Early arrival - park or no park?

[Boardwalk_bride]

Hello,

We are arriving late (late for a toddler) and staying at the airport. The next day we plan to check in (well, drop of our luggage) at Kidani around 11 am. We will have an almost three year old with us. Should we take off to AK or stay around the resort? We will be there at the end of January so I'm not sure if swimming will be in the cards for us.

Also - any opinions on park hoppers with toddlers?

Thanks!

 

[a1tinkfans]

I think a hopper is not worth it for a visit with a toddler. Why spend more traveling time when u can enjoy an entire day, perhaps with a midday break in a park...with ur little one.

Not sure what you mean by going to a park on ur arrival day.
Why not go to the park? Unless u just want to enjoy the resort instead. It’s lovely. Do you think your little one will still be tired? Wound up? I’d say make it a park day. Either idea is a good one.
Enjoy!

 

[Bjkandma]

I would suggest skipping park hopper with a toddler. Disney has been shortening their hours in lieu of separate event ticket parties (events). With a toddler you need to exit park (possibly with stroller and belongings) to board transportation. Get off at next them park and go through security again at each park. Wait time for buses (buses run approximately every 20 minutes), unloading and folding stroller to board bus and then going through security, takes up too much park time. (Just my opinion)

 

[NYCgrrl]

Hello,

We are arriving late (late for a toddler) and staying at the airport. The next day we plan to check in (well, drop of our luggage) at Kidani around 11 am. We will have an almost three year old with us. Should we take off to AK or stay around the resort? We will be there at the end of January so I'm not sure if swimming will be in the cards for us.

Also - any opinions on park hoppers with toddlers?

Thanks!

Not knowing your child's sleeping habits, personality, how many travel zones you are traveling from etc, it's difficult to speak in more than generalities. Never traveled to WDW with a child of this age but have long distance air traveled and vacationed with little ones. First, if you are changing time zones, try to adjust your family to the new hours in advance. This article will help give the basic guidelines:


We tended to do little more than scope out our surroundings on the first day of travel and still do the same now w/ older children. Everyone is tired from the stress of travel and frequently a little cranky. I wouldn't visit any park until the next day's morning even w/ your aiport stay given the age of your child.

As for park hoppers..not much help from me. We enjoy staying at the Epcot area hotels for a variety of reasons but one that pertains to your query, is the ability to cut through Epcot to get to the monorail and ferry service to MK.

Have fun whatever you choose to do.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Hello,

We are arriving late (late for a toddler) and staying at the airport. The next day we plan to check in (well, drop of our luggage) at Kidani around 11 am. We will have an almost three year old with us. Should we take off to AK or stay around the resort? We will be there at the end of January so I'm not sure if swimming will be in the cards for us.

Also - any opinions on park hoppers with toddlers?

Thanks!

Not knowing your child's sleeping habits, personality, how many travel zones you are traveling from etc, it's difficult to speak in more than generalities. Never traveled to WDW with a child of this age but have long distance air traveled and vacationed with little ones. First, if you are changing time zones, try to adjust your family to the new hours in advance. This article will help give the basic guidelines:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/travel/sleep-travel-tips.html

We tended to do little more than scope out our surroundings on the first day of travel and still do the same now w/ older children. Everyone is tired from the stress of travel and frequently a little cranky. I wouldn't visit any park until the next day's morning even w/ your aiport stay given the age of your child.

As for park hoppers..not much help from me. We enjoy staying at the Epcot area hotels for a variety of reasons but one that pertains to your query, is the ability to cut through Epcot to get to the monorail and ferry service to MK.

Have fun whatever you choose to do.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks everyone. I'm flying from Toronto so it is the same timezone. To me it seems like a short flight but I go to Europe every year, so anything under 6 hours feels short. This will be her first flight.

I guess I'll wait a bit to see how she is over the next few months. She still naps 4-5 days a week. I'm just thinking hanging around the resort that long potentially without room access is a long time!

 

[sponica]

Hello,

We are arriving late (late for a toddler) and staying at the airport. The next day we plan to check in (well, drop of our luggage) at Kidani around 11 am. We will have an almost three year old with us. Should we take off to AK or stay around the resort? We will be there at the end of January so I'm not sure if swimming will be in the cards for us.

Also - any opinions on park hoppers with toddlers?

Thanks!

Should we take off to AK or stay around the resort- I'd go to a park if I arrived that early....unless your room is ready.

Also - any opinions on park hoppers with toddlers?- I've only ever had park hoppers. Part of that is we prefer to eat in Epcot and it's really NOT a time suck if you do it right. DHS--> Epcot we walked (the boats were closed and really most people can walk faster than the boat). Epcot --> MK the stroller can stay open and you don't have to go through security again. MK--> Epcot the stroller can stay open. The downside is for the foreseeable future you need to be rescreened at Epcot. The only park I rarely include on park hopping days is Animal Kingdom. When it closed at 5, then I'd go somewhere else but our last trip we did AK-->resort---> dinner at disney springs.

