Talk to me about taking mid-day breaks with toddlers

[kboo]

OP, where are you staying? It really depends on your kids' personalities. Last May DD1 was 3.5, no longer napped at home, and never napped in the stroller (or if she did, it was a guaranteed meltdown when she woke up, so we tried never to let her sleep in the stroller). We were at BWV so we spent most of our time at EP and MK. We'd get early breakfast ADR or breakfast in the condo, and try to be as close to rope drop as possible (doesn't always work with a 3 yo). mobilize to leave by 11, lunch at hotel around noon, nap/QT 1-3 and then back out from 4-7 or 4-8. She pretty much napped every day, and we did see Illuminations on that trip. We also had KNO come 2x so DD1 could get an early bedtime to catch up - on those days we the adults went back to the parks, but we'd have DD nap, then pool, then dinner at condo and play with the sitter and then early to bed. We're going in about 2 weeks and we have a 3 mo old too, so it will be interesting. The baby (DD2)'s disposition is different and she naps anywhere - in the boba, in her stroller, so we are going to try for the same schedule we had with just DD1, do a lot of rider swap (and nursing!) and have her nap in the stroller. Fingers crossed!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We took midday breaks when our kids were little (say... under 10). We would go back to the hotel (on property) after lunch and return just before dinner (if dinner is in the park) or just after dinner (if dinner in at a resort).

We did this for the following reasons:

• Little kids need a nap.
• We go in late June and early July, when it's hot and crowded.
• Worst crowds are between lunch and dinner.

We would tell the kids to lie down and "try" to sleep. If they didn't fall asleep, we'd go to the pool. Most days, they fell asleep. So did we On days nobody was tired, we hit the pool to cool off. Win-win!

 

[Moushe]

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

I can TOTALLY see my 3yo doing this!

 

[DisGin]

This is such a frequently asked question here, and there are a hundred different answers. It changes for us on each trip. We just went a couple of weeks ago. Our kids were 6,4,2. The 2 year old naps at home about every other day and the other 2 have "rest" time where they stay in their rooms for an hour playing quietly. Most days, we left the parks around 2. The older 2 watched a movie in the dark living room, while the 2 year old napped. One day, we were at epcot and when 2 o'clock rolled around, we were back in Germany and didn't feel like leaving yet, so we stayed til 6, got quick service at AoA on the way back to our condo and that worked out just fine. On our HS day, we had to get there early for Jedi Training, had a lunch ADR, our TSMM fast pass was at 4 and we stayed til Fantasmic. It was a long day, but it worked out OK. Basically, we had to go with the flow more than I like, but it was fine. Also, I've found that pool time does relax them enough to go back. It's not physically relaxing, but they don't have all that sensory input that they get in the parks.

 

[quagmire0]

The nap issue seems to be mostly a transportation issue more than anything else. I can see why people don't want to stop, walk out of the park, wait for a bus, pack up everything, ride a public bus, unpack everything, walk to their room, etc. etc. Especially when you are heading back to a one room resort room with nary any space to just 'hang out' In my case, we're walking out of the park, hopping in a car, driving 10 minutes, and then we're at the condo. Easy peasy. We've got a nice, large area and several rooms to hang out in. If you're going to be dependent on park transit or small resort rooms, then I can definitely see the temptation to just stay out all day. But, even having said that, I still think taking a break outside the park is valuable for everyone in your group. In terms of missing anything? Lunch time is hectic at the parks, and crowded. If you are a rope dropper, you'll get plenty of rides in before lunch. Those are the rides you can knock out before you even need your fast passes. Save those for the afternoon and then ride what you want. I never felt like we didn't get to ride what we wanted because we took a mid-day break. We still had plenty of time, even without staying until the fireworks.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

The nap issue seems to be mostly a transportation issue more than anything else. I can see why people don't want to stop, walk out of the park, wait for a bus, pack up everything, ride a public bus, unpack everything, walk to their room, etc. etc. Especially when you are heading back to a one room resort room with nary any space to just 'hang out' In my case, we're walking out of the park, hopping in a car, driving 10 minutes, and then we're at the condo. Easy peasy. We've got a nice, large area and several rooms to hang out in. If you're going to be dependent on park transit or small resort rooms, then I can definitely see the temptation to just stay out all day. But, even having said that, I still think taking a break outside the park is valuable for everyone in your group. In terms of missing anything? Lunch time is hectic at the parks, and crowded. If you are a rope dropper, you'll get plenty of rides in before lunch. Those are the rides you can knock out before you even need your fast passes. Save those for the afternoon and then ride what you want. I never felt like we didn't get to ride what we wanted because we took a mid-day break. We still had plenty of time, even without staying until the fireworks.

