Length of Stay w/ 3 yr old and 1 yr old??

[Callahanjen]

Anyone have any advice on length of stay at Disney with a 3 yr old and 1yr old? We are currently planning a 7 night stay over Thanksgiving week with a total of 11 people (4 of which are children). My 3 yr old is very very active (typical 3 yr old) and not the best in restaurants. We will have a little bit of help with in-laws around but am I crazy to go for the 7 day??? Any advice would be great, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lainy67]

we are facing the same thing. Our youngest is also 3 and EXTREMELY active. We have bought a leash and wonder if she will let us use it at all. She doesn't like to hold hands or anything... wants to do everything by herself. We are going for 7 days, and I am a little concerned.

We have limited the sit down meals we are going to do to 5 (including breakfast, lunch, dinner) right now and then see how that goes. We have breakfast PS at Crystal Palace, and will do a Fantasmic dinner (probably at buffet), and three other dinners. The ones we have chosen all have some sort of entertainment aspect, so hopefully that will help. We have picked Marrakesh that has belly dancers and Biergarten with oompah band in Epcot, and we have also picked Ohana that has the coconut races and hula hoop stuff to watch the fireworks at MK. I really want to also do a breakfast or two at the resort restaurant (Boatwrights), but will make PS's along the way. Our little one is a little too active to do restaurants really well, but I am hopeful that the entertainment will help.

Other than that we are going to attempt to not do commando, although we will go to the parks every day, and stuff. We will take a break every afternoon to let everyone cool off and calm down.

On a side note, is yours potty trained? I keep going back and forth regarding this issue. Ours is, however, I don't want to be worried about this the whole trip. My fear is we will be in line about to go on a ride, or on a ride and she decides she needs to go. I am debating putting her back in pull ups while in the parks with a lot of rides (mainly in MK), but leaving her out when we are just going to be wandering around a park or doing very few rides with short lines (Epcot at night - Animal Kingdom), and forcing the potty breaks then. I just don't want her to revert. We have to do pull ups at night still, but just wondering about taking a chance during the day.

 

[jldriscoll]

We did 7 days when our daughter was 2 1/2 and again when she was 4. NO PROBLEM! Actually the nice thing about that number of days is you don't have to push to get TONS in everyday.

Don't worry about how active she is, or her "restaurant manners" just about everywhere in disney is kids friendly and there is always so much going on, other families aren't going to notice if someone in your group is having a meltdown.

My biggest piece of advice is avoid the BIG meltdowns by anticipating your daughters needs. Not so much for those folks looking at you (actually, they are all thinking.....thank goodness it happens in other families too!! ) but so your nerves don't get frazzled.

Those mid day breaks worked great for us. DD rarely slept, but laying in the cool hotel room watching Mickey cartoons with Mom and Dad recharged her batteries!

Oh, I just reread your post. Forgot to mention took our 9 month old too (when DD #1 was 4) Keep them comfortable and they love it!!! Our dd loved all the things to see. She went on all the rides with us except the coaster type. One word of caution.... She DID NOT like the characters up close and touching her! From a distance was just great for her!

Don't worry!! Your 3 yr old will be talking about this trip for years!!!

 

[Callahanjen]

Hi Lainy, Sounds like you guys have really thought things through. That's good. I'm still wavering on a lot of issues but I still have 5 months so we'll see if I can figure it out by then.
Well my guy is in the process of potty training and I think he'll be done by Nov. but I was thinking the same thing as you that it would probably be better to use the pullups..... My 1 yr old will still be in diapers of course so I'll have to be changing diapers often anyhow.......... we are planning to take it fairly easy as well, parks every day but back to the hotel for naps and pool, etc... This is our first real vaca with the kids and I want it to be fun, not stressful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jldriscoll]

Originally posted by Lainy67
I keep going back and forth regarding this issue. Ours is, however, I don't want to be worried about this the whole trip. My fear is we will be in line about to go on a ride, or on a ride and she decides she needs to go. I am debating putting her back in pull ups while in the parks with a lot of rides (mainly in MK), but leaving her out when we are just going to be wandering around a park or doing very few rides with short lines (Epcot at night - Animal Kingdom), and forcing the potty breaks then.

