How to allocate 7 or 8-day PHs with young kids?

[cubed]

We have a 5yo and a 2yo so I am trying to schedule enough breaks to keep them in good moods. They are early risers no matter how late they go to bed at night, so I am confident we will be fine in the mornings. I added an extra night to our trip and currently have 7 day PHs (debating on whether to add an extra day). Should I add more time to AK? We will really be there for just lunch and an afternoon.

Friday - Arrival day (landing at noon), no plans besides pool and dinner at one of the resorts. If I add an extra day of tickets, should we try to do a dessert party this first evening?
Saturday - MK in the morning, leave for afternoon break, ADR for dinner
Sunday - RD at HS, leave for afternoon break, Star Wars Dessert Party at night (can switch this to our last night)
Monday - 8am Garden Grill reservation at EP, leave for afternoon break. Not sure where to go in the evening.
Tuesday - EP for late morning start, maybe stay and see if the kids can power through afternoon and leave by 4/5pm
Wednesday - 8:05am BOG reservation at MK, leave for afternoon break.
Thursday - AK for late morning breakfast at TH, power through afternoon and leave by 5pm
Friday - MK during EMH, BOG lunch then leave for afternoon break. We have Wishes Dessert Party on Terrace booked.
Saturday - Ohana late breakfast, flight out is at 5:30pm

 

[sharonabe]

Friday - Arrival day (landing at noon), no plans besides pool and dinner at one of the resorts. If I add an extra day of tickets, should we try to do a dessert party this first evening?

I don't think I would schedule anything that is non-refundable for arrival day. There are just too many things that could go wrong. If you get there and everyone is antsy to get into the parks, just go. You can add a day to your tickets anytime through the week, but I would wait until the next to the last day just to be sure you'll use it. You may find you want a complete break day in the middle of the week.

 

[megs1313]

A few questions from me right off the bat:
-where are you staying?
-when are you going?
-will you be relying on disney transportation

Friday - Arrival day (landing at noon), no plans besides pool and dinner at one of the resorts. If I add an extra day of tickets, should we try to do a dessert party this first evening?
-If your budget allows it, I would. we did this on a trip last april and it was just a fabulous way to kick off the magic. we were also able to get rides in by using FP+ so we knocked out some touring before the party.

Saturday - MK in the morning, leave for afternoon break, ADR for dinner
-Where is your ADR? You're not planning to return to MK after the morning?

Sunday - RD at HS, leave for afternoon break, Star Wars Dessert Party at night (can switch this to our last night)
-this sounds fine

Monday - 8am Garden Grill reservation at EP, leave for afternoon break. Not sure where to go in the evening.
-maybe an ADR in the WS or at one of the Epcot resorts? We had a fantastic dinner at trattoria al forno on our last trip and enjoyed the performers on the boardwalk. this depends a little on where you're staying.
-alternatively, you could use your PHs to take in Fantasmic or ROL

Tuesday - EP for late morning start, maybe stay and see if the kids can power through afternoon and leave by 4/5pm
-sounds fine

Wednesday - 8:05am BOG reservation at MK, leave for afternoon break.
-this is another day where you might want to use your PHs to check out another park in the evening.

Thursday - AK for late morning breakfast at TH, power through afternoon and leave by 5pm
-totally great plan for AK, IMO.

Friday - MK during EMH, BOG lunch then leave for afternoon break. We have Wishes Dessert Party on Terrace booked.
-I might swap the dessert party for the first night. you're gonna be fatigued by this point in your trip and might not enjoy being out that late. JMO!

Saturday - Ohana late breakfast, flight out is at 5:30pm
-Ohana is a great send off breakfast!

 

[KalamityJane]

I have 4, 6 and 8yos and our day is
Sat - Arrive early morning, ME to resort - pool day. Probably nap in the room as soon as it is open to us.
TREX that night for dinner.

Sun - MK day, will probably schedule lots of down time mid day.

Mon - HS - half day, pool the rest of day. Maybe go for fireworks.

Tues - AK - half day, pool.

