Build me an itinerary? First timer!

[Timandalicia]

Is rope drop when the park opens? And that's really good advice about just a couple rides and take it slow for the rest of the day. thank you!

May I suggest heading right for Winnie the Pooh ride and Peter Pan first. They are the longest lines for rides your kids’ ages. The lines are short at rope drop and then get long and stay long until closing. And well... you are the Pooh Bear family.

 

[becauseimnew]

Oh that sounds like our first trip. I would do MK, HS, AK, MK, HS. With kids that age and no park hoppers I would skip Epcot, not enough for kids that age specially since they don’t have character meets.

 

[auntlynne]

You can check out the park maps/brochures; they will give height requirements for the rides. You can find them on the DIS website.

 

[Timandalicia]

Oh that sounds like our first trip. I would do MK, HS, AK, MK, HS. With kids that age and no park hoppers I would skip Epcot, not enough for kids that age specially since they don’t have character meets.

Oooh no Epcot. If none of the kids are totally gaga for Frozen or Nemo, I like it!
(But only because they said “first trip” i.e. they will be back).

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Yes. It also means you need to leave your resort at the very least an hour ahead of time. Main Street at MK is a show in itself. If it is crowded and everyone is moving towards the castle try to make time to explore a bit on the way back out. The details are amazing!

Wow that sounds like a great plan! Thank you

 

[PoohBearFamily]

First, a disclaimer—rope drop isnot for everyone. Some like to sleep in on vacation, or simply have a hard time getting everyone up and around.

That said, my family are definitely rope droppers. Yes, it refers to being there for park open to beat the crowds and enjoy lower wait times, cooler temperatures in the summer too.

Keep in mind that it’s not just arriving at scheduled opening time. Right now (and even pre COVID), parks open before posted opening time. Plus, if you arrive right at opening time, you’ll still be behind a bunch of other rope droppers. So you’d need to be there well before posted opening time.

I still think it’s worth it if you can swing it. But with little ones, that might be hard to do. Don’t let it stress you if you can’t do it.

Ok we'll try it but not go too crazy if we're arriving a bit after opening thank you!

 

[PoohBearFamily]

There’s a lot of walking. Does your stroller have a place for the six yo?

Places to just sit are hard to find.

There are areas good for nursing. I watch a VLOG where the mom tells you where to go.

Wow thanks for the multiple tips! So helpful! Maybe we'll bring a double stroller, I'll measure it first.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

May I suggest heading right for Winnie the Pooh ride and Peter Pan first. They are the longest lines for rides your kids’ ages. The lines are short at rope drop and then get long and stay long until closing. And well... you are the Pooh Bear family.

We've been looking forward to the Winnie the Pooh ride! Thanks for the tip.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Oh that sounds like our first trip. I would do MK, HS, AK, MK, HS. With kids that age and no park hoppers I would skip Epcot, not enough for kids that age specially since they don’t have character meets.

Thanks for the advice! We were definitely thinking no park hopping

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Easy

Easy touring plans given the ages of your children and it being your first time. I’d be glad to follow up why if you wish.
Sunday- Disney Springs or explore resort (depending how tired and bedtime).
Monday- Magic Kingdom
Tuesday- Epcot
Wednesday- Hollywood Studios
Thursday- Animal Kingdom
Friday- Magic Kingdom (or other park if you fall in love with it earlier in the trip, but it will be Magic Kingdom ).

This sounds like a fantastic schedule, thanks so much! I think we are leaning Magic Kingdom for the 5th day

 

[808blessing]

The stroller (required!) is a great stuff holder but put it all in a large zip up (packing cube?) as you will need to collapse and pull open stroller. It is easy to dig thru stuff that way. And I like a bright handle cover or balloon to easily identify it.

 

[becauseimnew]

Thanks for the advice! We were definitely thinking no park hopping

Our first trip was when our girls were that exact age, their favorite park was MK. We had park hoppers so they always asked to hop to MK at the end of the day. With all the Toy Story/SW, I think that HS has become a 2 day park.

