What to do in the evening w/ little ones

[tanyaandallie]

I am working on my itenerary for our week long trip in Jan. Our past 2 trips have been either split up or short so planning was easy b/c there were certain days we had to do certain things based on our schedule.

This trip we are free and clear of all obligations (except one dinner or lunch with the in-laws) and have a TON of time. I'm struggling on what to do in the evenings. We generally will go to the parks for rope drop and then head back to our hotel for naps. Those of you with young kids, what do you normally do in the evening? We have spectro one night, fantasmic one night and the PPP one night. That leave a ton of other nights open!!! I'd love to do some nice dinners but am trying to be realistic about my kids ability to sit through a nice/long dinner.

 

[AWilliams]

We went to Epcot a few evenings. It was always open later than the other parks and our DD had a great time listening to the bands in Canada and England. She really enjoyed looking around at the countries. We did counter service since she doesn't sit for a meal and there are great places in Epcot (like Mexico) for lots of different meals.

 

[ehrn]

We usually stay at POR and love to take the boat to DTD and that's always fun. This time we'll drive since we'll be at POP. My son loves the Stitch that sprays water at WoD and there is a water fountain that he loves, although it might to too cold to play in Jan. There's the Lego store of course and sometimes a magician or someone like that will perform outside of Once Upon a Toy.
Maybe a dinner at WCC--the WL is such a nice place to relax, the fireplace is so cozy and we always take DS's pic in front of the Totem Pole by the gift shop.
Some resorts have carriage rides which look fun.
In Sept we spent a good 30 min sitting on the Boardwalk after dinner at Spoodles watching a really good magician.
FW has a campfire thing in the eves which we have never done but we did go on a hayride there once which was awesome!!! In fact, I think we might have to do one of those in Jan, thanks for getting me thinking about it!!!
We have dinner planned at Boma one eve so that's another fun resort to walk around...
It's funny, we were there in Sept and felt like we were running non-stop, we had no time for these lazy evenings. We decided to make a rather last min trip in Jan for DS/my bdays and since the parks close earlier and it will be just the 3 of us, we are really looking forward to these evenings!!!
Have a wonderful trip.

 

[TaraPA]

I agree with the OPs about heading to Epcot just to relax & listen & watch. We also head to Downtown Disney for a relaxing evening, when my kids were younger they loved the dancing water near the entrance, the Lego store & Rainforest Cafe. You could also spend some time at AKL - there are a lot of evening activities for kids - a musical parade, night vision animal watching & story telling by the fire pit - we did all of these. If you can get an ADR for Boma that would make it a perfect evening!

 

[Mkrop]

Never been in Jan but what about character meals, they take a good chunk of time and the kids would be occupied and then you can explore the resort and head back to get to bed early for rope drop the next day. Chef Mikcey is fun bc then you could ride the monorail around the resorts.

 

[belle&beast]

When we went in Jan 2006, our kids were 2 and 4. We saw Spectromagic, missed Illuminations because they were tired, saw Wishes twice, Fantasmic and had a late dinner at Chef Mickey's and closed down the parks most nights. We had only had one night that we just went back and had pizza and off to bed early. Check out the park hours, they weren't really all that late anyway when we were there, so we were able to make it to the rope drop every morning. DS just took naps in the stroller since he wasn't a consistent napper even at 2. Have fun! Our last 2 trips have been in January and we love it then- minimal crowds and cooler weather (but MUCH warmer than home!)

 

[DVCJones]

We like to head over to the Boardwalk. There is always free entertainment (magicians, jugglers, one-man bands, etc.) and a great atmosphere.

 

[esk]

Sounds silly, but we stick to their regular bedtime (7:30......well, OK, 8 or 8:30 because we're at Disney)

By the time we finish dinner -- we try to eat at 6:30 which is normal for us -- and get back to our resort, have a bath and story, it is 8 or 8:30 so they go into bed.

Then DH and I either watch TV, read, use the computer.

My kids are 6 and 2 and we still nap during the day. They just need lots of sleep or they get REALLY cranky.

 

[TheDizMom]

I guess it depends on how old your kids are. We have never had a problem getting our kids to sit through a longer dinner. Even at 4 my kids have done so, but you know how your kids would do best. Here are a few of our favorite night time things aside from the obvious evening park spectaculars.

The Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue - It is food and a show all rolled into one and the entire family loved every minute of it. The food is basic bbq and fried chicken, so I don't think there are to many kids who won't eat it, and it is absolutely hysterical and just a really fun night.

DTD - we have always gone at night

We love to hit the pool at night. My kids just think it's fun to swim at night.

Hit your resort arcade or Disney Quest. The hotel one is better for very young kids though I think because even at Disney Quest there's a height requirement on a lot of the games.

Character meals for sure.

We also like to stay at the parks until they close and will sometimes go back to see Spectromagic and Wishes a second time. We don't worry so much about the sleep thing. We figure we are at Disney and we want to get to all the stuff we can, so bedtime is usually after 10.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I love walking around World Showcase in the evening. It's so pretty with all the lights and you can take your time and enjoy it.

Go over to Beaches and Cream for Ice cream and sit and relax

Go to the Poly to see fireworks and the water parade-sitting on the beach(or near)


Downtown Disney for a little shopping and light entertainment

Not quite sure what time you want to be in for the evening.
I know for us we are planning to be in around 8:30 to get her ready for bedtime. We will be out later at least one night I'm sure but I don't want to wear her out.

 

[Maleficent909TL]

If we're staying a week, evenings are always the time to relax. A lot of our evenings are spent in EPCOT, like others have said - counter service is the best there! And riding Test Track at night is wicked (depending on how old your children are). Other nights we'll spend around the hotel, at the arcade and in the pool. MK is fun to do at night, too.

 

[laughinplace199]

When my older 2 were little, we did nothing on most nights. We'd allow one or two nights of staying out late, but most nights they were in bed by their normal bedtime or just a little later (7:30/8:00). My kids are early risers and really needed to stay on their sleep schedules when they were very little. This really worked for us and we never had one meltdown during any of our trips.

Now they're older and they can stay up much later. Even if we try to put them to bed at their regular times, they can't fall asleep easily because they're just so excited about what they did that day or what they'll be doing the next day. On our next trip, DD will be 8 and DS will be 6, but we also have another DS who will be 18 mos. I'm not sure how we'll handle the nights then. I guess we'll see if DS will sleep in the stroller. Otherwise, DH and I will probably split up some evenings so the big kids can have fun and the baby can sleep.

Have a fun trip!

 

[laughinplace199]

I'm struggling on what to do in the evenings. We generally will go to the parks for rope drop and then head back to our hotel for naps. Those of you with young kids, what do you normally do in the evening? We have spectro one night, fantasmic one night and the PPP one night. That leave a ton of other nights open!!! I'd love to do some nice dinners but am trying to be realistic about my kids ability to sit through a nice/long dinner.

If you have time in the afternoon for a rest/nap, they should be fine with some nice dinners. We eat TS dinners every night and one of my kids' favorite places to eat is Jiko. As long as your kids are well rested, they should do fine.

 

[tanyaandallie]

Thanks for all the tips!!! Mine definitely need to be in bed at a decent hour. A few late nights are about all they can handle. I just have to decide if we want to go back to the parks or out to dinner! I do want to do dinner at AKL one night. Jiko or Boma? Hmmmmm. Decisions, decisions, decisions.