Early entry days or not

[lilo-fan]

We're headed to WDW in late October with a 4 1/2 year old child (her 1st trip). Since we're staying onsite should we use the early entry days or would it be less crowded to hit a park on the day after early entry? I'm not sure how the little princess will do with getting up and heading out to early.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says.....................................Not really sure but aren't most young children early rizers? At that age EE isn't that important. But it could come in handy if you want to really hit fantasyland hard. If you get there early, you will be able to do two circuits of fantasyland in about two hours! Every ride twice!
And move on!

 

[eeyore0062]

Most kids are early risers, anyway, and start to fade about 1 pm. When Mickey calls to wake them up, even the most stubborn of late morning risers pop out of bed! I would take advantage of EE mornings for both MK and AK. MK, because this is the least stressful way to see all of Fantasyland without horrendous lines. AK, because the Kilomanjaro Safari is best 1st thing in the morning, and that park tends to get a lot hotter than the others, so early morning touring is a really good idea.

As for MGM and Epcot... your DD probably will not be riding ToT, Test Track and RnR, so there is little reason to go to EE mornings for these parks. In fact it is only offered once a week for Epcot. I would go to these parks on non EE morning days.

Have a good trip!

 

[Gaiusrex]

The lines shouldn't be too bad in october, right?

You could also start training her to wake up early so that when you go to Disney, she'll be on "Disney Time". Don't tell your friends, though; they might think you're a little nutty.

 

[cinder1]

I just want to say that absolutely, no way are most young kids early risers. I have 3 kids, DD8, DD6, DS 3 and none have been early risers. They prefer to sleep later and go to bed later. It has been hard on them as they've gotten old enough for all day school. My 8yro has to be at school by 7:45 am so she gets up at 6:50 am, a huge adjustment. My 6yro has afternoon kindergarten at 11:45 am and usually doesn't get up until 9 am!! My 3yro gets up anywhere between 8 and 8:30 am. So unless my kids are totally weird, not all kids are early risers.

 

[Earstou]

I would plan to do EE at MK early on, and then take it from there! You can get so much done in those first few hours. If you all enjoy doing EE that day, so it again! If it was too hard on your child, sleep in later the rest of the week.
We always do EE every chance we get! This year I don't know if we will be able to pull our teenager out of bed that early though!

 

[eeyore0062]

I am NOT a morning person, never have been, never will be.... EXCEPT at Disney! EE mornings are well worth crawling out of bed at the crack of dawn... especially when I look around seeing people enduring an hour long wait for something that I stood in line for less than 3 minutes at 8 am.

Oh yes... there are definitely some things well worth getting up for! EE mornings are definitely one of them!!!!

 

[lilo-fan]

It's not that she's a late riser. Usually gets up around 6:45 a.m. but she takes some time to wake up and spends a lot of time eating breakfast. I'm a stay at home mom with a night and weekend job. We never have to get up and really head out anywhere for a whole day. But getting her on a schedule before we get to the parks sounds like a great idea.

 

[LSU Tigerfan]

You are going in low season when the parks will not be especially crowded, so I don't generally regard EE as necessary. I know for a fact that forcing kids to get up too early = cranky kids later. But if you can put her to bed early enough to make sure that she gets enough sleep, then I say go for if you think you'd enjoy getting an early start to the day.

I will agree with everyone, though, that EE could be very beneficial at MK, just because it has longer lines than all the other parks and because you can get so much more done during EE. Also, the characters are all out in force and there are practically no lines.

On the other hand, you could accomplish the same objectives at MK by using MNSSHP.

The question basically boils down to this: will getting up in time for EE make your trip seem less like a vacation because you'll be forcing yourself to do something, or will you look forward to getting up early and getting into the parks as soon as possible?

 

[MinnieGi]

I would use EE for MK (Fantasyland) especially! I wouldn't worry too much about working on a schedule before you leave for WDW. If she rises at 6:45 that will be plenty of time to get her ready to get to EE. And I'm sure she'll be moving faster at WDW than at home!! I know I do! I'm also not a energetic morning person but at WDW I don't even need to set the alarm - I'm up early and ready to go.

Enjoy!

 

[maddiesmommie]

I have to ask what is MNSHHP?



OOPS, MNSSHP

 

[LSU Tigerfan]

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

The MK is open for the special party from 7pm to midnight on selected nights throughout the month of October. All the characters are in costume and most of the main attractions are open as well, with a special parade and many other special activities. Crowds usually are light except on the weekends and right before Halloween.

Here's a link to Deb Wills' page on MNSSHP:

http://wdwig.com/mnssh.htm

 

[DancingBear]

We just went in December with our 2yo son. My son has never been early to bed, early to rise (DW is not a morning person), but our lives were particularly out of whack in the weeks before our trip (in the middle of a move, big ice storm, etc.), and his bedtime had been creeping further and further back, so that he was going to bed between 12-12:30 and not getting up until 10 or so.

I had told my wife not to worry, he'd get worn out at Disney and get back on track quickly.

We arrived (driving) at WDW around 9 a.m. on a Saturday--son asleep in the backseat. We didn't even go to a park that day--we had breakfast at Boma in AKL, wandered around AKL looking at the animals, checked in at CR, rode the monorail, had dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Sure enough, DS was asleep by 10 p.m., and we had no trouble getting him up Sunday morning for EE at MK.

I agree with the above posters that EE was by far most important at MK, and useful even in slow season. Zipping through Fantasyland really gave us a head start on the rest of the day.