Do we really need a plan?

[IceQueen]

We are off in 13 days - my friend flies out two days after us on her own with her 4 kids - twins aged 9, a 7 year old and a 17 month old baby (personally I think she is either really brave or really mad to be travelling unaccompanied with so many children). Anyway, the reason she decided to take this holiday at the same time as us is so that we can act as extra ears and eyes when we are in the parks - everyone has told her that once the kids hit Disney they will all take off in different directions and she is likely to loose them. As my husband and I are only travelling with one child aged 7 we can help keep an eye out for her kids.

Anyway, do we really need a plan and how is this best organised. My feeling is that the 3 of us take off to Seaworld on the day after we arrive, the first day after my friend arrives we can start to hit the Disney parks. We have bought 5 day hopper plus passes so we can visit each Disney park once and then revisit our favourite again.

My questions are:

What is the best order to do the parks in?
Which is likely to be the least crowded given that the Americans and Brits will be there in force on our first week as this is still part of the Easter break?
We need to shop, so which are the best days for this, i.e. are shops open on Sundays?

Thanks

 

[Astrid]

Hi

Ah, planning, the debate continues!! Everyone does it so differently and it's what best fits in with you.

Are you staying on-site? Because that does make a difference with Early Entry etc.

Shops are open all day every day so there's no problem there and as regards the Parks I don't think there's any particular order they should be done in, but I know a lot of people like to do Magic Kingdom first as it holds the most magic expecially for little ones.

Are you planning on visiting IOA and/or Universal Studios? If so you'll need to put those into your plan too.

Starting early, having a mid-day break either back at your hotel or at a water park is the best bet with young children and try and have a couple of chill out days just to re-charge the batteries!

As for crowds ..... Easter does get very busy but it's the public holidays that will be the most hectic - I'd avoid the Parks on those days if I were you.

The opinion of some is to avoid the Disney parks on the days they operate the Early Entry for on-site guests (if you're staying off-site) but then others could argue that you could use reverse psychology on those days and go anyway and everyone else will be doing that!!! Not sure that makes sense, but hopefully you get what I'm saying!

Water Parks are best avoided at weekends and a lot of the Guide Books have hints on tips on the best Parks to do on certain days.

It may be worthwhile looking at what Character Meals you may want to do and try and get those booked before you go as well as some can get pretty booked up especially over Easter.

I'm sure a load of others will come up with some more views and ideas for you!

HTH

Astrid

Have fun with your planning.

 

[BevS97]

Personally, I would make a plan. Especially if there are 2 families involved. It's much better to know before you get there what you will be doing each day, rather than spending each morning having the 'what shall we do today discussion' where either each party will try and be polite and let the other choose, or each will have their own opinion and be upset when it's not chosen.

I would also have a discussion about how much time you will be spending together - is it to be a joint holiday where you all move together as one unit, or will you be having some time together and some apart. Either option is valid, but it's better if both parties know before you leave.

Back to your plan.

I would grab a calendar, and start writing in a plan for each day. It doesn't have to be very specific - some people like to plan what they will have for breakfast lunch and dinner, but my plan just tends to say Seaworld or Magic Kingdom, and then I might make a note of any special events in the park that I want to see. For example, the parades and fireworks in MK are not on every day - so if it's important to you to see them, then you will need to work that in to your schedule.

Another thing to bear in mind, is that you can change parks with your passes. So, if you start in MGM one morning, and then find that you are done with MGM at 3pm, you are able to move over to Epcot for the evening and it still counts as one day off your pass. Personally - I would do this is you want to see the evening parade in MK - it's likely to be on a Saturday, and Saturday is a busy day at MK - So I would spend Saturday someplace else, and then move over to MK in the evening.


Which days to visit the parks? I don't think it matters which order you do them in, other than I love MK and want to go their first since I don't feel like I am really 'there' until we have seen the castle. There is a guide somewhere, I'll try and find a link, which tells you which are the quietest days for each park, we have usually worked from that.

You can shop any day - the shops are open late most days, and open on Sundays.

A question for you - Are you planning on visiting the other parks? I see you mentioned Seaworld. I'm just wondering, because personally, if you aren't planning on including Universal/IOA/Busch etc, then I would consider adding more days at Disney. You don't need to decide until you get there, but if you do decide you want more days, you can take your passes to Guest Services at Disney and they will exchange them for longer passes (ie 7 day ones) and you would have to pay the difference.

The reason I mention it, is because I think you will find with a large group, and lots of kids, you won't find 5 days is enough. I would probably recommend 7 or 10 day tickets. (although you can't upgrade your 5 day hoppers to 10 day tickets, so that's irrelevant at this point)...
What we find is that with longer passes, we can pop in and out of the parks for shorter days, and we still get to see everything, but have a more relaxing time of it. With a 5 day passes, you will feel the pressure to get to the parks early and stay till closing, so that you don't miss a thing. Just a thought, anyway...

