Handling time zone changes and plans for the day

[CeCe0906]

I'm probably overthinking this, while I can and do go with the flow, I am the type of person that needs at least a "plan" for the day, so wevdo our must dose and adjust when needed. Here is the background(long):

I will be traveling from Texas (Central Time zone) to Disneyland in August. I will have 3 granddaughters with me, (Ages 5 7, and 9). Their other grandma will be meeting us there, traveling from West Virginia (Eastern Time Zone). We arrive on a Mon,have 3 day park hoppers, reservations DL on Tues, DCA on Wed, and DL on Thursday. The two youngest will fly with other grandma to her home on Friday, while the oldest and I go to Universal and then home on Sat.

The younger 2 kids are my son's kids, the oldest is my daughters child. The oldest, well, is older, and stays up late more often; she and I did WDW last summer, and stayed up for the fireworks, usually getting back to hotel around 10, no problem. We didn't rope drop, but we're there close to opening.

The younger 2, have a little more structure around bedtimes, sometimes starting the "routine" as early as 730 pm, in bed at 8. So while I know we want to do fireworks, Fantasmic, and maybe a WOC dessert party, I'm wondering how they are going to handle a body clock that thinks that 9:00pm is 11:00pm.

Yes I know we could do early( maybe even EMH by then) and go back to hotel for a rest - but I doubt they would sleep with all the excitement. I will have a stroller for the youngest ( for travel between lands/parks, and to and from hotel only) And further complicating things, currently we have VIP tours scheduled on both Tues and Wed afternoons.(Long story, not our usual, it's a special opportunity).

The current schedule I set up when I arranged for the tours, was that we would meet the guide at 1:00 pm, and go until the nighttime entertainment ( parade and Fireworks on Tues, Fantasmic on Wed, reversed if fireworks don't happen on Tues). The thought was that we would use our first 2 mornings to do things that maybe take a little longer like Jungle Cruise, Small World or the Animation class, a show that we wouldn't want to spend tour time on, eat a good lunch, then we could just snack/mobile order quick service when the kids get hungry during tour time.

One reason for this timing was that with shorter wait times in morning, and taking advantage of that, and my oldest granddaughter has a DAS, we wouldn't need the tour in the morning. And I wanted to take advantage of the VIP seating for the parade/fireworks/show. With my oldest granddaughters sensory/anxiety we can't wait a long time in line or in a congested, crowded area especially indoor when it gets loud. So staking out a spot, or getting in a shoulder to shoulder area isn't going to work. We will probably need to take a quiet break from time to time.

But from what I've read here, I now realize you don't have to end the tour with the fireworks, etc to still have the seating. So now I'm rethinking the plan. Maybe we should start mid morning and go until dinner time on tour, and eat our bigger meal then. Then if the kids are zoned, we might could take them to rest and come back for fireworks.

Any suggestions for coping with the time zone challenges? Try to get the parents to shift bedtimes prior to trip?

Monday, Arrive at 11am, go to DL hotel, plan to have a cabana by pool, eat lunch and tire them out in the pool. Go to Goofys for character dinner.

Tues/Wed/Thur park days. Thursday more of a slower day, pick up rerides of favorites, souvenir shop, see some shows
ADRs trying for:
Mostly not the usual, as I have a couple of super picky eaters, other grandma has to watch her sugar.

Bigger meals Tues/Wed Tortilla Joe's.,Naples Ristorante or Ballast Point

Princess Adventure Breakfast on Thurs morning
Dessert Party WOC on Thurs night

Quick service during tour days
Maybe Jolly Holiday, Golden Horseshoe, V8 cafe or Boardwalk pizza

Thoughts?

 

[smartlabelprint]

Depending on the child’s special needs, you are probably scheduling too many things. I’ll let you know how my almost 9 yo does tomorrow. He has anxiety and sensory too.

 

[Kit Jackson]

The younger 2, have a little more structure around bedtimes, sometimes starting the "routine" as early as 730 pm, in bed at 8. So while I know we want to do fireworks, Fantasmic, and maybe a WOC dessert party, I'm wondering how they are going to handle a body clock that thinks that 9:00pm is 11:00pm.

