Talk to me about taking mid-day breaks with toddlers

Moushe · Feb 8, 2016

I have a 3yo and a 15mo. For our last few visits our strategy has been to RD, have kids nap in stroller if they got sleepy and stay in the park till about 5-6pm, then we would go back to the hotel for baths and an early bed time. The next day same thing. Its worked out ok since their naps are all over the place, and by the end of the day they are so exhausted they go right to bed after their baths, giving dh and I some time to relax before bed.

Our next trip is scheduled for the last week of August - 8 nights, 7 days; and DH and I have decided to take it easier and try to go with the flow as much as we can this trip instead of being on such a strict schedule like our last trips have been. Our new strategy will have us doing only QS meals (except for maybe a Chef Mickey's ADR on our arrival day), and doing FP for the morning, but not necessarily being there at RD. since we are there for so long we are leaning towards mornings at a park and then leaving after lunch to spend the afternoon swimming at the hotel pool. We may or may not do a visit to LegoLand.

I am wondering if we should also consider taking a mid-day break for swimming/naps (assuming they will actually nap) and then go back to a park and maybe get to see some fireworks and night parades.

If you do mid-day breaks with your small kids can you tell me what your days look like? What tips/advice can you offer? (For this trip our kids will 3.5 and 21 months. if that makes a difference)

Thanks in advance!

kclough09 · Feb 8, 2016

I would also love to hear input on this topic. We are taking our 5 year old and 22 month old to Disney in June. We plan to split the day. Morning at a park, back to hotel for QS lunch and nap for the little one while the older one relaxes or swims and then back to the park til 8/9ish. Not sure how well it will work and if we will just be riding on a bus all day running from place to place!

pigletgirl · Feb 8, 2016

On our last trip, DD1 was just about 2.5 and it was essential that we have afternoon downtime frankly because I love the evening shows and fireworks. So our typical day was this:

Rope Drop/wait standby on our must do's (Jungle Cruise, etc)/Lunch about 11am/wrapping up FP's by 1:30-2pm. Get to resort by 2:30ish, and have quiet time till 5-530pm. Dinner ADR about 6, with whatever evening entertainment we chose to see.

Folks will say it takes time to go back in the afternoons but really, its our sanity we're saving so we don't mind the transportation time it takes to get from point A to B. Also, we love to swim so sometimes we'll do that too. Just depends what we've got going.

quagmire0 · Feb 8, 2016

We've gone on two trips - 2011 with DD4 and DS18MO and 2013 with DD6, DS3, and DD1. All of our days were pretty much the same:

Up early for breakfast (most of them in the condo, a couple in the park so we'd be in there early)
Rope drop (or in the park ahead of time for breakfast)
11ish - back to condo for an easy lunch. Kids who still take naps, took naps, older ones played quietly.
2:30ish - back to the park
5:30/6:00 - dinner on-site
7:00 - we'd usually head back to the condo. We did catch ELP the first trip and Illuminations the second trip.

I've found that the breaks were not only good for the kids, but for the adults as well. On the few days that we didn't take a break, even I got crabby. But overall, by using those mid-day breaks, making rope drop, using some loose touring plans and child swap, we hardly waited for anything at all - which helps immensely with younger kids.

Mousemommy1 · Feb 8, 2016

What we do (for our big kids and toddler - and us, too!) is we get to the parks "early" for us (we are not rope drop people)...but we get there by 9. We will have our FP's lined up for the morning and potentially a TS lunch. We will be out of the park by 1 and head back to the resort. From 1 - 5 we will have nap/swim time. We head back to the park at night.

It is the only way we can all stay sane during our trips. We HAVE to schedule that mid-day break, plus my kids are happy that they get a definite pool time.

jvz82 · Feb 8, 2016

1-3 pm is a nice break time. The parks start to get busier after lunch, and it's hot and kids are cranky. It's nice to go back to your hotel for a couple hours. Some people can nap, some people can swim. You definitely want to get there early in the morning though to make the morning totally worth it. We didn't do it last time because we were there for such a limited time and the kids were definitely feeling it!

ajwolfe · Feb 8, 2016

I think this is going to depend so much on your kids. My boys were always the kind of toddler that could nap in the stroller (if they even needed to) and still be okay with staying until fireworks, etc. In fact we never really considered skipping those things just to get the kids in bed earlier. But we have never been huge rope droppers, we may get into the parks by 8:30 or 9 depending on the evening before and are perfectly fine with that. We always joke about how on one trip my first ds was about 2.5 and made it for like 13 hours in the parks before he finally crashed on the tram heading back to the car. You know your kids best and know what they can handle; but you might give them the chance to surprise you too!!

