November 4, 2025 • 45 mins
Heading to the Disney parks soon? 🌟 Disney can be magical—but also overwhelming—for both kids and adults! In this episode, we walk through how to prepare your child’s five senses (touch, sight, taste, smell, and sound) for a smoother, more magical experience in the parks.
From the textures of interactive queues to the scents of Main Street, USA, we’re sharing what to expect and how to help your kids feel comfortable, confident, and ready for all the magic that surrounds them. Whether it’s the music of Main Street, the smell of popcorn, or the bright lights of fireworks, we’ll help you make it all feel a little less overstimulating and a lot more magical.
🎢 Topics we cover include:
👋 Touch – interactive play areas, ride queues, and keeping those hands clean
👀 Sight – park icons, shows, fireworks, and immersive theming
🍦 Taste – classic Disney treats and tips for picky eaters
👃 Smell – “Smellitizers,” fan-favorite ride scents, and the science behind Disney’s signature smells
🎶 Sound – live performances, ambient park music, and sensory tips for sound-sensitive kiddos
Perfect for parents planning their next Walt Disney World or Disneyland trip! ✨
🎧 Listen now to Mom Street USA for more Disney family travel tips, tricks, and insights!
🔗 Subscribe for more Disney planning episodes every week.
From the textures of interactive queues to the scents of Main Street, USA, we’re sharing what to expect and how to help your kids feel comfortable, confident, and ready for all the magic that surrounds them. Whether it’s the music of Main Street, the smell of popcorn, or the bright lights of fireworks, we’ll help you make it all feel a little less overstimulating and a lot more magical.
🎢 Topics we cover include:
👋 Touch – interactive play areas, ride queues, and keeping those hands clean
👀 Sight – park icons, shows, fireworks, and immersive theming
🍦 Taste – classic Disney treats and tips for picky eaters
👃 Smell – “Smellitizers,” fan-favorite ride scents, and the science behind Disney’s signature smells
🎶 Sound – live performances, ambient park music, and sensory tips for sound-sensitive kiddos
Perfect for parents planning their next Walt Disney World or Disneyland trip! ✨
🎧 Listen now to Mom Street USA for more Disney family travel tips, tricks, and insights!
🔗 Subscribe for more Disney planning episodes every week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome everybody to Momstreet USA. Is Jackie aka Wishes Mama,
And on today's episode of Mom Street USA, I thought
it would be kind of a fun topic to chat
about preparing your children's five senses for the Disney parks.
So something a little bit different, but something's still helpful. Nonetheless,
(00:25):
we're going to talk about things that they might see,
they might hear, taste, smell, touch, all of those good things.
So that is the plan for today. So thanks for
joining me for this super fun episode to come, and
we're going to kind of jump right into talking about
the different things that we can experience in the Disney parks.
So Disney can definitely be overwhelming to the senses, not
(00:49):
only to kids, to adults, to everybody alike, not only
to people who are maybe a little bit more sensory sensitive,
but all so just to like the general population. There
is a ton going on at all times in all
of the parks. So today we are going to take
a look at what to expect a little bit for
(01:11):
your five senses when it comes to visiting the Disney parks.
So we're going to start We're going to go through
each sense in each sense individually and chat a little
bit about some things to expect and maybe some things
that I enjoy in those categories. So that is the
plan going forward, and we are going to kick it
(01:31):
off with the sense of touch. So let's talk about
what you and your kiddos may experience if you are
visiting the Disney parks when it comes to things to touch. Now,
I can't get past touch without first mentioning that there
(01:52):
are lots of germs. There are lots of germs all
over all of the spaces that your children will want
to touch at Disney, and some of them they'll need
to touch. Right hand rails when going up and down
ramps and up and down steps are a big one.
There are things in the queue that they're.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Gonna want to touch.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
There are things just walking down the pathways that they're
going to want to touch. So my biggest, biggest thing
is please make sure you grab a little bottle of sanitizer.
You know, I think this is something that most of
us carry around with us, you know, post pandemic. I
feel like it's much more of the norm. I mean,
(02:33):
I know that I have got one in my car,
I've got one in my bag. You know, my kids
have one in their bags, so it just it's just
the norm anymore. But make sure that you've got some sanitizer.
We prefer the spray ones over the like old school
kind of gel sanitizers that you can get. I think
they're a little bit easier for the kiddos. The gel
(02:56):
ones tend to just like slide off their hands if
they're hands are not like perfectly level whenever you give
it to them. So I prefer the spray ones. They
make all sorts of different sense and kinds and that
you can decide on your own, but be prepared with
your hand sanitizer when it comes to touch.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
In the parks.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
That being said, there are tons of interactive cues that
Disney put there because they want you to touch and
experience it. Again, beware of the germs. Pack your sanitizer.
But there are places in the queue that have a
ton of interactive spaces that you can touch and play with.
A lot of them are at Magic Kingdom. That Magic
(03:39):
Kingdom tends to have the most in the queue area
at least, so seven doors mind Train has some interactive
things that you can look at and touch and experience.
There are barrels in the one room that you can spin.
There are gems that light up that you can touch.
They sometimes have some water features in the queue that
you can as well if they're up and running. Just
(04:03):
depends on the day with that, but definitely a ton
of things to touch in there. If you visit the
Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom and you get to go
into the extended queue into the graveyard scene, there is
actually stuff in there that you can touch. So you
will kind of walk through these big tall tombstone catacomb
type wall structures, but they actually have interactive things that
(04:26):
you can touch. So there are big pictures all over
them that if you touch the instruments, they'll make different
sounds for the instrument. There's a cat on one of
them that if you touch you can hear the cat
make a sound. So lots of things in that space
that you can touch and interact with as well. If
you are someone who's going to be writing the Dumbo attraction,
(04:47):
there is a whole play area in there of things
that your kids can touch and crawl around and climb
on and use their sense of touch to kind of
explore that space as well. And then one of the
other really famous interactive queue areas is the one at
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where you get to
(05:07):
go all throughout Rabbit's garden. Now, I will say with
that one, you don't get to experience that aspect of
it if you have a lightning lane. So uh, if
you are someone who wants to let your kiddos run
around in there, you gotta brave the standby queue for
that one. But they have all sorts of things that
you can wheels that you can spin, and there's a
whole little bee hive area where you can slide the
(05:29):
bees along the railing. Lots of places for that, and
then as you come around the corner after that, there
is the infamous Pooh Honey Wall where if the screens
are working. Now, I will say the screens have not
been super reliable lately. The last I think four or
five times that I've gone on that attraction they have
(05:51):
either been not working at all. On my last trip
just last week, they were not None of the Pooh
Wall screens were working at all. The trip before that
it was like two of them were working. So you'll
have to see if you get lucky.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Hopefully.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm wondering if Disney is trying to refurb them. I
don't really know, not really sure. They haven't really said
what's going on there, but if you are in the
queue and they are working, it will look like honey
is running down the wall. Now, this one, you actually
don't have to touch it to make it work, but
if you run your hand close to it like you're
(06:27):
clearing and wiping the honey away, there are little hidden
characters that will come through, so you can definitely touch
if your kiddos really need that tactile touch to get
them through that queue. But if you're a little more
germ conscious, just.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Keep in mind that you can.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Just wave your hand over top to satisfy the ability
to clear that honey away for those characters. So those
are just some of the interactive que areas that you
can find. There are also interactive spaces where there are
things that you can touch and play with after several
of the rides. A lot of these actually happen to
(07:14):
be at Epcot. So if you ride on Journey to
the Imagination with Figment, then as you exit there there's
a whole play area where you can touch. They've got
screens you can touch, and buttons you can touch. All
sorts of things there that you can do in Spaceship Earth.
Same thing as you come down of the ramp after
(07:36):
you have thanked the Phoenicians and ridden Spaceship Earth. There
are lots of interactive buttons and screens that you can
play with in there with Nemo.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
If you ride under.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The Seas what is it the Seas with Nemo and Friends?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
There we go to get the official title in there.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
If you do the Seas with Nemo and Friends, and
when you exit you enter that aquarium space, there are
actual interactive elements of that aquarium as well that you
can find in some of the rooms. Not all of
them have them, but again, lots of spaces where touch
can be utilized. If your kiddo is someone that needs
that sensory that sensory output and input of being able
(08:20):
to touch things. Something else to also consider is there
may be new textures that your child has never experienced before.
