ADVICE NEEDED on how to get kids prepared to wake up at 3am for early morning flight!

[Betty Rohrer]

YAY! Sending pixie dust to you and your family! Good call about already having them dressed! Mine will be 10 years old, but I may still do that

sometimes sleeping in clothes is easier with older ones than young ones. did have one about that age who slept for a short time and had us all up about 2 hours early because she decided that it was time to go. it was like 1 am and we did not have to be up until 3. she still leaves around midnight on trips if possible with her boys, in fact not at Disney now but another park with her one who turned 12 today for his birthday and rest of her family

 

[Kristin Weiss]

sometimes sleeping in clothes is easier with older ones than young ones. did have one about that age who slept for a short time and had us all up about 2 hours early because she decided that it was time to go. it was like 1 am and we did not have to be up until 3. she still leaves around midnight on trips if possible with her boys, in fact not at Disney now but another park with her one who turned 12 today for his birthday and rest of her family

I see this happening with ours too lol... way too excited to sleep. It’ll be a once in a lifetime experience for us, so it’ll be an adventure!

 

[Blondie58]

Will be doing an early flight this summer with 2 young kids so this thread is great! Already planned to have them sleep in their clothes, but all the other advice was helpful. I will be the one the most sleepy!

I agree. Never a problem with the kids just the parents. They sleep in the car. They sleep on our laps. They sleep on the plane.

 

[DLgal]

My kids would NEVER have slept in their clothes, and frankly for a long cross country flight, I wouldn't recommend that. Little kids are more comfy in pajamas (like most of us) and by the end of the day in CA, they will have been wearing those clothes almost 24 hours. Gross. Let them have some fresh clothes to put on in the morning. Kids sweat at night and their clothes will look all frumpy in the morning if they sleep in them.

 

[Rory607]

My kids would NEVER have slept in their clothes, and frankly for a long cross country flight, I wouldn't recommend that. Little kids are more comfy in pajamas (like most of us) and by the end of the day in CA, they will have been wearing those clothes almost 24 hours. Gross. Let them have some fresh clothes to put on in the morning. Kids sweat at night and their clothes will look all frumpy in the morning if they sleep in them.

When my kids were little their clothes were just as comfy as pajamas...t shirts and leggings. We would put extra clothes in their backpack and they could change once we got there or even in the airport bathroom if necessary. Not really a big deal.

 

[DLgal]

When my kids were little their clothes were just as comfy as pajamas...t shirts and leggings. We would put extra clothes in their backpack and they could change once we got there or even in the airport bathroom if necessary. Not really a big deal.

Do you have girls? I have boys and their day clothes were never as soft as pajamas. They mostly wore t shirts and shorts but the shorts were always like rough khaki type fabric with elastic waists. Their pjs were always those super soft skin tight kind and they LOVED them. Now they are teens and wear mostly athletic shorts and t shirts but still won't sleep in those. They like soft knit pjs shorts and tees. Maybe my boys are just particular, but they would look at me crazy if I suggested they sleep in clothes simply to save 30 seconds of time getting dressed for a morning flight.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Do you have girls? I have boys and their day clothes were never as soft as pajamas. They mostly wore t shirts and shorts but the shorts were always like rough khaki type fabric with elastic waists. Their pjs were always those super soft skin tight kind and they LOVED them. Now they are teens and wear mostly athletic shorts and t shirts but still won't sleep in those. They like soft knit pjs shorts and tees. Maybe my boys are just particular, but they would look at me crazy if I suggested they sleep in clothes simply to save 30 seconds of time getting dressed for a morning flight.

my grandsons are the opposite, they would rather sleep in clothes and get the few seconds of sleep. in fact all hate pjs normally, it is athletic shorts and t shirts for them normally

 

[Heather07438]

Try waking the kids up early the day before. Let them have lots of fresh air and exercise. Hopefully that helps get them to sleep extra early.

 

[Rory607]

Do you have girls? I have boys and their day clothes were never as soft as pajamas. They mostly wore t shirts and shorts but the shorts were always like rough khaki type fabric with elastic waists. Their pjs were always those super soft skin tight kind and they LOVED them. Now they are teens and wear mostly athletic shorts and t shirts but still won't sleep in those. They like soft knit pjs shorts and tees. Maybe my boys are just particular, but they would look at me crazy if I suggested they sleep in clothes simply to save 30 seconds of time getting dressed for a morning flight.

I have one of each. My son pretty much only wears t-shirts, athletic pants and shorts. It’s a battle to get him into anything nicer for family pictures or any special occasion, lol. But I know not all kids are that way.

 

[jessiegirl1982]

I'll let you know how it goes! We fly out of LAX in mid June at 6a, and because of lack of flights/crazy prices into MCO, we have a short layover in MIA (but got a great rate of only 7,500 miles a ticket) and we get in to MCO before 5p. We've done the red eye before, and that is a whole other type of crazy but never a 6a flight with kids. I do like the idea of having them sleep in their clothes, though my 3 year old DD probably won't have it. Not sure if you are flying out of LAX, but I looked it up today and TSA opens at 4a at most terminals. We plan on leaving our house at 3a to leave extra time for the shuttle from the offsite parking. I plan on packing some snacks and buying breakfast at the airport, as well as having all electronics fully charged. We will also have lunch at the MIA airport since food options are still limited in-flight (they should be relaxed by your trip, though). I plan on having lots of coffee/energy drinks myself, but will probably feel like a zombie for the 1st day or 2.

 

[saraheliz]

When we took my girls (once at just about 3 and then later both of them at a couple weeks shy of 3 and 5) and had an early morning flight, we lied to them about what day we were going (added an extra day to the countdown chain) because I didn't want them to have a hard time falling asleep the night before. We then woke them up, told them there had been a mistake with the chain and we were leaving today. That might not work with some kids but it got my kids the sleep they needed and they were perfectly happy to leave a day early!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

When we took my girls (once at just about 3 and then later both of them at a couple weeks shy of 3 and 5) and had an early morning flight, we lied to them about what day we were going (added an extra day to the countdown chain) because I didn't want them to have a hard time falling asleep the night before. We then woke them up, told them there had been a mistake with the chain and we were leaving today. That might not work with some kids but it got my kids the sleep they needed and they were perfectly happy to leave a day early!

would not work well with a couple of my grandkids because they would have had something planned that they now would be missing. lots of tears which is not the way to start a trip

 

[BethanyMouse]

Flying out of NJ, we have always taken the first flight out of Newark to Orlando. We live about 1.5 hours from the airport. There were many mornings where we piled in the care with our littles at 1:30 am.

We kept them in their pj's and changed them in the car at the parking lot. I had snacks ready to go and let them walk around in the airport. For my oldest (a rule follower) I told her she MUST nap on the plane in order to meet Mickey. This worked for awhile.

We went to the parks and just tried to take in the scenery and enjoy being in the magic. We did a quick counter service dinner at Poly and early bed (7pm). It always worked well!~

We also lied to them about our departure date- so that they would sleep!