Feeling very overwhelmed and stressed about our Disney trip.

[hollyb]

We took our kids to Great Adventure yesterday in NJ. They had a great time and we go every year. However this year we only did 20% of the park. They didn't want to leave the section we were at. DH said that was ok they were having a great time, I was thinking they missed out on so much stuff. On the way home I told DH how are we going to see everything when we are at Disney? We plan on Magic Kingdom 2 days, Animal kingdom 1 day, water park 1 day and we plan on going to Kennedy space center also. Now I am wondering if they are going to want to do all that or just stick to 1 or 2 parks. Plus they love to swim and may want to hang out at the pool 1 day. Either we go for a month (dreaming of course) or stick with our 6 days 5 nights.

Add this to the mix and I am a real wreck . I have been on a diet and felt great about going on rides with the kids. While I did fit it was very tight. We are going in May and I want to fit even better. Short of never eating again how do the rides compare to other places? Does anyone know.

Thanks so much.

 

[Got Quattro?]

Don't worry about what you don't see. Just make sure you enjoy what you do see.

A disney vacation is not very much fun if you are constantly running from atraction to attraction. Instead, stop and smell the roses where you are. There is Disney magic in every blade of grass if you stop to notice it.

If you miss something, just make sure you see that the next time.

Go slow, relax, and enjoy what you do see.

 

[DisneyBlonde]

When my son was younger we would hit the parks early...then leave for a while in the afternoon so he could swim and rest. Then we'd head back to the park in the evening. I feel we saw more that way without being overwhelmed, and he got his swimming in.

Also, if you grab a couple of the park maps on your way in you can have the kids mark off the attractions as you see them, might help to keep them more focused about what there still is that they can experience.

 

[MelanieC]

Try to relax and enjoy your vacation. A vacation is what you make of it and by doing what you enjoy. I go for two weeks and I don't see everything I want to see. You will miss some things no matter what. Just go with the flow and do what makes you happy. Don't stress! Have a wonderful time! It's the happiest place on earth!

 

[4theloveofdisney]

Aww! Planning should be part of the fun so try not to let it stress you out! We have come to find that we don't LIKE to do everything when we go to WDW. We enjoy just seeing what the days bring. I would make sure that you get a park hopper, schedule in plenty of swim time and only make one or two ADR's. Make a loose plan but don't stress out if it doesn't happen. What ever you miss you can catch next time! Also congrats on the diet! I think you should be fine at Disney!!

 

[jjk]

Relax and enjoy whatever you end up doing, Im sure you and your family will have a wonderful vacation

 

[javaonline]

If you like zoos and animals...then keep a full day at AK.

If your kids are like ours, and dont like walkthrough exhibits, etc. Plan 1/2 day at AK...spend the other 1/2 at the Water Park.

 

[disnut8]

Let me give you a couple of experiences with our granddaughter. She had just turned five on her first trip. We surprised her so she had no clue where she was going until we turned onto Disney grounds. We stayed at Fort Wilderness in the Cabins and all she was interested in when we arrived was looking at the horses. Our first park the next day had to be Magic Kingdom because that where her mother and I figured a little girl would want to go. It was a bust. She cried through the few things she actually rode. From then on, she didn't go on anything at Magic Kingdom. She didn't care one bit. She loved running around the old Swan Boat area. Her favorite thing out of that whole trip was seeing Off Kilter at Epcot. We are big fans and given the choice of staying with us all day and seeing the band or going off with her mother and our son for the attractions, she chose to stay with us.

She was 6-1/2 for her second trip and was flying in the late afternoon. I suggested we do just one thing and then go for dinner. Her choice was seeing Off Kilter at Epcot! That trip was the week between Christmas and New Years. We neer made it to Magic Kingdom and the granddaughter never noticed. She sucked the magic out of MGM, Animal Kingdom, and especially Epcot. We followed her lead and had the best Disney World vacation ever.

Go with the flow and enjoy what you want and can.

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree with the previous posters. A vacation is what you make it, and if you are constantly worrying about the "schedule" you will be setting yourself up for a fall. We took our DGD last January, she was just four. We were the family that some people would probably feel badly for as we really did not maximize our park time and we did not go on too many attractions. The family concensus was that it was the best vacation ever. Because we had not been in years, we took our lead from our DGD and experienced the magic through her eyes. It was worth every penny that we spent.

