First time trip with young girls-Help with plans

[Shroog]

We are planning our first trip to Disney World the 1st week in June. This also might be our only trip to Disney World while they are young. It's my husband and I, our 5 year old daughter, and my sister and her 4 year old daughter. We will be doing 3 days in MK, 1 day in HS, and 1 day in AK. We are staying offsite at Windsor Hills and are driving down, so we have our own car.

I need help especially with MK. We are planning on being there at RD, each day. None of the days are EMH days. And, we are thinking of taking an afternoon break each day but one (Sun May 31 closes at 7pm, so we are just going to stay all day that day). And, then going back and staying as long as we can. How should I plan our fast passes and touring at RD for 3 days. The girls #1 priority is meeting A&E, of course. Which I know I will probably not be able to get FP, since I can only do it at 30 days. They both want to do all the rides they can do and meet all the characters. I'm thinking we should have no problem with 3 days there, but I don't know where to start in planning it to be able to leisurely do everything without having to wait in long lines either. It's so overwhelming! We have one ADR booked-breakfast at CRT one morning at 8:15am. Other than that, we are planning to bring snacks/lunch and just wing it for food, I guess.

 

[Belle61513]

The general thought on FP+ is that you should book you times for midday or later, as that's when the park gets busy. If you'll be there for RD daily, you'll be able to hit the headliners (and prob just go right to A&E with a short (30 min or less) wait.

I'm not exactly sure what you question is--hope this helps.

 

[Shroog]

I guess I don't have a specific question-just looking for tips/ideas like you gave me. Thank you! I think I'm also wondering like where I should start in the park? Should we start in like Fantasyland? Can we get most everything done in the morning, then have FP's for late morning through early afternoon and have Fantasyland pretty much done? Or when we come back after our afternoon break, will we need to head back there or another land? We will want to do parades and fireworks one night too. Should we be able to get absolutely everything done in the first 2 days at MK, and then the last day, just stroll around and do repeat rides/characters, etc?

 

[tink9702]

How tall are both girls? That will determine if they can ride Thunder, space etc.

I'd do one day where you focus on Frontierland/Adventureland, one day Fantasyland/Tomorrowland and day 3 a "mop up" day where you do anything you missed the first two days or want to ride/see again.

 

[nilla]

Get FPs for A&E (if possible), Mine Cart, and whatever else you want. I'm assuming you won't be doing any of the mountains, but if you are, I'd make sure you have FPs for at least one of those. If you're not doing the mountains, the Little Mermaid ride is probably a good choice for your third FP.

We actually book our FPs for the morning, so we can add more later, but I've heard booking in the afternoon is good, too. I have no experience with going in June, so maybe afternoon is better?

If you don't get FPs for Peter Pan's Flight, ride that at rope drop (unless you didn't get A&E FPs). PPF gets crazy later in the day, and never really slows down.

If you do plan on hitting the mountains, we like to ride Splash and BTMRR early. The crowds usually take longer to get back there, so you can ride multiple times (again, not sure about early June crowds - we're used to late April and early May). Tomorrowland tends to thin out more at night, from what I've seen.

 

[tink9702]

Fantasyland has the most rides and meet&greets so it takes longer than other areas of the park.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

If you want to meet the characters do check Kenny the Pirate and Easy WDW for info and suggested touring plans. We always go directly to Merida on one MK day - she starts meeting at 9:15 and her line can grow pretty quickly (although A/E and 7D have drawn away from it). We tend to do Merida, then move it over to Ariel (standby) then Tiana (comes out at 9:30) then depending on timing Jasmine/ Aladdin. Then we do Fantasyland or Adventureland rides.

We FP ETwB (well worth the use of a FP) - also keep checking for A/ E FP you never know. Also FP Cinderella/ Rapunzel. Try to pick up a Tinker Bell FP as one of your extras (#4 and beyond)

 

[tink9702]

Kenny the Pirate is definitely the best source for character information and I like the custom touring plans from touringplans. (you don't have to pay for these, just create an account) Also check out the FP+ Priorities Thread on the Dis to figure out where to use your FP+ most effectively.