DocDCT · Feb 8, 2016

Midday breaks are one of the most discussed topic in every Disney forum. In my experience, it is impossible to find a strategy that works for everyone, because kids (and parents) are so different. Some can sleep in the stroller, some can't, some need a long nap, some can go open to close... My suggestions are:
1. Don't assume that a kid who doesn't nap at home will not nap at Disney. They get much more tired in the parks.
2. Swimming is refreshing and relaxing, but it is not a way to rest (it is actually an intense activity), so if the kids are physically tired the pool won't help.
3. If they can nap in the stroller, it is probably better than going back to the room.

caliope · Feb 8, 2016

The previous posters make some great points and it's very true that every family is different. We've taken two trips in the last 9 months and here were our strategies:

1. April 2015, we stayed at POR with our then 2 year old...we also had a car...so, we did QS breakfast and then hit the parks at rope drop until around 1:00 or 2:00, with our son napping in his stroller if he fell asleep; back to resort for afternoon quiet time (once we tried to force a nap and that was a disaster!); then a different park for evening/dinner. We were back in our room no later than 8:00 each day. The only TS meal we did this trip was Crystal Palace. But, it was also F&G at Epcot so we snacked a LOT!

3. January/February 2016, we stayed at Poly with our now 3 year old...no car...we did a combo of early TS ADRs (Kona, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickeys) and QS (walked to GF because the chaos in Captain Cooks drove my DH crazy), then got to parks by 9:00 or so; stayed until around 12:30, then back to the Poly for pool/boat time. We had ADRs for TS dinner each night ('Ohana, Via Napoli, Biergarten, Hoop Dee Doo, California Grill), then either leisurely wandered Epcot or returned to MK. We were back in our room between 9:00 and 10:00 nightly. Our son fell asleep in his stroller two of the days but the other days, motored through until bedtime.

While it might seem that we didn't spend a ton of time in the parks, this pattern worked best for us so that we were not too exhausted and cranky to enjoy what we were doing. We naturally wake early, so it isn't hard for us to get going in the morning. But we have learned to pace ourselves. My best advice is to take the cues from your children and make adjustments as you need to. They'll find a way to let you know what get can handle!

Nathansmommy · Feb 8, 2016

We've been twice with a toddler, in 2014 with our 2 year old, and this past November with our 3 year old and our 10 month old. We're not rope drop ppl but we did get to the parks around 9-9:30, mid day breaks were a MUST for us! They both nappedin the stroller but not long enough, so without mid day breaks, it would have been chaos, we left the park at around 3:30 and back by 6:30p and left till 11p or closing.

cyneswith · Feb 8, 2016

We did a trip to Jamaica with DS at 17 months, none with both just yet. We would go back to the room every day at ~2-3 PM, and just veg for an hour or two. DS doesn't nap (though he did one of those days,) but he'd lay down and watch Disney channel. He was much happier with the break, and started to get grumpy on the days we pushed the break back. To accommodate for that, we booked a monorail hotel for the Disney-with-two-littles trip. DD happily naps in strollers, but DS needs dedicated "we need to slow down" time. Grandma and I will tire out before he does. We plan on a "nap"/TV time on our park days, and swimming on our rest day (Supercalifraligistic breakfast and afternoon tea planned for that day).

Moushe · Feb 9, 2016

DocDCT said:
Midday breaks are one of the most discussed topic in every Disney forum. In my experience, it is impossible to find a strategy that works for everyone, because kids (and parents) are so different. Some can sleep in the stroller, some can't, some need a long nap, some can go open to close... My suggestions are:
1. Don't assume that a kid who doesn't nap at home will not nap at Disney. They get much more tired in the parks.
2. Swimming is refreshing and relaxing, but it is not a way to rest (it is actually an intense activity), so if the kids are physically tired the pool won't help.
3. If they can nap in the stroller, it is probably better than going back to the room.

