HELP!!!! WDW vacation with young kids

[father0f3]

I need advice. My wife and I have made a last minute decision to go to WDW with our 3, 4 and 5yr old children Aug 9, 3 weeks away, the stay is at Port Orleans Riverside. With meal plan and basic 6 day park passes. It is going to cost us around 4 grand for the trip and flights then spending money.
I need to know before I finalize the bookings today a few things from all you Experienced Disney nuts.
1. Are my kids too young.Should I wait a couple of years
2. Is August too hot at Disney or too rainy
3. My oldest is big enough to ride the rides but the little ones are less than 44'' will they have enough rides or will they feel left out.
4. Is it too late to book character meals (will they be full)
5. Will the BB boutique be booked solid I would hate to go to disney and not be able to let my kids experience these things.
6. Should I upgrade to a hopper pass I dont think my kids would last more than 6 hours at any theme park. Should I also get the water park pass or are my kids too young and would be okay with the resort pool.

Please help any advise is good, especially someone with the same family dynamics that has visited WDW in the summer.

 

[robinbutterfly]

I need advice. My wife and I have made a last minute decision to go to WDW with our 3, 4 and 5yr old children Aug 9, 3 weeks away, the stay is at Port Orleans Riverside. With meal plan and basic 6 day park passes. It is going to cost us around 4 grand for the trip and flights then spending money.
I need to know before I finalize the bookings today a few things from all you Experienced Disney nuts.
1. Are my kids too young.Should I wait a couple of years
2. Is August too hot at Disney or too rainy
3. My oldest is big enaugh to ride the rides but the little ones are less than 44'' will they have enaugh rides or will they feel left out.
4. Is it too late too book character meals (will they be full)
5. Will the BB boutique be booked solid I would hate to go to disney and not be able to let my kids experience these things.
6. Should I upgrade to a hopper pass I dont think my kids would last more than 6 hours at any theme park. Should I also get the water park pass or are my kids too young and would be okay with the resort pool.

Please help any advise is good, especially someone with the same family dinamics that has visited WDW in the summer.

I am going to answer your questions honestly and in my opinion. Some might disagree, but this is how I feel.

We went this past January with a 3 year old and a 4 year old.
1. Are your kids too young- NO!!! There is soooo much to do.
2. Yes, August is too hot and too crowded for that age.
3. There are TONS of rides for the little guys to ride. We got to ride everything they wanted too but my 3 year old did not get to ride Sorin since she was under 40 inches.
4 and 5. Call and find out if they are booked.
6. I would NOT upgrade to a hopper pass or water parks.Your kids will be so tired, you won't have time to bounce to two parks in one day. We went to the parks, went back to the resort in the middle of the day and went back to the same park to finish it up.

We are going back next January with my 4 and 5 year old. Low crowds are so important for this age group since they don't have very much patience!
Good luck!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Here's my personal opinions, for what it's worth.
Kids ages-- the are perfect ages. They are going to love it! However...
August--- It is going to be very hot and humid. You have to know your family and how they will do. Personally, I hate to be hot, and I'd be miserable. If you family handles the heat better, then you can always go early, take an afternoon break at the pool then return in the evening.
Sure, the little kids will miss some things, we have been through that, but there is so much that they will be able to do that I don't think it would be an issue.
As far as meals and BBB, call and try. You dn't have to have reservations to make ADRs. If it looks like you are going to be OK, then book your room.
We never get hoppers, we did once and didn't use them. For the money and the time of year the waterpark option would probably be better, though the resort pool always satisfies us. I'd save the $$ and skip them both, but that is jsut me.


Good luck with your decision.

 

[mjkacmom]

As a parent who has a child too old to take out of school for vacations, I envy those with young children, who can travel during off peak times. Even I wouldn't go in August, because of the heat and crowds. A lot of people make their ADR's 90 days out - please call to see what is still available before getting the DDP. If I could, I'd wait for October.

 

[father0f3]

So far the advice is excellent keep it coming everyone's opinion is valued.
It is good to hear that the little ones will be busy, I'm certain an afternoon break would be needed we are not used to the humidity and that's what scares me about August.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

The heat and humidity are why we go in November. Is it possible for your family to go in a few more months? October is our favorite month to go, the weather is perfect and crowds are so low. Because of our kids ages we go at Thanksgiving so they only have to miss a few days of school, but we did a few Octobers before we had to worry about that and really loved it.

