Tell me I'm not a slacker!

[wrighter]

Greetings!

Now that the fury of the holidays is past, I am excitedly preparing for my family's first trip to WDW. We're staying in a 1 bd villa at OKW so that my DS3 and DD1 have maximum romping space while in the room. Our plan is for breakfast in the room daily, lunch at the parks, and then dinner in the room most nights for the kids. They are early-to-bed, early-to-rise kids, and we want some normalcy for them to keep them ship shape.

I've done all my homework on the parks, which rides are best for our children, transportation, etc. My concern is this; I am going out of my way to make sure we don't overplan. We've scheduled only 1 character meal - I just don't want to overdo it, you know? I'm certain we'll return again, perhaps even next year, and I just want to let the kids be our guides on this one. If DS wants to ride Goodfy's Barnstormer over and over again all day, then we're going to let him!

After spending countless hours here getting awesome information from everyone, I feel like we're almost slacking! Will I regret not putting more on the schedule?

All thoughts appreciated on this one!

 

[Desnik]

I really think you have the best attitude! It sounds like you will have a fantastic trip! I am one of those compulsive planners and have our itinerary for April done, all ADR's made, etc... But I also have kids and I have to go with what they can do even if I have it all planned out. One might get sick, the other may just want to stay at the pool. I adjust to what they want/need while having my plans to guide us. I try not to over plan because it drives them all crazy so I just plan where we will go and one table service meal per day. I don't have a plan of attack for the parks and we don't arrive early either. I think you are doing everything perfectly! Also great idea to get the 1bd rm at OKW. We have a 1bd rm booked at BWV and the space is really great especially with kids. Not to mention the washer and dryer in the room. We were in a 1bd rm at SSR in Nov and it was great and now we are spoiled!LOL

 

[connorsmom911]

Don't worry...you already have the right attitude that you'll be going back again. I've been to Disney with Connor when he was healthy and when he caught a nasty stomach bug, so we've had to change plans on the fly. What I do (since I am a compulsive planner at heart) is make a few important ADR's, plan which parks on which days, and then research the crap out of everything...rides, itineraries, activities...until I know the parks inside out and backwards. Then I make a general plan, including the must-see stuff, and leave it in the room. That way I'm not driving dh crazy, but I still have the general plan in my head so that if the plan has to change, I know what our options are.

Since that first trip when Connor got really sick, I admit I have been far more relaxed with the actual park touring. We have a few favorites that are "never-miss", but for the most part, if a line is too long (and we didn't get fastpasses) or if it's too hot or Connor is cranky, we skip stuff. I also plan early mornings and late nights with a big break in the afternoon for naps and a swim, sometimes the favorite part of the trip for Connor.

Our next trip we are only planning 2 parks, MK and MGM. MK will be a must-do every trip, but we like to alternate the others (we usually do short trips). We haven't been to MGM since 1994, so I've had to research it all over again to come up with a game plan. Plus I'm pregnant this go-around, so dh and Connor will get to go on some rides I will have to sit out on. Next trip we'll have a 6 mo old, so again, the research will have to be different, and we'll likely only do MK and EP with some down days in between.

I like the philosophy..."Well, we can always do it next time!"

 

[hollyb]

We are going in May for 6 nights 7 days and we plan on only doing MK, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We are planning plenty of dowtime at the pool and just letting the kids lead us where they may. To us vacation is no fun if its all rush rush.

 

[wrighter]

Connor's Mom - I have to tell you that I love your suggestion to leave the "touring plan" in the room. That is right up our alley! I am also an obsessive planner - hence my concern that I'm slacking here. But the thought of really planning the heck out of everything, and then leaving it behind is awesome. Then I'm just using my knowledge, and not driving everyone else crazy trying to dig through all the material at the park. Great tip.

I think another reason I'm at loose ends is because we have NO IDEA how our children will react to all things WDW. So we figure we'll have to suck it up a little on the planning this time around until we see what kind of park kids they are, and then do better next time.

Here's to "half-n-half" - half our time in the parks, half on "down time," just hanging with the fam. Let's hope it works!

 

[surfgirl]

I think you've made a wise decision.

We go every year (in-laws are here for a month, so we visit them). Every year, we've done a little more - it wasn't until the 3rd year that we saw fireworks at night or a parade (we tend to leave the parks early).

