Need help planning a trip with kids for the first time

[FSU Girl]

Sorry not sure if this is the right board or not

I'm trying to plan a trip that'll be my boyfriend and his two children (both girls 9 and 14). It'll be my first time going to Disney with kids so I'm trying to figure out all the different things to do instead of how I normally visit Disney with just adults.

Right now I have a weekend trip planned for 12/2-12/3. Will the crowds be really high during this time? I think the Holiday decorations will be nice. I made reservations for Be Our Guest, Ohana, Chef Mickey. I'll be up there the following weekend for an adult trip so I'm not sure if that's too close to each other and it'll be Disney overload for my boyfriend.

I was looking at dinning reservations for the weekend of 1/13-1/14 and was able to get all those restaurants just not at ideal times. Should I switch to that weekend instead? Will the crowds be better? I want the kids to have the best time possible.

We have annual passes and live in Florida so our dates can be flexible.

Thank you!

 

[Klayfish]

It's always busy at WDW, and Christmas season (i.e. Thanksgiving to New Years) is pretty busy overall. DW and I don't do adult only trips...we did one, but it was many years ago, so I don't have a frame of reference. But my kids are about the same age...oldest is 13 and we have 9 year old twins. The only difference DW and I would do alone vs. what we do with them is that they're more ride focused. I love the rides, but DW and I would also enjoy the shows, browsing the shops, etc... Our kids do like that stuff too, but not quite as much as we do. Otherwise, I wouldn't plan a lot differently. For a two day trip, I wouldn't even worry too much about physical fitness in walking the parks. If it were a longer trip, I would, but not for a weekend.

 

[FSU Girl]

It's always busy at WDW, and Christmas season (i.e. Thanksgiving to New Years) is pretty busy overall. DW and I don't do adult only trips...we did one, but it was many years ago, so I don't have a frame of reference. But my kids are about the same age...oldest is 13 and we have 9 year old twins. The only difference DW and I would do alone vs. what we do with them is that they're more ride focused. I love the rides, but DW and I would also enjoy the shows, browsing the shops, etc... Our kids do like that stuff too, but not quite as much as we do. Otherwise, I wouldn't plan a lot differently. For a two day trip, I wouldn't even worry too much about physical fitness in walking the parks. If it were a longer trip, I would, but not for a weekend.

Thank you the kids have been to Disney before so they know what they like and don't like. The trip will be a surprise for them, but I've been casually asking about restaurants they wanted which is how Chef Mickey got booked lol.

 

[wishing4PA]

My 13 y.o. sorta WDW veteran would pick MLK weekend over December. That said, she's had several(?) nice MLK trips, and hasn't been in December. And, we extended our weekends so we spent more of our time at WDW on Saturday and perhaps Friday rather than the more crowded Sunday or Monday.
But if you think the BF's kids will enjoy and appreciate the Christmas season decorations, then no point in changing the plans, especially since this doesn't need to be the perfect, once in a lifetime, trip. You'll all be back.

 

[FSU Girl]

My 13 y.o. sorta WDW veteran would pick MLK weekend over December. That said, she's had several(?) nice MLK trips, and hasn't been in December. And, we extended our weekends so we spent more of our time at WDW on Saturday and perhaps Friday rather than the more crowded Sunday or Monday.
But if you think the BF's kids will enjoy and appreciate the Christmas season decorations, then no point in changing the plans, especially since this doesn't need to be the perfect, once in a lifetime, trip. You'll all be back.

Thanks! We decided to switch to the MLK weekend so we can do a long weekend at Disney. What parks would you suggest? I was thinking of doing Magic Kingdom Saturday and Monday and maybe Animal Kingdom on Sunday? Will Magic Kingdom be crazy on the holiday? I love Epcot, but I feel like there isn't much for kids to do there.

 

[Klayfish]

Which holiday? The dates you listed in your initial post aren't on holidays. If you're asking about something like Thanksgiving Day or Xmas Day itself, yes, MK is insanely busy those days. If it's just the holiday season...sure, MK is always busy during the holiday season, but I don't think Saturday is a disaster as compared to a Monday or Thursday.

For Epcot, it'll depend on what the kids like. Our kids love Epcot. Pretty much every ride in the park, they love. They didn't used to have a ton of interest in the World Showcase, but they're starting to now.

 

[FSU Girl]

Which holiday? The dates you listed in your initial post aren't on holidays. If you're asking about something like Thanksgiving Day or Xmas Day itself, yes, MK is insanely busy those days. If it's just the holiday season...sure, MK is always busy during the holiday season, but I don't think Saturday is a disaster as compared to a Monday or Thursday.

For Epcot, it'll depend on what the kids like. Our kids love Epcot. Pretty much every ride in the park, they love. They didn't used to have a ton of interest in the World Showcase, but they're starting to now.

We decided on the dates 1/13-1/15. I noticed that Monday is Martin Luther King day. We decided to do that weekend because we'll be able to go for three days instead of two and I have the day off from work.

 

[wishing4PA]

Thanks! We decided to switch to the MLK weekend so we can do a long weekend at Disney. What parks would you suggest? I was thinking of doing Magic Kingdom Saturday and Monday and maybe Animal Kingdom on Sunday? Will Magic Kingdom be crazy on the holiday? I love Epcot, but I feel like there isn't much for kids to do there.

Sorry my reply is so late, I was offline a while. Also, my memory for details isn't what it should be, but my recollection from our last MLK visit (not 2017) was that Monday did get a little crowded for me, but we used fastpasses for just a few rides, ate an early lunch, then hit the road. Hopefully someone else can offer better crowd guidance. I'm really not up-to-date on the crowd levels.
As for which parks are just "best", aside from crowd levels, I like them all, and my kid always has liked MK, EPCOT, and HS. AK took a while to grow on her, but now she likes it too, and she hasn't even seen Pandora. Our family has a hard time picking one to leave out, so we usually end up visiting them all. But the long drive from here makes it harder to skip a park, knowing you won't return for a while. I really do think you have an advantage being in Florida, because it's easier to realize that it's not a once in a lifetime trip, so you can just go enjoy whichever park(s) you visit, and leave the others for another time. Even if the "next" visit takes a while, you know you'll get back there.

 

[dprincessmom]

My almost 14 year old would list her favs as Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot but she is a very ride focused kind of kid that has been spoiled and now has a hard time waiting inline more than 30 minutes as we have figured out what works for us and typically avoid the waits.

She would also be the first one to say lets hit Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in the mornings and then do MK to close the parks down. She loves playing the portal game sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom (and it's free). I would also plan on more snacks during the day as the teens always seem to be hungry. It will be a different trip but it will also be fun - go and enjoy