Plan out our day with young children or not?

[scrapbookingmommy]

We will be taking our first trip to WDW in late April (23rd-28th). I have two children (5 and 3 1/2) who will be with us. We plan to spend 2 days in MK, take a day off to rest, swim, shop and then spend our last day at probably MGM (not positive of that yet). But my question is how much planning should I do about what we want to see on our MK days?

I know I want to get to the park early (our children are 6:00AM risers) and come back to the hotel (POFQ) in the afternoon for naps/rests etc. I am not sure if I should try and plan out what we want to see on each day or just kind of go with the flow. My husband and I could care less about how many rides we get on - we are mostly excited about taking the kids to Disney for the first time and enjoying the experience. We have breakfast at CRT for our second morning but beyond that I haven't made any other ADRs - BUT I am waiting to hear if the Toy Story meal comes to fruition!!!

I would love to get some advice from some experienced Disney travellers. Thanks in advance!

 

[720L]

I would do just what you are doing, plan on getting to the parks early, take an afternoon break, then back to the parks. Since this is your first trip, research on the boards how to get the most rides done. (At MK--go to Fantasyland first and get those rides done because they get really busy later) I would decide what rides you really want to do and plan accordingly.

 

[runner26.2]

We've been (and still are) in the same situation as you. We have DD9, DD6, DS3. While I do a fair amount of planning ahead of time it certainly is as much as others on these boards do. That is primarily because with young children things can change in a hurry.

The main things I usually do is make 1 or 2 character meal reservations. We prefer the mornings and try to make them as early as possible. Our favourite is the Chrystal Palace at 7:30-7:45 so we're done breakfast shortly before the MK opens at 9 (which is when it opens when we're there) so we're already in the park when the gates open to the public. We don't usually do the breakfasts on EMH days.

We aim to be at the Parks at opening and follow one of the touring plans for children for the first part of the day to allow the kids to ride Dumbo, Pooh, Buzz etc first thing with as little waiting as possible. Using a touring plan with fastpasses/child swap we can usually get on all the rides they want at least once before noon. That allows us to do whatever they want for a few hours (Toon town area, etc) before heading back to the resort for a rest etc.

Given my type A personality I have to continually remind myself it is THEIR holiday too, to slow down and that it is NOT the end of the world if we don't do and see everything on the touringplan. Sometimes I lose sight of that and find myself rushing from ride to ride and not stopping to smell the roses so to speak. It's an easy trap to fall but I am getting better

We've used a variety of different touring plans -- touringplans.com & TourGuideMike and they all seem to work.

 

[deefranco]

Just have fun with it. My husband and I took our 4 children there last September. It was an amazing trip!! It was our first time there. I spent a lot of time on these boards to figure out all the right things and places to do. I am type A personality too. I pushed it a little too hard to make sure we got in everything. At the end of each day we were exhausted and usually had an early character breakfast the next day. We did the cruise too and I learned by then that we all needed a break and I just let everything slide.
It truly was a magical trip. We are planning our next trip for 2007. Just enjoy it and enjoy your family.

 

[mjmcca]

I do minimal planing. In most cases when we get ready to go out that morning I ask my kids which park they want to go to.I do make a few ADRs and on those cases I make sure we are in the park of the ADR a few hours ahead.

My kids know the parks pretty well even though they are young ( they should we go a lot) So i let them choose what rides they want to go on and only discourage them if the line are way too long/

 

[rt2dz]

What works for us is to plan what park what day (but being open to change at our boys' request) and not to plan what to do in the park. We just follow our kids leads. When DS5 was 3, we went on Goofy's Barnstormer literally 14 times in a row. We add a little direction, need to with 3 kids and ADRs, but for the most part by doing what they want, it is a much smoothier trip.

 

[abeyst]

I would say to have a plan, but a loose, not micromanaged plan that can be changed. And let the kids choose 2 or 3 rides that are a must do (maybe not so easy for a first trip, but maybe there's pictures they can look at?)

My kids (DS7 & DD3) have loved Buzz and the Indy cars and the Teacups for 2 years now. It's mandatory we ride those on every trip. That's really the only rides they care about at MK- breaks my heart! So we head straight over to Tomorrowland, ride Indy cars twice w/o waiting (that way each of them can drive) 'cause the lines get sooooo long on that ride, then over to Buzz for 2 rides (again, can walk right on). Then back to Teacups and a few Fantasyland rides. By then it's 9:50 so we line up at the rope to Toontown (have to see those princesses first thing at the tent before the lines are out the door). Then we take the train back to the front of the park, head over to Poly for late bfast at Kona Cafe.

If you're going 2 days to MK, I'd do Fantasyland one morning first thing, then tomorrowland the other morning first thing.

Try to avoid the characters at MK, esp if there's long lines. Try and keep the kids to rides only at MK and you can see the characters at Epcot and MGM where it's MUCH less chaotic and you have time between shows & less rides so you're not wasting time w/characters.

 

[EthansMom]

It sounds like you're pretty much on track for a good trip! We also do a loose plan. I make ADRs for our sit-down meals, know which park we plan for each day, and know which rides we want to go on. Other than that, we pretty much go with the flow.

We like to be at the park as close to opening time as possible. With our kids, we usually start at Fantasyland first since there are so many rides they can go on at one time.

On our second day at MK, DH and DS4 would get Fastpasses for the rides that DD2 couldn't go on like Splash Mountain. You could measure both kids ahead of time to figure out which rides they'll be tall enough to ride.

We don't queu up to see the characters when we're in the parks. Instead, we take the kids to Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's for a meal -- saves us a lot of time in lines and we have a great meal!

Enjoy your trip!