We are also go-to-bed early (at least the kids), so we liked eating in the villas. Instead of taking the time to eat breakfast in the morning, we would get the little boxes of cereal and try and get to the parks for rope drop. If we were there early, we would eat our breakfast there while waiting... or enroute to the next ride... or in line in the next ride... They tend to 'graze' throughout the morning and then we would wait to get back to home base for a 'real' lunch (1:30/2ish). There are also a few places that sell little fruit cups that you can 'grab and go'.

I also have that guilty feeling, 'did we do enough?' But we come home with amazing fun vacations with kids that have enjoyed it. We don't have meltdowns (or at least minimized ! We also feel like the following year, we can go back and have 'new' things to do as the kids grow into things.

One fun CM that we've done is Chef Mickey's - we schedule a late breakfast - 11ish. We are typically the ones that are last to leave. We then ride the monorail around from the Contemporary to Magic Kingdom to Grand Floridian. Get off there and walk around - maybe have a cookie for dessert. Then back onto the monorail for the trip back or even a 1 1/2 loop. My little guy (2 yrs. last year) loved it!!! We do this on our days off from the park.

Another fun thing to do is to go to Animal Kingdom for dinner - we would go a little before the sun was setting - walk around, see the animals and then have dinner. While many think not eating at BOMA was a sin, I didn't think it would appeal to our kids, so we just ate at the cafeteria style place downstairs. Still inexpensive, but fun to walk around AKL. Another fun activity to do on a day off without park admission.

Bottom line => you know your kids, your family, and what works for you. TRUST YOUR INSTINCT! You'll have much more fun!

 

[susykt4]

I definitely agree with pp's that your attitude is excellent. I'm glad you have been doing some research, though. Our first family trip DD was 17 months and we had a blast at MK and AK but were completely lost in gigantic Epcot. We had four park days (2MK, 1AK and 1 Epcot) and felt like we totally wasted our day at Epcot. Our second trip was with DD4 and DS2. I found these boards and learned all kinds of great things to do at Epcot and my little kids had a blast! Epcot was DH and my favorite park.

One thing my kids LOVED was the monorail ride from MK to Epcot. We did this several times even if we didn't actually go to the other park. They both love trains and thought the monorail was the coolest.

 

[nettii]

When we go the most planning I do is Ill pick a park for each day and our adr's for the same park. At the end of our trip we go back to a park we liked best. Even the once daily adr's can be overwhelming and weve cancled in the past so just go enjoy! Have a wonderful trip!

 

[mericletwins]

Greetings!

Now that the fury of the holidays is past, I am excitedly preparing for my family's first trip to WDW. We're staying in a 1 bd villa at OKW so that my DS3 and DD1 have maximum romping space while in the room. Our plan is for breakfast in the room daily, lunch at the parks, and then dinner in the room most nights for the kids. They are early-to-bed, early-to-rise kids, and we want some normalcy for them to keep them ship shape.

I've done all my homework on the parks, which rides are best for our children, transportation, etc. My concern is this; I am going out of my way to make sure we don't overplan. We've scheduled only 1 character meal - I just don't want to overdo it, you know? I'm certain we'll return again, perhaps even next year, and I just want to let the kids be our guides on this one. If DS wants to ride Goodfy's Barnstormer over and over again all day, then we're going to let him!

After spending countless hours here getting awesome information from everyone, I feel like we're almost slacking! Will I regret not putting more on the schedule?

All thoughts appreciated on this one!

We have done exactly the same thing on our trips. The first trip w/ 9 month old twins, second with 3 yo twins and a 2 yr old and two other trips since. We did two of those stays at OKW and it was fantastic for letting the kids run around. We also followed the kids normal schedule as far as the early to rise and early to bed thing. We ate breakfast and dinner in the room most days so we knew that they were getting some healthy food in them and we did one character meal. Our kids had a great time, we had a great time and everyone stayed relaxed and happy. No melt downs to be seen! As soon as we noticed any tiredness or the onset of crankiness we would go back to the room or hop to another park. The kids loved the monorail, busses you name any Disney transportation. It allowed everyone a chance to relax in the A/C and sometimes a change of venue was all that was needed to carry on for a couple more hours. Relax and have a great time!!: