Where to start? Former commandos plan first family trip

[jennynoel]

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I have been to Disney 4 times in the last 3 years, plus a Universal trip, too.

Now we are foster parents, and hoping to adopt our current DD, who will be 3 in August.

We want to plan a trip during early December, and bring along our best friend, who loves Disney. We'll be paying her way in exchange for some babysitting.

We are two athletic Disney-holics who love to go-go-go in the parks, but with a 3-year-old and friend with Fybromyalgia along, this trip would have to be quite a bit more mellow.

I don't even know where to start! We've always stayed on-site, and I can't really imagine it any other way, but I'm weighing the benefits of renting a condo (separate room for friend, possibly more affordable) with the convenience of being on-site.

Any and all advice would be wonderful! Planning the trip is one of my favorite things about a Disney vacation!

-Jenny

 

[moethorne]

Hi jennynoel,

Good luck with the adoption! As for the trip. I have never been a commando type but I think with the kid you may want to tone it down a little. We brought our kids first when they were 2 and 4. We hit the EMH in the morning as they have always been early risers of course they also go to bed early so we never used to hit the EMH late hours. I would suggest character breakfast with Pooh for that age. You will need to plan to spend more time in areas that you may have never been too like Mickey's Toontown area. There is a waterplay area for kids to just run around in. We used to skip the countries in Epcot as the kids just did not get it.
As for staying on property I would look at the DVC properties. We stayed at OKW our first trip with kids. It's huge and has washer and dryer and kitchen at least in the 1-bed and up. We liked it so much we bought DVC and have been very happy with it.

Hope this helps a little

 

[badblackpug]

We like to stay at ASMu family suites, they have a separate bedroom and 2 bathrooms. The pool is shallow and kid themed and there is a baby pool.

Since we are totally non-commando, I can help you with that.

We are not morning people, so we usually don't plan anything early. This also helps because if the kids (or adults ) are extra tired from all the activity we can sleep in a bit.

We usually plan a late breakfast (more a brunch I guess) and because the suite has a kitchenette, we keep bagels or cold cereal in the room if the kids are up early and are hungry.

We always have a nice sit-down dinner. The break is nice (we do DxDP) if people are still up to it, we go back to the parks after.

We basically let the kids dictate the pace. We let them see and do the things they really want. Even if they want to do it multiple times (ToT record: 14 rides in a row! )

Just remember to relax. If someone is tired get a snack or see a show. Instead of focusing on "doing" focus on your daughter and watch how much she enjoys it!