Half days with a toddler - HS?

[Wosmama6]

Hello, Our 2yo naps regularly and is a mess when he doesn't. We plan to get to the parks at rope drop and get back to our room by 2pm for a nap, which means we'll probably need to start leaving at 1230 or 1 depending on buses (staying at AoA), and NOT return to the parks at night because bedtime is 8, just play in the pool. Right now, I have that we will spend arrival evening in Epcot, 1 morning in HS, 2 in MK, 1 in AK. I think that's perfect if you have full days in the parks, but if you're only doing the morning, it might change things. DS is too short for the headliners everywhere, which makes it a little easier, but our MK list is long.

Here's my question: Do we go to HS? I don't know how he'll do with shows, so the main draws are meeting the cars characters (which isn't terribly key since we are in a Cars suite at AoA) and Toy Story Mania. Mermaid, Disney Jr. and Honey I Shrunk are other things we were going to hit, and a butterfinger cupcake for mama .

I hate to miss it, but at the same time, I hate to miss attractions in MK for one or two things in HS. Thoughts?

 

[Aunt Bee]

This is just my "grandma" take, but we go to Disney with our kids and grandkids every year, sometimes twice, and for the most part, two year olds are more or less overwhelmed by the whole thing and as long as you are having fun they will have fun. They may or may not recognize characters or enjoy shows. If you want to go to HS for you, then go. Just plan your days around what you will enjoy and your toddler will have fun, too. Later, when your son is older, what he does/sees will be more meaningful for him. Enjoy.

P.S. And your son may nap in the stroller, too. You can always play it by ear and see whether or not he will nap and whether he will tolerate being at the parks for a longer time. Almost all of our little ones fall asleep in their strollers after lunch, especially if they've had a busy morning.

 

[amberjean15]

We are also traveling with a 2 year old in August and our days sound pretty much the same as yours. We are hoping to get 3 nights at the parks for fireworks as well but those days we are only doing the pool during the day and parks after dinner. We have 4 older kids as well so slow and steady whatever we don't see this time we can see next time.

 

[msmama]

Since you're not planning to go back to the parks in the evening, could you push some days a little bit more? Maybe stay until 2 on your MK days? And then others (like HS if you do it) you could leave earlier.

I've always liked the character interaction at Hollywood Studios - I feel like the lines can be less than at some other parks (granted, not always the case). Or, maybe one evening after nap you COULD go to HS for the afternoon/early evening (and push bedtime just a touch) if you only need a few things there (things that are probably not going to be overly crowded) - if you did that, you'd either need an extra day or park hoppers though.

 

[GatorMama]

What about planning some FPs for those things you want to do at HS but late in the afternoon after his nap?

Our first trip with DS, he was 22 months old and he napped in the stroller a few times (great time to grab that cupcake or a Mickey bar so you don't hVe to share!) so we could enjoy the parks longer. Just because he isn't big enough for rides doesn't mean you can't! That's what Rider Swap is for!

I think we stayed for Wishes one night and te rest of that tripe was earlier nights but we were in parks EVERY day. This trip we are going with a 6 year old (the one that was 22 months that first trip), 3 year old and 5 month old and we will break and require naps for all in the afternoon so we can go back to enjoy nighttime entertainment at MK and Epcot.

 

[Meeko5]

If you don't make it to DHS ill bring you a cupcake

Are you trying to decide on an extra MK day vs DHS? Can you leave the "repeat" day for the last day so you can decide after you've done your other MK days? Although ending a disney trip with DHS maybe isn't the most fun haha.

You've got hoppers right? Maybe you'll find your son does better than you expect in the evening and you can do DHS for a few hours after nap?

 

[MrsDrewsky]

DS was 21 months our last trip, and absolutely loved Disney Jr Live on stage. DH and I agreed it was the highlight of the trip. We are keeping a similar schedule for our trip in November, but we will not be going to AK this trip mostly due to the construction. We will likely play the evenings out by ear.

Have you checked out touring plans? They have a toddler traveling plan that we are going to try this trip.

 

[HCinKC]

I'm not sure what your crowd levels will be, but with height restrictions on headliners, you may well get a lot more done in MK than you think. In May, we were splitting our days with HS for Star Wars Weekends, so we spent two separate mornings in MK. One morning, we were able to do all of Adventure, Frontier, and Liberty Square, leaving us time to get some things done in Fantasyland. Our second morning, we finished off Fantasy, did TL, had time to go back over to repeat some of Frontierland, and then took the train back to the front to leave. Both days, we were there at RD and left around 1p. I used easyWDW crowd calendars and cheat sheets to make plans then plugged them into Touring Plans (just the free version) to see how it fell together with their time estimates.

Something your 2yo might enjoy is the ride between MK and HS. You could do the Adventureland side and clear out of MK early enough to take the monorail to Epcot and the boat to HS. Then you could catch the couple of shows you are interested in there before heading out for naptime. Obviously that depends on crowd levels and showtimes, but it is something I would look at as a possibility. You'll need to allow at least an hour travel time.

Last, be prepared to go with the flow. You may find that your son is a real trooper. Our 10mo essentially refused to nap at Disney. We went back to the room the first couple of days, and he basically "talked" and cried for two hours. I think he was just too stimulated to settle down for a nap. The third day, we decided to just stay in the parks. The rest of the trip, he took catnaps in the stroller and did fine. We did still get him to bed on time, but you may find flexibility with naps and/or bedtime.

