I know, I know, we're supposed to rise at the crack of dawn so we can arrive at the park at 7am for EMH hours. Then at lunch time go back to the hotel, rest, then go back out at night. I just don't know if that's the ideal schedule for us for an entire week. DD is generally mellow, but if she's sleep deprived, she gets crabby and generally hard to take. I also enjoy sleeping in when I can :) Here's what I planned out. Do you think it will let us see most of the sights? We are going during a peak time and staying at Pop

4-9 Disney Studios
Our flight gets in at 10:30 the night before, so my plan was to sleep in, and get to Disney Studios whenever we are ready and stay until Fantasmic

4-10 Epcot-Since we will be getting back in pretty late from Fantasmic, I wanted to sleep in again, and stay till Illuminations

4-11 1900 Park Fare (Late Breakfast) Grand Floridian 11:05 Perhaps a morning at the pool, then our Breakfast with Mary Poppins, then MK, stay for fireworks

4-12 Animal Kingdom-see how tired we are from fireworks.

4-13 DS EMH? Then MK or EP I plan to wrap it up at Animal Kingdom on the earlier side, then if we wanted to do more touring at DS, we could do EMH hours, then go to MK or EP, otherwise, we'll plan on just going to MK or EP, getting there at opening time.

4-14 MK EMH 11:45 Cinderella’s Royal Table. Then AK or DS. I plan to do EMH for our last day, and go back to Pop and rest after our lunch at Cinderella's castle.


Am I showing my lazy side? Touringplans.com has plans for late arrivals. Will we see a lot more by getting up early? Thanks again for all your help :-)

How old is your daughter?

LOL, I was just logging back in because I realized I didn't put DD's age. She is 6. But she doesn't seem to have as much "park stamina" as other kids her age do. At least that has been our experience going to local amusement parks.

You're going next week? I'd read some of the threads about the recent crowds.

I can be a grouch when I get overly tired, too - and something that's very 'vacationy' to me is taking a nap. If you want to maximize the attractions you get to experience, I really really recommend getting up early, taking a nap or swim, and then maybe not going so long into the evening. However, if seeing the fireworks/Fantasmic/Illuminations is higher on your list to experience than riding more rides, then sleep in a few mornings so you know you'll be able to do the 'late' nights.

Personally, I'd hit MK before your GF breakfast and get a few things in. You don't mention your daughter's age - but if she's 'Dumbo-target aged' you really really do need to be at the park at rope drop one day.

Personally, I think you would get to do a lot more if you got an early start. Your daughter is probably used to going to bed earlier than park close, and some of those days sound like they will be very long. I'm not an expert by any means, but I am a mom of two, and my youngest was 6 on our last trip. If she adjusts easily, then it may not be a problem, but if she is used to a routine, then I think you should try to go to the parks early, go back to the hotel for a rest, and then head back out. ;)

Drince88 was posting as I was typing my reply.

She gives excellent advice. :)

Because you are going at a very busy time of year, I think you must also consider how important it is too you to see and do particular attractions, and how long you are willing to wait in line. I'm thinking, for example, of Toy Story Midway Mania, at the Studios. We were down at President's Day weekend, which is a busy time, and got just a slightly late start one morning, just missing EMH, arriving at 9. The line was about an hour long, and the Fast Passes for the day were almost gone. After waiting in line for an hour, the ride broke down, and we had to leave. We did go back, later in the weekend, and waited in line for another hour, and got to ride it. Even fairly early that morning, the only fast pass times available were for later in the evening. It is a very cool attraction, and definitely worth the wait, but only you can decide if its worth it to be there right at opening, to dash to the ride, to wait less than an hour. There were also long lines at Soarin' at Epcot, but, by getting a fast pass early in the day, we could ride it with a reasonable wait, that afternoon. I think you can work in a couple of sleep-in mornings, but consider your activities for that day. If I wasn't going to enter a park until close to noon, that park would not be the MK, which will be wall-to-wall people; Epcot, OK, it's much more spread out and absorbs the crowds better. If there are really, really late hours at the MK, you could consider putting your child to bed at her normal time, getting her up close to midnight, then doing the park till closing. Last June, after having had a brief nap, my kids, including a 6 year old, managed to stay awake till 2AM at the MK, and for the last hour and a half or so, everything was practically a walk-on.

