Short December Trip - help with plans, please!

[MCharpie]

Hi All,
We're surprising our 4 and 5 year olds with a short trip to Disney for Christmas! I would greatly appreciate your help with planning our days. This will be our third trip and the focus is around attending the MVMCP. We are staying at All Star Movies. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Wednesday 12/13
Early flight to MCO - arrive at 9:00 and take magical express to resort
What do we do here? We've considered Epcot (my son's favorite) or Disney Springs

Thursday 12/14
MVMCP day!!
ideas for the morning include:
character breakfast at Cape May or Trattoria Al Forno (no reservations can be found right now)
Trek to Wilderness Lodge for WCC early lunch (how do we get there?)
Disney Springs for a few hours if we don't go the night before

Friday 12/15
Magic Kindgom until it closes for MVMCP (we are not attending this party)

Saturday 12/16
Park day - either Epcot or Hollywood Studios (we haven't been here yet)
Flight home is 8:20pm

Our goal is to have happy kids and adults who aren't exhausted and cranky from trying to cram too much in - staying at ASMo has us relying heavily on buses (stayed Poly last two times) and I'd like to be efficient with how much time is spent traveling back and forth.

Thanks again for your wisdom - these boards are amazing!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hi All,
We're surprising our 4 and 5 year olds with a short trip to Disney for Christmas! I would greatly appreciate your help with planning our days. This will be our third trip and the focus is around attending the MVMCP. We are staying at All Star Movies. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Wednesday 12/13
Early flight to MCO - arrive at 9:00 and take magical express to resort
What do we do here? We've considered Epcot (my son's favorite) or Disney Springs

Thursday 12/14
MVMCP day!!
ideas for the morning include:
character breakfast at Cape May or Trattoria Al Forno (no reservations can be found right now)
Trek to Wilderness Lodge for WCC early lunch (how do we get there?)
Disney Springs for a few hours if we don't go the night before

Friday 12/15
Magic Kindgom until it closes for MVMCP (we are not attending this party)

Saturday 12/16
Park day - either Epcot or Hollywood Studios (we haven't been here yet)
Flight home is 8:20pm

Our goal is to have happy kids and adults who aren't exhausted and cranky from trying to cram too much in - staying at ASMo has us relying heavily on buses (stayed Poly last two times) and I'd like to be efficient with how much time is spent traveling back and forth.

Thanks again for your wisdom - these boards are amazing!

12/13 - If EP is your son's favorite, I would go there so you can maximize your time at the park.
12/14 - I really wouldn't plan a lot for this day. I just did MNSSHP with DS9 and we stayed at our resort the whole morning. Even then, he barely made it through the fireworks. If you want to go to WCC, I would plan for a 2:00/2:30 pm lunch and then head to the party from there. It will consolidate your traveling (you won't be going back and forth on Disney buses all day long) and keep your morning free to relax. I would take a Minnie Van from ASMo to WL for the reservation.
12/16 - DHS

 

[sharonabe]

Wednesday 12/13
Early flight to MCO - arrive at 9:00 and take magical express to resort
What do we do here? We've considered Epcot (my son's favorite) or Disney Springs

Since you're arriving at 9 am, I assume you'll be getting up at "0 dark thirty" to make your flight. IF by some chance your room is ready when you get there (make sure you're online check-in is for an early arrival), I'd grab some breakfast and then TRY to take a nap. We've done the early morning arrival, go to park on adrenaline, and then crashed. If you can get just an hour or two of rest, then you could really hit EP and stay through Illuminations. There is a Christmas tag on Illuminations that is awesome.

Saturday 12/16
Park day - either Epcot or Hollywood Studios (we haven't been here yet)
Flight home is 8:20pm

This one is tough. We love HS, but my kids are older. Toy Story Mania will be a hit. Are they tall enough/brave enough for Rock n Roller or Tower of Terror? Star Tours is a great simulator ride, and they should be okay with that one. All of the shows are great too, and they've always kept my kids' attentions, but only you know if that will be true for yours.

 

[CynBeth]

I would do Epcot on arrival day and the 16th so you can to get to see many of the storytellers. Also try to take time to see the Epcot and MK resorts decorated.

 

[cgattis]

Since you're arriving at 9 am, I assume you'll be getting up at "0 dark thirty" to make your flight. IF by some chance your room is ready when you get there (make sure you're online check-in is for an early arrival), I'd grab some breakfast and then TRY to take a nap. We've done the early morning arrival, go to park on adrenaline, and then crashed. If you can get just an hour or two of rest, then you could really hit EP and stay through Illuminations. There is a Christmas tag on Illuminations that is awesome.

ITA. Plus if you nap and are then able to stay up later, you can sleep later on your party day, then hopefully stay chipper for the whole party the next night. Our biggest dilemma on party night is trying to find a big late lunch somewhere on property but outside a park, so we can just snack for dinner. Options for that are limited. I hate spending party time eating CS.

WRT HS, if your 4 and 5 YOs like Disney Junior, Star Wars, or Toy Story a lot, I'd say give it a try if you got to Epcot your arrival day.

 

[MCharpie]

Thanks for all of your suggestions thus far! Yes, we will be getting up super early and one can only hope they will snooze on the plane, yet that has never happened on any of our other flights - too excited! We'll keep our fingers crossed for a room that's available so we can rest a bit before heading to Epcot.

My kiddos are NOT thrill riders and prefer rides akin to it's a small world I was under the impression that toy story and the shows would suffice for a few hours - perhaps we will leave the last day open and see if we had our fill of Epcot on arrival day.

As for the morning of the party, it is hard to hang around the resort all day knowing Disney is just outside that door! We'll try our best to lay low and save our energy for that evening.

Thanks all! your input has helped

 

[sharonabe]

My kiddos are NOT thrill riders and prefer rides akin to it's a small world I was under the impression that toy story and the shows would suffice for a few hours - perhaps we will leave the last day open and see if we had our fill of Epcot on arrival day.

Toy Story and some shows will definitely be enough; I just didn't know what else they might want to do. Muppets, Disney Jr and Beauty and The Beast would be my top three choices. My boys loved Indiana Jones even at that age, but for some reason, Little Mermaid was a bit too scary for them. There are also some great character meets at HS.

Just don't get so involved that you forget you have to be back at your resort for ME pick up!