 

[tigger2297]

It will be hot and humid!!!!!!!! OUR first day is when u leave. hope u have fun if u go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[father0f3]

Any suggestions of Character meals. So I can check availability. My daughter loves cinderella and all princesses for that matter the boys maybe the incredibles or little einsteins.

I know nothing about disney so this would help me in finding out if we can book any of these.

Also we are one week too soon for the dining plan and hopefully this will mean reduced crowds, the advice about not going till the fall is giving me reservations. Its a lot of money to flip if the kids would rather stay at the resort and swim all day. lol But keep it coming Thanks all!

 

[Manda]

If you have the option of waiting until fall... that's always a good plan. Much less crowded, maybe less hot, probably get a good deal if you travel at the right time. We went that same week of August last year though and it wasn't that bad. I didn't regret the timing at all and I'd return that week if I could only take vacation during the summer. It was pretty darn hot, but not any hotter than the September trips I've taken down there.

On the other questions you asked... I think your kids are the perfect age. Height isn't really an issue with Disney rides. The majority of rides and attractions have no height restrictions at all. It's 40 inches for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, if your kids like that kind of ride. I'd get hoppers - especially when it's hot. We like to be at the parks at opening and stay until about lunch. Then go back to the hotel to swim and rest and head out to another park later in the afternoon. Since it's your first trip and with littler kids... I think you'll have more than enough to see without adding on the water parks.

 

[ireland_nicole]

The pool at POR (ol man island) is great; you don't need to bother with the waterpark tix with the ages they are.

There are wonderful character meals at Disney, but you're looking at going during the Peak time. Even without free dining, everything is going to be packed. I agree, try to get ADR's, but I wouldn't depend on them.

For Princess meals:
1900 park faire dinner (Cinderella, Prince Charming, Stepmother, stepsisters)
Akurshus any meal: selection of the princesses, Belle is always there for pics at the beginning)
Cinderella's Royal Table (this however, books up really fast; even calling 90 days out you can't always get it.)

Try BBB in Downtown Disney; it's not quite as crowded as the MK one.

For "Boy"meals
Tusker House Breakfast (fab 5 at Animal Kingdom)
Chef Mickey's (at contemporary; fab 5; any meal)
Crystal Palace (in MK, Pooh and Friends, any meal)
Play n Dine at Hollywood and Vine (breakfast w/ playhouse Disney characters including little Einsteins)

Good luck! I agree that it's not too early to take them, but you have to understand it will be extremely hot and extremely crowded. You will want a touring plan; I would recommend either tourguidemike.com or touringplans.com

I would second the recommendation to go later in the fall.

Oh, and you can go in and out of the same park on the same day using only one ticket day.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

A sure bet for all is Chef Mickey's. We like dinner and breakfast, but prefer breakfast. It is a great way to see the Fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald) without waiting in lines. It is difficult to get though, but well worth the effort.

Also, your kids are young, are they into the Pooh characters? If so they are all at Crystal Palace. We have enjoyed both breakfast and dinner here in the past.

As far as princesses go, we LOVE CRT. There is nothing like dining in the castle. It is pricey though. Soemtimes we do it just the girls (not a huge savings for us as dad is the only boy) but you could have it just be your wife and daughter. A nice alternative we enjoyed was Akerhaus in Norway. My girls really loved it and there are lots of princesses there. We have only done b-fast at CRT and dinner at Akerhaus, but I am sure others can give you reviews on other meals.

I don't know of much just for boys, then again I don't have any, but I have heard lots of complaints that there aren't any but since I don't know for sure I will leave that to someone else to answer.

 

[Manda]

Actually, looking at the touring plans site (google The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World - don't know if I can link to it from here), the crowd calendar is showing 6s for that week. Looks like they aren't expecting it to be too bad at all. If I were you, I'd go take a look at that site though, it tells you the best and work parks to visit each day. And since you're already so close, your dates fall in the "free" information that you don't even have to pay the subscription fee to see.

 

[father0f3]

Wow the response has been amazing, and the advice priceless. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thanks Manda, its good to hear last year at this time it wasn't too bad as far as heat/humidity.

