Touring Plans? to Plan or not to Plan with a 2 yr old

Brenda Wood

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 19, 2017
We go to WDW every couple years, but this is our first time with 2 kids (2&6) and I feel like if I don't have a good plan we won't get to do much. But if I over plan, my LO will probably just throw everything off on day 1. I have our FP and dining reservations, but that's about it. Is the Touringplans.com site worth it? Does it really save time to have a detailed plan? Or will it all be for nothing when my 2 yr old has a meltdown?

So - overall thoughts on touringplans.com and also 2 yr olds in the park when it comes to scheduling?

Thanks All!
 
Aha! We just had a trip with a 2 year old and an 8month old. We used Touring plans and it was well worth it! Easily the best $15 we spent! At the top of the plan generator, you can adjust your walking speed... Touring Plans tools let you build in breaks just like attractions (a must for a toddler) and also give you an opportunity to get a sense of how long things will actually take including travel times, waiting in line, and even down to time estimates for rider swapping. We didn't always stick exactly to our plan but used them like guidelines (think pirates code) It gave us a good sense of how long waits would be at different times of day. It also forced us to prioritize what was a must do vs a bonus. You know your child best, but our kids are definitely morning and evening friendly and get cranky in the afternoons and at night. This let us make the most of the times that worked best for our family.

If you play with different rides at different times or use their optimize feature (basically ask the computer to pick the best times for your selected attractions), you really can cut down on your wait times tremendously. To give you an idea: On Dec 23rd with our crew in tow we rode Peter Pan, Teacups, Dumbo, Pooh, Thunder Mtn, Splash Mtn, 7DMT, Under the Sea, Space Mtn, Taking a long Breakfast snack break , Watched the Christmas Parade at the front of the rope, and ate lunch at B.O.G. and were done by 1PM... This was a massive crowd day and obviously that includes rider swapping for the Big Kid Rides. We would have done more but unfortunately my wife got a really nasty 24hr virus that cut our day short...(obviously the unexpected happens with little kids, but we knocked out all of our must do's in about 5 hours)
 
Mine will be 3 and 6 and I plan to use them. When my oldest was 2.5 and we went with a large crew, we used touring plans and only waited on one line the whole trip.
 
Aha! We just had a trip with a 2 year old and an 8month old. We used Touring plans and it was well worth it! Easily the best $15 we spent! At the top of the plan generator, you can adjust your walking speed... Touring Plans tools let you build in breaks just like attractions (a must for a toddler) and also give you an opportunity to get a sense of how long things will actually take including travel times, waiting in line, and even down to time estimates for rider swapping. We didn't always stick exactly to our plan but used them like guidelines (think pirates code) It gave us a good sense of how long waits would be at different times of day. It also forced us to prioritize what was a must do vs a bonus. You know your child best, but our kids are definitely morning and evening friendly and get cranky in the afternoons and at night. This let us make the most of the times that worked best for our family.

If you play with different rides at different times or use their optimize feature (basically ask the computer to pick the best times for your selected attractions), you really can cut down on your wait times tremendously. To give you an idea: On Dec 23rd with our crew in tow we rode Peter Pan, Teacups, Dumbo, Pooh, Thunder Mtn, Splash Mtn, 7DMT, Under the Sea, Space Mtn, Taking a long Breakfast snack break , Watched the Christmas Parade at the front of the rope, and ate lunch at B.O.G. and were done by 1PM... This was a massive crowd day and obviously that includes rider swapping for the Big Kid Rides. We would have done more but unfortunately my wife got a really nasty 24hr virus that cut our day short...(obviously the unexpected happens with little kids, but we knocked out all of our must do's in about 5 hours)
Thank you so much! I think we will try it to get a good idea of how much we think we can do. What were the 2 yr olds favorite rides/activities?
 
I've planned three trips now with touring plans... first trip was 1 & 4, second was 3 & 6, most recently was 1 & 4 & 7. I DEFINITELY recommend it. It really gives you a realistic idea of what you can get done, so you can prioritize and not stress out! We throw in everything we want to do, make our walking speed as slow as possible, and let it sort things out. Then I play around with the order to try to reduce kiddo frustration (a 2 year old may not understand why you're walking past a ride just because you have a FP for it later...it also helps you plan starting with "easy" rides first, then dark rides, then more exciting rides).

Rider swap is another great thing - it is hard to get a good sense of how long everything will take, but that really helps.

Having a loose plan and adapting to conditions helps take the frustration out.

Favorites for 1 yr olds - Tiki Room, Small World, Dumbo (& Dumbo playground - pro tip, they allow food & beverage, so a nice way for a parent break!).
Favorites for 3 yr olds - he was tall enough for bigger rides, so he loved Barnstormer and 7DMT.
 
We go to WDW every couple years, but this is our first time with 2 kids (2&6) and I feel like if I don't have a good plan we won't get to do much. But if I over plan, my LO will probably just throw everything off on day 1. I have our FP and dining reservations, but that's about it. Is the Touringplans.com site worth it? Does it really save time to have a detailed plan? Or will it all be for nothing when my 2 yr old has a meltdown?

So - overall thoughts on touringplans.com and also 2 yr olds in the park when it comes to scheduling?

Thanks All!
It's more worth it than I even realized when I paid.

My general philosophy re plans and vacations is to make thorough plans but hold them lightly. With toddlers in the mix, I'd say plan for the unplanned--literally. You can create zillions of hypothetical plans on touringplans, e.g. "The one where we need to go back to the room and change everyone an hour in," "The one where Mommy needs a nap," "The one where TestTrack is broken." Once you're in the park day-of you can re-organize the attractions you want and re-optimize with current wait times.
 
I get a lot of bang for the price out of touring plan's subscription.
First goody was an efficient plan to tour AK which is a pretty big park.
Easier access to the reservation finder was also of use.
 


I’ve done multiple trips with 1 or 2 year olds. A few thoughts

1. It always goes better with a plan
2. Things will disrupt your plan
3. A good plan will accommodate your disruptions.
4. My methodology with younger kids is to figure out your must dos. Get them done earlier in the day if possible. And then I plan lesser attractions between the bigger attractions that I will skip if we get behind schedule.
5. I like touring plans as it helps me see how long of a wait lines May be in the middle of a day for some attractions. Is it accurate? Not especially. But it’s an estimate. And you can change up the order of attractions and see what happens.
 
Having a plan and adapting to it is a lot easier than not having one. Just be flexible. Our 2 year old was the best traveler of all and he is the most difficult child we have. He didn’t ask for anything in any gift shop. He was truly blown away by the whole experience of Disney. The only time he threw a fit was when we made him ride 7DMT (he is very tall) so we could all do it together (favorite picture of the trip by far). So he surprised us all and was a trooper for sure. We put him in the stroller and I carried him when in lines a lot but of all the memories (about to start tearing up over here) holding him in lines and having him hug on me are what I remember most now. Taking a 10 month old this year with a 4 and 7 year old so it’ll be a little more challenging.
 

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