Appreciate Advice on our Schedule

[Lydia91]

I am in the process of putting together a trip to WDW for myself, my DH and my two twin daughters who will be 5 at the time of the trip and would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions to what I've pulled together. We are more than 180 days out, so all of this assumes we can get the necessary reservations. Lots of character dining (probably too much), but that was a HUGE hit with the girls in 2013 and I assume our window on how much they like it is starting to close.

The girls may or may not still be napping during the trip (still strong nappers now) so that's a little up in the air. I think if they aren't napping, we can probably see more of the Disney parks in a day and take another day off or hit some place else.

Friday:

Arrive late Friday afternoon
Dinner at Hotel or en-route to Hotel/Pick Up Groceries for the week

Saturday

Early Appt. at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (close to open as possible)
Tour Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime (this will usually be pool or nap, but given the trip to BBB will not be pool today)
Dinner at Cinderella's Castle
Stay for Electric Parade and “Wishes” Firework Show

Sunday

Breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with Disney Junior (characters include Jake and Sofia the First) – ideally this will be before park open.
Tour Disney Hollywood Studios
Afternoon Downtime
Return to DHS for more touring and, if up for it, Fantasmic

Monday

1900 Park at the Grand Floridian: Late breakfast with Alice, the Mad Hatter and other Wonderland characters.
Disney Pirate Adventure at the Grand Floridian (departs 11:15)
I get to have a massage at the Grand Floridian Spa while the girls are off buccaneering. DH can relax or have a massage too.
Afternoon Downtime
Hoop de Doo Musical Revue

Tuesday

Tour Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Either Chef Mickey's for dinner or over to Epcot for “Illuminations”

Wednesday:

[OPEN DAY][Either full day off for relaxation or perhaps doing one of Seaworld/Universal/Busch. Depends a bit on how much pool time we’ve managed to get in. One of the water parks might also be an option]. Would love to do Discovery Cove, but girls need to be 6 for Dolphin Interactive Experience.

Thursday:

Tour Epcot
Afternoon Downtime
Tour Epcot/Illuminations (if not done on Tuesday)

Friday

Early Appointment with the Pirate League
Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
If we find a good childcare option: Dinner off-site and see La Nouba.
If not, probably back to Magic Kingdom

Saturday

Tour the Animal Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Dinner at 1900 Park at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Evil Step-mother and the Two Step-Sisters.

Sunday

Last shot at the pool in the morning.
Leave for home.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Sounds like a FUN time!

Reflections: Remember that early morning reservations can be great but most people find that even if you get an 8:00am one, you will either feel rushed though an expensive meal that you may want to savor and enjoy for it's self, or you will miss out on that park opening walk ons. Not a big deal to many, but worth pointing out. When our youngest was about 5, it always took us about 1 1/2 hours for a character meal. same for other things like BBB.

We never plan a full day off. It cost very little to add on a couple extra days and then we can feel good about going at a slower pace and have the option to go into the parks every day. We found that when we had days without tickets, we really still wanted to be in the parks. MUCH more expensive to do a day at a park off site.

Consider that the girls might not want to swim and mess up thier BBB hair I have boys so not an issue but have had friends have this happen!

You might need less down time. for us, Five was that transition trip from needing more down time to wanting to go all day....as you said......it could go either way.

Assuming you are staying on site with all the rest times.

LOVE all your activity and meal choices.....really looks fun.

 

[Lydia91]

Thanks! I hear you on the down day -- might well be worth have tickets for the day and feel fine whether we end up using them or not.

Thanks for the food for thought on the character breakfasts -- I'll look at things again with that in mind.

 

[SEA333]

We did three pretty much open to close days last Nov when our youngest was 7 and he was exhausted by the 3rd day (and he is very active and had just closed a very strenuous sports season the week before, so he was in pretty good shape at the time of the trip).

We decided that we would go longer next time and still do open to close, but use a full day in between each park day to relax at the pool, then an early dinner at a resort before heading in early for the night so we can do the whole next day at another park.

But that works for our family....we wouldn't want to travel back and forth between park and resort, nor cut our day short because we are too tired.