You bring up great points, which are exactly what have me going back and forth on the mid-day break thing. My 3yo has napped in his stroller at Disney with no issue, I'm not sure I could get him to take a nap if we went back to the hotel though. Thats why in the past we've done the stroller naps instead of going back.

I definitely agree that swimming is tiring, thats why we were thinking of just doing mornings at the parks and not going back after our swim.

I guess we can always play it by ear and go back to a if the kids were able to get some rest while at the hotel, if not we can just shoot for an early bed time that day and RD the next morning.

Moushe · Feb 9, 2016

These are all great suggestions, thanks everyone. I really love the DIS who else would I ask these questions!

As much as I just want to relax and take it easy like Dh and I said we would do on this trip, theres the pesky matter of FPs so we have to plan to some degree.

The ODC planner in me loves being able to schedule ADRs and FP and basically have our days planned out months in advance, but all these things also make it hard to just go with the flow.

Fortunately theres a lot of time before our trip so I can continue to mull it over.

monorailsilver · Feb 9, 2016

I am a fan of mid day breaks, especially in August because mid day is brutal!

We also do CM on arrival day for dinner and do one other sit down, last 2 trips it has been WCC as my kids love it but that is on a non park day. We also just do counter service and don't get the meal plan as it is not worth it for us.

We do rope drop, and return to our room right after we have lunch and we all nap. Then we shower and return to the park around 5 and have dinner somewhere.

Their ages for their trips were oldest-15 mo, 4, 7, 12, middle-22 mo, 4 (almost 5), 9 and the youngest 2.5, 7.

Park day:

6am-me up and in the shower
6:10 (ish)-dh gets up and does his toilet business while I shower (hey it makes me not have to wait for him) and then he hops in the shower after I get out.
6:30 (ish)-the kids start to wake, brush teeth, have breakfast, get dressed and sun screen if it is needed-usually face, ears and shoulders
6:30-7(ish)-dh and I eat, fill up the water bottles, we all check our bags and pack them-not much just water, phone, and a snack, oh and a camera if needed
7-7:15-leave for the monorail, boat or bus
8:00-rope drop park for the am
11-1-we have lunch some time between this time and depending on the park if we did everything we wanted to do (AK and DHS are just an am park for us)
12-1-we head back to the hotel, nap
4-5-wake up, shower
5 until 10 or so-return to the park, find dinner

Repeat x 1 day

Then we do a pool day which consists of me still waking at 6, do laundry, out at pool by 8 to secure a table but now with the new Poly pool hours not sure how that is going to work, other then me standing at the gate waiting for it to open! Dh stays in the room with the sleeping kids and him sleeping self. I swim with no one...no one...it is glorious...then my kids come out one by one, yes my dh sent my then 7 yo out to the pool alone, she knew the way on the path closest to the beach, heck I am sure she knew every way. He did text me to tell me she was coming. Then he came out once he made sure the room was clean for mousekeeping and we returned to our room at about 10 at night since we wanted to watch wishes.

I have always taken a mid day break, even as a kid but we did pool time but there was only the MK then and then Epcot so it wasn't as crazy as it is now.

Tara1988 · Feb 9, 2016

I've only gone three times since becoming a parent. I took my son at 16 months, 2 1/2, and 3 1/2. Most days, we were in the park from rope drop to fireworks. We only went back to the room once for a nap and that was because we did our must do list at DHS within 3 hours and it started pouring, then we hung out at the resort until fantasmic. We always plan a sit down lunch, preferably with characters during the hottest part of the day and that has been enough of a break for us. But this time we will have 3 kids, almost 6 and almost 2 year old boys and our daughter is due in July, so she will be 3or4 months. I have a feeling this trip will be much different

jmccoy18 · Feb 9, 2016

I am a big fan of the mid day break, not only for kids, but for adults too! We are RD people, so we get up early for RD, eat breakfast on the way (muffin/granola bar, etc), RD and then do rides until 12ish. Eat lunch at the park and then head back to the resort. We like to leave the parks around 1, because that is when the wait times start to go up and we are just ready for a break. We nap/rest for about 2hrs and then head back to the park and get there around 5/5:30. Eat dinner in the park, ride a few more rides and maybe stay for fireworks... depending on how the kids are doing. We also like to plan a break day where we don't go into the parks at all and just swim and enjoy our resort.

