Tips on my kids first trip

I am going September 4th through the 12th. I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. It will be their first trip but not ours. This is our reschedule trip from 2020. We are staying at Pop century. Does anyone know if Uber XL has car seats? On our first day we arrive at 10:30am at the airport and I want to go to Magic Kingdom as soon as I can but i dont want to pay $150 for a Minnie Van. I know the Magical Express will take longer. Any tips will be greatly appreciated. We havent been to WDW in 6 years and this will be our kids first time and so we want to make the most of our trip.

Day 1- Arrive, check in, Magic kingdom (fantasy land and fireworks) quick service meal.

Day 2- Magic Kingdom in the morning, late breakfast at Chef Mickeys. then relax and have some pool time. Epcot at night.

Day 3- Animal Kingdom all day…

Day 4- Hollywood studios all day. Scifi dine in for lunch

Day 5- morning we can sleep in if we got to ride on rise of resistance, if not we will go to hollywood just for that. lunch at disney springs- dinosaur. night epcot or hollywood studios

Day 6- sleep in and disney springs in the morning. then magic kingdom in the afternoon with dinner at cinderellas royal table

Day7 - Magic Kingdom all day with Ohana for dinner

Day 8- we can be at magic kingdome in the morning, followed by whatever my kids want to do for our last day.

Any tips or tricks out there. Also is it hard to get on the que for rise of resistance?

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It has been a while since I had such small kids, but I’ll do my best here!

First, I don’t think Minnie vans are running right now, but hopefully they will be back in September. I have never used Uber, but I believe you may be able to get clear seats in some cases. Someone else will have to chime in on that.

You know your kids best, but your first day seems like a long one! I assume you have to leave for the airport pretty early, and then not get to the hotel until after fireworks.

Are you going to have park hopper tickets? You will need those to do two parks in one day.

As for RotR queue, it should not be hard to get a boarding group if you practice first. There are good instructions that @bebe80 wrote up. `

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Thank you so much @zientm yes on the first day, i know my kids will sleep on the plane and we have a stroller and they will most surely nap while we walk around the park. which is why i figured they would nap before fireworks that night. we do have park hopper tickets. and thanks for the tip for rotr. :slight_smile:

For your first day at MK w/ littles, I would definitely start slow w/ the rides. This will set the tone for how comfortable your littles will be with rides for the entire rest of the trip.

Both of our kids did Small World as their first which worked out well. The elder (now almost 20yo) is a ride or die girl and went on to start riding coasters at 3yo (Super Grover at Sesame Place) and the younger (now 15yo) hates all thrill rides…and even hated Dumbo at 2yo, so better to start w/ the happy boat ride w/ singing children! :grinning:

thank you so much :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Minnie27mouse i plan to hang out in fantasy land on day one to see what they like and dont like. thanks so much for the tips :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t be 100% sure your kids will nap - we took our first trip when my kids were 3 and 5 and we had to wake them up at 4am for the flight. I was sure they’d sleep in the car and on the plane and they were way too amped up, I had to force them to take a nap in the afternoon.

My best tips are to be flexible and have low expectations. If you’re making touring plans identify a few steps every day that you can skip. Be prepared for them to want to leave the Magic Kingdom to go back to the pool. Have some activities in your bag to entertain them in line. If you’re staying after dark have some glow sticks. Try not to stress too much if they don’t eat anything healthy or take their usual naps.

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UberXL Car Seat is an option, but I believe it only has 1 carseat, and it may be a long wait if you don’t book in advance. It could also be a long wait for the Magical Express, but it could be the easiest option because you don’t have to worry about the carseats. Will you have a double stroller? I know people on here have recommendations for renting strollers from offsite. If your kids are Frozen fans maybe head to Epcot for rope drop on Day 5 or 6 so you can ride the Frozen ride without a wait. Your plans look great for a trip with little kids!

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Have fun bandaids ready to go in your bag. They are great at stopping meltdowns from falls even when they’re not at all necessary. Most kids think bandaids they are magical. Bubbles are fun while waiting and easy to throw in a bag. Stickers too. Pe prepared for lots of pool time. The Unofficial Guide mentions that pool time is the favorite activity of preschoolers in Disney. Check out how rider swap works for any rides that one kid wants to go on, but the other kid doesn’t/ is too short for. It can let the riding kid go twice. If the kids are unsure about any rides you can watch the YouTube video with them beforehand so they can decide and know what to expect. Prepare them to know that fully costumed characters like Mickey won’t talk. The misting fan things are great for the heat.

