Tips and Thoughts on realistic expections for 1st Disney trip with kids?

[fiestymama]

Hi everyone! I've been a long-time lurker, but this is my very first post We are planning on our very first family Disney trip Nov 1-8 at CBR. My son is 8 and looking most forward to Tower of Terror & all things Toy Story. My daughter is 6 and will have her 7th birthday in Disney, and is most looking forward to Princesses, princesses and more princesses.

I tend to be fairly type A and have done a ton of research. I know that this trip will be probably the only one for us for at least another 5 years, so I want to maximize the experience, but also am trying to be realistic and keep my expectations under control. Wondering if any of you can help with tips and thoughts on this topic? I know we can't possibly see and do it all, and don't expect to, but do want to know any suggestions you have that might help keep everyone happy

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Aliceacc]

The best advice I've ever gotten about a WDW vacation:

Your group is only as happy as your least. happy member. So the trick is to do what's necessary to accommodate that least happy person. ... Within reason of course.

Your daughter is starving??? Time for a Mickey Bar. Your son can't keep his eyes open?? Time to consider skipping the fireworks.

Don't give any one event, meal, ride or show the ability to "make" your trip. The point is to have a great time together as a family, not to see everything and do everything, regardless of the cost to your family.

If you miss your fastpass to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train because you're having such fun at a character dinner, it's OK. If you never ride test track because you caught a great performance in world showcase, it's OK. It's about the forest, not the trees.

 

[boltfan]

Taking breaks makes or breaks the trip. Even for adults. Rope drop is a great way to start the day and then head back for a pool or nap break and then head back to the parks in the late afternoon. And make sure to actually relax and enjoy yourself. The best moments happen when you least expect it.

 

[LovesTimone]

The main thing is to stop and take the time to watch your children, and magic in their eyes is amazing, enjoy the small things as well as the big things.

Understand that while kids say they want ride the scary ride or the fastest ride, sometimes they change their mind, just go with it, that's what rider swap is for. The worst thing is to see a parent trying to drag a child on a ride.

You can each pick out a favorite ride and make sure that everyone gets to ride their favorite in each park.

Take a break, swim at the resort, take a nap, relax, step away from the stimulation. It will do everyone good.

Make sure to stay hydrated, use and re-use sun-screen.

Have snacks for in the room, when we would go back to the resort at night DD and DH would becomes hungry wolves, have something that familiar for them, PB&J was always a hit, or cereal in the mornings before heading out so that they have some fuel for the day. Also something for waiting in line, cereal bar, granola bar, pop-tart bites, I know many times standing in line, my DD or DH ... okay me too, gets a little cranky and a snack does the trick.

As far as souvenirs go, I suggest you use the gift card method, when they have their on money to spend, they become more cautious when spending. Other wise .... you see these kids throwing down in the stores or waiting for a parade, with a case of the I wants, which is not fun for mom and dad.

Knowing that you can't do everything is half the battle, so relax and let the memories happen.

Have a Magically time!!!

 

[dougsmom98]

I highly recommend buying and reading the Unofficial Guide to Disney World. That is what I did before my first trip and it was the best thing I ever did. Some people don't like touring plans, but having one helped me see and do more than I ever imagined that we could.

 

[Stigsmom]

These are all great suggestions! I would echo these:

Enter the park early (rope drop) to get a lot done, and leave midday to eat offsite and refresh/recharge for the evening festivities. For me just being able to grab a shower and clothes change during this break makes a huge difference! For kids a nap or down time is priceless!

Keep plenty of drinks in your bag (if you bring one), otherwise order the free ice water any time you buy refreshments in the park.

Get mini clip-on fans or misting fans at a discount store now while they are clearing out summer stuff and have one for each kid to use while waiting in lines.

Get the Unofficial Guide just to give you an idea of what you definitely want to do and good times to access those attractions.

Take some mini-videos of the kids on your camera or phone! They will love watching them later and so will you!