 

[redrosesix]

I would LOVE to stay at the Contemporary or Grand Floridian - I just wish we could swing the $ this time but it looks like Art of Animation for us! Maybe next trip!

And I was thinking about skipping HS but hubby and I really want to see the Star Wars stuff! But I will definitely schedule Magic Kingdom twice then, thank you! And I love the idea of planning midday breaks, especially with our baby on board. I appreciate all the advice!!

Once your kids see AoA, it's possible they won't want to stay anywhere else. It's totally ok to just hang at your own pool the first day.

We still take midday breaks and we always use hoppers, so it's easy to do a half day at a park where we only want to see a few attractions. I think it's fine to have just a rough idea of where you want to be on each day, but I would strongly suggest having one day off so you can all recharge at the resort. If you're not doing at least one park, or you switch to hoppers so you can do 2 parks some days (separated by the midday break), you could get by with 4 day tickets.

MK and AK are still the parks that we always do at least twice as much as the others. Some of the rides at both are dark eg. Space Mountain at MK or Dinosaur at AK, and many of the rides have height restrictions. It's good to know in advance which rides your kids will be terrified of or will be too small to ride. they won't even know or care which ones they're missing, but if you want to do them you can use Parent Swap.

 

[redrosesix]

Our first trip was when our girls were that exact age, their favorite park was MK. We had park hoppers so they always asked to hop to MK at the end of the day. With all the Toy Story/SW, I think that HS has become a 2 day park.

We still do this most days -- MK is so wonderful at night with the lights on, and we much prefer the People Mover at night.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

The stroller (required!) is a great stuff holder but put it all in a large zip up (packing cube?) as you will need to collapse and pull open stroller. It is easy to dig thru stuff that way. And I like a bright handle cover or balloon to easily identify it.

These are great stroller tips! I didn't think of these . Thank you!

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Our first trip was when our girls were that exact age, their favorite park was MK. We had park hoppers so they always asked to hop to MK at the end of the day. With all the Toy Story/SW, I think that HS has become a 2 day park.

Maybe we'll double up on Magic Kingdom days! Thanks!

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Once your kids see AoA, it's possible they won't want to stay anywhere else. It's totally ok to just hang at your own pool the first day.

We still take midday breaks and we always use hoppers, so it's easy to do a half day at a park where we only want to see a few attractions. I think it's fine to have just a rough idea of where you want to be on each day, but I would strongly suggest having one day off so you can all recharge at the resort. If you're not doing at least one park, or you switch to hoppers so you can do 2 parks some days (separated by the midday break), you could get by with 4 day tickets.

MK and AK are still the parks that we always do at least twice as much as the others. Some of the rides at both are dark eg. Space Mountain at MK or Dinosaur at AK, and many of the rides have height restrictions. It's good to know in advance which rides your kids will be terrified of or will be too small to ride. they won't even know or care which ones they're missing, but if you want to do them you can use Parent Swap.

Having a day off sounds lovely and midday breaks I think are a must! I'm interested in the Parent Swap - we may need to do this for Star Wars! Will do some more research on rides they will like too. Thank you!

 

[bigcrit]

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you get to the parks early. With little kids that age I would definitely plan to take a break each day. We generally leave by 1PM and head back to the resort for a nap, swimming, a healthy snack. We generally come back around 5:30 and tour the parks for the night.

 

[Timandalicia]

Having a day off sounds lovely and midday breaks I think are a must! I'm interested in the Parent Swap - we may need to do this for Star Wars! Will do some more research on rides they will like too. Thank you!

Many call it parent swap, but when looking into it, the official name is “rider switch”.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you get to the parks early. With little kids that age I would definitely plan to take a break each day. We generally leave by 1PM and head back to the resort for a nap, swimming, a healthy snack. We generally come back around 5:30 and tour the parks for the night.

This sounds like a winning strategy. Thank you!