First trip -- clueless & overwhelmed

[dietgingerale]

I need some serious help to plan our first trip to Disney. We are a family of 3 -- mom, dad and 5 year old son. We are going for 6 days in March, 2016. We already have our hotel room booked thanks to a family friend who has DVC points. I have been poking around on the website, and leafing through the "Unofficial Guide" and am just feeling overwhelmed at this point.

I have no idea how to schedule/plan for this thing. I have no idea what rides we will want to do. I have no idea whether we should try to spend time in each Disney park, (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios) or should I focus on just a couple?

We arrive on a Sunday and depart on Friday. I'm assuming we won't go into any parks on our departure day. Assuming we do go into a park in the evening of our arrival day, we have 4 full days plus one evening to work with. What would be a good starting point for a schedule in terms of which park on which days?

Our son is a HUGE Star Wars fan. He also enjoys Toy Story, Frozen, The Lion King & Cinderella. I can't guess about his love for rides. He's done some small time beach-boardwalk type rides, but we've never been to another theme park-type place. Actually, I take that back...we took him to Sesame Place for one day but I honestly don't think he went on a single 'ride.' He loved seeing the characters, going to some of the shows, having the meals with characters, and we did some water slides/wave pool stuff. That was when he was 4, though, so he may have gotten older enough that he will like some rides now. He has some sensory issues/developmental delays that make him a bit hard to predict in terms of what will fly with him and what will not.

I would love to hear some suggestions about which parks to visit, and which rides/attractions are the best (usually) for the younger kids. What evening/night-time events are worthwhile?

 

[andiraye]

The first thing to do is to know that you will have an awesome time no matter what. It is Disney. You have a 5 year old. There is no better combination.

Then I would do the following:

1) figure out how many days you would do in each park. Based on what you've described, I would do two in Magic Kingdom, one in Animal Kingdom, one in Hollywood Studios. I would skip going to the park on your arrival day. Just chill at your resort and go to bed early. You can also pass on Epcot this trip. Save it for when your child is older.

2) pick the particular days you want to go to each park. For that, go to easywdw.com and look at their crowd calendar. It's not a sure thing but it helps determine which park will be less crowded on which day.

3) to pick the particular attractions you want to experience, I would rely on preset touring plans that have been developed by others. Everything is going to be to be new and awesome so save yourself the brain damage of researching each ride. I like the touring plans at touringplans.com. You have to pay $10 or so to access them but they can be customized and updated and are really well thought out. They are put together by the same people who do the unofficial guide.

4) figure out if you want to do any sit down meals with waiters/waitresses ("table service restaurants" in Disney-speak). If yes, you should try to make reservations now, just because they tend to book up. For what it's worth, Tusker House in Animal Kingdom is a great restaurant for a family with a 5yo boy. Mickey, daisy, Donald ,goofy and Minnie walk around and the food is delicious.

5) make fast pass reservations either 30 or 60 days out from your trip. Once youve gotten through steps 1-4 above (which I would do ASAP) come back to the DIS to ask about how to do that.

6) add your dining ressies and your fast passes to your touring plan so the timing for everything can be tweaked. By the time you get to this step, it won't sound so confusing!

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[writermommy6]

I don't have any additional advice, but I will say that you guys will have an awesome time no matter what. This is the perfect age for Disney! Relax and have fun.

 

[msmama]

Know going in that you are not going to see it all. You are going to miss A LOT!! I'm in the double digits in terms of trips (my 7 year old son's 7th trip is coming up) and I feel like we've barely scratched the surface. But it'll still be fun!

I'm actually going to disagree with the above poster. Since you're going in March, the Flower and Garden Festival will be going on at Epcot and I think that's worth visiting, so I'd do 1 park per day, with maybe an extra evening at MK.

My son is not a ride kid (he's getting better as he gets older). It's actually a bit easier when you don't have to worry about fitting all the "big" rides in (for a Toy Story lover, my son has always loved Buzz Lightyear's space Ranger spin at MK and Toy Story midway mania at HS).

