We are coming from California with a preschooler and 1st grader, and I’m expecting major jetlag. Wondering whether we can ride all the Fantasyland/Magic Kingdom rides late at night rather than try to do them in the early morning… is it worth it to correct the jetlag just to do the rides early morning rather than late night?
I’m in Mountain Time (1 hour east of you), and when I arrived, I was completely committed to making Rope Drop every single morning. I made it once. The very first day. And just couldn’t do it again after that. The waits at night will be smaller than during the day, but make sure your kids get lots of naptime during the day so that they will be awake enough to enjoy themselves during the nights.
I guess I would go with adjusting to “Disney Time” before the trip so that there will be no jet lag - that way you can easily hit RD for the Welcome Show and get the benefit of lower crowds (especially where ther are morning EMH). Then back to the resort for an afternoon break, and return to the park for the evening - that way you get the best of both worlds.
However, then best thing to do is to make personalized TPs and optimize them based on different park time scenarios - that way you can determine what will work best for you.
Little Mermaid, it’s a small world, Philharmagic, and Dumbo should not be a problem. The Mine Train (which you might not even be interested in with kids that age) stays busy RD to closing. Likewise Peter Pan typically has long lines all day (but might be a good use of an FPP). Pooh stays relatively busy all day, but not like Pan; the lines will be shorter during MSEP and/or Wishes. If meeting Anna and Elsa is important, FPP is probably you’re only “good” option; a 60 min wait is considered “short” for this M&G…
Believe me, I tried to adjust. It’s not as easy to do as you think it will be. With RD at 9 most days, that means be at bus stop at 8-8:15, that means getting up at 7:15-7:30, which, in order to get on “Disney Time” for me is 5:15am, and for @susyjeng is 4:15am. I also have a hard time falling asleep early at night, even if I’m exhausted. I can go to bed at 10pm but I still won’t fall asleep until after midnight every night.
So do what you think will work for you @susyjeng 
Done it plenty of times for UK trips - not saying that it is easy, but if you do it an hour at a time over several days it is manageable. I understand your bedtime issue, as I am not a good sleeper either, but I have found that if you stick with it, even if you are just lying there, you will make the adjustment.
UK is easier because it’s a larger jump of time. When we went, I can’t remember what time our flight left, but by the time we flew across, had a layover in London, and got into Amsterdam and to our hotel, it was 9pm the following night and we were able to go right to bed and were instantly adjusted. Smaller time shifts are actually more difficult
It has to be a shift of greater than 8 hours for me to have an “instant” transition. For me 1-2 hours is annoying, 3-4 is tough, and 5+ is crippling. 
Are you East Coast? There isn’t really anywhere you would go where time shifts ahead only 2 hours for you. Going backwards 2 hours is FAR easier than going forwards 2 hours.
Yes, East Coast. But in the past I have been in situations where I was out west long enough to fully acclimate and then make the transition back to East Coast time. Fully agree that going west is far easier than going east - I liken it to staying up late and then sleeping in, but still getting up on time.
I hate Daylight Savings Time too. With a passion. I see no reason for the Evil Overlords to steal 1 hour of my life, only to promise to give it back if I survive until the Fall…
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I think this is one of those things which is very much down to the individual. I have no problem with small changes (going from UK to central Europe for example) but struggled terribly when I went from Australia to the West Coast of the USA.
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I live in WA so am used to the jet-lag when we travel East. After many trips, we have found what works best is getting up on our first full day there by 9am, so 6am on our bodies. Usually the kids are so excited to get to the park that they don’t even realize the time change. We then try to get to bed at a decent time that night, and voila…you are on East coast time. When we sleep in the first day, it starts a cycle of never being able to get up and make EMH/RD. For our trip in April, our first full day we got up about 8:30am (after going to bed at 1:30am Eastern time). Second day we made RD at 8am, third day RD at 9, fourth we slept in a bit since we stayed at Epcot until 11pm, and got to the park by 9:30am. Sunday was Easter and we easily made EMH at MK at 7am. However, if you want to try and stay on Pacific time, skipping rope drop or late night touring may work well for you. On Easter we did Fantasyland late in the evening and there were no lines for anything except 7DMT (which we had already done with FPP). Just make sure your littles have a good nap that day so they are happy.
If you decide to shift to East Coast time, I recommend shifting your meals to East Coast times as well. That should help you adjust.
We also had trouble shifting time zones, and are traveling with a 5yo. When are you traveling? Crowd levels are mid-day, and tend to drop off some by dinner time.
For us, we simply committed to having as much fun as possible and adjusted our expectations of what we would ride. We hit MK for 2 days (kind of a day and a half). Got FPs for the hard-to-get rides that were must-dos for us (7dmt, Peter Pan, and BTMRR). We also got an FP for talking Mickey on arrival day (DS LOVED!), and picked up a couple of extra FPs for stuff like Pooh and HM. We had no real interest in Space or Splash, didn’t need to see A&E, and found that we had fun interspersing easy to get on stuff with rides with longer lines. We also took time for Swiss Family Treehouse and Tom Sawyer Island, which DS loved. Mixed in snacks/treats, and DS felt like he was having a full and fun day.
We are also traveling from west coast (WA). We are taking a red eye and arriving at 7am. Our flight is not non-stop and no one sleeps well on an airplane, so I imagine that we will all be a little loopy on the first day. Hoping that we pass out early from complete exhaustion on our first night so that we can get up early. Then we will almost immediately be operating on east coast time.
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