How's this for 2 adults and a 3 y.o.?

[bookworm2]

Hello

We'll be at WDW June 3-8... and we can't wait! I have been trying to figure out a schedule for the different parks, taking into account EMH and the Unofficial Guide's suggestions, and this is what I have:

• Sunday - (plane lands at 10a.m.) MGM, dinner at Hoop Dee Doo at 5p.m. (what to do after dinner??)

• Monday - MK all day, dinner at Whispering Canyon

• Tuesday - MK in a.m., Epcot in p.m., dinner at ESPN

• Wednesday - AK in a.m., Epcot in p.m. (possibly using 2 CS credits that day and no TS)

• Thursday - MK, dinner at Chef Mickey's

• Friday - MGM, breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, leaving parks for airport around 3

What do you think? Any suggestions? I know we may want to take breaks at the hotel mid-day... I'm thinking that I'll be Unofficial Guide Tour plan hard-core Mom in the mornings, and play it by ear in the evenings.

TIA!

 

[DavidOH]

Hi. I may not be an expert but I do consider myself an experienced amateur. Loking at your itinerary I see several problems.

For Sunday, if you plane lands at 10am realistically the earliest you could get to the park is 12N maybe 1PM(I am making the assumption you are staying at a WDW resort and taking ME). Going to MGM would not work. First there is alot for a 3y/o to see at MGM and getting there late in the day would make it next to impossible. Second I would allow 2hrs to get from MGM to HDDR.

I always like starting at MK esp for firtsttimers. I would suggest going to MK for the remainder of the afternoon and doing some of the less travelled rides such as the carosel and maybe seeing Beele's Story Time. The Tea cups are always good or seeing what the FastPass times are for Buzz Lightyear or Peter Pans Flight or The Pooh ride. You should be able to get several things that afternoon. From there it is a quick boat ride to the HDDR I would suggest leaving the park at 4 or 4:15.

See how you feel from there( you may be tired) YOu could walk around the campground, see the camp fire or return to recharge for tomorrow.

Monday my suggestion is get there early. (my favorite saying is we are opening the park) With a good plan you can go on more rides before 11am than you can the rest of the day. Take a break in the middle of the day if you need it.


Tues MGM again get there early. Plan ahead and map out what you want to do. This part is great for a 3y/o esp if they watch the Disney Channel. From there you can take the boat or walk to ESPN cafe and then it's another boatride to EPCOT.

Wed at AK. Go to the Safari ride first It is still cool and the animals are more active. Great places for CS. Tusker HOuse and Flaming Tree are among the best. We usually do TS at EPCOT so I can't help you there.



Thurs Take a break in the middle of the day and go swimming or just find time to finally relax.

Friday. Looks good.

The best piece of advice I can give anyone is you can't do it all. Pick out what's most important and try to do that, but don't be afraid to alter your plans if you need to.

Have a great trip

I hope this helps. Sorry so long.

 

[bookworm2]

Thanks for your response! I wasn't aware it would take so much time to do MGM. We wanted to go there that day because it's a Star Wars Weekend (and my DH is a SW dork)... but I will look and see if it's also SWW the next Friday.

Thank you very much!

 

[Elmo888]

That sounds pretty busy for a 3 yo.

Personally, I would pick your least fav. park and skip it. We went in Jan. with a 6 yo and 2 yo for 8 days, and I wish that we had skipped MGM (not my fav). DDs were not very into the shows. I liked watching them at Playhouse Disney with the mosh pit, but they rarely mentioned anything that we saw at MGM (DD6 did talk about the Muppets 3D).

We scheduled only 1 day for AK, which may be doable for 2 adults, but we found that we really enjoyed it and went back on our last day. Just be flexible.

I would also schedule a day of down time. I scheduled one and wish that I had scheduled 2. And we went back to the resort for naps (even our 6 yo took naps most days). With a day of down time, you could just hang out at the resort and head to a park in the mid to late afternoon.

And I agree with the above poster. I would either skip the parks on the first day and just go to FW and hang out a little early or go to MK for a few hours and then to FW. For my kids, it was their first plane ride, so we already had a lot of excitement for the day. Plus, my normally napping 2 yo completely missed her nap. We had a late lunch at the resort and then swam.

 

[devotedchristian]

That sounds pretty busy for a 3 yo.

I agree. I know every child is different (there is no way my 3 year old could handle your schedule) but can you some down time...just a day at the resort?

I'm not "expert" but your plan is definetly commando style for a preschooler.

Our first day is head straight to the resort and relax the rest of the day.

2nd day is Universal Studios. Touring time is 8:30am-1:00 and relaxing at the resort the rest of the day.

We have several small kids coming and we knew given their temperaments/personalities, we have to plan LOTS of downtime to avoid meltdown/tantrums.

You know your child best!

 

[Karrie Davis]

Well we were there right at about the time my son turned 3. He was so totaly done by 2 pm everyday. He would sleep untill dinner time and then we would all crash.

