What methods do you all have in place to ensure that you don't get overwhelmed? How do you all get a much needed break for yourself, while balancing your child's needs?
i've been a single father since my daughter was 2. She's now 20 and we've had a lot of trips to disney as father and daughter only over the years and it's sort of our tradition now. I've never been to disney when there was an adult to help...
I never really thought about what I did but here is what I ended up doing over the years..
- Look for activities without parents in the resorts. One year, for example, it was $10 and she made a bird house at animal kingdom lodge and it was a no parents allowed craft session. I got 2 hours off
She still has the bird house and a very fond I did it myself at disney memory for her.
- Don't forget there is child care services if you want to hire them. I never used them but in hind sight, I wish I did for laundry time or similar.
- The nighttime movies at every resort while still out with your kids is a way for them to sit and be still, possibly even fall asleep. It's not exactly you time but it's not entertain them time either.
- Disney is a great way to teach compromise with. Make a must see, skip, ok to miss list. plan your time with a balance of some for you, some for them. Also pool time vs rest time is a good one.
- Water breaks is a great way to disguise I just need to sit for awhile. Get them in the habit that snack and water time is something separate from waiting in line. Of course if they ask for water in line that's different.
- Use the write in I'm celebrating button to have CMs help entertain them while your not on a ride or watching a show.
- That ride you hate is important to them. There is compromise and there is too many no's. you'll have to figure out the balance.
- Be happy they want to talk to you, it may not be that way their entire life. Enjoy their company when resting, it's not annoying to have a discussion with them no matter how much you just want quiet.
Here is some watch out fors:
- It's really easy to get carried away and spoil. If you hit every show, every ride, every thing they love on every trip it will always have to be that way.
- With above, it'll really tear into your wallet when the spoiling has a cost to it. Use a camera to take pictures of things every gift shop and let them pick 1 at the end of the trip and get that for them. It'll make the walk through the shop after the ride pleasant, they will be rushing around with a camera instead of you having to say no to eveything and will slow them down a little so you don't have to run off to something else. Also use the photos to plan some disney related holiday/birthday gifts. It'll help you learn their style.
- Be even more flexible and do even less than normal. If they aren't in the mood for another park, that's your down morning and it might change later. It doesn't have to fit your plan and they will be happier and in turn it'll be easier for you.
Edited to add:
If it fits your budget, park hopper and extra days is a great way to spread it out. do the parks in a series of half days, some are mornings, some are evenings. It might sound like the nap/rest in the middle but you can as a group decide if the same park is where you want to see the evening activities after the nap, or change where you go in the morning or if you go anywhere in the morning. This has probably helped me the most, it wasn't get it all done in 1 day overloaded and everyone was ok with coming back another day. You can use DTD or resorts for lunch when your doing an evening at a park, or dinner when not. it's a great way to see more but do less. My daughter always fell asleep fast and never woke up early. Letting her sleep and be rested helped the day.
) one day, second son wanted to go on Star Tours over and over 
etc We've had so much fun over there that I'm planning a third trip for 2016, depending on the AU$ 