Limit the souvenirs to a gift card for each kid (get their favorite character on Disneygiftcard.com so you can keep them straight). If you have shopaholics like mine, allow them to make a wish list for birthday/holiday perhaps and you can sometimes sneak a few goodies home or find better deals on similar items later.

Alternatively, Target near WDW and other local stores have discounted items while not Disney Parks branded, are pretty good. My older 2 kids are still using their small plush and dated t-shirts purchased there as much if not more than their Disney Parks branded stuff.

Some people will say otherwise- but I think one character meal is worth it. Buy an 8x10 frame before you go and carry the matte with a Sharpie marker for the characters to sign and you can frame a great souvenir photo after you get home. I carried our frame mattes around in a large "look & find" book so they wouldn't get bent, which worked to store other paper souvenirs they got too.

Have fun!!!

 

[GotLabradors]

The best advice I've ever gotten about a WDW vacation:

Your group is only as happy as your least. happy member. So the trick is to do what's necessary to accommodate that least happy person. ... Within reason of course.

Your daughter is starving??? Time for a Mickey Bar. Your son can't keep his eyes open?? Time to consider skipping the fireworks.

Don't give any one event, meal, ride or show the ability to "make" your trip. The point is to have a great time together as a family, not to see everything and do everything, regardless of the cost to your family.

If you miss your fastpass to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train because you're having such fun at a character dinner, it's OK. If you never ride test track because you caught a great performance in world showcase, it's OK. It's about the forrest, not the trees.

Very well put, Alice!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Taking breaks makes or breaks the trip. Even for adults. Rope drop is a great way to start the day and then head back for a pool or nap break and then head back to the parks in the late afternoon. And make sure to actually relax and enjoy yourself. The best moments happen when you least expect it.

I could not disagree more. Now, that's not to say it isn't the way to go for YOUR family. I'm sure it is. But, my family had no use for breaks AT ALL. And my youngest was the same age as OP's. Additionally, we went in Summer when it's not only warm, but hours are long. Breaks? We don't need no stinkin' breaks

So, I say be prepared for the need to take a break, and equally prepared NOT to take them if you don't feel the need

 

[Happyjen27]

I think you're already set up for success because you've already realized the most important thing.

I know we can't possibly see and do it all

Now that you know that, you can just enjoy the trip.

For me, it was important to avoid the "get my money's worth" out of the trip. It was more important to enjoy every moment.

So, that's what I did, and it was amazing. A PP said it best, it's the forest, not the trees. We took breaks, we cancelled dinner reservations at BOG because everyone was feeling run down. We listened when the kids' favorite thing was a campfire and movie at the resort, when we have tons of campfires at home all stinking year! I didn't try to talk them out of it, I tried to make it happen.

If your kids want to spend 1 hour playing in the Epcot splash pad, that's an hour better spent than seeing 5 different "countries" in the world showcase. I chose to have a very "kid led" trip. That's not how I live my day to day life ordinarily, nor is it how we take other vacations, but this was their vacation, and it was fantastic.

For my first trip, I did an extraordinary amount of planning, schedules, the order in which we would see and do things. I also had the sense to throw that out the window if something fun came up. Because of all of that research and planning, I was able to make informed decisions. It was imperative for me, the super planner, to know how to indulge the kids and still have plan B, C or D to do some of the things that I thought they would enjoy. So, go ahead and do your type A thing ahead of time, but be type B when you're in the parks.

I think my approach to Disney was this: I would rather them thoroughly enjoy 3 things than experience 10.

