MK Toddler Touring Strategy?

[pixiedust33]

I'm planning a trip in early 2024 with my husband and 2.5 year old son and we're trying to make this trip as relaxing as it can be, so our plan is to do only half days at the parks to accommodate a nap from around 12-2pm at the hotel (could push it a bit later if needed) and recharge time for my crowd adverse husband. Currently booked at the Poly but debating a switch to the much-discounted AKL. Obviously would be much easier to return to MK from the Poly, but let's assume for the sake of this discussion that I'm adamant that it will only be a half day. The rest of the day will be at the pool, table service/character dining at the resorts, or other fun resort activities.

So my question is what's the better strategy with Genie + for Magic Kingdom? Do we go first thing in the morning with our extra 30 minutes for staying on site and maybe rope drop and try to churn through lightning lines? Or do we go AFTER his nap and I spend the morning stacking lightning lanes for the afternoon for post-2pm? What do you think would enable us to spend the least time waiting in crowded areas (important for the 2 year old but also my husband who also hates the concept of rope dropping) while getting the most rides? We only plan to do rides at MK that our son can do, so we won't be doing any of the "mountains" but I would like to get on some more popular rides like Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan (Dumbo, It's a Small World, Pirates, the speedway, and a parade viewing also on the list!) I guess I also have the same question for HS. AK seems like an easy answer that we don't need Genie+ at all and should do first thing, given our top priority there is the safari and we're skipping the Pandora rides.

I think I need to figure this out sooner rather than later, because it's going to impact what we do for ADRs. Any advice appreciated!

 

[sponica]

My kids were both up with the birds, so we'd go early. After the midday break they never wanted to go back to the parks.

 

[Mango7100]

So one trip with DD we reversed our normal routine and did parks in the late afternoon/evening. It was great. We woke up in the morning whenever and ate breakfast at the resort (QS or stuff in our room). You could do a character breakfast which are cheaper than dinner and more consistent in my opinion. We then did pool in the late morning and had our pick of loungers—families that arrived later after doing morning in the parks sometimes struggled to find spots, especially if looking for shade. After swim you could do nap when the mass influx comes to the pool. Head to parks after nap and clean up and a snack with all your LLs stacked! As far as Genie, you will have no issues getting the rides you want, most with return times that are pretty immediate. You actually may have more of an issue stacking because you are looking for return times in the afternoon with this plan. I would book PP first, maybe Jungle cruise next.

It kind of depends on if your kid is an early riser or not. If they are up at 5 am no matter what, then I would rope drop. If they will sleep in and can be up a bit later in the evening I would do the late afternoon

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It depends on your kid and their sleep schedule. I wouldn’t mess with a toddlers schedule too much. Is he an early riser? If so I would hit RD and then decide if you want to hit the park in the PM. The parks are very different at night. It’s just a different vibe. I would try to go back to at least MK at night.

My son was always an early riser but at WDW he would start sleeping in by day 3-4. The parks really tire you out.

 

[pixiedust33]

So one trip with DD we reversed our normal routine and did parks in the late afternoon/evening. It was great. We woke up in the morning whenever and ate breakfast at the resort (QS or stuff in our room). You could do a character breakfast which are cheaper than dinner and more consistent in my opinion. We then did pool in the late morning and had our pick of loungers—families that arrived later after doing morning in the parks sometimes struggled to find spots, especially if looking for shade. After swim you could do nap when the mass influx comes to the pool. Head to parks after nap and clean up and a snack with all your LLs stacked! As far as Genie, you will have no issues getting the rides you want, most with return times that are pretty immediate. You actually may have more of an issue stacking because you are looking for return times in the afternoon with this plan. I would book PP first, maybe Jungle cruise next.

It kind of depends on if your kid is an early riser or not. If they are up at 5 am no matter what, then I would rope drop. If they will sleep in and can be up a bit later in the evening I would do the late afternoon

This does paint an appealing picture! At home, my kid has a pretty regimented 7:30pm bedtime and he will sleep until at least 6:30 or even 7am. It's a bit more of a crapshoot when we're traveling if I can't get the room fully blacked out like it is at home (I have many tricks up my sleeve to make that happen though! haha). He's a light sleeper too, so if we get up and start getting ready, he would certainly get up. That's why I was thinking afternoons in the park might actually work better, to avoid the stressful morning dash out the door for rope drop, but I haven't seen many people who talk about doing that so was curious if anyone had experience with making it work. Sounds like it did work out well for you guys!

