Day 1 Magic Kingdom with Toddlers

[cdotla]

Looking for some valuable collective experience on this one:

We are planning a trip in May with DD4 and DS2. It will be their first trip. My husband & I have not visited for about 10 years. My parents will also be with us.

Our first day in the Magic Kingdom starts with Breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8am before the Park opens. Apart from that, we have no plans or agenda, although we will be doing dinner at Cinderella's Castle the following evening.

Should we have more of a gameplan or strategy? I like the idea of being able to play things by ear (pardon the pun!) but on the same hand I am a planner by nature and somewhat worried about not having some type of gameplan.

Looking for comments on the best type of gameplan in the MK with 2 toddlers on their very first visit to Disneyworld.

Many thanks!!!Trish

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I think you should go to fantasyland right after breakfast and get on all the kiddie rides before it gets too busy. Do Dumbo first....its the only time of day the line isn't so bad.

 

[mom2aandj]

absolutely agree --go right to Dumbo. The line on that gets incredibly long and there's no fast pass. It's the first thing we did when we went with our toddlers.

 

[LaraK]

Your kids are the same age as my kids...when are you going? The crowds will make a big difference....my first day in MK I plan to:
Breakfast at CP at 8 (already in the park at the castle for the rope drop)
If they haven't been there, and you're fast, go directly to Tinkerbell's treasures and wake up Tink...only the first kids in the store get to do this, so you have to position yourself well and be willing to take no prisoners! (just kidding, when we did this last time, we were the only ones in the store for about 5 minutes, but I have heard of toddlers and parents knocking each other to get there first...we plan to skip this step this time as we've done it and it's someone else's turn this time)
Do Dumbo...trust me, you HAVE to do it and the line is horrible later in the day...in fact, if they ask to go back on, do it a second time right then rather than coming back later in the day
Do Peter Pan...another bad line
Do Pooh (if the line is greater than 1/2 hour, get a fast pass and go to Mickey's Philharmagic while waiting).
If it's still before 10, go to Toon Town for the rope drop and (if your DD is a "Princess Girl" go directly to the Princess line in the Toontown hall of fame
Do Barnstormer (try to get them to ignore the boat...trust me, unless you take a change of clothing and want to blow an hour, you want them to ignore the boat!)
Take the train to Adventureland and get a FP for Splash if DD is tall enough and/or if you want to do baby swap.
Go on BTMR...see above note
Go on Splash
It's now lunch/nap time...if you go back to the hotel, this is when I'd go. If you go commando, find a quiet place like Tom Sawyer's Island to at least rest.
Anyway, we don't structure the afternoons, because by then the crowds will drive our decisions, but we do structure the mornings pretty tightly. This is my ideal morning with two toddlers. Things that are "must do's" but not in this morning (I do them mornings two and three) are Buzz Lightyear, Aladdin's Carpet Ride, POC, Jungle Cruise, TTA (a good afternoon ride), COP (a good nap time ride), Small World and Haunted Mansion (if it will not freak out the kids). We also love the carousel.

 

[MareSINY]

Other than a few reservations we never make a game plan when traveling with my nieces. Basically we wing it and let them make a lot of the decisions. Depending on their moods, how well they are handling lines and crowds and how tired they are we break when we need to and enjoy the rides and attractions when we can. We always find it's best not to "go commando" and just roll with the punches.

Have a great trip! It's so much fun traveling with little ones at that age.

 

[thptrek]

If you are thinking of having dinner in the castle make sure you make your ADR (Advance Dining Reservations). There is no winging that.

 

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

I think you should go to fantasyland right after breakfast and get on all the kiddie rides before it gets too busy. Do Dumbo first....its the only time of day the line isn't so bad.

YUp fantasy land first Dumbo.....Also Peter Pan... I hate waiting in that line but love the ride. We did fantasy land in an hour during EMH... Then had breakfast and went to Mickey's Toon Town Fair. (all with a couple FP stops)

 

[Kick Save]

Very similar to LaraK's plan, our last trip we went...

Dumbo
Pooh
Peter Pan
Small World
FP Splash
Big Thunder
Pirates
Ride Splash
Haunted Mansion
Philharmagic
Cindy's Carousel

We had all that in before 11:30, grabbed lunch at Pinoccio's Village Haus and headed back to the hotel for a pool break. It was mid-August, so moderate to heavy crowds.

Our boys are a bit older (7 and 4), so you can probably sub in Toontown for our trip to Frontierland.

 

[skier_pete]

We just went with our DD3, and while you shouldn't plan too much, it is a good idea to have a starting plan, and I wholeheartedly agree that hit Dumbo first thing...it is sort of a so-so ride, really short, and too wait >30 minutes to do it is nuts. Hit it right at 9 AM and get it over with.

