Help with the Perfect Trip

[Buddhaman42]

OK, ok. It won't be perfect. Nothing with kids ever goes exactly how you want, but I am planning our second trip to Disney and it may be the last time we go at least when our children are small. We went the first time when the oldest were 5 and 3. For our upcoming trip we will have a 9, 7, and 4. So, more than likely by the time we can do it again, the older ones may be interested in something else like a cruise or to go overseas. We went big with the resorts, we will be staying at AKL with a savanna view for 3 nights and then switching to the Poly for 5 nights. I am an intense planner/researcher, so I have the basics of Disney planning down; I use TouringPlans, I get up at the crack of dawn for my 60 day reservation window, etc. What I would love is some insight from people that make these trips more often than we do. What are the things that I absolutely cannot miss to make this the "Perfect Trip". Especially focusing on things that require reservations, but any tips for little experiences I may not even think of would be great as well. If you had 8 nights at the resorts we picked, what would your overall itinerary look like?

We are thinking, 5 days in the parks, 2 at MK, 1 at each of the others. Apart from our arrival and departure days that leaves us with 2 "rest" days, 1 at each resort to give more time to enjoy the amenities of the resorts. We will also likely pop over to Disney Springs on one of those days. A significantly compressed rundown of my itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival - Dinner at Sanaa
Day 2 - Animal Kingdom - All the rides minus Everest and Dinosaur, Dinner at Tiffins.
Day 3 - Resort Day - Breakfast at Sanaa. Head to Disney Springs for the morning and lunch. Samawati pool time in the afternoon. Jiko for Dinner.
Day 4 - Hollywood - All the major rides with child swap for Slinky. Savis workshop, Droid building, Refreshments at Oga's. Dinner undecided.
Day 5 - Epcot - Breakfast at Akershaus. All the rides with child swap for Cosmic. Dinner at Shiki-Sai.
Day 6 - MK 1 - As many rides as we can get to, child swap for coasters. Dinner at Liberty Tree.
Day 7 - Resort Day - Kona Cafe for Breakfast. Swimming at the Lava Pool. Relax. Ohana for dinner. Fireworks from the Poly beach.
Day 8 - MK 2- Remaining rides we missed day 6 or re-rides of favorites in the morning. BBB early afternoon, character meets, and CRT for dinner. Maybe Happily Ever After if everyone can keep it together.
Day 9 - Depart

My youngest is 40" tall and quite brave, so we are expecting most non-coaster rides to be within our limits for all 5 of us. None of them need naps, but we will take some nice breaks in the AC around lunch time. Any thoughts and advice are welcomed and appreciated! Thanks!

 

[sponica]

So I never do resort days, once you get to a certain ticket length, adding on the extra days becomes a more minimal cost, for your day 7, I might just add in the extra day that morning if you feel like it. I did 8 nights at the Polynesian in 2022 and we had zero full resort days. There were days the kids and I got a late start because my husband was playing golf, but we didn't take any days completely off from the parks.

What time of year will you be going?

Are you changing time zones at all?

 

[MICKIMINI]

Great resort choices! A few things that stood out to me:

Day #3 - Boma for breakfast. Jambo House is amazing!

Day #4 - Topolino's for dinner would be a great choice.

Day #5 - Snacks at EPCOT! Bakeries are a great choice: France, Germany, Norway yum! You can split snacks so you eat enough to keep your energy up (excuse for chocolate). Crepes at France are REALLY good! It helps to sit for a bit, people watch and clear your mind.

Day #6 - Liberty Tree Tavern might be boring for the kids.

Day #7 - Why not go to Captain Cook's at Poly and save more time for resort exploration? Kona is great, but food value is likely lost on the kids. Hand out what you save for trinkets.

The best advice I can give is to give the kids time to "smell the flowers" at the parks rather than racing from ride to ride. It sounds like you are type A (me too) so it may be a challenge, but it will pay off.