I do agree with what the above poster said and check out easywdw.com. It's my favorite crowd calendar. It's a good place to start and figure out where to go on what day. Once you do that, you'll want to make your ADRs (advanced dining reservations) ASAP. (I'm assuming you've already set up a My Disney Experience account , if you haven't that's step 1).

Rides:
Star Tours is a motion simulator ride. My son went on it at 4. It's rough for me motion sickness wise. I can ride it once and CM's have often told me I look a little green when I come out, lol. HS has a new "Launch Bay" with SW stuff (no rides) where you can meet Chewie, Darth Vader and Jawas and Storm Troopers Rome.

Toy STory Midway Mania (HS) and Buzz Light year's space ranger spin (MK) will be ones not to miss if he loves Toy Story. There's a Lion Kin show at AK that you shouldn't miss.

Also, not what was asked, but...my son had some sensory issues too so a stroller with a big sunshade was a must for us at that age - 5 was the last year we used a stroller (we had a citi mini). He could sit in the stroller and decompress while we walked around.

 

[andiraye]

Fwiw, neither of my kids has sensory issues and we used a stroller for my older one until he was 6. And in fact rented a stroller for Epcot when he was 7 because it was the end of our trip and he was kind of worn out. We live in NYC and my kids are used to walking everywhere but WDW is a huge!!!!

 

[Iamthequeen]

Any of the character meals would be good - they are all table-service meals. My dh loves Tusker House, but there is at least one in every park. I wouldn't stress too much if you can't get any table service reservations, since there are many quick service options in each park and at your resort. I agree that you won't be able to do "everything" in 4 days. Just go and enjoy experiencing Disney. Its so much fun and seeing it through the eyes of a child can be magical.

 

[yeahdisney]

Allears.net has menus you can look at to help decide meals. Lots eat breakfast in room to save time, money.

 

[DizzyDis]

Again, you will have a fabulous time! And know that you WILL NOT do everything, so you will need to plan another trip and focus on enjoying the parts you do like this time. I have done super-planned trips and non-planned (with a 1.5 year old), and think somewhere in the middle is the good spot.

My 4yoDD loves watching ride videos on youtube, so we do that together and she tells me which are on her must-do list. DH and I add our own must-dos, and a couple we know she would like. We commit to doing those either through fast passes, lots of threads explaining that, you need to book them in advance of your trip for popular attractions or know we can wait in line for some. Then we know everyone got their essentials done so everything else is bonus and we try to take time to enjoy everything there is to see!

Agree that reservations are required if you want to do sit-down meals, so take a look at the restaurants forum and see if there are any you really want to do. Then go on the MyDisneyExperience app and see what availability there is and that may dictate where you are going on a given day.

A bit of good planning and a bit of organization goes a long way. I am a planner so I have an excel sheet with the hours each park is open, noting where there are special things/shows we want to do/see and any reservations we have booked, then pick out which park I will go to each day (again using crowd calendars and some are dictate by what dinner reservations I could get). I will book my Fast Passes reflecting this, but also haven't planned much for the later days of our stay (we are there 7 days), so we can see what the kids loved and where we want to go back to.

FWIW, we skipped Epcot last time with a 1.5yo and will likely skip it with a 4yo (even though it is the Flower and Garden festival), because my DD loves MK and AK, so we know we will fill our days there (probably 3 and 2 days each) and leave Epcot for another trip. We will have a HS day for my DH's Star Wars fix. If I were you, I would plan one day at each of the 3 for your first 3 days and tentatively plan a park for the 4th, based on what you think will be the best fit, but be open to switching day 4 if you loved another park and want to go back.

Hope you have fun and enjoy the planning, that can be as fun as the trip! I am a longtime lurker who is finally getting to contribute now that I actually have a trip planned!

 

[katielafave]

Focus on what your family and son enjoy. When our daughters were 5 and 2.5 we did far more character meetings and character meals than rides. I assume that for this upcoming trip as 7 and 5 year olds it will be a more even mix of rides and characters.

