Critique my first day plans with a toddler.

[hcmommy]

We will be there with our 17 mo. old. Do you all think it is too full of a day to add MNSSHP tickets?


MAGIC KINGDOM:
Sunday October 14th
Maybe get there in time for EMH, Fantasyland (not sure what time this starts, 8 am maybe?)
If not grab a lite breakfast to eat in the room
Leave @ 8:30 am
Go to Fantasyland to ride:

• Dumbo
• Winnie the Pooh
• Peter Pan's Flight
• It's a Small World

Crystal Palace 10:25 am
Nap/Swim
Get back on bus to go back to MK around 3 pm and ride a few more rides
Stay for Mickey's Not so scary Halloween Party @ 7 pm

 

[Nom]

looks good, but I would warn against getting your hopes and dreams set on any particular plan with a dc that old. Maybe he is a little too young yet, but here's my experience:

I brought dd for the first time when she was just turning one. She loved everything- every ride. Your schedule would have worked out incredible.

So her 2nd bday rolls around, and we are so psyched- she is going to love the rides even more now as she is older and better able to understand what is going on! I had an exciting agenda planned for fantasyland- small world to start with as it is pretty open and not too dark, then pooh, then peter pan, then dumbo. BIG MISTAKE. She did not want to go on any rides, and I have to say, for the first 1/2 day we were all pretty bummed. She cried through small world and pooh and refused to go on anymore rides for the rest of thr trip.

ugh! Thankfully we all had an attitude readjustment after lunch and realized that her top joys were meeting characters, so we concentrated on that for the rest of the trip and had a great time.

I tell you this just so that you might be aware- with a child in that age range, they are starting to be strong willed and have their own opinions, so I would not get too hung up on the certain rides you want to ride to make it a perfect vacation (not that you are, but I certainly was and we had a pretty upsetting first morning because of it!)

We're now preparing for her 3rd bday trip, and we'll see how it goes, but I have learned to go with the flow and follow her lead on what she wants to do (but still planning baby swaps for me and dh's must-do rides).

Hope this helps, and again, if your dc likes the rides your agenda looks good- just be open and flexible to the fact that he may react very differently than you expect!

eta: What is his typical bedtime? I know dd would be a terror if she was up past 8- so just think about that as you know his temperment best. You don't want to make your first day unpleasant, and personally when dd is overtired she is very unpleasant! The lastest we have ever kept her in the parks was probably 8:30 or so.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

Not sure. Might be a bit much. Starting out at 8AM, character lunch, then swimming, nap, back to MK for afternoon, dinner and then Halloween party from 7-midnight. I'm exhausted just thinking about it

Seriously, We've been with DD at various ages. You tend to set out and think you are going to see a lot and then the day gets away from you. i.e. changing diapers, getting food, waiting in line for rides, waiting in line for buses, taking a break from rides because DD fell asleep in stroller goodvibes ) My DD never really was able to nap back at the room so the times we attempted that plan never really worked out.

DD will be 4 this trip and we have tickets to MNSSHP. Our plan was to possibly visit MGM in the morning because we can take the boat there, then spend most of the day at the pool/BCV to be well rested for the late night.

Just my opinion of course, I just wouldn't want you to spend the money on the tickets then be dealing with complete meltdowns (which is what would happen in our case).

Hope that helps.

 

[TikiGoddess07]

Coming from a mom who has been traveling with little ones for the past four years -- skip the party. Put the babe down at his/her regularly scheduled bedtime, grab a glass of wine, and sit out on your balcony enjoying the evening. I have found it very tough to slow down with small children (thankfully my husband has a great sense of when the kids need a break).

Take it easy and enjoy your first day. And if you don't get to ride something, just remember -- it's a great excuse to start planning next year's trip.

TikiG

 

[Princess Roo]

I think it really depends on what the normal bedtime is and how he reacts when he misses it. For my DS, we couldn't keep him up more than an hour past his normal bedtime during our trips to Disney - and even an hour was pushing it with a cranky walk back to the hotel room from the bus. And this is after a nice swim & nap back at the hotel midday. But there are also toddlers who will happily sleep in the stroller, in mom's arms on the bus, and transfer still sleeping to their hotel bed. (And I'm hoping our baby #2 is one of those - LOL!)

Also, if you can get up and to the park when it opens, I think you may be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can get everything in Fantasyland done. All three trips that has been the case with us - virtually no lines for the first 2 hours (except Dumbo line, which quickly grew less than half an hour after opening). We then Fastpassed all the coasters and child-swapped the rest of the day, alternating with less popular rides that DS could go on, too, (teacups, Aladdin) and general sightseeing around the park.

