My trip plan, advice please!

[mediadiva]

Hello! I am traveling with my husband, my oldest who turns 7 two weeks after the trip and my youngest who turns 5 the week before our trip. My husband is less then excited but he's on board and knows the kids will love it.

My husband is very anti-treats and junk food and bread
He will of course have to suck it up but on past trips I think we've just gotten ice cream. So we do allow them a treat while there but its not an every day thing.
I've never ordered food to be delivered before. How much money do you save doing that really? While I love bottled water we plan to just refill water in our bottles at the drink fountains. We had planned to pack a box of cereal and a lot of dry snacks and nuts and dried fruits. The girls will wind up eating more cheese bunnies then he likes but I think they are really the safest bet. Does it make sense to order produce from the delivery grocers? My husband will need and want a lot of bananas and apples. Are those way overpriced on site a the resorts?

My oldest daughter and I are super pale
We get sunburn obnoxiously easy and we tend to tire in the sun. We rarely go the beach and I never go out of the house in the summer during the hottest part of the day. This is just how we are in general so I am trying to prepare really week for the heat. Bucket hats, sunscreen... my biggest concern is the fantasy land parade its like at 2pm we have a FP and I doubt the section is covered so I am thinking we will need to possible bring an umbrella or something? Would that be rude to other guests, even if its lower down because its over the kids and not us? Any other ideas for protecting us for that hour?

A lot of our FP's will keep us out of the sun for meet and greets thankfully so there is that!

Here is our schedule: 5 day park hopper - Art of Animation Cars section

We will need to decide if we go to the parks sunday when we arrived (around lunch time) or go to the park the friday we leave (7pm flight). One of those days we will have do something else like the boardwalk or hang at the resort. I am thinking we should do the boardwalk the Sunday we arrive?

I am not in general a planner but to enjoy Disney I think it really pays to use the FP system, we once waited in line for 2 hours to meet tinker bell way back when her movies first came out it was NOT FUN to wait so long even though everyone was very nice. We have a LOT of M&G scheduled! If I find the girls don't enjoy them I can easily cancel them and do other things. I have a feeling my 4yo will love that part the best.

We have no interest in Hollywood Studio's, we are not doing the Frozen Summer. My husband doesn't like that park.

Sunday: Arrive 12pm - Possibly go to the boardwalk in the afternoon/evening.

Monday: Epcot - Akershus Royal Banquet Hall 1:30pm (never been)
Fast Passes
Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot3:00 - 4:00 pm
Test Track® Presented by Chevrolet®4:05 - 5:05 pm
Maelstrom6:00 - 7:00 pm

Tuesday: MK - Lunk at BOG FP+ A&E DAY
Fast Passes
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin®1:30 - 2:30 pm
Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade2:45 - 3:05 pm
Meet Anna and Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall5:40 - 6:40 pm
The Crystal Palace 8:30pm

Wednesday - BOG 4:15pm - MK & ? BELLE DAY
Enchanted Tales with Belle9:00 - 10:00 am
Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall10:10 - 11:10 am
Meet Ariel at Her Grotto11:30 - 12:30 pm
We could go to another park after BOG... maybe AK.

Thursday - 1900 Park Fare 10:15am - ? & MK
Maybe Animal Kingdom or Epcot earlier this day. Have to go back to MK for the Dwarf mine FP.
MK Fast Passes
Meet Tinker Bell at Town Square Theater6:20 - 7:20 pm (may cancel if they kids are burned out on M&G)
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin®7:55 - 8:55 pm (duplicate FP may cancel)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train9:25 - 10:25 pm (GOTTA GO! NEVER BEEN! Not sure my 4/5yo can ride this)

Friday - ?? Flight leaves at 7pm

My 4yo loves to wear her Disney dresses and Bell and AE are her favorites. My oldest is only interested in meeting Elsa. She can go off with my husband on rides while we do the M&G if she gets bored with that. I ordered a Bell Dress from the Little Dress Shop as it looked more comfortable and less itchy then the park one? I hope that was a good choice!

She is very comfortable in her Anna dress I got at Epcot in December. So she will wear the dresses on the day she meets those characters. I will make sure to have a regular cotton dress in my bag to switch out when she's hot so if she wants she can just wear them for each "event" and then take off.

I will let her pick a dress out at the dress shop if she asks but I plan to put the Bell dress out on her bed so she wakes up to it the first morning. Anyone have ideas on a surprise for my oldest? She's the most excited about the sorcerer's cards. I can't think of anything to surprise her with. She's hard to buy for. She doesn't care about stuffed animals or dresses or toys. I don't want the older one to feel left out.Is there Elsa stuff in the shops at Art of Animation? i could always go by myself an pick something out that first night to then leave on her bed for the next morning.

I'm bringing an umbrella folder for nights so the 4yo can fall asleep.
I bought $1 poncho's incase it rains.
I have 2 water bottles for us to carry my husband and I will each have those draw string cinch bags for wear on our backs, super light weight. Cardigans and snacks and suntan lotion and poncho's will be in each bag.

Am I missing any major must have's for kids that age (5/7) given the heat and the length of the trip? My 4/5yo is WAY cranky in evenings after 4pm in general we don't often take her places after that time. I am crossing my fingers. If she has a hard time she can just go back to the hotel with daddy if thats what has to happen. I hope it doesn't!

