Is a 6am flight a bad idea w a 3-yr old?

[2binak]

It depends on the kiddos & family. We like to sleep in so when the airline recently cancelled our 7:30am flight and rebooked us on a 6am, we called and asked to be put on a mid-morning flight instead. While it would have been nice to be at the resort by 12:30pm and have the afternoon to settle in and relax, we know that being up & at the airport for a 6am flight would not make for a good start to our trip.

 

[glk2009]

Early morning flights are the best!

We just took DD (3 yrs, 4 months) on the 6 am flight to MCO and when we woke her up at 4 am, the first thing she said was "Is it time to go to Disney World?" Our DD is usually too excited to sleep on the plane or she will fall asleep during the descent. Go figure. But, luckily for us, she handles the lack of sleep quite well.

This past trip, we were lucky in that our room was ready when we arrived at POFQ, so we were in our room by 10:30 am. That was awesome. Whether or not our room is ready, we plan to have an early lunch at the resort.

If our room is ready, we take a nap after lunch and then spend the afternoon/evening in a park. It's worked out well for us. If the room isn't ready, we've gone to a park and DD has napped in her stroller when she was ready.

Have a great trip!

 

[monorailsilver]

I wouldn't hesitate! The earlier the better.

When I went to Disney when my oldest was 15 months, I thought I was being smart by taking a 1pm flight so she could nap at her normal nap time. She never napped! She fell asleep on DME on the way to the Poly.

My dh is the one that cringes at the early morning flight but since I am the one making the reservation, I just ask him if he wants to leave on this day at this time or that day at this time. Basically the same time.

The last time we flew with all 3 kids, we had an 8am flight out of White Plains which was a 1/2 from my parents house. My dad drove us. We left at 6am. I had all the kids clothes layed out (it was summer so no sweats) & woke them 1 by 1 to pee/brush teeth & get dressed. Then off we went. But that was 6am, 4am might of been harder but they still would of been excited.

I don't do a park on arrival or departure day. We are always so tired from getting up & sitting on a plane for 2-3 hours. We just hang out at the pool (my kids love to swim) & go to Chef Mickey's for dinner that night. Watch the Water parade from the beach & the fireworks from the pool. It is more of a relaxing day before the hustle & bustle of the parks.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Being I have 3 kids myself ( 3.5, 5 & 11)

When is ever a "good" time for kids to fly ?

There is always going to be some stress about it. Either running late, lines, not good seats, forgetting something, waiting once you get there, etc.

When we only had 1 child, we'd take the red-eye back and forth from Tampa to Frankfurt or Munich all the time. It was great going over, take off at night, sleep 6 hours on the plane, wake up to the morning and landing.

The other way around was always terrible no matter what you did, take off at 8:am, arrive at 3m the same day due to time zones and dredge through the day, and then spend 2 days with jetlag

 

[luvmy2babies]

If you think your child can handle it I say go for it. We did it when my daughter was younger and could like you say be "transferred" to the car. She's a heavy sleeper so I could dress her that morning. At 18 months we had an early flight. She woke up when I took off her jacket to go through security, but she was fine. She went back to sleep on the plane. We flew when she was 2. June so no jacket and she kept sleeping and they let me carry her through security. Not sure if they do that now. She didn't wake up until we were at the gate.

I'd love to do an early flight now, but she's 8 and not a morning person at all. And since dh is not here and it is just us, we can't get dropped off at the curb with the bags so she not only has to walk, but has to pull her own suitcase from the van. Earliest flight I've taken since she had to "walk the airport" is 10am. That allows us to pretty much leave the house about the same time we do for school/work.

I miss early flights, but unless she changes while my son (who is very much a morning person) is still transferrable, we probably won't be doing one. Thinking of trying for an after school flight for our next trip. We're 2 hours away by plane so as long as I could get a nonstop and we'd still get there early enough to use Magical Express I'd love to do that and just take the evening to eat at the resort, get settled and rest for the park the next day. Like another poster said, it adds a day, but would probably be worth it.

 

[pantherlj]

My kids did OK with an early flight (not Disney but I don't think destination matters) but *I* didn't! I kept waking up every hour all night long worried that I was going to oversleep/not hear the alarm/forgot to set the alarm, you name it! I got no sleep that night and was miserable

I paid a bit extra to fly later in the day this summer (to see 92 yr old grandma!)

 

[pinktink83]

It really depends on your child. We tried a night time flight and it was awful. DS was just so tired but couldnt sleep with all the stimuli. None of the snacks or toys I packed worked, b/c he didnt want to eat/play, he wanted to SLEEP. So he was just uber cranky and cried the whole time.

So after that I always tried to get early morning flights. You're right, they usually fall back asleep in the car on the way to the airport. And they'll be rested enough to have fun on the plane and eat breakfast and play with some toys. You may need to schedule in an early nap the first day at the park, but I think it should work out okay.

 

[lamb616]

we did a 7am flight with our 3 year old in February. Woke DS7 up a little after 4:00, he woke up DD and told her it's time to go to WDW and she jumped right up and said "We're going to Disney, YAAY!" Got a limo to the airport which the kids just loved. I was expecting (hoping) DD would fall asleep on the plane but she never did (only a 3 hour flight). We hung at the hotel for the afternoon, swam, then went to DTD around 4:00 and had supper there (T-REx). I think we were back in the room by 7ish and asleep by 8:00. She went all day without a nap (she still naps every day). I was a lot more tired than she was, lol.

