how to schedule WDW for kids on Pacific time

[Iloveyoumost]

We've never done WDW with kids. FL is 3 hours ahead of us. My kids already are late sleepers/night owls.
With ADRs and scheduling FP+ I'm trying to figure out when to schedule dinners and how early to plan FP+. I'm not sure a 6:00 dinner would work for them. Or any tips on how to get them to adjust to the time difference? We will be there for 9 nights.

I'm starting to stress out about this.

 

[figment_jii]

I haven't tried to re-adjust kids internal clocks, but I also travel from the West Coast to WDW. For me, the trick is to not push it to much on the first day and do what I can to get myself on East Coast time. So it means going to be bed at my 'regular' time even if my body clock says its three hours earlier that first night and then try to get up as close to your 'normal' time as possible (but using an East Coast clock).

 

[Iloveyoumost]

I haven't tried to re-adjust kids internal clocks, but I also travel from the West Coast to WDW. For me, the trick is to not push it to much on the first day and do what I can to get myself on East Coast time. So it means going to be bed at my 'regular' time even if my body clock says its three hours earlier that first night and then try to get up as close to your 'normal' time as possible (but using an East Coast clock).

Thanks for adults it's easy because we can see the time. For a toddler and 5 year old not so much. We have a really early flight so I'm hoping that will help tire them our first day.

 

[figment_jii]

Thanks for adults it's easy because we can see the time. For a toddler and 5 year old not so much. We have a really early flight so I'm hoping that will help tire them our first day.

Yes and no...I think being able to read the time helps, but remember, the outside conditions are going to match. So that while you might feel like it's 5:00 pm internally and the clock says 8:00 pm...it's going to be dark like it is at 8:00 pm. So that should help. Otherwise, yes, I think getting the kids to bed a reasonable time (East Coast) will be very helpful.

 

[DrummerDad]

Whenever we travel back east (from NJ, live in CA) we always take the first flight out in the morning. Getting up at 4:30 am our time gets the kids semi-adjusted.

 

[Asnell]

We are West Coasters who often travel to the East Coast.

There are times when it behoves us *not* to adjust the kids' internal clocks. When traveling East for a family wedding, for example, keeping them on their West Coast wake up/sleep times allowed them to easily stay up and enjoy the wedding until its 11pm conclusion.

If you decide to do that (at least for the first few days -- their body clocks will likely adjust on their own by 1/2 hour to an hour a day) you could plan for sleeping in, making FP+ reservations for mid-day and early afternoon, and take advantage of later dinners (like 8pm) when it's easier to get reservations. Move the meals and wakeup times a little earlier each day, and leave any rope-dropping for the middle and second half of your stay.

Good luck!

 

[Kristina4109]

We've done this once before in 2009 and we're about to do it again in twenty-three days.

My kid is actually a pretty early riser (7:00 am) and goes to sleep fairly early (8:30 pm) so we always use our arrival night to watch fireworks while she's still fairly alert.

Our 2009 trip we hit IllumiNations our first night, and we've got FP+ for MSEP and Wishes for this trip. It was remarkable in 2009 how quickly she adjust to the new schedule, and we're expecting she'll do the same this trip.

 

[Iloveyoumost]

We are West Coasters who often travel to the East Coast. There are times when it behoves us *not* to adjust the kids' internal clocks. When traveling East for a family wedding, for example, keeping them on their West Coast wake up/sleep times allowed them to easily stay up and enjoy the wedding until its 11pm conclusion. If you decide to do that (at least for the first few days -- their body clocks will likely adjust on their own by 1/2 hour to an hour a day) you could plan for sleeping in, making FP+ reservations for mid-day and early afternoon, and take advantage of later dinners (like 8pm) when it's easier to get reservations. Move the meals and wakeup times a little earlier each day, and leave any rope-dropping for the middle and second half of your stay. Good luck!

Thank you. I think I'll plan our first few days for late dinners and last few days for earlier ones. I'm not going to count on rope-dropping because their schedule is too unpredictable.

 

[jodeeb]

We are west coasters too. We always take the earliest flight. We leave our home about 4:00am. Kids are dragging. Too excited to sleep on flight. We are staying at CR and we have Chef Mickey ADR at 9:00pm (6;00 on the west coast. After we eat we are usually exhausted and kids are able to go to sleep at a reasonable time. They are so excited to go to Magic Kingdom in the morning(we usually do 8:00 ADR at CRT or CP) that none of us have a problem getting up and going.

 

[Kelly014]

Honestly I think time changes are harder for adults. We have family in New Zealand and the time change is several hours difference and it can totally mess with you. We went when my DD was two, and she honestly did the best out of all of us! We let her sleep when she felt tired and she adjusted quickly otherwise. Maybe you can have an easy first day and leave some flexibility in your schedule the first few days. But I do think being able to look at the clock and *knowing* your not on the right schedule makes it tougher for adults/teens to adjust. I'm sure this can vary quite a bit, but that's been our experience. Lots of luck!

 

[Tres Vegas]

two trips (2009, 2012) w two boys, few days before our trip had them get to bed early and the following mornings up early by about an hour. We always arrive a few days before we tackle the parks anyway so they adjusted fine. Honestly they may be just fine. Have fun!

 

[michellelovesthemous]

We have always done red eyes so we leave the night before sleep on the plane and arrive in Orlando at 630am (3:30am) but we have had at least 6hrs of sleep and can usually start the day running. DD has done this routine since she was 5 and is now 16 we usually do a DTD day, tea at the GF,and a nice dinner at T-Rex Cafe, her favourite! it is busy but not terribly, a nice way to break into the humidity and time difference so when we get back to the room we are tired and ready for bed at 8pm to us 11pm on the FL clock