Enjoy!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yeah, so people who aim for a “perfect” trip become the crazy adult losing their mind in the middle of the park at their SO and/or kids about how this is supposed to be perfect… aim for a “nice trip” or something less mentally taxing so when it goes wrong in the moment you’re easier on yourself…

 

[Buddhaman42]

So I never do resort days, once you get to a certain ticket length, adding on the extra days becomes a more minimal cost, for your day 7, I might just add in the extra day that morning if you feel like it. I did 8 nights at the Polynesian in 2022 and we had zero full resort days. There were days the kids and I got a late start because my husband was playing golf, but we didn't take any days completely off from the parks.

What time of year will you be going?

Are you changing time zones at all?

I have been weighing this cost/benefit myself. My wife has adamantly requested rest days as she has Lupus and going hard for too long can wear on her. For that reason we are going in January for the mild weather. The kids have and will swim happily in 70 degree weather, but I do see the resort day becoming problematic if it drops into the 60s or lower while we are there. I probably should snag at least 6 day tickets just as a backup. Thanks.

 

[BlueGreen5]

OK, ok. It won't be perfect. Nothing with kids ever goes exactly how you want, but I am planning our second trip to Disney and it may be the last time we go at least when our children are small. We went the first time when the oldest were 5 and 3. For our upcoming trip we will have a 9, 7, and 4. So, more than likely by the time we can do it again, the older ones may be interested in something else like a cruise or to go overseas. We went big with the resorts, we will be staying at AKL with a savanna view for 3 nights and then switching to the Poly for 5 nights. I am an intense planner/researcher, so I have the basics of Disney planning down; I use TouringPlans, I get up at the crack of dawn for my 60 day reservation window, etc. What I would love is some insight from people that make these trips more often than we do. What are the things that I absolutely cannot miss to make this the "Perfect Trip". Especially focusing on things that require reservations, but any tips for little experiences I may not even think of would be great as well. If you had 8 nights at the resorts we picked, what would your overall itinerary look like?

We are thinking, 5 days in the parks, 2 at MK, 1 at each of the others. Apart from our arrival and departure days that leaves us with 2 "rest" days, 1 at each resort to give more time to enjoy the amenities of the resorts. We will also likely pop over to Disney Springs on one of those days. A significantly compressed rundown of my itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival - Dinner at Sanaa
Day 2 - Animal Kingdom - All the rides minus Everest and Dinosaur, Dinner at Tiffins.
Day 3 - Resort Day - Breakfast at Sanaa. Head to Disney Springs for the morning and lunch. Samawati pool time in the afternoon. Jiko for Dinner.
Day 4 - Hollywood - All the major rides with child swap for Slinky. Savis workshop, Droid building, Refreshments at Oga's. Dinner undecided.
Day 5 - Epcot - Breakfast at Akershaus. All the rides with child swap for Cosmic. Dinner at Shiki-Sai.
Day 6 - MK 1 - As many rides as we can get to, child swap for coasters. Dinner at Liberty Tree.
Day 7 - Resort Day - Kona Cafe for Breakfast. Swimming at the Lava Pool. Relax. Ohana for dinner. Fireworks from the Poly beach.
Day 8 - MK 2- Remaining rides we missed day 6 or re-rides of favorites in the morning. BBB early afternoon, character meets, and CRT for dinner. Maybe Happily Ever After if everyone can keep it together.
Day 9 - Depart

My youngest is 40" tall and quite brave, so we are expecting most non-coaster rides to be within our limits for all 5 of us. None of them need naps, but we will take some nice breaks in the AC around lunch time. Any thoughts and advice are welcomed and appreciated! Thanks!

This should work pretty well. Good for you for building in a couple of resort days. Those tend to be most kids' favorite days.

