Few questions...

[mhaddon]

Hello I'm new and have a question. We are planning our first WDW vacation We will have a 3.5 yr old, almost 2 yr old, and a 5 month old when we go. I am trying to figure out how many days. We are going to drive down and will be staying in a value resort (ASMusic). I am trying to figure out how many days we should go. I am debating btwn. the 6 nights or 9 nights... we are going to get the park hopper pass, but figure in the winter we really don't need the water parks add on, right? My oldest son already at 2.5 has his list of what he wants to ride, etc. We are also thinking of adding the deluxe package b/c we want to do a lot of character breakfast and nice dinning, is it worth it?
Thanks from a newbie!

 

[Rylee]

Hello I'm new and have a question. We are planning our first WDW vacation We will have a 3.5 yr old, almost 2 yr old, and a 5 month old when we go. I am trying to figure out how many days. We are going to drive down and will be staying in a value resort (ASMusic). I am trying to figure out how many days we should go. I am debating btwn. the 6 nights or 9 nights... we are going to get the park hopper pass, but figure in the winter we really don't need the water parks add on, right? My oldest son already at 2.5 has his list of what he wants to ride, etc. We are also thinking of adding the deluxe package b/c we want to do a lot of character breakfast and nice dinning, is it worth it?
Thanks from a newbie!

I would stay as long as you think you can manage it with young children. Have they traveled before, do they sleep well, when not in their own beds?

The deluxe Dining Plan will mean spending a lot of time in restaurants. Again, I would consider your young children and how long they are content to sit in restaurants. The character meals are fun, and a great way to get pictures and autographs. They are also good choices for kids, since the children's menus are so limited. (Buy autograph books before going... Disney sells books with a place for an autograph on one page, with a picture slot on the facing page. They make a great souvenir.)

As for the water park add-on, I believe you can upgrade your tickets, even after you arrive. (*Double check this info*) I would wait until your vacations nears or even until you are there, and then upgrade if the weather is good. When are you going? (In Feb. 2006, the first half of our vacation was freezing, by the end of the week it was very nice.)

Have a great time!

 

[mhaddon]

We were going to plan most of our meals at character experiences and not the real nice places just in case. They are good now, but who knows it could change! I am thinking of going in December. I thought maybe if we went longer we wouldn't be as rushed, kwim?

 

[Rylee]

Eat anywhere you want, it's Disney... the restaurants are filled with children.

One restaurant that is not a character meal immediately popped into my mind -
(The Coral Reef in Epcot is a good choice, good food and one entire wall is an aquarium which helps to keep the kids content awhile longer. (Request a table near the window of the aquarium.)

Remember to consider the restaurants at the resorts... there are a lot of good ones and it is a great way to visit other resorts.

Nine days would definitely allow your family to discover the magic at your own pace.

We are going in December, too!

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Hello I'm new and have a question. We are planning our first WDW vacation We will have a 3.5 yr old, almost 2 yr old, and a 5 month old when we go. I am trying to figure out how many days. We are going to drive down and will be staying in a value resort (ASMusic). I am trying to figure out how many days we should go. I am debating btwn. the 6 nights or 9 nights... we are going to get the park hopper pass, but figure in the winter we really don't need the water parks add on, right? My oldest son already at 2.5 has his list of what he wants to ride, etc. We are also thinking of adding the deluxe package b/c we want to do a lot of character breakfast and nice dinning, is it worth it?
Thanks from a newbie!

If you don't mind me asking, how much harder is it with your third? Mine are 15 months apart and we are contemplating on whether or not to wait with #3. We'd prefer closer together, but I also want to keep my sanity If you have any words of wisdom....

I know a lot of people worry about so many restaurant's with the little ones, but my husband and I thought it worked out better. It gave you time to just stop and relax for a little while.

 

[Aliceacc]

If you don't mind me asking, how much harder is it with your third? Mine are 15 months apart and we are contemplating on whether or not to wait with #3. We'd prefer closer together, but I also want to keep my sanity If you have any words of wisdom....

.

For me, the real trick was managing #2. Three was much easier, once I was used to the juggling act.

Besides, sanity is highly overrated!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I would stay as long as possible but forget the Deluxe dining plan. I know from experience that when your kids know that there is choice between seating and slowly eating in a TS restaurant and riding rides...rides are going to win out every time. Deluxe plan is only worth it if you are going to eat 3 sitdown meals a day...which is WAY too much for young kids. We rarely do more than 1 TS in a day (one or two days we do a character breakfast and TS dinner). We can do this by using the regular dining plan and paying for CRT oop...not worth 2 credits IMO.

