Surprising my 8 year old son and 6yo nephew but 1 night only

[Wosmama6]

Hi there!! I have expiring credit with southwest so I had the idea to surprise my 8yo DS, who’s had (like most kids) a bit of a year, especially lately, with an overnight at WDW. I got flights, tickets, room and VMAH tickets, and managed to snag Savis for 1 and Space 220 for 2!

Then my SIL called to tell me about a really crappy situation my 6yo nephew is going through. DS and DN were BFFs until covid and haven’t seen each other since Jan 2020. I told her about my plan and suggested they meet us (they live in TX) at WDW, never thinking she’d say yes.

Welp, their flights are booked, tickets purchased and names added to our room. But now I’m at a loss for planning. I know DS’s faves and he doesn’t need a booster seat and has been a bunch of times, so our plan was to pack a small backpack with fresh undies and toothbrushes and take an uber directly from MCO to AK, hopefully if flights go well, be in the park by 1030/11.

Well, DN is small and needs a booster. He’s never ever been to Disney. He’s tall enough to ride most everything but RnR.

I’m SO glad they’re coming; DS will absolutely lose his mind. If he doesn’t cry with happiness I will be surprised. But now my plan is kind of shot. Plus, if DS tires out during VMAH, it’ll be fine because he has ridden everything. But DN’s only time ever in MK will be during VMAH, so… I NEED YOUR EXPERTISE. We have G+ and will buy ILL.

Details:
Both flights land around 930a on 12/14.
Room is CR main tower
Flights leave 530p 12/15.

Here’s what we really want to hit:
FOP
EE
KS

MMRR
All of TSL
ROTR
MF - can skip if we have to
Savi’s

Rat
FEA
SE - can skip
MS - can skip
TT - can skip
Space 220

VMAH:
POC
Splash
BTMRR
PPF - can skip
Space
Buzz
Enchantment - can skip
Xmas parade
Minnie’s fireworks

SIL & I aren’t above letting the kiddos share a Coke and some sugar to power through VMAH, but I highly doubt DN and SIL will be up for RD the next am (DS wakes up before 6 no matter what). So I know something’s gotta give (and no, there are no VIP tours avail and you can’t even hop on the wait list at this point). But I CAN hire a private car with car seat to pick us up so we don’t have to wait for DME.

Here’s what I was hoping:
Flights go perfectly (shhhhh let me live in my fantasy world)
7am snag ILL for FOP 1130 and G+ for 11a KS; Rat 230p
Land 9:30, in car by 10:15
Drop off at AK
EE (this is my son’s absolute favorite ride in all of WDW or UO for that matter, so he will ask me when we get to ride it until we actually ride it lol)
KS, once I tap in, grab SE/TT/MS, whatever is available for 3
FOP
Bus to Beach/Yacht or BW (this is the real wildcard IMO)
Enter Epcot via IG
Rat
FEA
Then SE/MS/TT whatever we have time for
6p Space 220 (going to try to move this up to 5, but…), use TS meal as rest time
Mono to MK
We are likely to miss most of enchantment even if we check in for space at 545, but that’s okay because neither kid knows what they’re missing and 1115 minnie’s fireworks are supposed to be great
Go left and ride POC, Splash, BTMRR
grab popcorn and a spot for 945 parade
ride PPF, Space, Buzz, anything else we have time for
Grab spot for 1115 fireworks
Mono to CR

This is ambitious on a well-rested day, but DN and SIL’s flight leaves DAL at 6a and ours leaves ORF at 720, so… we’ll see.
12/15
I’ll wake up at 7 and snag:
ILL for MMRR and ROTR
earliest SDD I can get
Hopefully we’ll make it into the park by 930 or 10
MMRR
SDD, as soon as I tap in try to get TSM
TSM, try to get AS2
AS2
ROTR
Bus to MK or CR
Daytime Main Street/castle pic and 7DMT
Car picks us up at CR at 330 for 530 flights.

I mean, surely this is POSSIBLE, right? Or am I totally Disney crazy? Any other ideas? I also have a Space 220 lunch for 3 booked 12/15 at 1255, so we could lunch and then have a car pick us up at epcot and take us directly to the airport, but i’d need to snag one more seat and we’d need to do HS the previous day so more buses.

Or maybe we start directly in HS and then walk to EP? Might make more sense since we aren’t likely to get early am SDD anyway, and eliminates buses for the day entirely? But HS is where we want to ride the most and are thus most likely to need the most time…
Tell me how far off from reality I am so I can manage my own expectations, plz and thx.

 

[bsmcneil]

Things that jump out to me that you may already have made peace with/know, etc:

-Table Service eats up a ton of time. Is the food or experience the prime driver for Space 220? If it's the experience, maybe do a drink in the lounge instead?
-Transportation. Could you bring inflatable boosters (like Bubble Bum or Mifold) to use for the private cars (maybe you addressed/planned for that) and rely on rideshares?

I do personally think that doing EP/DHS together makes a ton of sense (and since AK opens earlier than those, you won't have as much "wait" to catch up to if you started, for instance, at EP). I did check out Touring Plans (and I realize it's imperfect): on 12/14, Epcot is rated as a 3 (out of 10) and on 12/15 it goes to a 5. AK, HS, and MK move up 1 space (AK is a 4 on 12/14 and goes to a 5 - the other two are 3s that go to a 4). I just mention that to reiterate that Epcot on the first day is probably a great plan (and I just remembered the EE thing and not wanting to wait for that - which I get - it's my favorite, too).