One thing I learned after having done this same thing a few times with similar aged kids is to maybe avoid some of the child swap rides unless they are truly "must dos" for someone. Back then, in my mind, child swap was something that was immediate and didn't need to be worked into a plan. But, lightning lane waits + pre-shows + ride time do add up quickly. Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, and Test Drive are killers that come to mind - they're just so long even with a return in the lightning lane - add 30 additional minutes for child swap for any of those, minimum. Haunted Mansion, BTMRR, and Space Mountain can also be killers to a lesser extent. If your child is tall enough to ride (at 40", for example, you'll all be tall enough for Slinky and 7DMT), but just doesn't want to, you all can do what's called an "internal child swap" where everyone waits in line and then swaps out at the exit. This is obviously a huge time saver. When we were there last weekend, they were big on pushing this, I think because it cut down the length of the LL.

And good for you for being willing to do HEA from the Poly beach. I wish someone said this to me years ago: you won't regret that. The most stressful part of every WDW trip for me has always been fighting the crowds before, during, and after the MK firework show because I felt like I was letting my kids down if we didn't go into the park. Let the kids swim right up until showtime, get them dessert for the show, they'll love it and remember it far more than sitting on a curb in a crowd for an hour with stressed out parents just to end up seeing the show through the phone of the jerk in front of them who wants to video the whole thing.

You could consider a Fantasmic VIP dinner package for the HS day. That would not only solve your dinner opening, but it would also get you VIP seating for Fantasmic, thereby saving you wait time for that show, if that's in the cards. My kids loved the Sci-Fi Drive In because it's total kid food and ice cream.

For your EPCOT day, either walk directly to the TTC for the EPCOT monorail or take an Uber. Time is precious, and the two-part monorail trip directly from the resort can be a time killer.

If your kids are picky eaters, instead of Ohana, you could get dinner at the lounge right outside Ohana. They serve most of the popular Ohana dishes a la carte.

Enjoy your trip! The worst thing you can do is let FOMO get the best of you and try to do too much. It's infinitely better to skip a few experiences than it is to let FOMO dictate your trip. We skipped 7DMT one year and BTMRR another and the funny thing is: my kids will swear to you that they have gone on those rides every year since they've been tall enough! It's funny how kids' memories work.

 

[Buddhaman42]

Great resort choices! A few things that stood out to me:

Day #3 - Boma for breakfast. Jambo House is amazing!

Day #4 - Topolino's for dinner would be a great choice.

Day #5 - Snacks at EPCOT! Bakeries are a great choice: France, Germany, Norway yum! You can split snacks so you eat enough to keep your energy up (excuse for chocolate). Crepes at France are REALLY good! It helps to sit for a bit, people watch and clear your mind.

Day #6 - Liberty Tree Tavern might be boring for the kids.

Day #7 - Why not go to Captain Cook's at Poly and save more time for resort exploration? Kona is great, but food value is likely lost on the kids. Hand out what you save for trinkets.

The best advice I can give is to give the kids time to "smell the flowers" at the parks rather than racing from ride to ride. It sounds like you are type A (me too) so it may be a challenge, but it will pay off.

Enjoy!

Great recommendations! Haha, I have no idea how you possibly could have guessed l am type A. Stopping to smell the flowers is absolutely one of my biggest challenges and I appreciate that check. I know they are having a blast even if we aren't maximizing our days. I'll just have to add the flower smelling to my itinerary.

 

[Buddhaman42]

This should work pretty well. Good for you for building in a couple of resort days. Those tend to be most kids' favorite days.

One thing I learned after having done this same thing a few times with similar aged kids is to maybe avoid some of the child swap rides unless they are truly "must dos" for someone. Back then, in my mind, child swap was something that was immediate and didn't need to be worked into a plan. But, lightning lane waits + pre-shows + ride time do add up quickly. Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, and Test Drive are killers that come to mind - they're just so long even with a return in the lightning lane - add 30 additional minutes for child swap for any of those, minimum. Haunted Mansion, BTMRR, and Space Mountain can also be killers to a lesser extent. If your child is tall enough to ride (at 40", for example, you'll all be tall enough for Slinky and 7DMT), but just doesn't want to, you all can do what's called an "internal child swap" where everyone waits in line and then swaps out at the exit. This is obviously a huge time saver. When we were there last weekend, they were big on pushing this, I think because it cut down the length of the LL.

