thanks everyone for your encouragment...after reading a TON on these boards...and talking to the hubby i think we are going to take the plunge and book for next summer....THANK YOU!!!
Just returned off the Magic last week with kids 8, 4 and 10 months - so pretty close to your kids in age.
It is doable, but a few things to remember-
You probably will not be able to book shore excursions through Disney and find anything the oldest will enjoy that you can go along with the others. We did the beach on our own and had a great time (would highly recommend Le Galion on the Eastern Carribean)
Pre-book your baby in the nursery every evening - but especially on Pirate Night. You don't want to hold him for an hour and try and keep an eye on the other two - if baby is in the nursery you can dance with the oldest two and have fun.
Consider giving the oldest sign-out priveleges. It was one less hassle to just send him to the clubs without having to wait in that line too! And it is easier for them to sign themselves out than for you to wait in the line to get them. My son usually went to the club for specific activities and we would make sure he knew where to go when the activity was over and he would just check himself out and meet us.
Don't forget the umbrella stroller. I wouold also recommend some type of carrier (I use an ergo baby). It is nice for cab rides to have the baby strapped to you. Plus, as you will soon find out, at 3 the kids outnumber you and you only have TWO hands. Keeping the littlest strapped to you frees up one had for each of the older two!!!
ALso, while there are great beach strollers, they are at the entrance to the family beach which can be a little walk or a tram ride. I didn't realize this and left the ergo baby on the ship and wished I would have had it for the walk to the beach. There was such a mad dash for the trams, after I got cut off trying to get on with the kids and baby twice, I just walked it!!!
When travelling with a stroller, be patient with elevators. We made everyone take the steps except the person pushing the stroller - but with a stroller and other kids you can be a little slow and lots of people will race ahead of you and take the elevators - so you have to wait a few times to get one. Alternatively, I carried the baby and DH just carried the stroller.
Try and eat buffets in Parrot Cay (or whatever the equivalent is on the new ships) and avoid Topsiders. While they are supposed to have people to help your kids carry trays, we found it to be very inconsistent and you don't want to get to the end of a buffet line and have three trays and a baby with only one adult. If you go to Parrot CAy, they seat you first and bring drinks so it is a ton easier to navigate through the buffet lines. They are open for breakfast on shore days, but not the sea days since they do the character breakfast there.
There are no outdoor tables that accomodate 5 - only 4. If baby is in a highchair, that will work. Either way, plan on trying to flag someone down to find a 5th chair or highchair whenever you want to sit outside. Even inside Topsiders, most of the tables accomodate 4. I don't think people travelling with older kids notice this as much since those kids can easily find and haul over a chair, but it is noticeable with smaller kids when you're occupied with a baby!!
If you do the FE gift exchange, be prepared for your room to look like a Pinata exploded over everything. Add to that the normal mess that comes with a baby (and 2 older ones) along with the tight spaces and your stateroom can be difficult to manage. After the first 2 days, I gave each of the older 2 a drawer to keep FE stuff and our "Happy Meal" rule went into place - with Happy Meal and other small toys, the rule is you can keep it as long as the drawer closes. Once the drawer no longer closes, it is time to go through and get rid of something before you add any more!!!
THe ships dry cleaning and laundry arent super expensive. I live in DC so my comparisons may be skewed, however, we had 2 suits, 2 shirts, and a pair of slacks pressed and my formal dress cleaned and pressed for LESS than I pay at my local cleaners - right around $20. I don't do laundry on vacation unless it is an emergency. It is pretty easy to send out a pair of slacks to be cleaned if needed to you don't need to do laundry or pack extra pants!!
Have fun!!