We got up early each morning and hit the parks - we did tour guide mikes basic staratgy and it worked perfect. We did go in November and crowds were lower then summer but we got everythin done and did lots of repeats with his plan.

Generally we ate an early lunch and left by 1:30 each day. We always ate in our room so we could be at the parks neer opening.

We had a great trip, it was fun and relaxing all at the same time

 

[mom2aredhead]

What time did you wake up on Sunday morning to get on the flight? I also had great plans for our Sunday arrival, until I realized...
We're also arriving around 10:00 am -our plane leaves NJ at around 7:00-ish, which means we have to be in the airport around 5:30-ish, which means we will have gotten up around 4:00 am. YUCK! (But totally worth it - I'll be at WDW!)
I'm thinking we'll probably go to right from the airport to DTD, do some shopping and have lunch somewhere, then go to the resort, (probably with my 3 year old sound asleep in the car as usual), check in, take a nap (all of us), hopefully wake up in time for our 6:30 dinner reservation at Chef Mickey's, then go to MK pm EMH for a little while, assuming we sleep during the day. If not, we'll cancel our Chef Mickey reservations (no DDP, so no harm done), skip the pm EMH at MK, go for a swim instead (weahter permitting), grab some CS at the resort for dinner, get a good night sleep and start fresh in the morning.
Also, if your 3 yr old is anything like mine, you'll need more than 1/2 day at AK - he loved seeing the animals. It's not really a commando-style park - there's lots to see if you slow down and absorb it.

ETA: Plan on EVERYTHING just taking longer with the 3 year old in tow - like lunch being FOREVER because the bird is eating a french fry on the ground and it's fun to watch, having to stop at EVERY SINGLE BATHROOM to avoid accidents, riding Small World 42 times in 1 day because he likes the "happy clock" at the enterance..I could go on and on...Lets just say plans with toddlers go out the window more often than not.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I agree with the majority that your schedule sounds VERY busy for a 3 yo. I have a 3 yo DD.

We will be at WDW May 30- June 3 and will be taking it easy. It will be crowded and hot since its summer. The parks will be open late also, so you can schedule afternoon breaks without a problem.

Also doing 2 parks in 1 day is very difficult. Kids get tired fast. A 3 yo can get tired and in meltdown mode very easily.

I made the mistake of doing commando park touring when DS was young. Now DS is 8 and DD 3 and now I know better. I schedule ADR's and the park and we just take the day as it comes. Its difficult to have a complete mapped out plan with young children.

Have fun!

 

[jenseib]

I agree wit the others. you schedule will most likely not work well. I would forget park hopping for the most part. Not worht it wiht a small one. I just went with my 2 YO and she walked most of the day, so it was slow moving. I would schedule your TS meals for the park you are going to be at ,or closest to the park, It can take some time to get to these places, and it will cut down on park time then too.
Our 2YO is a late nighter, and sleeps in. We did the evning EMH on the Sunday we arrived and did so much stuff. Hardly any waits at all. We also stayed after the fireworks at MK one night, and road alot of stuff as well, since most head up front as soon as the fireworks are over.
We skipped MGM too. There is a few things she would've liked, but for the most part she would be board with alot of it.
Schedule character meals if you 3YO likes them. Our does, and she was well behaved at the meals waitng for the characters to come. Also consider your childs favorite foods when booking meals. If they have something they like, they wil leat and sit better. Our 2YO doesn't eat al lthe time, but whe nshe likes food she will eat it, and even though she was on her hunger stike the week we went, she did eat some stuff becuase it was her favorites.
If I were you, I would totally revamp your schedule. I would do 1 park a day, and schedule time for swimming too. My 2YO refused to nap while we were there, and I expected it, but we did some slower paced things then as well. We even just rode the monorail around for relaxing time.

 

[CastleCreations]

One thing I saw, is that you won't be at the MK in the evenings to see the fireworks. They are a definate don't miss.

 

[Elmo888]

I wanted to add that I don't think that doing 2 parks in one day is difficult as long as the second one is after the nap and the main purpose is to eat dinner and hang out. We did this, and it was fine. We often went to a different park around 4 or 5, after nap, and had dinner. We didn't do any hard core touring in the evenings though. We often had dinner at Epcot, and then we just hung around WS. We had dinner at MK one time, and we probably did 3 or 4 rides that evening. We just selected some of the non-busy attractions.

If you plan to power through a day (ie, no nap) and be back at the resort in the early evening (5 or 6), I would plan on only one park on those days (not something to do every day, but I wouldn't count it out on some days). We didn't do this because of our 2 yo, but when we go when she's 3, we might do this a few of the days, depending on how she's doing.

Just count on close to 4 hours for the nap, which includes travel time to and from the resort.

One more thing - bring snacks! Goldfish, raisins, etc. to tide your 3 yo from meal to meal and to keep from interrupting touring. This esp. helped when we were trying to wait for an ADR to eat, and DDs were hungry (this even helped with our 6 yo).