Bring lots of snacks. Mobile order food for 30 minutes before you know your kids will need to eat so you have time to pick it up, find a table, and let it cool down to eating temperature as necessary.

Food. Breaks. Go with the flow.

I’ve taken my kids (currently 5.5 and 2.5) three times in the last 18 months. I’ve found a good touring plan and a willingness to throw it out the window are pretty much all you need. When in doubt, ice cream.

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I think you’ll have a hard time getting an uber with two car seats. Magical express would be more convenient even if you have to wait a bit.

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Mine were those exact ages when we went for their first trip! My biggest piece of advice is to not over schedule the days. It’s about enjoying what you get to, not fitting it all in. We tried to do too much and it wore them out to the point that they couldn’t always enjoy the whole day. One night my DS5 fell asleep at dinner (admittedly it was a very long wait) and ended up going back to the hotel with grandma instead of doing the fireworks, for example.

Enjoy your trip!

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THIS!
Have a plan but know you’re taking littles to WDW and things will NOT go as plan.
You may have a child who just HAS to ride buzz lightyear again, after you just got off of it.
You may have a child who decides they need a bathroom break after you just left the bathroom.
Plan for things to go not according to plan.
Also - Stickers are great for holding kids patience. They are easily to store and can be a distraction in line or while waiting for food.
My kids LOVED these while waiting on our food at TS restaurants.

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Just got back on Saturday with a 6yo and 2yo. UberXL does have a car seat option. Typically it is one of the last two options on the screen to choose. We used them lots in the last two weeks. Never had to wait more than 12 minutes I don’t believe. Typically a 5-10 minute wait. Typically one booster and one car seat. We just used the car seat for the 2 year and let our 6 year old ride belted with no booster. Pricing is pretty jacked up for a trip to MK in the mornings ($46 for us from Riviera). Typically most rides are around $22-26. With kids, just be prepared for them to be tired and want a nap. Our sleep well in strollers so no big deal. September heat won’t be as bad as now but still hot. I don’t know if you need to consider pool or hotel downtime for your kids. I would really recommend Topolinos for a character breakfast since you are a Skyliner trip away. Much better food and experience in my opinion. I think your park times are fine. Just temper expectations to ride what you can ride and be flexible. Especially since you are going to MK a few times. RotR has never been an issue for us to get. Just get a world clock pulled up to make sure you are ready to start at 7:00am on the button. Make sure you are logged in to MDE and you will get it. You will get conflicting info, but I have had single digit boarding groups using the Wifi at Disney at the resort. Never an issue. It was sketchier when you had to be in the park to get it.

I went in 2019 when my kids were 2 and 4.5. Please feel free to ask any questions about my experience in Disney with 2 young kids.

Here are my tips:

(1) Know your kids napping needs and be realistic about it. DD4.5 was fine spending a day at the parks without napping, but DS1 needed a mid-day break each day with a nap so DW and I took turns going back to the resort in the afternoon with DS1 each day.

(2) Be flexible. You may be surprised at what your kids like and what they don’t like. If you have expectations of what attractions you will experience, you run a high chance of being disappointed. Have TP and a schedule, but be prepared to adjust on the fly (like when my daughter wanted to ride teacups 3 times in a row and when the only thing my son wanted to do was the Mickey meet and great over and over).

(3) You didn’t mention it, but if you can work it into your budget I highly recommend a separate stroller for each child.

(4) Bathroom and snack breaks take a lot longer than you would think. A lot longer.

(5) The best time to be at the parks with young kids is rope drop through 10:30 am. You can experience a lot of attractions in that period of time since some people like to sleep in.

(6) Be very careful with a “whatever my kids want” day … they will likely want different things and there is a good chance those things will be incompatible. On our last day at MK, we let each child pick 1 attraction of they choosing and DW and I split up to accomplish this, but a whole afternoon of this would have been a mess.

(7) You have a lot days with plans for the evening. That is tough with kids that age. We went to a dessert party and fireworks show at MK on our last night, but otherwise we went back to the resort after dinner to wind down (a quick swim at the resort a couple nights) and get to bed. I think you may be risking crankier kids during the day with those night plans (especially on the first day of the trip).

(8) If you get frustrated, remember that that you are in Disney and that you are creating magical memories and experiences whether or not you check off every box on your list of things to do.

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Thanks so much :slight_smile:

these are amazing tips. i will add stickers, bandaids, and bubbles to my list.

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I will need a car seat and a booster seat for my 5 year old. I dont want to spend and arm and a leg on Uber but maybe for the first day so we arent waiting for the magical express a lot.

would you pick topolinos over chef mickeys breakfast? Do you have any other dinning recommendations?