Was it
Was it your first trip to disney??? I've considered not doing epcot and hs.... and people are like well you should go there!!! My kids are 3 and 7... boys, so I figured with hopper I can go check it out and leave?? Thinking of doing the park hopper plus pass so when the parks done or we want a break we go to water park
It was not our first trip however...we are yet to bring our kids to either. We are doing Hollywood studios when we go in September just because of toy story land. I've also never used park hoppers simply because with little ones and strollers and naps it was just too much work to go from one park to another though I do know people who have.
Just my personal thought, but i would be cautious at adding park hoppers for the water parks and planning on hopping from one park to another. Especially with your first trip with 3 little ones and you being on your own (unless you mentioned another adult going with you that I missed) you don't want to load your plate up too much. The more you add to you plate the more feel like you need to do to get your monies worth and that, in the end, can make you stress about getting everything done and force things that you would really rather not do ( like going to a water park when you would rather sit by the pool but you paid extra for the water park so you have to use it). We say we want to go to a water park every time we go but have never found the time. The pool at the resort has been plenty for our kids. Unless you pick a day to do the waterpark specifically I wouldn't upgrade the pass and I would seriously consider not getting a park hopper (I'm sure there will be plenty of people who think I'm crazy, but that's just me and thinking of how hard it would be to get the kids to leave one and go to another). Our AK day we were looking for stuff to do by 230. The only reason we stayed is bc we had an ADR at 445 at yak and yeti and didn't have time to get anywhere. We walked around and looked at the animals again, saw an awesome African dance show and then had dinner. If we had a park hopper we could have left and gone to another park I guess but it would have been for maybe 30 minutes bc by the time we got out of one park, loaded up, got to another park it would be almost time to leave again.
I really think the reason our last trip that we took for a week went so smooth was bc we didn't have much planned. We had a dinner every night but I tried to get them later (7-745...their bedtime is normally 730) so we could do the parks and just did snacks to hold the kids over. We didn't have any crazy plans to be at the park for rope drops etc. With the kids up later I wanted them to sleep in the mornings and wake up rested. My biggest focus was the kids. I wanted them to have fun, I wanted to make good memories, I wanted to avoid melt downs so for us...well rested kids was inportant. Every day we had a main goal...one day it was our daughter had pirates league mermaid make over at 200 so we just needed to be there on time and we scheduled our fast passes around that. Another day we decided we wanted to do jungle cruise (another fun ride for the lo's) and since we couldn't get FP for it we knew we would have to wait in line.
We did Mk, Mk, ak, day off, MK. We felt loke we got to do everything we wanted without feeling the least bit rushed. We didn't feel like we missed anything. If this is your big trip and you think it may be your only trip to WDW, I would look at every park and see what you absolutely have to do. That's what we did and that's why we didn't go to HS or EPCOT. And that's why we had 3 days at MK...it's the place that has the most rides for the littles and really the one we enjoy the most. Some people thought we were crazy but I'm so glad we did. Watching the kids go through the rides and really enjoy them and see them understand the story was worth it. It took our 2 yo a little time to adjust to the rides since he's never been so getting to do little mermaid 20 times allowed him to not be scared and really have fun. Same with buzz and pirates. Take your time planning, figure what's important and set your priorities and plan your day around your "must do". All the extra stuff adds money you have to pay...would you rather have the park hopper plus or would you rather have that extra money in your pocket for souvenirs, snacks, the arcade at the hotel etc. When we go down we like to have plenty of extra money just in case and so if the kids fall in love with a plush that's $45 we can say yes without thinking twice. Don't get me wrong we say no plenty but it's nice to be able to say yes without worrying about the budget. The pirates league is always a must do for our daughter...but they also do pirate makeover for boys and maybe even a zombie pirate. You might want to look in to it...it's a blast for the kids!!! So again...that's a priority that we would rather spend money on.
Character dining is a great way to meet characters but can also be pricey. Are there any ones the kids just have to meet? That could be a good starting point...trying to get ADRs for that meal.
Have you booked your room or made any reservations yet? I would be happy to help you. Again...I love helping people plan their trips. It's like I get to go lol!!