DisneyWorld must dos for a princess loving 4 year old?

[RainDancer]

We are going to Disney for the first time in May. I don't even know where to start, there is just so much stuff! My 4 year old DD loves all the princesses, especially Rapunzel. Also loves Doc McStuffins and loves animals. Only thing we have booked so far is the Princess dining at Epcot. Any recommendations for things we absolutely must see or do?

I've never done it (have 2 DS who dislike princesses!) but apparently Cinderellas round table restaurant in the Magic Kingdom is a must. It is notoriously hard to get a table though so book as far in advance as you can.
Take lots of princess costumes/outfits with you if your DD likes dressing up. They sell them in all the shops in the theme parks but the prices are absolutely extortionate (think $80 for ONE princess outfit!)
If she likes animals then Animal Kingdom is great.
The Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom or in Disney Springs is also fun, although it is a bit dark and noisy inside so it depends if you think she might be scared.
Have a great time!

Thanks Poptart. The Cinderella dining is already fully booked so we have gone for the one at Akershus in Epcot instead which also sounds good. Can't believe how organised you need to be in advance! Will definitely be taking dresses with us. Will defo check out the Rainforest cafe. We've done the London one and she loved that.

Have you downloaded My Disney Experience to book all of your fast passes etc? And there are loads of facebook groups with tips etc
Bibbity Bobbity Boutique is fab, you can do it at the castle in MK or at Disney Springs. mK is better. Just to warn you if you have the full on scraped up princess hairdo its really tight and pulls. Take your own dress up for this, lots of people do. Then you have photos taken afterwards.
At Hollywood Studios the Beauty and the Beast show is lovely. The frozen show made me cry and can not be missed.
Get to ant princess meet and greets very early because they will close the line and not let anyone else join.
The parades are mesmerising,
Cinderellas royal table, book early. Think booking opens 90 days out so you may struggle. Dont forget if you make a booking you can change it so take whatever booking you can then keep checking for cancellations. We didnt book then when we got there and saw it really regretted it.
Belles house in MK, something like enchanted tales. Or story time or something like that.
Will come back if i think of more

My 9 year olds fave part was meeting the princesses, they are so realistic and fab.

Fab, thanks Kim. Yes, have just downloaded the My Disney Experience and just getting to grips with it. I think you need a bloody degree to be able to understand it all! Am going to try and use Fast Passes for lots of Princess meet and greets as she is not so keen on rides. Definitely want to take in the shows too so will check those out.

She is desperate to meet Rapunzel!

Just asked DD and when we went 2 years ago she met Rapunzel and Cinderella in the Castle. Might be different now. Used all of out fast passes on Princess related things. Ariels ride is lovely, just bobs along through the underwater caves. No ups and downs.
We booked close to going so alot of things were already full when we booked. I checked on my phone when queuing for any cancellations etc.
Its a minefield!!! Are you going to Universal too? Dr Seuss land is brilliant for that age.

No, we haven't booked for Universal. That just seemed to add a whole other level of complexity! We are staying in a villa so aiming for a nice relaxed holiday, not at the parks every day, and figured the Disney ticket would give us enough to keep us occupied for 2 weeks. The Ariel ride does sound fab, will definitely book that as she loves Ariel. She doesn't like the idea of any rides at the moment but I think she will come round!

Yy to packing your own costumes for her. But do budget to buy something as a special treat for her x

@suiteharmony
How patronising telling the op to budget for a treat for her dd. 🙄 like going to Disneyworld isn't already a huge treat? Give your head a wobble!

You defo will be fine with just Disney, theres plenty of parks. If we went again we would stay in a villa to have more of a holiday than a mission 😂😂 at Disney springs theres a massive lego shop too if shes in to lego.

Rapunzel meets in Fairytale Hall at the moment I believe, with Tiana and then there are 2 other princesses on the other side (Aurora and Elena I think), so you can book a fastpass for each side (or just one if you want just Rapunzel). The queue can get long very quickly so booking fp is the way to go. Ariel also meets in Magic Kingdom, round the back, so you can either book a fastpass for her or rush to the back of the park at rope drop (opening) as it's usually fairly quiet while people rush to the rollercoasters.
Make sure you see the show in front of the castle, Mickey's Friendship Faire, as it has princesses dancing and is really good. Don't need to book for that, just check the times on the programme and make sure you get there early (20mins at least) to get a good view.
The parade (Festival of Fantasy) is also a must, and again, get there early (up to an hour!) to bag a good view of it. If you're right at the front of the crowd there's a chance the characters wave to you too! Lots of princess floats, and Rapunzel has her own amazing float.
Check the character meet section on MyDisneyExperience to see where the characters are and what the wait times are, you can only book 3 fast passes a day so if you want to see/do more than that be on top of the wait times whilst there (there's free wifi in all parks).
Also for the day you're in Epcot you might want to book a FP for the Frozen Ever After ride, the queue for that is often 2 hours+ and FP run out super quick. There are also princesses who meet in Epcot World Showcase, like Mulan, Belle and Aurora.
If you want to meet Moana, she's in Hollywood Studios, but that's the only princess thing in that park, all the rest is movies/Star Wars (it's a very good park though!)

