Disney w/5 kids

[Woodland1]

Hey everyone,
It's getting down to the wire for our trip, our first with everyone.... and I'm trying to get some first-hand info from other families with many children. We have 5 kids, ranging from age 9 down to 2.5 years old. Everyone except the "baby" is over 40" in height so there are only a handful of rides they can't go on. Is it a real hassle to use the baby swap? It pretty much means on the "big kid" rides, we won't ever be able to ride as a family (we understand that ) but is it a LOT of wasted time to wait for the 2nd half of the family to ride?
We're staying at a villa outside of the World and that's going to affect our plan & scheduling. However, are interested in hearing suggested touring plans specifically for large families .
Any input is welcome!

 

[pyrxtc]

well, I only have 4 kids and they range in age from 13 to 4, so not quite as young as yours but went when the youngest was just turning 3. It did not effect us much. It was nice to ahve the downtime and it was disapointing not being able to go on all of the rides wiht my DH, but we took turns who went on first and we did the only thing a sane person could do.... we brought a babysitter. She went on all of the rides with us and was abe to watch the kids so DH and I could ride together.

Just try to put the rides you can't all go on spaced between the special ones. There are not many in each park that the whole family cannot ride so it will be easy to do.

 

[Woodland1]

Such good advice to bring a sitter! I wish! My parents were going to come along, but they could not find a flight reasonably priced enough by the time they got the time off work and got the go-ahead to take the trip . And dh's cousin & his family will be @ WDW the same week, but their kids are a little older and tend to have their days pre-planned so most likely not an option for a "baby sitter" for us there. It's OK though-- I'm not a huge ride fan myself so there may be some that I'd sit out anyhow regardless of who could ride! And again, you never know how they other kids will react. The "middle kids" are 5,5 and 7 and unpredictable in what they are scared of so.... I may not be all alone sitting out!

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

We only have 4 and they are 10, 5, 4 and 1 (will be nearly 11, 5.5, 4.5 and 19 months when we travel) Also our 5.5 year old son is dyspraxic with a few other issues to boot which means how he reacts/deals with noise, touch, people and what he can cope with physically really is hit and miss, we have to play alot of things by ear and it's proving hard to judge how he's going to deal with WDW.

Our 10 year old is a complete adrenalin junkie, our 4 year old is a tiny little dot who we're not sure will clear the height restrictions for many things (the baby is not far off her height & weight as we seem to make our boys big, our girls tiny!)

What we've done is taken a look at maps of all the parks to see what the other parent can do on any rides where one of us might need to sit out. We do have the advantage of a 14 day vacation though and we also have several other adults in our party (although again, very hit and miss over how DS5 will react to being seperated from us- sometimes he is fine, other times he panics at being with anyone but me and we just can't guess which day will be which) We plan on taking cellphones and I can honestly say i'm not that worried about getting bored if/when i sit things out as there looks like there is always something there to keep a person distracted.

 

[dairyqueenmom]

I have four children and two of them are over 50inches plus, so no worries there, but my twins are over 40 inches but not 44inches. They are too short to ride, or too scared to ride. We always get fast passes for everyone, even if they won't ride. We get the rider switch card when they don't want to ride and my DH rides with my older two, while I wait with the boys. We sometimes will go ride something they like, for instance Space Mountain they are two short for so we do a rider switch. While my DH and two DD go in Space Mountain we will go ride Buzz Lightyear. The rider switch card allows two more people to ride with you, so when they are done. I ride Space Mountain with the girls and my DH will either wait for us or go find a ride for the boys. It is awesome for my girls, because they always get to ride twice. It really works for us.

 

[AlyLynn]

We have 4 kids, ages 2-13. We rarely used the "babyswap". One of us just walked around with the smaller ones, or sat and waved at the older ones while the other one went on the rides. The next time they wanted to go on the same ride, the other parent went. We also had the older kids "sit out" with a parent and watch the younger ones ride on the kiddie rides, too. That way they all had a good time riding and watching each other have fun!

 

[mrstomrice]

The baby swap pass will be just like a fast pass...that is the line you go through to use it. It is good for up to 4 people...the swapping parent plus 3. It is good for the day, if not your stay (not sure if they are dated or not). It should not take longer than a regular fast pass line! My parents took the 5 of us countless times when we were young...I give you a lot of credit!

 

[shellyfive]

We used the baby swap option, and really had no problems with it. You will be splitting up anyway for even the pooh ride ,because of how the seating works......I assigned pairs each day, so we could get on/off rides easily-----I always took the baby, oldest boy with youngest girl etc. Just make sure you have some kind of plan together before you go------the theater shows empty out en-masse so you need a "hold this ones hand" plan in place before you need it!! Feel free to pm me !!!! Our first trip with all 5 was when the baby was 8 mo. old.......It's work, but it can be done

 

[mejkjj97]

I went with a couple of my friends and all our kids. We used the baby swap all the time. It was great. I had never used it before but it allowed each of us to ride adult rides while 2 others went with the kids to either get snacks or take them to a play area near the rides.
I am going in April with my entire family and we are already planning to do the same thing. We have figured out each of the rides we all want to ride and determine what is close by for the other to enjoy while we wait to swap and for the little ones to get out of their strollers play.