I know, something that my kids and I have talked
about in the parks is that they're even just.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
On the ground that you walk on.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
There are new textures that you can touch and feel
through your shoes. You know, some kiddos have never seen
brick or cobblestone, and you can find that in several
of the parks, especially Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom has a
lot of different surfaces that you can see when it
comes to like your walking paths and main street and
(08:58):
sidewalks and walkways and things like that. The hubgrass is
a different texture than some other grass that you may
have experienced because it's more of the like AstroTurf kind
of style of grass rather than like real natural grass.
So again, lots of different elements in the parks that
you can touch and feel and have that sensation fulfilled
(09:20):
when it comes to the sense of touch. Let's move
on now to the second sense that we are going
to talk about is sight. So again, this one should
be very obvious. Touch was a little bit trickier to
kind of think about what the different textures and places
(09:40):
that you can touch are. But sight is a really
big one, right, So many new exciting things to see,
lots of new experiences, lots of immersive spaces that they maybe.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Have not been exposed to before. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
That is one of the biggest things sensory wise with
kiddos that can be over whelming is sometimes all of
the sights and colors that they intake and have to
process and kind of figure out what it is that
they are looking at and experiencing. Some of my favorite
sites to see in the parks, especially if it is
your first trip, or even if it's not your first trip,
(10:18):
the park icons, right, so every park has its own
specific icon that goes along with that park. You've got
Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. Being able to see that
is absolutely incredible, right, whether you can see it from
the end of Main Street, or you walk all the
way down until you're right up against that stage, or
(10:40):
even if you're able to go underneath and look from
the entry.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's one of my favorite views is when those walkways
that go underneath the castle are open. If you go
from the front and you stop kind of right in
front of that drawbridge door and you just look up
at the spires of the cat I think is such
a crazy fun site. It's so magical and immersive, and
I love that. Not to mention when you walk through
(11:08):
the castle, all of the beautiful mosaic tiles that are
underneath there that give you the story of Cinderella underneath
something so wonderful to see that's a little bit hidden
that if you don't walk through the castle, or you
don't time it right because it's not open all day long.
Right when they do the stage shows, they do close
that off for the performers, but if you are able
(11:30):
to catch it, it is just absolutely amazing. Over at
Animal Kingdom, the Tree of Life is the icon over there,
and that one again, it's one of those things with
all of these icons where it's beautiful to look at
from afar, but then it's even more magical when you
get close to it. Right, the Tree of Life has
hundreds of animals carved into the trunk and the roots
(11:55):
of that whole experience, and there are walkways that will
take you right up to where you can touch the tree.
We talked about touch just before, but being able to
look at all the animals, and you can almost play
I Spy with your kids as you're looking through there
to see what animals you can see.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And can you find this one? Can you find that one?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So many different things to see with that. At Hollywood Studios,
the icon has really kind of become Tower of Terror.
That park is I feel like it's just in constant
flux of figuring out its identity. But the Tower of
Terar has been the icon of the recent years that
(12:36):
we have seen over there. I also like the Chinese
Theater as an icon as well, of course with the
tie into the studios and the movies and things like that.
But again same thing with Tower or Tear. You can
literally walk right up to that building. It is spectacular
when they do their different light displays on their Christmas time.
(12:58):
They have all sorts of fun lights that they do
on the tower. But being able to experience that and
kind of that's a really unique one because it's a
little bit spookier, right. The Tower of Terror gives you
a little bit of like an eerie feeling kind of
when you're looking at it, So something completely different that
your sense of sight will kind of guide you to,
(13:20):
which is super fun. And then of course Epcot has
Spaceship Earth or the giant Epcot golf Ball as everyone
refers to it as, and that one is just spectacular
for its magnitude. It is so fun to walk underneath
and look up at the geodesic sphere as you walk
(13:42):
underneath it. And then one of my favorite things about
that is the nighttime show that they added just a
few years ago for the fiftieth anniversary, they went and
added all of those LED lights over there, and they've
continued to do those nighttime little rotating songs and shows
on Spaceship Earth. And that is one of my absolute
(14:05):
favorite things that came about from the fiftieth anniversary of
Disney World, and I am so glad that they kept
it because I love just sitting and watching and enjoying
the site that is Spaceship Earth at Epcot. So again,
all of those park icons are just completely different, something
(14:28):
that your kiddo will have never experienced before. And you know,
it might as much as you. As much as we
all want to rush around on our trips and kind
of try to get all the rides done and get
to the shows and see the characters and all those
types of things, sometimes it is so needed to just
(14:49):
give your kiddos a few extra minutes to absorb the
sites and take them in and digest them and figure,
you know, figure out what it is that they're looking
at and what it's making them feel. Sometimes we all
need just a few extra seconds or minutes to process.
So I think that can be really important to remember,
(15:12):
especially when it comes to those big park icons. Something
else that is a new site for many Many kids
that visit the parks are fireworks. Some kiddos may be
familiar with fireworks if you've got a local Fourth of
July or other fireworks show that you take them to,
(15:33):
but the Disney fireworks are a whole another level, right,
So again thinking about how your kiddo may react to
watching that happen, because if they haven't been exposed to it,
it may be a little jarring to them. And we're
just talking about site right now. We haven't even gotten
to sound and hearing. Later on we'll talk about fireworks again,
(15:55):
but just seeing some of that, seeing the projections on
the castle or or seeing you know, the water effects
that come with things like fantasmic or luminous at Epcot.
You know, there's lots to see when it comes to
those nighttime shows and fireworks. So kind of prepping them
ahead of time for that, I think is a really
(16:15):
good idea. I don't know that you necessarily need to
prep them ahead of time for the park icons that
we just talked about, because it's hard to describe that
ahead of time, right, It's hard to explain what these
massive icons are like. But I feel like with the fireworks.
I always suggest if your kiddo has not ever experienced
(16:38):
fireworks or a show like that before, you may just
want to prep them, especially if they're a kiddo that
typically enjoys being prepped before a new experience. It's always
a good idea. The other thing is is seeing characters. Right,
So if we're talking about site, seeing characters can be
a little I don't want to say jarring because that
(17:01):
kind of has a negative connotation, but can be just
a completely new experience for so many kids and adults
alike too.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I remember the first time I was walking through Fantasyland
at Magic Kingdom and I came across Winnie the Pooh
and Tigger walking to their character meet, you know, and
they were just walking down the sidewalk there, and it
was so amazing to me how bright orange Tigger was
(17:31):
when I saw him. You know, so things like that
that it's just you. You just have to be kind
of ready to coach them through that. You have to
be ready and maybe have prepped them a little bit
about Hey, when we're walking through this space, we may
see some character friends that are going to be walking around.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
We got to experience over last May when we went
as a family, they were doing the Cool Kids Summer event,
and back in Fantasy Land, they had tons of roaming
characters that were out during that early morning time, that
early entry time for resort guests. And I'm glad that
my kids had experience with characters because they had never
(18:12):
seen they had never experienced those characters roaming like that before.
That is still something that's so new to Disney World
that it's clear that they've been kind of testing the waters.
The Roman characters exist more at disney Land. Well, we
haven't been to Disneyland, so having them having already had
experiences seeing characters out was really helpful. The other way
(18:34):
that this can be really helpful to kind of prep
your kids for characters is in parades. Your kiddo may
be fine to you know, sitting and watching the parade
or standing with you and watching the parade, but the
second they see that favorite character, they may try to
run out and go say hi and give them hugs
(18:55):
because that's what they want to do. They get excited,
So you just need to be prepared to kind of
coach them through we're gonna see the characters, We're gonna
wave at the characters. Oh, this is an experience where
we get to see them and do high five or
get an autograph or get a photo taken, you know,
So just kind of preparing them for the different situations
(19:16):
where they may see the characters so that they understand
and can be kind of coached through what is the
appropriate reaction for any given point with those characters. So
some other things that they may see while you're in
the parks that may be a new experience for your
kiddos are the shows.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
There's the Frozen.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Singalong Show, the Beauty and the Beast Show, a Little
Mermaid and Villains. Those are all at Hollywood Studios. Fabulous
shows to go and see. There are such wonderful experiences
that you can have talking about characters. So many of
them have characters in them, So prepping to see those
characters and experience those those live entertainment options are wonderful.
(19:58):
Over at Animal Kingdom, they've got of course the Festival,
Lion King and the Finding Nemo Musical. Again, amazing shows
to go see, especially if those those movies speak to
your kids. Right, if any of those that I listed off,
if you're like, oh my gosh, they would love that
definitely take some time to go and see and experience
those shows for sure. And then also at Epcot, they've
(20:20):
got tons of performers out along World Showcase, So if
there's anyone in particular that you're wanting to see, you know,
do a little bit of research, take a look and to.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
See who's where.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
They've got street performers, they've got jugglers, they've got drummers,
they've got musicians, they've got magicians. They've got all sorts
of things out there as well. So those are really
fun things to experience and to watch and see as
you're walking around the parks as well. Now, I do
(20:52):
have to talk about just two little fun last little
parts of our site here on our prepping our Kiddo's
Five Senses for Disney World, and that is there are
two particular colors that you can kind of look for
in the parks with your kiddo. Now, this works better
if you've got probably elementary age and older kiddos because
(21:17):
they'll kind of understand the purpose. But Disney has created
and patented a couple different colors for their theme parks.
