Touring Plans with Young Children

[CapeCodTenor]

Hey, everyone. I'll be taking my first family trip to the World next year, and I have a question for parents with young children: Do you use a touring plan, or do you just wing it? It's been years since I've been down, but when I was down I'd get a couple of Fast Passes, paper passes, for some rides I really wanted to ride and then just wing it for the rest of the day. I don't want to over plan the day as something might come up that will change the plan, but I was curious to know how much planning other parents do.

 

[tami82]

I plan but I don't go overboard. I think the first trip we did but after that we didn't go crazy. It's too stressful to plan every minute of your day. We do go to the parks after rope drop to avoid crowds, stay in park until about 1:00 or so and the only thing we would really work around would be dining plans. The Fast passes we got at the parks a few years ago but now you can get them ahead of time. I'm honestly not sure I know where we will go each day after going to the MK on our first day. I do have a dining reservation at Biergarten in Epcot so I will have to commit to going there on a certain day to avoid cancellation charges if we don't show for dinner. Other than that we can go to any park on any day that we like. We also have a waterpark day so I have to include that somewhere into our plans. We are just going to play by ear our next trip. I say do a lot of reading up on the boards to get familiar with everything so you know what to expect once you are there.

 

[loves to dive]

When my son was little it was back in the dark ages before FP of any kind was even considered so wing it was the only way to go. I wouldn't recommend overplanning, kids can ruin a good plan faster than you can blink. I'd do as you mentioned, schedule that FP for the ride that you can't live without then let the little ones determine the rest of the day. Nothing worse than trying to drag a grumpy kid around a park when they would rather be at the pool or napping or watching cartoons. I was a single mom so my days had to go around my son since had no one to take over for me, I can remember some trips when he was younger when we might only ride 3 rides the whole day, the rest of the time would be with him just enjoying the place.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

When my son was little it was back in the dark ages before FP of any kind was even considered so wing it was the only way to go. I wouldn't recommend overplanning, kids can ruin a good plan faster than you can blink. I'd do as you mentioned, schedule that FP for the ride that you can't live without then let the little ones determine the rest of the day. Nothing worse than trying to drag a grumpy kid around a park when they would rather be at the pool or napping or watching cartoons. I was a single mom so my days had to go around my son since had no one to take over for me, I can remember some trips when he was younger when we might only ride 3 rides the whole day, the rest of the time would be with him just enjoying the place.

And that's just it, I don't want a grumpy kid, but I wanted to try and get in a few rides. That's why I wanted to come on here to find out what other parents have done. This will be my first time in the World with a 4 y/o and I want to do it right.

 

[ELSA711]

I always followed a touring plan, especially when they are little BUT we were early and out kind of family. Even now we don't stay past 7/8pm typically.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I think touring plans are great for older children and adults, they are harder to execute with young kids because once they see Dumbo, they HAVE TO RIDE DUMBO RIGHT NOW!!!! However, they are invaluable for getting a general idea of which rides absolutely need to be ridden first. For example, while not a fast paced super headliner, Peter Pan gets an enormous line and should be ridden in the very first part of the day unless you'd like to wait an hour. Similarly, attractions that fill a large theater, like Mickey's Philharmagic, should be left for later in the afternoon when crowds are highest. I would highly recommend checking out The Unofficial Guide's touring plans, www.touringplans.com. You don't need to follow the plans exactly, but you can at least get an idea of good places to start for the rides you are interested in.

 

[DopeyDame]

We generally have a plan, including our 3 fastpasses a day and usually a meal reservation every other day. BUT... and here's the most important part... we're totally willing to ditch the plan if needed.
I find at least an initial plan is helpful, though, because you don't want to be arguing over where the next ride is or where to eat for lunch while you're in the middle of the park. So I like to have a general idea of what we're doing and in what order. And then if that goes out the window, I'm happy to just roll with it.

 

[katriscari]

I will have an 8 year old and a 10 month old the next time we go (May 2017). The first trip with our son (age 5) was strictly planned, 1 park per day. He did very well. I think the excitement kept him going, plus he really did not "know" Disney yet...he just kind of did what he was told HAHA. Our next trip, when he was 6, he wanted to spend more time at the pool and use fast passes and not really wait for a lot of other things unless lines were short. For our next trip with kids ages so far apart we are doing 10 nights because we know things are not going to be able to be jam packed. We fully expect to split up as well on occasion just because the baby might need to nap whereas my 8 year old will never nap.