We were just there March 14 - March 21 and were very surprised by the HUGE crowds. We usually are not the earliest risers and had never been to an opening ceremony at the MK. I have to tell you, after the first day we got up every morning are were at whatever park by or right after opening. The first day we had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at the Poly and then headed to HS. It took forever to catch a bus and by the time we got there, the place was packed. We missed out on Toy Story Mania (which we had loved when we went in October '08). The next morning we went to MK for opening. Not only did we get to most of the rides in Tomorrowland before it got packed, but the opening ceremony was SO cute!! We all loved it!! We did do the afternoon thing back at the hotel, we actually swam everyday. We typically went back to MK at night because we stayed at the Poly and it was so easy to get there, and we found that in the last hour or two in the evenings that we were also able to ride a lot of rides. We avoided the parks that had evening EMH like the plague!! Good luck to you!!:)

Here's another vote for early mornings. Our first trip, my little ones were 18 months and 4 years old. It was so much easier to get them up early and we got so much more done. We have used that strategy every trip for every park. Epcot is the exceptions SOMETIMES. Both of mine are old enough to do Soarin' and Test Track now, so it is necessary to do those early.

When we hit MK early, we can usually ride all our favorites in Fantasy Land and Tomorrow Land by 11:00 a.m. Then we use Fastpass for the Mountains.

I would change my strategy if I were you, especially going those dates. With a 6 year old, I also wouldn't be ashamed to rent a stroller if she starts to wear down earlier than you expect.

Thanks for your input. I'm rethinking my late mornings plan. I'm not naturally a morning person, but after all, we're going to the happiest place on earth :)

My DD is the same age. We never made it there at rope drop, but I plan to at least once this year. It also wasn't busy when I went.

The ONE piece of advice I'd give you is to go to AK at opening. It doesn't stay open that late and if you go whenever you get up and eat lunch there, you won't have much time in the park. We barely made a dent in AK because of this. This year I scheduled a breakfast an hour before openin to ensure I'd be there early.

It its YOUR vacation... if you want to sleep in then do it! I recomend having a wake up call and put it on speaker phone so everyone can hear the gang calling you. We did that everyday...even the day we "slept in" and just set the call for later in the morning. It is a fantastic way to start the day. There are a couple of different recordings so it is fun to hear which one.

I have a feeling you daughter is going to set the tone for your trip. go with her schedule and then when she is happy, you will be too.

We don't usually get to the park until 10:30/11, but our youngest person is usually around 15. One vacation in July a few years back we didn't go to the parks until 3.

It doesn't hurt that we go often so we don't have the "we have to get everything done" attitude. We usually get everything done with the exception of Peter Pan. We probably could get it done, but we just don't feel like waiting.

You are going during Spring Break though. If you have the intentions of seeing a lot it looks like you might have to wake up on the earlier side.

It's fun to be up and at it early, but only a few times a vacation. Sleep makes you feel better and makes you happier. I like mixing in a bit of extra late-night hours with a few early morning hours. We don't really need the extra time, thanks to fastpasses, but it's fun to feel like you're special, being allowed into the park early. It's part of the perks from staying on-site; not doing it would be like only making one trip to the all-you-can-eat bar -- it's an OUTRAGE! :D

I am a morning person. One of the things I like to do on vacation (Disney, beach, mountains, wherever) is watch the sun come up.

When we stay @ CBR (like we are this time), I'll walk from our room to Old Port Royale every morning and sit @ one of the tables around the fountain watching the resort "wake up" until the food court opens, then I'll go in and get my coffee. Eventually I'll make it back to the room in time to join everybody else as we get dressed & out to the bus stop to go to the park before rope drop.

We have just found that being there early is simply the best way for us to get done what we want to.

It its YOUR vacation... if you want to sleep in then do it! I recomend having a wake up call and put it on speaker phone so everyone can hear the gang calling you. We did that everyday...even the day we "slept in" and just set the call for later in the morning. It is a fantastic way to start the day. There are a couple of different recordings so it is fun to hear which one.

I have a feeling you daughter is going to set the tone for your trip. go with her schedule and then when she is happy, you will be too.

I agree 100%. Last year, I had such grand plans and thoughts about the trip, but my DD really did set the tone and once there I kind of had to let go a little and go with the flow.

I'm hoping things will be a little smoother this year. I have done less planning AND she is getting herself prepared, even she knows what she is in for this time around.

MOST OF ALL....HAVE FUN!!!!!!!:D

early riser here, but you really gotta do what you feel. Like many others said, it's your vacation, don't make yourself work harder then you would in real life, and pay attention to your daughter, overspent kids can easily break a happy day.

....overspent kids can easily break a happy day.

I always feel bad for those kids. They have a meltdown mid afternoon crying about how tired they are and the parents are yelling at them that they are on vacation and there is no time to take a break.

Those are the people that usually don't get it when I say I go to WDW multiple times a year. Or they say "that isn't a vacation". If you act like that it isn't a vacation. I don't act like that so it is relaxing to me. :p

Fact - opening the parks you are going to get more done more quickly. Fact - opening and closing the parks you are going to get a cranky 6 year old. I think you've got to do what suits your own families needs but accept the reality of those choices then you should have a great time either way. With a six year old though I would note, if you do an early EMH at MK you can easily clear everything in Fantasyland, Toontown and still do Buzz, Splash and Big Thunder Mountain if you are clever with fast pass by 11am. This means you can retire for a big mid day nap, swim or both and go back for some other rides and the evening parade and fireworks. Also, if you want to ride Toy Story Mania at DHS all the posts and my limited experience would suggest you need to get there early. Generally I avoid early EMH because it just wipes you out for the next day with children, but I think they really make MK much easier to tour, especially with a little one in tow.

I know it won't help you on this trip because it's closed, but my group found out on our last trip that if you sit in the back rows of HOP, it's good nap conditions. 80% of our group fell asleep during the show and then were refreshed and ready for the rest of the day.

OK, I'll print early morning touring plans too, so we can decide what we are up to at the time. I also was thinking an advantage of early mornings would be to beat the heat.

we discussed the "value" of the EMH during both the morning and the afternoon before our trip this year. we consider ourselves pretty experienced with getting the most from our time in wdw, so i'll tell you what we have tried and what we feel worked best.

if a park has EMH in the morning AND that's the park you want to visit that day, be there for the rope drop. during that morning hour we have found that you can hit several of the attractions before the "real" lines begin to form for the day. if you will not make the rope drop, then SKIP THAT PARK FOR THE ENTIRE DAY! the EMH do bring more visitors to that park and once the lines begin to grow they tend to stay that way.

if a park has EMH in the evening and you happen to be there, i suggest you take advantage of the time as long as it's worth it. however, i would not go to a park in the evening just because there are EMH. the reason is that when the evening hours begin there are already lines, so anyone arriving just for the EHM will join the end of the line. after a short time, the "value" of the EHM starts to lessen as more visitors arrive.

in the past we have always planned to take advantage of as many EMH times as possible and things seemed to go well. last year we tried a few of them and avoided the others. one night last year we noticed an interesting trend while at AK and the EMH began. all day everest had a short wait no more than 30-40 minutes at the worst point and from 3-5 there was practically no wait. about 30 minutes into the EMH the wait had shot up to an hour+.

this year we avoided all EMH. we did arrive at the parks for rope drops in the mornings and that worked very well. we felt less "rushed" during the morning and used that extra hour to grab a bite to eat and get to the park. in the evening we stuck to a non-EMH park and enjoyed more relaxing time together. we took advantage of the other things to do in wdw. we ate at more resorts for dinners and spent time checking out the other resorts. basically we had more of a vacation and less of a "get things done" time this year. oddly enough we left feeling we had experienced more of the parks and had a better time than ever before.

one night last year we noticed an interesting trend while at AK and the EMH began. all day everest had a short wait no more than 30-40 minutes at the worst point and from 3-5 there was practically no wait. about 30 minutes into the EMH the wait had shot up to an hour+.
What time of year was this? That's a REALLY interesting data point.

Last year, we were there during spring break. EMH at the MK started at 7AM, and we were there. We got quite a few rides in, before our 9AM breakfast ressie, got one attraction in after that, and, by 10:30 AM it was really starting to get crowded. My parents, husband, and younger child left the park, and I stayed with my other child. By noon, walls of people were entering the park, and we just did stuff, like the People Mover, that are continuous loading, and don't attract so many crowds. We left about 1, with just waves of humanity still streaming into the parks. I could not imagine trying to get anything accomplished, anything to eat, just walking through the park was a challenge. In those types of crowd conditions, Epcot is a better bet, because it's more spread out. Last June we were back, and, although we are not late night people, ordinarily, we were with another family, and we ended up just getting to the MK at 11PM. They had a parade going on, and, after that, lots of people left. By midnight, the crowds were not bad. At 1AM, it was great. Our little ones were still standing, at 2AM, and got popcorn on the way out. They crashed on the bus ride back, of course, but, to my surprise, we had a great time. My lesson was, the extremes of EMH, early or late, are best, in terms of crowds, but, obviously, you don't want to do a late night followed by an early morning, or vice versa. Just be selective in what you want to do, be flexible, be prepared to park hop, be willing to go to less popular attractions, and enjoy.

Im totally with Greg In Tn on this one. I'am the same way. Except my husband is hell bent on sleeping because "IT'S HIS VACATION" and he wants to sleep in. So I have been known to get up by 6:30am get dressed grab breakfast and jump the bus to the parks without him. I have no problem with that although he gets real mad but hey I paid big bucks for this vacation and if he wants to sleep so much wait for casket time then he can sleep forever I tell him. I personally I think WDW has to much to do and see in a short time to sleep in until noon. You miss so much and the crowds are down in the early mornings. Good luck I think with a little planning your daughter will be fine.