RTFirefly, I don’t know who spit in your Cheerios yesterday but this was so uncalled for that I came back to note it. To imply that the OP’s six-year-old is intellectually challenged about calendars is just plain mean. Keep the snark out of this thread.
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I’m not an expert in how children comprehend a calendar, but when it comes to something like this I imagine that a six-year-old might understand how the calendar works, but that understanding goes out the window when it comes to an eagerly anticipated event six months away.
Muldoonthief, drop me a line if there’s anything I can help with for your trip. Look out for discounts which may be coming later this week, too. Not sure about the travel dates, but Disney should announce something.
We’ve spent two days at Magic Kingdom now and still haven’t done more than half of it. Magic Kingdom, by itself, is one of the biggest and most attraction-dense theme parks in the world; I really do not believe you could do it in one day and enjoy yourself.
Nine days to take in all of Disney seems reasonable to me. To be honest I wouldn’t want to do them all in a row, but that’s just me.
(I also was underwhelmed by Animal Kingdom - but Magic Kingdom is just unbelievably awesome.)
Ah, but that would be immediately recognizable, and the horror of the ride doesn’t sink in much for kids. The Tea Cups have the whole spinning, disorienting motion sickness thing going for them which will impede their ascent into consciousness and recognition of where they are. With any luck, they can be in the park a good half hour or more before the kids realize where they are and go nuts.
Different people like different parks and different things.
Since my kids were little, I’ve spent something like 50 days at Disney - not a lot by some people’s standards, but more than many. We haven’t seen the nighttime MK parade in all those trips. A combination of “not making time” and “not in the right place” and “not a huge parade family.” Its always on our “this time, we’ll do it!” list. I also want to take my kids fishing at Port Orleans Riverside (probably never will, they’ve outgrown it), do a Segwey tour (my husband did), do a backstage tour, have a grown up dinner at Victoria and Alberts, golf…lots of things we’ve “never done” - in 50 days.
I like AK. I like going back on the trails and watching the tigers splash and the bats and the meerkats. But it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The one we could skip is Hollywood Studios. Not our cup of tea.
Last trip my kids were getting older. MK was dull and “been there” - but the waterparks. Waterparks rock when you are eleven and twelve. We spent two days at the waterparks and a day at DisneyQuest.
I was worried you were going to load them up on icecream, hand them a cold soda while in line, & turn ‘The Tea Cups’ into ‘The Splat-O-Tiller’, all from the safety of a picnic bench 2 or 3 rides away.
“What are you doing here, Mr Chimera?” “I’m waiting for the ‘Fast-Pass’ time.”
Update - we told the kids yesterday, just about 8 weeks before the trip. They were very, very excited. I was tackled (and I’m very impressed by their coordination in hitting me high and low simultaneously), and my wife was smothered in kisses. They’ve been on the Disney website nonstop since, checking out all the rides and starting lists of what they want to see. The oldest (11) is actually more excited about Universal & the Harry Potter stuff, which isn’t surprising. The only trouble came when they started fighting over who gets to sit where on the plane ride down - apparently the window seat with me next to them is the ultimate location.
The youngest (7), had some trouble getting to sleep last night - she came to our room multiple times. Hopefully that will settle down in a day or two.
Liar. You said the youngest was 6! 7 makes a HUGE difference :D. Clearly a 7 year old should have been told precisely 8.42 weeks before the trip.
Have fun on your vacation. I just happened to book my Disney vacation plans this week as well. Oh the planning – how I love you so. And I don’t even have children.
However, feel free to FANTASIZE about it. Keeps you sane, yanno?
When we first went to Disney World, we told the kids in advance, but what we did NOT tell them was that we were taking the Auto Train.
Dweezil, at that age, was UTTERLY BESOTTED with any kind of train. We did not tell them in advance, because if we had, we would have literally heard nothing else, 24/7, until the day of departure.
So, instead, we told 'em we were driving to Florida. And not in the big minivan, but in Daddy’s Civic, because gas was expensive. So they saw us loading up the car.
Then we called them to the kitchen table, where we had placed the train tickets, and suggested that they look at what was on the table (yes, we did have the video camera running :D).
Obviously it’s a moot point for the OP, and not quite the same situation.
I voted a week before the trip. That gives the kids time to get excited and we can look forward to the trip.
I see the popular vote is one month. That’s ok too. I wouldn’t say anything to young kids several months ahead of time. That seems like an eternity for a seven year old.
When I was 6 my parents took us out for drive, and my Dad asked one of us kids to grab his winter coat from the boot of the station wagon. Under it we discovered suitcases, and 5 minutes later we pulled up to the airport terminal for a secret winter trip to Disneyworld.
I’m 35 and we still talk about what an awesome surprise it was - I say leave it as long as you can.
Just one more update, since I saw fit in my earlier posts to expect poor behavior from my own kids. I’ve been extremely impressed by their patience leading up to the trip. They’re excited, but there have been no out of control “I want to go now NOW NOW” incidents that we’ve been dreading. They’re full of questions, but also doing lots of research on their own - getting them their own guidebook has worked wonders. But with only 4 days to go, even the youngest isn’t giving us any trouble - every morning she gets up, announces how many days are left until the trip, then has a perfectly normal day. Their behavior has just gotten them some extra $$ in their souvenir budget.
Awesome! I’m happy that it’s working so well for you and your kids. The anticipation is a huge part of the pleasure of the trip. I have said a number of times that my favorite thing to do is to plan a trip to Disney World. My second favorite thing is to go to Disney World.
I’m planning my next trip right now, in fact, and having a marvelous time. Your girls are going to be over the moon when they get there!
9 days … if you’re in the Magic Kingdom one morning and not dashing about to the next attraction, position yourself to be on the first raft over to Tom Sawyer Island. Look for a paintbrush dipped in whitewash and turn it in to the Cast Member for a special reward.
Sorry to resurrect a zombie here, but I’ve got yet another update.
We’re going to Disney & Universal again, later this week. I booked the trip way back in August, and based on their previous behavior, and the fact that a big chunk of the Christmas budget was redirected to the vacation, we told the kids (now 12, 10, & 8) at Christmas. They’ve been great since then (trip wise at least), but over the weekend the 10 year old told me “Dad, you should have waited until March to tell us about the trip. The past 4 months have been too stressful waiting for vacation.”