*with the 10 minute car ride w ere you able to get a sleeping child out and into condo with either the child still asleep or get that child back to sleep? that could still be a problem

 

[mickeyheart]

We plan on getting to the parks for RD or just after, leaving just after lunch to go back to the hotel (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and relaxing in the afternoon. Then back out for dinner or fireworks. Some days we might have a resort day and just go in on an evening and we are hoping to do MVMCP one day. Our daughters will be 4 & 2.4. Last time we went we didnt have children and we used to do this and it made the trip a lot more relaxing and we still got loads done.

I think it does depend on the child and the adult and also how long you want the nap to be. If its only an hour there is no point, but if you spend most of the afternoon in your resort the it will work out well.

We have the luxury of being able to stay for 14 nights, but we are from the UK and we only tend to go every 4-5years

 

[BabyHabs]

We don't do mid-day breaks because we find it just eats up too much time. We are also not full day in park people. Getting there at RP, going until lunch, back to resort, swimming/break, back to parks, back to resort. It's just a very, very long day. We like to relax more on our vacations instead of go, go, go.
What works well for us, we either do an early day or a late day. On early days, we get up early, make RP, do all our FPs, kids nap in the stroller whenever they are tired, and we leave the park about mid day - usually between 2-4. We go back to the hotel, swim, have a nice supper, in bed early. On late days, we'll sleep in, have lunch at the resort, get to the parks mid-day, supper at the resort, kids nap in strollers and we stay to watch fireworks or other night time entertainment. We just find it much more relaxing, we're less likely to get burnt out or deal with cranky children.

 

[BabyHabs]

I wanted to add that on our first trip, we had planned to do mid-day breaks as I've heard were recommended. What I found when I tried this is that the kids would fall asleep before getting back to the resort and not actually nap at the resort or they wouldn't nap at all. And we never ended up getting back to the parks later in the day because of cranky kids, not wanting to do the travel again.

 

[quagmire0]

*with the 10 minute car ride w ere you able to get a sleeping child out and into condo with either the child still asleep or get that child back to sleep? that could still be a problem

100% of the time? No. But also our kids were NOT stroller sleepers, at all. If we ran them ragged enough, they *might* fall asleep, but they wouldn't take a good nap and would end up crabby. Our kids were 4/18mo and 6/3/13mo during our two previous trips. Only the 'monthers' really took real naps, IIRC. The older kids would just play quietly or rest during this time. At worst, they wouldn't nap the whole time and would just chill out. I still think getting them out of the parks/crowds/noise for 2-3 hours helps though. Not sure about other resorts, but Windsor Hills was always very quiet and laid back.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

quagmire0 you do not know how lucky you are. the one I tell about was about 16 months at the time. he was asleep my be 10 minutes. literally as transportation stopped, be it car, bus or boat, he wakes up and would scream until he fell asleep again hours later. was true not just at Disney but anywhere else also. was also true of hi mother but she was not at Disney that young. I was never able to move any of mine from car to bed. there was no chilling out, stroller naps were not the best but better than going back to resort for us. which is why I usually suggest to try a car trip around naptime before they leave for Disney as it will give you an idea if going to resort will work for them.