Even if the kids don't nap, we all rest. It is nice to be in a quiet cool room for a little while.

Betty Rohrer · Feb 9, 2016

we have almost always done the stroller naps as the time we tried the go back to room toddler fell sleep on way to room woke up as we got off and screamed whole time we spent at room. no rest for anyone. could hear him at other end of hall with door closed. you would have thought we were killing him, he was that loud. he them fell asleep as we got to dinner. going back to reort is not like just going to their room after lunch

brinkley07 · Feb 9, 2016

We have been several times this past year with my now 2.5 yo. I planned to head back to the room for naps daily, but when we tried to take him back to the room I found he would get on the bus all revved up and finally fall asleep about 5 minutes before we got back to the hotel. Of course as soon as we got off the bus he would wake up and we couldn't get him to go back down. He still takes daily naps at home of 1-2 hours after lunch. After trial and error I found he will fall asleep in his stroller and get a solid nap if I stay in the park. We just push him around and lay him back. Granted he is harder to get down some days, and he did fall asleep with his head on the table during lunch one day, but overall he gets a solid 2 hour nap in the stroller daily. Good luck!

buzznina · Feb 9, 2016

Midday breaks did not work for us, with our 1st DD, we tried the first few days to head back to the resort for nap time, even stayed at the POLY so we could use the monorail. Well it was horrible, DD just would not nap, then on the way back to our room, she fell asleep asleep in the stroller and when we tried to put her in bed woke up and that was that. DW and I felt like all we did was waste time by doing this. So we just decided to let her sleep in the stroller and we would just stay at the park and one of us would get a snack and find a nice place to sit and the other could stay or shop or even get in a ride or two. We did this with our 2nd DD as well. We rarely do RD and we like to stay later and never had any meltdown problems. But again all children are different.

brockash · Feb 11, 2016

Moushe said:
I have a 3yo and a 15mo. For our last few visits our strategy has been to RD, have kids nap in stroller if they got sleepy and stay in the park till about 5-6pm, then we would go back to the hotel for baths and an early bed time. The next day same thing. Its worked out ok since their naps are all over the place, and by the end of the day they are so exhausted they go right to bed after their baths, giving dh and I some time to relax before bed.

Our next trip is scheduled for the last week of August - 8 nights, 7 days; and DH and I have decided to take it easier and try to go with the flow as much as we can this trip instead of being on such a strict schedule like our last trips have been. Our new strategy will have us doing only QS meals (except for maybe a Chef Mickey's ADR on our arrival day), and doing FP for the morning, but not necessarily being there at RD. since we are there for so long we are leaning towards mornings at a park and then leaving after lunch to spend the afternoon swimming at the hotel pool. We may or may not do a visit to LegoLand.

I am wondering if we should also consider taking a mid-day break for swimming/naps (assuming they will actually nap) and then go back to a park and maybe get to see some fireworks and night parades.

If you do mid-day breaks with your small kids can you tell me what your days look like? What tips/advice can you offer? (For this trip our kids will 3.5 and 21 months. if that makes a difference)

Thanks in advance!

Here's been my experience. While I think taking a mid-day break sounds great, it ends up being really inconvenient and just not worth it at all for us. If we didn't have little ones or if we're staying at a resort that we can either walk or take the monorail to (closer and no emptying out and folding up the stroller) then we may take one once during our 8 day trips. If we're not staying within walking distance or on the monorail then we don't anymore. It's just too much to walk all the way out of the park, to the bus stop, unload everything/everyone and fold up the stroller, just to unload and walk to the room and do it all over again to come back. Doing it once round trip a day is doable, but for me adding in the whole thing again midday is just too much. The other issue my crew has is that once we're in sleep mode and in our beds it's rough to get back up and moving again. When my dd was 1.5 and ds 5 we had planned to do this every day to give them a chance to nap, but it was so exhausting and just not worth it for us that after the 3rd day we just decided to stop. We just let them fall asleep when they needed to and it was so much easier. If it were us, I'd just take a good double stroller (maybe rent one from Kingdom Strollers/Orlando Strollers etc.) and let them fall asleep in the stroller when they want to and if you're wanting a more relaxed trip just come and go when you're ready. - If you want to stay for fireworks, stay, if the kids are awake, great if not they'll just be sleeping in their stroller.

Talk to me about taking mid-day breaks with toddlers

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