Out the door early tips!

Chrislovesdisney

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 16, 2017
We plan on getting to each park before rd. It’s me, DH, dd3 and dd6. What are your best morning time saving and organizational strategies to get a family out the door super early and super fast?!
 
Get yourself ready first. Wake up DH and kids, have DH get ready while you feed the kids in the room. Then sunblock, dress and do bathroom stuff with the kids while DH eats breakfast. Pack your park bag the night before. Have kids clothes laid out the night before with magic bands, sunglasses, hats, etc.
 
Pack park bag and stroller and lay out clothes, shoes, magic bands before bed.
Apply sunscreen and eat breakfast like power bars or squeeze yogurt at bus stop or park entrance.

Double check everyone has their magic band before leaving the room. That is the one item that will definitely throw a wrench in any RD plan if you have to return to the room or get in line at guest relations.
 
Pack your park bag the night before.

Shower kids the night before.

Lay out outfits the night before.

Eat a quick in room breakfast or eat something portable on the way to the bus.

Apply sun tan lotion at the bus stop or waiting for the park to open.
This! Everything ready the night before - potty/dress and out the door. Eat and lotion on the move :)
 


Have absolutely everything ready the night before....right down to knowing where everybody's shoes are. :) (My one son is forever searching for his shoes, no matter how obvious a place we set up to keep them.)

Be sure to charge anything that needs charging overnight. Perhaps stick a post-it on your packed bag reminding you to grab the charged items, if you think you might forget them in the morning rush. :)

Pack a few snacks in your bag in case in their excitement, someone doesn't eat enough breakfast in the room and starts feeling hungry before you even get into the park.

If anyone in the family is likely to be cranky if they don't get enough sleep, then try to let them be the last person to wake up in the morning if possible. (Doesn't really work as well if that person is a parent, though! ;) :D )
 
Pack outfits in ziplocs for the kids, labeled for each day. That way there's no fuss in the evening getting stuff out, everything can just be grabbed and laid out for the morning and done by any member of the family. Pack your park bag the night before. We like to get ourselves up and ready before we wake the kids up if they're still sleeping, that way we can both move them through without worrying about ourselves.
 
Wow, I love that ziploc idea, especially with my girls who love bows and need to match their princess undies with which princess character apparel they are wearing that day!
 
Pack your park bag the night before.

Shower kids the night before.

Lay out outfits the night before.

Eat a quick in room breakfast or eat something portable on the way to the bus.

Apply sun tan lotion at the bus stop or waiting for the park to open.
All of this, except we pack our breakfast the night before in our park bag and then eat while waiting at rope drop... helps the kids to kill the time and speeds up things trying to get out the door. And yes we do ziplocks too... they just take that days ziplock to the bathroom and get changed etc.
 
Last edited:
I plan to have my oldest sleep in his clothes since he'll be wearing mesh/ soccer shorts and tshirts everyday. He is the hardest to get moving in the morning. My youngest I still help at 3, and he sleeps in a pull up, so he will sleep in his shirt for the next day and get shorts after potty. If we are planning on RD (4 or 5 days of 8), we will have a packed-the-night-before breakfast (bagel, ham/cheese, HB eggs, granola, fruit, milk box, etc) that they can eat sitting in the (double!) stroller and have for a snack whenever. I will do one sunscreen application at the hotel to make sure I don't miss any spots, though. I also plan to shower myself at night and braid my hair wet to get my own self out the door early (I am NOT a morning person)!
 
Just remember that you are not supposed to have open containers of food or drink on any Disney buses! I know so many people ignore this, but some people don't clean up after themselves and leave a mess behind on the bus, or spill on other people, etc. So don't count that time on the bus as breakfast time :)
 
You've obviously not met my 6 year old. :)
He has some executive function challenges and this easily saves him 10 minutes!
You think when they get older it gets better. Like 10 minutes before we have to get out the door in the morning and ds8 is like a slug! This is basically every morning.
 
Pack outfits in ziplocs for the kids, labeled for each day. That way there's no fuss in the evening getting stuff out, everything can just be grabbed and laid out for the morning and done by any member of the family. Pack your park bag the night before. We like to get ourselves up and ready before we wake the kids up if they're still sleeping, that way we can both move them through without worrying about ourselves.

I plan on doing that for myself.
 
Pack your park bag the night before.

Shower kids the night before.

Lay out outfits the night before.

Eat a quick in room breakfast or eat something portable on the way to the bus.

Apply sun tan lotion at the bus stop or waiting for the park to open.


All of this! As much as you can do the evening before, do.


Pack outfits in ziplocs for the kids, labeled for each day. That way there's no fuss in the evening getting stuff out, everything can just be grabbed and laid out for the morning and done by any member of the family. Pack your park bag the night before. We like to get ourselves up and ready before we wake the kids up if they're still sleeping, that way we can both move them through without worrying about ourselves.

I packed Kady's outfits in zip lock and found that it was a huge time saver. Pick one out to water and one to toss inteh backpack in case of spills, etc, and you are good to go.

Not sure you're saving more than ten seconds to actually put on a clean shirt in the morning- this made me laugh though!

My youngest was that kid who always did what he could the night before, so he would sometimes wear his clothes to bed. LOL! He also refused to get under the covers becuase he wanted the bed made in the morning. He is 40 now and is still organizing all he can before he goes to bed. Thank goodness he does nto go to bed fully dressed any longer! He would look like an I made bed! LOL!
 
All these logistics tips...

PLUS we get the kids pumped up the night before telling them the stuff we're going to do the next day.

In the morning, we get them ready while reminding them of the stuff they're looking forward to the most. "If we get there faster, you might be able to ride Barnstormer twice!"

(Also worked after naptime..."we don't wait to keep the Beast waiting!")
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top