 

[Meshell2002]

Weve done both on the same trip...things to consider include if u r coming from another time zone AND if u r there in peak season....
Example...one year DS3 DD1...we were there in oct but heat index was over 100....I think that was 2009.... Park hours were shorter but we still went back for naps on the nights we were going to stay for fireworks....very few kids seemed awake/ happy at the fireworks. On In the days we knew we were leaving early because of a hard ticket event...they napped in the stroller...both days worked but we knew to be flexible if they didnt. When park hours are late during summer we usually have TS lunch (in AC) or a mid day break (not both)

Now that my kids r a little older we still try to plan by how late the youngest can handle it....shes got a lot of energy though so if she naps in the stroller and is fed we do ok... I would not plan on early RD ADRs night after a late night...we usually try to hit those on first park day and day after an off day....if we stay a week and buy 5 day tickets we usually have one off day and one non rope drop day.

 

[twinsmama]

When the twins were 2.5 and 3.5 each time we did not leave the parks for a break, but we did take a "break" within the parks. Now, we have never gone when it has been more than 85 degrees so that might have changed it.

We RD (or close to it) each day and do a TS for lunch and linger there--part of the 'rest' time, then we do attractions like Tiki room, Philharmagic, etc. and leisurely walk from here to there. This worked for us, but we always left the parks before fireworks. Sometimes we caught the fireworks while on the boat back to FW which was AWESOME. Other times we just skipped them and were in bed by 9:30!

We are going in 2 weeks and my plan is for us to be in the park late one night, but we are also doing RD that morning, so we may for the first time take an out-of-park break. I just hate to lose all the time those breaks take.

 

[jknewberry]

We went 4 & 5 years ago, when my boys were 18 months and 3.5, and 2.5&4.5. The first time we stayed off site and taking a real break in the middle of the day just wasn't feasible, but we rented a double jogging stroller (off site, it was delivered right to the hotel) so they were able to nap or at least rest in the stroller, and I carried my sleeping toddler on to a few rides like the Liberty Boat, Small World, and even Pooh's ride. It worked fine for us, so when we went back the next year we didn't take a midday break even though we were at the Wilderness Lodge and it would have been easier than had we stayed off site.

We did counter service meals and took our time eating them, plus would look for a diversion if the kids got tired- the island play area in MK is great for this, and the boneyard in AK- somewhere they can run and get the wiggles out, and aren't being bombarded by sensory overload. We will use the same plan when we go back next year with an almost 3 year old.

HTH
Kelly

 

[misskate28]

We always stay onsite at DLR, mostly for the ease of going back and forth from our hotel for naps/breaks. We've gone with a 22 month old, while I was 26 weeks pregnant and then after DD2 was born, we've gone many times, starting around when our youngest was 20 months. She's now 3 and my oldest is 5. We're going to DLR in 1 week and I'll be 27 weeks pregnant with DD3! We're pretty rigid with our touring schedule and it's worked really well for us thus far. My girls are early risers (6:30 ish) so we have usually eaten (we like paying for concierge level) and are in the park by rope drop. We tour until about 11:30 and then stop for a sit down lunch (prior to this, the girls have usually munched on 1 or 2 snacks from our bag while in line). As soon as we're done eating, we all walk back to the hotel and nap (occasionally DH will hit up the pool) from about 1-3, sometimes later, then make it back into the park by about 4:00. Dinner is usually around 6:00 (if it's table service, I make reservations at 5:30 so we'll be eating by 6:00) and we leave the park by 7:00 or 7:30. Only 1 night per trip (maybe 2) we keep them in the park late for a show, but never past 9:00 (their bedtime at home is usually 8:00). We do the show night later on in the trip, so that they don't get burnt out too early on. If it is a show night, then we bring their pjs/pull-ups/toothbrush into the park with us when we return from nap and get them all ready for bed in the bathroom while one of us adults saves our spot for the show. This way, they just need to be tossed into bed when we return to the hotel. There have been times when we've let them crash in their stroller in the park for nap if it was clear that they weren't going to make it back to the hotel. If we're in DL, we go hang by the BTR area because it tends to be the quietest. If we're in DCA we walk them around the end of Buena Vista St. They usually will only nap for an hour so we usually call it quits by 6:30 or 7:00 on those days. All in all, we all seem to fair much better on the days where we take a hotel break in the middle of the day to get some quiet time and recharge. In my experience, kids + too much stimulation = meltdowns.