Some things I found helpful:
*I tried to do character meals to avoid waiting in lines to meet characters. That can take up a lot of time, and my son did not like long waits unless he reallllllly wanted to do something.
*I did my fast passes at a time of day that worked with our family. We are early risers, so we would get to the park earlier by 9-10am and then use all of our fast passes by 1pm. After that we would schedule another fast pass for later in the day and use it if we wanted to, but we felt no pressure to go back to the park if our son wanted to stay & swim or explore somewhere else.
*If we had an early morning one day, we would try to head to bed earlier or not schedule things for so early the next day. Ex. pre-park opening CRT reservation one morning meant we needed to be up by 615am for a 8am reservation. The next morning we slept in and had a pool and putt putt day.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I think touring plans are great for older children and adults, they are harder to execute with young kids because once they see Dumbo, they HAVE TO RIDE DUMBO RIGHT NOW!!!! However, they are invaluable for getting a general idea of which rides absolutely need to be ridden first. For example, while not a fast paced super headliner, Peter Pan gets an enormous line and should be ridden in the very first part of the day unless you'd like to wait an hour. Similarly, attractions that fill a large theater, like Mickey's Philharmagic, should be left for later in the afternoon when crowds are highest. I would highly recommend checking out The Unofficial Guide's touring plans, www.touringplans.com. You don't need to follow the plans exactly, but you can at least get an idea of good places to start for the rides you are interested in.

I agree. Get what you really wanted done first.

We generally have a plan, including our 3 fastpasses a day and usually a meal reservation every other day. BUT... and here's the most important part... we're totally willing to ditch the plan if needed.
I find at least an initial plan is helpful, though, because you don't want to be arguing over where the next ride is or where to eat for lunch while you're in the middle of the park. So I like to have a general idea of what we're doing and in what order. And then if that goes out the window, I'm happy to just roll with it.

I had planned on having some kind of an idea of where to go so we wouldn't be arguing, or killing time by having long discussions on where to go next. Of course, if something gets tossed because little one decides right then and there that she has to ride Dumbo for a 8th time then we'll have that flexibility. I just didn't want to over plan and not have any flexibility.

I will have an 8 year old and a 10 month old the next time we go (May 2017). The first trip with our son (age 5) was strictly planned, 1 park per day. He did very well. I think the excitement kept him going, plus he really did not "know" Disney yet...he just kind of did what he was told HAHA. Our next trip, when he was 6, he wanted to spend more time at the pool and use fast passes and not really wait for a lot of other things unless lines were short. For our next trip with kids ages so far apart we are doing 10 nights because we know things are not going to be able to be jam packed. We fully expect to split up as well on occasion just because the baby might need to nap whereas my 8 year old will never nap.

Some things I found helpful:
*I tried to do character meals to avoid waiting in lines to meet characters. That can take up a lot of time, and my son did not like long waits unless he reallllllly wanted to do something.
*I did my fast passes at a time of day that worked with our family. We are early risers, so we would get to the park earlier by 9-10am and then use all of our fast passes by 1pm. After that we would schedule another fast pass for later in the day and use it if we wanted to, but we felt no pressure to go back to the park if our son wanted to stay & swim or explore somewhere else.
*If we had an early morning one day, we would try to head to bed earlier or not schedule things for so early the next day. Ex. pre-park opening CRT reservation one morning meant we needed to be up by 615am for a 8am reservation. The next morning we slept in and had a pool and putt putt day.

Those are great suggestions.

 

[DopeyDame]

Sounds like you're setting up for a fantastic trip!

Just one other thought (related to ditching plans) - We found 4 to be a tough age to predict character interactions.
When DS was 2, he loved the characters. By the time he was 4, he absolutely wanted nothing at all to do with them. Bye, bye Mickey meet and greet fastpass! He wouldn't go near them.
DD at 3 was mildly interested, but only if we were holding her - she definitely wasn't excited about meeting them. We found character interactions (like Mickey's Backyard BBQ or the Tusker House mini-parade-thingy) to be the best options for character interactions because the kids didn't have any pressure. They could watch and participate without actually getting really close.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Sounds like you're setting up for a fantastic trip!

Just one other thought (related to ditching plans) - We found 4 to be a tough age to predict character interactions.
When DS was 2, he loved the characters. By the time he was 4, he absolutely wanted nothing at all to do with them. Bye, bye Mickey meet and greet fastpass! He wouldn't go near them.
DD at 3 was mildly interested, but only if we were holding her - she definitely wasn't excited about meeting them. We found character interactions (like Mickey's Backyard BBQ or the Tusker House mini-parade-thingy) to be the best options for character interactions because the kids didn't have any pressure. They could watch and participate without actually getting really close.

As to your first comment: I'm hoping to have a fantastic trip. I'm starting my planning of this trip off of my last few trips, the last of which was 15 years ago, with some changes of course.

My wife mentioned that about the characters and meet and greets, so I'm already kind of thinking about that. As a child my wife would have nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do with the characters, she was afraid of them according to her mom. Now my daughter? Who knows. Both of her parents, me and DW, are both actors and musicians so she's used to seeing people in on stage and in costume, the latest of which was Shrek and Donkey from the musical Shrek, so I'm not overly concerned; however, that's not to say that she won't have a moment and decide not to meet them. But thanks for the heads up.