And good for you for being willing to do HEA from the Poly beach. I wish someone said this to me years ago: you won't regret that. The most stressful part of every WDW trip for me has always been fighting the crowds before, during, and after the MK firework show because I felt like I was letting my kids down if we didn't go into the park. Let the kids swim right up until showtime, get them dessert for the show, they'll love it and remember it far more than sitting on a curb in a crowd for an hour with stressed out parents just to end up seeing the show through the phone of the jerk in front of them who wants to video the whole thing.

You could consider a Fantasmic VIP dinner package for the HS day. That would not only solve your dinner opening, but it would also get you VIP seating for Fantasmic, thereby saving you wait time for that show, if that's in the cards. My kids loved the Sci-Fi Drive In because it's total kid food and ice cream.

For your EPCOT day, either walk directly to the TTC for the EPCOT monorail or take an Uber. Time is precious, and the two-part monorail trip directly from the resort can be a time killer.

If your kids are picky eaters, instead of Ohana, you could get dinner at the lounge right outside Ohana. They serve most of the popular Ohana dishes a la carte.

Enjoy your trip! The worst thing you can do is let FOMO get the best of you and try to do too much. It's infinitely better to skip a few experiences than it is to let FOMO dictate your trip. We skipped 7DMT one year and BTMRR another and the funny thing is: my kids will swear to you that they have gone on those rides every year since they've been tall enough! It's funny how kids' memories work.

Brilliant tips. Thank you. I can't believe I hadn't thought of doing our own makeshift "internal child swaps". That honestly makes way more sense for our family in a lot of scenarios. My little won't mind hanging out with everyone in a line, she is a trooper. Can you think of any rides this definitely won't work on? Rise of Resistance comes to mind, where you don't enter and exit the ride at the same place.

 

[BlueGreen5]

Brilliant tips. Thank you. I can't believe I hadn't thought of doing our own makeshift "internal child swaps". That honestly makes way more sense for our family in a lot of scenarios. My little won't mind hanging out with everyone in a line, she is a trooper. Can you think of any rides this definitely won't work on? Rise of Resistance comes to mind, where you don't enter and exit the ride at the same place.

First, they won't let you do it on any ride where she's not tall enough. That's too much of a liability for them if they were to let her in line.

We did it on Slinky, 7DMT, BTMRR, and Space Mountain last weekend (one of my older kids, who's still not quite old enough to be left alone, does not like roller coasters). We didn't ride Tron, Everest, Cosmic Rewind, or ToT, so I'm not sure about those. All of us went on everything else (incl. RoR), so I wasn't paying attention to how the exit works on any of those. They do have a lot of backstage passages that they use for people who freak out while in line . And, a lot of times, they'll let people in ECVs go so far and then meet up with their group later. So, it's definitely a good question to ask, even on RoR. I hate to ruin the magic a bit here, but a lot of these incredible rides are rather simple layouts surrounded just by a lot of smoke, mirrors, lights, and distractions. It doesn't hurt to ask!

Like I said, the CMs last weekend were thrilled to give us the internal swap. I think they are getting a lot of pressure to keep the LLs short because of all the negative DAS feedback lately and this accomplishes that. So, their attitude towards it made me feel like it was a win-win. If they physically can do it, I think they will.

 

[cruising spud]

Although we don't buy tickets for out arrival and departure day, we do buy tickets for every other day of our trip, even our down days. Once you get past a certain point, add on days are worth it. This gives you a chance to go to the parks for a meal or a ride or two or some relaxed shopping without any rushing. You are at Disney, surrounded by parks. You will probably be tempted to hit a park.

