Thoughts on schedule for preschoolers' first visit?

[GoldenOwner]

We have reservations for 8 nights/probably 7.5 days the week following Thanksgiving with free dining and park hoppers. It will be myself, DH and our 4 year old and 2 year old daughters. This is not DH's or my first trip but it will be our first trip with children. Right now the girls love all things princess and Disney Junior.

We will be arriving on Sunday afternoon, having traveled from either Vero Beach or Tampa where we will have spent our first couple of days. I was thinking of heading to MK first (Fantasyland), but will only be there for a few hours (maybe even only 2-3) before we head to dinner that first night. I'm debating either CRT dinner or possibly Chef Mickey's that evening. Open to suggestions on what is the best first night dinner also!

For hitting the rest of the parks would you hit all the parks once before repeating a park or would it be OK to repeat parks before moving on? I was thinking MK afternoon, Epcot full day, MK full day, Epcot morning/waterpark or Disney Springs afternoon, MK full or partial day, AK "full" day, HS "full" day, then let the kids pick the park for the last day. Just not sure if it's OK to wait until the end of the week to do AK and HS or if I need to move them up to the "take it easier" days we have in the middle of the week.

Also wanting suggestions on my dining thoughts (8 nights of the regular dining plan):
Breakfasts (likely PPO): Akershus, Garden Grill, BOG (QS), maybe Crystal Palace (will be either breakfast or lunch)
Lunch: Tusker House, H&V Disney Junior, BOG (QS) maybe Crystal Palace (will be either breakfast or lunch)
Dinner: Ohana, Teppan Edo, maybe Chef Mickey's (this one is up for debate)
Also OOP for CRT, probably lunch unless we choose to do dinner the very first night

 

[babyruth]

I think this all depends on your kids typical schedules. Little ones do better, IMHO, when their schedule isn't completely turned upside down on vacation. My kids, even my teens, get up and are ready to get going on vacation. Are your kids going to need naps? Will they sleep in a stroller? So my son (who is now 14) would fall asleep in a stroller. My 2 year old now, there is no such thing as nap in a stroller to take the edge off. Also she does not require a ton of sleep in the first place. She's about done with naps and we CAN get through a day without one. We have a friend with a daughter 2 days apart from ours and that little girl has always needed a TON of sleep. She still naps twice a day! They can't go without or she's a mess. I am not planning to use nighttime EMH with my 2 yr old if we stay on property this time, it just makes way too long of a day. Only you know what your kids can handle and have it be enjoyable.

I have heard that doing the Character meals on the dining plan is very worth it. Since you have hoppers, I would make your ADRs first to make sure you get the meals you want. Figure out if you will need or want to take a break midday and make the best use of your hoppers/Fastpasses to take the girls to what is special to them. You may find you want to hang at the resort a little. We stayed at POR and one son did the pirate cruise when he was 7. He adored that and you can't get that experience in park. I wouldn't miss CRT with littles who love princesses. Chef Mickey's is fun, but I would make CRT the first choice and do it whenever you can get the best reservation time for your needs. We loved the Character lunch at Tusker House. The food was good, but they also had a very different character interaction going on. At the time, they got all the kids up for a giant conga line and danced with them all. It was one of the few places to see Daisy Duck. If they still do that you should definitely go! Also IMHO having a reservation that works around fireworks helps. It is a VERY LONG BORING ANTSY wait sitting out on the curbs at MK or whichever park you are in waiting for them. Are you doing Epcot first to try to see Anna & Elsa? (sorry off top of my head can't remember when they are where) If Disney Jr is important, I would do MK then HS keeping in mind they may want to do something you didn't "plan" or don't get to if you didn't get a fastpass, that way you can lap back to those parks if needed. One day at AK was enough for us even during peak crowd time.

 

[ktlm]

It really depends on your kids. My DD was high energy, and was also a night owl who is not exactly a morning person. She was 2 on her first trip and has been every year since (she is 10)- even twice when she was 3 due to big discounts and inlaws wanting a trip with us. We typically stay 8 nights. We always went to parks every day, and typically we were there almost from open to close. I don't think she would have stood for not doing a park as a pre-schooler. Once she was good and awake, she was typically standing at the room door with her stroller telling us to hurry up so we could get to a park. We found out her first trip that the afternoon break did not work for her at all- she as a stroller nap kid.

We have been the week after Thanksgiving several times and one thing for you to think about is that you may not have water park weather or pool weather. We have had highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s and been in coats and gloves, and we have had highs in the 80s--- we also have had both in the same week. You just don't know what you are going to get in Florida that time of year. I would not plan on a water park- although you might wind up having good enough weather to go if you like.