 

[MandiC]

If using Disney transportation I also wouldn't want to go back and forth between the parks/resort unless I had to. There were 2 days we had to go back to the resort, it took over an hour and a half and we literally ran to our room, grabbed what we forgot and ran back to the bus stop.
Animal Kingdom only took us until about 2pm though (and we did Tusker House breakfast which was my favorite character breakfast as far as food is concerned), that day we ended up going to DTD after, but I do wish we had just gone swimming or lounged around the pool instead (we did DTD the day we flew in, the AK day and the day we left, we still didn't see everything down there).
I have to agree that staying for night entertainment and then waking up for a before park open breakfast is TOUGH. My girls are 7 and 9 and it was tough waking them up in time to get them ready in the morning when we stayed for fireworks. We were just there so MK fireworks were pretty early even (8pm) compared to what they are at other times of the year. In hindsight I don't know that we will do any early breakfasts next time...hard to say. The girls enjoyed eating a big cinnamon roll for breakfast about as much as the big breakfasts

 

[jezebel73]

I'm a huge fan of down days. I've traveled to Disney with my daughter when she was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 turned 6 while there , and almost 8 and open to close days at the parks were just too much after 2-3 days in a row. You certainly may fare better with the mid-day downtime you have planned, but I agree with the free day in the middle of your trip for sure.
Also hearing that the kids want to be swimming while you're in a long ride line gets old quickly! Maybe that's because we're from Buffalo and only get a couple of swimming months a year...LOL

I also agree with the others that the early meals every day can be rough. Remember that if you use Disney transportation, you need to leave at least an hour before your reservation and that's an early rise! Will depend on how early your kids normally get up, of course. Breakfasts can do until almost lunchtime, so you could still start out in early in a park, then eat "brunch" and still be hungry for dinner.

Lastly, go for it with the character meals. You have some great ones planned and it's the perfect age to go all out.

 

[Happyjen27]

It looks super fun. Also looks like you've worked in the mid-day break, which I love. For me, and for my littles.

My twins were also 5 our first trip, and also strong nappers. They napped each time we laid them down for one, as did I. We used our breaks in 2 different ways:

If we had a late night planned, we would nap. The next morning was always a sleep in morning.

If we had an early morning planned the next day, we would not nap so the kids would be able to get their normal 12 hours of sleep.

Only once I planned a late night and then an early morning, I called that the turn and burn, and it made for misery. Not all kids are the same, nor all adults, but for us, we found that getting adequate sleep made the difference between an awesome time and a good time. Some people are hardier and can go-go-go, but we are not those people. So just be aware that if Wishes is at 8, unless you're staying at the Contemporary and can walk back, you're probably not going to be in your room until 10 or so. To leave your room at 7 for an 8AM reservation the next morning does not leave must sleeping time.

We never did down days, but we only did about 4 hours in a park at a time, so we weren't burned out at all. Some days we would return to the park, but I think more often we just ate nice dinners, swam or chilled out.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm a huge fan of down days and midday breaks for longer trips.

When we went in 2008 it was a 4 day trip and we stayed off site. No breaks. We did rope drop and left the parks around 7-8. We used a lunch ADR as our "break."

2009 we went for 8-9 days and did midday breaks almost everyday and one off day. My kids LOVE pool time. Even at 14 and 8 they love the pool. I just made a boo boo by making a few dinner ADR's when this trip the parks closed early a few nights. They kids weren't pleased about that.

2011 we went for 6 days and took midday breaks but no off day. DD was 5 and this was our first stroller free trip. It was fantastic!!!

Next trip I want to go for 10-11 days. I know the first 2-3 days everyone is on go go go. So after that I do an off day. Planning at leat 2 full off days to hang at the pool and do nothing. Maybe DTD. And probably 1-2 late start days. Midday breaks are still important.

 

[lala5176]

Hi there. We are a family of five with children 3, 6, 11 and have been going to Disney since my oldest was 2. We always take break days in between park days. We find it too frustrating to take afternoon breaks when dealing with resort transportation. If we rent a car then maybe not so much. We also like to relax on our last day on vacation. We are always tired when we return from Disney and taking a break at the end helps us unwind.

 

[squirrel]

Will you be renting or bringing a stroller?

I took both my nieces at 5 years and they didn't nap at that time but would at WDW in the stroller. I tried the first year with the older niece going back to the resort but we wasted so much time. She wouldn't sleep in the room instead she would fall asleep on the bus either on the way to the resort or on the way back after trying to get her to sleep in the room. After that I let her crash in the stroller. That way we didn't waste time. I could wander around and look in the shops until she woke up. The monorail would put both of them to sleep-you could rest in a chair in the lobby.

We would go for 14 nights so we would do 2-3 days and then have a rest day. Park days were full days, rarely did we leave early and we would take advantage of the EMH in the evening.

I think if you don't stay up too late and then have an early morning the next day it will work for you. I schedule a late breakfast in the park so that we can take advantage of lower crowds. We would eat something in our room before heading out. I also would bring snacks.

