Disneyworld with 2 yr old and 4 yr old?

[lisajay]

We are going to Disneyworld in December and will be in the park for 4 1/2 days. We will be arriving at Disney at about 1p.m. and are trying to plan which park to visit that day?

Sunday?
Monday= Epcot (breakfast Acurshoos?/dinner reservations with ext. fam 4:30 at Coral Reef)
Tuesday= Magic Kingdom (dinner reservations with extended family 4:30)
Wednesday= Animal Kingdom(a.m) MGM (p.m)
Thursday= Magic Kingdom

We have to work around the reservations our extended family made for the entire family group.

My question is will we have enough time at MGM and Animal Kingdom if they share a day. We want to go to Animal Kingdom in the A.M when the animals are more active.
What would you do? I'm interested on hearing from people that have been there done that. Neither my husband or I have been before and our family members that have before and are going now have older children.

Thanks in advance.
LJ

[Momof3Labs]

Go about halfway down to see my thread on 10 days in Disney with a 5yo and 21mo - you might find some useful info in there.

How are you handling naps, particularly for the 2yo (and maybe for the 4yo), while there? In the stroller, or going back to the hotel? Where are you staying? The 4:30 meals could be hard to get to if you are napping in the hotel after lunch. It could take 45 minutes to an hour to get back to your hotel (Disney hotel) for a nap mid-day, then the same amount of time to get back to the park after the nap.

I think that on a short trip, 1/2 day is enough at MGM and AK, but where does a nap fit in there? What do you plan to do at each of those parks? Will you be there in early December when things are slow? AK usually closes early in December, but MGM is open later, so you definitely have the order right.

Unless the princesses are top priority, I'd skip Akershus on Monday - it's expensive and the food isn't that great (and you'd be sitting through two long, filling meals that day), but if the princesses are important, it's a good way to see quite a few in a short time span. Maybe hit Akershus on Sunday evening instead?

Okay, I think that's enough questions. If you can give more info, that will help us answer your original questions.

[lisajay]

Lori,
Thanks for all your questions! I can't believe I didn't think about nap on the AK/MGM day! My 2 yr old still naps, but we have skipped it before for special events. I will try to make our Dinner Reservations later that night or just do Quick Service meals that day. My 4 yr old gave up naps a long time ago. I'm thinking she will probably need the downtime. I'm not sure my 2 yr old will nap(or sleep at all) with us in the room. He only ever has slept in his crib in his own room...Perhaps we better start practicing sleep overs somewhere.



We are staying in Pop Century, and it is the beginning of December so hopefully it will be slower.

Princesses are EXTREMELY important around here LOL! After all my DD is a princess(Cinderella/Aurora are fav's) and my ds is in love with Cinderella. We have the meal plan but I'm seriously considering upgrading because of all the Special and sit down meals we want to do.
We want to see everything we can at AK. We don't have a zoo where we live and the kids are big into animals. They also like Dinosaurs alot.
I'm not sure what we want to see at MGM...mostly things geared towards Preschoolers. Although maybe something for dh and I as well. The nice thing about being at MGM at that time is that is when my inlaws will be there dh & I may actually be able to do some rides together while the kids are being watched. Otherwise I might consider moving MGM to Sunday, since it is shorter anyways...
Thanks so much for your help!
LJ

[bnme]

We are going to Disneyworld in December and will be in the park for 4 1/2 days. We will be arriving at Disney at about 1p.m. and are trying to plan which park to visit that day?

Sunday?
Monday= Epcot (breakfast Acurshoos?/dinner reservations with ext. fam 4:30 at Coral Reef)
Tuesday= Magic Kingdom (dinner reservations with extended family 4:30)
Wednesday= Animal Kingdom(a.m) MGM (p.m)
Thursday= Magic Kingdom

We have to work around the reservations our extended family made for the entire family group.

My question is will we have enough time at MGM and Animal Kingdom if they share a day. We want to go to Animal Kingdom in the A.M when the animals are more active.
What would you do? I'm interested on hearing from people that have been there done that. Neither my husband or I have been before and our family members that have before and are going now have older children.