 

[DisneyCAL]

I would start here at the DIS with any specific questions. Also use easywdw.com for crowd calendars to plan your days, using the the most recommended days to plan your itinerary. Secondly, if you son is a fan of star wars and frozen then you will want to visit DHS. My twins were 5 on our last trip and they loved all the rides (although we didn't go on Space with them or do DHS at all). My son had a problem with the noise of BTMR so I covered his ears and he was fine. They loved Splash, 7DMT, and surprisingly Haunted Mansion. You never know until you try. Watch GoPro videos on Youtube for the rides, it will help you get a sense for what you may like. If your son likes pirates, I would suggest the Pirate League, my son loved it. For characters, we mostly did character meals so we weren't standing in lines.
For organization of the trip I made a table in Word with columns for date and time, location, activity, mode of transport, Dining plan y/n, and secondary information such as confirmation #'s. With an itinerary for the week and one for each day it was all laid out and simple, also made it easy for DH to know what was gonna happen each day.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I was totally overwhelmed last year (1st time with kids). Just take the planning one step at a time (PP had a great numbered list). If it's stressing you out, you can always decide not to do it (I decided early I did not have the bandwidth to figure out a dining plan so we didn't even consider it). Just remember, your son doesn't know anything about Disney. Only what you share with him. He will not know what he's missing. We missed our Peter Pan fast pass and no one was upset because they had no idea what it was. This is the only time you have that freedom so let it help you de-stress the planning a little.

Since you mentioned sensory issues, I would highly recommend researching the rides a little once your other planning is set. My kids all went through phases where they were I guess sensitive to sensory things. They are not on the spectrum but just had ... Specific issues I guess. Oldest could not tolerate loud noises for a while. We found most things at Disney to be very loud. Volumes at shows and experiences just seemed too loud for my family (us too, not just the DD). I don't know if we have better hearing than most or what but it mystified us why was things were so cranked. So if that might be an issue, consider earplugs for your son if he'll wear them. Also some shows are 4D experiences which means they have smells or the seats move. Two of my kids were very smell sensitive (my son even sometimes throws up) so we didn't take him to a Bug's Life.

Overall I'm sure you'll have a great time.

 

[dietgingerale]

Wow, thank you everyone for your input. Very much! I have gotten so far as to pick which park we will do on each day -- although I'm still uncertain as to whether or not we should visit a park on our first evening. I haven't arranged our flights so I guess that will depend on timing. I think we will forego Epcot this time. It's probably one of the places I'd like the best, but considering our time constraints and such, I think it makes sense to hold off for a later visit for that.

What events happen in any/all of the parks in the evenings? I'm guessing that our little guy (not to mention us, as well) will be tuckered out most days so that getting to bed early will be a good idea. But are there parades or other post-dinner events that I should try to factor in at least one or two nights?

 

[andiraye]

Wow, thank you everyone for your input. Very much! I have gotten so far as to pick which park we will do on each day -- although I'm still uncertain as to whether or not we should visit a park on our first evening. I haven't arranged our flights so I guess that will depend on timing. I think we will forego Epcot this time. It's probably one of the places I'd like the best, but considering our time constraints and such, I think it makes sense to hold off for a later visit for that.

What events happen in any/all of the parks in the evenings? I'm guessing that our little guy (not to mention us, as well) will be tuckered out most days so that getting to bed early will be a good idea. But are there parades or other post-dinner events that I should try to factor in at least one or two nights?

Nighttime is a really special time at WDW. MK has an amazing parade called the Main Street Electical Parade, followed by a special light show on the castle, followed by fireworks. Definitely a must see, even if your little one falls asleep in the stroller.

HS has a show called fantasmic, followed by (I think) fireworks. It's awesome but was a little scary for my 5yo who's not scared of anything. If you choose just one, do MK.

AK doesn't have a nighttime show (at least they didn't as of the fall - not sure if the new show has opened).

