Planning help needed

[CNDKangaroo]

We are heading off in the next couple of weeks and will be in the parks Tuesday June 5th- Friday June 9th. We have 5 children (12, 10, 8, 3 and 8 months) All the kids prefer tame rides except the 10 year old who is our wild child. Tuesday is a MM but if it is our first day in the parks wondering if we'd be better off using our MM on Thursday once the 3 year old has had some experience on some dark rides already. I was thinking that on the Tuesday one of us could ride Indie and Big Thunder Mountain with Wild Child and the other parent could check out the Mainstreet characters. If we ride first thing could we get Indie and Big Thunder done in under half an hour or is that unreasonable? Would you suggest using the MM on Tuesday or Thursday?

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I'd do the MM Tuesday. By the time Thursday rolls around, you'll have two full days done already and it may difficult getting your crew to the gates that early. Tuesday would be easier cause everyone will be so excited to go Good plan on hitting the thrilling rides first. I can see doing Indy and BTM first thing in about a half an hour. I'm not sure that characters are out front first thing in the AM, seems to me that they start showing up about an hour after opening.

If this is your MM plan, maybe the 10 + parent can do the thrills and the others can do Fantasyland with Peter Pan being first. After the two are done, go to the sword in the stone to wait for your group who will be checking that spot after each ride. You could meet up and finish out Fantasyland together. Or, after the two thrills, head to Tomorrowland and get FPs for Space and Star Tours, then meet at the Sword in the Stone.

 

[DLR29]

I would recommend using the MM on the Tuesday for the sole reason that you will be more energized and willing to wake up early towards the beginning of your trip. Doesn't mean that it's not possible to go to bed early on Wednesday and get up early on Thursday, but for previous experience (and others on here would agree), it's just not as easy to do later on in the vacation.

That being said, if you do decide to do MM on the first day (and it's the first exposure to dark rides for the 3yo), ride Peter Pan first!
a) It has lines of 30+ min starting 5 min after park opening, so you want to ride it as early as possible
b) It's the "nicest" of all of the dark rides. Nothing really scary or loud to freak the little one out.

Follow this with Dumbo and Alice (again, not a terribly scary dark ride). Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, and Snow White all can be a bit frightening for kids, but with the experience of Peter Pan and Alice under their belt, I don't think it would be terrible.

If you are one of the first ones in line for Indy on any particular morning, you still probably won't be able to ride both that and BTMRR in a half hour because it takes time to walk through the really long Indy line, you might have a short wait, then ride, then walk back out through the long exit, then walk over to BTMRR (which by now will have at least a 10-15 min line). It's definitely more doable to do these two in the first 45-60 min.