Thanks in advance.
LJ

Hi
We went last December with a 5yo and 3.5yo. It is a great time of year to go! If I were you and going by that schedule I would do MGM the first day. Things my kids liked were playouse Disney, Muppets 3-D, Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Car Stunt show, and seeing the Pixar characters and Power Rangers. I think there are also more shows like Beauty and the Beast or Little Mermaid. And the more adult rides, so if you have a chance to do that it would be fun. Plus in December they have a christmas light set-up that is great and the kids will love.

Then on the AK day you can take advantage of the hotel pool in the afternoon and/or go to Down Town Disney to shop.

Other things to consider -Are you getting park hoppers? If you want to go to more than 1 park a day you need this feature. I think it is about $50 extra per ticket.

Also, I'd check Disney's calander and see the hours for MK the days you plan to go. There is a special ticket-only event in December and the park closes at 6pm unless you pay extra for the ticket. And you usually should purchase in advance if you want to go (it's Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party). You may decide you'd like to do that. But on days they have the party there is no Spectromagic parade so you may miss that depending on the schedule.


Have a great trip!

[egoldber]

If you stay at AK until after the parade, you will not have time to do Hollywood Studios (MGM). Many of the kid oriented attractions have their last show at 4 or 4:30 (Beauty and the Beast, Playhouse Disney, character greets). You will have time to do a ride or two and probably to see the Little Mermaid show.

[lisajay]

Beth,
Thanks so for the info about Hollywood Studios shows for kids ending early. I had no idea. That is nowhere on the Disney website! We would have been very dissappointed to have missed Beauty and the Beast.

Donna,
I think we may do MGM on Sunday, so we don't miss any of the kid attractions. Then we can take our time at AK, although I don't think we will stay for that parade, as long as we have seen all that we want to in that park. Then we could still meet my bil's family at MGM for some of the more adult attractions. Or maybe we will take in downtown Disney. I really want to go to the shops. I wish I could afford to bring my own babysitter, and I wish we had more time at the park.

The parades that I did want to see were the "Parade of Dreams" and the Spectro..
I'm afraid both days we will be in the park will be on days that they are having the Christmas Event. So we will probably miss it. We are meeting the entire family on Tuesday and then they are staying for the Christmas event. I'm afraid if we do the Christmas Party the kids will be exhausted and it will spoil the rest of our trip. I'm considering buying tickets for the Christmas Event on Thursday seeing how that is our last day in the park. I worry though that they will be too tired to enjoy it and we will have wasted our money. It sounds like so much fun. I wish the website listed hours of parades and attractions. It would make this planning a lot easier.

Thank you all so much for your help!
LJ

[lisajay]

Well now I've added a couple of new things to our schedule. I managed to get a reservation for breakfast at 8:15 at Cinderella's Royal Table on Monday (from what I hear I was lucky to get it, since I'm past the 180 day mark. We also have reservations for Breakfast at Chef Mickey's for 8:30 on Tuesday.
I also am considering 1900 Fare at the Grand Floridian, or Akershus, and the Crystal Palace to see Pooh.


It would be so much easier if we only had to consider our own schedule and not worry about other people's. It's too bad my inlaws kids are so much older. Good thing we have the park hopper passes.
Does anyone know when the parades typically are and the shows. Is there a way to find out, now instead of having to figure it out when we get there.
Thanks Again,
LJ

[egoldber]

Honestly, I think that's way too many character meals. For a 4 day trip, I would only do 2 and only at parks that are most convenient.

[bnme]

Here is a link to park hours for Dec
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dec08.cfm?requesttimeout=1000

If you search around on that website you may be able to find info on show times at MGM, but probably just the typical and not the official from Disney. I don't think they post that early. You usually grab a printed schedule when you arrive at the park. I think MGM has the most issues with shows with limited and scheduled times.

The Christmas party is great, but to be honest you are paying a lot for what you get to see if you have little kids and leave early.

allears.net has a great msg board for disney planning -warning it can be overwhelming-but it is a great resource.

