18 month & 7 year old

[Tigger mad]

Can you lovely people give me examples of how you’ve planned your days with young children? Last time we only had our eldest , nearly 5 then and she lasted really well in the parks so took our cue from her. This time however I’m not sure how to plan 🤦

[optip]

hi there

one of the best things we did (1, 5, 6 year old) was to bring a double-buggie (stroller). Our 1 year old was happy to sleep in the buggie and the 5 and 6 year old could use it to rest whenever they wanted - or sleep sometimes.

We went for 2 weeks, hardly took a break and had a great time with no grumpiness that I can remember this included MK from morning to fireworks without going back to the hotel on a number of occasions.

for us, the double-buggie was an insurance policy that allowed us to plan long days without needing to plan breaks back to the hotel for naps, etc. We were lucky that our 1yo and 5yo were happy to take naps while being surrounded by the excitement of Disney

We planned in relaxing rides & shows, etc to pace ourselves (carrousel of progress, mickeys philharmonic, etc) and to ensure the 1yo could get out of the buggie and come on the ride with us.

We also travelled at a time that was relatively quiet - and this helped a lot. Our last day in MK had spring break crowds, and it was a very different experience to the quiet days we were there.

we also used the buggie to store our stuff like nappy bag, snacks, jackets, etc. We (mostly) avoided leaving valuables - but regularly abandoned the buggie/stroller (correctly parked in a designated area ) to go on rides/for food, etc. without having anything taken from it or even being worried about it. It kinda became a mobile base of operations. the cup holders were handy too

we booked a good stroller from one of the 3rd party rental places that delivered to our hotel rather than using the in-park ones.

we are planning another trip next year where the kids will be aged 3, 7, 8.. we'll get a buggie again for the 3yo, although I doubt he'll be as happy to stay in it as much this time.

the other thing that helped a lot was using TouringPlans service to plan days. We 'configured' this for the slowest and least amount of walking and this helped with our day by day planning a lot - as well as prioritising Fastpass, etc.

Make sure to take advantage of rider swap too - your 7yo will be able to rider a lot of rides twice with 1 Fastpass & ride with both parents