Back from our trip with toddlers!

[aliceg]

Just came back from our first family trip. It was awesome! We did AK, Epcot and two back-to-back MK days. With one rest day of pool and mini-golf in the middle. Here's what worked:

Stroller naps. We would have an earlier lunch, do a ride or a show, then have mandatory "stroller time." We'd recline the seats and walk in circles until they were asleep then park in the shade and have a drink or snack or both. When it worked, it was great! First day, they fussed. Second day, they accepted the situation. Third day, they asked for "stroller time." Fourth day was a mess. Overall, I think the stroller naps worked better than us trying to put excited kids to sleep in a hotel room.

Keychain of fun. I had a collection of silly keychains (rubix cube, shoe, cars, slinky dog, etc.) that I would pull out when they became restless while waiting. It saved me from nagging "don't swing the ropes" when in line.

Light up keychain. In particular, I had a turtle keychain with a built in light. My 3yo is a little anxious about dark, and I didn't want him to have sit out the dark rides like Winnie the Pooh just because he didn't like the thought of going into a dark tunnel. So I gave him the light up turtle to hold during the dark parts, and distracted him by having him look at the turtle, and it worked! And he was so proud of himself of being "brave, for the turtle!"

What did not work:
Back to back MK days. I have no idea what we did wrong, but apparently we violated some serious toddler code by having two MK days in a row. First day was great. Second day, they were a wreck. Tantrums over nothing. Nonstop whining. By 10, we were ready to call it a day if moods did not seriously improve in 30 minutes. Luckily, they somewhat did, but only because we decided to go back to Fantasyland for the rest of the day and let them ride Barnstormer again and again and again and again and again.


Overall:
We'll be back! Probably not in a few years, as this was a little pricier than our usual vacations. And we surely won't do two MK days in a row.

Thanks to all of you for your help!

[blessedby3]

Originally Posted by aliceg

Just came back from our first family trip. It was awesome! We did AK, Epcot and two back-to-back MK days. With one rest day of pool and mini-golf in the middle. Here's what worked:

Stroller naps. We would have an earlier lunch, do a ride or a show, then have mandatory "stroller time." We'd recline the seats and walk in circles until they were asleep then park in the shade and have a drink or snack or both. When it worked, it was great! First day, they fussed. Second day, they accepted the situation. Third day, they asked for "stroller time." Fourth day was a mess. Overall, I think the stroller naps worked better than us trying to put excited kids to sleep in a hotel room.

Keychain of fun. I had a collection of silly keychains (rubix cube, shoe, cars, slinky dog, etc.) that I would pull out when they became restless while waiting. It saved me from nagging "don't swing the ropes" when in line.

Light up keychain. In particular, I had a turtle keychain with a built in light. My 3yo is a little anxious about dark, and I didn't want him to have sit out the dark rides like Winnie the Pooh just because he didn't like the thought of going into a dark tunnel. So I gave him the light up turtle to hold during the dark parts, and distracted him by having him look at the turtle, and it worked! And he was so proud of himself of being "brave, for the turtle!"

What did not work:
Back to back MK days. I have no idea what we did wrong, but apparently we violated some serious toddler code by having two MK days in a row. First day was great. Second day, they were a wreck. Tantrums over nothing. Nonstop whining. By 10, we were ready to call it a day if moods did not seriously improve in 30 minutes. Luckily, they somewhat did, but only because we decided to go back to Fantasyland for the rest of the day and let them ride Barnstormer again and again and again and again and again.


Overall:
We'll be back! Probably not in a few years, as this was a little pricier than our usual vacations. And we surely won't do two MK days in a row.

Thanks to all of you for your help!

Glad you survived the trip We have taken our kids at all ages, and we have always had a great time with them. We have also done the stroller nap, as well as the room nap (adults prefer the room nap). Our kids are very spread out in age, so I have never done 2 small ones at once...but Im sure they do feed off of each other. Sounds like you had a great idea with the keychains. Not sure why you had back to back MK bad luck...guess they were just ready for a park change

[pascalstongue]

Good to hear that you had a good holiday and you will be back!

I'm glad that the stroller naps worked for you. My kids nap ok in a stroller here but I'm not sure how they will get on in the heat and humidity. I'm sure we will try staying out and going back to the hotel at some point.

Will defintaely get things to keep them entered whist queuing, my two can't wait for more than five minutes before getting bored and kicking off!