We’re heading to Disney World March 2-9, staying at Beach Club Villas. It will be me (I’ve been to Disney before, but it was in 2001, for New Year’s Eve, and I was 21), my husband (has never been), and our kids (two boys, 5 and almost-3). We’ve got six days planned (2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 AK, 1 HS). They’re not super into any movies, so there are really no must-dos (unless there’s a Jungle Book thing that I don’t know about?). They’re also both teeny tiny - one should juuuuust clear the 40" line, and the other may not even hit 35". Also the little one still naps, usually, so we’re planning to head back most afternoons for a rest.
Would love a review and a critique - are we doing too much, specifically on our MK days?
Without looking at your plans, here’s some general advice. First, weather permitting, your kids will probably LOVE the pool at the Beach Club and want to spend a lot of time there. Be sure you plan for that.
Also remember that it takes more than an hour to get anywhere. So if you’re going back to the hotel for swimming and/or naps, be patient – no one wins when you’re trying to hurry from one place to another only to just miss the bus or find the monorail is down or whatever.
If budget allows, you might also consider using the Minnie Van service. They have car seats and can save a lot of waiting and travel time.
I’ll pop back in and look at your plans when I can see them :). I’m sure you’ll have a great time!
Thanks! I am thinking that we’ll probably to Minnie Vans on the MK days, just to save the waiting and speed up the travel time. And the thought that I haven’t factored in enough pool time has occurred to me…
I was there last year at the same time (first week of March) and we really had a great time.
Crowds weren’t a concern with a good touring plan.
Some thoughts:
On your Day 1 (MK), even though your reservation for BOG is at 8:15, you can arrive before and you will be sit. I would also highly recommand to pre-order, as it fasten things up. It would give you more time to eat and let you take advantage of your situation, as you’ll be the first in line for any attraction in Fantasyland.
If you want to keep your actual plan, if you come out of BOG before 8:55, you should be able to squeze Winnie the Pooh at the beginning of your day.
On your Day 3 (AK): I’m not sure you’ll get to the 10:00 FotLK show with a 9:25 FP+ Safaris. The Safaris took us 47 mins with FP+ last year (early afternoon). Even if you get on board at 9:30, I don’t think you’ll make it. I would try to re-schedule FotLK later and maybe drop Up!. You could start with Character Meet near Tree of Life before going to Safaris in the morning. I would also plan more than 60 minutes for Tusker House (even for lunch, table service never took us less than 75 minutes).
On your Day 4 (HK): I would swap Alien Swirling Saucers with Chewbacca. Line for AS2 grow a lot quicker than those in Launch Bay. In fact, I would go like this:
Meet Buzz & Woody
Alien Swirling Saucers
Star Wars Launch Bay: Chewbacca, and probably time for BB-8 as well.
Toy Story Mania! FP+ (10:25)
March of First Order (11:00 show)
and go on with the rest.
day 1: it seems like you would be cutting it a bit close to get a good spot for the parade with 2 shorties unless you’re aiming for a part of the park that may be less crowded to watch from?
day 2: I might be wrong but isn’t muppets by Frontierland? Looks like there is not travel time built in to get to that show due to the break/meet holder just before it. Also the stitch “break” would be too short if you do decide to do that. Finally, with boys that age may want to alot a bit more time for TSI - my kids spent maybe an hour from dock to dock. There were several neat things to explore there.
Recently went on my kids (ages 3.5 and 1) for their first visit for 4.5 days. Prior to the trip my wife and I talked about pool time, but once we were there, we did not want to spend valuable park time at the pool. I know the BC pool is one of best, but if it were me, I wouldn’t plan on spending time there (other than perhaps the 5 year old while the 3 year old naps) over the parks.
I think your MK days are ok for the plan … just be aware that you may need to cut some things on the fly and have in mind which are the attraction you are most ok with cutting. Once you are in the park, there are things that take up time which mess up our perfect touring plans. Here are some of the things that caused us to have to cut out attractions:
(1) kids bathroom breaks - finding the location of a bathroom and walking there and back take time (and sometimes this occurs while you are in line for an attraction)
(2) parking strollers and getting kids in and out of strollers - time not accounted for in a touring plan
(3) a wait longer than in the touring plan - We had FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle and ended up waiting about 25 minutes (as I recall our plan said more like 10 mins). Even an extra 5-10 mins at a few rides can effect the overall plan.
