Daughter's first trip with 2 sets of grandparents. Advice wanted

[Fantasia79]

My wife and I have been to Disney several times and super excited to take our daughter for her first trip. She'll be just over 2 years old when we go in 2017.

We're looking at a 5 day trip. My Dad and his wife will be coming for the first three days, my Mom and her husband will be coming the last 3 days (one day overlap). My dad and his wife have never been to Disney and probably never would go. My mom and her husband have been several times and love going.

I'm experienced planning trips for 100+ teenagers, but one toddler and I have no idea what I'm doing. So, I ask a lot of people and do a lot of research.

We're looking at June 22-27, 2017.

So! Here's the current plan:

Make rope drop each day, plan on being in the parks until lunch, than taking a break until roughly dinner time. Head back to the parks for a table service dinner plus a few hours. Most nights, turn in early (get one night time show at EPCOT, one at MK). My Dad only wants to be with us (and he's nota favor heat), so I'm thinking relaxed arrival day, Epcot day 1, animal kingdom day 2, MK day 3, MK day 4, Epcot day 5. Mom wants to take my daughter for extended times so my wife & I can get out on our own too.

Plan a character meal a day (breakfast or lunch). And plan one ride a day for my wife and to rider swap. Hit up stroller rental.

What am I forgetting? What do I not see coming?

 

[tami82]

I think your plan is good it's smart to go to the parks until lunch time and then taking a long break. You don't want to push it too much. This has always worked for us. Sometimes after lunch I would stay for maybe an hour or so more and another child would go back with my husband as we stayed in a monorail resort so it was real easy. Don't feel like you have to do rope drop each time, we never did we would get on the bus at 9 and it was empty. We still had plenty of time to get to the rides without crowds. That's good your mom will be able to take your child for,extended nights for a break. My older daughter will be joining us this year which will be great so we can also catch a break or,two. I don't do all of the nighttime activities so I trust her enough with the kids to do that also so it will be nice.

 

[Julylady]

Just be prepared that at that young age, she might be afraid of the characters. My niece was. In her world, Minnie was 12 inches tall, not 5 feet! She was terrified at Chef Mickeys and sat on her Dad's lap clutching his neck the entire meal. It took almost our entire trip to get her to a point where she could see a character and not cry. You might want to try a couple of local events with mascots and see how she reacts. At that age she also might also be unwilling to separate from Mom and Dad. Remember that she will be away from all that is familiar except you. She doesn't understand that you are only leaving for a few hours.

 

[kreckl]

Does your child usually get up and go every morning? Rope drop not essential each day.
Also you may want to consider bringing your own ( familiar) stroller. Much easier imo and no cost.

 

[AshleeH]

Just don't overplan - plan to go with the flow if there's no ADR or FP to make it to. And if you could be more flexible in your dates, I would avoid June if you think your dad will hate the heat. Even bumping it to May would be an improvement (for crowds and weather).

My daughter was terrified of the characters at 18 months (WDW) and again at 2 (DCL), so prepare for that potential hazard. She's showing such excitement for our upcoming trip, I'm hoping that's not a factor, but if it is we'll work around it, since we always do character meals. If this happens to you, just tell the handlers about the fear - they are great with intervening before the character gets close and the characters are wonderful about reading children and knowing when to stay back.

 

[roseaster]

It will be surface of the sun hot.

2 year olds, most generally hate characters. I have had five 2 year olds. All but 1 was afraid of "furry" characters at 2. Princesses were okay.

Take your own stroller. It will be cheaper and you will have it at all times and your baby will be used to it and so will you.

2 year olds can be a PIA, be prepared to be flexible with plans. Sometimes they are great and happy and easy. Other times they are cranky and over stimulate or tired.

Take a change of clothes for the baby, there are some water play areas that they love and are great for cooling off.

 

[pezaddict231]

Are you doing 2 ADR's per day? I find the TS meals take a long time. If we go back to a park for dinner there is usually not much time to do anything after that. My DD was 15 months on her first trip and pretty go with the flow. Only thing was she wasn't walking yet and wanted me 90% of the time and wouldn't go to DH which got old real quick in the August heat lol.

You can also plan FP's based on rides your DD might like so each person can ride with her. We did this with Dumbo bc my DD loved it. So I would take her on, then DH, then DGM, then DGF. She was scared of the characters in the beginning of the trip but by the end she loved them. On her second trip at 2 she was only scared of the Winnie the Pooh characters. Even now she says she doesn't like those ones lol.

Best advice is to be flexible. You can't predict how kids will react so don't try too hard to stick to a set plan. The good news is with FP+, it's not as essential to get there right at RD and it's pretty easy to make changes on the fly.

 

[Fantasia79]

Wonderful! Thanks for all the help.

She walks (has for 6 months). I'm hoping to have everything on an itinerary to take away the indecision of groups (where are we going today, what are we going on, where are we going to eat, etc). That way, we can just cancel plans as needed but hopefully a good starting point to have a template. Probably going to change to breakfast in the room instead of consistently getting food outside of the room.

