Tips for Disney with big age gap

shan981

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
We will be traveling in November with our three boys: 10, almost 2, almost 2. I still have quite a while before I need to book FP+, but I started putting together a rough plan so I can book dining next week. Now that I started thinking about what FP+ I will want at each park, I am starting to worry that it will be hard to keep everyone happy. For example, at MK, I want to get 7DMT, Splash, and BTMR for my oldest, and it makes sense to get them early in the day so that we can keep getting more, right? But that will be a big time span where the littles won't be riding anything.

Does anyone have any tips for how you manage when you have kids who aren't able to do the same things at the parks? The obvious solution I guess is to split up, but I hope to spend time together as much as possible, and to be honest, I find my twins nearly impossible to manage on my own in a wide open public place like a theme park. :tongue:
 
Frankly, you will have to split up at times as the little ones can't ride the height restricted rides. You can't even bring them in the queue, so either the 10 yr old goes through the queue alone and rides alone or if there's a second adult, one goes with the 10 yr old and the other stays with the twins.

Get fastpass for the 10 yo and one adult (assuming there's 2 adults total) for the things he wants to ride. Then get rider swap at each of these rides so the second adult can ride later with the 10 yo.
Get fastpass for the other adult for rides the little ones can go on.

Pooh's a great FP to get while the others ride 7DMT as they're right by each other, the little ones would like it, and the 10yo probably wouldn't care to ride it. With Splash and BTM, schedule them back to back. Have them go to ride the first one near the end of the FP window, then go straight on to the second ride. Meanwhile, the other adult can play with the twins in the play area near Splash or get FP for Pirates and Magic Carpets or Peter Pan and iasw or HM. They're a bit of a distance, but probably the closest rides. Or take them to Tom Sawyer Island and let them burn some energy. Or get a snack.

Will you be taking breaks at the hotel with the twins? Maybe one adult could stay with the 10 yo and ride some things/return to the park earlier while the twins are napping. Or if the twins are napping in the stroller, try to use that time for the 10 yo to ride the big rides. I know you can't really plan in advance with scheduling FP for that, but it might help.

Make sure you have lots of snacks and drinks for the twins. We took DS when he was just shy of 2 and he did not want to stay sitting in the stroller unless he had a snack or drink (or was sleeping). DD7 had much different ride interests so we did have to split up a lot, but we spent a lot of quality family time together as well. Try to spread things out throughout the day if possible with 30 mins- hour of being separate (ride 1-2 rides), then a couple hrs together. Good luck!
 
Frankly, you will have to split up at times as the little ones can't ride the height restricted rides. You can't even bring them in the queue, so either the 10 yr old goes through the queue alone and rides alone or if there's a second adult, one goes with the 10 yr old and the other stays with the twins.

Get fastpass for the 10 yo and one adult (assuming there's 2 adults total) for the things he wants to ride. Then get rider swap at each of these rides so the second adult can ride later with the 10 yo.
Get fastpass for the other adult for rides the little ones can go on.

Pooh's a great FP to get while the others ride 7DMT as they're right by each other, the little ones would like it, and the 10yo probably wouldn't care to ride it. With Splash and BTM, schedule them back to back. Have them go to ride the first one near the end of the FP window, then go straight on to the second ride. Meanwhile, the other adult can play with the twins in the play area near Splash or get FP for Pirates and Magic Carpets or Peter Pan and iasw or HM. They're a bit of a distance, but probably the closest rides. Or take them to Tom Sawyer Island and let them burn some energy. Or get a snack.

Will you be taking breaks at the hotel with the twins? Maybe one adult could stay with the 10 yo and ride some things/return to the park earlier while the twins are napping. Or if the twins are napping in the stroller, try to use that time for the 10 yo to ride the big rides. I know you can't really plan in advance with scheduling FP for that, but it might help.

Make sure you have lots of snacks and drinks for the twins. We took DS when he was just shy of 2 and he did not want to stay sitting in the stroller unless he had a snack or drink (or was sleeping). DD7 had much different ride interests so we did have to split up a lot, but we spent a lot of quality family time together as well. Try to spread things out throughout the day if possible with 30 mins- hour of being separate (ride 1-2 rides), then a couple hrs together. Good luck!

Thank you, this is all great advice and exactly what I was looking for! I should have been clearer, but yes there will be two adults (me and DH) so splitting up some will be possible. We are staying at CR, so will probably go back to the room for naps for the twins on MK days at least because it will be easy to get back. I'm not sure if they will nap in the stroller or not, but if they will then we may try that on other park days. We also have hoppers so we have some flexibility, so if the twins go to bed early, one adult can take DS10 back out to a park later in the evening.
 
I have a 9 year old and almost two year old. We did what @LongLiveRafiki stated above at most parks. I looked at park maps and found rides nearby what my older one wanted to do that my toddler could do with one of the parents. We would all go to the ride that my husband and son had the FP+ for (ex. Space Mtn). We would get the rider switch. They need to see you with the littles, so make sure you stay nearby & don't just jet off to your own FP initially. Once they give dad & older child rider swap ticket I would head off, park stroller, take little on the smaller ride with my FP+. In this case, we booked Buzz, since it is relatively close. Tea Cups are pretty close, etc. Then, we would have dad & older child meet at the ride I was doing with my little guy, since I had the stroller, etc. At that point we decided if we had enough time for me to ride with the older one right away using the rider switch or if it would have to wait until we got done with our next fast passes. To make it as easy as possible and cut down on walking I would try to book all of the rides kind of close by or at least moving in sequence throughout the park. Try not to book rides far apart back to back because that will just create tons of walking and back & forth. Good luck. My little one has been 4 times already, and my older one has gone 7 times, so I am pretty well versed in doing this, but man I cannot wait for the days where we can all ride together, and I don't have to try & work this juggling act out every single trip. My little one is little though, so I have several more years of doing this haha :)
 
There is a playground at the Mission Space exit in EPCOT, the one mentioned above near Splash Mt. in MK, the dumbo ride in MK (we never get a FP+ for this ride, because that skips the playground which is just as much fun for my kids), Animal Kingdom has the big playground in Dinoland. These are some of the good places for waiting while big kids get to ride rides. Snacks are the other thing that help with only 1 parent. There is also a kids comfort station in each park (a place for quiet nursing, changing diapers, and a little room with tv for tots), but these places aren't always close to anything else.
 
I have a 9 year old and almost two year old. We did what @LongLiveRafiki stated above at most parks. I looked at park maps and found rides nearby what my older one wanted to do that my toddler could do with one of the parents. We would all go to the ride that my husband and son had the FP+ for (ex. Space Mtn). We would get the rider switch. They need to see you with the littles, so make sure you stay nearby & don't just jet off to your own FP initially. Once they give dad & older child rider swap ticket I would head off, park stroller, take little on the smaller ride with my FP+. In this case, we booked Buzz, since it is relatively close. Tea Cups are pretty close, etc. Then, we would have dad & older child meet at the ride I was doing with my little guy, since I had the stroller, etc. At that point we decided if we had enough time for me to ride with the older one right away using the rider switch or if it would have to wait until we got done with our next fast passes. To make it as easy as possible and cut down on walking I would try to book all of the rides kind of close by or at least moving in sequence throughout the park. Try not to book rides far apart back to back because that will just create tons of walking and back & forth. Good luck. My little one has been 4 times already, and my older one has gone 7 times, so I am pretty well versed in doing this, but man I cannot wait for the days where we can all ride together, and I don't have to try & work this juggling act out every single trip. My little one is little though, so I have several more years of doing this haha :)

Thank you! I was wondering about the bolded part, so that's good to know. I'm going to start a list of toddler-friendly attractions/areas near the "big" stuff. I agree, I'm looking forward to the days of being able to all enjoy the same things. Our next trip after this one won't be until the twins' 5th birthday, so things should be a little easier then. Maybe?? Haha.
 
There is a playground at the Mission Space exit in EPCOT, the one mentioned above near Splash Mt. in MK, the dumbo ride in MK (we never get a FP+ for this ride, because that skips the playground which is just as much fun for my kids), Animal Kingdom has the big playground in Dinoland. These are some of the good places for waiting while big kids get to ride rides. Snacks are the other thing that help with only 1 parent. There is also a kids comfort station in each park (a place for quiet nursing, changing diapers, and a little room with tv for tots), but these places aren't always close to anything else.

Good to know about the comfort stations! I will look into those locations, because a "little room" sounds like it might be needed at times, lol. Enclosed spaces are my friend with toddler twins who don't understand safety and boundaries yet. Hoping it will be a little better as they will be 6 months older when we go, but not counting on it.
 


Keep in mind those FP’s will be an hour apart, so you can easily do other rides in between on standby for the littles. That is exactly what our june trip looks like and what every day trip to DL looks like (we are AP’s) We don’t split up as a family (13,10,2). We all stay together, get the same FP’s and ride rides together. We are there for a family vacation, not to ride as many rides as possible. ;-) 2yo gets to play silly games and run around while big kids are on rides she can’t ride, but we balance out the schedule and spread those out.

There have been reports of CM’s only giving RS to guests with FP if the rest of the part enters with FP. I emailed them and asked and they confirmed this is technically the policy. So I would not count on getting a RS if you don’t also have a FP.
 

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