 

[pixiedust33]

It depends on your kid and their sleep schedule. I wouldn’t mess with a toddlers schedule too much. Is he an early riser? If so I would hit RD and then decide if you want to hit the park in the PM. The parks are very different at night. It’s just a different vibe. I would try to go back to at least MK at night.

My son was always an early riser but at WDW he would start sleeping in by day 3-4. The parks really tire you out.

Yes totally on the same page! I want to preserve his normal sleep schedule to make this as pleasant as possible for everyone. I'm not trying to squeeze every last bit out of the parks. So we also wouldn't be staying late in the parks either - the options would basically be either park open until about noon, or 2pm until like 6pm - 7pm max.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Yes totally on the same page! I want to preserve his normal sleep schedule to make this as pleasant as possible for everyone. I'm not trying to squeeze every last bit out of the parks. So we also wouldn't be staying late in the parks either - the options would basically be either park open until about noon, or 2pm until like 6pm - 7pm max.

We go for 9-10 days and mix up our days. We RD each park once and do late starts the rest of the days. Some of those late start days we would go to the pool before the parks. One day we did a character breakfast. Starting late and stacking G+ works great. At MK you will probably be able to get immediate times along with stacking if, like PP stated, start with PP and JC.

You are going in with a go with the flow mindset so either plan will work for you.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

This does paint an appealing picture! At home, my kid has a pretty regimented 7:30pm bedtime and he will sleep until at least 6:30 or even 7am. It's a bit more of a crapshoot when we're traveling if I can't get the room fully blacked out like it is at home (I have many tricks up my sleeve to make that happen though! haha). He's a light sleeper too, so if we get up and start getting ready, he would certainly get up. That's why I was thinking afternoons in the park might actually work better, to avoid the stressful morning dash out the door for rope drop, but I haven't seen many people who talk about doing that so was curious if anyone had experience with making it work. Sounds like it did work out well for you guys!

If he is a light sleeper hopefully he sleeps with a white noise machine or you are in cabin of some kind. Can have a lot of hallway noise after late park closing. Blacking out room won't block out noise.

 

[ttintagel]

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that even the best-laid plan will probably have to be changed on the fly depending on how your kid is doing in the moment. I've seen so many parents so determined to stick to their plan and get every penny of their money's worth that their little kids appeared to be absolutely miserable. And the afternoon I spent at Celebrations Hospital, the ER waiting room was packed wall-to-wall with little kids whose parents didn't notice they were getting sick from the heat and the sun until it was bad enough to require medical attention.

 

[Anthony1971]

Not every kid is the same…. Mine never made it past 6pm. We would go in the morning eat a TS in the afternoon and a few hours later back to the resort. Best advice I can say is no matter what don’t go to the parks everyday. Every other works well for us at least and always did with kids even in the teens… they still get cranky.

 

[ArielDreams]

Took my son when he was just under 2 and then just over 3. Both times the afternoon nap was crucial! He is a very early riser so rope drop was no problem for us. Even with an afternoon nap, he still wasn’t at his best at night so I wouldn’t get a late start. And of course, his fav parts were the hotel and pool anyway!

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

Don’t forget to factor in weather and sunrise/sunset for that time of year.

If the sun sets at 6:20, would you still want to be in the park and see it at night or will you want your toddler winding down in the room?

Mornings will be cooler than afternoons. So using the pool in the morning early enough to be in the room by 12 for a nap might be tough.

Maybe try a day each way.

 

[pixiedust33]

Don’t forget to factor in weather and sunrise/sunset for that time of year.

If the sun sets at 6:20, would you still want to be in the park and see it at night or will you want your toddler winding down in the room?

Mornings will be cooler than afternoons. So using the pool in the morning early enough to be in the room by 12 for a nap might be tough.

Maybe try a day each way.

The weather being pool appropriate is a solid point and something I was thinking about too. We’re going end of Feb into the first couple days of March, which is my preferred time to do, and the weather is always a bit of a toss up - sometimes I’m in shorts and a tshirt and sometimes pants and a hoodie. So having some non-park, non-pool activities in my back pocket will be key. AKL would definitely be the better option for non pool activities resort stuff so maybe that’s a point in favor of switching from the Poly.

 

[pixiedust33]

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that even the best-laid plan will probably have to be changed on the fly depending on how your kid is doing in the moment. I've seen so many parents so determined to stick to their plan and get every penny of their money's worth that their little kids appeared to be absolutely miserable. And the afternoon I spent at Celebrations Hospital, the ER waiting room was packed wall-to-wall with little kids whose parents didn't notice they were getting sick from the heat and the sun until it was bad enough to require medical attention.

