I haven't been to Disney World since I was 9, and am now planning a week long trip with my 9- and 6-year old kids in January. We'll be staying at a Disney resort (Caribbean Beach), and will have park-hopper passes.
I've watched many of the Ear Scouts videos and have found them extremely helpful and enjoyable. But I noticed that the general theme is getting the most out of your "precious park time". I think that day after day of getting as much done as possible for a whole week with kids is probably not sustainable or the most enjoyable way to spend the week. So I'm hoping for some guidance on how to plan a week long trip to Disney World. I've heard of the strategy of doing afternoon naps, and we'll probably try to do that. What else should I be thinking about in terms of strategy for getting the most out of our 7 days, without getting exhausted? A video on this would be amazing.
I definitely think breaks in the middle of the day are good, especially if you are doing early entry and staying for a night time show. We either had timed pool time plus ipad time or nap time. It worked well for us. We would do an early lunch (11 am) either at the hotel or the park, and come back around 3 - 4 pm.
The other option would be to do early entry one day and leave for the hotel a little before dinner. Then return to the same park on another day, but later in the day and catch the night time show.
Have a great time!
Hi, we went in May with a 10 yr old and 7yr old, so not too different from yourself. You will definitely need to take breaks as they are very tiring days. We found just sitting down somewhere in the park for an hour or so, getting some food and cooling off was a good way of doing that.
We did try going back to the hotel in the middle of the day, but to be honest it was harder to get them back out again when we did that. If your kids are anything like mine they just wanted to jump straight in the swimming pool, so it wasn't as if they were actually having a rest!
Taking advantage of Genie+ (or the new system as it will be in Jan) will definitely allow you to take your time and not have to be rushing about.
Sounds like you really are on top of things! I’m from northern Indiana and love going in January! Also I like the idea of showing the kids some videos to see what they respond to. I would recommend being flexible as far as what kinds of experiences they like. You may be surprised! Just pay attention to the ‘crabbies’ and avoid meltdowns lol. As far as the Skyliner, I see they haven’t announced the actual refurb dates yet, but it does seem to be traditionally in January. This year I see they opened up a day early as well! I think if you get at least 3 good days with the Skyliner open, it would still be worth staying there. Carribean Beach is a great place to stay! I’m sure they will have extra busses and you can still walk to the Riviera! Just don’t plan to go to MK or AK on the days it’s working. If you can and if it sounds interesting to you, I HIGHLY recommend Topolino’s Terrace for the character breakfast. The views alone are spectacular! You can sleep in and stroll on over one morning. While there’s not much of a dress code, I always like to dress a little fancier but it’s definitely not necessary.
Hi Kiran! You’re speaking my language now lol. I’m a huge proponent of taking naps/breaks during the day. Also, I would suggest planning a nice dinner for (at least) one of your nights. Hit a park early and then take the rest of the day to do whatever before the big meal. Unfortunately January may not be optimal pool weather, but it never stopped me.😊 Since you are at Caribbean Beach, you can do some great resort hopping via the skyliner as well! I’m not sure if you are morning people or night owls, but you can get a LOT done during early entry and before park closing. Another tip is to do the fireworks one night, and then take advantage of the shorter lines the second trip while everyone else is at the show. Hopefully some of these will work for you! Let us know what you think!