We all had some things that we wanted to do and we made sure that these things happened, but there is no way that you can do everything. Know that and then enjoy the entire experience.

 

[addicted2disney]

If your kids have never been to Disney before, then I think they will be so excited to see as much as possible, that they wont WANT to stay in the same place very long. It will be a completely different experience going somewhere like Disney where you can never see it all in one trip. We have made like 14 trips since 1999 and I still havent been on the Liberty Belle boat!!! ANd I just saw Impressions de France for the first time in September. Being at the local amusement park just cant compare to a trip to Disney. Dont worry. Buy something like the Birnbaums book at the Disney Store, and let them start getting excited by seeing what rides and attractions they will want to do.
Its a rare occasion that we leave the parks to go swim ( but then again,I dont go at hot crowded times of year) but we do lots of night swimming after we get back from the parks. The pools are heated and the kids like it.

Are you planning on doing Epcot and MGM too? We have friends that took their kids to the Kennedy Space Center in the middle of their Disney trip and the kids hated it..lol.. they said it was soooo boring and they wanted to go back to the parks

Just do what you can, see what you can, and what you miss.. you get to try and see that on your NEXT trip!! What better reason to plan a next trip... to see what you missed the first time!

 

[Got Quattro?]

If you like zoos and animals...then keep a full day at AK.
.

Say it with me.....Disney's Animal Kingdom is "NOT-ah-ZOO"...

 

[addicted2disney]

Lol !!

 

[javaonline]

Say it with me.....Disney's Animal Kingdom is "NOT-ah-ZOO"...

Wasnt meant as a disparaging comment...it just wasnt our family's cup of tea.

The Safari was nice...my wife liked EE. Dinosaur was an awesome and intense ride...but we all loved it. Outside of those 3 rides, we didnt care for AK much. We would have probably enjoyed Kali, but the kids didnt want to get wet.

Seemed like a lot of walk through type things...zzzzzooooooo

 

[ajcolorado]

Can I suggest a moderate view? I agree with enjoying yourself but kids don't understand delayed gratification enough to look to the possibilities of the future sometimes. And, it is a family vacation and you are part of the family so it is reasonable to get to do some things that interest you, rather than riding "It's a Small World" three or four times.

Can you show them an itinerary and say, "let's start on this list and keep going until 3 PM - then, we can go back and repeat anything you want."

Or Can you say, let's stick to the Magic Kingdom Itinerary the first day and then, starting at 1 pm on the second day, we'll just do anything you guys want whether we've seen everything or not"

We once spent a whole day at the Frontier Land area of Disneyland. I'm still not sure how it happened.

 

[ajcolorado]

About the size thing, here is an article that might interest you:

www.allearsnet.com/tp/ridsiz.htm

 

[deekaypee]

I don't know how old your children are (I get the impression they're young?) but maybe you could make them part of the planning. You know, show them a Disney vacation planning video or a Birnbaum's book with photos (do they still make a Birnbaum's for kids). Then you could plan a loose itinerary that hits the highlights but which leaves you with room to play. And I'll be one of the first folks to say that you should plan on a couple of attractions that YOU really want to do; after all, it's your vacation, too!

Also, I think including kids in the planning, the countdown, the packing, while taking more time, might give you that extra boost you need.

I'd think you might be able to skip a water park, and plan on afternoons at the pool--depending on how important the water park is to your family. (Although I do love water parks; it depends on what your family wants out of a vacation.) Then you could go to another park or another land in the park more naturally.

You don't mention Epcot or MGM. Have you decided they aren't for your family?

For my money and time, I'd probably skip Kennedy. I like it, but I think with the amount of time you'll in Florida means you might want to minimize commute time. (I don't know if you know, but Kennedy Space Center is ~60 miles away.) I'd replace that day with another day at MK, probably.

I have been on a diet and felt great about going on rides with the kids. While I did fit it was very tight. We are going in May and I want to fit even better. Short of never eating again how do the rides compare to other places? Does anyone know.

Thanks so much.

First, congratulations on your success! I've been there--doesn't it feel great? Keep it up! For information on the rides, and with WDW in general, I recommend Deb's AllEarsNet. Try this link: http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ridsiz.htm. I love the entire site.