 

[erikawolf2004]

You are probably going to get a mix bag of answers on this, because every family is different. We are big on naps, so for our upcoming trip we will do rope drop, take an afternoon nap of about 4hrs(with travel time) and then head back to the parks for dinner and more fun. You could schedule the naps, but if you don't feel you need them then don't take them or maybe take the break every other day. For your optional "off" day maybe see how you feel mid week and decide then...maybe not schedule anything, but have 2 options for the day...this park or the pool, leave your options open and then the stress is off. I find if we over schedule we all get stressed and cranky...which can ruin a very pricey trip. Make sure to leave time to smell the roses and explore the little things...because when they are little they really don't need all the Big stuff we want to plan they just really enjoy the magic of being at DW. Good luck and I hope you have an amazing trip!

Erika

 

[DaniMoon]

In October we took our 5yo & 6yo. We tend to be early risers, so we did rope drop every morning and came back to our resort every afternoon around 2. Some days we went and did evening activities other days not. Of our 9 days, only 2 nights we were out later and most nights my kids were asleep by 9:30

I know my youngest. He does not do well with late nights, so one night of fireworks, one night electrical parade. We will do illuminations and fantasmic when they are older.

Pool time almost daily for the kids made for very happy kids and I didn't mind lounging by the pool with a cool drink in hand. Of our eight trips to the world, this was the best. This was the youngest we've ever taken our kids.

You know your kids best. We didn't have a single tear or tantrum. I can't wait to go back.

 

[pigletgirl]

Sounds great!

 

[msmama]

I would just say be wary of late nights followed by early mornings (like Saturday to Sunday).

We've never been big mid-day breakers. Once we get back to the hotel, it's just about impossible to get us to leave again. We rarely are in the parks much after dinner time (yes, we miss nighttime stuff, but it's never been an issue yet). Obviously do what works for you, but just tossing out another option.

 

[Lydia91]

Thanks for the input everyone! After some discussion with the husband, we have decided that we will be doing afternoon "breaks" rather than one day in the parks and one day off -- we just think the potential for meltdown in a "full" day is going to be too high. Also, we have decided to rent a car and not be dependent on the Disney transportation. Car rental is relatively not that expensive -- the big expenses are airfare, tickets and accommodation for us and if a little more spent on car rental makes our days run more smoothly we've decided that the rental is worth it.

Revised and tweaked schedule:

Friday:

Arrive late Friday afternoon
Dinner at Hotel or en-route to Hotel/Pick Up Groceries for the week

Saturday

Early Appt. at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (close to open as possible)
Tour Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Early Dinner at Cinderella's Castle -- ideally around 5:00
Don't stay for Wishes/Electric Parade -- Plan to be home by 8.

Sunday

Breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with Disney Junior – ideally this will be before park open.
Tour Disney Hollywood Studios
Afternoon Downtime
Return to DHS for more touring and, if up for it, Fantasmic.

Monday

1900 Park at the Grand Floridian: Late breakfast with Alice, the Mad Hatter and other Wonderland characters.
Disney Pirate Adventure at the Grand Floridian (departs 11:15)
I get to have a massage at the Grand Floridian Spa while the girls are off buccaneering. DH can relax or have a massage too.
Afternoon Downtime
Hoop de Doo Musical Revue (early show/try to have girls in bed by 8)

Tuesday

Tour Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Afternoon at Epcot, maybe dinner in Germany. May stay for “Illuminations”.

Wednesday:

Relaxation/Pool Day
Chef Mickey's for an early dinner.

Thursday:

Early Appointment with the Pirate League
Magic Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
If we find a good childcare option: Dinner off-site and see La Nouba.
If not, probably back to Magic Kingdom

Friday:

Tour Epcot
Afternoon Downtime
Tour Epcot or stay at hotel

Saturday

Tour the Animal Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Dinner at 1900 Park at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Evil Step-mother and the Two Step-Sisters.
After dinner, head to Magic Kingdom for Electrical Parade and Wishes

Sunday

Last shot at the pool in the morning.
Leave for home.

 

[Lydia91]

Still more than 180 days out and still playing with planning! Switching things around now that I have crowd calendar info. Since we are finding cheaper airfare in the am than afternoon, we are now looking at coming in early on Friday, which opens up some additional opportunities! Appreciate any advice or input to make this go more smoothly -- especially input on Fast Pass as we are not familiar with the new system.

