Tips for dealing with 3 hour time change?

[studentmom]

Hi everyone,
Was wondering if anyone had tips for dealing with the 3 hour time change. We'll be coming in from California, so were going to have a really hard time making those EMH's or early breakfast resies, especially with a 3 year old and a 5 year old .
For us getting up at 6 or 7am will be like waking up at 3 or 4am- eek! Are there ways to get them used to it or should I just not bother trying? Wasn't sure if the Evening MH's are as good as the EMH's. If anyone has any advice, I would really apreciate it. Thanks in advance!

 

[CEDmom]

We have a 5 yo and are on the east coast but we still can't seem to get to EMH or early breakfast PS. What we did on our last trip was go to each park the day after EMH. It worked well for us. We were able to get to the chosen park around 9am after a quick breakfast in our room. We then would have an early PS lunch, stay for a little bit into the afternoon and then go back to our resort between 2-3 for a swim or just to relax. Some days we just went for a monorail ride or a walk around the boardwalk for some down time. We had a stroller for DD so she was able to relax and even nap on occasion. We'd usually go back to a park around 5pm for a counter service dinner and some evening stuff before heading back to our resort around 8.

 

[rt2dz]

Whenever we deal with big time changes, I start adjusting the kids routine by half over a period of time. For example, waking up/going to sleep 15 minutes earlier/later. I never adjust more than half--for a 3 hour time change that would be getting up 1.5 hours earlier--so that they can have an easier time switching back. We also do nap time that way to. Of course, this is all 'when possible'. It helps quite a bit.

 

[studentmom]

Thank you both for your replies and advice. I think we'll do a little bit of both. I don't think I'll be able to get them use to getting up 3 hours earlier, but maybe, I can adjust their schedule by and hour or two. Hmmm

 

[Fannie_Marie]

I think that the first day is the hardest with the time change, (for me too) so I'm going to try to get my girls 7 & 9, to bed no later than 1.5 hrs after their normal bed time. I'm hoping that the excitement of the day will tire them out, so they'll sleep and be able to wake up at 7:00 am Florida time!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Hmmm....keep in mind it IS your vacation. Why not put your California internal clocks to your advantage? Get up at 11am (EST), go have an early lunch or late breakfast and then go do the parks while everyone else is going back to the room to put their kids down. Then when they are returning for their last hurrahs have an early dinner and keep your kids in the parks until closing and go off for a light supper.

If you want to do an early morning do it just once for a specific purpose...you don't HAVE to get into the parks early just because the east coasters and Europeans do it. One advantage is that the lines for the rides oriented for the younger set are a bit shorter in the evening hours than the early hours...at least that's the way its been when I've gone.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Hi! We do this every trip. The best thing for us is to jump right into the time change. We fly a red eye from California to Florida, go to one of the parks until our room is ready, then rest the rest of our day (usually falling asleep early). The next day, we tend to wake up very early after so many hours of rest. However, if it is too difficult for you, then just avoid the emh mornings. You don't want to have cranky kids all day.

 

[studentmom]

I'm starting to feel much better about this!

 

[MrsPete]

Hi everyone,
so were going to have a really hard time making those EMH's or early breakfast resies, especially with a 3 year old and a 5 year old !

Most people try to grab the 7:00-8:00 breakfast reservations; however, you can get them as late as 10:30-11:00, depending upon the restaurant. We think you get more time with the characters if you have a late reservation.

 

[dismsn]

My family is from Washington State and we were worried about being able to get up early but we didn't have any trouble adjusting to the time change. We just got up early the first day we entered the parks and it seemed like we didn't notice the time change too much. I don't know why it worked out okay--maybe just the excitement of WDW.

We do take red-eye flights and don't enter any parks the first day. On our last trip we just hung out at Downtown Disney in the morning, checked into our hotel in the afternoon and took a nap, took a Wishes Cruise (or whatever they're called) that evening, and went to bed by 9 or 10 p.m. the first night. We were adjusted to the time change by the second day.

We just returned from a trip to Washington DC and did the same thing--took a red-eye flight and hung out with relatives the first day and woke up bright and early the next day to start sightseeing. For some reason it seems harder to adjust back to Pacific Time (it's 7:45 p.m. here and I'm exhausted).

Enjoy your trip!

 

[whacked]

We're from Oregon.

My advice, just get up early. Your kids will be psyched to be in the parks. Mine always are. That will keep them going for a while.

If you get up early (get to the parks 1/2 hour before they open) you can do quite a bit.

By 11:00 am you should be back in your room napping. Earlier if the kids are crashing. Nap, and then go back to the parks around 4 pm. Then lots of people are leaving the parks for dinner, or for the day if they arrived early and had no nap.

Naps are the key to staying happy in the happiest place on earth.

Even when we went without kids, we took naps. You just can't go at a "Disney" pace all day without either taking a nap or paying a VERY heavy toll.

It's also cooler in the parks earlier. That makes a big difference.

Take water bottles, and keep everyone well hydrated. Dehydration will sap energy very quickly, even in what seems like cool weather. We bring along bags with pre-measured drink mix to flavor the not so good tasting water.

Take a fanny pack with snacks to keep everyone's energy level up. Not just sugar, make sure there's protien in there too.

Above all, if the kids are getting a "flat tire", go back to the room and rest. Sometimes they may just need to hang out in the room or at the pool. This can be hard to do when you are thinking about how much you paid for the ticket, but it's a cost of traveling with younger children.

Again, I can't stress enough getting to the park early. You will do more in the first two hours the park is open than you can do the rest of the day.

Above all, have fun. That's what it's all about.

 

[Nicolepa]

Hi everyone,
Was wondering if anyone had tips for dealing with the 3 hour time change. We'll be coming in from California, so were going to have a really hard time making those EMH's or early breakfast resies, especially with a 3 year old and a 5 year old .

We are from Seattle and Dh's family lives in S. Florida so we are down there usually 2x a year (at least). We do not switch them to East coast time, especially for Disney. We don't worry about getting to the parks early, but we really take advantage of the late hours. Keep in mind that midnight is only 9 PM. And the parks are usually pretty quiet by then.

We get up whenever they do, get ready, eat breakfast and head to the parks (usually around 10). Eat a late lunch, go back to the room for naps around 4 (my kids are young). Then back to whatever park is open the latest.