 

[tjlovespooh]

17mo is the same age our DS was when we went this past May - too CUTE for words! He loved, loved, LOVED the characters. He enjoyed the rides but the characters were by far his fav.
I have to say that we didn't plan out any aspect of that trip at all (previous ones with just DH and I were very much scheduled). This last one with DS though - very laxed. The only thing set in stone were our table service dinner each evening (and we were even late a few times for those). Personally, I would say that the key to enjoying a vacation with a little one that age is to be FLEXIBLE - can't stress that enough. Be flexible and definitely return to the resort for nap each afternoon - those two things helped ALL of us enjoy the vacation!
Oh, we also tried to keep bedtime as close to regular as possible. We only kept DS out late one night for MK EMH at night (and by late, I mean maybe 30 - 45 min, nothing too late).
Have fun

 

[hcmommy]

Maybe I will just wait and buy MNSSHP tickets when we get there, after we see how he day goes. I wanted to get tickets ahead of time to save money but we won't be saving money if we end up wasting the tickets anyway. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I'm loving this thread since we will be taking our then 21 month to WDW in April/may.
Great tips everyone!!! Keep them coming!!! I love hearing everyone's experiences. Being a new mom this is all going to be an adventure for us!!!!

 

[Nom]

Coming from a mom who has been traveling with little ones for the past four years -- skip the party. Put the babe down at his/her regularly scheduled bedtime, grab a glass of wine, and sit out on your balcony enjoying the evening. I have found it very tough to slow down with small children (thankfully my husband has a great sense of when the kids need a break).

Take it easy and enjoy your first day. And if you don't get to ride something, just remember -- it's a great excuse to start planning next year's trip.

TikiG

ITA with this! I am a former WDW commando, so it was hard to slow down- but once they are older than 1, you have to or else you'll all end up miserable.

 

[PrincessasMommy]

Coming from a mom who has been traveling with little ones for the past four years -- skip the party. Put the babe down at his/her regularly scheduled bedtime, grab a glass of wine, and sit out on your balcony enjoying the evening. I have found it very tough to slow down with small children (thankfully my husband has a great sense of when the kids need a break).

Take it easy and enjoy your first day. And if you don't get to ride something, just remember -- it's a great excuse to start planning next year's trip.

TikiG

I totally agree!!!

 

[Smartykat]

Looking at hcmommy's plan, I would also take into consideration whether you, as a family, are normally early risers or late nighters. Your child will probably do better either going to the EMH in Fantasyland OR the MNSSHP, not both. In normal life a well planned schedule like yours would work, no problem. But in the MK, kids are always just more hyper, which can be exhausting to everyone.

 

[mickeylove2]

Maybe I will just wait and buy MNSSHP tickets when we get there, after we see how he day goes. I wanted to get tickets ahead of time to save money but we won't be saving money if we end up wasting the tickets anyway. Thanks for the advice everyone.

We are doing the party on a day that we will not be in any of the parks, just relaxing by the pool and hanging out, and then we have an extra park day! Think about it.

 

[ucancallmeflower]

My DS always fades out after about 2.5 hours at the NSSHP . A toddler who is a nightowl could have fun as long as your happy taking it slow and not rushing around to everything. Maybe enjoy the dance party with characters in tommorrowland. The kids always love that!

 

[norestneeded]

As you can probably tell by my screen name, I'm a reformed commando.

I would recommend that if you are planning on definitely going to the Magic Kingdom on the 14th and Fantasyland is a priority, be there for the Little Ones opening at 8am. The lines for some of those Fantasyland rides (ie. Dumbo) are prohibitively long if you show up even an hour after opening.

We are actually attending the party on the 14th also and we have decided to pass on the Little Ones morning with our DD2. Just don't think she can make it for the full day.

 

[hcmommy]

Great idea to skip the morning hours if we decided to do the party. Why didn't I think of that? He'll get to meet plenty of characters at the Crystal Palace and the party if we go, he doesn't need to see them early in the morning too! We just only have 3 full days at the parks so I want to do a lot, not everything, just a lot

DS usually wakes at 7:30 or 8:00 am and goes to bed around 8:30 pm.

There is so much to plan and cram in in so little time! We plan to go to MK on day one and two and Epcot on Day 3.

Forgot to add, if we end up bringing the full sized stroller I am sure he will nap in the evening at the park.

 

[Princess Roo]

One thing I didn't know until reading these boards is that you can get in to MK sometime around 5pm (don't remember exact time) without using a day's ticket if you have a MNSSHP ticket. Anyways, I don't know if the day you travel there is a MNSSHP day, but that could be an option. Though you may have trouble getting out to MK early the next morning if you're out late, I guess.

 

[hcmommy]

I thought about that, there isn't one that night