Afternoon break or power through and leave early evening?

[tinkerbella16]

I cannot recommend afternoon breaks enough. We take an afternoon break every day of our trips now, and we've never felt like we wasted time. We do the parks at RD, leave between 12:30-1pm and go to the pool for a few hours and then head back to a park for the evening. It is so much more enjoyable getting to recharge.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I have this crazy idea, why don't you just decide while on vacation? you'll know if you need or want a break and take it if you need it... every second of the day doesn't need to be preplanned

I agree with this. Even with a 5 year old we played it by ear. If we felt strong enough to hop in the evening we did. If not we rested, but we didn't RD every day. It's not our style to do that.

 

[princesslover]

Thanks everyone. As an aside, I have to say, leaving the park between 12:00-100 seems early to me, particularly with FP+. How in the world do you fit in 3 fastpasses before noon? Or do you reserve the final FP for evening? Then not worry about a fourth FP? Our last fastpass on most days is 1:30-2:30. I fugure, we use RD strategy from 9:00-11:00, then FP from 11:00-2:00. You can't overlap FP, so I don't know how to work it any other way, unless I have my first FP at 9:00 am!!! Maybe I am missing something....

In any case, I think we will plan on having a break (if we need one)after our last FP around 2:00. For the BOG ADR, we may enjoy a few evening attractions. For HDDMR, we will likely just head back to the resort.

This has been helpful, hearing what you all do. Thank you.

 

[MaximumEd]

We have done rope drop to close for 8 days in a row more than once with our 9 year old daughter, but we aren't typical. Just play it by ear and take a break if and when you get tired or feel the need.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Thanks everyone. As an aside, I have to say, leaving the park between 12:00-100 seems early to me, particularly with FP+. How in the world do you fit in 3 fastpasses before noon? Or do you reserve the final FP for evening? Then not worry about a fourth FP? Our last fastpass on most days is 1:30-2:30. I fugure, we use RD strategy from 9:00-11:00, then FP from 11:00-2:00. You can't overlap FP, so I don't know how to work it any other way, unless I have my first FP at 9:00 am!!! Maybe I am missing something....

In any case, I think we will plan on having a break (if we need one)after our last FP around 2:00. For the BOG ADR, we may enjoy a few evening attractions. For HDDMR, we will likely just head back to the resort.

This has been helpful, hearing what you all do. Thank you.

I tend to get fast passes like this: assuming park opens at 9, get my first fp for 9:30-10:30, second for 10:30-11:30, third for 11:30-12:30. The first 90 minutes I do all the popular attractions I don't have fp's for. Hop on my first fp attraction just before it expires at 10:30 then immediately use my second. I tend to book attractions that are close to each other like BTMRR and Splash. Then I have a very early lunch before my third fp expires or do a few more rides, use the third, then have lunch. For a 9 am opening we are usually out of the parks by 1-1:30. I would bet MK will open by 8 am every day of Easter week.

 

[srwarden1928]

I prefer RD to close. I leave for ADRs and hopping sometimes. I know that my strategy is VERY unpopular here. I just want to put it out as an option to OP who was asking what others do. For me, leaving a park for a break would feel like a waste of time. I do slow down with certain longer air conditioned shows, etc.

 

[drinkme]

Thanks everyone. As an aside, I have to say, leaving the park between 12:00-100 seems early to me, particularly with FP+. How in the world do you fit in 3 fastpasses before noon? Or do you reserve the final FP for evening? Then not worry about a fourth FP? Our last fastpass on most days is 1:30-2:30. I fugure, we use RD strategy from 9:00-11:00, then FP from 11:00-2:00. You can't overlap FP, so I don't know how to work it any other way, unless I have my first FP at 9:00 am!!! Maybe I am missing something....

In any case, I think we will plan on having a break (if we need one)after our last FP around 2:00. For the BOG ADR, we may enjoy a few evening attractions. For HDDMR, we will likely just head back to the resort.

This has been helpful, hearing what you all do. Thank you.

MK is showing EMH for 8am every morning of my Easter trip. There are predictions that it will change to 7am for EMH openings. What are your days?

 

[princesslover]

MK is showing EMH for 8am every morning of my Easter trip. There are predictions that it will change to 7am for EMH openings. What are your days?

We are there Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday. According to what I see on MDE I only see Sunday as having EMH. That is our HDDMR day and our first full day at Disney. I could see if I can move up a FP or two for that day to leave earlier. I don't know if they will be interested in leaving by 1:00 on our first full day though. Hahaha. I think my initial strategy was that the park would be super crazy by noon so to save the FP for early afternoon.

 

[princesslover]

We have done rope drop to close for 8 days in a row more than once with our 9 year old daughter, but we aren't typical. Just play it by ear and take a break if and when you get tired or feel the need.

I think my kids could do that for a few days, but not all. Also, we really love the WL, and my biggest regret from our first trip is not spending any time there. We got better for our second trip and enjoyed the pool some, which was nice. So while I will be flexible, I want to try to have the best of both worlds.

 

[MaximumEd]

WL is awesome. You'll love it. I hate to say it, but we've been going to WDW and DL for years now and I have yet to swim in a resort pool. I honestly don't know what some of the resorts we've stayed at really look like, as it's kinda dark when we leave in the mornings and really dark when we get back from the parks. We have a pool at home, so swimming isn't something our daughter has to do there. She wants to ride stuff. Me and the wife are the same way.

 

[Tomh]

There are as many different touring styles as there are people, so what works for one, may not work for the next.

Our family tried mid day breaks, on 3 different trips. The first time around, we were staying at the villas at Wilderness Lodge, both of the other times, we were staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

First time around, I thought the mid day breaks were a complete waste of time. Kids didn't get any rest, they were too wound up (13 and 4 at the time) to settle down. Adults didn't get any rest (perhaps partially because there were 5 of us, and no way to get everyone to agree on one plan) we wound up going back to the park more tired than we would have been had we just stayed there to begin with.

Next time we did a mid day break was to meet a traveler that joined us a day late. Hard to call that one a waste of time, but for certain, there was no resting.

The last two times we tried it, we went to swim at the resort for a bit, right in time for the afternoon thunder storm. We did manage an hour nap on one of those occasions, but all in all, I wasn't thrilled with the results of the mid day break, and neither was the rest of my family.

Now, we just stay in the park, and plan to take it easy through the middle of the day. Long rides and shows, shopping, sitting down a people watching, having a drink, in MK we will play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, or do the pirate adventure game in Adventure Land. Lunch is a nice long leisurely meal, usually quick service, and somewhere with indoor seating so we can cool down. This is our version of the mid day break. We generally get to the park in time for rope drop, or just after it, and stay until the park closes, or very close to it.

So then, I guess what I'm saying is you will have to find what works for you. It took us a while, and trying some different things before we settled on what works for us.

 

[North of Mouse]

OP, 'no' one can tell you what you should do!! I love these sort of threads! Every poster has his/her ideas of what is the best thing to do!

We all have our limits/or not, on how long we can go at a time - there are so many variables, that every family is truly different. There is no one size fits all!!

Just go til you are ready for a break - then take one - go by your feelings! We are go with the flow people and don't 'plan' in advance when we are 'tired' and need a break.