So the two that I want to just mention in
case you don't know are go Away Green and Blending blue.
So both of these colors have been specifically formulated to
(21:41):
help Disney hide things in plaines sight. So oftentimes we
will see the front facade of an attraction, but the
actual meat of the attraction exists in a show building
that is not a plane view for many guests. But
(22:03):
maybe you might be able to see that building from
the parking lot or from this area that wraps around
because there's a bathroom back there, something like that. So
Disney has created both of these colors to hide show
buildings and other elements just in plain sight. One of
my favorite instances of this is if you are driving
(22:27):
to Epcot, or sometimes I think if you're monorailing, you
can see it as well. The show building for the
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind roller coaster is a
massive show building, as you can imagine because that is
a huge, massive roller coaster attraction, but you can see
it from a certain area in the parking lot and
(22:49):
it is like classic Blending blue, and it is identical
to that Florida Blue sky. So it's fun to see
those things and kind of point out like, oh, Disney
trying to hide that, but we saw it kind of things,
which is why I say older kiddo's, you know, elementary
agent up will be will be maybe a little bit
more able to appreciate that. But I just had to
(23:11):
stick that little fun fact in there for our last
little discussion about things that you will see when you
are in the Disney parks. So we've talked about touch,
we've talked about site. Let's hop over now and talk
about taste. So taste is a huge one when it
(23:31):
comes to the Disney parks. There are so many new
flavors to experience in the Disney parks, but there are
also familiar flavors too. So even with picky eaters, and
we've talked about eating a lot on this podcast and
given our advice on you know, places to eat and
character meals and all that kind of stuff. But just
(23:53):
be reminded that even with picky eaters at the Disney parks,
you can still find food for them, to be able
to find versions of mac and cheese, chicken tenders, pizza,
things like that. So even though there are a ton
of new experiences that they can have with food, you
will still be able to find them what they also
(24:16):
like and enjoy and you know that they will eat
if they are you know, particular eaters. Something to keep
in mind is taking a look at the time of
year that you're visiting to see what festival is going
on over at Epcot. Epcot pretty much has a festival.
I don't know, eighty percent of the year there is
(24:37):
some sort of extra festival going on over there, like
currently we're in food and Wine food and Wine for
the next couple weeks here. But the festivals over there
with their food booths are a fantastic way to try
some new things and some new flavors without having to
(24:58):
order a whole entree day or a whole meal that
you don't know whether or not your kiddo is going
to eat. So the way that the food booths run,
they give you more of a sampling size, are not
giving you a full huge portion. Some are bigger than others.
It really just depends on what you're ordering and what
the booth has to offer, But they are not giving
(25:19):
you a full entrees worth of these different offerings that
they have on their menu. So it's a really really
great way to spend a little bit less, get some
new flavors, and let your kiddo try some things that
maybe they you would be hesitant to let them try
in any other circumstance. So keep that in mind that
(25:41):
it will give your kiddo the ability to try some
new things that they may or may not end up liking,
So keep that in mind. A couple park staples when
it comes to taste and foods, Dole Whip is a
big one. If you're not familiar with Dolip, you can
get it a couple different places across the parks, but
it is the pineapple Dole brand soft serve that is
(26:03):
pretty iconic for the Disney parks. Corn Dogs, corn dog
nuggets or corn dogs from Casey's Corner at Magic Kingdom,
which is the hot dog place at the end of
Main Street right before you get to the Hub area
in Magic Kingdom. Those are pretty iconic and a lot
of people make sure to get to stop and get
(26:24):
those every trip that they take. Mickey Pretzels. I'm a
huge fan of Mickey pretzels. The funny thing is about
Mickey pretzels is there's nothing like amazingly delicious about Mickey pretzels.
I think they're just such an iconic staple because they're
shaped like Mickey and you can find them all over
property that they have just become this staple of Disney
(26:47):
World food when it comes to visiting the parks. Also popcorn. Again,
popcorn is a big one that there's nothing absolutely spectacular
about the majority of the popcorn across property. Now you
can find some fun flavors and different things when it
comes to popcorn as well. There's maple popcorn and Epcot,
you know, those types of things, but generally speaking, it's
(27:10):
just popcorn, but there's something about Disney popcorn that just
hits differently. And then the other one is Mickey Premium Bar.
So if you're an ice cream person and you want
to experience a park staple, getting a Mickey Head shaped
Mickey Premium Bar is a really good way to go
for taste. So that's kind of in a nutshell, what
(27:33):
taste looks like in the parks. Again, it's going to
vary greatly based on what foods your kiddo wants to
try or is willing to try, or doesn't want to
try or likes to eat. But there are tons of
different options, especially at Epcot, when it comes to tasting
different things in the parks. Let's move on to a
(27:53):
closely related sense, which is smell. So the sense of smell,
talk about all of the smells that you may find
in the Disney parks. Now, we're going to keep this
mostly positive because you know, there are always unwanted smells
no matter where you go in public spaces, I feel like,
so we're going to keep this very positive when it
(28:15):
comes to that. But there are so many specific scents
in the parks that are used to influence guests, whether
it's positive or negative. One fun thing about the sense
is that Disney actually has a patent on a smell
emitting system called a smelltizer. So this is something that
(28:39):
they created back in the mid eighties and then had
a patent on, and these machines, these smelltizer machines are
strategically located throughout the parks and they use a pressurized
gas to dispense lab hatched fragrances. So they are responsible
for blowing out sense of baked goods and sugary confections.
(29:06):
Over on Main Street, if you're near a popcorn stand,
you might say, Wow, the smell of this popcorn is
really potent, Like I can really smell it. It's not
just from the natural popcorn. It's those smelletizers that are
pumping out that scent to entice the guests into following
their nose and figuring out what is creating that amazing scent.
(29:29):
So I just think that that's super fun that Disney
has like a specific scent, a specific way that they
emit these scents out into the parks to entice guests,
and there are sents all across the parks and resorts.
It's really incredible when you sit down and think about
(29:49):
if you've been to the parks or the resorts, what
sense first come to mind. Everybody's gonna have a different answer.
Even people in our live chat comments right now are
talking about attractions, talking about popcorn, They're talking about resort lobbies.
So like, there are so many different things that you
can think about. Some of my favorites. For me personally,
(30:10):
the water at the Pirates of the Caribbean is very nostalgic,
that bromine smell. I feel like you smell that and
you just think Disney Ride and mainly Pirates. You will
find that scent a little bit other places, but I
feel like it's the strongest at Pirates of the Caribbean.
In epco at soarin around the World, they have a
(30:30):
couple scents that I really like. I like these scent
in the African scene with the elephants, it smells just
like like really earthy and grassy.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Kind of and I like that scent.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
And then the Fiji scene where you're kind of going
over those tropical waters. That Fiji water smell is just
one of my all time favorite sense in all of
the parks. In Mickey's phil Harmagic, they have a scene
where you're in Uh, Beauty and the Beast for the
br guest scene, and there's a pie that comes close
(31:03):
to your face with the three D effects that they have,
and they pump in that scent of you know, freshly
baked pie, which is wonderful and amazing. In Ratitude, if
you're back over at EPCOT riding Remy's Ratitude Adventure, there
are a couple different sets in there, but primarily the
one that I like is the bread smell that you
(31:24):
get when you're in that bakery section of that ride.
I love baked goods. This is why I love baking
so much, because it makes my house smell amazing. But
I love the scent of the bread in that scene
as well if you're still hanging in Epcot. Spaceship Earth
has a couple different scents, but the most famous or
(31:46):
infamous one is the scene of Rome because Rome is
burning in that particular scene in that ride, and it
has just a very distinct scent to it that is
just I can't even describe it. You have to just
go on the attraction to experience it, but I like
(32:08):
that smell. And then the last one is one of
my all time favorite attractions at Whialt Disney World is Flight,
a passage at Animal Kingdom and there is a scene
where you're just going through the foliage on Pandora on
the attraction and it's just this floral, tropical water scent
(32:32):
that is just unreal. It is one of my favorites.