The other thing that jumps out at me (with my own 8 and 5 year olds - but we have a health thing) is has your DS done something like this before? I ask in part because of the sheer amount of steps/miles. I did something similar to your first day (though not quite as packed - and, notably, I have a form of muscular dystrophy but am fairly mobile in day to day life). I got to mile 10 (via my phone/steps) at Epcot around 3 (having flown in early that morning, etc though I did more buses and direct transport would've eased up some of my walking) and my body just stopped. Rest helped but I had to drastically reconsider how much I could do (and I used to be a major commando-style park goer). I always feel like parents have a good sense for their family - so you've got this (but it felt important to mention).

 

[bsmcneil]

-Table Service eats up a ton of time. Is the food or experience the prime driver for Space 220? If it's the experience, maybe do a drink in the lounge instead?

When I mention this, (a) they have non-alcoholic drinks (I'm not that far gone) and (b) you can still order food - it just seems to go a little bit faster than the ADR version (I personally did the lounge, but on the 3rd day they were open - so, things are undoubtedly different now).

 

[martikus]

Honestly it sounds exhausting. Just being there is gonna be special. Do you really need to fit in every park? And I know at that age my kid couldn’t do late nights. I’d pick one park a day and enjoy. And maybe a nap in room before after hours if it’s ready. No one is gonna enjoy zipping ride to ride.

for such a short time I wouldn’t be wasting my time in sit down meals.

they will enjoy anything they do so don’t worry about making it perfect but instead about making memories.

 

[bsmcneil]

I just shared this in a similar but different thread - but as I read the article and thought about my experiences, etc - I wanted to share this news story, "Awe might be our most undervalued emotion. Here’s how to help children find it.": https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...78a4b0-4c8e-11ec-b0b0-766bbbe79347_story.html (let me know if it can't load for you). Immediately, my thought went to - I've had some similar (but different) experiences than you're laying out (I can't imagine that sort of trip as a kid and how absolutely cool would it have been to have - go you!) and my mind went to seeing MK at night, from the monorail on the way to CR. Head on your shoulder, soaking it all up from the day. I think if you're present in that moment, your kid (and DN) will just have the memories of a lifetime.

My style is almost always to have a plan that I can move through quickly (despite my MD, I'm a fast walker - or used to be ) but also knowing what things I can pull when/if needed (bad weather, tired legs, ride breakdown). It seems like you sort of have that outline as you mention fitting in the MK rides that fit (and knowing how special EE will be, etc). I think you've got a solid start!

 

[Wosmama6]

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. The adr will take up time but I think it will.be a nice rest and DN is absolutely OBSESSED with space. More of the awe you were talking about.
Honestly, although AK is my absolute favorite park I would absolutely skip it if not for EE being the main thing my DS wants to do every time we go to wdw. If the stupid 2pm park hopper thing wasn't still in effect this would be much easier. Day 1 is too ambitious, I know, and I've contemplated trying to sell the vmah tickets, though I don't think I'd have any luck cause it's not a sold out night.

I would love to slow it down. Our main must dos are:
EE, FOP
ROTR, SDD, TSM
Space 220
Fireworks of some sort
MK atmosphere

I think if I just told my son we didn't have tickets to AK or that it was closed we could probably skip and he wouldn't care because his cousin is there.


I thought about going to epcot first and hoping to snag a lunch res, and then see how we feel about resting vs going to AK, but then we wouldn't have ILL for fop, and I've ridden it enough that I just won't wait an hour or 90m or whatever.

DN is pretty used to going hard and staying up late, and my DS will be so jazzed that his cousin is there he will last longer than he normally would.

 

[Wosmama6]

What about:
At 7am, snag remy BG (hopefully), tt g+, fea and fop ILL
Car drops us off at beach club from mco
IG entrance to Ratatouille
Fea
Tt/se/MS, whichever we end up getting g+ for... just 1
Space 220 lunch (we will need to get lucky for this)
Decide at lunch whether we would like to ride another ride at epcot then Mono to resort to rest before vmah, or head to AK for 3 rides

If we head to AK, use fop LL, ride EE and KS, head back to resort and then mono for VMAH.

If we don't head to AK, relax at resort until the boys are ready to head to MK.

Then HS the following day, getting ILL for rotr and mmrr and g+ for sdd and other tsl. If we end up getting up early and are still on the adrenaline rush, come back to Mk for a day time pic and one last ride before car pick up at CR. If not, car can get us at HS.

Thoughts?

 

[Wosmama6]

I'm just now seeing the blog post about Dec 14 vmah almost being sold out. If I could sell our tix, then we could go hard all day but still be in bed by 9 and then up for RD the next am. But would still likely need to skip a park bkz of hopping limitations on the 15th (needing to leave for flight 90m after hopping window opens)

 

[Wosmama6]

I think I'm going to go with the epcot, maybe AK, vmah plan with hs the following day. Trying to trademark dinner space220 for a lunch so wish me luck

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

If flights are around the same price....is there any way to move then and stay an extra night? Your schedule is super intense. As the prime planner and taskmaster of our family trips, I relate to wanting to see everything and get the full experience. But this is a lot in a short amount of time. I think if you had one full day in the middle it would really make a difference.

Either way, have a great trip and enjoy seeing your family!

 

[Wosmama6]

I don't disagree. I've put together a much more chill plan that emphasizes experiences more than rides. And can be dialed up or dialed down depending on how we are feeling. I wish we could stay another night but my SIL could inky get 2 days of PTO and my son's Christmas performance at school is the day after we get back

 

[bsmcneil]

I'm not sure how the timing sorted out - but I think your trip just passed. I hope it was a good one!