First timer needs help planning for July Visit with small kids

[AMLAD]

My DH, DS7, DD4 have booked our stay at the DLH for Sun, July 6 through Sat, July 12. This allows for five full days and two travel days. We have a 5 day hopper pass.

This is my first time at DLR. I am starting to get overwhelmed by the possibilities for our trip and have a few questions.

1) Itinerary - Originally, my plan was to use our passes on Sunday (just because I know we will all be excited) and then have Wednesday as a pool/DTD day. But I wonder if that is the best idea since I've heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are not as busy. Does this really hold true in the height of the summer? Part of me knows that we should take Friday as a down day but I don't think the kids will go for that since it is our last full day. Any advice on planning my days will be welcome.

2) Planning Programs - I am leaning toward using Ridemax. I couldn't really tell from the reviews/information provide but does Ridemax give information regarding wait times for the shows and M&Gs or is it really just for rides? Would touringplans be better? I feel like with the little kids I want to hit as many of our rides as possible early and then spend the day seeing shows and doing M&G. At this point I have no idea what to expect in terms of time needed to line up for a show or how long we can expect to wait for a M&G.

3) Execution - As I mentioned, this is my first time. I am by nature an over-planner. We booked the 5 day hopper because I sort of just wanted to take this vacation in stride and just enjoy it. However, reading about all the crowds and wait times has started freaking me out. With five days in the park during July, are precision planning tactics/crazy early start times really essential for every day? Or just really super important/necessary with regard to FL and also RSR? (At this point, I am not sure how big an appetite my kids will have for the more intense rides).

4) Lastly, anything else (words of encouragement, etc) you feel compelled to offer would be great and very appreciated

Thanks!

 

[kitayama]

Radiator Springs Racer isn't really that intense... The only question I have is if your daughter is over 40 inches tall. (Mine is just under that mark.)
As far as crowds go, the parks will be crowded every day in July. People don't like waking up early though, so if you can manage to get there early you should be able to do a lot before the largest crowds arrive. I understand that you don't want to wake up early every day, but you should try to wake up at least one of the days. You could get there early, take an afternoon break, and return...
The great thing about your situation is that you can choose when you want your day long break based on how you are feeling. I suggest taking your day long rest when you are all tired. I know that after one full day in the parks, my family is exhausted. After one full day in the parks, you may find that you need a break and need to slow down a little the rest of the days you are in the park. You may also find that you are all fine on Wednesday, so take your break on Thursday or Friday. None of this should effect your planning much (unless you are planning on making reservations for dinner every night of course, but making reservations far in advance are not required everywhere.)
Oh, and relax, this is supposed to be fun!

 

[luulu1999]

My DH, DS7, DD4 have booked our stay at the DLH for Sun, July 6 through Sat, July 12. This allows for five full days and two travel days. We have a 5 day hopper pass.

This is my first time at DLR. I am starting to get overwhelmed by the possibilities for our trip and have a few questions.

1) Itinerary - Originally, my plan was to use our passes on Sunday (just because I know we will all be excited) and then have Wednesday as a pool/DTD day. But I wonder if that is the best idea since I've heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are not as busy. Does this really hold true in the height of the summer? Part of me knows that we should take Friday as a down day but I don't think the kids will go for that since it is our last full day. Any advice on planning my days will be welcome.

2) Planning Programs - I am leaning toward using Ridemax. I couldn't really tell from the reviews/information provide but does Ridemax give information regarding wait times for the shows and M&Gs or is it really just for rides? Would touringplans be better? I feel like with the little kids I want to hit as many of our rides as possible early and then spend the day seeing shows and doing M&G. At this point I have no idea what to expect in terms of time needed to line up for a show or how long we can expect to wait for a M&G.

3) Execution - As I mentioned, this is my first time. I am by nature an over-planner. We booked the 5 day hopper because I sort of just wanted to take this vacation in stride and just enjoy it. However, reading about all the crowds and wait times has started freaking me out. With five days in the park during July, are precision planning tactics/crazy early start times really essential for every day? Or just really super important/necessary with regard to FL and also RSR? (At this point, I am not sure how big an appetite my kids will have for the more intense rides).

4) Lastly, anything else (words of encouragement, etc) you feel compelled to offer would be great and very appreciated

Thanks!