I love it so much. So those are some of
my favorites. Again, no matter who you ask that has
been to the Disney parks, they're gonna have a different
list of what sense like. Just immediately bring them back, right.
My favorite is all be you know, walking through a
(32:53):
store like Target or something, and you know, oh, we
need some candles. You go through and smell it and it's like, oh,
this one smells like the Fiji water and sourin.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Or you know, oh this one smells like this. You
know my husband and I are known for we.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Will go through like the bath and body Works candles
to see if we can find ones that smell like Disney.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
So it's just there's something so.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Just immersive about those sense in those spaces that when
you smell it otherwise, it just like immediately brings you back.
So experiencing that with with your kids and your family
can be so fun because a lot of the times
you're not expecting it right in places like Ratitui or Filharmagic,
(33:37):
you're not expecting for that scent to be a part
of the experience.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
But it's just it just.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Increases the immerse, the immersion of those attractions so much
more when you have that. Now again I said, we're
going to keep it mostly positive. Be warned when it
comes to sense when you go on Figment, there is
a not so pleasant scent, So I'll leave it at that.
No spoilers for anyone who hasn't been on that attraction.
(34:05):
We've heard us talk about Figment plenty on this podcast,
but some not so pleasant sense there when it comes
to that as well, and Another thing that I will
mention is that they have previously also included the smell
atizer sense in parade floats, so in some of the
(34:26):
specialty parades, so not like the Festival Fantasy or the
New Starlight, not like the regular ones, but some of
these specialty parades that they've done for like Mickey's Not
So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,
they will also include these on parade floats. So I
know that there's a section of the Christmas Parade where
there is like a gingerbread house that comes through and
(34:49):
you can smell the sugar sweetness from that as the
parade float goes by.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
So the thing about.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Disney and se I feel like is just you never
know when to expect it, and you never know when
it's going to happen, which is kind of kind of
a fun aspect of experiencing smells and sense in the parks.
So that is kind of my info on scent and smell.
Let's now hop to our final of our five senses.
(35:22):
We've talked about already touch, sight, taste, and smell, but
let's now talk about sound. This is a big one.
We've talked about how to prep your kiddos for sound
a lot on this podcast, but I do just want
to include it here because it's always a good reminder.
(35:42):
There's a couple different aspects of this when it comes
to traveling to the parks with your kids, going the
first time, going the tenth time, that you just need
to remember and think about. There are pretty much constant
sounds in the parks anywhere that you go, and it
can be very, very overwhelming. So we've talked here about
(36:04):
thinking about earplugs, thinking about where can I go that
I know will be a little bit quieter, right, because
even though there is constant sound, there are places that
are louder, in places that are quieter than others. So
thinking about those types of things that you may need
to prep ahead for. We talked about fireworks. Fireworks is
(36:24):
my first one on this list because you will experience
some sort of fireworks in the nighttime show at Magic Kingdom,
at Hollywood Studios, and at Epcot, So if you are
planning to stay for the nighttime shows at any of
those parks, you want to make sure that you are
prepared for fireworks. My kiddos have always wanted ear protection
(36:50):
for those fireworks. They're now old enough that we just
have little vibes ear plugs for them and they each
have their own. When we get to an experience that
they feel like it's too loud for them, not only fireworks,
but some of the rides as well, I just hand
them their little case, they pop them in, and we're
good to go. But fireworks is a main one for that,
(37:11):
But there are also some attractions that are really loud.
Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is one of the loudest
attractions at the Disney Theme Parks. I don't know why
it's so loud, but it just is. So keep that
in mind if that's something that you want to ride.
Most of the dark rides at Magic Kingdom are fairly
(37:35):
They're kind of medium sound wise when or volume wise
when it comes to their sounds and soundtracks, but that
is when you want to consider. Some of the shows.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Can be a little bit loud.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
The Villains show at Hollywood Studios. My kiddo's requested to
wear their earplugs for that one. That one was a
little bit loud for them. So just do some research
on those if you need help knowing which ones are
going to be super loud for your kiddos. Send me
a message. I'm always happy to help help you kind
of pick through these attractions and experiences for your situation.
(38:10):
But again, just take a look at those ahead of
time and kind of plan accordingly for that. When it
comes to the sound, Now, all of that being said this,
there are also soundscapes inside of every area of all
of the parks that are meant to help put the
guests in the mindset of being immersed in those spaces.
So you know, Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom has
(38:33):
a very specific set of soundtrack music that you will
find there, and it's vastly different from Frontierland and different
from Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Same thing at Epcot. As you're
walking around World Showcase, every country is going to have
their different ambient sound, soundscape, music, soundtrack that you're going
(38:57):
to hear. So some of that you have to let
yourself experience because otherwise you're missing out on that immersive
factor of having those sounds.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Be a part of your experience.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So keep that in mind when it comes to kind
of the ambient noise maybe in the parks. Well, let's
talk about some of the live performances that you can
hear and catch while you're in the parks for your
sound sense. At Magic Kingdom, the pianist at Casey's Corner.
Again we talked about Casey's with the corn Dogs earlier,
(39:32):
but they have a live pianist that is there in
the afternoons. There is the main Street Philharmonic Marching Band
that you will find along Main Street in various different ways.
Sometimes they are going up Main Street, sometimes they're around
the Hub, sometimes they're.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
On the stage.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Just depends, but they are a really fun one to
stop and listen to. The Dapper Dance again, those are
ones that you'll find on Main Street at Magic Kingdom.
Sometimes they're doing like a stage and still performance. Sometimes
they're up by the stage. Sometimes they're on the trolley
that is like driving up and around Main Street, So
lots of different places you can catch them and listen
(40:09):
to them. There is a new group called Nola's Eighth
Note that premiered just a few months ago. I mean
primarily is over near Tiana's by You Adventure, and they
play a lot of kind of like New Orleans jazz
style music and they have a vocalist with them as well,
so that is a super fun one if you can
(40:29):
catch them. That is still one that I need to catch.
I haven't been able to haven't been available to catch
them during their their times that they are performing on
any of my trips since they've been around. And then
you also will have area sometimes local sometimes not marching
bands that are like high school groups that come through
that get the privilege of marching, you know, alongside the
(40:53):
parade either before after sometimes they're with the cavalcades and
kind of partnered with them. But you will sometimes find
that happening at Magic Kingdom primarily, so that is a
super fun experience as well. Over at Animal Kingdom, they
have a ton of live performances that will happen. There
is the Eco Rhythmics group that you can find, the
(41:14):
Harambe Village Street Band which is a super one, super
fun one. The Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe. Again over
in that Africa section that you will find there's like
a little stage area as you are walking kind of
if you're between Tusker House and the Safari in that
space over there, there is also the Beats and Strings
(41:36):
performance which is a star player and that is more
back in the Asia section kind of near the walkway
that leads you to Cali River Rapids. That is a
newer one, immensely talented, super fun to listen to. They
play some kind of traditional star music, but then they
also play some Disney music on that one, which is
(41:58):
super fun. I caught that a few trips ago and
was just blown away by watching that one over at
Animal Kingdom and then at World show or at Epcot
in World Showcase. There again we talked about. There's tons
of performers in World Showcase, the Voices of Liberty being
one in the America Pavilion that is a super fun
one to try and catch if you're able to. They
(42:18):
do perform like inside the building in the America Pavilion
of World Showcase. There are also the concert series that
are there during Flowering Garden and Food and Wine Candlelight
Processional that's there during the Festival of the Holidays. Forgot
what festival I was talking about for a minute there.
And then they also have the Jamitters. The Jamitters are
(42:41):
a very well known percussion group that wanders around the
different sides World Nature and World Discovery of Epcot. Super
super fun show that they put on as well, so
so many live performances that you can hear and experience
while you are in the parks. Again, just be aware
(43:03):
of especially if you've got kiddos that are sensitive to sound,
making sure you've got you know, little lightweight headphones with you,
ear plugs, whatever your kiddo needs to feel successful. Sometimes
they make even like headbands that have like ear protection
in them too, or even all the way down to
(43:24):
infants that maybe can't decide for themselves if they need
ear protection, but you, as a parent or a guardian
of them, decide that they need the ear protection. They
make little stretchy headband ones, all sorts of ear protection
that you can find if that's something that you need.
