Critique my trip!

[Happyjen27]

I'm gearing up to make my reservations so that I can do my ADR's on the 27th and I'm hoping another set of eyes can confirm that our plan sounds decent!

We're trying to do relatively "low key" (as much as you can at WDW anyway). We live a VERY quiet, simple life at home, we don't watch TV or even have toys with batteries so Disney is going to be majorly overstimulating for our girls at first. We tried to build in adequate down time and we'll be returning to our cabin each day midday for lunch and rest. We are staying at the Cabins at FW because we thought it would be the most peaceful, give the kids the chance to have creative play in nature like they're used to during our down time, and enable us to cook the type of meals we're used to most of the time (I plan to bring my trusty crockpot!).

We'll be driving down from CT, spending one night on the road each way, checking in 2/22/14. Girls will be 4 and 21 months.

Day 1 (2/23) - Magic Kingdom
CRT breakfast
Columbia Harbor House dinner

Day 2 - No parks, swimming (praying it will be warm enough!), exploring campground etc.
All meals in cabin

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom
Crystal Palace dinner

Day 4 - No parks
Sanaa dinner

Day 5 - Epcot
(Planning to explore Future World in the morning and World Showcase in the late afternoon/evening)
Garden Grill dinner

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom
Tusker House dinner

Day 7 - No parks
All meals in cabin

Day 8 - Animal Kingdom
Undecided quick service dinner (we'll be getting on the road after this)

For budget I'm hoping for a nice room discount on our dates (seems historically reasonable) and I have the following planned:
Room $2500
Gas 400
Groceries 150
Meals 500
Tips 70
Tickets 800
Travel costs (hotel, food on the road) 300
Total: $4720

Any critiques? Suggestions? Experiences or costs that I overlooked? I'd also love to hear from anyone else who lives sensory-friendly/media-free at home but loves Disney and has done a trip with children. Thanks everyone!!

I agree with all the PP about half days in the parks, but more of them. A lot of the time my kids did not want to go back to the parks after the afternoon break, they just wanted to hang out and relax. My kids seem to be raised similarly to yours in that we are very "unplugged" in real life.

When I was trip prepping last time I read here on the DIS that 4 hours in a park is a magic number. More than 4 hours at a time and kids get overstimulated and strung out. That was absolutely spot on, so keep your eye on the time. On Animal Kingdom day we tried to stretch that out to 5.5 hours, and we had overstimulated and overtired kids. We did not push them again.

I would avoid so many dinner plans and consider making the main meal lunch. After a long day at the parks, even with a break, the kids might be "done" by dinner time. We ate at our resort much, much more than I thought we would because everyone just needed to unwind. Once they get back to the resort and get a nap into them, they might not want to return to the park. You don't want to be that parent dragging them to Crystal Palace because you have to pay a penalty if you don't go. You want to be the parent who can stay flexible and in tune to what the kids want to do.

So, for example on Day 3, I would try and get reservations at Crystal Palace before the park opens, so you're done and ready to tour when the park opens. Alternatively, I would be there at rope drop and then have an early lunch scheduled for 11:30 or so. Then, go back to your resort and nap. Then, you have flexibility to return to the MK or not, depending in their energy level and preferences. We did have dinner plans a few nights, but they were resort plans ('Ohana and Chef Mickey) so they didn't have to go back into a park, the resorts were much less frantic than a park would have been.

Lastly, 2 days at Animal Kingdom seems like a lot. I would end on Magic Kingdom. While AK was fun enough, it translated more like a big zoo to my pair. Magic Kingdom was where we did all the things that made memories.

 

[twokiddos]

You're not planning to do Hollywood Studios? I would trade in HS for one of your AK days. From what I hear, you don't need 2 days there....

 

[suzyq0626]

My 2 cents would be not to do a character meal, especially a big one like CRT on your very first day. When we took my daughter for the first time at almost 4 years old, we had a character breakfast that first morning and she was fairly overwhelmed by the park and everything that she saw, and just excited about the trip in front of her, that the character interactions didn't end up all that great. A day or 2 later when the initial park excitement had worn off, the character meals went so much better.