Hope that helped, and hasn't just confused things more

Bev

 

[UKDEB]

I think you need a plan of some sort, but be prepared to be flexible and don't think of it as cast in stone. Clearly, having a baby in your party is going to limit you to some extent. Are you all staying together? Having holidayed at WDW with friends on many occasions, I recommend you set aside some time to just be a family together.

Your plan to do each park and then re-visit your favourite(s) is sensible. If you are not staying onsite, by far the best crowd-busting strategy is to avoid Early Entry days. Currently they are:

MK - Sun, Thur
Epcot - Wed
MGM - Tu, Sat
AK - Mon, Fri

I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near MK on a Saturday, albeit that it is not an EE day. Also make good use of Fastpass where it is available. With so many of you in your party, and particularly given you will have a baby with you, I don't think a commando plan is a good idea. I would make a list of the attractions you most want to see at each park and try to take it easy. Just being in the parks and soaking up the atmosphere is wonderful and a pleasure often overlooked by first-timers. I speak from experience!

The parks are hard work, so try to alternate park days with 'down' days at the water parks, hotel pool, shopping, etc. The shops are open on Sundays, although I don't actually see any benefit in shopping on a Sunday unless it happens to fit best with your plan. We usually do a park the first day and then go shopping on the second. We try not to take too many clothes, because we know we will want to buy new and then not wear what we've brought with us.

 

[JANNYANS]

I recommend to my guests with children that they visit Epcot first as it can be difficult to get them to enjoy this park properly if they go after the MK.With children I also think it's imprtant not to do everything with in a few days .A day at a park, a day somewhere else -a state park for a picnic or a visit to Kissimmee by the lake oe something like Green meadows farm or days around the pool at wherever you are staying.Some sort of basic idea is good if only to avoid a lot of wasted time every morning as BevS97 says.You may allow the children to choose a non-park day each to avoid any disgruntled members of the group.Hope this helps

 

[UKDEB]

Originally posted by Astrid
others could argue that you could use reverse psychology on those days and go anyway and everyone else will be doing that!!! Not sure that makes sense, but hopefully you get what I'm saying!

I know exactly what you're saying, Astrid. I figured this too and made the mistake of trying it! We did MK on a EE day a few years back and it was mobbed. Then another trip we did the same at Epcot - mobbed again! My theory is that, hard as it may be for us planning obsessed DISers to believe, most visitors probably don't even buy a guide book. I'll bet most people staying offsite don't have a clue about EE days.

 

[vernon]

With a large group I think it's a good idea to make a plan. you don't need to stick to it religiously, but it does at least mean that you have a good idea of what you're going to be doing at various stages.

Might sound harsh, but I'd book in a day (or two) without your friend just to give yourselves a break and to spend some quality time with your own child (maybe take her 7y old with you as a "buddy" for yours). Using a second day free for SW might be a good "excuse" for a separate day telling your friend that it's a "no cost option" to you but it would cost her a couple of hundred dollars might make it look like something that is difficult to fit into her schedule.
IMHO a child that's used to being a single child might feel a little overwhelmed by having 4 other kids all competing for the attention, kids with other siblings usually know "how to play the game" a bit better than those that are an only child. There's nothing that's going to spoil a holiday as much as getting the feeling you're being used as childminding services for someone else's kids and it taking away from your own enjoyment.

 

[IceQueen]

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses. I will certainly start planning something before we go in regard to order of parks and shopping days etc. We are staying off site on International Drive and have taken a non driving option, mainly because my friend can't drive and I won't drive over there so DH opted not be our chauffer (sp?) and I can't say I blame him.

Vernon, I do know what you mean about being used as a babysitting service. My DH was not amused when I told him my friend was planning on booking for the same time as us and his first words were "I am on holiday not running a childminding club". Our daughter is used to being an only child, albeit she has a much older sister (22). I think the main problem is going to be one of money. We are quite indulgent in regard to our daughter as we both work and have quite a bit of spare cash to spend on her. My friend is on income support and this holiday has been put together by saving hard and generous donations from family and godparents. I know she is taking a fair amount of money with her for spending, but I also know she wants to do as much shopping as she can and does not want to spend it all on entertainment.

I have suggested to my DH that we give our daughter a daily allowance that matches what her kids have to spend. I take your point about having a few "friend free days" and I hope we can build in one or two. My DH's brother and wife live in Orlando and we want to spend time with them - I know they will invite us for dinner and time at their house where they have a lovely pool, what can I do about my friend and her kids if they are not included????? I don't want to offend the family and I don't want to offend my friend. DH on the other hand will want to spend time with his brother and quite rightly so. Aaaarrgghhh, why did I do this to myself.

