Park plans/suggestions for kids out of stroller - what worked for you?

[lovethesun12]

The last time I was at WDW my kids were 3 and 6. We used a stroller, FP+ was scheduled, always took a midday break and it went well.

They are now 6 and 9, and I'm really struggling to figure out the best approach. They are pretty active, (have hiked 5k before for example but it stopped being enjoyable for them at maybe 4k, lol). We were thinking about doing the midday breaks again, but genie+ doesn't seem like it will work great with that since it's tough to schedule.

Another option is try more packed park days but less of them (every other vacation day instead of most vacation days) without the midday break but more rest days in between.

Can anyone share any strategy they used for this age group and felt worked (or didn't work)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MainMom]

We have always taken mid day breaks and it’s still our plan with G+. We have hoppers and will book our first G+ in our morning park then start stacking for the evening with our second selection. If we are staying in the same park all day (no hopping) we will try to get something for the morning with our second selection, but if there is nothing we will just stack for the evening. Many people have had success sleeping in and stacking for and entering the park later with several G+ stacked and ready. Of course someone should still be up for the 7am to start booking.

 

[lovethesun12]

We have always taken mid day breaks and it’s still our plan with G+. We have hoppers and will book our first G+ in our morning park then start stacking for the evening with our second selection. If we are staying in the same park all day (no hopping) we will try to get something for the morning with our second selection, but if there is nothing we will just stack for the evening. Many people have had success sleeping in and stacking for and entering the park later with several G+ stacked and ready. Of course someone should still be up for the 7am to start booking.

Thanks! I'm thinking this would be the best strategy too. I was worried at first at being able to get a top tier ride booked in the morning but it seems like for the most part people have been able to.

Only issue now is trying to figure out if people have had trouble hopping to a park that has park reservations maxed out. I haven't heard much about it. Planning to book restaurant reservations so hoping I would be let through anyway.

 

[MainMom]

Thanks! I'm thinking this would be the best strategy too. I was worried at first at being able to get a top tier ride booked in the morning but it seems like for the most part people have been able to.

Only issue now is trying to figure out if people have had trouble hopping to a park that has park reservations maxed out. I haven't heard much about it. Planning to book restaurant reservations so hoping I would be let through anyway.

Only once has a park closed to hopping. That was MK on the first day of the 50th anniversary and only for a few hours. You should be fine for hopping. There are several reassuring posts on the Theme Parks & Strategies forum about this also.

 

[roctavia]

Our kids are 7 and 9 and we are working on a parks strategy... We are better at later nights, so the increased benefit of rope drop is a bummer for us, but I think we are finding some ways to make it work. We are doing two MK days so we will skip rope drop and just work on stacking some rides and then probably stay as late as we can- the kids will probably be down for the 11 pm, though our first MK day we want to rope drop Epcot the next day, so might call it earlier.

We will rope drop Epcot for sure since the park opens a tiny bit later than the others, and we can do Remy (staying at a skyliner resort) that's also a deluxe late night that we aren't part of, so end of the night at Epcot probably won't be as rewarding for us. But then we can get to sleep earlier to rope drop HS the next day. Star wars is our big important for that day, but with ILL and G+, plus rope drop, I'm hoping we can get on things like MFSR twice, maybe ROTR a 2nd time at the end of the night if we aren't too tired and the ride is running. (we will LL ROTR and rope drop the other stuff)

We aren't take a break people, so we'll see how the kids do powering through. Last time they were 5 and 7 for a quick 3 disney day trip and they did great with the long days. (followed by 2 more long days at legoland without the stroller) We have a rest day in the middle of the week.

While FOP is a favorite ride, with the 7:30 opening, the early hours are likely going to be way too early, since we'd need to be on transportation so early... but again, if we can stay for the later hours and get the ILL, we should be in good shape. We do Tusker house breakfast around 10am, so we'll get good fuel for the middle of the day. I wasn't going to do G+ at AK but now I think we will just to save time for things like the safari and Navi...