While you may want to do the nightime shows, I think it might be a better idea to wait until the younger ones can stay up later with less difficulty. Having kids who are used to going to bed at 8 stay up hours later, especially when thier body clock thinks it is even later than it actually is, sounds like a recipe for disaster/really unhappy tired kids.

If you absolutely insist on doing the nighttime shows, go back to the room for a nap at some point during the day for the younger ones to make it easier on them.

 

[A&S]

We have travelled with our children from as young as 10 weeks all they way up to 8 (so far), and coming from Australia. So can definitely get where you are coming from with the time zones (and in our case jet lag also). We find that after a day or two or children have adjusted to the new time zone. To be honest its usually after the first night.
We do however always go back to the room for day sleeps. Even though they are excited, they're also exhausted and are usually asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow. There is no way we could make park closing all those times without a hotel nap. Even with having a pram for them to rest in at the parks they still needed that nap.
They will be 10 and 7 this time round, and we will still be heading back for those naps (mum and dad need the rest too lol!).
Each family just different and you need to do what works for your family but I'd highly recommended resting in the day and not to stress too much over the Timezone, they'll adjust very quickly.

 

[CeCe0906]

Depending on the child’s special needs, you are probably scheduling too many things. I’ll let you know how my almost 9 yo does tomorrow. He has anxiety and sensory too.

Thanks. We worked it out pretty well with just the two of us last summer at WDW. Adding the 2 younger cousins complicates things a bit, but they all get together well. She's big on following the rules and having a plan, as long as she knows what's next we can manage the anxiety pretty well. DAS helps out alot with not having a lot of time to dwell on any uncertainty about a ride, and I think her cousins will help distract too.
Now that she's older the sensory stuff has gotten easier to manage, as she can tell me when she needs a break, and we can head to a quieter spot for a snack/drink.

 

[smartlabelprint]

For an update. My 6 yo got up at 2 am and we finally got up at 6. We didn’t rope drop but arrived a little after 8. We had no planned time of arrival so no expectations! There was no wait at security. No wait at the gate and she was quick to take our pix.

We rode Mater 2x in the 5 min standby line.

DAS midway mania. 3 went and I figured out some stuff at the tent, having 2 das on the account was confusing.

She and I went on the carousel and emotional whirlwind little wait in standby.

Mobile ordered flo’s.

I took 8 yo on incredicoaster. He took the little kids on the carousel.

Family finally got into the park and joined us at flo’s.

Used our DAS preselect at guardians with rider switch.

Sat around a bit on avengers campus for a show and shady cotton candy break.

Rsr das. I’m waiting now to rider switch. It’s 12:15. Our 8 just asked to go to the hotel after this. It’s been a relatively calm day but I think the general sensory overload of the park is going to spike anxiety if we don’t get out of here.

We have a DAS preselect at monsters Inc good until 1 but it might be pushing it. When we try “one more” it usually ends in disaster.

ETA our monsters just turned into a multiple experience pass. Perfect for us!!

 

[chezcurrie]

In my experience my kiddos (ages 12-8-5 on our last trip, 10-6 first trip (left the little guy home that one) do so much better with the time change than my DH does. Truly they are so stimulated and excited they don’t seem to notice. They also, to your point, do not nap when we take a break mid-day (but we still take a break.) We never tried to adjust their schedules or anything, but are careful to notice cues of fatigue, took those breaks when needed, etc.

All that to say, every child is different. My 5-year old did not make it to anything past dinnertime on our Dec trip. I ended up going back with my 2 eldest and DH would go back to our hotel and chill with him (which suited him just fine.) My middle who was 6 on our first DL trip made it to close one night, but he was draaaaaaaging.

All that said, never in all my trips have we accomplished everything I thought we would - my plans always go a different way and the key (for us) is to know yourself and your companions and what they can or can not handle. Skipping fireworks to have a happy child in the morning is better than forcing them to stay up and then having the magic drain out. And what PP said about ”trying one more” that is the recipe for disaster for my crew.

For your tours, maybe do one in the mornin—afternoon, then another afternoon - evening. then you have more flexibility for the nighttime options.