 

[ajwolfe]

I could not disagree more. Now, that's not to say it isn't the way to go for YOUR family. I'm sure it is. But, my family had no use for breaks AT ALL. And my youngest was the same age as OP's. Additionally, we went in Summer when it's not only warm, but hours are long. Breaks? We don't need no stinkin' breaks

So, I say be prepared for the need to take a break, and equally prepared NOT to take them if you don't feel the need

Agreed!! My family has no desire to take breaks and never really has. We may set aside some time to swim occasionaly in the evening or what not because they always want to try out the resort pool (depending on the season we are there) but we are not the kind to go back and take naps. Even when the kiddos were small they had no need for naps. So my advice is to feel your family and decide what works best for them.

My biggest tip is to follow your kids' lead. Watch them and enjoy the magic on their faces. If they want to stop and smell the roses by playing in a play area or what not, let them or if they want to go commando and go from ride to ride, go for it!

 

[fiestymama]

Awesome responses. Thank you very much for the insight! I know I will need to remind myself to be laid back and easy going when we are there - so I am starting to get my mindset there now. I love the quote "it's about the forest not the trees" that is so fitting. Maybe that's what I can make my Disney mantra to repeat when I feel mommy-stress

Keep those wonderful thoughts and suggestions coming! Much appreciated!!

 

[JaimeK]

The best advice I've ever gotten about a WDW vacation:

Your group is only as happy as your least. happy member. So the trick is to do what's necessary to accommodate that least happy person. ... Within reason of course.

Your daughter is starving??? Time for a Mickey Bar. Your son can't keep his eyes open?? Time to consider skipping the fireworks.

Don't give any one event, meal, ride or show the ability to "make" your trip. The point is to have a great time together as a family, not to see everything and do everything, regardless of the cost to your family.

If you miss your fastpass to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train because you're having such fun at a character dinner, it's OK. If you never ride test track because you caught a great performance in world showcase, it's OK. It's about the forest, not the trees.

I think I'm going to need this laminated to reread every morning of our trip! It's hard for the planners to let go and be in the moment when your brain is thinking about where you should be, where to go next, what options you have.

We've only done one trip, 5 years ago and it was a HUGE difference than what I expected. My 3-year old turned out to be scared of rides (pretty much anything dark, like Winne the Pooh even), live shows, and fireworks. So I feel like our first two days weren't great until I got over what it should be and had fun with what we did do. That trip ended up all characters, playing in fountains and dancing in the streets whenever possible. It turned out really fun in the end, just took longer than it should have for me to get around to realizing it

 

[MandiC]

My biggest piece of advice, do what works best for YOUR family.
We did our first trip this year, we aren't Disney every year kind of people so we wanted to make the most of it. Our girls were 7 and 9 and we did not take breaks, actually we did 1 day and I regretted it for the most part. Just takes too much time and there are plenty of places in the parks to sit back and relax if needed. Most parks actually have attractions that allow a rest.
I know for *us* I wouldn't have wanted to go without a plan, I would have been miserable. My plan was pretty lenient. I didn't plan every hour of our days out but I did plan our meals (even the ones without reservations, though for lunches I planned 2 options for places to eat and said we'd eat at whichever we were closest to when we got hungry) and our fastpasses. For our AK day I planned on either staying around the resort or doing Downtown Disney when we were done. I did lots of days with 'options' depending on how we felt the actual day and that worked well. Some people are miserable with plans though, they like to do whatever they feel like in the moment.
If there are some highlights your kids are looking forward to I would certainly plan those. Tower of Terror is something I would either rope drop or get a fast pass for. With a princess loving daughter I would do Akershus for dinner on night (Norway in Epcot, same princesses she would see at Cinderella's Royal Table, less expensive meal). Think of her favorite princesses, some of them can only be seen in one park. If she wants to see Anna and Elsa you will want a fastpass.

 

[mitch98]

If you really want to have your best chance of seeing as much as possible then I would recommend buying a subscription to Ridemax (http://www.ridemax.com). This amazing scheduler will give you a great plan for each day of your trip. Even if you decide to skip a few things if "the kids are playing in the fountain", just having a plan to follow and not have everyone standing around saying "where do you want to go now?" is a life saver for us.