In terms of days...if you can afford 9 days...DO IT. You will actually be able to have a day or two just to relax and hang out at the resort. We went to 6 days last year and still didn't have enough time to just do a resort day. We are doing 9 days this year so we can. You will find that your kids will want to ride the MK rides OVER and OVER again and this takes time.

 

[Doogan]

I'm with Tnkrbelle565. We like having "resort days" where we just hang out at the resort. Especially if you are paying to stay on-site! The on-site resorts are so cool (and you are paying so much for them) that you really should take some time to enjoy them. The weather is often nice enough to enjoy the pools even in January and February. Also, we have found the kids do much better with days off to rest. That always brings up the question of whether to get the "never expires" option on your tickets or not. I've started another thread asking that question...

 

[Mom2JPL]

We went this past October with an almost 4 year old (DD), 2.5 year old (DS), and a 12 month old (DD) (so I feel where you're at!).

We flew down and stayed from Wednesday until Monday (arriving Weds afternoon and leaving early Monday).

We didn't do hopper passes (I don't feel there's much need when the kids are that young, you're going back to the hotel anyway for naps, and then we'd just hit the same park again that night...saved us a lot of money!)

We also did the DDP (not the deluxe) and booked almost all character meals.

Here was our itinerary:

Weds - arrived at hotel at 1ish, had a last seating lunch at Aukershus in Epot with the princesses at 3:20. Was FANTASTIC! The kids really loved the princesses and it got them off to a great start for vacation. We didn't stay in Epcot long after late lunch and travel all day. Back to hotel for baths and sleep.

Thurs - first seating breakfast in Animal Kingdom at Breakfastasaurus (before park opened). Kids saw Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Pluto. A great start to our day! We spent the morning in the park, had a CS lunch and headed back to the hotel for a nap. We were at Disney during MNSSHP so we had tickets for that in the evening at MK. After naps (which were easy by the way, the kids were so tired they were only too happy to sleep!) the kids dressed in their costumes and we headed to MK - a CS dinner, and then trick-or-treating for the kids. After the parade we went back to the hotel and kids were fast asleep by 9:00.

Fri - quick breakfast in the room (using snack credits bought previously) and then off to MGM for park opening. Saw some attractions and characters (Woody, Buzz, Lightning McQueen, etc) and then off to lunch at Hollywood & Vine to see Leo, June, Jo Jo and Goliath. Kids loved it! After lunch, back to hotel for naps and then after nap back to MGM for more attractions and CS dinner. Back to hotel by 8:30 to sleep.

Sat - up early for rope drop at MK, rode dumbo, peter pan, small world, etc. and then off to Crystal Palace for lunch with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger! After lunch back to room for nap and then back to MK at night for TS dinner, ride, spectromagic parade and fireworks. Back to hotel by 9:00 to sleep.

Sun - up early for little ones magic hour in MK, quick breakfast on main street afterwards, rode rides, saw attractions, CS lunch Pinnociohaus (sp) and back to room for nap. After nap took bus to Downtown Disney for leisurely dinner at Wolfgang Puck's and walked through stores. Took boat back to SSR and early sleep night because we need to be up by 5:00.

Mon - up very early for 7:00 flight home.

Sorry this is so long, but as you can see we fit a lot into our days and didn't need the hopper with the age of our kids. Just planned our TS meals around which park we wanted to be in (breakfast or lunch bufffets, still a good value with DDP) and one off the menu dinner at Wolfgang's for our last night. Kids got to see all of the characters they wanted without having to stand in lines and we all really enjoyed the trip.

 

[ahill004]

We just got back from a trip this past fall with our then 15 month old and 3 year old. Of course a lot depends on your kids and how patient you are with them over long days. But we went for a week and could've stayed longer. So we are going two weeks this year. (More time to take it easy and more time to see stuff). So I say as long as you think you and the kids can handle being away from home, routine, etc... Also, I would skip the DDP with the little kids. We definitely would not have gotten our money's worth. And finally, I would say skip the hopper passes. It adds a lot of money to your tickets and you probably won't be hopping from park to park with three little ones. Way too much travel time. You can save that money and stay an extra day or two!