And even I use it sometimes in the parks because
sometimes it just gets to be too loud and I
(43:46):
just need a minute of a little bit of.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
The volume turned down. So keeping that in mind, there
are lots of.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Nowadays, there are lots of ear plugs, ear protection that
don't completely dampen all the sound, and they're ones that
like maybe do like a fifty percent adjustment or something
like that. So look into the different options. If you're like, well,
I still want to be able to hear, but I
just don't want it to be as loud. So many
different options. Loops has options, Vibes has options. There are
(44:18):
a ton of other companies that you can look and
find as well. So that is kind of my spiel
on sound in the Parks, and that kind of wraps
up our little rapid fire discussion about how to prepare
your child's five senses for the Disney Parks. Thank you
guys so much for joining me for this fun episode
(44:40):
of mom Street USA. I appreciate you guys being here
as always. If you've got questions or suggestions for future
episodes or topics that you'd like to see us cover,
please reach out. You can find us Momstreet USA at
gmail dot com. You can also find us at Momstreet
USA on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok you to those places. Also,
(45:03):
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(45:23):
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the link to that is in our bio, but it
is just under mom Street USA over there on Patreon.
So all of that being said, again, thank you so
much for your support, thank you for being here, and
(45:44):
I will see you on the next episode of mom
Street USA. Bye.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Everyone,
Welcome everybody to Momstreet USA. Is Jackie aka Wishes Mama,
And on today's episode of Mom Street USA, I thought
it would be kind of a fun topic to chat
about preparing your children's five senses for the Disney parks.
So something a little bit different, but something's still helpful. Nonetheless,
(00:25):
we're going to talk about things that they might see,
they might hear, taste, smell, touch, all of those good things.
So that is the plan for today. So thanks for
joining me for this super fun episode to come, and
we're going to kind of jump right into talking about
the different things that we can experience in the Disney parks.
So Disney can definitely be overwhelming to the senses, not
(00:49):
only to kids, to adults, to everybody alike, not only
to people who are maybe a little bit more sensory sensitive,
but all so just to like the general population. There
is a ton going on at all times in all
of the parks. So today we are going to take
a look at what to expect a little bit for
(01:11):
your five senses when it comes to visiting the Disney parks.
So we're going to start We're going to go through
each sense in each sense individually and chat a little
bit about some things to expect and maybe some things
that I enjoy in those categories. So that is the
plan going forward, and we are going to kick it
(01:31):
off with the sense of touch. So let's talk about
what you and your kiddos may experience if you are
visiting the Disney parks when it comes to things to touch. Now,
I can't get past touch without first mentioning that there
(01:52):
are lots of germs. There are lots of germs all
over all of the spaces that your children will want
to touch at Disney, and some of them they'll need
to touch. Right hand rails when going up and down
ramps and up and down steps are a big one.
There are things in the queue that they're.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Gonna want to touch.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
There are things just walking down the pathways that they're
going to want to touch. So my biggest, biggest thing
is please make sure you grab a little bottle of sanitizer.
You know, I think this is something that most of
us carry around with us, you know, post pandemic. I
feel like it's much more of the norm. I mean,
(02:33):
I know that I have got one in my car,
I've got one in my bag. You know, my kids
have one in their bags, so it just it's just
the norm anymore. But make sure that you've got some sanitizer.
We prefer the spray ones over the like old school
kind of gel sanitizers that you can get. I think
they're a little bit easier for the kiddos. The gel
(02:56):
ones tend to just like slide off their hands if
they're hands are not like perfectly level whenever you give
it to them. So I prefer the spray ones. They
make all sorts of different sense and kinds and that
you can decide on your own, but be prepared with
your hand sanitizer when it comes to touch.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
In the parks.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
That being said, there are tons of interactive cues that
Disney put there because they want you to touch and
experience it. Again, beware of the germs. Pack your sanitizer.
But there are places in the queue that have a
ton of interactive spaces that you can touch and play with.
A lot of them are at Magic Kingdom. That Magic
(03:39):
Kingdom tends to have the most in the queue area
at least, so seven doors mind Train has some interactive
things that you can look at and touch and experience.
There are barrels in the one room that you can spin.
There are gems that light up that you can touch.
They sometimes have some water features in the queue that
you can as well if they're up and running. Just
(04:03):
depends on the day with that, but definitely a ton
of things to touch in there. If you visit the
Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom and you get to go
into the extended queue into the graveyard scene, there is
actually stuff in there that you can touch. So you
will kind of walk through these big tall tombstone catacomb
type wall structures, but they actually have interactive things that
(04:26):
you can touch. So there are big pictures all over
them that if you touch the instruments, they'll make different
sounds for the instrument. There's a cat on one of
them that if you touch you can hear the cat
make a sound. So lots of things in that space
that you can touch and interact with as well. If
you are someone who's going to be writing the Dumbo attraction,
(04:47):
there is a whole play area in there of things
that your kids can touch and crawl around and climb
on and use their sense of touch to kind of
explore that space as well. And then one of the
other really famous interactive queue areas is the one at
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where you get to
(05:07):
go all throughout Rabbit's garden. Now, I will say with
that one, you don't get to experience that aspect of
it if you have a lightning lane. So uh, if
you are someone who wants to let your kiddos run
around in there, you gotta brave the standby queue for
that one. But they have all sorts of things that
you can wheels that you can spin, and there's a
whole little bee hive area where you can slide the
(05:29):
bees along the railing. Lots of places for that, and
then as you come around the corner after that, there
is the infamous Pooh Honey Wall where if the screens
are working. Now, I will say the screens have not
been super reliable lately. The last I think four or
five times that I've gone on that attraction they have
(05:51):
either been not working at all. On my last trip
just last week, they were not None of the Pooh
Wall screens were working at all. The trip before that
it was like two of them were working. So you'll
have to see if you get lucky.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Hopefully.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm wondering if Disney is trying to refurb them. I
don't really know, not really sure. They haven't really said
what's going on there, but if you are in the
queue and they are working, it will look like honey
is running down the wall. Now, this one, you actually
don't have to touch it to make it work, but
if you run your hand close to it like you're
(06:27):
clearing and wiping the honey away, there are little hidden
characters that will come through, so you can definitely touch
if your kiddos really need that tactile touch to get
them through that queue. But if you're a little more
germ conscious, just.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Keep in mind that you can.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Just wave your hand over top to satisfy the ability
to clear that honey away for those characters. So those
are just some of the interactive que areas that you
can find. There are also interactive spaces where there are
things that you can touch and play with after several
of the rides. A lot of these actually happen to
(07:14):
be at Epcot. So if you ride on Journey to
the Imagination with Figment, then as you exit there there's
a whole play area where you can touch. They've got
screens you can touch, and buttons you can touch. All
sorts of things there that you can do in Spaceship Earth.
Same thing as you come down of the ramp after
(07:36):
you have thanked the Phoenicians and ridden Spaceship Earth. There
are lots of interactive buttons and screens that you can
play with in there with Nemo.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
If you ride under.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The Seas what is it the Seas with Nemo and Friends?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
There we go to get the official title in there.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
If you do the Seas with Nemo and Friends, and
when you exit you enter that aquarium space, there are
actual interactive elements of that aquarium as well that you
can find in some of the rooms. Not all of
them have them, but again, lots of spaces where touch
can be utilized. If your kiddo is someone that needs
that sensory that sensory output and input of being able
(08:20):
to touch things. Something else to also consider is there
may be new textures that your child has never experienced before.
I know, something that my kids and I have talked
about in the parks is that they're even just.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
On the ground that you walk on.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
There are new textures that you can touch and feel
through your shoes. You know, some kiddos have never seen
brick or cobblestone, and you can find that in several
of the parks, especially Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom has a
lot of different surfaces that you can see when it
comes to like your walking paths and main street and
(08:58):
sidewalks and walkways and things like that. The hubgrass is
a different texture than some other grass that you may
have experienced because it's more of the like AstroTurf kind
of style of grass rather than like real natural grass.
So again, lots of different elements in the parks that
you can touch and feel and have that sensation fulfilled
(09:20):
when it comes to the sense of touch. Let's move
on now to the second sense that we are going
to talk about is sight. So again, this one should
be very obvious. Touch was a little bit trickier to
kind of think about what the different textures and places
(09:40):
that you can touch are. But sight is a really
big one, right, So many new exciting things to see,
lots of new experiences, lots of immersive spaces that they maybe.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Have not been exposed to before. Right.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
That is one of the biggest things sensory wise with
kiddos that can be over whelming is sometimes all of
the sights and colors that they intake and have to
process and kind of figure out what it is that
they are looking at and experiencing. Some of my favorite
sites to see in the parks, especially if it is
your first trip, or even if it's not your first trip,
(10:18):
the park icons, right, so every park has its own
specific icon that goes along with that park. You've got
Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. Being able to see that
is absolutely incredible, right, whether you can see it from
the end of Main Street, or you walk all the
way down until you're right up against that stage, or
(10:40):
even if you're able to go underneath and look from
the entry.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's one of my favorite views is when those walkways
that go underneath the castle are open. If you go
from the front and you stop kind of right in
front of that drawbridge door and you just look up
at the spires of the cat I think is such
a crazy fun site. It's so magical and immersive, and
I love that. Not to mention when you walk through
(11:08):
the castle, all of the beautiful mosaic tiles that are
underneath there that give you the story of Cinderella underneath
something so wonderful to see that's a little bit hidden
that if you don't walk through the castle, or you
don't time it right because it's not open all day long.