 

[vernon]

Icequeen, I think you need to put some "rules" in place before you go. You can be polite BUT FIRM about them. I'd make it obvious that your visit to your BIL is not going to be a group outing, maybe offering her a suggestion of a restaurant for all of her family for that night would get the message accross LOL. If she's counting the pennies then suggesting that a day you return to SW would be an ideal day for her to spend some time round the hotel pool before going bargain hunting, after all I'm sure she'd rather have $200 to spend on shopping than ANOTHER day in a theme park . You haven't said if you're all in the same hotel, it will be much easier if you're not.

I don't see why you should limit your child because of her situation, again it's a question of how you handle it. If you can make a suggestion in a way that appears you are thinking of her i.e. " We want to take DD shopping today for XX, I don't want to put you in a position where your kids demand XX as well so it's probably better if we take DD while you do/go ........ " I'm sure you'd try to avoid the "you can't afford" type of speach but at least having an idea of how to say something might help you avoid a slip that would leave you feeling embarrassed. Speaking as a man, I'd suggest you try to avoid going shopping as a group, it'll drive your husband absolutely mental LOL. IMHO shopping is possibly the biggest threat to a peaceful holiday for you. You might offer him the chance of staying round the pool or meeting up with his brother (golf if he plays) while you , your friend and the kids go shopping. Do tell him you're not "getting rid of him" just that it's likely it will add to his stress levels going along with you.

Obviously with a small baby there are going to be some attractions that she won't be able to do (at least with everyone else) . I would also suggest on days you're all at the park to have a break from each other. If her kids are being ok you can offer to take all 3 of them off to ride X while she looks after the little one, who is likely to have a nap or two. If her kids are having the occassional battle you can say "I think all the kids are getting a bit hyper, would you like us to take the twins or the 7Y Old with us to ride Y to give them all an hour to calm down" . If she takes exception to an offer like that, she's got no sense what so ever and you're likely going to end up being a lot less polite and diplomatic .

There is always the potential for strife when going in a group, trying to plan ways around the most likely "flash points" is always going to be a worthwhile exercise, particularly if you can dress it up as if you're doing someone a favour

 

[IceQueen]

Thanks for your comments Vernon.

I am considering purchasing a cheap mobile pay as you go for use over there as my eldest is staying home and having hospital treatment and I want her to be able to get in touch quickly if need be. It would also come in useful if we split into two groups whether in the park or on shopping trips as at least my friend will be able to get hold of me to arrange a place to meet up. What do you reckon?

We are staying in the same hotel as she had to take the single parent option that Virgin offered so we agreed to transfer over to her hotel, we thought it would make things easier as we can get ourselves ready and down to breakfast and wait for her to come down, rather than standing on a street corner or at a bust stop waiting for her to get the kids fed and out to meet us.

I have holidayed with this friend before but my DH was not on that trip and we were stayed together. My only complaint then was the time it took her to get herself sorted each day, and there was no baby then! Also I had to take my turn in getting breakfast for all (we were self catering) and this took me some time to work out as I am used to only sorting out breakfast for one child who is pretty easy going and tends to have the same sort of thing every day without much fuss. I was really taken aback by the amount of work I had to put in to sort out 4 children, though she managed very well when it was her turn.

I suppose we will just have to see how it goes, if DH is getting work up he will just take off on his own. He wants to spend a day shopping, but we want at least 2 days, so I guess on our 2nd day at the stores he will spend time with his brother.

 

[vernon]

It would probably be cheaper to get your mobile from here ( if you have one) fitted so it can receive calls in the US. If you buy one in America you'll have to sign up to a company to provide you with a service, I doubt that will prove to be a cheap option for just a 2 week holiday.

 

[jana]

As far as I know you can't get a pay as you go phone in the US that you can call internationally.

 

[neo's white rabbit]

Gosh, you're brave IceQueen! We also have a friend who has 4 children and a more limited income so I do appreciate some of the issues you're facing - drives my DH mad!

I think some of the best advice you have received here is to set up some ground rules before you go and maybe tell her that on certain days you and your family have plans so your friend might like to think about what she wants to do on those days. Buy her SimonV's book, a cheap option to get her thinking independantly of you for some of the time? If you set off with her not thinking you are joined at the hip it might help.

Pity there wasn't a next door hotel you could have stayed at.

My reason for posting, though, is I did find a reasonable deal for renting a US mobile from here if you don't have a tri-band phone yourself. Please PM me if you think this might me useful and I'll send you the info.