We are heading to Orlando in June for our first trip to Disney. Two adults and three children ages 16, 12, and 8. I’m needing advice on how the FP reservation works.
The 16 and 12 year old will ride some rides like Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster that me, my husband, and 8 year old won’t ride. Am I able to book FP for three of us on certain rides and different FP at the same times for the 16 and 12 year old? How does that work? Are there videos or something to show how to do this?
I think we will rope drop most days, so for HS example, the 16 and 12 year old will do Rocking Rollercoaster or something, while we take the 8 year old to do, say, Toy Story Mania. Then hopefully we can all get fast passes together later for other rides, even TSM again for all of us so that the 16 and 12 year old can ride it. I figure we would be able to ride some things multiple times with the 8 year old and focus on getting the older two kids on each ride once. Do families don’t this often? Is it safe for a 16 and 12 year old to go off for a couple rides together without an adult? They will have a phone with them.
One last thing. We have 6 day tickets- will do MK for 2 days and each other park for 1 day. What other park do you recommend doing for the 6th day, maybe even just half the day while the other half is spent at the pool. Or do you suggest a middle of the trip full pool day and only do 5 days in the parks?
Thank you!!
My family is splitting up on a few of our fast passes as well. What I did was google a map of the park and have it open while thinking about what fast passes we wanted to ride. That way I could try and book 2 rides that were at least in the same area so we all walk together to the area, split up to ride, then easily meet back up after the ride.
That’s a good idea. I’m freaking out a bit because my 60 day window opens next week and I haven’t planned anything because it just seems so overwhelming!!
I also meant to ask if anyone knows if Father’s Day is usually less crowded? I thought it be more crowded, but the crowd calendar shows levels at 5-6 🤷
Tackle one park at a time. Map open, look at the rides list. They’re grouped by location/land and have the FP symbol next to the rides that have fast passes. That really helped me get started. Make a list of the fast passes you want for each park. Then once you’ve picked the rides, go back and figure out what times you’d prefer.
Depending on the park and the way you tour, it may not be easy to do all the attractions. I’d recommend picking some that you know you’ll want to do and focusing on those. If you finish early and have extra time, then great, you can do some extras.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you may find it easiest to start with a general touring plan made by a WDW expert. You can find free ones, like this, using google. If you subscribe to touringplans.com, they have a bunch designed for different types of groups (ex. adults, families with young kids, families with all ages, seniors, etc.)
If you’re feeling adventurous and you’re a TP subscriber, you can customize a pre-made touring plan a bit by adding/removing attractions, setting your walking speed, changing the arrival and departure times, etc. I like to do this, as I tend to try and cram too much in a given day and it provides me with a much needed reality check.
As long as you feel like your kids can handle it and would stick together, I think that would be totally fine. WDW is about as safe as you can get and still be out in public.
We like to leave the last day somewhat unplanned. I take a guess at what park we might end up at and book a few FP. Then when we’re nearing the end of our trip, I ask the kids which park they might like to go back to. Last time they picked Epcot to my surprise. This trip, on our last day we’re going to do ‘Ohana for dinner followed by one or two MK rides and then the fireworks, but we’ll leave the morning open for the park of the kids’ choice or pool time if they’d rather.
I would be ok letting my DD lose on the parks at 16, but that is me. I would think they should be fine but after reading @ryan1 stoy that he is making up I don’t know, could by my PTSD.
You know, after I posted chapter one, I actually worried about that. I’m writing the story as if I’m targeting a middle-grade reader audience (something I could have my DS9 read and enjoy). But for adults, the idea of losing a child is traumatic!
I have paid to get access to Touring Plans and have been checking their plans out! I just need to follow one of those and move along with the planning lol! Thanks for all this info! Amazing forum!
I only have the one child and when she was about 6-8 months someone told me how much she was worth on the black market. I’ve been even more worried since. Why would someone know that and why would they tell you. That is something that has disturbed me for 18 years now.
With that said I’m still looking forward for your next installment.