We did something like this when we took our just potty trained DD. We let her know this was "the rule" in the park and only there. We didn't have any reverting. She seemed to accept that this was just the way it was THERE. Much like only wearing pull ups at night at home.

Works both ways too....because of the stress of a family move when dd #2 was turning 3 we didn't push the potty training. She did #1 ok, but would not do #2. After we were in the new house we said "well you know we just don't use diapers for anything in this house." She said OK and that was that

 

[mchames]

This past May we took a cruise with my DD(4.5) and newly potty trained DD (28 months). When we left the ship in Montego Bay, Grand Caymen and Cozumel, I wasn't sure where or what condition I would find the restrooms, so I put pull-ups over my little DD's panties. This worked great! If she had an accident (she had very few), she could still feel it and would let us know immediately. I carried a tiny bottle filled with woolite and would just rinse the panties in the cabin. We had no "big messes" and she was still potty-trained when we returned.

We had also put the pull-ups on over her panties for the eight hour drive from Atlanta to New Orleans (ship's port) to avoid possible carseat messes. We made regular potty stops and she didn't wet once and we had piece of mind in case we got caught in traffic and couldn't get to a rest area or gas station easily.

I hope this helps.

Mary

 

[shelly3girls]

7 days is a great length of stay! We have been to WDW twice recently, in Nov. and Jan our two girls 3 and 1. The 7 days allows you to take it easy and not try to put too much into one day. We spent every morning in a park and returned to the hotel for a late lunch and nap. Then back to the parks around dinner time. The downtime was absolutely necessary even though my oldest hasn't napped since she turned 2. I can list a couple meals that my daughters really enjoyed. Chef Mickey is a must and will keep the kids very entertained. The Polynesian Luau was also lots of fun. The 50's Prime Time Cafe is sitdown, but very quick service. Any of the character meals will help keep the kids entertained and since most of them are buffets, you can be in and out in no time. My biggest recommendation is that you get priority seating for any meal you may want especially character meals. The restaurants get very busy, and with PS you have almost no wait for a table. We found this vital to a pleasant meal. There is no penalty for canceling the PS, so we always make it for any meal we may want then cancel if we change our minds. I can't imagine waiting 1/2 hour for a table with 2 small children! Like others have said, you will see active children everywhere. It is part of WDW, no need to feel bad if the little ones act up. Best of luck.

 

[cmbelle]

I think 7 days is a great length of time. On our first trip with our 3 year old DS, we made the mistake of going only 4 days, and pushing ourselves to see everything. We all had meltdowns. Definitely take breaks - go back to your room for naps so you can stay out later to see the fireworks. Also, at that time my son was walking, so my husband didn't want to bring the stroller. He was adamant about making DS walk. Well, after having to carry him all day (he was overwhelmed by everything), we had to find our way through Orlando to find a Walmart to buy an umbrella stroller. Also, my DS is usually outgoing and active, but he was the complete opposite when we got to WDW - maybe scared of all the activity.

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

I'm in the exact same position as you, and wasn't intending to do disney during our upcoming Florida vacation as I thought the kids were too young. We decided on a one night stay at the Grand Floridian and will limit ourself to the Magic Kingdom and try to get to MGM for a little while. We will arrive at disney at around 9am and intend leaving the next afternoon.

We really only want them to get the feel of the place and see the sights and characters. On the ride front, we're happy just to catch a few (small world, peter pan), and if my son gets to see Woody, Buzz and the Monsters Inc guys in MGM he'll be over the moon. I have PS for the character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, so that should be fun.

I wouldn't worry about the restaurant issue- this is disney after all and she won't be the only kid haring around!! You never know, she might be completely exhausted in the evenings and fall asleep in her stroller (as has happened several times with my hyper 3yo!).

I'm going Sept, so I'll let you know how it goes (and what the potential pitfalls are!)