I survived Disney w/ my 3,4 and 3.5 mo. old twins!

[tracyc]

We had a fabulous time! I am so glad that I read a lot on this board before we went bc I was able to use many of the tips. The parks were not very crowded. We only really needed a fast pass once. The longest waits were 15 min. We did MGM on Mon., MK on Tue., AK on Wed., Epcot on Wed. night and MK again on Thurs. It was very warm, but not sweltering. We ended up bringing the SBS stroller for the twins and also their Baby Bjorns. We rented strollers for the older boys in the parks. That is not the most economical option, but with all of the stuff we had to bring it was worth it to us not to have to bring another stroller in and out of the parks. Here is a brief overview of how it all went down ...

Sunday night, dinner at Chef Mickey's was great fun! The kids loved seeing the characters. The food was pretty good, but what was really great was the atmosphere. It was very accomodating to our large family. Afterwards we rode the monorail to the Poly where we went to the beach and watched the fireworks. My DH and I sat on the beach chairs with the twins and the boys were able to run around the beach and play while we waited for the fireworks.

Monday-we went to MGM I think we got there arounf 10am. We saw the Playhouse, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and the Muppet shows. That was plenty for us and we left about 2:30.
We had dinner at Cape May. Again, the cms were so accomadating and helpful.

Tuesday- was MK! We got there about 10 or so and headed for Fantasyland we rode Teacups right away(twice!), no wait! We also made it to Dumbo(3x!), Winnie, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, the carosel, Minnie and Mickey's houses and Goofy's Barnstormer. We took the WDW railroad around and my 4 yo just really loved it.

Wed.- was AK. We went to the Safari first and that was my favorite. The kiddos liked it too. We also did Bug's Life and it was really cute! We headed home and took naps and then went to Epcot. We had dinner at the Rose and Crown and then went to go and see the parade and Illuminations. If at all possible, try to see both bc they are so wonderful.

Thurs.- back to MK where we hit Tomorrowland My DH and I both rode SM bc there was NO wait. It was my first time and I just loved it! Buzz was awesome and they let us do a very easy parentswap bc the twins were sleeping in the stroller and we didn't want to wake them. I think that technically, you can only do parent swaps on rides where the kids can't ride bc of a height restriction, but most cms were helpful and let us do it on several rides if the twins were sleeping. My boys were thrilled to be able to ride some rides twice! We also hit Adventureland and rode Alladin, Jungle Cruise and Pirates. Around 5 my DH had to make me leave!

Friday was our recovery day and we drove home yesterday. We had an incredible family vacation. With a little bit of preplanning we were able to really enjoy things. We are already planning our next Disney escape! I would love to answer any questions.

Thanks for reading!
Tracy

 

[Ithastobe]

Sounds like you had a WONDERFUL time! I'l be travelling with 4 and 3 year old girls. We're going to be there for 3 full days. Since your older children are same age as mine, I have questions (if you don't mind)??

1. How did they nap? Do you sleep them together (mine play for hours when we do that).
2. Did you bring your car seats on the plane?
3. When were they ready for nap in the afternoon?
4. After nap, and you went back to the park, how late were you able to stay?
5. Were your kids receptive the the characters?
6. Anything they found 'scary'?
7. Did you find buffet worked better for kids, or off menu.
8. Did you eat at restaurants mostly, or bring food?

I realize you also have the twins, and that every child is different but I'm curious how things will go.

Sorry for so many questions....

(by the way, my sister in law has twin boys (age 2), and older boy (age 3) and I really admire you by taking this vacation with the kids. I know how hard it is with my two! She hasn't even thought about any type of vacation. Good for you!!!!!

 

[Kate-n-sam]

I'm so happy your trip worked out for you guys!
I know a lot of people were discouraging you to go and I was wondering this weekend how it went for you.....

 

[tracyc]

Thanks Kate! We did have an incredible trip. I think sometimes discouraging words can be the best motivator, but also they helped me approach the trip realistically.

I'll try to answer some of the questions too.

1. Mine play when we try to nap them together too. The place where we stayed had two bedrooms and in their bedroom were 2 doubles, so they each had their own bed. We would leave the park around 2 or so and nap them at the villa. We just policed them until they fell asleep, but if we had to we would have seperated them. The last day we just skipped the nap though!

