Jet Lag for Children - Tips?

[pinkfloyd]

Love this forum and can't wait for our first Disney World trip! We are a family of 4 and will be traveling from Las Vegas with a 5 and 8 year old. They have never been to the east coast, so I'm looking for some tips on combating jet lag.

When we go to Disneyland we usually get there right around the rope drop. I'm kinda freaking out thinking about waking up at 10am to get ready and catch the bus to the parks and arriving at noon!

Can anyone suggest any strategies? Should we just go with it and plan on staying until close? Keep the kids on Pacific time? We are planning on being there for 7 days with our first park day being Halloween party day.

TIA!

 

[Alesia]

The only way to eliminate jet lag is to start operating on the new time as soon as you get on the plane.

 

[lisahoo]

ITA with Alesia. I would jump in on Eastern time ASAP.

Do what all the guides recommend, get to the parks as early as you can, take an afternoon break, then on until dinner or fireworks. For us, going all the way back to the hotel wasn't an option (I know my kids, we would have never gotten back out), so we left the park after the 3pm parade and rode the monorail a few times.

(Put your park essentials in your carry on bag so you don't need to waste time waiting for your luggage to arrive if you're staying onsite and using DME.)

Also, get as much outdoor time, fresh air and sunshine as you can -- it will help you to feel 'awake' when Florida is awake. Make sure you and the kids get plenty of water, too. (Too much caffeine makes me jittery, cold water actually works better for me. YMMV.)

If you can push on through the first day, you may still end up going to bed early, and wake up early the next morning (rope drop! yay!), but you'll be pretty close to being on Florida time within about a day. The excitement should carry the kids through most of the first day -- just don't plan a fancy table service dinner that evening. You likely will not make it. Good luck!!

 

[Chickp]

I lived overseas as a kid and my tip would be to pay attention to how hungry they are. I did okay with the sleep but felt like I was always hungry because mealtimes are messed up. So, maybe extra snacks or meals at weird times will help with meltdowns.

 

[Saimaeve]

We're in Phoenix and went to WDW with an 8 year old in September. We took a red eye from Sky Harbor with a layover in Atlanta. My daughter slept most of both flights and during our layover. When we landed we stayed outside as much as possible to get some sun and ate at lunch time in Florida.

She did pretty well. No issues

 

[Vaninou]

We live in Switzerland... so we're always jet lagged when we go to WDW
The last 2 times we came with our son (first time he was 1 and second time he was 2) we operated on the new time as soon as we landed.
We're going back in May (DS will be almost 4) and we'll be doing the same.

The first day is the worst one because we need to keep him from sleeping until the "new" sleeping time but after 24 hours it was already perfect!