About those afternoon breaks....

[HvnzCaress]

Okay just about everything I read suggests taking a mid day break for a rest or swim back at the resort. The question I have is when???

My family of 4 is driving down for our first trip to Disney for the last two weeks of August. I do not need convincing that we're going to need to take those mid day breaks from the Florida sun. My question is what time do those of you who have done this usually find yourselves leaving the MK for example?

On our first full day (Sunday), I'm planning to take advantage of the EMH morning but I'd also like to make a PS for the Ice Cream social at the Garden Grill in Epcot for say 3:15 and spend the evening in Future World. We will be staying at Fort Wilderness. Is it feasible that we could leave MK at noon return to the campground for a swim and some lunch then get to the PS? Will this break be long enough? How much of MK will we really have seen in this time frame if we start in Fantasyland? (We figure we'll be leaving the big ticket rides for E-night on Tuesday if its available)

Can anyone help me figure in the WDW transportation times from the various parks to Ft. Wilderness?

While the countdown goes down the panic level goes up!

 

[Crazy4mandms]

We are taking our first trip ever to WDW in 3 weeks (YEAH!) so I am also curious about the day breaks...but I do have this website that I stumbled across that lists how long it takes (approx) for transportation to everywhere on property....maybe someone can tell me how accurate it really is!!

http://www.ourlaughingplace.com/asp/twiz.asp

Hope this helps!!

 

[Harambe]

We usually do the EE at MK on Sunday. You can go like crazy (how old are your kids? If little start in Fantasyland, if older start in Tomorrowland) and we are ready around noon time to head out of MK. Use the train to go to the main entrance so you don't fight those midday crowds.

We then head back to our resort and swim or hang in the room for a few hours, then head out again about 4pm.

If you leave at noon from MK, should take you about a half hour to get back to FW (12:30) then you would have to leave for Epcot about 2 to get to your PS (trip to Epcot then walk to the Land pavilion).

Don't know if I'd bother on your particular day. Although we do the midday break, there is always one day that we don't. That is usually an early night spent swimming at our resort!

 

[Jillpie]

We do all the early openings. So we're at the parks at 7:30 am, always make an 11:30 am PS at that park for lunch, this is a terrific break and also in the AC. As soon as lunch is over, we're back to the resort about 1:00sh. Take a break till about 4:30 or so and head to a different park. Its tough when things are scheduled around 3:00. It forces you not to break and you'll regret it later, especially with kids. Everyone needs to STOP for awhile in the afternoon. I have a hard time with the 3:00 MK parade because there never seems to be a good day to do this. We usually plan our very last day at MK and see it then.

 

[kdibattista]

We are also there pretty early..... 8ish. We normally hang out til 1:00 (maybe 2:00) and head back. Sometimes we take a nap and don't end up going back out. We are there off season so the parks don't stay open late. If we do go back, it's normally around 4:00 or 5:00 for dinner and that's it.

Listen to your body... it will tell you when to break (and don't fight it!!!!)

 

[HvnzCaress]

My kids are 14 and 11 and while I had thought about starting in Tomorrowland I also note that most of these attractions are open during E-ride night so I thought it might be better to catch them then.

Maybe since this is our first day in the parks after a very long drive we should consider skipping the afternoon break. We could do MK in the morning. Take a ride on the various monorial routes eventually ending up at Epcot. The ice cream social would then provide another small break. We won't be seeing illuminations this night so I suppose it would be a fairly early night and would allow us some swim time when we got back to the resot. Monday I expect to spend the day at DQ/DD so that I assume will be a much lighter day. Again though it would be without a midday break.

I'm going to drive myself crazy trying to plan this daily itinerary stuff!

 

[*Fantasia*]

Our mid-day break is usually from 2pm through 6 or 7pm depending on when the park closes.

When you have small children like me (4 and 6)...a mid-day break is a must. We all get to relax...take a nap or swim. Once we get our energy back...we head back out.

It's nice to take the break especially when the weather gets a bit too hot...all we want to do is to be in the pool to cool off. At night...it's not that hot not like during the day time so it's nicer to be in the park at night or early in the morning.

 

[DolphinBoy]

We just got back from WDW. Before we went, we had the same question. I agree with an earlier poster. You will know. Listen to your body and kids. The comes a point where it is no longer any fun. Go back, rest up and come back and you will have so much more fun. We first went to MK at 7PM in the evening to catch the Spectomagic Parade and Fireworks. After that we went to Fantasyland and covered most of the rides before leaving. While most of the crowds were trying to get out of the parks after the fireworks, we were catching the rides. The lines we very small. The parks were open to midnight and we left around 11:30. The next morning we came back for EE and covered the rest of it with an afternoon nap. We managed to cover most everything.

P.S. We did the Ice Cream social and did not think it was worth it. We only saw 4 characters for well over $30. It worked out to be about $9.00 a character. We won't do that again.

