We’re (Me, DW, DS7, DS2, DD1) heading down the 11/16-11/23 for our first full family trip! Me and DW had our honeymoon there in 2016, and we took a trip with the in-laws and DS7 in 2019. I’m pretty familiar with everything in the parks, app and such - but we have never stayed on property before. So this will be a first for us staying at All Star Sports and picking up a rental car. I’m a planner and overthinker - so thought this would be the best place to get some of my ideas out.
The bundle package we had included free park-hoppers and since we are going during party season, I think it will actually play out well for us. We plan to rope drop/go back to resort/new park for evening.
I’m going to have to prepare myself to slow down and go at the kids pace, which will be a challenge. We are going to try to mix in Rider Swap and rides/shows for the full family. DS2 is right at 35" so we’re going to try to get him on everything we can. Maybe start with Barnstormer as a warm up. We also got the Quick Service Dining plan (wanted a semi all inclusive feel)
Some of the notes below were created based of TP predicted hours, so hopefully they change back before then.
Otherwise - any thoughts or suggestions based on what’s below?? I’ll post some questions I have below. THANKS!
SATURDAY Disney Springs - Check in @ All Star Sports
Sounds great. How do you think the littles will do with character interaction? I bet they will love Chef Mickey’s. We took a two year old last year who had just turned two. She did great with the characters and hung with us day and night. She did great taking naps in the stroller. We were able to get her on eleven rides (more than I thought) and it warmed my heart to see WDW through her eyes. Staying on site is so special, so congratulations on your first full family trip.
Yes, the first family trip requires not only slowing down, but patience when the plan you has entering the day completely breaks down. Also you will need more time than you think for snacks, potty breaks, and occasional meltdowns. My first family WDW trip was Fall 2018 with DD3 and DS1 so I was in a similar family situation to you.
Be prepared for very high crowd levels at MK that night (it being a Monday sandwiched between 2 party days).
Why? With kids that age, I’d consider spending the resort day at my own resort and relax rather than another day of running around.
Another very crowded MK night. I can see doing it one night to see the fireworks, but why two? Other than for the fireworks, I try to avoid MK with young kids on non-party days during party season. The difference in crowd level at MK between party days and non-party days is dramatic.
Caution … all kids are different, but some young kids get scared by parts of this. Other than that, it’s an amazing show.
I figured this out after seeing it on a second day, but I was admiring your gumption to take three kids to a full day of parks, including hopping, plus a party!
There’s time for both if desired. We did some resort hopping on our rest day because we are busy bodies who can’t sit still. All depends on the needs and temperaments of your family.
Navigate to this post and read the section Rider Swap in case you want to understand the latest on how that works. Also this post includes a summary of how to use LL.
I like your plan! I like that you’ve scheduled morning time and evening time in each park.
I will point out that your time in AK will be quite short but depending on your priorities there it might be sufficient. If it isn’t you could always pop in Friday morning since you have that currently open. Also, my kids loved the Boneyard when they were that age. I hated it. Every time I turned around I’d find one kid and lose two other ones.
Our first trip with my kids my oldest was 7 and my youngest was 1 and we did a lot of marathon park days. Like 12+ hours multiple days in a row. We actually had a blast and with the weather being milder (January) actually enjoyed just hanging out in the parks. The kids napped in their strollers (we had two double strollers that trip so all four of my kids had a stroller spot. I was so happy with this choice despite taking up a lot of room on the bus) when they got tired instead of us trying to go back to the room and try to settle everyone down for naps there which always felt more stressful than restful.
You will get a ton accomplished on those MK party mornings. And it’ll be pretty chill crowd wise. My favorite MK day ever was a party morning with DS a few years ago. It was awesome!
I know my boys will be fine meeting characters and i think by day 3 my daughter will warm up to them. Any other character dining recommendations? I can book tomorrow morning!!! although I am thinking of just keeping it to this one since we have the QS dining plan.
By resort hop, I really main just take the monorail around after Chef Mickeys. But I am interested in moving up to DVC rentals as the kids get older, so checking out future potential resorts might be on the table.
yeah I have to be careful where I take my wife, because we could go from All Star to Poly for next trip really easy. My plan is to build up over the years lol
lol, we might be doing this after our Tuesday break day. Friday seems like a good marathon day since its our last, and we don’t fly out until 6pm Saturday!
Oh I agree on Friday! Give it all the energy you have left!
I’ve only been once in November but the weather was really nice. It’s much, much easier to do a long day like that when the Orlando sun isn’t trying to murder you with its death rays.
We’ve always enjoyed Topolino’s for breakfast but it’s pricey. Tried out Cape May Cafe for the first time w/ characters back in March of this year and thought the buffet was pretty good and Tusker House also has great food but the characters can take a while to make the rounds.
When my kids were little I appreciated the family style character meals (like Garden Grill) because it was always stressful to me trying to get all the kids their meal while praying they didn’t drop their plate before we made it back to the table.
All depends on the needs and temperaments of your family.