So many ?'s

[abckid]

I hope I'm not driving you guys crazy, but you all have been so helpful to me so far and I love getting advice. To give an update, here is our plan so far. We are travelling down June 24-30, staying at CCI, and have 5 day park hoppers. We are a group of 8: grandma and grandpa, me and dh, and our boys ages 2, 3, 7, and 9.

We're flying in Wednesday afternoon, checking into the hotel by 3pm, and swimming for a few hours. We're thinking about walking over to DTD for dinner at ESPN Zone. From the reviews here, it seems like a pretty well-liked restaurant, and the boys will love the game room. I thought it might be a good start to our vacation, plus we will not be wasting any precious Disney time playing video games. What do you think?

We'll do our 5 days in the parks from Thursday to Monday. I am not sure which day to use our MM though. On one hand, I was thinking we should do it on Thursday since we will be the most rested and able to get up early at the beginning of our trip. Also, I was wondering if Thursday's MM will be less crowded than Saturday or Sunday. I don't know if that's the case considering most MM goers are from out of town. On the other hand, my 2 and 3 year old do not have a lot of experience with rides and I wonder if they will get more out of MM if we don't go the very first morning. I'm pretty sure the 2 year old is going to be too scared to ride most of the rides no matter what day we go. We just took him on the tiny little tot cars at the local theme park that slowly go around in a circle and he screamed bloody murder the whole time. He refused to go on any other rides after that either. However, my 3 year old does like some rides after he warms up. So we might be better off holding off on MM until Saturday or Sunday. With your MM experiences, which day would you choose?

Now, speaking of MM, we're thinking of doing our Goofy brunch on the same day as MM. I don't know if this is a bad choice, because maybe a lot of people do this. We would get up early, eat the free breakfast at the hotel, get into Disney at 7am, and hang out in the parks for a few hours. I don't have a park plan yet so I don't know which rides we'll be riding or which park we'll be in at what time, etc. I just thought we'd do the park thing from 7-10:30ish. Then, I would try to get our Goofy PS around 11am. I thought it might be the best use of our resources to do them on the same day because we would still get our free hotel breakfast and have a big appetite for brunch. My main fear with this plan is that the younger boys will not last that many hours without a nap since we'll be getting up so early. But dh doesn't want to do Goofy's earlier than 11 since it's going to be our main meal for that day. Plus, my kids are so unpredictable we run the risk of them being tired and cranky no matter what day/time we choose. If we do MM and Goofy's on the same day, we'll probably head to the hotel for a nap/break after brunch and head back to the parks late afternoon. If we separate them, we'll still do Goofy's around 11am on the day we go (do the parks from 8-10:30ish). Would you recommend doing MM and Goofy's on the same day, or spreading it out on different days?

Obviously, regardless of what I *want* to do, it will all be ultimately be determined by what PS's are still available. LOL I just want to have a good idea of what we would like to do before I try to make a PS. I really need to call this weekend and get stuff set up though.

 

[Hound 109]

Sounds like a great trip.

Comments below:

I hope I'm not driving you guys crazy, but you all have been so helpful to me so far and I love getting advice. To give an update, here is our plan so far. We are travelling down June 24-30, staying at CCI, and have 5 day park hoppers. We are a group of 8: grandma and grandpa, me and dh, and our boys ages 2, 3, 7, and 9.

We're flying in Wednesday afternoon, checking into the hotel by 3pm, and swimming for a few hours. We're thinking about walking over to DTD for dinner at ESPN Zone.

Take the free CCI shuttle to the Esplanade drop off....there & back. Ask the front desk when you check in. Runs every 1/2 hour.

From the reviews here, it seems like a pretty well-liked restaurant, and the boys will love the game room. I thought it might be a good start to our vacation, plus we will not be wasting any precious Disney time playing video games. What do you think?

We'll do our 5 days in the parks from Thursday to Monday. I am not sure which day to use our MM though. On one hand, I was thinking we should do it on Thursday since we will be the most rested and able to get up early at the beginning of our trip. Also, I was wondering if Thursday's MM will be less crowded than Saturday or Sunday. I don't know if that's the case considering most MM goers are from out of town. On the other hand, my 2 and 3 year old do not have a lot of experience with rides and I wonder if they will get more out of MM if we don't go the very first morning. I'm pretty sure the 2 year old is going to be too scared to ride most of the rides no matter what day we go. We just took him on the tiny little tot cars at the local theme park that slowly go around in a circle and he screamed bloody murder the whole time. He refused to go on any other rides after that either. However, my 3 year old does like some rides after he warms up. So we might be better off holding off on MM until Saturday or Sunday. With your MM experiences, which day would you choose?

Because of the little ones, I'd do MM on Sat. or Sun. imo you should do MM with a plan in place & know what your little ones will do & not do.