We will be there the latter part of July, last time we went for 3 days at Christmas and missed a lot...my kids were 4&5 then....with 5 days I am planning on doing a land by land kinds of touring plan, get FP's for whatever ride in that land has a FP ride the other rides until it's time for our fast pass and then move on to the next land....I am hoping this works and it will ensure we don't miss out on so much....some must see shows in my opinion are Aladdin and Disney Jr in DCA...Aladdin was down the time we were going to see it so we missed it but my kids loved Disney Jr and we got in line maybe 30 mins before start time...also I have heard great things about Mickey's Magical Map. I have never used RideMax or touring plans I may consider it this time but not sure with 2 toddlers its beneficial to try to go back and forth all over the place. I am going to try my best to get to the parks early every day we are going we have a mid week break and then we will be taking a Sat break (we will be in Cali for 8 days) so hopefully that helps but I have heard so many people say the best time to get the most done is early in the mornings. And since you are staying onsite you will get early entry to one park every day so that should help a TON....I highly suggest one EE into DL and go straight to Peter Pan my kids LOVED it but the line gets crazy long super fast (we got luck on our MM and it was raining and had no line what so ever but I have heard horror stories) you can catch a lot of the characters in toon town also and you get to see all the characters houses so its a lot of fun for smaller kids as well as Bugs Land in DCA and the lines are usually short there...that is where we started out at to kinda get a feel to how my kids would react to going high in the air and the rides. Just remember its a vacation do as much as you can and if you can't do all that you want it gives you a reason to come back

 

[crystal1313]

Yay for first trips!

5 day should be plenty of time to get what you want accomplished, even with summer crowds. I'm considering using ridemax for at least the first day of our 3 day trip in July. I want to at least get all the stuff we "must" do knocked out and then take it more easy the other two days. For the low cost, I think ridemax is worth trying out. If it was more expensive I would be more on the fence about it

I agree with the PP about getting there early (at rope drop or EE). You can always take a mid day break if you get tired later in the day. Crowds seems to get bigger by lunch time. And they thin out after fireworks.

My kids are 6 and 4. We take a lot of breaks at the parks. Especially in the hot summer months. My kids start to melt down when hungry/thirsty. We try to grab a snack and a drink every 2-3 hours at least.

The nice thing about the summer months is that the park usually opens early and stay open late. We let DS6 usually stay up late one night in our trip. DS4 always falls asleep around 9-9:30. So I will usually stay out with DS6 and DH will take DS4 back to the hotel for bed. Their normal bedtime is 7:30, so staying up usually makes them super tired the next day and we prepare for that realizing we won't be at rope drop.

Lastly, HAVE FUN! If you miss something this trip, it's a great excuse to plan another trip! Take lots of photos. Enjoy a treat on Main street. Going with your kids is SO magical. I just love watching my boys and seeing them full of joy and happiness. Nothing else compares.

 

[123disneyland]

My advice is to be there at rope drop every morning, if you can. Early morning and late at night are the times you will find the shortest lines. It's so crowded and hot in the middle of the afternoon. Great time to go back to the hotel and take a nap. Then everyone is rested and able to stay until park closing. Have fun!

 

[southlakejr]

Sundays are definitely crowded in the summer. All but the premium passes are blacked out on Saturdays, so you get a lot of local visitors on Sundays.

The afternoon can get very hot in July, plan on taking some time to either go back to your hotel and relax/nap, or plan something low key after lunch. We find that around 10 or so, lines start feeling very long, the heat gets pretty icky, and we all start feeling cranky. (and we are a group of adults!) So, during the afternoons we will either walk back to the park and nap (we generally stay until park closing) or detour to: Animation Academy, Turtle Talk with Crush, the Aladdin Show, Tiki Room, Mr. Lincoln, etc. We also like to take breaks to people watch, or ride the boats, or I like to spend some time on the island because you can almost always find a place to sit.

And as a been there, done that- don't get icecream when you're feeling overly hot. And especially don't get ice cream and ride California Screamin

Please, please don't stress about getting it all done. We generally go for 1.5 days at a time and manage to see and do all of our must-dos, even in the summer. 5 days is plenty of time to really soak everything in!

If you can manage to nap or recharge in the day, Disney night time is pretty magical. After fireworks, fantasy land is pretty deserted. We rarely rope drop, and manage to do a lot in the evening hours. This is, of course, more difficult with children.

Also, Hungry Bear is the best place for lunch in summer. They have the most seating, and it's in the shade. It's a nice place to sit down and watch the canoes and the ducks. Tomorrowland terrace always seems to be packed. In DCA, head to the very back of the park by the boardwalk rides, those restaurants seem to be much less crowded.

 

[momof4fans]

My DH, DS7, DD4 have booked our stay at the DLH for Sun, July 6 through Sat, July 12. This allows for five full days and two travel days. We have a 5 day hopper pass.

We were there last August. I have 4 kids. Their ages at the time: DD4, DD6, DS14, DS15. We had 5 day park hoppers purchased on a military base so no early entry. And we stayed offsite so no early entry that way either. I was fine with that. The park opens at 8am in the summer which means my husband and I had to be up at 6am to get ourselves ready and everyone else up and going to be there by 7:30-7:45am. We were right across the street at the Park Vue Inn which helped. I personally can't imagine 5 days of early entry unless you are from a different time zone and are waking up early anyway. We live in the Pacific time zone.

This is my first time at DLR. I am starting to get overwhelmed by the possibilities for our trip and have a few questions.