 

[branv]

Our plan is a half day at DHS with our will-be two year old. He doesn't really (yet anyway) have an interest in the movies, but does loooove Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins. Though right now his sitting still ability for anything but an episode of Daniel Tiger is nill, we will be doing Playhouse Disney and *maybe* try Muppets show. We'll likely skip all other "sit and watch" shows at DHS. We will, of course, do TSM and HISTK playscape. No way am I missing ToT though. So we will utilize FP+ and Rider Swap. I will use one FP for ToT and get a Rider Swap, then DH will use a FP and get a Rider Swap for RnR. Man, I love Rider Swap! While one parent rides, the other will let DS play or get a snack. Using FP+ for almost everything, we can likely accomplish all of this, have lunch and leave in time for afternoon nap.

We are not ruling out evenings at parks though. Even if we just have TS and manage one ride or show before we have to leave for bedtime, the ambience in the parks is worth it. Heck, i can just take a quick ride on Dumbo then let him run around in Casey's splash area and he'd be totally stoked. Plus one late nights to try to show him MSEP is a risk I'm willing to take Maybe he'll melt down, maybe he won't. My takeaway from this forum is how often your kids will surprise you (for better or worse) at WDW. Fingers crossed!

 

[Wosmama6]

Thanks so much, everyone!!! My husband and I aren't doing rider swap. We plan to return as often as we can, and so when he's old enough to skip nap without the world ending (seriously, he is Jekyll/Hyde), we'll swap.
I do want him to see the MSEP or Wishes, just wish they were at 8 in the late fall instead of later. It's dark by then, right?
Hoping all his surprises are for the better!

 

[branv]

Lol, I totally get it. My DS is the same way, and we are a slave to the nap schedule. People whose LOs can sleep in strollers/carseats or really anywhere without much coaxing down don't know how lucky they are! I finally accepted that just like adults, every child has their own sleep personality. So fingers crossed for both of us that they'll love WDW so much they'll surprise us!

 

[kwdw]

Thanks so much, everyone!!! My husband and I aren't doing rider swap. We plan to return as often as we can, and so when he's old enough to skip nap without the world ending (seriously, he is Jekyll/Hyde), we'll swap.
I do want him to see the MSEP or Wishes, just wish they were at 8 in the late fall instead of later. It's dark by then, right?
Hoping all his surprises are for the better!

I get it that the nap is required/like clockwork at home. But as another poster commented on - and was my experience with a 16 month old - you never know what Disney is going to do to your kid until you experience it. We tried napping one day with a 16 month old - disaster. Waste of everyone's time and just made us all cranky. Totally hyper, too much stimulation getting back to the room. She wasn't normally a stroller sleeper - but after that nap attempt - we just respected her cat naps in the stroller and kept her out for whatever hours we wanted since she would just fall asleep. It worked shockingly well and hadn't been the plan. The one night we did fireworks - we though she would like them - she literally fell asleep during the fireworks show. How does anyone fall asleep during that noise?

Anyway - I guess I'm just saying that while you can make your plan - I've never had a Disney trip go exactly as expected. Be prepared to be flexible and read your kid's needs to the best of your abilities.

 

[Wosmama6]

makes sense, thanks!!

 

[pigletgirl]

Yeah, when we went last Sept, DD was 15 months. She loved both shows, Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. We also did Disney Jr and the play ground. We didn't leave HS till almost 2pm both mornings we were there. I've learned with little ones to just go with the flow. Sometimes they'll surprise you in a big way. Do you have park hoppers or dinner ADRs? I wouldn't completely shoot down the idea of some of the evening shows. DD slept through all of Illuminations the three evenings we were in Epcot.

 

[DeniseR]

I am bringing TWO 2 year olds (twins!) in September and we are just planning on playing the afternoons by ear. We have no idea if they will sleep in the strollers or not. We are going to plan to go back to the resort in the afternoons but will change that if it looks like they will be fine. This is their first trip so we are going into the trip knowing that it will just be "different" that the last trips we took when our children were teenagers.

 

[Wosmama6]

it's hard for a type a planner who knows how a poorly planned day at disney can be (heavy on the lines) to imagine going with the flow! ah!

 

[DeniseR]

it's hard for a type a planner who knows how a poorly planned day at disney can be (heavy on the lines) to imagine going with the flow! ah!

Oh, I'm not going to go with the flow at all. I am planning mornings and all meals down to the minute haha! But as far as afternoons go in the parks, I am not scheduling anything until I get there with the twins and see how they do energy wise. If it looks like they can stay some after lunch, we will do it. If not, we will go back to the resort (Beach Club for us) and either swim or rest in the room. I just don't want to plan a bunch of stuff for the afternoons and get there and find out that they can't hack it. They are still nap takers each afternoon and it is hard to tell what they will do until we get there! We have 8 days so I'm sure that we can get a lot done even just going in the mornings in September.

 

[Wosmama6]

We only have 4.5 days. Right now the plan is 1 evening in MK (arrival) 1 am in Epcot, 1 am in ak, 2 ams in MK and then I've planned out a maybe mk msep evening and a maybe short hs evening if he can hack it. I would love for him to see the msep but he almost never stays awake that late. And hs is a maybe, if we don't get to it I won't be too sad. Honestly I was so looking forwRd to ts dining but taking out adrs really freed up our time. I didn't get the pre opening breakfasts that I wanted or any BOG due to late booking, but if those open up 45 days prior I might reconsider. I did throw an hour at bog at 1030am one am into our plans so we might get some gray stuff after all!

 

[Happyinwonerland]

it's hard for a type a planner who knows how a poorly planned day at disney can be (heavy on the lines) to imagine going with the flow! ah!

I thought this was your first trip?

With young kids at a disney, going with the flow is kind of a necessity. You're going to stress yourself out so much over schedules that you'll.miss the magic.

 

[Wosmama6]

1st trip as a family w DS. Planned trips when I was a kid, including my college visit