(4) kids hungry for snacks
I hear ya, and I agree that kids can swim anywhere so using up WDW time may not be the best. At the same time, it’s a vacation for everyone, and the last time I went with small kids, the minute we had to spend more than 10 minutes in line for an attraction they started asking when they could go back to the pool. Once we figured out that we just needed to build in some pool time it made things more pleasant for everyone. Obviously every kid is different, but if you’re walking by that giant slide to go to Epcot you may encounter some resistance ;).
I agree. Add a couple breaks for buffer. Epcot day 1, your break is out of the park right? You’re staying at the absolute closest Epcot hotel. You’ll be spoiled for the location! Maybe combine LWTL with lunch at sunshine seasons. It all looks pretty reasonable. We were there in March last year - way too cold for us to swim that week. I’d allocate a bit of time one evening for exploring the entertainment at the boardwalk.
We have the VIP package at Tony’s Town Square so we have whatever priority seating that allows - does that change your thoughts? Or do we still need more time?
Thank you so much, everybody, for your comments - what a friendly and helpful forum! I really really appreciate it.
How essential is Enchanted Tales with Belle? I’m trying to figure out things that could be skipped if plans go awry. Assuming that my kids have seen the movie but don’t love it (it never had the “constant rotation” that Frozen, Cars, and Moana had) and they’re shy and be unlikely to volunteer for a “role”, is it still good?
It’s basically an enhanced character experience. If your kids aren’t really into Beauty and the Beast I think it could be skipped. If Belle’s a must-see, then it’s worth your time.
I have found that just finding some lower key spots to chill out offers them some refueling and it doesn’t take time to commute to/from a hotel room. My kids were also never good at having power naps in unfamiliar places. They’d be much more intrigued in the hotel/rental house than actually taking a punctual nap. This led to profound frustration on my first child-attended vacation and no further attempts at hotel/rental house based naps. Your rest time at MK day 1 and Epcot day 1is more my speed. You should be able to see if this is enough for him and not need to leave other days.
I’m also one that thinks, “You can swim anywhere,” and unless it is a full day dedicated to lounging, we rarely swim on vacation. (Caveat - we have an above ground pool to swim at home.)
I will say your plans bring a smile to my face as I remember touring parks with just a few little kids who weren’t familiar with them and just soaking it all in. We hit all the things appropriate for their ages and just had so much fun. It wasn’t until they got older and wiser and I had more kids spanning more ages that it became a race to DO EVERYTHING AND SEE EVERYTHING AND RUSH RUSH RUSH.
I echo other posters who remind you to stay flexible. For example, we had SO much fun on Tom Sawyer’s Island last visit that we actually stayed there twice as long as anticipated and had to forgo repeat rides on some favorites. And I still remember charging over to Camp Minnie Mickey (back in 2005!) to line up to see characters and my sons getting enthralled in the statues of Donald and his nephews in the water next to the bridge. So - against my commando nature and the touring plan - we stopped and admired them for much longer than I wanted to allow. And 14 years later my eldest still mentions those stupid ducks…
For animal kingdom day I would move triceratops spin to when you will be over by that area. That’s a long walk for one ride. Also note that you can pick up wilderness explorer in the morning and use it while walking the trails and around the park.
Prior to having kids, I never went into Enchanted Tales with Belle. This past November was my first visit with my 3 year old daughter. She has seen Beauty in the Beast once, but like with your kids, she never watched it over and over like she did with Moana and Frozen. She loved Enchanted Tales with Belle. In addition to meeting Belle, it has a few cool special effects. My wife and I enjoyed it too (though I would not recommend this attraction to someone going without kids). If your kids would not want to be part of the story (they have a role for every kid that wants to participate), then I wouldn’t say it’s a “must do”, but it was a fun attraction for the whole family and I would strongly consider trying it.
Prior to bringing my kids to WDW, I did ETwB with my friend and thought my boys (then 3/5) would love it. When we went this year for their first trip (now 6/8) I had a FP for it our second MK day but the SB line was short the day before so I thought “we’ll get to do it twice”. LOL. They liked it but not enough to keep our FP for the next day. Instead they landed on another FP for the Little Mermaid ride.
Your Day 1 MK day looks good to me. My first take on Day 2 is it is a lot of walking back and forth between lands. I see the groupings within the lands, it just feels like a lot of walking still.
My one takeaway from our trip is that I didn’t factor in enough resort time (and we had a whole day before the MVMCP and an entire off day, as well as arrival day - which turned into arrival evening). If we want to go go go, we’ll stay at a value next time. If I’m paying for a moderate or deluxe, we’ll factor in less park time and more resort time (which is SO hard to do when the parks are right there and why are we wasting time poolside - let’s go!). My boys still say one of their favorite things was Old Man Island at POR.