We're going to end with another MK day and will be able to stay until close that day, since I again don't think we'll be ready for rope drop.

At least that's my plan for now!

 

[kboo]

We have always taken mid day breaks and it’s still our plan with G+. We have hoppers and will book our first G+ in our morning park then start stacking for the evening with our second selection. If we are staying in the same park all day (no hopping) we will try to get something for the morning with our second selection, but if there is nothing we will just stack for the evening. Many people have had success sleeping in and stacking for and entering the park later with several G+ stacked and ready. Of course someone should still be up for the 7am to start booking.

I think G+ enables people to not have to be rope droppers and still have a decent morning. Agree that someone should still be up at 7am for the first G+ (and paid ILL), though.

OP: my kids are 6 and 10 and they are early risers. So our recent, post-stroller trips have been: rope drop/standby, 1-2 G+ rides in the AM when lines are still sort of low. Afternoon break, and start stacking for mid-late afternoon. If you're not that into rope drop, then do MainMom's strategy.

We also just got back from a DL trip where they did 20,000 steps (almost 10 miles!!) each day on consecutive rope drop days in DL and DCA. I was very impressed by them. (G+ works a little differently at DL, too, which made for VERY productive park days if you get there early)

Only issue now is trying to figure out if people have had trouble hopping to a park that has park reservations maxed out. I haven't heard much about it. Planning to book restaurant reservations so hoping I would be let through anyway.

I have not seen this happen, either pre- or during pandemic (2019, 2020, 2021) I don't know if there's still reduced capacity but it didn't seem to impact much either 2019 (which was more crowded than I have ever experienced) or 2021 (which still had some maxed out days at MK and HS)

 

[DduzDis]

We also just got back from a DL trip where they did 20,000 steps (almost 10 miles!!) each day on consecutive rope drop days in DL and DCA. I was very impressed by them. (G+ works a little differently at DL, too, which made for VERY productive park days if you get there early)

That is impressive! I have begun to make a DL trip a higher priority as my girls are about the same age as yours (5 and 9). I may still give it a year or two more, but we are getting closer I think.

 

[Rory607]

We were never midday break people. When the kids were in the stroller we didn’t rope drop, but got to the parks at a decent time, used our fast passes and just would go, go, go. The kids got a break in the stroller. Our last trip pre-covid they were 9 and 5 and shared a single.

Our most recent trip was this month with an 11 and 7 year old and no stroller. We did rope drop and a midday break a few days and it worked well. We are not all morning people, but we sucked it up and it was worth it. We did not do it every day. The 11 year old can only take so many early mornings We has no issues hopping to a different park in the evening, even during spring break.

 

[lovethesun12]

OP: my kids are 6 and 10 and they are early risers. So our recent, post-stroller trips have been: rope drop/standby, 1-2 G+ rides in the AM when lines are still sort of low. Afternoon break, and start stacking for mid-late afternoon. If you're not that into rope drop, then do MainMom's strategy.

We also just got back from a DL trip where they did 20,000 steps (almost 10 miles!!) each day on consecutive rope drop days in DL and DCA. I was very impressed by them. (G+ works a little differently at DL, too, which made for VERY productive park days if you get there early)

I have not seen this happen, either pre- or during pandemic (2019, 2020, 2021) I don't know if there's still reduced capacity but it didn't seem to impact much either 2019 (which was more crowded than I have ever experienced) or 2021 (which still had some maxed out days at MK and HS)

Thanks! My kids are early risers too so I'm thinking this might be the best approach for us. I have a lot of rest days scheduled as well so it won't matter if we're late in the evening.

That's awesome your kids did 20,000! I'm not sure how it will go with my kids, but since it's been three years since our last time there they might be fine. They're active (play hockey, ski, karate, etc) but not sure how they will do with all the walking at Disney. They're excited about trying the rides (and my daughter about meeting princesses) so I'm hoping they won't mind the walking.

