Short trips are hard to plan

[BeerMe]

Over the last 25 years we have only made two trips of fewer than 10 days to Disney. Most have been two weeks or more. The last trip in the spring was from late January to March. 10 weeks in all. Those are easy trips to plan because it basically doesn't take much planning at all.

This December we are going for an eight day trip. Two of the kids are bringing some of our grandkids with them and stayin for four days. It's a real problem planning for four kids all 6 or under who will only be in the parks for 4 days. Two of them have never been to Disney before and one 4-yo has been 3 times already. A diverse crowd to plan for. I hope I'm up for the task. We are taking one 4yo for 8 days with us though. She loves Disney and we will stay at AoA for a couple of days so she can stay in the Ariel rooms. She loves Ariel.

Another first this trip. It will be a first time staying at a DVC property. SSR 2BR Villa. I'm looking forward to that. I can compare it to offsite condos we stay at a lot.

We'll do the same thing next June taking another family of grandkids and staying at SOG. I've decided to stay on Disney for both trips because of the proximity to the parks. None of these kids for the June trip has ever been to Disney. Another hard planning trip. The kids are older though.

We have to work around school vacations now.

Next Fall (2016) we are going, just the two of us, for the entire F&W plus a week. I already have some offsite condos booked. Now that's an easy trip to plan. I wanted to go this year, but another baby is on the way then and my wife wants to be home for that.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Can anyone offer any suggestions? I am really looking forward to these trips. TIA

 

[TeachTink]

Honestly, I don't think I've ever done MORE than 4 park days. I guess my trips are "short" compared to yours! Hubby and I can't get the days off.

We went last May and actually only did 3 park days. We went Wed-Sun and it looked something like this:

Wed: Travel Day. Arrived at POR early evening, took boat to Downtown Disney
Thurs: Epcot/HS/end at MK (open late)
Fri: AK/MK
Sat: MK
Sun: Travel Day

We went hardcore ALL DAY and were sore and exhausted by the end of the trip, but it is what we had to do. I wish we were able to spend more time at Epcot, but we loved ending at MK each day.

We are going again in December, and this time we will have 4 park days. Again it's a Wed-Sun, but this time we will arrive earlier. Our tentative plan is this:
Wed: Early flight. MK
Thurs: Epcot
Fri: MK/HS
Sat: MK

We are skipping Animal Kingdom this time. I am not a huge fan. Since you are traveling with kids, I am sure they will love AK and seeing the animals. Have fun with your grandkids!

 

[pooch]

can you adopt me?????? 10 weeks??? the entire F & WF plus a week??? I promise to be happy and quiet the entire trip. I'll sleep on the couch or the floor, won't cause no problems. PLEASE?!?!?!?

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm the opposite. I would think long trips are harder to plan.

I usually go only 4 or 5 days tops - twice I managed to talk the family into a whole week and both times by day 5 they were ready to leave. And those times include the 8 hour drive to and from Orlando.

On my short trips I usually go one day per park with extra time in Epcot on my AK day and extra time in MK on my DHS day and on the last day I either swing into MK for a few hours before the drive home or go to DTD for a bit before the drive home.

I'm currently planning a short trip and thinking I'll be skipping DHS this time since they no longer have the drawing class that I loved.

 

[epcotty]

I really don't know what we'd do on a long trip, once we've seen everything we want then we don't feel the need to immediately go to the parks again and see it all again. Some people just like to brag about how rich they are I guess

 

[phillymummer]

I've only planned short trips as well. You have to prioritize and ask yourself what is most important for the kids. 4 kids under 6? Is DHS a priority? Can you skip it? I keep reading that there is more to do at AK for little kids. Can you afford PH's? Maybe you could do AK and DHS in one day. Or Epcot and DHS in one day. Good luck!

 

[BigHeroKen]

I find the perspective of long and short trips here to be amusing. I have always considered our 2-4 night trips to be short trips and our 5-7 night trips to be long trips. Anything over that I just consider crazy..LOL

 

[Aurora0427]

8 days is a long trip. That's long enough to hit each park twice if you really wanted to. I'd hit your favorites twice and build in a rest day for the kids.

Ahhhh the kids will only be there for 4 days. I'd hit magic kingdom for two days since they're younger. When we did a 4 day trip with my daughter we did mornings at MK, nap, evenings at Epcot or vice versa. We skipped AK because we have a fabulous zoo at home and skipped DHS because she wasn't tall enough for the thrill rides and it's not our favorite park.

 

[fitzperry]

I don't really have ny suggestions to offer, but you are a fun grandparent. I salute you!

 

[Mom2Kids2003]

For the younger kids, Magic Kingdom should definitely be the priority since there are very few rides that have high height restrictions. I'm not sure I would do DHS with them unless they want to meet the Disney Jr. characters since the main attractions there are thrill rides and you need to be pretty tall to ride on them. I think it's awesome that you go for that long and are taking the grandkids too. We are hoping to do a trip next year with the grandparents for some awesome memory making.

Only other hint I would give you is take cues from the little ones. I'd try to work in some downtime/naptime in the middle of the day because exhausted kiddos equal cranky kiddos equal no fun for anyone