As far as what parks on what days- we have always used the crowd calendars. We like easywdw the best. Often that does have us repeating a park before we hit all four-- and AK often winds up being at the end of our trip.

As far as pre-park opening breakfasts think of your kids' internal time clock and whether you are dealing with any type of time change. I thought the pre-park opening breakfast was a great idea, but it was not right for our family. We quickly discovered that even with just a one hour time change- that getting DD up in time to get to a PP opening breakfast was not pretty. Remember, unless you are staying at a resort where you can walk to the pre-park opening breakfast (such as CR for MK or YC/BC for EPCOT) that you have to be up in time to leave your resort at least an hour before your ADR. Getting DD to a park at rope drop was the best we could do. The early breakfast wound up with her asleep at the table and not even wanting to wake up to say hi to Mickey (and she is a character fanatic). We found that having DH go to CS to bring breakfast in the room turned out to be best for us. We would make an ADR for lunch- that worked for us as we would go strong from rope drop to lunch- then lunch would be a good recharging/rest and also when she was little would wind her down to get in the stroller and take a nap right after. Also- even though DD was high energy and had not set foot in a stroller at home from the time she took her first steps at 12 months no matter how much walking was involved- at WDW she used a stroller and she did still need it at age 4.

EPCOT wound up being a 2 day park for us (we only allocated one day to it when she was 2 and it was not enough for her). There are a ton of Princesses in WS to meet and greet. DD was such a Princess fanatic, that she did not care if she had met a Princess the day before or at a meal- if they were out in the park, she wanted to see them again.

HS is good in the middle or toward the end of the trip as people are getting tired because it is very show heavy. There is a lot of sitting that day. It was a good recharging day for us when she was little.

I think CRT on your first night would be wonderful since you are driving in and are not traveling so far that you will be tired. I would think it would be a magical beginning for Princess crazy girls to eat in the Castle and meet several Princesses at their meal. They will be given wands and wishing stars at CRT. HOWEVER- I have not looked at this year's dates, but that Sunday is typically a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party date. If it is, then MK closes at 7, so if you are not there until after noon you would not have much time there, and without a party ticket, I think this year they are not letting people book TS meals after either 6:00 or maybe it is 6:15. I have seen reports of that on the boards recently.

We have only done Chef Mickey's for dinner once and we had a bad experience there. The characters and server were great, but the food was awful and the restaurant was filthy. Others love it there.

One other thing is that with it being the Christmas season, Disney Springs is a madhouse. We finally made the decision just to quit going there on our trips the week after Thanksgiving. I always felt like we HAD to go there, and than it was so crowded and took so long to get to and from with traffic that I was always left wondering why I went there! In recent years, there has not been much Disney merchandise there than we have not also found available at the stores in the parks and resorts.

Be sure to get those ADRs booked as soon as your window opens because the restaurants fill up really fast during a free dining period.

Have a great trip! That very first trip with pre-schoolers is really special!!!

 

[happymommy]

I agree about not turning their normal schedule upside down!

Our first trip all 4 of us my kids were 2 and 4. We'd head out in the morning (not super early), they'd nap in the double stroller (I brought along a very good Peg Perego tandem one that had front and back that reclined). We took everything at their pace. At Animal Kingdom, we enjoyed walking along the trails and seeing the animals. We'd stop and smell the roses, so to speak! While they napped, we found a nice spot at the Dawa Bar and had a couple beers in the shade - win/win!

They never saw fireworks at that age (yes, I know, the horrors!) It was winter (but nice and warm), and they typically went to bed by 7 or so. We'd head back and give baths, and give them time to unwind and get a good sleep. By then, I was beat anyway!

We didn't do water parks, since it would be challenging to keep an eye on them at those. The pool was enough really!

We didn't do any special dining that we had planned, but that was when it wasn't so hard to book ADR's. Plus, my DD was shy of characters! So it wasn't a priority, although we ended up at breakfast at H&V once from what I recall. She wanted nothing to do with characters! And, the food really was not good. No biggie. As far as your dining options, buffets are good in that you have a variety, but then you have to keep getting up helping the kids, so keep that in mind. We did do Boma that trip which was amazing with my son's food allergies! Garden Grill would be nice, so you don't have to get up to go to a buffet. BOG lunch I enjoyed a lot! Akershus for princesses sounds fun. Not sure what resort you're at, but it's nice to wind down with dinner at the resort once. Tusker House is similar to Boma - loved it! I now find AK much more relaxing than HS - HS has so much closed down but I'm sure they'll love the Disney Junior stuff!

You can always make a plan, then if you change plans the MDE mobile app is wonderful for finding last minute dining.