Now, speaking of MM, we're thinking of doing our Goofy brunch on the same day as MM. I don't know if this is a bad choice, because maybe a lot of people do this. We would get up early, eat the free breakfast at the hotel, get into Disney at 7am, and hang out in the parks for a few hours. I don't have a park plan yet so I don't know which rides we'll be riding or which park we'll be in at what time, etc. I just thought we'd do the park thing from 7-10:30ish. Then, I would try to get our Goofy PS around 11am. I thought it might be the best use of our resources to do them on the same day because we would still get our free hotel breakfast and have a big appetite for brunch. My main fear with this plan is that the younger boys will not last that many hours without a nap since we'll be getting up so early. But dh doesn't want to do Goofy's earlier than 11 since it's going to be our main meal for that day. Plus, my kids are so unpredictable we run the risk of them being tired and cranky no matter what day/time we choose. If we do MM and Goofy's on the same day, we'll probably head to the hotel for a nap/break after brunch and head back to the parks late afternoon. If we separate them, we'll still do Goofy's around 11am on the day we go (do the parks from 8-10:30ish). Would you recommend doing MM and Goofy's on the same day, or spreading it out on different days?

Which ever you decide, you can take the Monorail from TL to the DLH hotel for the Goofy brunch....you'd save alot of steps & would be going "against traffic". I'd probably do Carnation Cafe on my MM day & save Goofy's for another day.

Obviously, regardless of what I *want* to do, it will all be ultimately be determined by what PS's are still available. LOL I just want to have a good idea of what we would like to do before I try to make a PS. I really need to call this weekend and get stuff set up though.

PS probably won't be too much of a problem. Have a great time at Walt's Park.

 

[dlawallace]

Thursday is typically the least crowded day of the week, followed bu Tues. and Wed., followed by Fri. and Mon., followed by Sat, then Sunday.

 

[GoofItUp]

I'm sure you know this since you've been through the little ones stage before with your older kids, but try to be as flexible as possible. On the trips since we've had my oldest son (who's now 2.5 yrs), we have found that we don't go to the parks early at all, we ride a LOT less than we use to, we've been to all the baby centers (at WDW), and we have a great time! It's much more relaxing than what we use to do. Of course, you'll have to balance out the things the older kids want to do with what the younger kids want/can do. That's where the benefit of having 4 adults will come in! Like I said, probably all stuff you knew anyways!

Specifically to your question, though, I would probably split up MM and Goofy's breakfast for different days. Since these are 2 "special" activities, I'd give them each they're own time so you're not cramming too much in. Either way would probably be ok....it's just what you prefer. And you know your kids best and what they'll be up for!

Have a great trip!

 

[SeattleTink]

First off...Hi Neighbor! I am in Auburn, just a stone's throw away from you!

Secondly, I agree with PP's....split up the MM and Goofy's. With little one's you totally need to have a game plan and expect the unexpected! Plus, if you do your MM later in the week, you can totally get a plan on what you haven't been able to do because of long lines...(like Nemo or Peter Pan). It is special just to be there early and enjoy the Park without a lot of people.

The other thing to remember is that weekends are always busier...so do as much as you can during the week. The parks get busy in the evening too - lots of people come in after work. Take advantage of the lighter crowds during the day.

Regardless of any of this advice, just relax and enjoy your trip!

 

[BC Disney Lover]

The MM on Thursday will probably be less crowded than Saturday but it's your first day in the parks. We hate to rush down mainstreet our first morning, we get in the gates and let everything soak in for a few minutes and there's usually some characters out front at opening. Sometimes my 4 yr just wants to ride the train for a full loop first thing. On our last trip we tried to be at the gates as close to opening as possible then everyday we picked one attraction we wanted to get out of the way, one day we went to Nemo, another we went straight to Princess Fanatasy Faire, another day we slept in a little and went to DCA first for Toy Story. We find that we like getting our longest waits out of the way early, usually we brought bagels, muffins, juice to eat while in line.

Have a great trip!

 

[disheadz]

I like the idea of a well rested MM. Perhaps take the 2 yr old on just a few safe (not dark) rides? Whatever you do don't attempt Sleeping Beauty too early- that scared our 3 yr old off all dark rides, even ones he had liked before!

 

[bumbershoot]

If you take the shuttle, you'll be walking through the esplanade, between both parks, to get to DTD, and then the ESPN Zone is pretty much the last thing in DTD. Allow for extra time to deal with "can't we go to DL now" and "ooh, Legos", and "how much further is the restaurant?"

If you have a car, you might consider parking at the DTD lot, just to avoid some of that.

If you want to take a nice, long walk, you might consider walking west on Katella, north on Disneyland Drive, past GCH and PPH, and enter DTD at DLH and the AMC theater, putting you *right* at ESPN zone. Maybe. That would be a hike. For me it would be worth it, but my kiddo can torment me with the wants and the "we're never going to get there"s.