First day with little ones

[gogs]

The first day of our holiday is our family's favourite!

On the day of arrival we tend to let the kids go in the pool until late, this a) keeps them up & b) means they'll lie in a little bit the next day.
We used to go out for a meal, but everyone used to end up half asleep at the table!

First day proper we get up usually quite early (between 4.30-6am ) & for some reason we always head to walmart.
We grab things like bottles of water which we chuck in the freezer to save some cash in the parks & munchies for the room.
Then the kids & I head over to the part of walmart where they have costumes/masks etc (is this only there at Halloween?) & try on the most outrageous masks we can find. We then creep around the shop looking for my wife so we can jump out from behind the aisle & surprise her!
When we went a couple of weeks ago my kids & I had these massive babies head masks on, which were a lot of fun if not really creepy.
What's really funny is we always bump into loads of other holidaymakers doing the exact same thing!

Once we've done that we then head of somewhere nice for brekkie (Keke's diner being the family favourite) & we then go & 'do something'.

The do something part is usually a trip to the beach/boat trip or something like that.

We then head back to the hotel for a swim or something & are usually quite tired but what's nice is that we've all usually had a lovely relaxing day without having to rush anywhere.

When we've previously done the parks on the first day usually one or more of our group ends up tired & grumpy, that's why we try to ease ourselves into the holiday a bit now.

Hope this helps

[Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by disney332

Ah its yr GS ! (Got me thinking that did)

You will have a absolute blast, its sometimes the smallest things that you dont plan for that make forever memories... enjoy and keep safe

Disney332

See more...

Haha

That’s why I’m calling my trip reports

The generation game... gives us a twirl Anthea!


I’ll be 60, GS 4 DD 36. Three generations go Max at Disney

Thanks everyone for your Input

[Excited83]

When we took our kids for the first time (age 4 and 2) we did MK EMH on our first full day. They were up early and I was so excited to show them the magic! They lasted much longer than I expected and we headed back after the parade. We then had a really lazy day the following day

Going again next year and kids will be 8, 5 and 1. Going to do the same thing again.

[Powlay]

We have a family tradition, we always go to Magic Kingdom, get in aim to the castle turn left and go on pirates. That way the smallest member of our crew (2 this coming visit) will have a ride on something straight away.

That tradition is under threat though with the need for the biggest crew members to get on some of the better rides first. Seven dwarfs mine may be the first stop for the bigger ones this visit whilst myself, wife and 2 year old grand child will do pirates and keep the tradition going.

Usually then its round to the Aladdin carpets, with a quick pre stop for the swiss family robinson tree house. Then through onto splash and thunder mountains and a family trip onto haunted mansion.

Depending on times the bigger guests will ride the mountains again using the parent toddler switch system and we will walk to small world, peter pan, pooh etc.

At some point its food and the speedway, splash and soak and space mountain for the bigger ones.

Whilst they do that its usually a meet somewhere and off i go for some more small world. I love granddad duties. There will be a sleep in the stroller for the littlest one, more fast passes will be ordered and depending on times maybe a little pirates adventure or a toddler switch on splash and thunder mountains walk on dependant.

We cram it all in.

[Guest]

If funding stretches suitably a work colleague suggested 2 things to ease the way.

A) if you can, even if pooped, head to walmatbonthe first night with some small spends and let kids go wild in the cheap Disney section. This help cut down the can I can I all the way through the parks. (we do this now and eldest is no longer a teenager).

B) very first day get the earliest possible seating at chef Mickey's for breakfast. It can be as early at 7 -7:30. It will feel ridiculous now, but the kids will be up at 5 anyway with jet lag so having clothes ready the night before and levering them into car isn't so bad. Personally I think the food is so so and v expensive. But you do get to meet the characters, have a cuddle and a photo. The look on their faces is worth it, and it eases the character pressure for the rest of the trip.

Then wander over to M K for first entry and go round park for a bit. Then head back for play n swim by about 1pm.

We did this the first time and it was a really helpful approach. Did it when the youngest had her first trip, but it was slightly blunted by the fact the older two knew what was coming. So shhhh.

[Izzy1984]

Take this day slow would be my advice and have no dining reservations - use quick service.

We took my DD (2 years 9 months) in September and she had a massive meltdown in the afternoon at Animal Kingdom and then we went to Disney Springs for dinner - reservation at Boathouse. It was a nightmare - so much so that my husband said that if her behaviour didn't improve he was getting the next flight home!

She was amazing the rest of the trip and we have a brillant holiday - we simply made the mistake of doing too much on the first day and she was so tired by the afternoon (after being up from around 6) that she cracked.

We laugh about it now and I am sure the day she and her daddy fell out at disney springs will be mentioned many a time a she gets older.