[Momof3Labs]

Definitely allow time for the nap for your 2yo. Disney is totally exhausting for kids, and sleep-deprived kids tend to melt down. Even our 5yo needed a mid-day break (he never napped) on our trip last December. We see very few parades at Disney due to naps, honestly, but our kids are happier for it at the end of the day.

I wouldn't do more than 2-3 sit down meals either - definitely not more than one per day. Those meals take a lot of time away from the parks, and you end up stuffed with food. The idea of eating a heavy meal again in 3-4 hours isn't appealling, especially when it requires you to drag the kids away from the rides. And the kids get tired of sitting through long meals. Character meals aren't the only place to see characters - you can catch them around the parks, too.

I'd skip the Christmas party unless your kids are night owls AND they are napping well on the trip. That's a lot of consecutive days of Disney, coupled with a lot of running around to different parks and back to the hotel, and they will probably be exhausted and burnt out by Thursday. Honestly, we usually take a break (either no parks or only a half day of parks) after 3 full days of parks.

Factor in naptime, and you'll spend your whole trip eating, traveling back and forth to the hotel and napping. For some families, that's okay. But there's a lot more to see at Disney than restaurants and hotels!

[funfam]

It sounds like you really want to get a lot out of this trip. I know how you feel. I was really overwhelmed trying to plan a great trip for my family until I found Custom Mouse Plans. They were great. I gave them all the info about my group and they planned the trip based on what we wanted. It felt so good to hand everything over to a professional and let them deal with it. We got to do all of the things theat were important to us and some things that were really neat that I had never even heard of. You may want to check them out and see if they can help you. The website is just custommouseplans.com

[lisajay]

Thanks everyone so much for the great advice. I wish we had 8 days or more in the parks, but unfortunately we only have 4 1/2. It really is true that I want to squeeze too much into this time. I'm fairly certain that because of financial circumstances this likely will be our one and only trip. I'm just thrilled to be able to go at all.

I hear from all my friends who have been lucky enough not only to have been, but multiple times, how we can't miss Chef Mickey's, Akershus, 1900 Park Fare, etc. for the experience. Of course they all stay much longer. So they can do one sit down meal a day and still see all these things.
I'm not so foolish as too want to spoil our vacation either, so I'm really going to take this advice to heart. I definitely will check out those websites for more info. I wish I could decide which places to cut. At least I have my reservations and if need be can cancel later on. I have a few months to figure this out. Having never been myself I really am oblivious to how things work in Disney. My sister who has been lucky enough to go twice now with her family (with much older kids) tells me that time does not pass the same in Disney. She constantly was surprised when she found out how much time had passed and how late it was in the day.
To be edited(to allow for naps, etc):
Sun- MGM, 1900 Park Fare reservations for dinner
Mon- Epcot, breakfast at Akershus; dinner at Coral Reef
Tues- Magic Kingdom, lunch at Royal Table; dinner at Liberty Tree
Wed- Animal Kindgom, later in the day MGM
Thurs-breakfast at Chef Mickey's, Magic Kingdom, dinner at Crystal Palace
Okay, Okay...so I went a little overboard. ;-)

[egoldber]

I would really, really, really re-consider all those sit down meals. Seriously you will spend all your time running from restaurant to restaurant. And frankly its just a TON of food. If it were me, I would do at MOST one sit down meal a day. You are going to be tired and cranky and irritated and your kids are going to wail when you try to drag them away from rides and attractions for yet another meal. I think the single biggest mistake you can make at WDW is to try and do too much in one trip. You simply canNOT see and do it all in one trip. We have been over a dozen times and STILL not seen it all.

How into the princesses are you? I think that the Cinderella meal and the Akershus breakfast is redundant in one trip.

Here's what I would do if I were you....