 

[chrisbeuc00]

we recently returned from our trip to fort wildnerness with 2 cats that are diabetic. we had to get back each evening between 4pm and 7pm to give them their shots. we were able to adjust our schedules to get from magic kingdom by ferry to fort wilderness catch a bus to our campsite and give them their shots. we could then either go back to the magic kingdom catch the monorail to epcot to make our dinner reservations. we also had our tow vehicle so if we had to leave a a park and go back it was quicker sometimes to just drive from the park to camp and then head back out. our last day friday (good friday) we went to epcot during the day, left at 330 to go back to fw to swim and were back in the magic kingdom by 645pm...it left time to do a few rides and shop and watch spectromagic. sometimes the buses seemed slow and it seemed we were waiting forever. other times you could just hop on real quick. but having the tow vehicle really seemed to cut down the time. this was during the week before easter and the parks were crowded, but parking was never a problem at any of the parks.

 

[CamColt]

We arrive at the parks by EE or opening time, so 8:00-9:00. Depending on how hot everyone is and how much we accomplish, we usually leave between 12:00-1:00. At the resort we will have lunch by the pool(usually a frozen drink for me), swim, then wash up and we get back to another park, around 4:00-4:30

 

[jamsmom]

We have never taken an afternoon break. But, that is what works for us. If my son or I got extremely exhausted, we might.

Two of my trips, I did discover a kidney stone while there. We had to take it MUCH slower than usual. But, once I had the pain medicine and phenegrn to keep the anitbiotics from making me sick......it made for an interesting trip.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Remember that there are other ways to take breaks besides going back to the resort. With the ages of your kids, you have lots of options. We go off season and the heat is nothing like your trip will be so I can not relate to that. However, a monorail ride to Epcot and the icecrean social will most likely be enough break for your family. We almost always break with a sitdown lunch or a monorail ride to another park and lunch there. After a day or two your bodies will tell you what you need.

jordan's mom

 

[cruisnfamily]

We've never taken an afternoon break where we actually leave the park....I know that once we hit the resort we'd be done for the day.....I just know our family and it wouldn't work for us!

What we do instead is a nice sit down lunch in an airconditioned place and then usually park hop....which involves a little rest on a bus/monorail. We also take occasional snack breaks.

We've been going since the kids were very little and we've never left the park for a break and come back. Now, there have been times where we've all been wiped out and we've left the parks to swim and rest ....with no plans on returning. Sometimes you just need to get away for the rest of the day and continue on the next day. This works out better for us than scheduling completely "down" days. We'll do 1/2 day park, 1/2 day rest/pool.

 

[Belle5]

We get out of the parks for swim/naps. We take off at least one day (usually2 ) in the middle of the week. We kill ourselves the last day in the parks and park hop 'til we drop! (No naps that day!)

 

[Ratpack]

We had pretty much the same schedule on our trip last year for our first day. We were at MK at opening, no EE, and were out by 1pm. Then we went to resort and swam and rested for a 4pm PS at Garden Grill. Worked out fine. Now with the EMH, I would think by lunch would be a good time to leave.

 

[JulesMom]

We usually leave most parks between noon and 1 pm.

We occasionally stay longer to see parades.

 

[puffkin]

We usually leave by 1 pm for our break and come back to the parks around 4:30 pm. You may not need your break the first day. I would try to spend at least an hour in the A/C for lunch around 11:30 or so that day. This, plus the monorail ride to Epcot should be a decent break. We usually don't need a break for the first day or two of our trips.

BTW, if your kids are really into swimming, I would plan much longer breaks. It amazes me at how many people think swimming in a pool in the Florida summer sunshine is a break This is probably more tiring than being in the park. We usually take a quick 15-20 minute dip in the pool. Then we head back to the room for a catnap and shower. A change of clothes and we are refreshed and ready to go. We do the bulk of our swimming at night. If your kids really enjoy the water, I would suggest taking a longer break in the afternoon so they can spend their time in the pool AND relax in the room, or to do your swimming at night. Just MHO, but hope it helps.

 

[swclark]

We do what others have said. Get their for EE and scheduled a lunch at 11:30 (first seating usually).. back to hotel after that Swim for an hour or so and then back to another park by around 3. You can also leave at 11:30ish and eat at your hotel if you want and they will save you some time (food courts are quicker).

We have done this since the kids were small and keep doing it now that they are teens because they still like the pool time. We don't do it every day like we used to (so we can see mid-afternoon stuff).. but do it at least 1/2 the days we are there. The pool is great on the sore feet

 

[PatriciaH]

If we feel we need the break, we leave after a sit down lunch around 2pm and take a dip in the pool/hot tub, nap, shower and return to the parks around 5pm. This is easier when the parks are open later of course!

 

[eeyore0062]

When we take our breaks, we usually schedule like this:

Go to the Extra Magic Hour morning... ride and see as much as possible. When the crowds start getting bad, and you have used the fast passes you have collected, leave (this is usually between 11:30 and 12:30... go have a nice lunch, then go back to the resort to swim or nap. Then around 4 pm, go back to another park, eat around 6 pm, and then stay at the park until close.

However, when we go to AK, we do one day as Extra Magic hour, and then we do it again on a day when we sleep in, or have a big breakfast... that way we can see the 4 pm parade.

Also note that the MK parade is at 3 pm, and the MGM and AK parades are at 4, so if you like the parades, you may have to adjust your breaks so you can see them.