 

[sponica]

I have been weighing this cost/benefit myself. My wife has adamantly requested rest days as she has Lupus and going hard for too long can wear on her. For that reason we are going in January for the mild weather. The kids have and will swim happily in 70 degree weather, but I do see the resort day becoming problematic if it drops into the 60s or lower while we are there. I probably should snag at least 6 day tickets just as a backup. Thanks.

Our first couple trips were shorter and packed to the brim because it's what we could afford, but since we've been able to swing the longer trips it's been soooooooooo much easier. I don't feel compelled to jam pack the entire day. Obviously whatever works for you is what works for you, but instead of a full day off with no parks, I'd do a late start day and stack rides with Genie+ or an early start and call it a day around dinner time.

Personally I find a morning at Disney springs more exhausting than the parks, but that's just me.

 

[Figment Mom]

Keep in mind you can always add days to your tickets while you're there (as long as you haven't used the last day). So just play it by ear. Maybe you and the older kids will want to head to a park for a little while. You just pay the difference in ticket price.

We split up sometimes. It's hard to keep lots of people happy so we have times when people go off on their own or join us later. Makes for a happier trip sometimes.

My 7-year-old loved the Pirate's Adventure in MK. It's basically a scavenger hunt type of activity with missions.

We also love the fireworks dessert parties. The food is okay but we do it to not fight the crowds for a spot.

They used to have a Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise. I wish they'd bring that back!

 

[lanejudy]

We always plan at least one or two non-park days. With your wife's situation it makes perfect sense. Don't underestimate using transportation as a "ride" in and of itself for your non-park days. Boat to somewhere, skyliner, etc. especially if your wife needs a rest and you need to get the kids out of the room.

Did I miss when this trip will be? If it's in 2025 make note that you'll have 2 days "free" admission to a waterpark with your split stay -- check-in day for each.

Also as a split stay, be aware you'll have 2 different ADR days. One for the first stay and one for the second stay.

 

[BlueGreen5]

Although we don't buy tickets for out arrival and departure day, we do buy tickets for every other day of our trip, even our down days. Once you get past a certain point, add on days are worth it. This gives you a chance to go to the parks for a meal or a ride or two or some relaxed shopping without any rushing. You are at Disney, surrounded by parks. You will probably be tempted to hit a park.

Second this. We do the same thing for the same reason. Until you do it, you don't realize how many small things throughout the day subliminally add to the stress and exhaustion. I did the math not too long ago and I think it was something insane like $20/pp to go from a 7-day hopper to an 8-day hopper. That's cheaper than adding G+ for a day and far more effective!

Also, we never thought we'd be "those people," but we get the photo pass for every trip. Is it expensive? Yes. Can I ask people to take pictures with my phone? Yes. But, there's just something about being able to get a whole bunch of nice, happy family pictures over the years that really seems worthwhile. We've never done BBB, but I think you can hire a private photographer for an hour for that. That would also be something I would look into.

 

[Mouse Tracker]

As a "planner" type myself, I would offer up this- consider what "Day of the Week" when choosing park order

Where your group is traveling from/to would strongly influence those days, especially arrival/departure times (and mode)

Based on your posted schedule, maybe try HEA on the first MK evening with a resort day following. I wouldn't be up LATE the night before leaving (especially with young ones)

 

[Nancyg56]

I have been weighing this cost/benefit myself. My wife has adamantly requested rest days as she has Lupus and going hard for too long can wear on her. For that reason we are going in January for the mild weather. The kids have and will swim happily in 70 degree weather, but I do see the resort day becoming problematic if it drops into the 60s or lower while we are there. I probably should snag at least 6 day tickets just as a backup. Thanks.

We always buy extra days. The cost is minimal, and it gives us the ability to go into a park for a few hours if we decide we want to do so. Sometimes dinner in a park just sounds nice, or maybe going in for snacks and fireworks.

I woudl suggest you catch the MK fireworks earlier rather than later in your trip. If the kids are wiped out by that point in your trip, you may need to miss them.