Afternon break, or just stay?

[mshanson3121]

We're going the last week of June - HOT and busy. We're staying off-site, about a 12-15 minute drive from the TTC. Traveling with two children, 8 & 5. We're looking at two options:

1. Do a 12-8 type day, where we just try and do indoor rides/shows as much as possible during the afternoon.

2. Take an afternoon break where we go back to our house and nap/swim (we have a private pool). We would arrive at RD, probably leave the park around 12:30 and plan on being back around 5:00, stay till 8:30ish. After travel time we would probably end up having 2.5-3 hours at the house. Is that worth it?

 

[Shmily01]

We usually stay onsite but we almost always take an afternoon break back at the hotel. I think it's worth it to keep my kids and hubby rested and a lot less cranky. The only exception is our AK days. We almost always go from RD to close. We go in September every year and the park closes at 5 so we usually spend the evening at the pool or Downtown Disney
.

 

[Alesia]

Every family is different, but we find that taking an afternoon break makes us more tired than just staying all day, especially if there's swimming involved. Once we hit the pool we're done for the day.

 

[collcass]

Mine thoroughly enjoyed having an afternoon pool break especially during the summer visits.

 

[uccats97]

It's worth it if your kids need the down time! Just remember if you plan on returning to a park at 5 and leaving by 8:30 that you'll most likely eat dinner in that time frame. Depending on where you dine, you might not have time to visit many attractions. It might be a good idea to set your FP+ times for 6, 7 and 8pm.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We take midday breaks at the pool. We don't nap but we stay onsite now.

For MK I would do a lunch ADR instead of midday break if I was staying offsite (which we did when we stayed offsite). I find it a pain to leave there by car and come back.

AK closes pretty early so a full day there isn't very long.

DHS I think you can start later and have your FP set to start around 12 and stay until close with a dinner ADR.

Epcot you could do the same. Have a lunch ADR to break up the day.

 

[sullyfam]

We always have done afternoon breaks! One of my kids favorite things about Disney World are the pools! As disappointing as that is for us adults to hear ... the kids truly do love the pool. Mine start nagging for pool time right before lunch so we do RD, packed scheduled til lunch time, have lunch and then back the resort. We head back to the parks in the late afternoon/early evening.

 

[amandals2007]

we just take it slow and find a quiet place to rest for an hour or so and people watch. We feel like we lose a lot of time when we head back to the room so unless we have a lot of time to kill we just stay in the area. thats also why we park hop a lot. we do all of our FP+ in the morning at our first park, then hop to a park that normally has Evening EMH and make our dining reservation for the park we hop to. we use the ride over to the second park to relax in the cool AC of the bus or monorail.

 

[row]

No kids here, and we always take a break!

 

[mmbrad02]

My daughter was a month shy of four last fall when we went. Most days we took a break and either we all napped, or just rested in the room. If she, was awake, she would play with her toys or ipad, but in general it was quiet time for all of us, because we needed it as much as her! One day she had fallen asleep while we were still in the parks, so by the time we got back to our room, she was awake. I took her to the pool and let my husband rest.

My husband basically insists on afternoon breaks as a pre-req of going to Disney as often as I want to go I admit the pools in the afternoon kinda annoy me, as a mom with a daughter, both of us have to get ready for a second time after swimming. I think once she is old enough to get herself ready, that woudlnt' be such an issue.

On our Epcot day, we had been going comando style for three days already, and we opted to sleep in. We got to the park about 10:30 and ended up staying through the day and left the park about 6. This was fine for us because we like the park, but itw as a nice cool day and we just went slow and did what we truly wanted to do and left. We weren't rushed at all.

 

[Lovetherodent]

My kids are now 19 and 21. They wanted an afternoon break for a nap, even a 1 hr one (when they were little, they were more into swimming).

