If you have kids years apart....

[la79al]

How do you do your DW trip? For example, my DSS is almost 14, but the littlest is going to be not quite 2. I know it won't kill him to wait for us to ride Dumbo or her to wait for Space Mountain. Do I just have DH take the older kid(s) and do the bigger rides while I hang out with DD? Do we wait to do bigger rides til DD passes out in the stroller? I'm honestly leaning more towards having DH take the older kids for part of each day and do the bigger rides, then we can stay together for the 'family rides' (HM, PoC, etc) but then I question how much of a family vacation it is if we are constantly split up....I want to be fair to all the kids and I know when I went with DD in December we went at a snails pace and were more excited about the ducks than Mickey. I already know the older kids top 3 must dos for each park and we will have the GAD FP so I think that will really help things too, not to mention it looks like we will get at least 6 full park days plus 2 half days. So, WDYT?

 

[BobbleClank]

How do you do your DW trip? For example, my DSS is almost 14, but the littlest is going to be not quite 2. I know it won't kill him to wait for us to ride Dumbo or her to wait for Space Mountain. Do I just have DH take the older kid(s) and do the bigger rides while I hang out with DD? Do we wait to do bigger rides til DD passes out in the stroller? I'm honestly leaning more towards having DH take the older kids for part of each day and do the bigger rides, then we can stay together for the 'family rides' (HM, PoC, etc) but then I question how much of a family vacation it is if we are constantly split up....I want to be fair to all the kids and I know when I went with DD in December we went at a snails pace and were more excited about the ducks than Mickey. I already know the older kids top 3 must dos for each park and we will have the GAD FP so I think that will really help things too, not to mention it looks like we will get at least 6 full park days plus 2 half days. So, WDYT?

Use the rider swap feature.

 

[la79al]

Use the rider swap feature.

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that I will be about 5 months pregnant at the time and will not be riding anything that DD can't ride regardless of how we do the planning.

 

[MickeyWanaBe]

Ours are 10 and half years apart. The last time we went the oldest was 13 and the youngest was 3. We used the rider switch pass. DS13 loved it because he got to ride everything twice. He would ride with both of us while the other waited with DS3. We would start off and do the rides for DS3 as a family, then come nap time (DS was a great stroller napper) we would do the bigger rides that he couldn't do. We would find a cool place to wait or find shops to stroll around while he nap and we took turns riding. If it wasn't nap time we would occupy DS3 with taking him on a small ride or getting a treat or just letting him "play".

You won't be able to use the rider switch pass, but I would still want to stay with the family on my family vacation, but that is me.

We also took DS to DL as a surprise for his 10th birthday when I was about 4 months pregnant. I went along with them and when they went on rides I couldn't ride I would just use the time to shops, seat and people watch or take pictures, whatever suited me.

With your youngest being not quite 2 they probably won't mind the wait while they do the bigger rides. We took our youngest 3 times before the age of 2 and they are just as happy to play in the giftshop with the toys.

 

[HunnyJar]

My son is 14 and my daughter will be turning 1 next week during our trip. I am also almost 3 months pregnant. Whew! The way we are handling the bigger rides is that I will either take my daughter to a show (like the Tiki Room, Country Bears Jamboree, etc) or shopping or even possibly just taking a bit of a break somewhere while my husband takes our son on rides. If our little girl just gets too tired and cranky, I have no problem heading back to the resort while my husband and son enjoy their time in the park. We just agreed we would meet up for dinner. My son also loves the little kid rides, so that isn't even an issue for us. He's so excited to see his sister's reaction to everything.

 

[growinupdisney]

I have DD15, DS 13 and dd2. They usually ride all the "kiddie" stuff my dd2 rides..they still like to. Anything she can't ride we either use the child swap or while they older kids ride dh or i will sit and enjoy the scenery while they ride. When they are are on BTM or SplMt my dh usually goes over to the play area etc. DD2 has been going since 8mo and we have never split up the family we all enjoy everything together!

 

[Bridge203618]

my stepdaughter is 14 and my daughter is 3. I haven't given it much thought be are going end of may/beginning of june. I want to stay together as much as possible. With that being said there will be rides my youngest cant ride and I am OK with staying with her as most of the rides she can't ride my husband will enjoy more than me. If it is something I really want to ride, he will sacrifice or we will go twice I guess. But i guess that brings up the question, what will we do when they are waiting in line. I hope that it turns out that there is things to do nearby so we arne't seperated for along time. Or maybe that will be character finding time, or shopping or just resting I don't plan to actually split up though...

 

[tzolkin]

My kids aren't quite that far apart (oldest is 11 and I have two little ones), but for our first trip oldest was able to ride everything and the other two did not meet any of the height requirements.

Some families split up, but we really like to stay together. Usually we just wait by the ride exit for attractions with a height requirement. We always use FP and rider switch, so the wait isn't too long. We bring food into the parks, so the little ones usually just enjoy a snack and people watching while we wait. A few times they would do something close by while DD and I or DH rode something else-- the loved to ride "The Blue Line" while we did Space Mtn for example. There's also a play area by BTMRR and Mission Space in Epcot that they enjoyed.