Right when they do the stage shows, they do close
that off for the performers, but if you are able
(11:30):
to catch it, it is just absolutely amazing. Over at
Animal Kingdom, the Tree of Life is the icon over there,
and that one again, it's one of those things with
all of these icons where it's beautiful to look at
from afar, but then it's even more magical when you
get close to it. Right, the Tree of Life has
hundreds of animals carved into the trunk and the roots
(11:55):
of that whole experience, and there are walkways that will
take you right up to where you can touch the tree.
We talked about touch just before, but being able to
look at all the animals, and you can almost play
I Spy with your kids as you're looking through there
to see what animals you can see.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And can you find this one? Can you find that one?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So many different things to see with that. At Hollywood Studios,
the icon has really kind of become Tower of Terror.
That park is I feel like it's just in constant
flux of figuring out its identity. But the Tower of
Terar has been the icon of the recent years that
(12:36):
we have seen over there. I also like the Chinese
Theater as an icon as well, of course with the
tie into the studios and the movies and things like that.
But again same thing with Tower or Tear. You can
literally walk right up to that building. It is spectacular
when they do their different light displays on their Christmas time.
(12:58):
They have all sorts of fun lights that they do
on the tower. But being able to experience that and
kind of that's a really unique one because it's a
little bit spookier, right. The Tower of Terror gives you
a little bit of like an eerie feeling kind of
when you're looking at it, So something completely different that
your sense of sight will kind of guide you to,
(13:20):
which is super fun. And then of course Epcot has
Spaceship Earth or the giant Epcot golf Ball as everyone
refers to it as, and that one is just spectacular
for its magnitude. It is so fun to walk underneath
and look up at the geodesic sphere as you walk
(13:42):
underneath it. And then one of my favorite things about
that is the nighttime show that they added just a
few years ago for the fiftieth anniversary, they went and
added all of those LED lights over there, and they've
continued to do those nighttime little rotating songs and shows
on Spaceship Earth. And that is one of my absolute
(14:05):
favorite things that came about from the fiftieth anniversary of
Disney World, and I am so glad that they kept
it because I love just sitting and watching and enjoying
the site that is Spaceship Earth at Epcot. So again,
all of those park icons are just completely different, something
(14:28):
that your kiddo will have never experienced before. And you know,
it might as much as you. As much as we
all want to rush around on our trips and kind
of try to get all the rides done and get
to the shows and see the characters and all those
types of things, sometimes it is so needed to just
(14:49):
give your kiddos a few extra minutes to absorb the
sites and take them in and digest them and figure,
you know, figure out what it is that they're looking
at and what it's making them feel. Sometimes we all
need just a few extra seconds or minutes to process.
So I think that can be really important to remember,
(15:12):
especially when it comes to those big park icons. Something
else that is a new site for many Many kids
that visit the parks are fireworks. Some kiddos may be
familiar with fireworks if you've got a local Fourth of
July or other fireworks show that you take them to,
(15:33):
but the Disney fireworks are a whole another level, right,
So again thinking about how your kiddo may react to
watching that happen, because if they haven't been exposed to it,
it may be a little jarring to them. And we're
just talking about site right now. We haven't even gotten
to sound and hearing. Later on we'll talk about fireworks again,
(15:55):
but just seeing some of that, seeing the projections on
the castle or or seeing you know, the water effects
that come with things like fantasmic or luminous at Epcot.
You know, there's lots to see when it comes to
those nighttime shows and fireworks. So kind of prepping them
ahead of time for that, I think is a really
(16:15):
good idea. I don't know that you necessarily need to
prep them ahead of time for the park icons that
we just talked about, because it's hard to describe that
ahead of time, right, It's hard to explain what these
massive icons are like. But I feel like with the fireworks.
I always suggest if your kiddo has not ever experienced
(16:38):
fireworks or a show like that before, you may just
want to prep them, especially if they're a kiddo that
typically enjoys being prepped before a new experience. It's always
a good idea. The other thing is is seeing characters. Right,
So if we're talking about site, seeing characters can be
a little I don't want to say jarring because that
(17:01):
kind of has a negative connotation, but can be just
a completely new experience for so many kids and adults
alike too.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I remember the first time I was walking through Fantasyland
at Magic Kingdom and I came across Winnie the Pooh
and Tigger walking to their character meet, you know, and
they were just walking down the sidewalk there, and it
was so amazing to me how bright orange Tigger was
(17:31):
when I saw him. You know, so things like that
that it's just you. You just have to be kind
of ready to coach them through that. You have to
be ready and maybe have prepped them a little bit
about Hey, when we're walking through this space, we may
see some character friends that are going to be walking around.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
We got to experience over last May when we went
as a family, they were doing the Cool Kids Summer event,
and back in Fantasy Land, they had tons of roaming
characters that were out during that early morning time, that
early entry time for resort guests. And I'm glad that
my kids had experience with characters because they had never
(18:12):
seen they had never experienced those characters roaming like that before.
That is still something that's so new to Disney World
that it's clear that they've been kind of testing the waters.
The Roman characters exist more at disney Land. Well, we
haven't been to Disneyland, so having them having already had
experiences seeing characters out was really helpful. The other way
(18:34):
that this can be really helpful to kind of prep
your kids for characters is in parades. Your kiddo may
be fine to you know, sitting and watching the parade
or standing with you and watching the parade, but the
second they see that favorite character, they may try to
run out and go say hi and give them hugs
(18:55):
because that's what they want to do. They get excited,
So you just need to be prepared to kind of
coach them through we're gonna see the characters, We're gonna
wave at the characters. Oh, this is an experience where
we get to see them and do high five or
get an autograph or get a photo taken, you know,
So just kind of preparing them for the different situations
(19:16):
where they may see the characters so that they understand
and can be kind of coached through what is the
appropriate reaction for any given point with those characters. So
some other things that they may see while you're in
the parks that may be a new experience for your
kiddos are the shows.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
There's the Frozen.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Singalong Show, the Beauty and the Beast Show, a Little
Mermaid and Villains. Those are all at Hollywood Studios. Fabulous
shows to go and see. There are such wonderful experiences
that you can have talking about characters. So many of
them have characters in them, So prepping to see those
characters and experience those those live entertainment options are wonderful.
(19:58):
Over at Animal Kingdom, they've got of course the Festival,
Lion King and the Finding Nemo Musical. Again, amazing shows
to go see, especially if those those movies speak to
your kids. Right, if any of those that I listed off,
if you're like, oh my gosh, they would love that
definitely take some time to go and see and experience
those shows for sure. And then also at Epcot, they've
(20:20):
got tons of performers out along World Showcase, So if
there's anyone in particular that you're wanting to see, you know,
do a little bit of research, take a look and to.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
See who's where.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
They've got street performers, they've got jugglers, they've got drummers,
they've got musicians, they've got magicians. They've got all sorts
of things out there as well. So those are really
fun things to experience and to watch and see as
you're walking around the parks as well. Now, I do
(20:52):
have to talk about just two little fun last little
parts of our site here on our prepping our Kiddo's
Five Senses for Disney World, and that is there are
two particular colors that you can kind of look for
in the parks with your kiddo. Now, this works better
if you've got probably elementary age and older kiddos because
(21:17):
they'll kind of understand the purpose. But Disney has created
and patented a couple different colors for their theme parks.
So the two that I want to just mention in
case you don't know are go Away Green and Blending blue.
