helpful hints - young children

[SPappas]

Going to Disney in May and staying at CBR. Last time we were at Disney, we had one child age 4 - July - 100 degrees - 90 minutes lines - no fastpass - nightmare! Now we will have grown to 3 children - ages 9, 3 1/2 and 12 months at the time of our visit. I am looking for general helpful hints on how to make the most of this trip. We will be there 6-7 nights and driving from Illinois - eek! Going to do 5 day hoppers I think - not sure how much length of stay passes are, but have been steered away from them on some stuff I have read, and we will definitely want some relaxation time. If you have any great hints are doing things easily with children of varying ages, please fill me in. We have asked some grandparents to come along, but aren't sure if that will happen. Have even toyed with asking a teenage babysitter to come, but the cost would be so much greater. So..sorry to babble...love the boards!

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Use early entry if your kids are early risers, the lines are SO much shorter in the first part of the day. Then break for rests or swimming at your resort. Bring sunscreen, a mister fan, hats, sunglasses, light cotton clothing and comfy shoes. Bring a double stroller or rent one for the older kid(s) in the parks. Go at a slow pace and don't overplan. Use one of the guides to plan your tentative day so you're not crossing and recrossing the parks. Choose rides/attractions each of the bigger kids MUST do and have fun along the way. Build in time for what Mom and Dad want to do too. Anything additional you do or see will be gravy. If your kids love spending time with the characters plan time for photos, autographs or just hugs. There are SO many characters out and about now. Don't stand in the long lines in the sun unless the character at the end is a MUST HAVE. Check out the characters in the Judge's Tent where its cool. Take full advantage of FastPass and child swap so the grownups have fun too. Consider Fairy Godmother's for a special night out for you. You might schedule one special thing for each of the older kids like a special character breakfast or a visit to a water park without younger siblings to reward kids for cooperating and being patient.

Do you have a portable DVD player or TV/VCR combo for your vehicle? It can be a lifesaver on a long trip.

Finally, set our minds on enjoying the journey and finding fun where it finds you. Have a wonderful time! Take lots of pictures!

 

[SPappas]

What is Fairy Godmothers??????

 

[crazyforgoofy]

It's a babysitting service, haven't used it ourselves but have heard wonderful things about the Fairy Godmothers who come to your hotel room and care for/entertain the kids while parents have a night out.

 

[LMHB]

My three children will be 5 1/2, 3 1/2, and almost a year when we go, so the two little ones are the same ages! Honestly...my best tip is one that most people wouldn't take! We take a day off between each park visit. With the shorter hours of the parks now, we tend to go full steam through a park, and my children are just beat at the end of a day. The next day, we do something relaxing like swimming and then going over to the marketplace or Boardwalk that night. It is pretty much assumed that to get the most out of a park for the day, you have to get there early. When we do this, we just can't get them moving again that early the next day. To do this, we stay offsite where it is cheaper and we can stay more days. We also get a place with a kitchen so the children (and us) don't have to endure restaurant meals (not easy with them).
Good luck!

 

[cgcw]

We just did the drive from our area to WDW in December. We have a tv/vcr combo which passed the time really well -- until we got to Atlanta and it broke. The rest of the ride down, the kids looked out the window, we told stories and sang songs. The trip back up was a little harder because it was much longer without the tv/vcr. We left the second day from Atlanta and drove all the way home - a long day. We were having problems with our van and were afraid to stop - for fear we wouldn't make it the rest of the way.

We found having our DS8 go off with dad or mom alone for a while to do the older kids rides helped to break the tension a bit. Our other child is a DS2 and he would be thrilled to ride Dumbo or Pooh and our older son would go for one of the older kid rides - like Buzz Lightyear or Astro Orbiter. DS2 could ride those, but it gave DS8 a sense of having special time with just one of us.

Your kids will probably be thrilled with swimming in the pool and not leaving the pool. I agree with making use of early entry - even if the kids take a nap in the afternoon, getting out early in the day will be a life saver.

On thing I didn't pack on our last trip was Children's Advil. It's not carried on WDW property (at least I couldn't find it and finally the CM at our resort sent us to the grocery fstore to get it). The carry Tylenol but our DS was running a fever and needed something more than Tylenol to bring it down. It will definately be in our bag next trip.

Have fun!