Am I being over ambitious?

[Pamlico]

My family and I are headed to for our first trip in October of this year. My DS is 3 and my DD is 7. I have PPO ADRs for Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Garden Grill, then Be Our Guest all one day after the other. Am I being crazy thinking we can do these early mornings one after another? Should I aim for later breakfasts and just attempt to rope drop some of these days instead? Will we be rushing too much to enjoy the meals? I have so many questions!

 

[momto3pirates]

That would be too much for my family, but everyone is different. We are also coming from Colorado so the time change makes early morning difficult.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Where are you staying? For PPO breakfasts (I try to get 8:05 or 8:10), we usually try to be at the bus stop by 6:45 at the latest. Can your family be up, ready and out the door that early? It isn't that it takes that long to get to the parks, but the buses are not as frequent that early in the morning.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

I personally would change Garden grill to lunch or dinner if possible. I have taken my kids to WDW as 3,4 and 7 yr olds and now they are young adults. Give yourself some breathing room on your Disney mornings jmo.....have fun!

 

[pixie08]

I would keep Crystal Palace and Tusker House PPO. It is really nice to walk down Main Street and not have anyone there. Same with AK. As for Garden Grill and BOG I would switch those to lunch to balance it out. I don't think you need two PPO in MK. Not sure on your other plans or how that lays out. GG is awesome for lunch or dinner. BOG is a great CS for lunch but has switched to signature for dinner so keep that in mind.

 

[pinkxray]

For my kids it would be fine. We are up early every morning anyway at home. However we do not plan on being out late in the parks. Normal bedtime is around 8 so the kids will be back at the resort by then.

If you plan on seeing fireworks or later nights than normal it might be a bit much to make all breakfast so early.

 

[Cade387]

Our first trip was with 2.5 and 5 year olds and we had similar PPO for every single day for 7 days no issue.

We are going back this year with them being 4.5 and 7 and doing the same for 10 days except for one day where the guys and kids will have a pool day (the girls still have a 7:30 O’hana).

You aren’t crazy, but you know your family better than we do.

 

[Cade387]

If you do change I would move Crystal Palace to lunch as it doesn’t give you any PPO benefits anymore.

I’d also consider Tusker House could be later too. There are EMH at AK every single day of our trip so the PPO benefit is gone here too. Just something to consider.

I think Garden Grill, Akershus, and BOG all still have PPO benefits.

 

[KenHutch]

Its really up to you. I double checked and during our 2008 trip we did 20 TS meals and 2 were at Ohana and 18 were character meals.

 

[pixie08]

If you do change I would move Crystal Palace to lunch as it doesn’t give you any PPO benefits anymore.

I’d also consider Tusker House could be later too. There are EMH at AK every single day of our trip so the PPO benefit is gone here too. Just something to consider.

I think Garden Grill, Akershus, and BOG all still have PPO benefits.

Just out of curiosity why would BOG have PPO perks and not CP? I would assume getting into MK before opening would be the goal regardless of where you eat? Or does CP not do PPO ADR's anymore? I am not being snarky really asking for my own planning and knowledge lol!

 

[maxiesmom]

My family and I are headed to for our first trip in October of this year. My DS is 3 and my DD is 7. I have PPO ADRs for Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Garden Grill, then Be Our Guest all one day after the other. Am I being crazy thinking we can do these early mornings one after another? Should I aim for later breakfasts and just attempt to rope drop some of these days instead? Will we be rushing too much to enjoy the meals? I have so many questions!

I have found that I like later breakfasts. For one thing, you never know when you pre park opening breakfast may change to being right at park opening. Park hours often change. For another a later breakfast gives you some flexibility. If you want to get up early and hit the parks running, get some rides in, you can. If you want to sleep in, you can!

 

[sanapp]

We wouldn’t have any problems. We always stuck to our regular schedule which meant up early and fairly early to bed. That is how we are at home and my daughter always did better sticking to her normal schedule.