Wed - Pool day

Thurs - MK day, lots of downtime mid day again

Fri - Epcot, lots of downtime

Sat - leave.

I'm going to try and go all day with mine on the MK and Epcot days but we may go back and chill for a few hours and come back later. The kids and I will have APs but some of our party has 1 park passes, so if we leave on those days, we will come back to the same park.

 

[cubed]

Thank you for responding!

@megs1313 We are heading there next month and staying at AoA and renting a car.

i have Mickey's Backyard BBQ booked for our first night since my ILs will be in town and want to join us for dinner somewhere. If I add an extra day of tickets, I can move that to Saturday night so we can do the Wishes dessert party our first night.

Saturday I booked Ohana at 4pm and Crystal Palace at 7:15pm. Ohana is the option with my ILs if I add an extra day. Otherwise, I think CP would be fun.

I have La Hacienda booked at EP for Tuesday night early dinner but maybe I should get us back to the hotel super early so we can make the BOG breakfast the next day.

@KalamityJane thanks for sharing your plans! I didn't plan a full pool day in the middle of the week, maybe I should hold off on adding an extra day of tickets until I see a need.

 

[shellyj]

I wouldn't try to manage a park day with kids that young, especially if this will be their first trip. The kids will love exploring the resort and the pool. Backyard BBQ is an awesome way to kick off the trip, especially with your inlaws there. My kids were 5, 4, and 2 when we did that and it was perfect. We're taking some first timers next January and it's back at the top of my list

 

[Hopefully]

We have a 5yo and a 2yo so I am trying to schedule enough breaks to keep them in good moods. They are early risers no matter how late they go to bed at night, so I am confident we will be fine in the mornings. I added an extra night to our trip and currently have 7 day PHs (debating on whether to add an extra day). Should I add more time to AK? We will really be there for just lunch and an afternoon.

In general I would consider that your children are young. Many families find that it is really important to try to keep as close to home schedules (eating times and bed times) as possible. I agree a mid day break for a nap is essential.

Friday - Arrival day (landing at noon), no plans besides pool and dinner at one of the resorts. If I add an extra day of tickets, should we try to do a dessert party this first evening?
Are your Inlaws with you this night for Backyard Barbeque? I wouldn't add dessert party to that.

Saturday - MK in the morning, leave for afternoon break, ADR for dinner
Please choose one ADR and cancel the other. It is really not fair to other families to be holding multiple ADR's for the same meal while they may not be able to get one. I would go with the earlier ADR and get the kids to bed early.

Sunday - RD at HS, leave for afternoon break, Star Wars Dessert Party at night (can switch this to our last night)
Will your little ones enjoy this? If you are going to make an 8 AM ADR at Epcot, you will need to leave AoA early

Monday - 8am Garden Grill reservation at EP, leave for afternoon break. Not sure where to go in the evening.
Sounds great. I would head back to Epcot for the evening

Tuesday - EP for late morning start, maybe stay and see if the kids can power through afternoon and leave by 4/5pm
Good Whats for dinner?

Wednesday - 8:05am BOG reservation at MK, leave for afternoon break.
Evening? Maybe back to MK?

Thursday - AK for late morning breakfast at TH, power through afternoon and leave by 5pm
I think this works for AK. Early to bed for early morning without a nap

Friday - MK during EMH, BOG lunch then leave for afternoon break. We have Wishes Dessert Party on Terrace booked.
Long Day even with break

Saturday - Ohana late breakfast, flight out is at 5:30pm

See answers above

 

[shm_helene]

We have a 5yo and a 2yo so I am trying to schedule enough breaks to keep them in good moods. They are early risers no matter how late they go to bed at night, so I am confident we will be fine in the mornings. I added an extra night to our trip and currently have 7 day PHs (debating on whether to add an extra day). Should I add more time to AK? We will really be there for just lunch and an afternoon.