 

[sullyfam]

We typically do at least 2 - 2 1/2 MK days when we are there and have no problem doing and seeing just about everything on our list.

If you are doing RD each day, you should be able to do a bunch of rides first thing. I would hit Fantasy Land first on one of the days and hit Adventure Land/Frontier Land first on another. Then on your 3rd day, prioritize Tomorrow Land and any to-do items you may have missed on the first 2 days. Take into consideration height restrictions and know which rides the kids can and can't do. That will help. Plan your FP for late morning to mid day as that's when the lines will start to get long (no use wasting FP for first thing in the a.m. when lines won't be too long yet anyways).

Best advice is that no matter what, just realize with young ones that you may have to switch gears at a moment's notice and that's OK! Plans may change while you're in the park depending on what they want to do and their energy level. I have found it's best to follow my kid's lead for the most part and not have too many expectations. It will be magical regardless so just enjoy your time with your family!

 

[ammag]

Last time we made a 9am FP for enchanted tales wiht belle so we had a leisurely walk down Main Street knowing we didn't have to run. It was great! I found most people rushed through Main Street in the morning. If you want to meet the characters at town hall you can also watch the opening show on the right side and go straight in town hall is very close. We did that twice and waited about 15/20 min, didn't need a FP.
If you're able to do any character meals with princesses that helps cut down the character lines.

Dumbo is a ride I don't mind not having a pass to because there is a great indoor play area inside the kids really need to run around free! That's my biggest tip..make time for them to explore, run, play in play areas when you can. Helps when you do end uo in lines. Also if you haven't thought of it consider strollers, I believe having that option saved my. KIds form meltdowns at the parks for sure! They get so over tired. Mine napped in the double every day and you get a ton of space to store your things!

 

[Frozen2014]

Your question is a bit vague, but as others have suggested, it's good to come early (RD if possible), ride a bunch of rides and then start your FP+s. For the most part, we booked them starting at 11am or so (but some depnded on the time we got). We came with our DD5.5 and some of her favorite rides at MK were the Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales, Haunted Mansion (but may not be for every 5 year old). She also loved the afternoon parade. I also recommend the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for little girls if its in your budget as it's really special for them. Bring a princesss dress if they have and they can wear it around the park. We didn't take any afternoon breaks, but it depends on your kids as I know a lot of families recommend doing so. (Think we would have only considered it if we were on a monorail resort).

HS also has great shows for little girls...Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Disney Junior. My DD also loved meeting Sophia the Great and the Toy Story Mania attraction.

Have an awesome vacation!

 

[Shroog]

Wow! Thanks for all the help! Lots of great tips, and just what I was looking for as far as which lands to do first, etc. I will check out kenny the pirate for sure, because we definitely want to make sure to make time to do all the meet & greets! And, I'll check out the fast pass priorities listed here too.

We won't be doing Space Mountain, because one girl is not tall enough for that, but everything else we are planning on. I doubt we will get A/E FP's since we can only book at 30 days. Since we will be at MK for 2 nights to catch the MSEP and Wishes, would it be best to try and hit A/E at RD one morning, or try and get in line for them one night during the parade or fireworks?

 

[Shroog]

The big thing, like someone stated, is I don't want to feel too rushed, that we can't stop for something that isn't on the "schedule". I want the girls to not feel like everything is planned and just enjoy the magic of Disney. But, I also feel like it has to be very planned and scheduled or it will be hard to get to do everything. How do you find that nice "middle ground?"

 

[nilla]

Your question is a bit vague, but as others have suggested, it's good to come early (RD if possible), ride a bunch of rides and then start your FP+s. For the most part, we booked them starting at 11am or so (but some depnded on the time we got).

Agreed. That's actually what I meant by "morning". We'll book FPs from about 10:30 - 2:30, and try to ride others at rope drop using the SB line.