Crossing time zones with young children

[nervous1sttimer]

Does anyone have any tips, tricks, or advice for travelling from East coast to West with young kids? Mine are 5 and 7 and we'll be heading for California for the first time at the end of August. I'm starting to second-guess some of my planning and what is going to be realistic with their sleep schedules.

For example, we land on a Monday at 2:05pm PST. After a full day of travelling, and since it will be almost dinnertime EST, I thought we would just head to the hotel, eat, swim and rest to use our MM the next day. But now I'm wondering if that's a lot of valuable park time to waste and maybe we should try to do some other things that day. Also, if we just go to bed and wake up at our usual time, it's going to be about 4am PST, which is way too early for an 8am MM anyway.

So should I try to force them to stay up later early on in the trip? It's only a week and they will be going back to school as soon as we get home, so I'm not sure if I want to completely change their sleep schedule to PST. But I also know we won't get to Fantasmic!, World of Color, or the fireworks unless I do. My kids are traditionally not nappers in any form, but maybe the time change will help with that?

 

[Phoenixrising]

Have them drink lots of non caffenated drinks on the plane to keep them hydrated. Caffene really messes with the body when going through multiple time zones. Juice or water is always a good choice. I would say go about your day as you normally would in your usual time zone. Go to bed early, then hit the parks early. My kids can't fly without using Earplanes, as my 2 kids ear's have problems equalizing during take offs and landings. My DH thought I was nuts buying them for a trip in Nov/13, but they really worked and saved both my kids ear drums from rupturing. They are the only things that have worked when it comes to the kids when flying, and believe me, I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing else has worked. For the cost, which they are under $10 for a pair that are good for 2 takeoffs and landings they are well worth the price. Check out your local pharmacy to get them. Hope this helps.

 

[Californiacicle]

We arrive to the resort around the same time of day and will be doing the same things that first day, relax, hang out at the pool, have dinner, and maybe watch a Disney movie before bed. The East to West time change works in our favour with getting up early to make rope drop. We will be playing it by ear to see how late we stay out. Our son is a total non napper, night owl who can easily stay up until 11pm EST. It's kind of a hard choice though. Do we let him get used to PST or stay EST?

I think the theme of this trip is to just go with the flow and how we feel.

 

[mummabear]

When we visit the US depending on where and what time of year we have 3-8 hour time difference. Our kids are currently 4, 2 and 3 months- we have done 5 trips to the Us since DD4 was born and what works for us every time is to act like you are in the new time zone as soon as you arrive, eat lunch at lunch time etc, however expect to be up early the first couple of mornings.
Get plenty of sunlight and exercise helps too.
I would consider booking the earliest character breakfast I could get so you don't feel like you are waisting your time.
For us the time difference is the other way so they may not want to sleep until 1am then sleep until after lunch but when we do OZ it's 3 hours earlier and there is not alto going on at 3am!
Warning though, we always find going home harder, the adjustment always seems to take longer...

 

[rydersmommy]

We arrived at around 3:30 after flying in from Louisiana (2 hour time change). We used the day to get settled in, swim in the pool, and visit Downtown Disney. My DS is an early riser so I knew he would be up early no matter what. I tried not to stress about it and we just went with the flow and hit the parks early every day and did an early character breakfast one day. We did a mid day break and nap back at the hotel during the hot/super busy part if the day. Honestly, it was harder getting him adjusted back when we got home! He wanted to stay up really late!!!!

 

[planningjollyholiday]

I would advise you to adapt to anaheim time and forget about what time it is where you are from. This means staying up late. If you go to bed early, you will wake up too early, making it hard to adjust, dragging out the process. We always make our kids just suck it up and we find our bodies adapt quickly this way. Yes you will be a bit tired for that one day, but better that then being tired for multiple days. I think you should go to the parks that first day, I'm sure the excitement of being there will give the kids the adrenaline they need to stay up. I also think the pp who said to stay hydrated also gave you valuable advice.