Oh that’s terrible! Yeah, this trip is all about making our son happy and doing whatever he wants to do. I don’t have a personal agenda and am definitely not the type to be like “we’ll get our moneys worth even if we’re miserable!” I’m fine if we spend only a few hours in the park on our days going, I just want them to be as pleasant as possible so trying to figure out the strategy that is best for minimizing lines and crowds.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We used to visit WDW in an extended family group for years, so there was always a toddler in our group. Generally, that didn't keep us from having marathon days. We always used strollers, and the toddlers generally napped in the stroller. We used that time to do larger rides, but that was mostly without booking rides. (though I understand if that idea doesn't appeal to you.)

I started going to WDW as a small child myself, and we had 1 day, so it was just never an option to do a half day. It was just MK then. So maybe that is why it did not occur to us to do half days later. W

Another option is to split up. Those who want to nap can nap, and those who want to keep going can keep going, or start earlier, or stay out later. We just agreed in advance no hard feelings. So sometimes we have split up but often it is an adult saying their feet hurt or something.

On challenge was sometimes at dining we'd be seated late. Like an hour late. I don't think that is as much of an issue now, but more than once we had toddlers napping during a meal because the meal started over an hour late.

In your case, the weather is going to be one of your bigger factors. In the AM it tends to be cool, but you might also get rain, or cold evenings you want to dodge. the middle of the day tends to be the best weather, but you won't know until the last minute what you are going to get.

 

[pixiedust33]

In your case, the weather is going to be one of your bigger factors. In the AM it tends to be cool, but you might also get rain, or cold evenings you want to dodge. the middle of the day tends to be the best weather, but you won't know until the last minute what you are going to get.

Thanks for your thoughts! I will say that all three of us are extremely heat-adverse so this is my preferred time of year to go, even though I know it's too cold for many! It's usually mid fifties to mid seventies, which is perfect in my book, but I also don't usually spend a ton of the time at the pool so it is a valid point that it may be too cool in the mornings to rely on the pool as an easy option to entertain the toddler and I may need to come up with some non-water based/non-park activities....

 

[aronny]

I would go to the parks in the morning and take advantage of low crowds during early entry. You’ll likely be up anyway and with the rides you are prioritizing it’s pretty easy to go from lightning lane to lightning lane without having to stack for later in the day. I also just always found my child as a toddler was less prone to meltdowns in the morning.

 

[aronny]

I would go to the parks in the morning and take advantage of low crowds during early entry. You’ll likely be up anyway and with the rides you are prioritizing it’s pretty easy to go from lightning lane to lightning lane without having to stack for later in the day. I also just always found my child as a toddler was less prone to meltdowns in the morning.

I also want to add - we rope drop, but not in the true sense of like rushing to the park an hour+ before EE and trying to be first in line. That sounds kind of miserable to me. Instead we tend to roll in a few minutes before EE begins. We’re always toward the back of the EE crowd but have always been able to walk on Peter Pan anyway.

 

[pixiedust33]

I also want to add - we rope drop, but not in the true sense of like rushing to the park an hour+ before EE and trying to be first in line. That sounds kind of miserable to me. Instead we tend to roll in a few minutes before EE begins. We’re always toward the back of the EE crowd but have always been able to walk on Peter Pan anyway.

This is great feedback! I had been wondering about this as I also have no interest standing in line for an hour to avoid standing in lines so my hope was to arrive at the start of early entry and not wait too long to get in. We’re not trying to do any of the coasters and I’m a bit indifferent on Peter Pan so I’m hoping we can knock out a few of the lower priority rides for most people.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

For our August trip this year, we stayed seven nights at Poly and two at Animal Kingdom-Kidani. The Poly provided easier access for transportation, but it still took time with three kids. Depending on where your room at the Poly is, you may have noise from the boats. When it came to the pools, we actually spent more time at the Oasis pool due to it being much less crowded.

One thing we emphasized during our trip was doing attractions in a specific land at Magic Kingdom, rather than zig-zagging across the park based on MDE stated wait times. Our oldest was eligible for DAS, so that helped tremendously with this strategy.

My youngest is three and he handled being in the parks every day like a champ. But we rarely did RD or stay until close. We took it slow. We knew we had plenty of days in each park and we would be back next year.

I definitely recommend Tom Sawyer Island. I took my youngest on our last day in MK and we were basically the only ones there. It's shaded, there's a small playground and some caves, along with water fountains. It might be a good way for your son and crowd-adverse husband to recharge without leaving the park.