 

[JillShari]

We went this past March and I have two boys who aren't character centric. And at the time of the trip they were 8 & 4. We stayed at AoA cars and it was awesome!

We had grocery delivery from garden grocer. We didn't do the dining plan because we have a very very picky eater who wouldn't make the dining plan worthwhile, so we ordered stuff for breakfasts and snacks. We did order stuff like cereal, yogurt, milk, apples, peanut butter, nuts, string cheese and other fruit. It was nice to have stuff in the room and it made our mornings go smoother. We also packed a small sling pack with snacks in it, so we didn't have to buy snacks and stop while we were in the parks. We did purchase lunch and dinner and some treats. I think paying grocer $100 was probably cost effective for how much it would have cost us to buy breakfast for 4 people for 5 mornings and snacks too. The food court at AoA was ok... I heard raves, but we didn't find anything great.

As far as sunburn... I ordered some long sleeve rash guards from lands end since I am now allergic to sunblock...they are nice. Maybe you can just slip it on over your clothes when you are outside a lot?? Otherwise, just remember the lotion.

We got in at 3pm, so we just stayed at AoA and went swimming and walking and went to bed early the first night we got in. We had to be on the magical express at 12:30 for our 3:30 departure and we spent the morning at Hollywood... got a FP for toy story mania... it was nice. (There is also the Disney Junior stage show that my little one liked a lot) We skipped AK since my kids don't like animals.

As far as somethings in your schedule... are you guys early morning people? We were able to get to so many rides in the mornings at all parks that we rearranged our FP as the day went on. We were break people... I scheduled us for late lunches most days around 1pm or 1:30pm and then we went back to AoA... my little one who hasn't napped in years was so tired that 2 days he napped and it made for some fun late evenings! Other times the parks were so crowded that I found that it was nice to go back and go swimming. The big blue pool is really nice...and my kids both thought it was a highlight of their trip.

And honestly the best thing we did was know our kids. Even my oldest is best once he is well rested. So, the first night, we kept regular bedtimes and any day that the youngest didn't nap was also an early night... around 8. But, we were up and at the parks near rope drop and rode a lot of things before the lines got too long. Even my hubby and I went to bed with the kids and talk about how well rested we were on such a normally exhausting vacation. I think it helped us all enjoy it more.

We only did 2 late nights. One was in Epcot and we actually did so much. We arrived at 6pm and did Spaceship Earth, Character Spot, Seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush all without waits. Soarin' without a FP because it was fireworks time... but because we weren't going to line up hours in advance we skipped it. The kids did get to see some fireworks and that was still amazing to them. We basically did everything I had a FP for that night that I had for the next day, so we rearranged our plans as we went.

The other night, after a nap, we went to MK and saw the parade and fireworks and the Celebrate the Magic projection show. I think that all rated the highest in our memories.

You know your girls... if they love meeting the characters, then they should have a ball.... just remember not to expect to get to see or do everything... and then it will be a great trip.

As far as gifts for the kids, I actually called our Mickey presents. I went to the dollar store, Target, Party City and anywhere I could find little things and collected stuff. I had them pack their clothes for each day in a ziploc so it was easy for my hubby and them to get dressed. I then hid a Mickey present that he brought for them and they found them when they got dressed. I even had told my youngest that Mickey called me to ask what kind of things they would like. So, I had tattoos, a necklace that had a mickey head filled bubble solution which they both loved, one new shirt a piece, new sunglasses, some light up stuff for nighttime fun and to avoid buying the more expensive things there. It was harder to find stuff for my oldest, but he still loved it and totally still bought the fact that Mickey brought them!

Have a great time!

 

[MSSANDRA]

It sounds like you know your kids are doing your best to meet their wants. I really would consider doing the Frozen Party with two little girls that love princesses. It's such a limited chance and you are lucky to be there during that time.

Sun and heat....it will be hot and very sunny. I would invest in a really good high spectrum sunscreen and reapply every 2 hours. Remember to bring a lot with you. Choices on site are limited and expensive. I would bring or purchase wide brim hats and invest in some sun protective clothing too. I think an umbrella might not be very welcome in the parade crowd. We go Winter so someone else might know better...Ive never seen that done.

Food...we have not done a grocery order but it sounds like a good choice for your family. Fruit is available almost everywhere but yes, it will be expensive. There are healthy choices for snacks and meals, so you will be able to make those choices if you want. We do not drink the fountain water. To us it just taste nasty. You can get free cups of filtered ice water at any CS and refill your bottles or budget to buy water, or bring filtered bottles and use the water fountains.

If you want to do parks both the first and last day....it cost very little to add an extra day to your ticket.

You have several late night things planned for kids that do not do well late . CP and the mine train being really possible issue. Maybe keep trying to get an earlier FP for it or try to do rope drop that day and hightail it there and ride stand by. I think the height is like 35? less than 40 for sure.

You might want to check the close time of AK to see if it is worth a trip over after you leave MK...it closes earlier most days.

The two days you have late night, you might want to do a rest/nap back at the room.

Rope drops are sooooo worth it. You have few rides in your plans and Rope drop is the BEST chance to do a lot of standbys with no lines.

Have fun and go with the flow....it's all good at WDW!