Do you wake your kids up when in WDW?

[DisneyAddict_M]

My dd (11) wakes up at the crack of dawn. She's usually up and running before 6 a.m. (especially on the weekends. For some reason, she sleeps a little later on school days. ).

I think I've only had to wake her up 3 times in her life.

She'll be waking me up.

 

[RetroCOTfan]

We wake our kids up to make RD, if we have to. We generally don't have to do too much prodding, though, because DS4 is up before 7 everyday, anyway. DD11 has only recently started sleeping later, but at Disney she's generally pretty quick to get up and going. Of course, her morning preparation routine has fairly dramatically increased, too!

Like others, we do try to build in some sleep-in time when we can, which helps.

 

[aripantaloon]

My kids get up early, so I don't have to worry about waking them up early at Disney. It's my DH who complains.

 

[Silvermist999]

We wake our kids up - but it's not at an unreasonable time. Usually by 7:45 and we just eat breakfast in our room so we can get into the parks as close to rope drop as possible. We don't have late nights and they are in bed by 10 pm and we always go back to the resort for an afternoon nap/rest break.

 

[WillAustin]

You get way too much done in the first few hours the parks are open to sleep in and go later. LATER is when the parks get crowded.

Definitely.

We always get up early. The kids have come to understand how different the parks are in the morning, and they even ask us to make sure we are early.

 

[mama2ethan04]

They don't call me "sarge" for no reason. I'm up at 6, showered and dressed in time to wake everyone else up by 6:30. Out the door by 7:30 for breakfast and RD. Since we tend to go in the off season, it's so much easier to do. The parks close earlier, so we're in bed earlier. And RD is later. My kids don't complain, but my DH & ILs sure do!

 

[summermac]

We are planning a sleep in day or two this time around, probably after we have toured all 4 parks as we have two lazy days.

That said, I never ever ever have to wake my 8 year old. I WISH!

I probably will have to wake my daughter at least once or twice. She is a mad sleeper!

 

[Colleen27]

We do some of both. Usually there are 2 or 3 mornings where I set our alarm and we head out early, with the rest being more casual/slower starts. At the very least we do rope drop once at Studios and once at Magic Kingdom, but I don't expect it to be an every day thing.

And I almost always wake up my teenage son, if only because he'd sleep until noon if I didn't. Since we travel in the winter sleeping too late isn't an option simply because the parks close too early for that!

 

[BoltzNBrew]

Since this is our first WDW trip we are planning early EMH(MK,DHS,AK) and rope drops all 5 days to get in as much as we can. I will start cracking the whip at 6am but we do have long afternoon pool/nap breaks on 3 of the days. I just know this route will be better than getting to parks late and have to listen to the whining while we wait in long lines. Get in early, get as much done as we can before lunch and the lines get too big then hit cruise control the rest of the day. Our evenings are pretty much wide open aside from fireworks, parades and ADR's.

 

[AR81]

I am also nervous about this same issue. My whole family sleeps in on the weekend when we don't have work or school and in the summer when we are going my kids will be used to sleeping in some. So I am going to have to do something starting a couple of weeks before our vacation so they will be prepared. The only day I am really worried is our 7:30 Chef Mickey adr which I plan to be there by 7:10-7:15 from pop. I know my only option is cab that early since MK doesn't open til 9. Which means we need to be in the lobby or wherever to get a cab by about 6:50. Which also means we need to be awake probably no later than 6:20. Now that I have thought this out I realize that yes my family is going to kill me. However, this is the only breakfast adr and the only day we would need to wake up that early. All other days we are not doing early emh, just 9:00 openings. So they can deal with it for one morning!!

 

[AshleeH]

We usually wake them up - it depends on what we're doing that day. For instance:

Going to Hollywood Studios = Race out the door and get there for ropedrop
Magic Kingdom = Enjoy a bigger breakfast, but try to get there by 9:30-10:00 (if they open at 9:00)
Epcot = Sleeping in a bit and taking our time
MNSSHP = Sleeping in as late as possible, spending the late morning in MK and take a break before the party that night.

We wake up earlier in Disney than we do at home, but my kids are great and never complain about anything while we're there - they know we'll have a good time, no matter what time they wake up or go to sleep.

 

[HMGar]

My family is one that loves to sleep. But when it comes to WDW, we are up with an alarm with zero complaints. We also take an afternoon break, and all of us catch up on a few zzzz's at that time. It's a good time to get back to the resort when the parks get hot and crowded.

We set another afternoon alarm and are back at the parks for closing hours. Since we get more done in the early AM and the late PM due to the lower crowds at those times, we time our vacation activities accordingly.

 

[whitney37354]

We did normal wake up & bedtime routine while at WDW. I made all breakfast ressies for 8:45 to 9:00, so that we could leave the motel room at 8:00 a.m. We were back in the room by 10 p.m. unless we were waiting on a bus to get back to the room (DHS after Fantasmic).

 

[Belleandtinker]

Wake up!

Our son was 2 1/2 years old on his first visit. He got up on his own because we were up and getting ready.

We are rope drop people who rest in the afternoon. We rather have cooler weather and less lines than sleeping in.

Good luck!

 

[mousireid]

We love teh first hour of teh day at the parks - seems to be teh least lines of the day! We'll get ready and head out for rope drop, everyone grabs a quick bite and I bring a few snacks with me. We LOVE having a liesurely brunch afterwards around 11am that fills us up until dinner (with a few little snacks in between of course!) We also like to head back after lunch/early afternoon for a swim and nap/rest. Get refreshed to head back out for a nice dinner and great evening! I too don't like intense temps in warmer months and need to swim when its warm enough in cooler months - in teh afternoons!
I do take one or two down days where we sleep later and eat a leisurely breakfast ADR outside the parks or if a park is opening later (such as a water park for example) we go later. There is always down time involved because we like to relax and actually enjoy our resort too!

 

[ascardino]

I wake them up most days, but it's good to have a few days to sleep in too.

Us too!

 

[KB'sMom]

Ah, ha ha ha! No - my youngest is sure to wake everyone up the second there is any hint of light coming in the room. "Sun's up mommy - get out of bed, NOW!!" The kids were up by 7-7:30 most mornings and then a quick b'fast and we were still at the parks by rope drop (but we went in January when the parks don't open until 9).

 

[Sandi]

We've been doing 1 or 2 WDW trips a year since DD17 was 18 months old. I have never had to wake her up -- even when she entered her teen years and can now sleep until noon. When we are at WDW or anywhere else for vacation, we are all up early to get the most out of our vacation time. We even take early flights to get to our destinations sooner -- sometimes getting up at 4:00 am to catch a 5:30 flight.

 

[2 Little Mermaids]

We are a sleep in family. I'm the one who wakes up first between 8:30-9. I'll get ready then the kids start waking up. DH gets ready 10mins before we leave. I had an 8:45 ressie once and the kids where so cranky it ruined the day. They aren't nappers either so when we do get to the park (11:00-12:00) we are there till we leave. We are staying for 8 nights this trip and are planning a break day every other day (will go to park for dinner) and our two breakfasts will be 10:00-10:30 times and on park days. We may not see everything but we see what we want and is very fun and relaxing. This plan may not be everyone's cup of tea, but works well for us!

 

[Karl66]

My DD(5) wakes us up at 7. So we're always able to make RD. I know that some day her being an early riser will pay off.