How does my touring plan look?

[mobes_jk]

I'm getting a bit worried about our upcoming trip, due to the fact that we are going during the busy season, we have 3 small children, and we will be a part of a pretty big group for most of the trip (12 people). My touring plan is mostly following where my in-laws are going to be. I am not sure that it allows for going back to our hotel much, due to the size of our group. Can you guys give me some thoughts on this:

Sat. June 12: Islands of Adventure for most of the day (staying offsite this night)

Sun. June 13: Universal Studios until early evening when family arrives at PC.

Mon. June 14: MK a few hours in morning, then DS with the rest of our group. (Want to see Parade @ DS and Fantasmic)

Tues. June 15: AK all day

Wed. June 16: Epcot EE until late. (Want to see Illuminations)

Thurs. June 17: TL until early afternoon, MK later with 6:00 pm dinner res. (Want to see Spectro and Wishes)

Fri. June 18: MK until around 6 pm, with CRT res. afternoon and Boma in the evening. (Would like to see 3:00 pm parade) Might try E-night if kids are doing well or can find babysitter.

Sat. June 19: Sea World most of the day.

Does it seem like I should include afternoon breaks to you? It looks like we should at least do this on Wed. and Fri. I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys have! Thanks

 

[punkin]

If it was me, I'd think Monday, Wednesday and Friday all look like they could use an afternoon break. However, you are travelling with really young children. They WILL have a breakdown at some point if you follow this schedule (even with 3 afternoon breaks during the week). You have to try to work in naptime every day otherwise, you'll be miserable.

 

[jcemom]

There is no way my kids could have kept up that schedule at that age without a meltdown, probably sooner rather than later. Heck, the boys were 9 and 10 when we went in February and they wanted swim breaks almost everyday! lol I would definitely suggest taking breaks, even if it means splitting up from the group and meeting them again later on. After all, if your kids aren't happy, you won't be happy either...I'm sure any parent would understand that one, huh?

You will have a much more enjoyable vacation, even if you see/do less, taking it at your kids' pace than you would trying to see/do everything and totally wearing everyone out, IMO.

 

[julfre]

A full day at epcott with kids that young is going to be very tiring. I'd just be prepared to back off the scheule when you see everyone not having fun. It's going to be hot and busy so just remember the point is to have fun, not to see everything. With a group the size of 12, make sure people feel it is ok to split off when they want to do something different( go swimming, nap, etc)

 

[mobes_jk]

Yes, you guys are right. It is too hard to do Disney without breaks. My only concern was that we will end up ditching everyone else. I just hope they understand (I'm sure they will). Maybe they'll all want to take these breaks with us so that we can at least spend some non-Disney time together, since we haven't seen them all in quite a while. I thought that we might feel guilty about leaving them because my dh's parents have paid for a good portion of our trip this time.

Thanks for your thoughts, we will definitely have to do this for the kids' benefit.

 

[flyball]

I don't think you'd be able to keep up this schedule even without such young kids! Friends of ours just returned and said it was extremely hot, which adds to the fatigue factor. Our most recent visit was last August and our DDs were 11 and 12. Not only did we schedule afternoon breaks, but we decided before we left that our break from the park would be determined by the first person to tire. It turned out to be our most relaxing Disney vacation to date and we really enjoyed the resort as well. We didn't come home feeling like we needed another vacation. We love taking everything in, but find if we try to cram too much in, we're too tired by day 3! We're returning in August and plan on touring the same way we did last year. Have a great vacation!

 

[punkin]

you'll have other vacations. There's no reason to run yourself ragged.

 

[dougsmom98]

My mother paid for a good portion of our last trip when our twins were 2 and our oldest son was 4. After the first day two days she had to take a break from us. She loves us and our kids, but unless you are used to the constant needs of children that age, it can be trying. In some ways we slowed down the rest of the group, there were 10 of us, because our needs were so different from everyone elses. We decided quickly that it was ok to split up and do what interested us. For several of the days, we went to the same parks and met for lunch and the parades, but for other days we just went our separate ways and met back at the hotel in the late afternoon at the pool and found time to connect with each other then. The one park that we all stayed together in was AK. We found it to really lend itself to a group with a wide range in ages. I think you might explain to people ahead of time that you will start off the way you already have it planned and just warn them that you might not be able to stick to the plan and you hope there are no hard feelings.
-Amy

 

[mobes_jk]

Amy-

That's a little bit more encouraging. I see that we will have to make the trip a little more structured than we imagined so that we won't hinder everyone else, but still make it manageable for the kids. You're right about AK, too, which is a great thing because it shouldn't be so much of a problem as the other parks.

Thanks!