One night during our first trip, DH kept the little ones at the resort to swim and go to bed early while DD and I had a night out. We went to MK and just did whatever she wanted to-- all the "big" attractions, ate ice cream, watched the fireworks. It was a great bonding time and she was thrilled to stay out until 1am.

 

[mjkacmom]

We would do some rides together, and split up for others. We're all in pretty good shape physically, so crossing to the other side and back was never an issue. I'm guessing the longest we were in 2 groups was an hour.

 

[brightspark]

We don't have split age kids in our family, but DS was 18 months when we went in Jan this year, and we wanted to do stuff for him, plus the big rides and shopping for us. DS was very happy to wait looking round the ride stores whilst we rode (used rider swap and fp's), so I don't think you'll have problems with your little one... the big question is whether your older ones will be happy to wait / ride with you when you do the small rides...

Sometimes DH would pop off and collect fast passes whilst DS and I did a little ride, and then we'd meet up again, so maybe you could get them doing things like that. Guess the other thing is to make sure you mix the day up. keep alternating things for the older ones, and things for the younger ones! Would the older boys be able to take DD on some of the rides for you - that way they are riding with responsibility rather than trying to get them to ride for their enjoyment... And you and DH get to sit and have a few kid free moments... (some of the little rides have easy to watch outside lines, so you could easily keep an eye on them from a distance). Guess that will depend on how responsible the older 2 are...

 

[sk!mom]

First trip with DD, she turned 5 during the trip and DS was 16. We hadn't been since he was small so we all pretty much wanted to do everything so we mostly stayed together for Fantasy Land and most other tamer rides that DD could do. She was big enough and rode ToT and Test Track so we didn't ride too much that she couldn't.

When it came time for Space Mountain or RnR, DH would do something nearby with her. While we rode SM, they took an extra turn or two on Buzz. RnR they hung out in the gift shop.

We enjoy most things together but have no problem splitting up.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

We went in May and my DSS was 13 and I have 3 DDs, the youngest is 5! We wanted to stay together as much as possible. My DSS did not mind going through fantasyland one bit and my DDs didn't mind doing his must dos, like Lights motor action.

I didn't spend a whole morning in fantasyland though. To keep it fair we would do a few rides in each land and then move on saving the others for another day. And it looks like you'll have enough park days too! We had 2 full days plus a half day in the MK, 2 epcot days and 1 each for AK and DHS! Don't stress, all of my kids were just happy to be there! I had no complaints at all!

 

[JJsmama]

On my last Disney trip (tokyo) I was 8 months pregnant and my sons were 9 and 7. We still had a great time! I think being pregnant in the park is easier than having a baby or toddler in the park. We took things a little more slowly and took time to do things we normally skip, such as take a very slow tour on the Main Street vehicles there. Luckily I was in good shape, and the walking didn't bother me much.

In years past, we've gone to WDW with my own 2 sons and my sister's 2 sons. In general we split up for an hour or two a day to make sure everyone got to do what they really wanted. Otherwise, we could stay together. This summer with DS11, DS9 and Ds2, grandma and me, we will split up for an hour or so each day again. Mostly because it is not fun to be the one always left waiting with the baby. My mom doesn't like thrill rides anyway. She loves Philharmagic and other shows and IASW, Jungle Cruise etc. We will do those things all together, but when it comes time for the boys to do the bigger rides, she will do those things with the toddler again. It will be cool and more interesting than waiting outside. Also, my son will still be napping and we will take turns staying in the room with him in the afternoon. It will be too hot to nap in the stroller and a cranky baby is no fun at all...

 

[littlezar]

When we went last January, my oldest was not quite 14 and my youngest was 2 1/2. We did everything together. If the baby couldn't ride, we did rider swap and either hung out watching the ride, walking through a gift shop or something close by. For some rides, my oldest "paired up" with the baby ~ I definitely remember them paired up on Haunted Mansion, Dumbo & Nemo. I think this year I'm gonna let my oldest get "whiplash" from the soon to be 4 yr olds driving on the Indy Speedway!

 

[java]

Last year my 2 older ones were 11 and 15 - younger 2 -6 and 4. We did split up for a bit in MGM*I can't make the change. Since the 2 thrill rides there are in the same section of the park with not much else for us to do there. DH took the oldest back to ride Tower of Terror and RNR.
Then my 4 year old decided he wanted to ride TOT. So we got back in line. And baby swapped so he could ride twice in a row. (My 6 year old wouldn't ride)

My kids all wanted to ride the "baby rides" like Dumbo at he Magic Kingdom. So we generally stick together in MK. Or DH will take them on Space Mountain and we'll go ride Pooh again. Or drive the cars, or teacups.
We do bring our phones to keep in touch during these quick split ups. Makes it not feel like as much of a break if we don't do hours apart. Just a ride or two.