touring plan??

[mom22monkeys]

we leave for disney in 9 days and im freaking out feeling unprepared. i have been reading this site for the past couple months but theres sooo much info! has anyone made touring plans for the parks or do you just go in and wing it? if you have could you share yours? we are a family of 4 with a 2 and 4 year old

 

[coolz]

hmm.. i haven't got any but i know someone will provide a better plan for you.. you just have to wait for them.. goodluck on your travel!

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Not to add to your panic, but you do need to plan!
Don't know if you are staying on property or not, that can make a big difference.

Hopefully you have made ADR's (ressies) for any sit down restaurants you would like to go to. It is actually quite late for that. Do not expect to be able to walk up to any sit down restaurant.

With the small children, you will have your visit somewhat restricted unless you want to do parent switch on some of the more adventurous rides. I suggest start the day early, head back to your room for a nice nap, then venture out for dinner and some evening activities.

With the small ones, your pace needs to be nice and slow. Take your opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

Mostly, don't overthink it or you will not be able to enjoy yourself.

 

[mom22monkeys]

Not to add to your panic, but you do need to plan!
Don't know if you are staying on property or not, that can make a big difference.

Hopefully you have made ADR's (ressies) for any sit down restaurants you would like to go to. It is actually quite late for that. Do not expect to be able to walk up to any sit down restaurant.

With the small children, you will have your visit somewhat restricted unless you want to do parent switch on some of the more adventurous rides. I suggest start the day early, head back to your room for a nice nap, then venture out for dinner and some evening activities.

With the small ones, your pace needs to be nice and slow. Take your opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

Mostly, don't overthink it or you will not be able to enjoy yourself.

yes i do have a little bit of a plan, we are going with my SIL so we will child swap on the adult rides. i have ADR at chef mickeys for breakfast one day. we are staying at wyndam bonnet creek. i just am nervous that well get into the parks and be overwhelmed and not use time wisely. we arent doing the hopper option so we will have 7 day passes so that means we can do some of the parks twice. does anyone know what size the soft sided coolers have to be that you can bring into the parks. i dont want to bring one in thats too big

 

[bayoumoon]

Try touringplans.com as an option. They have several to choose from and have some designed for people traveling with young children. Good luck and have fun.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We plan which park on each particular day and have ADRs booked in advance for that day. Our itinerary within the park consists of which attractions we must do that day - the rest is pretty much at random

 

[lentesta]

The moderators can delete this if it's considered too self-promoting, but there are around 8,000 free touring plans for WDW on TouringPlans.com. Use the "Personalized Touring Plans" link to find the search feature, and look for plans for parents with small children. Since you're so close to your trip, the crowd calendar link will show you the best parks to visit each day, too.

Len

 

[November Girl]

How about getting copies of the park maps on-line and circling your top attractions, maybe give each family member a chance to circle one each per park. Do this for 3 or 4 rounds, making each round a different color based on priority. Then connect the dots,This will make it easy for your to draw out a plan that won't take as much walking, and you won't miss the things you want to see on the way from one big ride to another. If you have short ones, also check height restrictions on line for the "big" rides. Also, use touringplans.com to figure out the best day to visit each park based on crowd levels. YOu can probably do all of this in an hour or two = Have fun and good luck!

 

[imamouse]

As others have mentioned, soliciting priorities from your group in advance and using or creating a plan at www.touringplans.com will save you lots of time.

Additionally, get up early and arrive at the parks before scheduled opening. You can get more done in Fantasyland from 8 or 9 am - 11 am than you could all day if arriving mid-morning.

Your children will set the pace, so watch them for signs of fatigue and keep everyone well hydrated. Some children due fine napping in strollers, others do not. But after an early start, everyone will be ready for a nice cool break in the afternoon. Head back to your resort around lunch time and eat outside the parks on your way back to your room.

After a swim or a nap (or both), go back to the parks for more rides and fireworks, if your young ones enjoy them (when our oldest son was 2, he was terrified of fireworks). Try not to stay out too late so that you can get going early again the next day. I hope this helps - enjoy :wave:!

 

[bgraham34]

I always plan it. I schedule everything so we can see as much as possible. Now I dont plan what rides I am doing when but I do plan what parks I will be at during the day. I schedule my parks with the night shows as the main priority as well as EMH. Which sometimes I avoid especially mornings.

