Tips for early morning flight with 3 kids

[goofy4wdw2]

I was just able to switch to an earlier flight...yeah! Originally we weren't arriving until after dinner but now our flight leaves at 9am and lands at MCO at 11:25. We'll need to leave our house by 6am which is a little early for our kids but much better than arriving in Disney around bedtime that night. So...any suggestions for a smooth escape from the house and good early morning experience? I'm guessing we could have the kids get dressed in their regular clothes the night before, we can pack breakfast and snacks to go. Any other tips? I'm getting so excited!

 

[Julylady]

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but mine have no trouble getting up for a Disney trip. In fact, they leap out of bed as soon as we wake them. I have a bigger problem in getting them asleep at a decent time the night before. We do baths the night before and let them sleep in their traveling clothes. We eat in the airport after we are thru security. If they miss a lot of sleep, you may need to alter your plans for the first night. We never plan anything other than settling in and exploring the resort. Then it's early to bed for all of us.

 

[goofy4wdw2]

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but mine have no trouble getting up for a Disney trip. In fact, they leap out of bed as soon as we wake them. I have a bigger problem in getting them asleep at a decent time the night before. We do baths the night before and let them sleep in their traveling clothes. We eat in the airport after we are thru security. If they miss a lot of sleep, you may need to alter your plans for the first night. We never plan anything other than settling in and exploring the resort. Then it's early to bed for all of us.

Yes, I guess I should be more worried about going to sleep the night before!!!

 

[Lupeix]

I hear you, our flight for our WDW trip in April leaves at 7:15 AM! It is going to be tough.
I've done several early flights before with DS, he will be 4 by the trip.
I second the idea of letting them sleep in the travel clothes, making sure they are the comfy sweatpants-like. I make sure we are all packed and ready to go and wake DS up, make him go potty and take him right to the carseat.
My experience is that for small children, waiting to eat seriously backfires. So I give him a clif kids bar in the car and a small box of milk to drink (I usually ban milk from the car, but this is an exception).
DH and I eat breakfast after security. If the flight is too early I pack some sandwiches for us, I think I am going to do that in April.

This is a surprise trip for DS, I was thinking to tell him the day before we leave. But now that I see the potential for not going to bed, maybe I wait until I wake him up

 

[hcox31]

I would have the car preloaded and ready to go, and yes, have the kids sleep in their day clothes.

 

[myrtleturtle]

Have the car packed the night before, let the kids sleep in their travel clothes. For us that's usually comfy clothes anyway. And for me, it's important that I'm up and ready before they are, including coffee in me! It's too hard to get myself ready and get them up and going.

 

[MandiC]

Yep, we had to leave our house at 5am for our Disney flight. I packed the car ahead of time with snacks and all of our luggage (carry ons and checked bags) and had the kids sleep ib comfortable clothes. They barely woke up walking to the car and slept for a good hour of our drive to the airport (hour and a half drive from our home) we picked up some breakfast at a drive through before getting to the airport at which time I put on their motion ease for the flight. It worked out pretty well actually.

 

[awalker1015]

Glad to hear these tips. Our flight out of Nashville is at 6:15am (eek!). This means we will probably have to leave our house around 4 in order to drop our car at the satellite lot, check in etc. I'm a nurse so that hour doesn't scare me but my kids are another story!

 

[MommyBryn]

We have to leave our house at 4 am to get to the airport for our 7:30 flight as well. We generally don't worry much about how they sleep the night before because they crash at some point on the 6+ hours of flight time anyway. I DO put them to bed in the clothes we're leaving in, though (except the baby). That always makes it a bit easier since it's one less thing to do at that hour of the morning.

 

[Minnesota!]

To us, leaving at 6am on a flying day is sleeping in, ha ha!

We are typically up and out of the house around 3 - 315 for flights. Our tradition is stopping by a 24 hour diner on our way to the airport...my kids think that getting a cheeseburger for breakfast at 330 is the best thing in the world.

