I would be interested to hear your thoughts about whether our current plan is reasonable, or is going to be too much. My kids will be 4 (almost 5) and 7 at the time of the trip. We have pre-park opening breakfasts at 8:00 am inside the park on every park day – maybe it’s overkill, but we like breakfast! And I’d rather be inside the park eating in air conditioning than waiting in line for rope drop.) My kids normally wake up between 6:30-7:00 am, and are usually asleep between 8:30-9:00pm. At Disney, I expect bedtimes to be as late as 10:30 pm, but we will try to swim, nap and rest in the afternoons. We’re staying at the Polynesian, and plan to leave by 7:15 every morning to get to the parks (wake up kids at 7:00 and go). Below is an estimate of our general itinerary. We’re going in August. Is this reasonable, or am I asking for trouble?
Rest Breaks below measured from estimated park exit time to park re-entry time.
Day 1: Arrival Day: MK late afternoon; FOF Parade; Aim for 9 PM bedtime
Day 2: MK: CRT 7:55 AM; Rest 1:20PM-5:00 PM; Wishes Fireworks from Poly beach @10 pm. Aim for 10:30 PM bedtime
Day 3: Epcot: Garden Grill 8:00 AM; Rest: 1:20 PM-5:00 PM; Illuminations maybe; aim for 10-10:30 PM bedtime
Day 4: Hollywood Studios: Hollywood & Vine 8:20 am; Rest: 2:00 PM-7:00PM (Ohana dinner @ 5 before returning to park); Star Wars Fireworks; aim for 10-10:30 PM bedtime.
Day 5: Rest Day: Aim for 8 PM bedtime
Day 6: MK: BOG 8:00 AM; Rest 11:30-4:00 PM; free form evening. Maybe try to see Electrical Water Pageant at 9 PM. Could be early bedtime.
Day 7: AK: Tusker House 8:00 AM; Rest: 1:50-5:50 PM; 9 PM Jungle Book show. Aim for 10-10:30 PM bedtime.
Day 8: Unscheduled. Depart MCO at 6 PM
I think your plans seem solid. Your itinerary is very full but you’ve also got rest in there. It seems like you’ve left your afternoons and evenings flexible so that you can extend your rest time or leave earlier if needed, so that’s another bonus. Also Just be sure you plan for the heat and extra energy the kids will burn. Plenty of water, rest as you go throughout the day, misting fans and cooling towels are all important for my kiddos’ (and mine!) endurance for long days, not just the midday break (which is really a great thing too!). Also, food. My kids eat SO MUCH at Disney. Especially my littles. Having some solid nutritious meals (like breakfast!) and good healthy snacks is essential for getting through long days too.
How are you arriving? Travel takes a huge toll on me, even as an adult, and consequently I prefer to ease into vacation than to hit it hard. Though 9pm is a reasonable hour, it just depends what time your day started.
I know you’re AT Poly, but even given that I think 10:30 is ambitious for bedtime. I think you’re looking at closer to 11pm here. With an a.m. departure at 0715 to make your reservation, I think this is a long day. Will your kids actually rest in the rest period?
If I were you I’d make the rest day on day 4 rather than day 5. You’re gonna need it by then with a plan this ambitious!
Your free-form evening would work well after a park day, moreso than after a rest day. See above re: swapping day 5 and 4
Personally I think you’re packing in a LOT in a week’s time. Even with your rest periods, I think you’ll find that you’re wearing thin by week’s end. Though, if your kids will actually rest in the rest period vs swim as you start out by saying (swim and sun = even more tired than before!).
If everyone is too tired to make it to evening shows, my kids loved the Poly’s marshmallow roast on the beach. We usually followed that with the normal bedtime routine (pajamas, brush teeth, etc.) and watched the Electrical Water Pageant in our pajamas. It was a calm but magical end to each day. We also watched Wishes from the beach one night, which was wonderful (and even better in that we were all in bed asleep about 5 minutes after the fireworks ended.) (I know this doesn’t answer your question, but might help with a “Plan B.”)
Good thoughts, thank you! I had originally planned for our Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom days to be our short days with earlier bedtimes, but then my son heard about Star Wars fireworks, so that has become a must do, and I’d really like to see the nighttime stuff at Animal Kingdom. The main street electrical parade, Wishes and Star Wars fireworks are our main evening must-dos. I think we’ll just be flexible about the other evening activities, and stay only if we are all up for it.
On arrival day, we have a direct flight that leaves at 9:30 am and arrives around noon. We’ll need to leave our house by 7:15 am (that’s our go time all week!), so I agree we will be a little tired that day, but excited to start our vacation. My hope is spend maybe 3 hours in the MK that day – Festival of Fantasy parade if we make it (so that we can be napping at that time later in the week) plus 3 fastpasses – and then head back to the hotel for a quick swim and an early-ish bedtime.
I hope we all nap in the afternoons! My plan is to swim as soon as we get back to our hotel for 30 minutes to an hour, then shower, change, and lay down in a dark room and hope we all sleep for an hour or so. My 4 year old – the one who needs the nap the most – is the one most likely to fight it. But hopefully, at minimum, the rest time in a quiet, dark room will be restorative.
I’m also considering renting a stroller for our evenings in Epcot and maybe also Animal Kingdom, so that the kids can rest rather than doing long walks in big crowds so late at night.
The marshmallow roast sounds wonderful, and I agree that will be a perfect Plan B, and also something to look forward to on our rest day.
I’m a first timer so you might want to discount my advice, but I think your plan sounds good. You have decent rest periods and your evening plans are flexible. I agree with the advice to split your rest day over two days, though that does depend on what type of tickets you have. For one evening what about hiring a babysitter or putting the kids into club, check the cancelation policies, but I think the club can be cancelled the day before and babysitters the same day. We will be staying at the Poly too, and my kids are a similar age, so I would be interested to hear how your holiday goes, and how late your kids do stay up.