 

[spima3]

<snip> Now I am wondering if they are going to want to do all that or just stick to 1 or 2 parks. Plus they love to swim and may want to hang out at the pool 1 day. Either we go for a month (dreaming of course) or stick with our 6 days 5 nights.

I got sooo overwhelmed planning for our first trip, with 3 kids: 10, 8.5, and 6.
I knew we wouldn't see everything but tried to do everything possible to maximize our time. (a bit OCD, I think

That said, I am glad I did plan as much as I did. A family we know went in August and didn't plan anything. They waited until the day they got there to try and make dinner reservations, nothing available. They knew nothing about ADR's. The hotel staff worked really hard in getting them what they could.
Same with the Fastpasses. Didn't know about them, how they worked, and spent time figuring them out. Also, seemed to pick the parks on the most crowded days. Knowing stuff like that that would have helped, especially at a busy time of year. So they avoided stress before their trip, but had a lot of it when they got there.

So "preparing" is good, but try not to overplan. We had no dinner reservations; I did not want to be obligated to be somewhere at a certain time. That way if the kids were having a good time, we didn't have to leave to eat somewhere. (my kids don't care about dining at all) It worked out fine, we often ate at the hotel when we got back. We did not get hoppers and if we had, we would have wasted a lot of money. We did one park per day and it was plenty. Kids get tired and cranky even if they're having fun and we often left early afternoon and didn't even return for the evening shows. I would have liked to have seen more of them, but the kids were happy to hang out at the pool and arcades at the hotel. Made it more relaxing and enjoyable for everyone.

I will add, the park we liked the most, and the only one we spent the entire day at was Animal Kingdom. The park we didn't like at all was MGM. Epcot was ok, and the Magic Kingdom was probably our second favorite. The MK is the only park we returned to for the fireworks. And only because it was close to our hotel. Even with a more relaxed plan, we were still exhausted by the end of the week. We ended up with a vacation where we didn't see everything, but did enjoy everything we did.
lori

 

[mecllap]

You could probably get a lot of specific advice if you want to share more info about your family and plans so far -- ages/# of kids, staying on=site, flying/renting a car, etc.? Is this your first WDW visit?
If there's any way you can add a couple more nights to your stay, it would likely make your trip more enjoyable. You can certainly have a lot of fun and see quite a bit in 6 days, tho.
From the info so far -- I'd suggest waiting until you have a longer trip to FL for going to Kennedy (unless your kids are the right age for it now, and really interested in space stuff).
No matter how long you stay, you will not be able to do/see everything. It's good to have a basic plan, but be flexible and go with the flow of what your family actually wants to do each day. WDW can indeed be overwhelming -- it's huge, lots of walking. May can be pretty hot and crowded (esp later in the month after some kids are starting to be out of school).
Anyway -- try not to stress out about it -- you will not be able to do everything, sure, but you'll still be in a magical place and having lots of fun.
Besides allearsnet -- there are threads for pooh size folks -- you can search on terms like that and find some other advice.
Also go thru all the hints and tips on this board and others (use google, too).
It's good to keep a journal for planning your next trip!

 

[lovmy2girls]

I know what you mean about wanting to see everything. Been there done that. I'm a Disney Kid, we went every summer, but husband didn't and when we took the kids for the first time back in 04, we spent 9 nights, and still missed some stuff. Its just too big!!!!! Lots to see. Go and have fun. Make out a schedule of your parks for each day, along with where you will eat, even counter service. Do the big attractions first, get as many with fast passes as you can, and enjoy the parks. This will save time and a lot of "where do you want to eat?" conversation. Other than that, just go have fun and see ya there in May. We are going at the end of May after school gets out.

Don't worry about the weight thing, both hubby and I are "big" and we had no problem with riding with the girls.

 

[bopper]

So at G.A. you worried about what you didn't do...remember, your kids probably have no idea of the other things they could do, they just know that they are enjoying what they are doing now.
1) You are probably going to have to scale back on what you want to get done, and prioritize the "must do's".
2) Involve your kids in the planning, so they have more ideas about the other things that are available.
3) Plan in "pool time"... I would recommend doing that the first day you get there, so the kids don't spend the whole time at the park going, "Can we go to the pool?"