Mom now coming an additional day, Dad might be coming/might not, we'll see. I really hope we can make it work as a great trip for her, but not holding my breath. Mom has a good idea to try to ramp up the "magic" she experiences.

@Julylady Great tip with mascots! Will do!

@AshleeH Dates are pretty locked between my work schedule and wife's. It is my dream to go in the fall, probably can do it in about 20 years.

@pezaddict231 Yea, it's so difficult, to figure out what she'll be like in 11 months! Mostly, just want to do a trip where there is stuff for her to actually do and enjoy.

@roseaster Agreed, planning on a lot of princess. Thanks! Hopefully she likes them by then.

@kreckl for the most part, yea. Pretty flexible.

 

[Pesky]

Agree on taking your own stroller (you'll be glad to have it in the airport to at least haul your carry-ons). If you can't do that or don't want to for whatever reasons, I'd look to rent from an outside company (there are some preferred companies that are mentioned on the boards) so you have it going to and from the parks and not just in the parks. Flexibility will be key and reading the signs. It's so tempting to push and do that ONE MORE RIDE but if your DD is signaling she is done, best to listen. Agree on the water play area in MK -- you'll probably lose her there for a good 30 minutes or so. Also the Boneyard dig area at AK. Be prepared with some healthier (and familiar) options like a couple of ziplocs of cheerios and such (prepare for one to fall on the ground and get ruined). Garden Grocer can be your friend! Agree with judging her reaction to the characters. Might be worth showing her some youtube shots of those meetings and see what her reaction is. Live, her reaction might be different but preparation can be the key. And yes on being flexible -- you never know what those hot buttons are. DS hated getting wet and big drops. DD loved it. I'd always say "well, thanks for telling me -- we will try to go on that again/we will not do that again." You just go with the flow.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

Lots of good tips for the kiddo. I notice the title mentioned two sets of grandparents, and we took a trip last fall with that setup. A few tips there too:

* Make sure you are really upfront with grandparents about time and gift expectations. We limited each set to one purchase for the kids each day. They could get more stuff and bring home for holidays or whatnot, but they could only give the kid one thing per day. We also very consciously alternated which grandparent rode with or sat next to our kids. We also made clear that there were things that were important to us as parents upfront so there wasn't disappointment (sorry, it will be mommy who rides with her kiddos on dumbo!).
* Make sure you are really upfront about rides. My husband told my MIL and mom that Test Track was no big deal. When they got off, well, they were giving him eye daggers.
* Make sure they know the schedule & you help them think through what they might miss. We had one morning where my parents decided to sleep in and they didn't quite realize it was my daughter's first sight of the castle. They were disappointed they missed it. We also had a night where they skipped the evening, and they didn't realize that was the only chance to see MK fireworks due to MNSSHPs.

None of them are huge Disney fans, but we definitely had those moments where all generations were having the time of their lives. (Enchanted Tales with Belle, AK Safari, street shows, etc). It was a fabulous trip, amazing memories, and we are SO glad we did it.

have fun!

 

[Minniemoo15]

Yes my dd (2.5) was TERRIFIED of the characters at Chef Mickey's. I was not expecting it because she loved our local high school mascot at 18 months. But I guess something changed in that year because she freaked when Mickey came to our table. I wish we hadn't wasted the $ but it's hard to know beforehand

She did however LOVE the face characters and couldn't get enough of the princesses. Biergarten in Epcot was also a big hit. Adults loved the buffet and beer, , my dd loved the music and going to dance on stage

 

[harrowgirl]

I am a big fan of mid day breaks - and your proposed plan is how we travel - but be wary of the possibility that DD falls asleep on route back to your resort - and basically has a 20-30 minute catnap and can't fall back asleep and is miserable.

My biggest tip is BE FLEXIBLE. Have a plan, but go with the flow. We figure if we hit 2-3 highlights each day, we have done well. We do much more than that...but the goal is just 2 or 3 highlights.

 

[pezaddict231]

There are so many rides that she'll be able to go on, so don't worry about that. We usually do three days a Magic Kingdom because they have the most for that age group. Magic Kingdom she loved Dumbo, Flying Carpet's, Buzz Lightyear, It's a small World, Carousel, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh. At Epcot she liked Living with the Land, Nemo and Turtle Talk, The new Frozen ride is great. Animal Kingdom she loved the Lion King show. Hollywood Studios she liked the Beauty and the Beast show, Toy Story Mania, Disney Jr. show. If she freaks with the characters we would just wave to them or have them interact with us instead. Like I'd pet Pluto and say he was a good boy, eventually she warmed up to them. Now she hugs all the characters for an awkwardly long time so she's totally over the fear lol. Our first trip I almost cancelled Tusker House at the end because she was kind of scared of the character but by the end of the trip she loved them and was almost jumping out of my arms to get to them.