Itinerary help--5yo-81yo

[Tigger&Belle]

I think I'm finally figuring out our itinerary for our vacation. We'll be there long enough to really spread things out and will need to do that since our mom wants to see most everything, but gets tired quickly.

It will be me, my almost 5yo, my sister, and our 81yo mother.

My 5yo is 44" tall, daring, and will do anything he is tall enough for and most things several times.

My mother is in ok health, has never been to WDW, is mentally ok, but has a hard time walking far. We're trying to convince her to rent an EVC (or a wheelchair if she doesn't think she'd be able to handle an EVC), but she is being very stubborn (and the apples didn't fall far from the tree... ).

My mother will have a 7 day hopper and the rest of us have APs. We will all get 1 day Universal tickets.

I wish that my mom had an AP and then we could do more 1/2 days, but next best thing is having a rest day every few days to sleep in and regroup.

12/1 Arrival for Jake and I at POR for 4 nights...early to bed.

12/2 EE at MK Stay as long as we want, I figure early afternoon. Arrival of my mom and sister late afternoon, Maybe take the boat to Downtown Disney for dinner.

12/3 AK EE All day with dinner at Boma. If we tire out we can return to the room for a nap before dinner.

12/4 MGM EE Probably stay until late afternoon. If everyone is up to it stay fro Fantasmic, but I doubt we'd make it

12/5 Sleep in, transfer hotels to off-site timeshare, MVMCP that night

12/6 Epcot World Showcase. Doesn't open until 11am so I figured it would be a good thing to do after being up late the night before. Illuminations is at 9:30, but will play it by ear how late we stay, but I doubt it will be late.

12/7Universal Studios--stay all day, opening to closing. My mom will like just about everything here. Have a margarita at Margaritaville and then go to dinner somewhere fast.

12/8 MK Pretty much all day, hopefully stay for 6pm Spectro, but will have seen Wishes at the MVMCP so won't need to stay for that unless we want to see it again.

12/9 Day Off! If we are too tired the day before we can flip flop these days, but then will need to catch Spectro on another night or skip it. Don't know what we'll do--maybe Downtown Disney, shopping, etc.

12/10 Epcot Future World and maybe return to World Showcase

12/11 Park Day, but we'll see where we want to return to

12/12 Sleep in, check out of timeshare, check into Pop Century. Look around Pop, early bedtime

12/13 Another Flexible Park Day. If we want to return to AK then get there for EE, otherwise, wherever we want to return to

12/14 My mom and sister leave, check out of Pop, Jake and I have a park day (knowing him MK) and leave for airport by 2:30-3PM for our 5pm flight.

It's hard balancing everyones needs and wants, but I think this pretty much covers everything with some rest days thrown in to keep us going.

My sister and I are the type that will run ourselves ragged going all day, every day, so this is really a slow pace for us (we went in Feb with Jake and went 7 days straight).

T&B

 

[dcmbshafe]

That's a slow pace?!?!?! I think you have a very aggressive schedule for two whole weeks.

There were two ideas I had when I was reading through your post. First, I was wondering whether you might consider taking a mid-day break on a couple of the days. This would help mom and DS recouperate a little bit. Second (trying to play a little psychologist here), I was thinking maybe you and your sis should lay off mom about the wheelchair leading up to the trip, then when she realizes how tiring it is, maybe she'll have a change of heart.

Anyway, you've obviously put a lot of effort into the planning and it is an awesome itinerary. I'm sure you'll all have a great time.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You have a point about not mentioning any more about the wheelchair/EVC! Right now my mom is visiting my sister in the FL panhandle and I do hope my sister brings our mom to Wal-mart, etc so she can actually try out an EVC. I think that my mom is worried that she won't have control when using the EVC, which is a valid concern. If she tries one out it might help convince her one way or the other.

But other than that, we'll just not mention it until we're there. Maybe have my sister tell her that we'll just decide at WDW if she wants it. Hopefully she'll rent one, but if not we'll just go at her pace.

We're kind of a commando family so taking a day (or days in this case) off goes against our nature. I went to WDW with only my husband the end of September and decided that, since he's not a Disney nut, that the trip would really be for him (afterall, I had already gone once and had two more trips planned, all to use that darn AP). We did lots of half days in the park, went back to the room every afternoon, etc. It ended up being a lot of fun even though we didn't see nearly as much as we normally would have. My husband had a great time, BTW.