 

[leilaandjamilsmom]

Hi, congrats on your trip! how exciting, I personally don't think that your kids are too young. I went last year with my 3 year old son and almost 2 year old daughter and they rode everything! the only things we didn't go on were the big rides like the rollercoasters. Which didn't bother us at al. I was suprised how many rides we could all go on as a family, which for me was way more then we couldn't. We are leaving again july 28th, and when I bpooked my package I didn't get the park hopper or waterpark option and now regret it. Since it will be so hot while we are there I thought a waterpark would be a great way to spend some time cooling off other than the resort pool since we will be there for 8 days and they may get tired of the same thing. I called yesterday and added a 2 day water park pass for my family. I think your trip will be great. I didn't add the park hopper pass since just like you mine are done after 6 or so hours in the park I figure we will leave for a break and come back to that same park later to finish what we didn't see before, good luck!

 

[ktlm]

You can book dining reservations online now. Go to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/restaurants/ and you can pick restaurants and see what is available. People cancel all the time, so if you don't get what you want, keep trying. Cinderella's Royal Table is a wonderful princess meal (the girls get wands, the boys swords), but you may not be able to get a reservation. You would want to do breakfast or lunch as those are the meals where 4 different princesses come to your table. Our first trip we could not get a reservation there, but we were able to get on at Akershus in Norway and it was a great substitute. Your girls should be happy with either one. Crystal Palace Pooh meal is great for any age.

Your kids are a perfect age, we took my DD at age 2 and age 3 and she had a wonderful time on both trips.

It will be very hot and probably not the best time to go, but you can take advantage of air-conditioned shows and attractions to help out. We have also found that making an ADR for a later lunch was a good way to get in the air-conditioning and sit down awhile.

 

[ktlm]

Forgot about hoppers. We get them and find that we use them alot with DD. If there are certain restaurants you want to go to, booking this late, you might find them useful as there may be days that you want to be in 1 park, but that is the only day you can get a reservation for a meal in another park. You can add them when you are there, so if you don't think you are going to use them, you can always wait and see.

As for water parks, there is so much to do in the 4 main parks that we never find time to go to them. Plus, we were really thinking about it our last trip and found out that unless you go more than once, you don't save any money adding the option. If you are only going to one water park, one day, you are better off just buying the ticket at the gate if you decide to go.

 

[ktlm]

One more post. FYI - For fun, I just went on the online reservations and I was able to pull up reservations for breakfast at Akershus on August 10, and Tusker House (Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Daisy meal at AK) for August 11 for a party your size (there may have been availability on other dates during your trip as I just checked those dates really quickly). They may not be the times you would choose, but at this late date, if it were me I'd be happy to get character meal reservations and I would jump on whatever I could get. We did those 2 meals along with CP (crystal palace) on DDs 1st trip and she loved it.

 

[frtchr]

We always do hoppers. We do a park in the morning, return for a nap for both kids, and do the MK every night. Our kids are 2 1/2 and 10 months, so we make the MK a priority. Hope you have a fun trip!!

 

[father0f3]

Well I just spent an hour on the phone booking the flights and making the reservations at Port Orleans Riverside with the one sit down one quick service and one snack meal plan, 6 day basic park passes, We are flying into Orlando on the Friday I rented a car for 2 days, bringing the kids to the Ocean(Coco Beach) to experience the salt water, sea shell hunts, and relax before Disney. Any hotel suggestions. We can drop off the car at the Disney car care center (anyone know where this is). We check in Sun till Saturday, 6 nights at Disney I think will be enaugh for the kiddies.

I appreciate all the kind info/help.

One last request how do I reserve the character meals and should we have lunch or breakfast dinner or at this point whatever is available.

 

[ktlm]

To make reservations, you can click on the link I gave you in the post above. That will take you to the Disney website restaurant page where you can pick the restaurant. For each TS restaurant, you will see a box that says "book a reservation" at the bottom. Just click on that and the rest you should be able to figure out. If you would rather call, the Disney Dining number is 1-407-939-3463. It would be very helpful if you have an idea of what restaurants you are asking for, and what days you want to go there. For character meals, you may have to be flexible on days. For help picking restaurants, uou can go to allears.net and click on the dining section. That website has a listing of every restaurant by park and resort. It also has the menus and prices. It is a great resource. Have a great trip!!!!!