 

[nicki.momof3]

YES...

We tried the 6am flight from STL to MCO several times....

I don't know who was worse... DS/DD or DW

We have since switched to the late night flight 10pm the evening before and it is MUCH better... DW is happy so that makes everyone

It costs another night stay of the hotel... but its been worth it for us!

We did the same thing. We (family of 5 with 3 kids under 8) used to take the 6am but switched to the evening flight (5:30pm).

The morning flight provided to long of a day for us with 3 little kids. By the time we arrived at the resort they needed some down time and sometimes our room was ready but sometimes not. They were also to excited to nap so they were way over tired and cranky.

Now we go to school / work all day and take an evenign flight the night before. We arrive at the hotel and go straight to bed. They wake up rested and ready to have fun. It is worth the extra cost of the hotel for happy rested kids.

Never again will I leave early - the night before is perfect for us.

 

[deuceswild10]

Last year our flight left at 6am out of DTW. My dd turned 3 during the trip and the youngest was 10 months old. (+ a 11 & 12 yr old) We live 1 hour from the airport. It was a tad stressful just because we had to get them up at 2:30am. I left them in their pajama's. We landed in Tampa right before 9am and headed over to the Tampa zoo b/c we were able to use our zoo membership there. I just changed them in the parking lot to shorts. (We went in Feb. and it was freezing in Ohio, which is why I left them in pj's. The older two of course were dressed.). By the time were done we drove to Orlando and checked in.

We leave in 4 days for our next trip and we again picked a 6am flight (so it couldn't have been that bad, right?! LOL). I wasn't looking forward to it. Nice thing the airline actually changed our flight departure time to 9:45am about a month ago! So it worked out in the long run.

Have fun ... you will all do fine on the early flight! I look at it as getting to Disney faster.

Oh my Gosh, I couldn't do this. Wake up at 2:30, land at 9, and then tour a zoo? Oh my.

 

[lamb616]

how does taking a 10pm flight work? I can't imagine doing that..... my kids go to bed at 7:30 so that would mean they wouldn't go to sleep until you landed and got to the hotel at 2-3:00 a.m.?? (at the very least they would nap on the plane for a couple hours but then still have to wake up for the airport, ride to the hotel, check in, etc.). Our entire next day would be a waste as we'd have to sleep most of the day???

 

[cel_disney]

We have always taken the 6:30/7am flight out of Logan for our disney trips - this includes when DS was 1, 2, 3, 4.5....the last trip I also had DD who was 4.5 months....it works best for us, we get the kids up, DS goes potty, we put them in the car in their jammies.

When DS was 1 and 2 we left him in his Jammies for the flight, but when he was 3 and 4.5 we changed in the car when we got to the airport.

We have not experienced any delays yet (KNOCKING ON WOOD!! We have booked this trip twice this year and I would hate for that to start now!!) because the plane and crew are usually on the ground the night before.

We generally use ME and have completed check in (but dont always have a room) by about noon. We usually grab lunch at the resort because everyone is hungry and then head to the parks getting there around 2ish...

Make sure that you pack all of your park gear in your carry on!

 

[AllieV]

Our ideal return time leaves about 2pm. That lets us lounge in the morning, have a character breakfast if we want. ME will pick us up about 11 am. And we are home before bedtime and in time to rescue the dog from whomever is dogsitting.

OP here. My return flight is 2:50 and I think it's good for the reasons you mentioned. I appreciate all the input on the early flight. I get him up around 6am-6:30am everday anyway, so I'll try to put him down a little earlier the night before. 4am is vastly different than 6am, but I have a nap planned for the afternoon when the room becomes available (hopefully before the usual 4pm availability).

The car ride to the airport is only about 15 minutes, so that won't help much as to sleeping. I doubt he'll sleep much after that. I'm one of those, "when I'm up, I'm up" people, but DH could sleep on the jetway at noon if you gave him a pillow. I guess we'll see who the kid takes after.

 

[maxiesmom]

OP--Are you staying the villa section or in a regular room? Because it seems the villas are very rarely ready early. (Try saying that 5 times fast, lol!)

 

[AllieV]

OP--Are you staying the villa section or in a regular room? Because it seems the villas are very rarely ready early. (Try saying that 5 times fast, lol!)

DVC Villas. The last few times I stayed, I got in early, but that was October and February. But good to know, thanks.

 

[loritemp]

Hey Allie are you flying out of Philly or Newark? Cause if it is Philly, you just might see me with my sleepy 3 YO on the early flight too!! We went down in March with my kids, oldest wasn't quite 3 and youngest was 11 weeks. Best advice I can give is take the day easy. We got there early, headed to BWV (same DVC location too, go figure) and our room was ready. We left and were ont he go til nighttime. Bad idea. The baby was fine but my older son was wiped out and it seemed like he never caught up all week. To be fair, he was also fighting a cold so that didn't help matters. We are taking the early flight again in Dec because it originates in Philly so that cuts down the chance of a delay, I would rahter get there early and relax than have to sit in the airport!!

 

[AllieV]

Hey Allie are you flying out of Philly or Newark? Cause if it is Philly, you just might see me with my sleepy 3 YO on the early flight too!!

Newark. It's more expensive than Philly, but way closer. See you at the DVC then!