 

[BlueFairy]

RideMax and Touring Plans are great . . . IF they are fitting the family's mood. If you have to force it, it's not worth it. I go with a plan. We stick to it through lunch and invariably we wing it for the afternoon.

Thinking back as a WDW vet to my once-in-a-lifetime trip to DisneyLAND last year. . . The mistakes I made were when I put my wishes before the kids, knowing full well it was a ride not to their liking, or they were too tired. Have the wisdom to try and avoid that. Don't be embarrassed to bail out when it's too dark or too noisy for a little one. Or when an older child is acting like a crazy person and you think he's being unreasonable. Let go of your agenda. And when you do mess up and turn into that grumpy parent, buy everyone (including yourself) a Mickey Bar and take a time out to get back on track and forgive yourself.

If you're paying for a nice place to stay you can be assured that your kids will want to spend time there. Plan for it and let them.

Try not to "make the trip more magical" by over plussing everything. Do you really need a VIP tour, a Wishes cruise, a special cake at every dinner, or the oh-so-perfect interaction with a princess? No. Your trip won't be ruined if you don't get that first haircut on Main Street and a Be Our Guest dinner and a Wishes Dessert Party. Let it Go! (Not saying you are doing that, but it happens on these boards ALL the time).

Allow yourself plenty of time for transportation. If you want to be at a park at 9am, go to the bus stop at 8am. If you leave park gates at noon, don't expect to be in your room until 1pm. If you are going to another resort or anticipate a transportation transfer, allow 1 1/2 hours. Does it always take that long? No. But more often than not it takes *almost* that long.

And finally, you can add days to your ticket or hopping, but you can't subtract. Maybe consider not buying up front a park ticket that includes hopping and a park visit for every day of your trip. If your trip is 6 days, buy 4 day tickets. On day 4 you can always add days before you leave the park. You can also add park hopping at anytime by visiting guest services. I suggest this because if you have 7 day tickets you might feel the need to push the family to go, go, go and get the best use out of them. Might they be more interested in some shopping time, a day at the hotel, or a trip to Fort Wilderness to play on the playground, ride a boat and see some ponies?

 

[MandiC]

Try not to "make the trip more magical" by over plussing everything. Do you really need a VIP tour, a Wishes cruise, a special cake at every dinner, or the oh-so-perfect interaction with a princess? No. Your trip won't be ruined if you don't get that first haircut on Main Street and a Be Our Guest dinner and a Wishes Dessert Party. Let it Go! (Not saying you are doing that, but it happens on these boards ALL the time).

Allow yourself plenty of time for transportation. If you want to be at a park at 9am, go to the bus stop at 8am. If you leave park gates at noon, don't expect to be in your room until 1pm. If you are going to another resort or anticipate a transportation transfer, allow 1 1/2 hours. Does it always take that long? No. But more often than not it takes *almost* that long.

And finally, you can add days to your ticket or hopping, but you can't subtract. Maybe consider not buying up front a park ticket that includes hopping and a park visit for every day of your trip. If your trip is 6 days, buy 4 day tickets. On day 4 you can always add days before you leave the park. You can also add park hopping at anytime by visiting guest services. I suggest this because if you have 7 day tickets you might feel the need to push the family to go, go, go and get the best use out of them. Might they be more interested in some shopping time, a day at the hotel, or a trip to Fort Wilderness to play on the playground, ride a boat and see some ponies?

Ditto, all of this, very good advice!!
We didn't do ANYTHING extra, Disney is magical for kids. They don't *need* the extras, especially on the first trip when there is so much to do and see anyways. We absolutely did not need park hoppers on the first trip either. All the parks WILL take you a full day to come even remotely close to getting through (and we went at a low crowd time). Even AK we didn't finish until 3pm and when you figure dinner somewhere and transportation time in...it isn't worth going to another park IMO. Some families might feel differently but the only way I'd get hoppers in the future is if we had 4 days or less in the parks (which I just don't see happening for us ) And yes, transportation time can be long if taking Disney transport. It is super nice to not have to drive or worry about that but in the future I think we will rent a car. Will we always use it? I don't know, we're thinking of Fort Wilderness next time so I'm sure we'd probably take the boat as opposed to drive...but for the other parks, yes.