1) Itinerary - Originally, my plan was to use our passes on Sunday (just because I know we will all be excited) and then have Wednesday as a pool/DTD day. But I wonder if that is the best idea since I've heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are not as busy. Does this really hold true in the height of the summer? Part of me knows that we should take Friday as a down day but I don't think the kids will go for that since it is our last full day. Any advice on planning my days will be welcome.

We arrived on a Sunday and also went in because we were all so excited. I may not do that next time. Summer is busy but very doable if you do it right. The best thing you can do is get there by rope drop (how you handle 5 days of EE depends on your family.) By 1-2pm go back to the hotel and swim and nap. That's what we did. Then go back to the park. It's much cooler in the evening and not as crowded. We didn't take a rest day on our last trip, but we all decided we want a beach day next time.

2) Planning Programs - I am leaning toward using Ridemax. I couldn't really tell from the reviews/information provide but does Ridemax give information regarding wait times for the shows and M&Gs or is it really just for rides? Would touringplans be better? I feel like with the little kids I want to hit as many of our rides as possible early and then spend the day seeing shows and doing M&G. At this point I have no idea what to expect in terms of time needed to line up for a show or how long we can expect to wait for a M&G.

I highly recommend Ridemax. Buy it and play with it at home a lot. Study the tips. They are so helpful. It doesn't give wait times for shows or meet and greets. You'll see that early is good for rides. Ridemax shows you the rides that get busy very fast in bold type. I was so impatient to get Ridemax and educate myself that I purchased the year subscription for $25. I never regretted it. I loved playing with and figuring it out. I'm an over planner too. You'll reach a point where it gets really frustrating because you can't visualize it. But once you get there, it all falls into place. I recommend looking at maps too. That helped me a lot! I'm very visual.

As far as lining up for Aladdin, 30 minutes in advance is perfect. We grabbed snacks and literally sat down on the sidewalk in the shade and munched at chatted while we waited. It was fun!

3) Execution - As I mentioned, this is my first time. I am by nature an over-planner. We booked the 5 day hopper because I sort of just wanted to take this vacation in stride and just enjoy it. However, reading about all the crowds and wait times has started freaking me out. With five days in the park during July, are precision planning tactics/crazy early start times really essential for every day? Or just really super important/necessary with regard to FL and also RSR? (At this point, I am not sure how big an appetite my kids will have for the more intense rides).

I totally understand how you are feeling! I felt the same way! It's going to be great though! Planning will help with the wait times. Starting your day early is the most important thing you can do to minimize wait times. Again, get Ridemax and read the tips. It will help you a ton! One thing you should know, if you decide not to do EE on a particular day, you may want to go to the park that doesn't have EE that day otherwise you'll be behind the crowds. The great thing about park hoppers is that you can switch parks at anytime and it's super easy! They are very close together.

Even with 5 day park hoppers, there are things we didn't get done. We didn't get to ride the train I didn't get to take my youngest on it's a small world and I know she would have loved it. We deliberately skipped Toon Town. That is a crazy place! You talk about crowds! My point is, even with 5 day park hoppers and a plan, you can't do it all, unless you drive your family to complete exhaustion and that is no fun! But, to have no plan and just wander around, don't do it! You need a plan and you will be glad you have one. You can have a plan and still take it in stride. We did a ton in the morning, did the pool and napped in the afternoon and did whatever we felt like doing in the evening. It didn't feel stressful at all! You may be thinking that pool time and nap time seems like a waste of time. Trust me, you'll need it! You'll reach that point in the day where there are too many people and it's just to warm to enjoy yourself anymore.

4) Lastly, anything else (words of encouragement, etc) you feel compelled to offer would be great and very appreciated

You are going to have soooo much fun! It's such a magical place! Your kids are at the perfect age! It'll be busy, but you'll be ok because you'll have a plan. My last words of advice:

1) I would take a stroller or rent one. We rented a double stroller from City Strollers. It was awesome! It was the hub of our existence. It was full of water and snacks and we tied our jackets to it and the girls slept in it. It saved their little legs and feet. You walk so, so, so much that your kids will be worn out without one.

2) Again, Ridemax. It's worth every penny. And, you'll find that by day 3 you won't even need the itinerary anymore. You'll know exactly what to do.

3) Take a midday break and swim and nap. We all needed it and it refreshed us so we could stay late in the evening and enjoy the cooler temps. Plus, the parks are really neat at night. Everything is lit up and pretty.

4) Consider Bibbity, Bobbity, Boutique if your DD is into the princess thing. Both my DD's did it and loved it! We also had lunch at Ariel's Grotto the same day so they could meet the princess while they were all princessed up.

5) Get Photopass+. I will never regret purchasing that. We got over 400 pictures! So great!

Thanks!

OMG! I'm sorry I wrote such a long response, but I'm so excited for you! And I know exactly how you feel! It is overwhelming! But, trust me, it's going to be great! You said you are a planner, well plan. That's what we planners do. Research, ask questions. You'll be glad you did. It will make your trip go much smoother.