Oh and Fantasmic is a great show to see but again, either get a fastpass for it (in Hollywood Studios) or book a dining package, where you have a meal in a restaurant there and get reserved viewing for the show afterwards. Definitely worth booking that.
Also keep in mind that you can only book fastpasses for one park a day, so if you have one pass for Epcot then the remaining 2 can only be booked in Epcot for that day.
If you have the park tickets now you can register each ticket as an individual person and link all the fastpasses together/book them as a group which is nice and easy.
I'd also recommend getting Magic Bands when there (if you've only been given standard card tickets). They are electronic bracelet bands that work as tickets and fastpasses and are so much easier than having to get the tickets out each time you have a FP to redeem, and you can buy customised ones with images of characters and your name on, which your DD might like.

Take a buggy! You will walk miles. Our 4 year old hasn't used a buggy for a year and a half but we used it all day at the parks.

Some tips here! www.nunnthewiser.com

It's worth checking for cancellations when you're there for Cinderella's round table. My cousin got lucky and nabbed a table that way.

Awesome tips. Thanks everyone. I doubt she will go short of treats while we are there!

Have a lovely time. DD (13) and I lunched ar Cinderella's so she could meet the princesses, but I hear the Epcot one is better. We met Cinders, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine and Aurora. Belle is in France in Epcot in her blue dress, which DD was delighted with.

Budget to buy a nice autograph book in the park - there is a princess one - for about $12, and take some fat pens with you. DD's one has a pocket opposite each page to hold the princess photo. If you got Memory Maker with your ticket you can have photos taken and download them.

Dresses can be hot and scratchy so have shorts and t-shirt on standby.

We loved meeting the characters, and DD was gobsmacked when we got chatting to a young woman on the bus and she explained that she was actually Belle and Rapunzel, and occasionally Chip or Dale!! That's DD's gap year sorted!

Please don't do the boutique makeover - $$$ for a severe up do and heavy make up on a four year-old - she will look much nicer and be more comfortable without I suspect!
We did Epcot and it was fine; I was disappointed to miss out on Cinderella's castle but of course DD didnt know the difference.
The Electric Parade is absolutely wonderful and she will love the gentler rides like Dumbo, teacups etc I'm sure.

Akershus at epcot is lovely and they do a princess parade. I personally think at that age it's a bit less intense and therefore probably better than the castle.

If you want to do another disney dining hollywood studios does a disney junior lunch which has sofia and doc, and it also gets you fast pass plus for fantasmic. We really enjoyed that but it is loud as mainly under 6s!!!! Good food though.

Doc mcstuffins has a meet and greet in Hollywood studios and they are usually short lines.

Same as a pp I would take the pushchair too. We parked it up a lot and just remembered the basic zone but it was good for a sit and chill (some days we walked around 8 miles!!!). It also meant we could take a cool bag underneath with frozen water and some fruit as the snacks were pretty unhealthy and sometimes dc just wanted a piece of fruit and crackers for lunch. We also took a change of clothes so we could do the water play.

We bought some things cheaply here to have in our bag when q's got too much like princess bubbles or a little ariel torch for the evening in the parades just because it massively cut down on costs but of course we still got the odd massively overpriced item!

You can meet pocahontas at animal kingdom which is a lovely meet and greet.

I would second the magic bands. They make it so easy.

My top tip is to buy a red jewel/crystal and have it in your bag on magic kingdom day. In philharmagic (a sort of dated 3d show) ariel 'throws' out jewels. Bingo 'catch' your jewel and excitedly show your daughter that you caught one. She'll love it!

Oh and since she likes tangled, just past the above (to the left with your back to philharmagic) the toilets are in rapunzels tower and the area is like the village. Lots of photo oportunities.