 

[PartOfYourWDWorld]

Setting realistic expectations is key to not being disappointed, and it's a great way to go into planning a trip. Here is my advice based on my Disney experiences with my little ones (currently 5, 2 and newborn):

They will got hot, tired and hungry. There have been many times that my kids have suddenly gotten grumpy without verbalizing why. It's almost always one of those three things. One table service reservation, a midday break and lots of snacks help us immensely.

There will be things your kids like that you don't expect them to and things they don't like that you thought they would. Follow their lead.

They might be scared of and/or uninterested in meeting characters. My DD5 is still hesitant about masked characters.

You will not experience every bit of magic/pixie dust that you read about. Don't try to make those moments happen. If they do - bonus!

This is probably the most important of them all - you will not be able to do it all. Even if you take a ten day trip. So make a list of your three or so must dos at each park and go from there.

Do as much planning as you can/want in advance, but when you get there, punch out. Just enjoy it and take it all in

 

[starsweeper]

The best advice I've ever gotten about a WDW vacation:

Your group is only as happy as your least. happy member. So the trick is to do what's necessary to accommodate that least happy person. ... Within reason of course.

Your daughter is starving??? Time for a Mickey Bar. Your son can't keep his eyes open?? Time to consider skipping the fireworks.

Don't give any one event, meal, ride or show the ability to "make" your trip. The point is to have a great time together as a family, not to see everything and do everything, regardless of the cost to your family.

If you miss your fastpass to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train because you're having such fun at a character dinner, it's OK. If you never ride test track because you caught a great performance in world showcase, it's OK. It's about the forest, not the trees.

I think this great advice! Our first two trips were with toddlers, 2yo then 3yo. The things I remember most about the trips are their awe at everything, playing with a flock of birds in AK (have video of this), missing Akerhaus because they were having so much fun playing on the walkway to WS we hated to interrupt them, etc. It's often the little moments that capture the joy in a trip, not the many "planned" things you work so hard to make special. Having done WDW with 2 toddlers in tow 3 times, I've been forced to realize you have to slow down, go with the flow and do what makes your kids happy then and there, regardless of your "plans"--that is the secret to a great trip. Have fun!

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Hi everyone! I've been a long-time lurker, but this is my very first post We are planning on our very first family Disney trip Nov 1-8 at CBR. My son is 8 and looking most forward to Tower of Terror & all things Toy Story. My daughter is 6 and will have her 7th birthday in Disney, and is most looking forward to Princesses, princesses and more princesses.

I tend to be fairly type A and have done a ton of research. I know that this trip will be probably the only one for us for at least another 5 years, so I want to maximize the experience, but also am trying to be realistic and keep my expectations under control. Wondering if any of you can help with tips and thoughts on this topic? I know we can't possibly see and do it all, and don't expect to, but do want to know any suggestions you have that might help keep everyone happy

Thanks in advance!!!!

We too only get to WDW about every 5 years and our last trip the kids were 8/9. Your kids are at a GREAT age for WDW. Old enough you can go longer times - kids don't need a nap. Less unpredictable mood swings and more verbal about what they want/don't want to do.

Take advice with a grain of salt and realize that what works for others will or will not work for you and your family.

You are traveling to WDW when they have shortened hours so personally I wouldn't take a break in the middle of the day, but if your family needs it then do it. I would plan on doing a show or sitting down to eat when the kids need a break vs. leaving the park entirely. If a park is only open 9a-7p or even 9p, time seems to go by quickly and our family likes to stay the whole day, you can still be in bed at a reasonable hour. To lose 2-3, even 4 hours of a 12 hour day IMO is wasteful and unecessary but again that is our family.