Sun- MGM, get reservations at SciFi for dinner and see Fantasmic
Mon- Epcot, breakfast at Akershus OR dinner at Coral Reef
Tues- Magic Kingdom, lunch at Royal Table
Wed- Animal Kindgom, dinner at Chef Mickey's
Thurs- Magic Kingdom, late lunch at Crystal Palace

[Momof3Labs]

To be edited(to allow for naps, etc):
Sun- MGM, 1900 Park Fare reservations for dinner
Mon- Epcot, breakfast at Akershus; dinner at Coral Reef
Tues- Magic Kingdom, lunch at Royal Table; dinner at Liberty Tree
Wed- Animal Kindgom, later in the day MGM
Thurs-breakfast at Chef Mickey's, Magic Kingdom, dinner at Crystal Palace
Okay, Okay...so I went a little overboard. ;-)

What is not-to-miss for someone is a disappointment for someone else. We've tried Chef Mickey's twice, and the food has only been so-so. The second time, we got an early dinner reservation and had a lot of time with the characters because it wasn't busy yet, but it can be pretty crazy when it is full.

If you do MGM on Sunday, eat dinner at MGM. You need to allow up to an hour to travel to Grand Floridian for your dinner ressie, then it could take another 45 mins to get back to the park. You won't miss it. You'll find plenty of magic within MGM.

Monday is way too much food. You'll feel like you just got up from a huge lunch only to sit down to a huge dinner. LTT is (IMO) completely overrated - we tried it once and wouldn't bother with it again.

Thursday - why not just eat breakfast (or lunch) at Crystal Palace? This one is loud and a little crazy, but we've enjoyed the food. And it puts you right in the parks first thing in the morning, so you'll see a lot more of MK. I like Beth's idea of going to Chef Mickey's later on Wednesday since you won't need a whole day at AK (and probably won't need two visits to MGM to see what you want to see). Or eat at Akershus on Wednesday evening since it sounds like you have park hopper tickets.

You won't regret cancelling any of your ressies, believe it or not. There's so much about Disney that is more wonderful than character meals. The food is often ho-hum and the characters move very quickly past the tables (if they don't move that way, you'll find your kids waiting forever, so this is a catch-22). Take all the money you save from cancelled ressies and put it a fund to go back to Disney.

My parting words to you : the best moments in Disney are completely unplanned.

[bnme]

Just wanted to agree that too many sit-down can be a drag. We went this past dec with family. We were on the dinning plan and had ressies with the whole group -one sit down a day. I got every one to agree to an earlier time for us. But still I was often in the restroom or outside trying to keep my kiddo happy. It was very stressful for me.

I would keep it to one a day at most, as the others said. AND also remember you can always cancel the day of. It may be harder if you are in a group or on the dinning plan and needing to use te credit. But not worth going if it doesn't fit the mood.

So keep your "must-do's" but be totally prepared to change your plan based on how the kids have been doing.

[mabun3]

Akerhaus or put that lower on your list. Are you doing the Dining plan? If not these dinners/breakfasts are pretty expensive. The food wasn't that great at AH IMO. You do get to see most of the princesses (all if you go at breakfast--Snow White isn't there for dinner). But the 1900 Park Faire is great. The food is really good and the characters really ham it up. We also enjoyed Ohana's for breakfast--they have Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. The kids get to do a little parade with marrocas (?sp) with the characters and my kids( 3yo and 7yo) enjoyed that.

I would have to agree with the other poster who said not to do too many of the character dinners/meals. They take a lot of time up.

My other advice would be to skip Animal Kingdom if you are in a crunch. My kids didn't enjoy this park nearly as much as MK and HS. There aren't that many rides and some are just riding a vehicle around.

My other advice is to know that many restaurants that aren't character meals don't need reservations necessarily. We got in at Tony's town tavern, Kona Cafe, the Wave with very little wait but you have to go up to those and not call for reservations. You will be told nothing is available. That was pretty frustrating. Once you are on the property, I also found the reservation people to be more helpful in finding you something vs when you are many days out from your trip.

have a great time!! It is so much fun! edited to add that Akerhaus is pretty far back in Epcot so definitely allow some extra time to get there.

michele