The time for the evening festivities changes depending on when the sun sets. The WDW website shows when they start for each day.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

The park on arrival day thing really depends on the child and the travel time involved in getting there. We are 8 hours by car and I have a very go with the flow kind of kid. If we leave early morning, by the time we get there we have been cooped up in the car too long and are ready to get out and hit the parks. we need to burn off some of the excess energy before bed. If I had a kid would took more time to adapt to new surroundings or an exhausting travel day I think we would stick to the resort that first night.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

For our first night, we like to go to dinner at a resort instead of using a park ticket because we fly. We will get into our resort around noon and have dinner at Chef Mickey's around 6 and maybe ride the resort monorail around. My kids are 5 and 2, so even riding the monorail is interesting, lol!

I know most resorts have movies by the pool at night, so that could be a way to get into the Disney spirit and be ready for your first park day. If no one else mentioned it, try to be at the parks at opening or before. You can see and do a lot while crowds are small.

 

[SweetMissy]

You're going to have an awesome memorable time! It is overwhelming...even a little for us and we've gone quite a few times. There's so much to do and see...you won't be able to do everything and that's ok. More reason to go back, lol. We need 2 days in MK, it's so big and too much there, we can't do it in 1 day. However, since you have 4 days...I would recommend seeing each park so you can all experience all of them. If you pay a little extra, you can park hop and be able to go to more than 1 park/day. Like AK can be a less than a whole day park....then you can go to another park in the evening. It's a lot and a learning experience....just have fun no matter what!

 

[LovesTimone]

First realize that you aren't going to be able to do it all, see it all, or ride it all. So with that you can make a plan that will work for your family. There is a lot of good advice here on DIS, use what works for your family and your concerns.

I for one would head into the parks on arrival day, especially if you are arriving by mid day. This might be a great way to introduce your son to the parks, I would head over to Epcot, they have the The seas with Nemo and friends its a very calm ride, and ends up at Sea Bsse and coral reef, which is wonderful if he likes to check things out, lots of sea life, manatees and stuff for you all to enjoy. Heading into the building that houses Soarin are 2 other really nice options to sea, living with the land which is a boat ride and The circle of life which is a movie short and a nice break. There are a lot of hands on like Project tomorrow and Innoventions, and Imageworks "The What if lab". Also there is Phineas and Ferb Agent P's world Showcase Adventure, also you can get a pass port for him to have stamped in each of the lands, and they offer a little craft for the kiddos to do. Lots of good counter service options here, and wonderful bakery choices.. for some goodies.

Use your fast pass to book at peak times this will help the standing in line. Also before you go you can have him practice standing in line, like at the grocery store, or where ever you might be. I also suggest to have something for him to do while in line, and only let him play with it while waiting in line so that he doesn't get bored with it.

Not sure if you are going the park hopper route? Are you thinking about taking a break away from the parks?

 

[garnetandblack]

Our first trip was when DS was 4. We stayed at a timeshare offsite for a week and had 4 day tickets. We took a day off between parks. Our first park was Epcot because it was during the food and wine festival and I wanted to go. We didn't have a stroller or do much planning at all. DS was great and loved Spaceship Earth and Soarin' (closed during your trip) and pretty much everything until we got to the world showcase. By that time he was tired and it was packed with people for food and wine. DH had to carry him on his shoulders and it got miserable. When we left the park we went straight to Walmart and purchased a stroller.

The rest of our trip was great and DS was able to stay at the parks from open until close. He did take a few naps in the stroller and we carried drinks along with healthy snacks in a book bag cooler that we kept in the stroller. We also had a cell phone charger battery and allowed him to play games on our phones while waiting in long lines.

If your DS has some sensory issues I suggest looking into the DAS - if you think he will have issues with crowds and lines it might be a good fit for him. I also suggest getting to the parks at rope drop and maybe even make some pre-park reservations (BOG breakfast) to be able to ride some more popular rides before the park gets full and lines get long.

I wouldn't personally over plan. I know it makes it more convenient to know what you are doing in advance but be flexible with your child. You won't even come close to doing everything and that's okay. Just have fun!