Tips for dealing with kids of different ages at WDW

[canadaman]

A little backround first. I have 2 boys who are 10 and 8. They went to WDW once before.

My finance has 1 girl aged 6. She has never been to WDW before.

We are all going on July 19th for 8 nights. We are staying at POR.

My 2 boys have always been able to stay up late and get up early without having to much of an effect on thier mood or behavior. On the other hand our little girl needs to get her sleep to avoid having meltdowns the next day.

We understand with her age we need to accomadate for that. The problem we see is being in a single room at POR it will be hard for her to go to sleep earlier then anyone else and hard for her to sleep after others get up. There really is nothing we can do about that except we could have got 2 rooms which wasn't cost efficent for us.

We are planning on splitting up at the parks when need be to allow all three of the kids to see and do the stuff they want to do.

I have considered the idea of going back to the room mid day to allow for a nap for the little girl while the boys swim.

Does anyone have any other tips for dealing with this situation

 

[sjsjbrook]

I have a 16, 9,8 and 1 year old. What I do is go with the flow. It is great that you are staying onsite as it gives you the option of going your separate ways if needed. Staying offsite with one car, didn't work well for the splitting up.

If you split up make sure you each have a cell phone. We split up and had a meeting place, but then the girls with me wanted to do something else no where near the meeting place. If I would have had a cell phone I could have changed the meeting place.

I found when traveling with my young children, the ones that sleep earlier, I would put them to bed, while the others did something outside of the room. Then they could go to bed later once she is sleeping. Not ideal, but doable.

Most of all remember to have fun!!!

 

[ABCanada]

I think your plan sound good. When our daughter was young, and even not so young, we always took a mid day break away from the park.

While disney is the "happiest place on earth" you see an awful lot of breakdowns in the park. There is so much stimulation in the parks that even if they are not overly tired it can be too much.

Going to the pool is a good break.

If you have the Water Parks and More on your tickets an alternative to the pool for the boys is Disney Quest in DTD. It is a short boat ride from POR.

At MK if DD needed a bit of down time we found Tom Sawyer's Island a good break. It let her burn off some energy and gave her time away from the crowds.

If you are at one of the parks and do not want to go back to your resort, visiting the resorts closest to the parks can be relaxing. Many of them have beaches and interesting areas to explore.

 

[Reese]

There is also the option of taking the boys to the arcade or for a swim while the 6 year old gets to sleep. Then the boys can burn up a little extra energy and have fun without keeping the little one awake.

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

I always found the kids dropped off to sleep much quicker at Disney than at home, hopefully this will be the case for the 6 yr old.