Question for West Coasters

[Princessofthehouse]

We are spending July 2-9 in the world and bringing my best friend and her family who live in Phoenix. We have gone many years over July 4th and usually get up and get to the parks at rope drop, stay till 12:00 or 1:00, come home and rest or swim and then head back after dinner. I'm a little concerned that my friend and her family (2 year old and 7 year old) are going to have a difficult time getting up early with the 3 hour time difference.

I'm looking for suggestions from West Coasters with little ones. How do you do it during a busy time of year?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[k3chantal]

We are spending July 2-9 in the world and bringing my best friend and her family who live in Phoenix. We have gone many years over July 4th and usually get up and get to the parks at rope drop, stay till 12:00 or 1:00, come home and rest or swim and then head back after dinner. I'm a little concerned that my friend and her family (2 year old and 7 year old) are going to have a difficult time getting up early with the 3 hour time difference.

I'm looking for suggestions from West Coasters with little ones. How do you do it during a busy time of year?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

We live in California. The first day is actually the only day that we get early at the rope drop because the time delay has not caught up on us yet. From there, we can get going around 10. But your friends' kids are a little younger than mine are now and when mine were younger, we did get up earlier. With naps that are planned, you may be able to 'stick' to the plan.

Have a great time! We just took some friends last May. I think the most important suggestion is to let them know that they are not glued to your hip and vice vs. The family we went with and adore are just a lot slower than we are (getting ready, speed of walking, making decisions) and we are a bigger family that has a wider span of age of children (3, 9, 12) and our financial situations are very different too so even though I repeatedly let them know that they didn't have to do everything we were, they tried which meant that they felt hurried and we felt like we were slowed down. Both families did have a great time in the end. However, I ended up feel bad that we exhausted them.

The other important suggestion would be to have everyone write down a 'Disney Bucket list" (The three to four rides or attractions they can't do without). Obviously, some will overlap with other people in the group but it will ensure that no one gets on that plane back saying "Gee, I just wished I saw......"

Have fun!!

 

[Princessofthehouse]

Thanks! Great suggestions. We are actually going in a few weeks. I was going to get a map at each park and send it to them to check out rides, etc. so they are not completely clueless when we all get there. I don't want them to feel like we are making all the decisions.

 

[PetePanMan]

Over the years we have tried different approaches - sleeping in the next day, getting up early for rope drop and everything in between. Pros and cons to all options but for us the eagerness to get to parks early on first day seems to be favorite. Helps adjust to time change and we normally plan for off day 3-4 days into trip to regroup.

 

[Kathymford]

We're from CA, but no kids. We are late people in general, but something about being in WDW fixes that! For some reason we acclimate to the time change very easily.

 

[lulubelle]

We never completely adjust to Florida time. We usually get up at 8:30 am, out the door by 9:30 am and go to bed at midnight. That is like 5:30 am and 9 pm at home. Needless to say, we have never made a rope drop.

 

[taaren]

Every child is different, but the three in our party had a 6 hour and 3 hour time difference. All three were up with the sun, no problems, they just adjusted to the circadian rythyms ... the adults had a bit harder time, but with a 4, 6, and 7 year old jumping to go to the parks, we grabbed our coffee and tea cups to go and headed into the parks and the first ride of the day usually woke us up!

We arrived late at night, put them to sleep as soon as we got the room and had fed them, and used naps and the pool everyday in the middle of the day after waking up early on half of our park days, so that we were able to stay in the park for evening EMHs every night we wanted to. In some ways I think the little ones were more resilient and well-adjusted than we were. (Though in-park stroller rentals helped a lot in keeping them from being fatigued on our long park days.)

 

[lilpooh108]

We never completely adjust to Florida time. We usually get up at 8:30 am, out the door by 9:30 am and go to bed at midnight. That is like 5:30 am and 9 pm at home. Needless to say, we have never made a rope drop.

We are from CA, and this is our exact schedule. I have 2 kids and they javelin a hard time in the mornings.