 

[SpacecadetNZ]

I second everything my fellow NZer, mummabear, said

Getting out into the daylight as much as is possible is important. Apparently it's do with circadian rhythms and melatonin levels or something like that - I forget exactly - but it helps your body with the process of adjusting to a different time zone. Light reflected off grass is even better, apparently... I have no idea why but hey, it's an excuse to go to a park and your kids will be happy with that anyway.

Good luck.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

Thanks for all the input! So what are your suggestions regarding the nighttime shows like F! and WOC? A 30-minute show starting at 9:30pm will feel like 2am to my kids by the time we get them back to the hotel and into bed. Is it better to try and do that on the first day? Or do we just skip it altogether? I'd love for them to see it, but I don't know if we can make it.

I was also thinking about going and staking out a spot crazy early (since you pretty much have to anyway) and letting them sleep there until the show starts. The only concern I have is that WOC is standing-only and I don't know how long they would be able to lie down on the ground before the crowds would force them up.

 

[mummabear]

Thanks for all the input! So what are your suggestions regarding the nighttime shows like F! and WOC? A 30-minute show starting at 9:30pm will feel like 2am to my kids by the time we get them back to the hotel and into bed. Is it better to try and do that on the first day? Or do we just skip it altogether? I'd love for them to see it, but I don't know if we can make it.

I was also thinking about going and staking out a spot crazy early (since you pretty much have to anyway) and letting them sleep there until the show starts. The only concern I have is that WOC is standing-only and I don't know how long they would be able to lie down on the ground before the crowds would force them up.

This is where things will be the hardest-with kids our age we still have the stroller and can nap in it.
If you want to see it I would attempt it, to us it is an integral part of the Disney experience.
Expect to piggy back them back to the hotel and give them a rest break before hand.

 

[jeaneg]

We have a 2-hour time difference and usually stay on site in the summers. To take advantage of the 7 am early entry, we usually don't try to switch time zones right away. Also, my kids (now 9 and 4) don't necessarily sleep later when they go to bed later.

Last year we took the 8 year old to see the fireworks on our last night there, but it hasn't been worth it to is to have the kids see the nighttime shows otherwise. My husband and I take turns heading back to the park at night. My kids are miserable when they're tired, and we know we'll be back when they're older and able to stay up later.

 

[rydersmommy]

We did WOC our second night there. We did the WOC lunch and arrived at the preferred viewing area about 40 minutes before show time. Each day we went back to the hotel for a nap break. We chose to push his nap back about 45 min later than usual that day so that he would hopefully still be awake for WOC. while we waited for the show to start he sat in his stroller and watched his favorite Disney Junior shows on my phone using the Watch Disney Jr App. It helped the time pass quicker. He did make it through the whole show and loved it. We did the fireworks another night and he really enjoyed that, too. I think napping/breaking during the day is they key with little ones.

 

[proud_canadian]

We did the 3 hour time change last fall with our kids at the time 9 and 6. We had to be up super early (around 5:30 am EST and didn't sleep well at all the night before). We told the kids that everyone should try to have a nap on the plane, but I think it was only me and DH that dozed, lol. We landed around 1:00 or 2:00 pm, but by the time we got luggage, got rental car, drove to Anaheim from LAX, checked in (we rented a house), got groceries, I think it was around 4:00 pm. We had a healthy early dinner and then we all went to bed super early, around 6:30 for the kids, and by 7:30 for DH and I. Keep in mind, my kids normally go to bed by 7:30-8:30 EST.

The advantage of doing this, however, was that we were all wide awake, with no alarms and super refreshed by like 5:00 or 6:00 am PST. So we had lots of time to have a lazy morning, big healthy breakfast and were on the road in great time to make the drive to LEGOLAND.

We didn't do a late night at the parks (WOC night) until later in the week, so we just gradually adjusted. We are the type to be at the park for RD, and then stay till dinner time, go back to our rental and cook a homemade dinner and then in bed early and ready to go again the next day. So each night we went to bed slightly later, but not back to our normal bedtimes. And this allowed us to get in FULL night's sleeps and be well rested for early entries and Rope drops!

I wouldn't try to switch the kids and just have a vacation of early bedtimes and early wakeups