Another thing to be warned. We did the Pooh ride, and DD3 did NOT like it, she found it scary, and after that would not go on any indoor rides. But she did love small world. She calls it "the Babies". One other thing to recommend as the day starts to get crowded, Ariel's Grotto or Donald's boat, assuming the weather is not too cold, let's the little ones run around and get wet in a controlled evironment. Just be sure to bring a change of clothes and a towel.

Finally, our DD LOVED Jungle Cruise, but she loves animals. It is the only ride we did twice, with FP both times. If either of your kids love animals, that is a must-do as well.

overall, Disney can be very intimidating to little ones, especially the first time they go...if your little ones need regular naps and won't sleep in their strollers, take that afternoon break for your sanity and theirs. It is tempting to want to get as much out of a trip as humanly possible, but if everyone's miserable, it just not worth it. Our DD was really apprehesive about a lot of the trip, it took her almost 4 days to get comfortable with the whole experience. The last couple of days she did much better and now, she talks about it almost everyday.

SkierPete

 

[reelmom]

We took our boys for the first time when they were 2 and 3. We found out the hard way that trying to do too much will ruin your vacation. After about the third day, we slowed down and let the boys decide what to do. We ended up riding buzz lightyear about 5 times in a row and small world about three times. Yes, it got kinda old for us, but the boys had such a great time that it was worth it. Besides, the trip was for them. And it left a lot for us to see on our next trip.
Oh yeah- Take plenty of pictures and video. It is a pain to carry around all that equipment but you will be glad that you did. Kids grow up so fast but the memories last forever.

 

[mom22boys]

If I were taking into consideration crowd levels and how long I would be waiting in line I would head to Fantasyland and ride Dumbo, Pooh, and then Peter Pan in that exact order. And also like others had posted I would jump to Frontierland and hit the mountians.

However, if I wanted to take a more leisurely pace and just enjoy the magic and the environment I would head straight to Fantasyland riding Dumbo first and then let the kids lead the way. Since it is their first visit I would be tempted to ride the Carousel and then "it's a small world", letting them get a couple of rides under their belt first before heading to Pooh and Peter Pan. Some toddlers have more difficulty with the indoor rides. Pooh has a thunderstorm scene and Peter Pan is very dark. You could possibly do Dumbo, Cinderella's Golden Carousel, it's a small world, grab a FP for Pooh, ride the teacups, and then go back to Pooh. After riding Pooh they might be ready for some unstructured time. You could head over to Pooh's playground and wait for Toontown to open. Toontown opens at 10 a.m. When our youngest DS was 2 the Barnstormer was his favorite ride!

Whichever pace you choose, I found the UG and TGM to be very helpful in describing ride loading and the effects it has on the lines. I personally do not feel the need to have a strict list of rides to follow in a specific order, but I do like having the knowledge of which rides are best to ride when.

Good luck!

 

[sif]

I agree with all the above posters, and I'll just add this. If you think your kids might like to ride the Indy Speedway, ride that the very first thing in the morning, then move right on to Dumbo. Indy Speedway's lines can get unbearable quickly. You can conveniently ride that then walk right over to Fantasyland and hit Dumbo with little or no wait.

 

[skier_pete]

One secret to preventing having to ride the same thing over and over...especially with little ones. Tell them they only let you ride each ride once per day, or that you are not allowed to go right back on the ride after you get off. They don't know any better at that age!!!

Am I a bad parent?

SkierPete

 

[mtemm]

we just went on our first trip with our kids (age 4, 2, 2) this past october. I ended up joining tour guide mike on a whim about a month or so prior and am so glad I did! his best days and ride strategies were fantastic, and right on. Its definitely a different trip than when dh and I used to go on our own, and I really wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could to ensure a good trip.

one thing that really did help make our trip wonderful was to make sure to be at the parks at rope drop (not hard since my kids are up early) and to leave around noon or 1pm to head back for a nap. even my 4 year old napped every day. playing in the pool was fun, too, remember what a thrill that is for kids. sometimes we headed back to the parks at night, sometimes we didn't. we only had 1 late night...went to mnsshp and lasted till around 10 (shocked still by that one, mine are normally in bed by 7). we normally made it back to the hotel by 8, so a little past their bedtime, but not so much that it overtired them.

another thing, I made an adr for one meal each day. I picked 5pm, their normal dinner time. everything else was flexible, but my kids need to eat at 5 (or ealier) every day or I swear they are cranky. keeping their schedule in mind really helped.