MNSSHP with young kids

[aronny]

Anyone care to share your experience going to MNSSHP with young children? I’ve never been and we are going next month with our four year old. Staying at the Contemporary to be as close to the park as we can. I think the absolute latest she has ever stayed up was like 9:30, so we are just *hoping* the party amps her up enough that she makes it to fireworks.

Our current plan is to maybe check out Disney Springs in the morning, character “breakfast” at ‘Ohana (11:50 am - this will be our lunch), maybe just relax in the room for a couple of hours, and be lined up by 3/3:30 to hopefully be in the park by 4. I’m not sure what specifically we’ll do at the park when. Probably just bounce around to whatever rides have shortish queues and trick or treat until the first parade, maybe catch the stage show at some point. I see a lot of advice about watching the second parade or doing rides after the fireworks when the lines are shorter, but that’s not really feasible for us, so just hoping the lines aren’t too bad.

The last couple of times we went to DW we rope dropped and had a solid Genie+ strategy so this gives me a bit of anxiety, but excited for this new experience. I don’t really have specific questions other than anyone have tips on doing the party with young kids? And have I said anything here that already sounds like a terrible idea? Thanks in advance!

 

[SkyGuy]

I just went with my 3 yo nephew and 5 year old niece (and others - 8 total). We all went swimming in the morning, and they left around noon to get some food and go to the room to nap. We met up again at the party, and they made it without any breakdowns until midnight. I was shocked! There’s so much going on, and we didn’t have too many lines over 10 minutes, so they were almost constantly entertained. I was ready to leave at 11:00!

 

[Peaseblossom36]

Just went with my 2.5 year old. At home she has a pretty structured bed time routine and is in bed at 7. We planned our party day for early in the trip so she wouldn’t be too tired from everything yet. We planned to do a rest day but ended up taking her to Tri Circle D for a pony ride. Honestly, I wouldn’t have done this had I known how long transportation would take (we stayed at AKL). That said we had a late lunch, put her down for a nap around 2pm and let her sleep until she woke up (3:30ish). Then we got dressed and headed to the party.

She did great, honesty I was surprised how well she did. We’ve never let her stay up before so I wasn’t sure how it would go. I will say we didn’t do characters because we had seen the ones we wanted to see during the day, though we did bump into the Stepsisters and she talked with both of them. We also skipped trick or treat because those lines were so long. We rode a few rides, watched the first parade and watched the fire works. We did leave after the fireworks but that was mostly because we (parents) were tired and the heat was getting to us a bit. She was still in a great mood and really enjoyed it.

We really just went with the intention to have fun and had a great time.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

We just went a few weeks ago with my 2 year old and 4 year old. They loved it! I would suggest getting there at 3:30pm so you’re in MK at 4, and then if you end up leaving early it won’t feel too bad. My guys made it till 11pm (they both fell asleep in the stroller) and they were chill during the fireworks. They really loved the parade, I would highly recommend watching across the street from Pecos Bill’s. The parade starts there so it will finish 30 mins earlier than if you were watching from Main Street near the Emporium. When the parade ends you can follow the “the end” sign down the no-longer-closed street and grab a spot near the castle for fireworks. That’s what we did at least! 9:15pm Boo-to-You parade across from Pecos Bill’s, 10:15pm fireworks, and then 10:45pm Hocus Pocus spelltacular if your little one can make it that late

In the morning after Ohana, maybe consider a quick monorail ride to Basin White at the Grand Floridian. They have make your own candles (it’s like sand art but with scented wax) and my older kids love to make the candles and give them to their teachers at the holidays. On our recent trip even my 2 year old got into it, and the cast member was very patient about helping- and about the mess!