Pirates and Princesses Party

[monkeysmamma]

I apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong spot. I'm not sure where to ask this.

I just found out that they'll be have one of these parties while we're at WDW. My boys are 7 and 4, and loooooove pirates. The 4 year has a huge crush on Tinkerbell, too. Between their autism and immune deficiency disease I'm not sure if the party will be too much for them.

The boys fatigue easily, and are normally asleep by 6pm. We are renting a special needs stroller (thanks again for the suggestion) for my 7 year old, and our little guy will ride in our regular stroller. The party is on the 5th and last night we'll be there. Our plane takes off at 6 am the next morning. I guess I'm wondering if it would be crazy to try to cram this in to our last day?

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks...

Julia

 

[ericandliz]

We were ust there the first week in April and we never made it to anything past 8 pm- my son is 7 and is autistic but is one of those who NEVER seems to tire out, however we were up at 6 am daily, did the parks until noon, came back to the POR for a rest and a long swim (so it was not really a rest), then did more parks from about 5-8 pm and by then he was exhausted. We did this routine 4 days in a row, then had a 9:30 pm flight and he was dragging by that time, and slept on the plane all the way back to MN. We never got around to fireworks or any of the parties. It was just too much for us but we had a fabulous time regardless and can't wait to go back again in September !!!

 

[LauraVV]

The party is on the 5th and last night we'll be there. Our plane takes off at 6 am the next morning. I guess I'm wondering if it would be crazy to try to cram this in to our last day?

My little princess and I went in Feb. It was absolutely wonderful. It would be a great ending to the trip. You will, though, pay for it the next day. It's exhausting. We saw Peter Pan and Wendy, the princesses and their princes (a pretty rare sight), and all sorts of characters. If your kiddos love characters this is a great place to meet them. The fireworks are absolutely beautiful and over the top. A lot of the smaller shops are closed during the party and lines are pretty short. There's a treasure hunt (but mostly just necklaces, nothing wonderful).

It's a great party but it's exhausting.

 

[Selket]

Are those parties selling out? I was wondering if you could wait until the day of the party (or a day or two before) to buy the tickets. You might have a better idea of how the kids would handle it. And you'd have a better idea of the weather - perhaps if it is supposed to be rainy you'd skip it.

We did the MNSSHP the night before our cruise and it was one of the "rain out" parties. They are fun and I plan to do it again this year but we did not have to get up early to get to the ship so that helps. For the MNSSHP the fireworks were very different and cool - do your kids like fireworks? If so they are worth seeing if they are similar for the P&PP.

Any chance they'd nap during the day beforehand? If you don't make the party (or even if you do) be sure to catch the pirate show near POTC - with Jack Sparrow. We saw that last month and it is a lot of fun. Good to arrive a bit early (10 mins?) to get a space near the rope so your kids can participate more. They will give out a scroll to the kids at the end - they invited kids to come up and get one and be sworn in as pirates. Even if the pirate doesn't point to your kid it seemed like all the kids that wanted to went up anyway and they all got a scroll - it was very cute!

 

[mamacate]

I hear ya. My kids go to bed a bit later but they're usually at the ends of their ropes by about dinnertime at WDW. My son as NVLD, ADHD, GAD, and SPD. He and his twin sister just turned 6.

I think if I were in your shoes I wouldn't risk it, but you know your kids better than I do. For us, the transition of going home on a plane is already stressful, so the late night would be a recipe for disaster. But that's us.

If money isn't a major issue, you could pay for the ticket and just stay until 7 or 8 to get a taste of it. I wouldn't try to make it a late night.

Here's my plan:

--We're not buying tickets in advance.
--We're going to try to do IllumiNations two nights before to see how they do on a late night, and to start to adjust their schedules.
--We're going to spend the whole day at the hotel hanging out in the pool and taking it easy. We'll probably come in mid-afternoon and read books and do something quiet, though I have no real hope of a nap.
--We'll go have an early dinner at WCC and come to the park around 6
--We'll only stay as long as everyone is having fun.
--We plan to rent strollers unless a miracle happens and they don't need them.
--If it's not looking good, if DS melts down at IllumiNations or if we're having a bad day, the whole plan goes out the window. We'll still do something fun.

Anyway, that's how we plan to handle it. I hope you have a great time whatever you decide to do!

C

 

[monkeysmamma]

Thanks for all of the replies. I'll have to do some looking around and see if anyone knows if the parties tend to sell out. I'm hoping I can wait till we get there to buy the tickets, but if they tend to sell out, I'm gonna chance it and buy the tickets... I think. I know they're going to be exhausted, and there's a chance we won't make it at all, but it's a once in a blue moon kind of thing, and I'm a pushover for my boys.

Wish us luck!

Julia