Does anyone have experience visiting with children in different age groups?

[GFam1sttimers]

We will be traveling with our 3 daughters ages (9, 3, and 2). In the Birnbaum's guide it gives a separate itinerary depending on if you are visiting with small children or not, but what if we have both?

I don't plan on following a very strict schedule (which is against my very nature) because I want people to be relaxed, but I want to have a general plan.

We have a 4 day hopper pass and will be going Tuesday through Friday (which includes Mickey's Halloween Party on Friday night). Will it be boring for my 9 year old if we do all the fantasyland rides first? Is the walking distance short enough to where we can do a couple of fantasyland rides and then head over to something more adventurous and then come back to fantasyland? I really prefer not to split up our group...

Has anyone had any experience with this issue? How did you work it? Did you use the rider switch policy for the rides your little ones couldn't go on?

Thanks for your advice and experiences!

 

[BC Disney Lover]

My son is about to turn 11 and my DS&DD are 6 and 5 and we have fun without splitting up too much. He's really good about going on rides that his brother and sister love, like the ones in Fantasyland. Just make sure you give equal time to him when he wants to go on something faster/more exciting. I always find that there's something close by for me to do with the little ones while Dad and DS11 are on something.

 

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

my first two daughters are 18 months apart in age and then we have a 5 year age gap with the youngest. When we went to the parks we never had a problem, if the youngest was two small to ride I would wait with her but if she was big enough she went on the ride...I always told my girls they had to at least try it. Lucky for me they are all huge Disney Ride Fans. They never cared if the rides were for the "little kids" they went on them and enjoyed it. I can not remember ever having a problem. Our biggest issue is the oldest will get motion sickness sometimes...along with DH.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

My kids are 9, 6, 4 and 2. We also went with my nieces and nephews ages 1, 2, 7, 11 and 13. We all had a blast on all rides. Your 9 year old will be fine with the Fantasyland rides. Maybe explain ahead of time you want to get those rides done first while the little ones are raring to go, and when they are needing a rest break the 9 year old can concentrate on the "big kid" rides. Make sure to be collecting FPs all morning for those big rides.

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

Dland is much smaller compared to WDW. It should be no problem at all to hop over to another land from FL and get back to meet up with the whole group.