taking 4 children in august 1st time

[amf1025]

I am taking my four children to disney for the first time:mickey:

dd 14
dd11
ds 5
dd4

we are staying at the port orleans riverside

free dining

anyother advice
thanks

[carley]

welcome to intercot... id make your dining reservations as soon as you can as the table service ones get pretty busy

id assign each of your older children to one of the smaller ones so u get an extra set of eyes on each of the little ones

and most of all.... HAVE FUN:mickey:

[wdw_bound]

My best suggestion is to get a guidebook (Birnbaums for kids is great) and have everyone make a list of their top 2 or three attractions at each park. There will be some duplication, but thats ok. Then set up a plan to do these attractions first, using fastpass whenever possible (for example, if Buzz and Space Mtn are the top vote getters in MK, go directly to one, get a FP and do standby for the other). Make sure everyone understands that their top choice (or 2) are a family priority, and that anything else is icing on the cake. I have found from experience that this stops the wailing at the end of the day "But we did everything Susie wanted, but nothing I wanted," or "X is my favorite, and we didn't get to it."

Secondly, though I know it's hard with older kids, take advantage of the morning EMH and/or get to park before opening. The parks are much less crowded, and you can get a lot done, and then be heading back to the resort for pooltime rest in the early afternoon when everyone else is getting hot and cranky. We usually go back the resort around 1 or 2 and stay there until it's time for our dinner ADRs.

Have a great trip!:mickey:

[DestinationWDW]

I agree, with the above. Also if you are using the fee dining, that is usually in Aug - Sept if memory serves me right. We did this once, the parks are busy and the weather is hot and humid. Each park has extra magic hours, go to the park that opens 1 hour early on that day, eat lunch and then go back to your room. Put the little ones down for a nap and let your older ones go to the pool. Once refreshed eat diner and enjoy the 3 extra magic hours at park that’s open late. This type of arrangement will keep you out of the park during the hottest time of the day. You'll be refreshed for the long even and enjoy the night hours without the sun. Also POR has small refrig. We buy water and freeze them. This works great on the hot days. And believe me people get nasty when there hot and sticky. Another good mention is you get in 1 hour early to the water parks if you are going there, arrive 30 minute early, you can do each water park in about 2 hours. We did this and it worked out great for us, we have 3 kids 12, 9, 4. My DW took the youngest and I went with the older ones. All you need to do is agree on a meet-me place and time. Once the park opens to the general public, u will be waiting in long lines. This worked great for us. The problem is the bus service; because they are trying to get guest to the park u may have to wait for one to take you back. I recommend driving to the water parks if possible.

Since you have the free dining, you can reserve you dining 180 days + 10 day out from your arrival date. I would strongly recommend that you book your dining at that mark.

One other suggestion, it is expensive but, we always rent a double stroller, this is good because you always know where the liitle ones are at all times. Just don't leave your belongings on the stroller while ur not around. We had a bag stollen once, nothing valueble thank goodness.
And above all HAVE FUN

[kathiep]

Try not to rush from attraction to attraction.

Everything within the parks is amazing to the little ones.

Take some time just to let them soak in the little things as well.

[dinahvixen]

Take your time; know that you're not going to see everything with kids that age. That was my flaw last trip, we tried to pack in too much and didn't get enough time to enjoy POR, which was fabulous and lush and relaxing.

I also needed to give my dd4 time to soak in the place before we rushed her on rides - we moved too fast for her.

I was also surprised at how much dd6 enjoyed EPCOT. I didn't think she would, so we skipped a lot of the World Showcase, but they have crafts and native speakers and little things that she really enjoyed, so we definitely could have spent more time there than we did.

Afternoon swim breaks were wonderful for us, especially in Sept when crowds were lower.

We also park hopped too much. Took too much time out of enjoying a resort. Next time we won't do that as much.

Restaurants were great b/c the service is fast and they have enough ambiance to engage the little ones, even the fancy places.

Enjoy the little things; my dd loved the Belle story time by Fantasy land and the people balancing on ladders in EPCOT, and feeding the birds EVERYWHERE WE WENT.

[NewmanFamily6]

We have four as well. Ours are 11, 7, and twins 5. Being that you have two that are older at least they can ride the roller coasters and bigger rides together. My younger ones spent what seemed like forever just digging at the bone yard in AK. If nothing else please do make your restaraunt reservations because being a party of six would be mighty hard to walk up on. Oh and defnitely take them to the water parks as the little section for the smaller kids is great:thumbsup:

[MarkC]

Just know that it will be very hot and tempers can flare for all ages during this type of weather. While it may be tempting for you to try and control where and when to go to the parks, let the kids swim as much as they want. It will keep them cool and refreshed when you do hit the parks. Just try and do the theme parks in the early am (if the kids can get up) and evening when it's cooler. Let them swim in the afternoon. Find indoor rides if you are out and about in the heat. Just be patient and you'll have a great time. Just don't try to do everything at once. Mark

[Janmac]

Welcome to Intercot! You'll find lots of friendly folks and good info here.

As was mentioned by wdw_bound, get a guidebook. Birnbaum's is good for kids, since it has lots of photos and general overviews of what you'll be seeing.

Also I recommend, for yourself or whomever will be doing more nuts and bolts planning, the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. This guide has detailed attraction information, with ratings for each age group - toddler through senior citizens. If you'd rather not spend money on guidebooks, I have checked guidebooks out of the public library.

The attraction information is so important - that and knowing your kids' preferences. Visiting Disney World can create lasting memories, sometimes not always positive. I know of one six year old who loves Tower of Terror but will NOT ride Haunted Mansion because she was frightened of it, at an earlier age. It's not only rides, as our youngest granddaughter was scared to tears at It's Tough to be a Bug, at 9 years old. She's in high school now and will still not go see that 3D show.

As has been mentioned here, the very best thing you can do is be at the parks in the morning a few minutes before opening. Arrive about 8:45 for a 9 am park opening. One trip we tried later touring, letting the teens sleep in. After that trip they were glad to be at the parks at rope drop the next trip.

When our grandkids were 5 and 6, we rented strollers for evening touring, even after taking an afternoon break. We didn't rent the strollers for morning touring, tho a stroller helps carry water bottles, etc.

We had visited Disney World many many times before we started bringing young kids. We had never really noticed the characters before, even tho the characters are not just for little kids. Teens might think it's lame, but I've seen everyone interact with the characters. Our grandson will be a senior on our next trip and he will be hugging the characters at the character breakfasts right along with his 4 year old cousin. Rest assured he would not hug a character outside of Disney World! :D

Rather than stand in line at a park for Mickey's or Goofy's hugs, we schedule a couple of our Table Service meals to be character meals. You can look at the Info Central tab at the top of the page for a link to Character meal information. Many of the meals are buffets which seem to work well with kids - when they see food they realize they are hungry after all.

Enjoy!

Jan