 

[Anna131517]

We just went with a 5, 6, and 8 year old. We rented a double stroller and the two youngest definitely used it. Even the 8 year old occasionally sat in it, even though he’s over the weight limit. So consider renting a single stroller for the 6 year old.

We bought our 8 year old a kids fit bit to wear just before the trip and it really motivated him to walk. He kept wanting the beat the number of steps he had the day before. He averaged 22k steps a day. He would even run in circles to get more steps! We did have to stay on top of his water consumption. I bought lots of slushy drinks to encourage hydration. I also got him a good new pair of shoes a couple weeks before we went. He also liked pushing the stroller for some reason but hey, if he’s walking and he’s happy then I’m happy. For background he’s a somewhat but not super active kid. One sport at a time, but bookworm at home.

Have fun!

 

[DeeBee3]

I think you know your kids, but I will say we took mid-day breaks most recently (ages 4/8) and it was good. I needed a break too. However, we stayed till park close. Neither of them napped (except youngest on the 2nd day), but we did stay in the room for a period of time and tried to "relax." It ended up being pool time. It worked well for us.

 

[Chris.Richards]

The last time I was at WDW my kids were 3 and 6. We used a stroller, FP+ was scheduled, always took a midday break and it went well.

They are now 6 and 9, and I'm really struggling to figure out the best approach. They are pretty active, (have hiked 5k before for example but it stopped being enjoyable for them at maybe 4k, lol). We were thinking about doing the midday breaks again, but genie+ doesn't seem like it will work great with that since it's tough to schedule.

Another option is try more packed park days but less of them (every other vacation day instead of most vacation days) without the midday break but more rest days in between.

Can anyone share any strategy they used for this age group and felt worked (or didn't work)?

Thanks in advance!

Hi there! My kids are close to the age you mentioned on your last time to WDW and reading how your trip went pretty well. I was wondering which park do you recommend we go to first. My youngest is 4 and the oldest is 6 years old.

 

[sponica]

Hi there! My kids are close to the age you mentioned on your last time to WDW and reading how your trip went pretty well. I was wondering which park do you recommend we go to first. My youngest is 4 and the oldest is 6 years old.

There are two prevailing opinions.

Team A) MK because it's MK

Team B) anything else because magic kingdom is overstimulation central

 

[Feberin]

We just got back. We had a stroller for my 4 year old but my 9 and 12 year old walked the whole time. My 7 year old sometimes took a ride in the stroller especially further into the trip. My 9 year old had a fitness watch and was doing 30,000 steps a day but she moves around a lot. Before the trip we went on daily walks to get the kids more used to it.
We started with Epcot. My kids loved that park and had so much fun. I think it's a great first day park because it's not as exciting as others but being first makes it more exciting.

 

[lovethesun12]

Hi there! My kids are close to the age you mentioned on your last time to WDW and reading how your trip went pretty well. I was wondering which park do you recommend we go to first. My youngest is 4 and the oldest is 6 years old.

There is just so much to do at MK with those ages that I'd most likely go there. There would be exceptions for me though, like if the first day of the trip is a holiday, etc.

 

[Chris.Richards]

There is just so much to do at MK with those ages that I'd most likely go there. There would be exceptions for me though, like if the first day of the trip is a holiday, etc.

Thank you

 

[Chris.Richards]

There are two prevailing opinions.

Team A) MK because it's MK

Team B) anything else because magic kingdom is overstimulation central

Thanks! lol

 

[lovethesun12]

Update:

Thanks for all the responses! For anyone with kids this age reading this thread, I was definitely over thinking something that ended up not being an issue at all. We did take mid day breaks, they were necessary for my youngest but a couple times I stayed at the park with my oldest while the youngest took a break for a couple hours at the hotel room with DH. Worked wonderfully