 

[lustergirl]

I think if we stayed offsite I might stay all day. For my upcoming trips I have planned a mid day break. I need to get off my feet and rest for a couple of hours. I even scheduled a coupled days worth of fast passes for later in the evening. I like to go one park in the morning, stay until 1 or 2pm, go back and relax, and then go another park at night. I am a bit worried about my knees holding up this trip. I may have to rent a scooter if I can't handle all the walking.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We have stayed off site and on site. While staying on site we are more likely to take an afternoon break. Its just easier being on site to do that. We actually did stay off site when my son was 5 and it was in June as well. June is HOT HOT HOT! We are RD people. You get to do more stuff with RD. That being said its a lot of work when staying off site to do afternoon breaks. What usually happened on that trip is we went at RD and ended up staying til 3 and then we left for the day. We were just too tired to go back. The heat take a lot out of you. Specially my son who is not good with the heat. We went back 1 night just to see the nighttime stuff (MSEP and Wishes). But most of the time after we left we just hung out at the hotel pool and we did nighttime stuff around Orlando. We went to Medieval Times and we also did Arabian Nights (which is closed now). June is a tough month its extremely hot and even though most of the rides are inside you still have to walk from ride to ride. Its also cooler at RD so I would say to go at RD. I wouldn't wait to go til 12. Parking can be a nightmare and thats right in the heat of the day as well.

 

[msb578]

For me, the afternoon heat is unbearable. It's difficult to enjoy the parks. For my family, that time is best spent not at the park, despite the transportation annoyances.

If you are more accustomed to being active outside in 90+ sunshine, then that's a different story

 

[abouley]

This coming Aug will be our first trip in the summer but when we have stayed off-site in the past, we haven't generally taken a break back at the room. Generally HS and AK days tend to be all day parks for us because of all the shows in the afternoon (of course AK closes early so it's not that long of a day). For our MK and EP days we tended to either go at rope drop and head back to the Condo around 3:00 to swim, eat dinner, etc or we would go a little later in the day and then stay for the evening entertainment. I planned ADR for lunch so that gave us a nice break in the middle of the day. We generally have 8-10 days in the parks so we are able to work out our schedule ok with these 3/4 days.

 

[msmama]

Once we leave the parks, it's pretty rare that we make it back. It just suddenly seems like too much work!!

That said, we don't do full days either, we tend to go from RD to about dinner time-ish (if we have a ressie). If we were wanting to stay for late parade/fireworks, we'd probably hit the parks later (and probably just for the evening).

 

[sharona]

Staying on-site vs. off is not that big of a factor in whether or not to take breaks, IMO. Time wise - having your own car and staying just 15 minutes from WDW, taking a break will not take you any longer than it does for on-site guests. Maybe a bit longer for MK due to the ferry/monorail component but really not a big enough difference to make your decision based on. If you consider the on-site guest has to wait for the bus avg. 10-15 minutes (your time to get to your car) and then ride the bus 15+ minutes and maybe making more than 1 stop (your commute time to your accommodations) then walk 5-10 minutes from the bus to their room...

Your first suggestion to do a 12-8 type of day will mean it will be hot and crowded the entire time you're there. Whether you take a break or not, start at RD and get some time in the parks when it's not so crowded.

 

[pigletgirl]

For us the afternoon break is essential. I know that when it's that hot out, we tend to get sun sickness and need the cool and dark environment. It makes our evenings pleasant. We can enjoy the fireworks and such without having someone in a bad mood.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

We would suggest going at rope drop. Remember that since you are off-site you will not get the benefit of Extra Magic Hours. So don't pick a park that has morning EMH. Your RD option sound perfect. You can get so much done in the first few hours the park is open. You can maake the decision of what time to return to the parks after your break when you see how everyone feels. It will also save money by eating lunch at your house and not in the parks. Just put the travel time into your plan from the beginning and it won't feel like wassting time. Breaks are always part of our trips. As are Park Hopper tickets. Cheers!

 

[disney world dreamer]

personally we find it easier to just stay in the parks until we are done.

thats not to say we haven't gone back to our DISNEY hotel in the afternoon sometimes.
but when we do we then go back into the park until closing.

you only plan on going back to the park from 5pm-8:30pm when MK closes at like 12am.

to me that is a waste of time.

in your situation i think you'd be better off staying that extra 3.5hrs and then leaving for the day especially because you can't just go hop on a bus that takes you from the gate to your hotel and back. instead you have to take the monorail or ferry back to your car load the kids and everything else in and then drive off property and then come back and do it all again to get back into the parka nd then again when you leave for the night.