So both of these colors have been specifically formulated to
(21:41):
help Disney hide things in plaines sight. So oftentimes we
will see the front facade of an attraction, but the
actual meat of the attraction exists in a show building
that is not a plane view for many guests. But
(22:03):
maybe you might be able to see that building from
the parking lot or from this area that wraps around
because there's a bathroom back there, something like that. So
Disney has created both of these colors to hide show
buildings and other elements just in plain sight. One of
my favorite instances of this is if you are driving
(22:27):
to Epcot, or sometimes I think if you're monorailing, you
can see it as well. The show building for the
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind roller coaster is a
massive show building, as you can imagine because that is
a huge, massive roller coaster attraction, but you can see
it from a certain area in the parking lot and
(22:49):
it is like classic Blending blue, and it is identical
to that Florida Blue sky. So it's fun to see
those things and kind of point out like, oh, Disney
trying to hide that, but we saw it kind of things,
which is why I say older kiddo's, you know, elementary
agent up will be will be maybe a little bit
more able to appreciate that. But I just had to
(23:11):
stick that little fun fact in there for our last
little discussion about things that you will see when you
are in the Disney parks. So we've talked about touch,
we've talked about site. Let's hop over now and talk
about taste. So taste is a huge one when it
(23:31):
comes to the Disney parks. There are so many new
flavors to experience in the Disney parks, but there are
also familiar flavors too. So even with picky eaters, and
we've talked about eating a lot on this podcast and
given our advice on you know, places to eat and
character meals and all that kind of stuff. But just
(23:53):
be reminded that even with picky eaters at the Disney parks,
you can still find food for them, to be able
to find versions of mac and cheese, chicken tenders, pizza,
things like that. So even though there are a ton
of new experiences that they can have with food, you
will still be able to find them what they also
(24:16):
like and enjoy and you know that they will eat
if they are you know, particular eaters. Something to keep
in mind is taking a look at the time of
year that you're visiting to see what festival is going
on over at Epcot. Epcot pretty much has a festival.
I don't know, eighty percent of the year there is
(24:37):
some sort of extra festival going on over there, like
currently we're in food and Wine food and Wine for
the next couple weeks here. But the festivals over there
with their food booths are a fantastic way to try
some new things and some new flavors without having to
(24:58):
order a whole entree day or a whole meal that
you don't know whether or not your kiddo is going
to eat. So the way that the food booths run,
they give you more of a sampling size, are not
giving you a full huge portion. Some are bigger than others.
It really just depends on what you're ordering and what
the booth has to offer, But they are not giving
(25:19):
you a full entrees worth of these different offerings that
they have on their menu. So it's a really really
great way to spend a little bit less, get some
new flavors, and let your kiddo try some things that
maybe they you would be hesitant to let them try
in any other circumstance. So keep that in mind that
(25:41):
it will give your kiddo the ability to try some
new things that they may or may not end up liking,
So keep that in mind. A couple park staples when
it comes to taste and foods, Dole Whip is a
big one. If you're not familiar with Dolip, you can
get it a couple different places across the parks, but
it is the pineapple Dole brand soft serve that is
(26:03):
pretty iconic for the Disney parks. Corn Dogs, corn dog
nuggets or corn dogs from Casey's Corner at Magic Kingdom,
which is the hot dog place at the end of
Main Street right before you get to the Hub area
in Magic Kingdom. Those are pretty iconic and a lot
of people make sure to get to stop and get
(26:24):
those every trip that they take. Mickey Pretzels. I'm a
huge fan of Mickey pretzels. The funny thing is about
Mickey pretzels is there's nothing like amazingly delicious about Mickey pretzels.
I think they're just such an iconic staple because they're
shaped like Mickey and you can find them all over
property that they have just become this staple of Disney
(26:47):
World food when it comes to visiting the parks. Also popcorn. Again,
popcorn is a big one that there's nothing absolutely spectacular
about the majority of the popcorn across property. Now you
can find some fun flavors and different things when it
comes to popcorn as well. There's maple popcorn and Epcot,
you know, those types of things, but generally speaking, it's
(27:10):
just popcorn, but there's something about Disney popcorn that just
hits differently. And then the other one is Mickey Premium Bar.
So if you're an ice cream person and you want
to experience a park staple, getting a Mickey Head shaped
Mickey Premium Bar is a really good way to go
for taste. So that's kind of in a nutshell, what
(27:33):
taste looks like in the parks. Again, it's going to
vary greatly based on what foods your kiddo wants to
try or is willing to try, or doesn't want to
try or likes to eat. But there are tons of
different options, especially at Epcot, when it comes to tasting
different things in the parks. Let's move on to a
(27:53):
closely related sense, which is smell. So the sense of smell,
talk about all of the smells that you may find
in the Disney parks. Now, we're going to keep this
mostly positive because you know, there are always unwanted smells
no matter where you go in public spaces, I feel like,
so we're going to keep this very positive when it
(28:15):
comes to that. But there are so many specific scents
in the parks that are used to influence guests, whether
it's positive or negative. One fun thing about the sense
is that Disney actually has a patent on a smell
emitting system called a smelltizer. So this is something that
(28:39):
they created back in the mid eighties and then had
a patent on, and these machines, these smelltizer machines are
strategically located throughout the parks and they use a pressurized
gas to dispense lab hatched fragrances. So they are responsible
for blowing out sense of baked goods and sugary confections.
(29:06):
Over on Main Street, if you're near a popcorn stand,
you might say, Wow, the smell of this popcorn is
really potent, Like I can really smell it. It's not
just from the natural popcorn. It's those smelletizers that are
pumping out that scent to entice the guests into following
their nose and figuring out what is creating that amazing scent.
(29:29):
So I just think that that's super fun that Disney
has like a specific scent, a specific way that they
emit these scents out into the parks to entice guests,
and there are sents all across the parks and resorts.
It's really incredible when you sit down and think about
(29:49):
if you've been to the parks or the resorts, what
sense first come to mind. Everybody's gonna have a different answer.
Even people in our live chat comments right now are
talking about attractions, talking about popcorn, They're talking about resort lobbies.
So like, there are so many different things that you
can think about. Some of my favorites. For me personally,
(30:10):
the water at the Pirates of the Caribbean is very nostalgic,
that bromine smell. I feel like you smell that and
you just think Disney Ride and mainly Pirates. You will
find that scent a little bit other places, but I
feel like it's the strongest at Pirates of the Caribbean.
In epco at soarin around the World, they have a
(30:30):
couple scents that I really like. I like these scent
in the African scene with the elephants, it smells just
like like really earthy and grassy.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Kind of and I like that scent.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
And then the Fiji scene where you're kind of going
over those tropical waters. That Fiji water smell is just
one of my all time favorite sense in all of
the parks. In Mickey's phil Harmagic, they have a scene
where you're in Uh, Beauty and the Beast for the
br guest scene, and there's a pie that comes close
(31:03):
to your face with the three D effects that they have,
and they pump in that scent of you know, freshly
baked pie, which is wonderful and amazing. In Ratitude, if
you're back over at EPCOT riding Remy's Ratitude Adventure, there
are a couple different sets in there, but primarily the
one that I like is the bread smell that you
(31:24):
get when you're in that bakery section of that ride.
I love baked goods. This is why I love baking
so much, because it makes my house smell amazing. But
I love the scent of the bread in that scene
as well if you're still hanging in Epcot. Spaceship Earth
has a couple different scents, but the most famous or
(31:46):
infamous one is the scene of Rome because Rome is
burning in that particular scene in that ride, and it
has just a very distinct scent to it that is
just I can't even describe it. You have to just
go on the attraction to experience it, but I like
(32:08):
that smell. And then the last one is one of
my all time favorite attractions at Whialt Disney World is Flight,
a passage at Animal Kingdom and there is a scene
where you're just going through the foliage on Pandora on
the attraction and it's just this floral, tropical water scent
(32:32):
that is just unreal. It is one of my favorites.
I love it so much. So those are some of
my favorites. Again, no matter who you ask that has
been to the Disney parks, they're gonna have a different
list of what sense like. Just immediately bring them back, right.
My favorite is all be you know, walking through a
(32:53):
store like Target or something, and you know, oh, we
need some candles. You go through and smell it and it's like, oh,
this one smells like the Fiji water and sourin.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Or you know, oh this one smells like this. You
know my husband and I are known for we.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Will go through like the bath and body Works candles
to see if we can find ones that smell like Disney.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
So it's just there's something so.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Just immersive about those sense in those spaces that when
you smell it otherwise, it just like immediately brings you back.
So experiencing that with with your kids and your family
can be so fun because a lot of the times
you're not expecting it right in places like Ratitui or Filharmagic,
(33:37):
you're not expecting for that scent to be a part
of the experience.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
But it's just it just.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Increases the immerse, the immersion of those attractions so much
more when you have that. Now again I said, we're
going to keep it mostly positive. Be warned when it
comes to sense when you go on Figment, there is
a not so pleasant scent, So I'll leave it at that.
No spoilers for anyone who hasn't been on that attraction.