Friday - Arrival day (landing at noon), no plans besides pool and dinner at one of the resorts. If I add an extra day of tickets, should we try to do a dessert party this first evening?
Saturday - MK in the morning, leave for afternoon break, ADR for dinner
Sunday - RD at HS, leave for afternoon break, Star Wars Dessert Party at night (can switch this to our last night)
Monday - 8am Garden Grill reservation at EP, leave for afternoon break. Not sure where to go in the evening.
Tuesday - EP for late morning start, maybe stay and see if the kids can power through afternoon and leave by 4/5pm
Wednesday - 8:05am BOG reservation at MK, leave for afternoon break.
Thursday - AK for late morning breakfast at TH, power through afternoon and leave by 5pm
Friday - MK during EMH, BOG lunch then leave for afternoon break. We have Wishes Dessert Party on Terrace booked.
Saturday - Ohana late breakfast, flight out is at 5:30pm

We went this summer with a just 6 and almost 4 year old. We used All Star Sports for two nights (one was the arrival night, which was at 1AM due to plane being delayed 3.5 hours) and then transferred to Poly. Here was our schedule:

Day 1 - AK with break in the middle of the day, returning at night
Day 2 - MK (with a PPO at BOG), leave middle of day for pool/nap, return at night
Day 3 - HS for AM EMH (would never do again, line for TOyStory was 40 mins - went before fireworks later in the week and got 4 consecutive FP), pool/nap, Epcot in the PM (we find Nemo, etc is great at this time - totally walk on but if you want to do living with the land or eat at sunshinse seasons it closes at 7)
Day 4 - AK for AM EMH, pool, MK
Day 5 - Off day, late breakfast (1030) reservation at 1900 Park Fare. Nothing else that day (last time on our off day we went off to go out for lunch and shop at the one outlet store and it took so much time, so this was about as daring as I would get for an off day, we walked to Grand Floridian)
Day 6 - MK for AM EMH, pool/nap, late evening to night at HS (also met Olaf with no wait, did Star Wars with no wait, Frozen show no wait, and Toy STory as earlier mentioned)
Day 7 - Epcot AM, return pool/nap, sent kids to Lilo's Playhouse at night
Day 8 - MK (did Family Magic Tour), left around 5/530 for plane home.

Didn't do a lot of sit downs (just one). It's so much time and it's $ and I just don't enjoy the constraints of little kids and sit down restaurants . I will say that it was nice meeting Jake, etc., at HOllywood and Vine in past years but a lot of the other character dining I could do by FP a M&G - so if I was to repeat I would do that one.

 

[cubed]

@Hopefully, thank you for the feedback! Yes I canceled the ADRs we will not use, just had to decide which night to have dinner with the ILs first. We will stick to Mickey's Backyard BBQ our first night in town, with no park activities planned.

Saturday - MK in the morning with a 1pm lunch at Crystal palace, afternoon break then Star Wars Dessert Party at night.

As far as enjoying HS, both of my boys love Disney Junior characters so they will love the H&V character meal for lunch. DS5 was also a stormtrooper this past Halloween and I dressed up DS2 as Yoda, lol. They will love the march and teh characters.

Tuesday - I rebooked our dinner at La Hacienda in EP to a 4pm time. We will be the first in line ;-)

Wednesday- After our afternoon break I was thinking of going back to MK OR see if we were up for AK at night.

Friday - Maybe we will ignore EMH and head to MK in time for our first FP, which has a 9:30am - 10:30am window (I think). I am also happy to cancel BOG lunch reservation to head back to the hotel so we can be well rested for the evening dessert party. Clearly I just want to eat all of the desserts.

 

[cubed]

@shm_helene Thanks for sharing your itinerary! I am scared of having too many sit downs with the boys but they don't do too bad if there's lots of activity around them. I will absolutely cancel if I see the first day or two isn't going well with sit down meals.

 

[shm_helene]

@shm_helene Thanks for sharing your itinerary! I am scared of having too many sit downs with the boys but they don't do too bad if there's lots of activity around them. I will absolutely cancel if I see the first day or two isn't going well with sit down meals.

It's a little bit of that and a little bit of the time - I could cut over an hour each time we didn't do a sit down, which is a lot of time at Disney BUT everybody has their own thing Good luck!