok - nothing too exciting for them. It was basically just stairs that wrapped up and around the tree but it was one of our first stops in MK so they were excited to run around.

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Our DD4 loves doing the Wilderness Explorers badges. Some do require parental help to write things down, but overall she hasn’t run into one that was too frustrating.

The Boneyard and the HISTK playground are wonderful places to burn off steam. I actually prefer the Boneyard because it is more open and easier to keep track of kids. There’s a lot of blind alleys on the HISTK playground where it is easy to lose a child temporarily. I just asked my daughter which she liked better, and she said that she liked the Boneyard because it has a sand pit. I don’t know if you’re staying on property, but the playgrounds at the resorts are also wonderful for kids. (And even if you’re not staying on property, if you happen to be at a resort for a meal, you can also take a bit of time to explore those playgrounds as well. They’re nothing more than just a normal playground, but my daughter loves them.)

We haven’t done Agent P yet (although my husband did it by himself while we were out of town), but if your child is a fan of Phineas and Ferb, I expect that it would be a hit. If your child doesn’t know who they are, it probably would be lost on them.

Going out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch is fun. A lot of the exhibits inside are very quick to skim by for that age group, but the petting zoo is fun, and if they have an animal encounter going on, that can be fun. (We got to see them feeding some of the lizards, for example.)

My daughter is the queen of impatience when it comes to stage shows. We were able to survive the Frozen sing-a-long because she knew the songs, but even then, it was pushing the limits of her desire to stay seated. As a result, neither Indy nor LMA are on our list (plus she doesn’t like loud noises).

For a longer trip, in Epcot, make sure you take some time at the jumping fountains in Imagination, near the exit for Captain EO (or whatever is there when you visit). When the movie is not letting out, you’ve got a huge area for a child to run around. My daughter prefers that to the Image Works area inside, and there are benches for parents. Also make sure that if you have the option to bring a change of clothes that you check out the splash pads in Epcot and the Casey Jr. water play area at the Magic Kingdom. Those are places where your DS could even enjoy getting wet. (Weather permitting, of course.)

The big hits for my daughter by park are:
Epcot: Living with the Land and the Gran Fiesta Tour (aka the Mexico boat ride)
Magic Kingdom: Philharmagic, It’s a Small World, Peoplemover, the Tiki Room
Animal Kingdom: Boneyard, Safari
Studios: Disney Jr. Live on Stage

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I walked the Swiss fam treehouse 3 times in a row, in August, prego… Ds was 3 at the time… It’s one of his favs! The only other thing on your list that ds wasn’t into was honey I shrunk the kids playground… It was a little to hectic for him i think?!? Good luck!!! 3 was my most favorite age (so far) to take ds to dis!!! My new ds is almost 1.5 so oct will be his first real trip :slight_smile:

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Thanks, @dgepp! This makes me want to try the playgrounds. Not sure why I assumed they would be too young.

[quote=“egkleinmann, post:3, topic:11949”]
t was basically just stairs that wrapped up and around the tree
[/quote]Ha! This is what I’m afraid of! Maybe I will leave this as a “time filler” if we need something without a line.

@mascardofamily - thank you for all this information! It sounds like DD may be at a great age for some of this. I assumed a lot of it would be over her head, but I’m really excited to try some new things! Looking at your list of your DD’s favorite things, I noticed that DD and DS haven’t done almost half of them. I am excited to work some of this in! How long do you usually plan for the Boneyard and HISTK?

[quote=“rachaelmac22, post:5, topic:11949”]
walked the Swiss fam treehouse 3 times in a row, in August, prego
[/quote]You are my hero! :slight_smile: So excited every time we plan a trip - they grow and change so quickly, that an annual trip looks entirely different each time!

Thank you all for your advice!

One additional question regarding Wilderness Explorers & Agent P… do you have to seek the locations out? Are they fairly obvious? How long does each “station” take? Just wondering how to fit them into our touring plan! :slight_smile:

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We tell our daughter (going in) 20 minutes for HISTK and 30 minutes for the Boneyard. We’ve had one meltdown when leaving the Boneyard (where she could easily spend a few hours), but I think those times are long enough for her to run around and have fun but not wear herself out so much that it is the only thing she can do it a day.

For Wilderness Explorers, right as you enter Animal Kingdom and go down that big bridge between the Oasis and the Tree, on the right-hand side there will be a building with Explorer Guides trying to get people signed up. It’s very hard to miss. I think you can also get a booklet at any place where you are doing a badge, but it is much more fun to do it at the “official” sign-up place.

For Agent P, there are several locations to sign up. The most obvious one is on the left side of the bridge between Future World and World Showcase (not too far up from Mouse Gear). There’s also a registration area between the International Gateway and the UK, one in Norway, and another one somewhere around the back side of World Showcase. There may be some more as well. They are pretty hard to miss. Just look for people in the bright teal shirts. For Wilderness Explorers, each badge took maybe 5-10 minutes at most for a younger kid. (An older kid could finish it in less than 5 minutes each.) The nice thing about it is that you don’t have to do them all–you can do one and then go do something else, and a lot of them are connected with attractions that you will be touring anyhow. I’ll have to ask my husband about Agent P, but I’d figure it would be about 15 minutes per mission or so.

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Thank you! Such good information. :slight_smile: I really appreciate it.