Friday:

Arrive Friday morning. Check into hotel and hang out by pool until room is ready.
Afternoon nap if possible/Husband grocery run.
Character dinner (ideally around 5): 1900 Park at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Evil Step-mother and the Two Step-Sisters.
[Girls will need Cinderella costume]

Saturday

Breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with Disney Junior – ideally this will be before park open.
[Girls will need Jake t-shirts]
Tour Disney Hollywood Studios
Afternoon Downtime
Dinner at hotel or off-site.
[Fast Pass: Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Disney Junior Live]

Sunday

Hit Magic Kingdom at Rope Drop
Afternoon Downtime
Early dinner at hotel or off-site
Return for a late night at Magic Kingdom to see the Electrical Parade
[Day focus: generally on Fantasyland. Use FP+ for Anna/Elsa (though this will likely be for whatever day I can get it!), Enchanted Tales with Belle and probably either Peter Pan or Pooh]


Monday

1900 Park at the Grand Floridian: 9:00ish breakfast with Alice, the Mad Hatter and other Wonderland characters.
Disney Pirate Adventure at the Grand Floridian (departs 11:15)
I get to have a massage at the Grand Floridian Spa while the girls are off buccaneering. DH can relax or have a massage too.
Afternoon Downtime
Hoop de Doo Musical Revue (early show/try to have girls in bed by 8)

Tuesday:

Epcot at Rope Drop: focus on non-World Showcase areas
Probably eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons or back at hotel
Afternoon Downtime
[Fast Pass: Soarin', Spaceship Earth and Seas with Nemo]

Wednesday:

Appointment at the "Boutique" -- see how early we can get in.
Tour Magic Kingdom
Skip Nap
Very early dinner at Cinderella's Castle (if possible, 4:30)
Back to hotel after dinner
[Focus on Tomorrowland/Frontierland: FP+ Space Ranger Spin, if possible, maybe FP+ it twice. Lightest scheduled crowd day for MK -- catch Pixies meet n' greet first thing.]

Thursday:

Tour Epcot World Showcase
[Think about Mary Poppins Costumes for Girls]
Pick at Pearl in Japan
Lunch at either Germany or Akershus
Afternoon Downtime
Back to tour Epcot or stay at hotel
**Little concerned that WS character meet and greets are in the afternoon based on a vague memory. Anyone know?]
[Fast Pass: Maelstrom]

Friday:

Appointment with the Pirate League
[Bring Pirate Costumes for Girls]
Magic Kingdom
Skip Nap
Early dinner at Be Our Guest (hopefully around 4:30 or 5)
Leave after dinner.
[Day focus: Adventureland; Redo/catch anything missed at Fantasyland. Consider FP+ for Rapunzel, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise.]

Saturday

Tour the Animal Kingdom
Afternoon Downtime
Dinner at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary
Pirate and Pals' Cruise to see Wishes, departs the Contemporary
[Fast Pass: Kali, Kilimanjaro, Festival of the Lion King]

Sunday

Last shot at the pool in the morning.
Leave for home

 

[JillShari]

First of all, where are you staying? That would help with ideas of transportation times. We got back in March during Spring Break and we stayed at AoA and we used Disney Transportation for everything and never had a problem. Even at the end of Wishes, there was a bus waiting for us.

We did naps on the days when we wanted to go back to the parks. The days my 4 year old didn't sleep, we hung out at the hotel and pool and arcade and got to bed at good times so we could do early mornings.

I see that you plan to get groceries... we ate breakfast in our room every morning so we didn't have to stop anywhere. It was great to feed the kids while we got ready and then get them dressed and get out to the parks.

One other thing, I don't know about your kids, but I have read that if you do the Magic Kingdom early on in the trip, the kids won't like any other park. So, usually we do Hollywood, Epcot and AK based on crowds and their interests and then hit the MK for the final days of the trip.

Also... we did more ADR's for lunch. We weren't on the meal plan since my kids are picky non-eaters it didn't make sense. So, the lunches are better priced and having that time to sit in the middle of the day was nice. I didn't do any ADR's for dinner since I really didn't know if our 4 year old would nap... and I didn't want to miss a reservation, so we did most quick service which was alright. In retrospect... I would have booked a few more dinner ADRs.

 

[Lydia91]

We're staying at AOA with a car rental. We're definitely not doing a meal plan -- I don't like to be that tied down and honestly, IME the food is just not that good. I would rather have sandwiches, etc. at the room most of the time unless the meal is about entertainment for the kids. Do you know if its possible to bring in a hot plate to the kitchenette or is that forbidden?

Which part of the AOA did you stay in? We are looking at Lion King because its supposed to be more convenient to the transportation.

With regard to character lunches etc at the parks, I hate to be tied down to a reservation while we are actually in the process of touring/riding. My preference is always to have any park meal be the last thing before we leave that day, so we don't have to change up our touring in order to make a reservation and then go back to touring.