Schedule for Disney with Littles

[onthemove]

We are going to Disney the last weekend of Jan/first week of Feb (Sat-Sat). We have an Airbnb offsite about 10-15 min away from each of the parks. We have access to the military salute tickets that are all park hoppers, and the difference between a 4 vs 5 days is $20/each. Only issue is I have to buy them ahead of time.

My original thought was:
Sunday was non-Disney day
Mon-WDW
Tues-HS
Wed-non-Disney
Th-Epcot- she loves frozen so I want her to do the ride
F-AK - I know less toddler friendly but she love animals

We did a version of this when DD was 18 mths old, but we’re on property and left each day at 1 ish for naps. I can’t really remember what we did before in the afternoon, maybe rest and go out to dinner.

Considerations:
Kids: DD-3.5 DS- 7 months
My parents will be meeting us there
Our immediate family (not my parents) all had Covid over Christmas
DD usually does not nap, does still have rest time. She will sleep if exhausted though.

Should we start with WDW on Sunday and expect to do shorter days? Do 3 days, rest, then 2? With Covid though I am less inclined to go to normal restaurants, was planning on takeout or making dinner. It’s been warm lately, but that could change so we may not be able to go to the water park at the hotel. So may 5 days is better. I just don’t want a monster on my hands at the end of the week. Do we do par opening until like 1 or 2?

Thanks!

[daisyduck]

For a $20 difference, I would definitely get 5 day tickets. You could go for 5 full days, or if everyone is tired you could do a couple of shorter days.

For your 7 month old, definitely take a harness style carrier. We took my daughter when she was around 6 months old and she would nap a lot in the harness while we were walking around and riding rides.

[sent]

I went with DD when she was 3.5. I can barely remember what we did! It was a 5 night trip so I think we had 2 park days and did MK one day and Epcot on the other day. I vaguely recall going from park open to after lunch, and then we'd return to the same park for dinner. It's slowly coming back to me - we went back to MK at night on the MK day to see fireworks because DD pulled the stroller cover over her face and wanted nothing to do with them. I picked the days that those 2 parks were going to be open late for on-site guests but I think they changed this system. DD was not a napper, but I do remember she and I both napped on that trip because I was barely over my illness and would still get exhausted easily.

When we went with DD at a newly turned 5 and DS at 9 months, DD and I did 2 full park days. I had gotten 2 park hopper tickets from someone my brother knew that had won them at a PTA auction or something. We did 2 parks on each day, open to close. We left my husband back at the hotel with DS for most of that time but I did bring DS to Hollywood Studios in the morning one of my park days. We had a character breakfast scheduled and I remember that he ate pancakes. We did a Christmas Party on a third day and all 4 of us went to that. For me, this was a good way to pack in a bunch of rides, shows and character meals with DD without getting slowed down by DS who was too little to have any clue of what was happening. That one day I took DS to Hollywood Studios, I had planned to use his nap time so DD could meet Donald. He had his worst meltdown ever around noon. He had fallen asleep on my shoulder while watching a show and when I went to transition him back to the stroller seat, he flipped out. I was also trying to save some money by not having to pay for tickets for my husband since he doesn't necessarily care about going into the parks. We also had 2 full non-park days but would do character meals on those days to feel like it was still Disney without having to buy a ticket for the park.

And for my third and last trip in the before times, DD was a newly turned 6, DS was 22 months. I bought 7 days park hoppers for all of us. Basically the opposite of both previous trips LOL. So buy the 5 day ticket, less pressure that way. We did 1 day at AK, 3 days split between HS & Epcot, and then 3 days at MK only.

[sb]

We just went with our 4 year old twins. It definitely worked better for us to do partial days. We did AK from open to close on our first park day and it was ROUGH on all of us. After that we did afternoon breaks and came back or just didn't. My kids are not nappers but they definitely needed rest or pool time.

I would base your days on the crowd calendar. I've always heard Sunday and Monday are very crowded for MK. AK is criminally underrated in my opinion so you should definitely do that!

I personally would do a park on Sunday, breaks on Tuesday and Thursday. Having the 5 day tickets gives you an option to head over for a meal or fireworks on those rest days also.

I don't think 5 days will make a monster. It might actually give you more flexibility/less pressure to do so much in each day.

[Wines Not Whines]

I’d get the 5 day tickets so you have flexibility. If you want to revisit a park on a second day, you’ll be able to do it. My son used to take naps in the stroller, so sometimes we’d stay in the parks and chill while he napped. Sometimes we’d take an afternoon break and go back to our hotel. I appreciate the breaks, too.

It’s easy to eat outside there, as long as it’s not too cold.

[onthemove]

Thanks everyone. It seems like the 5 day is a good option especially for the cost. I always love the feedback from this place!