 

[gharter]

It really depends on the kids, for some its too much, others not a problem.
I would suggest not staying out too late the night before if you will be getting up early for your ADRs.
Also don't forget to build in down time for the kids to go back and go swimming, relax, etc.
If you will have a late night watching fireworks, I wouldn't have an early ADR the next morning.
enjoy!

 

[Pamlico]

Where are you staying? For PPO breakfasts (I try to get 8:05 or 8:10), we usually try to be at the bus stop by 6:45 at the latest. Can your family be up, ready and out the door that early? It isn't that it takes that long to get to the parks, but the buses are not as frequent that early in the morning.

We will be staying at the Contemporary so I’m not as concerned about MK as I am about the other parks...especially since I have no idea how this all really works.

If you do change I would move Crystal Palace to lunch as it doesn’t give you any PPO benefits anymore.

I’d also consider Tusker House could be later too. There are EMH at AK every single day of our trip so the PPO benefit is gone here too. Just something to consider.

I think Garden Grill, Akershus, and BOG all still have PPO benefits.

I wasn’t counting on CP for the PPO exactly. It seemed like a good place that the kids would enjoy and it would get us at the park for opening when we finish. But you make a very good point so maybe that would be worth moving.
I’m so worried about all the parks changing hours at the last minute making all these reservations moot. Fingers crossed!

 

[Pamlico]

I wish I could say my kids are great at waking up early...sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. I’m hoping the excitement of it all will provide motivation to get moving.
I can’t thank you all enough for all the advice!

 

[Nancyg56]

If you do change I would move Crystal Palace to lunch as it doesn’t give you any PPO benefits anymore.

I’d also consider Tusker House could be later too. There are EMH at AK every single day of our trip so the PPO benefit is gone here too. Just something to consider.

I think Garden Grill, Akershus, and BOG all still have PPO benefits.

I think I would agree with moving CP, keeping BOG, and moving Th unless your family is up and moving really early. This is an aggressive schedule, IMO and I cannot see the benefit.

I like Akershus PPO because it still is relatively quiet, and you can then hit some of the attractions. Garden Grill as well, you can get right to Soaring after breakfast.

I wish I could say my kids are great at waking up early...sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. I’m hoping the excitement of it all will provide motivation to get moving.
I can’t thank you all enough for all the advice!

I think you might be setting them up for a fail then. If you are relying on the excitement to get them going, then remember the excitement also makes them crash.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

When my DS was really young, he was up at the crack of dawn, so PPO breakfasts weren't an issue. If your kids don't, reliably, wake up early, I wouldn't count on this working. WDW can do strange things to people's normal schedules! You could certainly schedule them and see how it goes. If after the first or second day it doesn't look like it will work, I would just cancel the others the day before the ADR's so you aren't charged any fees.

Or, why not book lunches instead of breakfasts so you have the option of having a less harried morning?

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

After several trips, I have learned that my husband and kids are not early risers on vacation, especially as it gets later in the trip. I gave up on early breakfasts. I might do a late lunch - we love a 10:30ish reservation at a buffet. That allows us to catch both breakfast and lunch foods. We especially love this at tusker house.

I'll do a slightly earlier time, maybe 9:45 or 10 only if the restaurant is at our resort.

I wouldn't reserve breakfast every day. Give everyone a couple of chances to sleep in. If you really want one or two early breakfasts, I'd do them early in the trip.

 

[madlove4disney]

We have done it before and it has worked just fine.

FWIW, Garden Grill is my DGS's favorite, so I would keep that one! It is nice to not have to worry about the buffet as the food is served family style.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It all depends on the family.

My son woke up at 6 am every single day of his life until he was about 8 years old so this would've worked fine with him. Once DD came along no way. Even as an infant she loved her sleep and to sleep in. I do want to add even with taking him to WDW as a kid, after day 2-3 he would sleep in a bit later. Usually 7-8. I think the long active days start to take a toll the further into the trip you get. So your early risers may sleep a bit later.