When my older kids were 16 and 12, we did the HS scenario you present–the older two went to rope drop Rockin Rollercoaster while my husband and I took our 5 year old to rope drop TSM. We then met back up at our first fast pass. I was comfortable with my older two having time on their own, but I did worry–because I always worry! We even let them stay for EMH at AK one night–they had to navigate the bus back super late, but they were fine and they really loved the freedom. My oldest is very protective and responsible, so that helped put my mind at ease, too. We often do different fast passes close together–ie, in MK, the older kids and I will do Space Mountain, and my husband will take the youngest to Ariel. I have never had any issues doing a mix of FP. when booking your FP, just click on the people you want on each FP (choose their icon) and leave off the ones you don’t want on that particular ride. Lastly, as far as your 6th day question–I would either do Epcot 2 days or a pool/Disney Springs day. With my kids, though, they NEVER want a “break” from the parks. Even if we do a half day, they still want to go ride rides.
We actually experienced a disturbing situation at Magic Kingdom when our DS9 was still an infant.
We were on Tom Sawyer’s Island, and I was running around the Fort with my other kids while my wife was nursing. After she was done, there was an older woman and man there (they looked to be of either Middle-Eastern or Indian descent). The man was standing several yards away, just outside the Fort, while the woman approached my wife. The woman commented about what a cute baby, etc., and then started to take the baby from my wife’s arms. My wife pulled back and shook her head, but then the woman tried even harder to take the baby away. My wife got really scared and said, “No!” and pulled away more. The man then made some noise and basically urged the woman (his wife?) to come, and they left.
We rounded up the kids and left, finding a cast member. Once we got to the other side of the river, security was there to meet us and we reported the incident to them.
Now, to be fair, it might have simply been a case of culturally over-stepping their bounds. But my wife said her “Spidey Sense” (as she likes to call it) went up immediately.
In hindsight, if they really were trying to kidnap a child, doing it on an Island where there is only one way on or off is stupid. But it certainly made us more cautious!
Something similar happened to me in a Walmart near my old house. Three women approached me when DD was under 1yo, and one said how beautiful she was and reached in to take her out of her stroller. I had raced into Walmart for a couple of things and just clicked in the carseat into the stroller, so she was still buckled in, thank god.
Two of the women were suddenly standing between me and my own stroller. I went into full-on Crazy Mom mode and smacked the lady’s hand who was reaching for my baby and told her to go away (using some colorful language) or I would call the police. She reached in again and I literally screamed “These women are stealing my daughter!” and then they hurried away. This is a weird but not isolated incident near me - at this Walmart, people with bible verses on slips of paper talk to you and separate you from your children. No one has been successfully kidnapped but several children have walked away holding a stranger’s hand.
People are crazy and some have bad intentions. I don’t let anyone touch my kid unless I know them personally, or they are a Cast member, and even then, Luna knows to come ask me if it’s okay to speak with an adult before going over.
That kind of depends on your taste. MK definitely as it’s huge and basically impossible to do in just one day.
Epcot is also huge, but has less “rides” than other parks. Depending on your kids, they may find World Showcase boring or they may love it (especially if they get into Agent P’s). They may like the interactive play areas all over future world or may just walk right past them.
Animal Kingdom is also large and has some longer lines (FoP, Navi, EE) and you can only FP one of the two Pandora rides. It also has some shows (FotLK, Nemo, UP) which, if you wanted to do all of them, would take up a significant chunk of the day and the walk through animal exhibits. Again, depending on your interest in those it could take a long time. There are also a lot of “stand and stare” things in AK like Tree of Life Awakenings, random street performers, and animal exhibits.
DHS is probably the one you can predict the most accurately. Basically, how much do you like thrill rides? It’s our second favorite park (maybe even tied for first with MK) because we love things like ToT, RnRC, TSMM, Star Tours, and SDD. We also loved the Frozen sing-along and Fantasmic! If we were going to do it again, we’d spend way more time at DHS. But if the kids aren’t into lots of thrill rides or the shows on offer, it could probably be done in 1/2 to 3/4 of a day.
Walmart is pretty good when it comes to child safety. You never want to be in a store and hear “code Adam”. The store is shut down and no one leaves, because a child is missing. I was told of a mother shopping with her daughter. The mother had the child in the shopping basket in the seat and turned to look at a item. When she turned back her daughter was gone all in the matter of less then a minute. Code Adam was called the store was shut down and 5 minutes later they found the little girl in the ladies room in a different outfit with her head shaved. All that in less then 5 minutes. I live in a shore town with over 25 motels my niece wanted me to let her walk around town when she was 15 and we got into a big fight when I told her NO. Two days later when she calmed down she realized I was just concerned for her safety. She made me cry a few years ago when she told her boy friend I was the closet thing she had to a father.
