Epcot: Most of the International exhibits will be boring/over the head of a 4 year old. In Mexico, there is kind of a fun little boat ride. The one in Norway is more like a flume…in the dark no less. Everything else is exhibits which probably will go unappreciated. In the front of the park there is the “Big Ball” which is a travel through time kind of ride. That’s a good one. The Living Seas will be fun for looking at fish. The Energy Pavillion is fun if he likes dinosaurs, but it does have a few brief instances of scariness, although my kids didn’t necessarily think so. The other fun part for a kid with Epcot is taking the monorail from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot (or vice-versa).
Magic Kingdom: Plenty of stuff here for a four year old. In Fantasy Land there’s Tea Cups, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World, Dumbo, heck…90% of the park will be appreciated by a four year old. He won’t be able to do Space Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, or Splash Mountain, but everything else is fair game. We’ve always spent most of our time here.
MGM: Most rides here are geared towards an older audience, as are the shows. We’ve only take our son there once… to see “Doug Live” and eat in some of the fun themed restaurants. He did seem to enjoy the Backlot Tour and the Stunt Show, but I wouldn’t plan spending more than half a day here (ymmv).
Animal Kingdom: This is their newest African Safari-themed park. Some fun play areas and the Safari Ride (if the animals are visible) make this a worthwhile stop. Again, we got about a half days worth out of this park and have only gone once. We left the “Bug’s Life Show” screaming in hysterics. Well, one of us anyway.
Typhoon Lagoon: Typical water park fare…slides, floating tubes, wave pools etc. If you’re hot, and the parks are open, they’re fun, depending on how adventurous your kids are around the water. Most of the hotels (assuming you’re staying at a Disney resort) have fairly involved pools, so we’ve never found Typhoon Lagoon a must-do, until the kids get older.
Oh, and if you and your wife want to ride any of the big kid rides, tell the cast members that are standing outside the entrance that you want to do a child swap. This is where one of you rides while the other waits with the kid, then you switch out.
Oh, and I went to WDW the week before Benanuel, and we had no lines on almost every ride. We finished Magic Kingdom in 4 hours, and rode everything we wanted. Same with Animal Kingdom. Took our time at Epcot and MGM, because they’re our favorite parks (but we don’t have kids).
Be sure to catch the Stars & Motorcars parade at MGM Studios.
Go in an off season. Which is Sept, Oct, November (but not around Thanksgiving). Early December (but not around Christmas). January and the first half of Feburary.
Bring or rent a stroller.
They didn’t open gates early at all on my last trip, if the park opened at 9:00 the gates opened at 9:00, but early entry mornings are back (renamed) for guests of on-site hotels.
I wasn’t fully potty-trained when I was 4…I was almost 5, in fact, before I was completely out of diapers.
That might seem like kind of an unrelated point, but please remember that these all-day outings can, and do, involve a lot of waiting in long lines.
I know that I was kind of a rarer exception to the average age when most children are trained, but accidents can, and do happen. If you have any doubts about your child’s ‘ability’, then trust me, I know from personal experience that it’s much less stressful on a young child’s mind if they’re wearing protection, just in case. It’s much better than the embarrassing alternative.
And it’s not all that uncommon, even for older children with ‘potty’ issues, to go back to diapers in a big amusement park like that.
If your child is trained pretty well, it shouldn’t be an issue. But I just thought it was important enough to bring up.
We go every year, and the first time we took my son, he was 3. It was a terrific trip, but (as mentioned previously), it limited the stuff you could do (even with “kid swap”). Our little guy was not the real brave type, which limited things even further. Again, though, he had a ball, and we did too.
I would say that if a trip to Disneyworld is a one-time, “everyone must do this so let’s make sure we see everything” kind of thing for you, you might want to wait. If you expect you’ll be back (or aren’t too concerned over getting the whole “Disney experience”), full speed ahead.
We took Baby Kate last year when she was about 18 months (maybe 16). She had a blast. She loved the Animal Kingdom a ton and even some of the adult rides at the Magic Kingdom. She handled the Pirates of the Caribbean very well.
I don’t think 4 is too young. It might not be the best age to go to Disney (between 7 and 13 is probably the best time, at least in my opinion), but a 4-year-old would probably still love it.