As to the mid-day breaks, that would work for the days that we are staying onsite, but I don't think the timeshare is real close to Disney (between WDW and Universal I think) so we'd waste a lot of time in the car. I'll see if I can work in some mid-day breaks for our onsite days, though. My son would probably enjoy a pool break if the weather is warm enough (he's a perpetual motion machine who will go until he can't go any more and then will collapse into the stroller).

Thanks for the ideas! T&B

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Bumping this back up....

I'm now second guessing myself. Wondering if we should NOT go to the two EE parks oour first two days all together. Maybe we should flip those two days and go to MGM on Friday and AK on Saturday. I'm concerning that my mom won't be able to be ready early enough (the rest of us are fine with EE).

T&B

 

[Grumpy92]

I had the same problem with my 70 yr old father. He had a bad hip and walking extensively was painful. He refused to get a wheelchair. Needless to say we took things at a slower pace and took lot of lets sit and enjoy the atmosphere breaks/snack breaks.

I would also suggest the midday break. We go early do what we can and then have a sit down lunch. Sometimes it is lunch in the park or at a resort but we return to our resort to lounge by the pool or take a nap, then return to the park for dinner or afterwards. It really does give you a much needed rest and makes visiting the parks more enjoyable. You will be there long enough to enjoy everything and still take it slow.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Hmmm, maybe we do want to do the EE if we end up taking a mid-day break. I'm thinking about this entirely too much.

Since my mom is with my sister right now I'll ask my sister about what time we wouold be able to get to the parks. To make matters worse, my mom lives in Oregon, so she has jet lag. She might be adjusted to the time change by then, but she doesn't like to get going quickly under the best of conditions, though.

Decisions!!!!

T&B

 

[Bill From PA]

This March I took my extended family to 'The World' for 8 days and the party included my 78 yr. old mom. As it happens, my SIL manages sales for a company that makes those personal scooters and he arranged to get one for mom delivered to Swan. Before departure, she expressed reservations about using it or even needing it, despite having both knees replaced. All it took to convince her of it's value was the brisk hike through Atlanta airport to catch our connection. She could barely keep up and we had limited time to catch our flight. She had no trouble controlling the scooter and that device saved our trip. She had a ball, and even did the ToT and Splash Mtn. I'd be prepared to get one in the likely event that one is needed.

Bill From PA

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Bill,

My sister's plan is to bring her to Downtown Disney on the first night and then walk her around. After realizing that that walking is nothing compared to the parks she'll want to order the EVC. And if not, we'll rent a wheelchair on an as needed basis or take it very slow.

Wish us luck.

T&B

 

[dcmbshafe]

One other idea I had, which may or may not work for you is whether you could build a little "divide and conquer" into your itinerary. You and your sister can trade off taking DS and mom separately once in a while. While you certainly wouldn't want to do this every day (and may have practical transportation considerations when not on-site), maybe a few of these could help at the margin, particularly if DS is chomping at the bit to get up and get to the park and mom wants to take a little extra time a couple mornings. There might also be some times within the parks where one of you can hang out with mom for a little rest break while the other runs around with the 5yo.

We do a little of this every trip where DW and I may go in different directions with DD and DS. We try to do as much as possible together, but sometimes it just makes sense to split up. We have motorala walkie-talkies that we take a long so that we can communicate inside the parks and this really helps us meet back up.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

dcmbshafe

The dividing and conquering would work, as long as my sister is not always the one stuck with our mom (that sounds bad, which I don't mean) since my sister wouldn't like that. My son is usually good about not being clingy to me, but lately he's really been a momma's boy. He might be fine with his aunt, just like he's been fine being left with his siblings, it's my husband who has had issues (it's a stage--sometimes he prefers my DH to me).

My mother is also very good at just staying put by herself for a little while when she gets tired. Of course we wouldn't want to do that for long periods of time, but she enjoys people watching and won't be upset when we do that from time to time.

That's a good reminder to bring my walkie-talkies. I'm used to keeping in touch with cell phones (when I go with my DH and kids), but my sister's cell phone plan doesn't have the minutes or long distance that mine has so the walkie talkies would be worth trying. I'll go find them right now. Thanks!

Any other suggestions?

T&B