For your daughter, I would plan a character meal. Most of the time, this is where the kids get more 1 on 1 character time than standing in line in different areas of the park. Because it's a sit down meal, you can relax and take your time with it too. Great photo op! And while a princess meal is more for your daughter, my son didn't complain.... too much

Look at ride/attraction descriptions but try to get the kids to try any/everything. What they think they like they may hate and vice versa. One of DD's must do's was ToT...she did it but wasn't really that crazy about it when it came to reality. They may complain in hindsight that they can't believe you made them do xyz, but it's also some of the funniest and fondest memories.

Get memory maker and USE it! I know it's $150 up front but if you were to go on and purchase just the ride photos you would spend that and then some. Purchase it, get pictures of the WHOLE family including the family photographer (me in our family) and download all your photos after you get back. If you can get 15 pictures thats $10 a picture, the more you get the cheaper per picture it is and all you have to do is SMILE You can then have your pictures printed locally.

Realize that every trip to WDW is a unique experience when you only get to go every few years vs. annually or more frequently. The memories I have from our 1st trip (kids were 3/4) are DH & my memories - the kids don't really remember alot of the specifics. That trip was more younger attractions - dumbo, tea cups, etc. vs. thrill rides. Character interaction, pin trading, spending alot of time in the fountain/water spots. Our 2nd trip (kids 8/9) was less of the dumbo, peter pan, etc. type rides and more of the thrill rides. Less character interactions but still did a couple character meals. They still liked the pin trading. So realize your objectives change.

Most of all, plan plan plan but when you get there realize you are on vacation and that your expectations/plans do not match what the kids see and do. They still had a magical time and saw/did alot. It's totally true what a pp said - don't let 1 thing ruin your whole trip.

 

[Alexsandra]

First try to go there with the mentality that you are there to have fun as a family. SO be lenient on your plans and take it all in. Second, I recommend that you do whatever works for your family. You know them best. This is what I learnt on my many trips to WDW:

1. Follow their usual schedule. That means plan meals at the times they usually eat at home. Take a break in afternoon if they usually like to take afternoon naps or get cranky in the afternoon. Try to get them to bed at the times they usually go to bed even if that means skipping some fireworks or night shows.

2. Plan as much as you can ahead of time and then once on vacation go with the flow. If you decided to skip on your FP ride, or change your park day or your ADR once there, than do that. Just be cool! I suggest you book your ADR for each day, reserve all your FP attractions and make a tentative schedule of the attractions you want to visit first each day well before you arrive. Then you can relax once there knowing you did all the grunt work ahead of time.

3. Have lunch or dinner at a sit down restaurant in the parks. It give a nice break from the park crowds and it makes for special experiences. Some restaurants are an attraction in themselves (e.g. Sci-fi Dine Inn). I really like taking an ADR around 12:30-1pm when the crowd level increases and the high noon sun make temperatures uncomfortable. It allows to get out of heat and have a nice family meal in an air conditioned place.

4. Plan a day off in your schedule. The parks are fun but you need a day to just unwind. DO some pool explore the resort, go to DTD in the evening for shopping and a nice dinner. The trick is not to schedule too much on your day off so that you can truly relax.

5. Go to Parks early to take advantage of low heat and low crowds. Ride the most popular attractions first thing in the morning. Then fill with lower crowd attraction the in the afternoon when crowds are high. Don't forget to use those advanced FP
reservations.

6. Always carry cheep dollar store rain ponchos. Make sure you have one for every family member. You never know when it will start pouring. They are also handy on water ride when you don't want to get wet. or you can lay them down on a wet bench to sit on.

7. Don't be afraid to explore off the beaten track! There are a lot of hidden gems at Disney and those are sometimes the best experiences we've had with the kids.

8. The most important: Have fun and enjoy it!

Have a magical trip!