(34:05):
We've heard us talk about Figment plenty on this podcast,
but some not so pleasant sense there when it comes
to that as well, and Another thing that I will
mention is that they have previously also included the smell
atizer sense in parade floats, so in some of the
(34:26):
specialty parades, so not like the Festival Fantasy or the
New Starlight, not like the regular ones, but some of
these specialty parades that they've done for like Mickey's Not
So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,
they will also include these on parade floats. So I
know that there's a section of the Christmas Parade where
there is like a gingerbread house that comes through and
(34:49):
you can smell the sugar sweetness from that as the
parade float goes by.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
So the thing about.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Disney and se I feel like is just you never
know when to expect it, and you never know when
it's going to happen, which is kind of kind of
a fun aspect of experiencing smells and sense in the parks.
So that is kind of my info on scent and smell.
Let's now hop to our final of our five senses.
(35:22):
We've talked about already touch, sight, taste, and smell, but
let's now talk about sound. This is a big one.
We've talked about how to prep your kiddos for sound
a lot on this podcast, but I do just want
to include it here because it's always a good reminder.
(35:42):
There's a couple different aspects of this when it comes
to traveling to the parks with your kids, going the
first time, going the tenth time, that you just need
to remember and think about. There are pretty much constant
sounds in the parks anywhere that you go, and it
can be very, very overwhelming. So we've talked here about
(36:04):
thinking about earplugs, thinking about where can I go that
I know will be a little bit quieter, right, because
even though there is constant sound, there are places that
are louder, in places that are quieter than others. So
thinking about those types of things that you may need
to prep ahead for. We talked about fireworks. Fireworks is
(36:24):
my first one on this list because you will experience
some sort of fireworks in the nighttime show at Magic Kingdom,
at Hollywood Studios, and at Epcot, So if you are
planning to stay for the nighttime shows at any of
those parks, you want to make sure that you are
prepared for fireworks. My kiddos have always wanted ear protection
(36:50):
for those fireworks. They're now old enough that we just
have little vibes ear plugs for them and they each
have their own. When we get to an experience that
they feel like it's too loud for them, not only fireworks,
but some of the rides as well, I just hand
them their little case, they pop them in, and we're
good to go. But fireworks is a main one for that,
(37:11):
But there are also some attractions that are really loud.
Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is one of the loudest
attractions at the Disney Theme Parks. I don't know why
it's so loud, but it just is. So keep that
in mind if that's something that you want to ride.
Most of the dark rides at Magic Kingdom are fairly
(37:35):
They're kind of medium sound wise when or volume wise
when it comes to their sounds and soundtracks, but that
is when you want to consider. Some of the shows.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Can be a little bit loud.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
The Villains show at Hollywood Studios. My kiddo's requested to
wear their earplugs for that one. That one was a
little bit loud for them. So just do some research
on those if you need help knowing which ones are
going to be super loud for your kiddos. Send me
a message. I'm always happy to help help you kind
of pick through these attractions and experiences for your situation.
(38:10):
But again, just take a look at those ahead of
time and kind of plan accordingly for that. When it
comes to the sound, Now, all of that being said this,
there are also soundscapes inside of every area of all
of the parks that are meant to help put the
guests in the mindset of being immersed in those spaces.
So you know, Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom has
(38:33):
a very specific set of soundtrack music that you will
find there, and it's vastly different from Frontierland and different
from Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Same thing at Epcot. As you're
walking around World Showcase, every country is going to have
their different ambient sound, soundscape, music, soundtrack that you're going
(38:57):
to hear. So some of that you have to let
yourself experience because otherwise you're missing out on that immersive
factor of having those sounds.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Be a part of your experience.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So keep that in mind when it comes to kind
of the ambient noise maybe in the parks. Well, let's
talk about some of the live performances that you can
hear and catch while you're in the parks for your
sound sense. At Magic Kingdom, the pianist at Casey's Corner.
Again we talked about Casey's with the corn Dogs earlier,
(39:32):
but they have a live pianist that is there in
the afternoons. There is the main Street Philharmonic Marching Band
that you will find along Main Street in various different ways.
Sometimes they are going up Main Street, sometimes they're around
the Hub, sometimes they're.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
On the stage.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Just depends, but they are a really fun one to
stop and listen to. The Dapper Dance again, those are
ones that you'll find on Main Street at Magic Kingdom.
Sometimes they're doing like a stage and still performance. Sometimes
they're up by the stage. Sometimes they're on the trolley
that is like driving up and around Main Street, So
lots of different places you can catch them and listen
(40:09):
to them. There is a new group called Nola's Eighth
Note that premiered just a few months ago. I mean
primarily is over near Tiana's by You Adventure, and they
play a lot of kind of like New Orleans jazz
style music and they have a vocalist with them as well,
so that is a super fun one if you can
(40:29):
catch them. That is still one that I need to catch.
I haven't been able to haven't been available to catch
them during their their times that they are performing on
any of my trips since they've been around. And then
you also will have area sometimes local sometimes not marching
bands that are like high school groups that come through
that get the privilege of marching, you know, alongside the
(40:53):
parade either before after sometimes they're with the cavalcades and
kind of partnered with them. But you will sometimes find
that happening at Magic Kingdom primarily, so that is a
super fun experience as well. Over at Animal Kingdom, they
have a ton of live performances that will happen. There
is the Eco Rhythmics group that you can find, the
(41:14):
Harambe Village Street Band which is a super one, super
fun one. The Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe. Again over
in that Africa section that you will find there's like
a little stage area as you are walking kind of
if you're between Tusker House and the Safari in that
space over there, there is also the Beats and Strings
(41:36):
performance which is a star player and that is more
back in the Asia section kind of near the walkway
that leads you to Cali River Rapids. That is a
newer one, immensely talented, super fun to listen to. They
play some kind of traditional star music, but then they
also play some Disney music on that one, which is
(41:58):
super fun. I caught that a few trips ago and
was just blown away by watching that one over at
Animal Kingdom and then at World show or at Epcot
in World Showcase. There again we talked about. There's tons
of performers in World Showcase, the Voices of Liberty being
one in the America Pavilion that is a super fun
one to try and catch if you're able to. They
(42:18):
do perform like inside the building in the America Pavilion
of World Showcase. There are also the concert series that
are there during Flowering Garden and Food and Wine Candlelight
Processional that's there during the Festival of the Holidays. Forgot
what festival I was talking about for a minute there.
And then they also have the Jamitters. The Jamitters are
(42:41):
a very well known percussion group that wanders around the
different sides World Nature and World Discovery of Epcot. Super
super fun show that they put on as well, so
so many live performances that you can hear and experience
while you are in the parks. Again, just be aware
(43:03):
of especially if you've got kiddos that are sensitive to sound,
making sure you've got you know, little lightweight headphones with you,
ear plugs, whatever your kiddo needs to feel successful. Sometimes
they make even like headbands that have like ear protection
in them too, or even all the way down to
(43:24):
infants that maybe can't decide for themselves if they need
ear protection, but you, as a parent or a guardian
of them, decide that they need the ear protection. They
make little stretchy headband ones, all sorts of ear protection
that you can find if that's something that you need.
And even I use it sometimes in the parks because
sometimes it just gets to be too loud and I
(43:46):
just need a minute of a little bit of.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
The volume turned down. So keeping that in mind, there
are lots of.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Nowadays, there are lots of ear plugs, ear protection that
don't completely dampen all the sound, and they're ones that
like maybe do like a fifty percent adjustment or something
like that. So look into the different options. If you're like, well,
I still want to be able to hear, but I
just don't want it to be as loud. So many
different options. Loops has options, Vibes has options. There are
(44:18):
a ton of other companies that you can look and
find as well. So that is kind of my spiel
on sound in the Parks, and that kind of wraps
up our little rapid fire discussion about how to prepare
your child's five senses for the Disney Parks. Thank you
guys so much for joining me for this fun episode
(44:40):
of mom Street USA. I appreciate you guys being here
as always. If you've got questions or suggestions for future
episodes or topics that you'd like to see us cover,
please reach out. You can find us Momstreet USA at
gmail dot com. You can also find us at Momstreet
USA on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok you to those places. Also,
(45:03):
if you have not checked out our Patreon, please do
hop over there. You get some first looks at what
our upcoming topics are over there. There's also some exclusive
content over there as well as far as the unedited
versions of our podcast live. Over there some polls for
(45:23):
different things, so be sure to check out our patreon
if you have not. Again, there is a there's just
all sorts of fun stuff going on over there. So
the link to that is in our bio, but it
is just under mom Street USA over there on Patreon.
So all of that being said, again, thank you so
much for your support, thank you for being here, and
(45:44):
I will see you on the next episode of mom
Street USA. Bye.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Everyone,
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The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.