Disney in Jan with a 2YO?

[mrsschmitty2006]

Hi All, this is my first time posting here but I have visited this forum a lot over the years when planning past trips. DH, DS2 and I are going back to WDW in January for a long weekend trip; staying at AKL.

This will be DH's and my 3rd trip together and DS' 2nd trip. Our last trip was a big one with my parents, sister and her family when DS had just turned one. We stayed at a DVC resort and DS did really well. But he was also barely walking and slept in his stroller then so I imagine this trip will be a little different.

We just booked our trip two days ago and so I'm now in full on planning mode and am looking for some feedback on my plans so far.

We get into MCO on Friday 1/17 around 9am. I booked reservations at Chef Mickey's for 11:20am. I know this is cutting it close but honestly, I'm willing to take the chance and eat the money if we don't make it. From here, we'll probably go to MK for the afternoon and then head back to AKL for an early night with dinner at Boma at 6pm.

Saturday morning we have an 8am reservation at Crystal Palace and will spend the morning again at MK before heading back to resort for lunch and a nap. Will likely head back to MK late afternoon for dinner at Tony's and some more touring. Will play it by ear whether or not to stay for Wishes depending on how tired/cranky DS is.

Sunday we have 8am reservations at Hollywood and Vine and will spend the morning at HS before heading back for lunch and nap again and then will return to HS for the Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood Derby.

Monday we have 8am reservations at Tusker House and will spend the morning at AK. Our flight isn't until 7pm so we should be able to spend a decent chunk of time at the park before heading to the airport,

Obviously, we'll be flexible and follow DS' cues but I want to have a rough plan and this is what I've come up with. I've tried to stick as close to his regular schedule as possible and he's fairly easy going and used to busy weekends so hopefully this won't be too crazy for him.

Thoughts?

 

[msmama]

It seems like you have late nights followed by early mornings. That wouldn't work for us.

Once we get my son back to the resort, that's it, we're not leaving again. If we do, he's pretty miserable, which makes everyone miserable. At that age, we'd stay in the parks until maybe dinnertime, then head back to the resort. If he napped in the stroller, great, if not, we had an early bed time. I didn't even try to stay in the parks past dark until our last trip when my son was 5.

Also, I might suggest adding some padding to your reservations. If you are trying to keep him on schedule, and usually eat at 6:00, maybe make your reservation for 5:30 (or even 5). Once you get seated, and stuff it may be closer to 6 (plus, I feel like we get hungrier after a day at the parks).

 

[ABCastillo]

Last January we toured with our then 2 yo DD and a pregnant me. We used a plan almost identical to what you described and it worked well for us. We are planning the same technique this time.

DD was good about getting up and touring, napping in room and then back for dinner. We stayed past dark and had some great memories including being able to ride dumbo over and over without getting off! The last night she did sleep through illuminations in her stroller though.

Every little one is different so be prepared to go with the flow! But I like your plans so far!! And don't forget snacks or favorite stuffie.

 

[mrsschmitty2006]

Thank you both for your feedback.

I did struggle with whether or not to return to the resort in the afternoon vs head back early evening. I think this is where I am going to have to be most flexible - particularly on Saturday which we'll most likely make it an early evening unless DS takes a really good nap that day. I'm less worried about Sunday because Fantasmic is at 7pm so hopefully we can do this and still get back to the room not too much later than his normal bedtime (8pm). I'm also use to being there in the summer where going back to the room midday was a necessity to get DS out of the heat. If he sleeps in the stroller which he might, we may be able to skip this.

We'll definitely plan to have a lot of snacks, etc. on hand. DS tends to eat more frequent, smaller meals rather than three big meals and tends to eat more at lunch than dinner so we'll plan accordingly.

 

[jacknsally19]

I'm doing a similar approach next month where we start at the parks in the AM - head back for a nap and afternoon - and then heading back to the park. I think breaking it up makes it easier on the family and the little one. So I think you are on the right track!

My only suggestion would be to consider only doing the character meals later in the trip. Last time we went, my daughter was really nervous around the characters at first but really warmed up to the characters by the 2nd or 3rd day.


Maybe you could do lunch at Sanaa on arrival day so that your child can watch the wild animals during lunch?

 

[DMCastner]

We took my DS at almost 2 years and found that we needed to be incredibly flexible. Luckily he wasn't afraid of the characters (mainly because we are Disneyland PAPs) but realized from our first meal that the sit down time required at a buffet would not work that well. It looks like the majority of your meals are buffets. I'd just be prepared to potentially change some of those or go in knowing that your DS may become rowdy, bored, etc. Hopefully that won't be the case but you just never know!

My son is normally an early riser but it took a couple days for him to adjust to the time change. He did not sleep until 1:00AM one night and another night he "napped" for a really long time and woke up at 2:30AM. You just never know!

Good luck!!