I will be traveling in mid-March 2019 with my family of six plus my Sister and BIL. We are staying on-property for 7 nights, with 5 day park tickets, and no park hopper. We will begin and end our trip at MK (2 full days total), have one full day each at EP, HS, and AK, and one full day at USO/IOA. We do PLAN to rope drop every day, but we’ll see how that works out in the real world. I secured great FPP’s at our 60 day window, and a have a few ADR’s. We are light on ADR’s, as we plan to do a lot of QS because of the size and age range of our group.
Our family is Mom and Dad early 30’s, DS15, DS10, DS4.5, and DS13-months. Sis and BIL are mid 20’s. This will be my 5th or 6th trip; DW, DS15, and DS10’s second trip in six years; DS4.5 (42 inches tall) and DS13mo’s first trip; and Sis and BIL’s first trip. Sis and BIL have said that they plan to tour with us and follow our lead. They left me in charge of all FPP, ADR, and all other aspects of our trip.
I have been struggling to come up with a good touring plan for our group. I’m not sure if we should have one touring plan that everyone would follow for each park/day, or have two or more for each day. I’ll explain… We do plan to utilize Rider Switch (Child Swap) for some attractions, but not all. Obviously DS13mo won’t be able to ride much, and there will be some that DS4.5 does not meet the height requirement or is afraid to ride. There will be some that DW or myself will opt out of RS for the sake of touring speed. Should we create a second touring plan or is there another option that allows for the non-riders to be on an alternate ride at that time? Also, I’m sure that there will be some days that DW and/or Myself may have to take DS4.5 and/or DS13mo back to the resort for an afternoon break and nap. However, I expect that the remainder of the group would most likely stay at the parks and proceed with touring. How can we ensure that we make the most of the mornings for the smaller children and parents, while still making for an enjoyable experience for the older kids and 20-somethings?
Hopefully that is enough information to begin a discussion. Thank you in advance for any/all assistance.
If I were in your shoes, here are things I’d consider doing.
- Using RS is easy enough. But you might want to actually plan NOT to use RS most of the time and focus part of the day on the rides that you can have a 13mo on.
- Alternatively, you might break up into groups. Stay together for part of the day, but then split into those who want to do some of the more intense rides (relatively speaking). You and your DW could switch off times of the day or whatever and have you and your BIL go off to do stuff with the older kids part of the time while sister and DW stay with the younger kids, and then you and BIL stay with the younger kids while they do what they want.
- It is a tricky mix to try to please everyone, particularly since you are doing single days at most parks, however. I see no way to not get input from the rest of the group about what they want to do. In an effort to try to make everyone happy, you might not be able to make anyone happy. Perhaps create a “survey” for the older kids and adults. Have them rank the rides/experiences that they want to do most, letting them know that you’ll try to find a balance for everyone as best you can.
- Another option is to act as two families. Your family, and your sister and BIL. Let them do what they want. You can perhaps plan their FPPs, but then have no expectations as to keeping them with you. They should be allowed to experience WDW on their own, without the “oppression” of kids (and I say this as a family man with 5 kids…but there’s no getting around the fact that your priorities change once the kids come along).
These days you can only have 1 rider swap at a time and it has to be used within a certain time frame, I believe usually just an hour.
Rough plan for MK, first day start with Buzz and then swing round Fantasy land. then split up and start using rider swap, fill in with a small world, Philharmonic, carousel, hall of presidents, Haunted House. The second day start in Adventure Land. Stay together for JC, Carpets & POTC. then I’d FPP Splash for your BIL, SIL and older kids, split your group in 2 and get 2 rider swaps, hang with little kids in the play area while the others ride. Switch and you and DH ride with the older kids. Do the same at BTMT but with the FPP for you, DH and older kids. After you’ve switched back you and DH take the little kids to FPP PP and Winnie. Older kids and BIL & SIL use their rider switch then do Haunted House and FPP 7DMT or Space Mountain. Meet up again. and send SIL, BIL off for their last FPP. Now you start looking for that 4th FPP. It is complicated, I’d start my gauging SIL & BIL’s feelings on helping you guys with childcare. Goodluck.