Honestly, if the kids know they are getting up to go to Disney, there shouldn't be an issue! I would say start waking them up about 20 minutes before they actually have to be up - time to adjust to getting out of bed. Have clothes laid out. If you are eating at home, have something easy and portable they can eat in the car on the way to the airport.

But, I am betting they will be jumping out of bed ready to go!

Have fun!

 

[leahlefler]

We usually lay out the kids' clothes and have everything packed the night before. DH and I get up & get completely ready, then wake the kids just before we have to leave - we always stop by Tim Horton's and the kids get Timbits - always a fun thing for them!

This time we are flying out of Pittsburgh and will have to stay in a hotel the night before our flight (Pitts is 3 hours from our house and our flight leaves at 6:30 am - so unless we want to drive down at 1 am, a hotel is in the plans). We plan on doing the same thing we normally do for early flights, minus the Timbits. We'll get something to eat in the airport after going through security.

 

[maxiesmom]

The one tip I can give you is to plan on sleeping in a bit the next day. We did the super early thing once when the kids were little, and they were mostly fine that day. The next day, no one wanted to get up, so we let them sleep in.

 

[monorailsilver]

I don't think 6 is that early to wake up. The last time we went we had to leave at around 6 or just before. I came out of the shower expecting to wake my kids and all 3 were awake and dressed with out me telling them multiple times. Now a school morning...

Send tem to bed a little earlier and don't plan much for that arrival day.

We have a 6:15 am flight in April. I am dreading it. The airport is about 45-50 min away so instead of waking at 3:30 to shower and leave by 4, we are getting a hotel at the airport and leaving at 4:45-5.

 

[Pesky]

The 3YO I would either dress in comfy travel clothes the night before and let him sleep in those or keep him in his PJs and not change him until you are at the gate. I think the 9YO and 7YO will be able to dress in the morning provided you have clothes all laid out the night before.

* tell them you plan on them sleeping in the car on the way to the airport. Don't bother with breakfast at home that early. You've set the expectation that there will be no bowls of fruit loops so hopefully can avoid any meltdowns caused by breakfast expectations.
* bring some snacks in case they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Bagels, bags of dry cheerios, yogurt tubes they can suck down before security. Keep some snacks for the plane. You can plan on grabbing breakfast at the airport too.
* I'd wake them 15-20 minutes before you need to leave. That gives them enough time to go to the bathroom, quick brush of the teeth, and dress before you head out.
* do everything else you need to BEFORE you wake them up. Finish the suitcases, pack the car, final instructions for any neighbor or house/pet sitter, etc. While one parent is getting the kids ready, the other should be canvassing the house for any forgotten items and checking that things are turned off, unplugged, locked, etc.

 

[MagicalMother]

Have the car packed the night before and let them sleep in whatever clothes they are traveling in.

 

[AlexisMaxMommy]

We had to leave our house at 5AM to catch our flight for our last trip at 7AM. As for tips: 1) have everything packed and ready the night before. I know some people put the stuff in the car and everything, but I didn't feel safe doing that. 2) outfits for you and the kids to change into should be ready to go 3) have your carry on bag ready with snacks and whatever you prefer for entertainment. My kids weren't really interested in eating until we got to the airport, so I waited until after security for drinks. 4) if you are planning on going to the parks the day you arrive, try to build in some downtime because it will be a long day

 

[pixiemama91]

We always take the early morning flights out. My DD has no problems getting up early in the morning and all the excitement gets her right out of bed and ready to go. My DH is another story. He is usually the last one ready. I just make sure that we have everything ready to go the night before and try to get to bed early. We only like about 20-25 min from the airport so it's a quick ride in and that early in the morning there is never any traffic.

 

[Julie711]

We always have a early flight ( 7 or 8 am) which means we leave our house at 4 am. I always let them sleep in their clothes, so we just wake them up after we are dressed & ready, change the little ones diaper and we are off! We pack the car up the night before also.