 

[Laura]

I always arrive at the parks before the rope drops and get a fastpass for the busiest ride (Soarin', Everest, Splash, TSM or RNR), then once the fastpass is in hand I head for the second busiest ride and ride it before the crowd arrives. I usually have ridden every attraction that accumulates a long line by 11:00 a.m. and the rest of the day I just go at my leisure.

Magic Kingdom always requires 2 days. One day to spend the morning in Fantasyland, and the other day to spend the morning in Frontierland. Whichever of those days I don't see fireworks I ride Space Mountain and Buzz during that time.

Doing those few things really works and it's been ages since I've waited more than 10 minutes in line, even during peak times.

 

[fosse76]

I wing it. Other than ADRs, I don't see any real point to planning out the day at a theme park. There are things I know I want to do, but I just do whatever I am in the mood for. While Disney with small children is probably not ideally suited for massive movement around the property, only the Magic Kingdom has enough rides where you would need to slow down for the children. But even then, once you get through the turnstyle you should just wing it...exploring the park is part of the fun.

 

[krankenstein]

I kind of have a basic idea of what I want to do/what I need to do but I pretty much wing it. However, I think you should give TouringPlans.com a look.

BTW, I've never made an ADR in my life...I haven't had a problem with winging that either. :shrug:

 

[imamouse]

I kind of have a basic idea of what I want to do/what I need to do but I pretty much wing it. However, I think you should give TouringPlans.com a look.

BTW, I've never made an ADR in my life...I haven't had a problem with winging that either. :shrug:

Wow - you are very fortunate. Do you eat during off-hours (4 pm or 9 pm)?

 

[Philo]

Go to touringplans.com and look at their free crowd calendar for the next 30 days. This tells you how busy the parks will be an, more importantly, which parks you should visit on each day. Follow this advice as much as possible and then just enjoy. I don't have a touring plans for the rides etc, I just make sure we use Fastpass well and then enjoy what the day brings!

 

[krankenstein]

Wow - you are very fortunate. Do you eat during off-hours (4 pm or 9 pm)?

Yep, I'm an early dinner eater. I typically have dinner around 4pm everyday, which probably has something to do with it now that I think about it. I think the longest I have ever waited for a table is 15 minutes. Which really isn't that long of a wait to me.

 

[Ausdaddy]

Go to touringplans.com and look at their free crowd calendar for the next 30 days. This tells you how busy the parks will be an, more importantly, which parks you should visit on each day. Follow this advice as much as possible and then just enjoy. I don't have a touring plans for the rides etc, I just make sure we use Fastpass well and then enjoy what the day brings!

Or better yet, pay Len the small fee to join and support his efforts.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

With all the planning however, the most interesting part of your trip will be adapting to the children and their reactions. There are many threads here concerning what frightens some children, various things you shouldn't do.

For me when our children were young, it was enlightening to see things through their eyes. At four my DD hated fireworks and screamed until we took her out of the park. She also panicked with the "big" drop in PoTC and had to be coaxed on any water ride after including IASW. She hated the characters and panicked whenever on got near to her. Our other kids were OK (with the exception of HM).

One thing generally is that everything seems very loud to them...all rides, all shows. Dark reactions are uncertain.

Probably be more of an issue with the 4yo than the 2yo.

Take your time and enjoy!

 

[betteratmk]

When our children were that age they did better with their big meal at lunch time,:slurp: Then we would head to a longer attraction such as Hall of the Presidents or COP so they might fall asleep:snore: When they were young we didn't always stay on site If we were lucky enough to have them crash we would find a shady spot and someone was the designated watcher while the other had a break to shop or ride!!! They held out well as long as they weren't thirsty or hungry. We always made meal time a priority then.:sohappy:

 

[ThinkTink721]

I have found that planning your parks in advance is a must.
Especially when you are booking your dining reservations.
But, trying to plan what attractions to see & when can be very nerve racking.
It is good to have a basic itinerary & plan the attractions that you would like to see, but leave the schedule open for unexpected things.
I would, however, plan early visits to new or popular attractions due to the fact that fast passes sometimes run out early in the day.
Hope this helps! :wave: