Coping with Jet Lag - trip to California and Mexico

[4PlusMum]

DD will be 4.

We arrive in LA at 7pm (3am UK time) and by the time we get through immigration and get to our hotel it will be 10pm (6am UK time). DD will get around 6 hours sleep on the plane (4pm take off, probaby asleep by 8pm, wake up an hour before landing) and I expect will sleep a good few hours when we arrive, but I am still expecting her to be up and ready to start her day at 4am and ready to crash by lunchtime.

Any suggestions on how to overcome the jetlag? I guess we will make her take a nap for the first couple of days when I haven't planned anything, but after that we want to make the most of Disneyland etc.

We used the waking up at 4 a.m thing to make the most of Disney. We were up and ready to go and amongst the first at the park. We just went to bed earlyish the first full day and felt ok by the second day. I also combined California with Mexico for my 40th, it's a great combo. Are you doing both on the same holiday?

Forgot to say we stayed in Anaheim, which is an hour from the airport and we reached our hotel about 2 hours after landing.

Thank Creamy. We are also planning to take advantage of the early mornings at Disney but there's early and there's early!

Yes, we are heading down to Cabo after a week at Newport Beach. We are commuting 30 mins from there to DL rather than staying in Anahein because there are better hotels and we want to be on the beach.

Any tips for getting the most out of DL? I suspect DD will be to tired to make fireworks at 9pm.

I'm going to DL next week. You can check the opening hours and firework times on their site, we are going on a day when there are no fireworks unfortunately.

If the park opens early on the day you are there it is apparently an indication it will be very busy.

Don't count on the number of hours sleep DD will get on the plane, unless you've done long haul with her before. Last trip we made DD3 was 5 and didn't sleep at all on the plane.

Make sure you have something to eat for the morning. We were staying in a hotel but breakfast wasn't until 8am and we were all awake by 4am and starving. We only had 2 twix bars between us. I don't think you can take food into the US so you'll have to buy once you arrive.

Thanks FF. Have a fabulous time.

We have flown long haul with DD before. Fortunately we are in business class and she is quite happy to get changed into PJs and go to bed at bedtime.

Fireworks are Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in low season.

We went to Cabo too, loved it there. It's great for whale watching. We didn't have a Disney plan, we just spent the day letting the boys choose where they wanted to go. The following day we went into the other theme park next door which is also good.
Have a great trip.

Thanks Creamy. You are way more relaxed that me. I bought a subscription to Touring Plans and have built the optimum itinerary based on our dates, predicted crowd levels etc. On our Magic Morning starting at 9am it covers 14 rides, the Frozen meet & greet and Mickey & the Magical Map all before lunch at 12.30pm! I'll report back on whether it works.

Where did you stay in Cabo? It looks fab as long as you can avoid the timeschare salesmen!

We're in the UK and just returned from Mexico (Tulum). The kids had no problem adjusting there but we've been back since Sat and they are still up til 10/11 (normal bedtime 8/9).

Mexico was so lovely. Have fun.