My daughter stroller napped every day when we went last year (she was about 21 months old).

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would definitely go to a park. We always arrive super early and go straight to a park.

I have always done hoppers but when the kids toddlers we hopped maybe a day or two out of 7-8. We spent most of our time in MK and we only used them after your days at AK and DHS to hop over to MK for an hour or two. It was much cheaper to add on the hopper option back then also so we just went for it.

Today I wouldn't bother getting the hopper if I was going with a toddler. My brother is planning a trip with his 5 year old and I've also told him to save the money and just do one park a day. He said he has no desire to hop with the little one.

 

[tinkerjo]

If you go to the parks arrival day, do so with low expectations. Have your 3 FP+selections made, have dinner, and call it a day so you will be fresh for your first full day!! By the time you check in and get to a park it may be 1pm and that is the busiest time of day, even in January. As for park hopping- I wouldn’t waste the money. You will find plenty to do at each park to fill an entire day and won’t wear yourselves out hopping. Make the most of early mornings, the parks close pretty early that time of year, especially AK.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It might depend on the length of the stay for me, as you definitely want some time to enjoy that gorgeous resort!

But I expect I'd be so excited, having already arrived in Orlando the day before, to wait any longer to go to a park!

(And I agree with many of the others - we didn't make enough use of the hoppers at that age to make it worth it.)

 

[Rach3975]

If you were arriving at 2 or 3 with a toddler, I'd say explore the resort. But arriving at 11, I'd go to the parks. Even if that's a busier time of day, you'll have FPs, be able to walk around and look at animals, play at the Boneyard, etc. Unless you only have X number of park days and want to save this one for a day when you can go earlier, I'd go.

 

[stephk1981]

I vote for park hoppers, without them you can't dine anywhere but they park or at a resort for dinner. For us, doing 2-3 hours park time, then nap at resort, then back to whatever park we may be able to add on a fast pass at has worked really well!

On the resort arrival day, without a room ready, I would go to the park. AKL is great, but if it's too cold to swim, you can only walk around and look at animals for so long before a toddler will get bored......I guess it depends on the child.

Without knowing your toddler's napping schedule, I would arrive at AKL from airport, check in....request soonest available room. Go to the park for a couple of hours, then head back to AKL for a nap( in your hopefully early ready room!)
Good luck, have a fantastic trip!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks everyone! I think we will hope for a good sleep the night before and head to the park. If she needs a nap I guess it will be in the stroller - although I'm thinking she might start to drop her nap by that time (she's already only napping about 4-5 days a week).

I think we will go without park hopper. From staying at AKV previously I can recall the pain transportation can be, which will be worse with a tot. I'm also planning on making use of the kitchen (we got a one bedroom) since we are vegetarian (harder to find food) and I don't want to spend a lot when she is a bit picky anyway. My fav restaraunts are Jiko and Sanaa - no transport required!

 

[sponica]

Thanks everyone! I think we will hope for a good sleep the night before and head to the park. If she needs a nap I guess it will be in the stroller - although I'm thinking she might start to drop her nap by that time (she's already only napping about 4-5 days a week).

I think we will go without park hopper. From staying at AKV previously I can recall the pain transportation can be, which will be worse with a tot. I'm also planning on making use of the kitchen (we got a one bedroom) since we are vegetarian (harder to find food) and I don't want to spend a lot when she is a bit picky anyway. My fav restaraunts are Jiko and Sanaa - no transport required!

The upside is if you find that park hoppers come in handy, you can always add it on when you're there. I'd make that decision earlier since you pay the same price whether its day 1 or day 5.

 

[MomOTwins]

(1) Definitely go to the park.
(2) As a general matter, I liked having hoppers with toddlers because we would go back to the resort for a midday nap, and since we had to go there and back anyway we might as well switch parks, especially if you are there in party season and so MK may be good in the morning but not available due to a party in the evening. However, AKL is a pretty long bus ride from the parks, so staying there might be an exception for me (we normally stayed somewhere where we could walk/boat to at least one park, which made hopping to/from hotels easier).

 

[PollyannaMom]

...I'm thinking she might start to drop her nap by that time (she's already only napping about 4-5 days a week).

That sounds very possible - especially because she'll be excited about being there!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

That sounds very possible - especially because she'll be excited about being there!

We all will be!!! I cannot wait to watch my baby experience WDW

 

[Princess2R]

Park hopper will not be worth having with a toddler! everything takes so much longer that it is just so much extra effort with a toddler who is getting just as much joy climbing on a bench lol

I would say top go to a park and do what you want because kids will enjoy or find excitement in anything!