2. We drove down, so the car seats on a plane weren't an issue. IMO though, car seats on a plane are unnessasary. I have just checked them in the past.

3. Usually by 2 or 3 they began to get whiny and obviously tired, but like I said the last day we stayed through naptime and we just took a break time in the shady courtyard at the Pirates of the Carribean area.

4.Only 1 day did we return, and that was to Epcot to eat dinner and watch the parade and fireworks. Most days they would nap until 5 or 6 and then we felt it was too late to try to make it back. MK was closing at 8pm last week. Epcot was open until after the parade and Illum. which lasted until around 10 I think.

5. They just LOVED the characters. It was so great to see them give Mickey and Minnie hugs! However we didn't do the autograph thing, we felt it was too time consuming and the kiddos didn't even notice that was going on. We never waited to see anyone, they just greeted them if there was no line. If there was, we tried to divert them! Girls may be different though...

6. No, not really. The Bug's Life show is a little scary but we prepared them beforehand. Same with the Muppet show. The major problem with the shows was just the sound ... so LOUD! We didn't ride Snow White bc there is a witch that can be scary. We told the boys about it and they opted not to go on it. Pirates can be a little scary too, but we just kept saying how it was all pretend and we would laugh and giggle to keep it light. They ended up really enjoying it.

7. All of the Buffets had kid areas. It was cheese pizza, chicken strips mac & cheese ... that kind of thing. They seemed to like it!

8. We did both. The first day at MGM we had pb&j's and some snacky tpe things and we brought our own drinks. At MK we did the same but we also got some ice cream while we were there. At AK we did the meal deal thing at the Flame Tree which I think is a great value. Then at MK the last day we ate at Casey's which was very affordable and we also got late afternoon pineapple floats in Adventureland that were delicious.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask any more questions. It is fun to answer and relive the trip!

Tracy

 

[Ithastobe]

Thanks for the ansa's tracyc! I know I had a lot of questions for you but it helps me see how it went for another person.

Thanks, and again, and I'll say it again... I do admire you. Sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is to provide a good example. You've shown your kids that you are capable, competant, and do fun stuff! The stuff good parents are made of!

 

[Ratpack]

Thanks for the inspiration. DW and I are hoping to make our trip next July with DS who will be 5 months and we had concerns. Sounds like you had a great ime with TWO children under 5 months. Hopefully we can do the same.

 

[MinnieGi]

Tracyc - so glad your trip went well!! I remember when you posted about your planned trip....so awesome to hear you now have wonderful memories of it!

 

[LoriZH]

I cannot believe you did that! I have twins and they didn't go 100 miles near Disney World until they were 3.5 YEARS and they were a handful then!

So glad you were brave enough to make the trip with the babies and had a GREAT time to boot! Wow, you are an inspiration, gee I feel like such a wimp now, lol!

Thanks for the mini report!

 

[tbickford]

Thanks for the inspiration. DH and I and our 3 year old twins (DS,DD) are scheduled for our trip this Thanksgiving. We will be staying for 11 nights. I have done much planning and we will be doing PS and one dinner show (hoop-dee-doo). Well, it sounds like you and your family had a great time. I am so excited and can't wait for November.

 

[SheriB]

I have to tell you I enjoyed your post. My kids are 15 and 11, and I didn't take them to WDW until they were 14 and 10 because I guess I had a phobia of bringing them when they were younger. I'm changing my thoughts on that reasoning now, having seen other families with small children. There is no other place in the world that caters so much to families and small children. And I think that if you keep a positive attitude and pace yourself, you can enjoy it in bits and pieces, no matter how old (or young, in your case) your kids are. It's all in your attitude (and forget what other people think). If you act stressed and bothered, your kids will sense that and act accordingly. I wish I had thought differently when my kids were younger. We could have enjoyed many more years of Disney magic when they were little. Hats off to you!

Sheri

 

[Pam Lau]

It's all in the attitude. If you think it will be a chore it will be. If your think positive and expect positive behavior that's what you will get. Of course a little flexibility helps. Have a game plan but if you have to deviate that's OK too. We have been travelling with our kids since they were 2 and 7 mo. We have never regretted taking them along. We even took them to Pleasure Island when they were 4 1/2 and 3.