 

[DisneyArie]

I used the toddler plans at WDW Prep School. I am not doing a strict schedule, but I did use her plans as a guideline. My kiddos are young so I wanted suggestions on the best rides for little ones and the times when they aren't too crowded.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I used the toddler plans at WDW Prep School. I am not doing a strict schedule, but I did use her plans as a guideline. My kiddos are young so I wanted suggestions on the best rides for little ones and the times when they aren't too crowded.

I just discovered that site, so I'm glad you mentioned it.

 

[SanderMC]

We were down there last June with out then 2.5 year old. I had created touring plans using the touring plans website. I had told my husband (because he's not that much of a planner) that we would start using them and then see what happened. In most cases we would start with them for the first hour or two (when the parks weren't as crowded and therefore could get more done) and then would at some point veer off and end up winging it. The only park we stuck closer to the plan throughout the whole day was for DS. Because a lot of the attractions there are shows, if we didn't follow a certain time pattern we wouldn't fit in all the ones we wanted to see. The only thing with touring plans (at least when we did them) was that unless you put it in manually there wasn't a default to put in times to see characters and my daughter LOVED the characters. A lot of time we would start veering off the plan because we would see a character out she wanted to see. For us, the having a plan but being flexible enough to change it on the fly worked very well.

 

[jessrose18]

we are also taking a 2.5 year old.. i have a list of rides we should do with her i will make a loose plan and hope it works. i would love to hear anybody's advice who went with a toddler!

 

[CapeCodTenor]

We were down there last June with out then 2.5 year old. I had created touring plans using the touring plans website. I had told my husband (because he's not that much of a planner) that we would start using them and then see what happened. In most cases we would start with them for the first hour or two (when the parks weren't as crowded and therefore could get more done) and then would at some point veer off and end up winging it. The only park we stuck closer to the plan throughout the whole day was for DS. Because a lot of the attractions there are shows, if we didn't follow a certain time pattern we wouldn't fit in all the ones we wanted to see. The only thing with touring plans (at least when we did them) was that unless you put it in manually there wasn't a default to put in times to see characters and my daughter LOVED the characters. A lot of time we would start veering off the plan because we would see a character out she wanted to see. For us, the having a plan but being flexible enough to change it on the fly worked very well.

I think that's the way to do it, especially with young ones. Have a plan for certain rides, but allow for some wiggle room, because we know kids are doing to want to do things at the spur of the moment.

we are also taking a 2.5 year old.. i have a list of rides we should do with her i will make a loose plan and hope it works. i would love to hear anybody's advice who went with a toddler!

I have a few rides in mind that I know I'll want to ride with her, but otherwise having a basic plan helps to give you a basic outline for the day, even if you don't follow it exactly.

 

[MagicSoup]

Planning our first trip with young ones too and approaching it the same way. Have a basic plan and prepared to throw it out the window depending on how the kids are doing.

I'm also including the 4 year old in the planning to a certain extent so that he'll have an idea of what to expect and can tell us what he wants. For example he really wants to see Jake from Jake and the Never Land Pirates and I had no idea he was that into that show.

Definitely enjoying reading more about how other parents are doing things!

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Planning our first trip with young ones too and approaching it the same way. Have a basic plan and prepared to throw it out the window depending on how the kids are doing.

I'm also including the 4 year old in the planning to a certain extent so that he'll have an idea of what to expect and can tell us what he wants. For example he really wants to see Jake from Jake and the Never Land Pirates and I had no idea he was that into that show.

Definitely enjoying reading more about how other parents are doing things!

We're going to surprise our DD with the trip, so no getting help from her; however, I did tell the wife that there are certain rides I know I'm going to want to get her on, Dumbo being one and Peter Pan's Flight being the other, outside that we'll wing it. You know, that's the best part of Disney World/Land, winging it. There are so many little things that go on in the parks that you're always getting something for your dollar.

 

[MagicSoup]

We're going to surprise our DD with the trip, so no getting help from her; however, I did tell the wife that there are certain rides I know I'm going to want to get her on, Dumbo being one and Peter Pan's Flight being the other, outside that we'll wing it. You know, that's the best part of Disney World/Land, winging it. There are so many little things that go on in the parks that you're always getting something for your dollar.

So true! Best advice I've found so far for going with little ones is to pick one thing per day, one thing that you really want to do, then once you've done that thing the day is a success and it doesn't matter what else you do.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

So true! Best advice I've found so far for going with little ones is to pick one thing per day, one thing that you really want to do, then once you've done that thing the day is a success and it doesn't matter what else you do.

That's a great way to look at it. I went several times by myself, and for the most part I winged it. I had a few rides I knew I wanted to ride, but for the most part I winged it and enjoyed walking around and enjoying the sites. And that's one thing I like most about Disney World/Land: the sites and sounds, the atmosphere. I want to go and ride the rides, but I enjoy the sights and sounds and atmosphere of Disney World as much as I enjoy the rides.