afternoon breaks

[steelernation]

plan on taking afternoon breaks from MK (9am-10pm; pm emh) and epcot (9am-9pm). was not planning on breaking from AK (9am-6pm). with HS operating 9am-7pm with fantasmic showing at 7:30, would you recommend a break? or will relaxing and taking in some shows be fine? will be traveling with 14 month old and 9 year old.

 

[Figmentmommy]

I think you'll be fine at DHS just taking in some shows or people watching. If your baby will nap in a stroller or in your lap you'll be golden. I would suggest considering this at other parks too. Sometimes the traveling back and forth can be bothersome. We were never a break-taking type of family, but my kids slept in the stroller wherever and whenever and we just kept doing what we wanted to do.
Have a great trip!

 

[misse320]

I think you'll be fine at DHS just taking in some shows or people watching. If your baby will nap in a stroller or in your lap you'll be golden. I would suggest considering this at other parks too. Sometimes the traveling back and forth can be bothersome. We were never a break-taking type of family, but my kids slept in the stroller wherever and whenever and we just kept doing what we wanted to do.
Have a great trip!

We've never been a break-taking family either and I'm eternally jealous of people with kids who sleep in strollers. If there was stuff going on, there was no way my kids were going to fall asleep. Oh well, those days are past me now.

plan on taking afternoon breaks from MK (9am-10pm; pm emh) and epcot (9am-9pm). was not planning on breaking from AK (9am-6pm). with HS operating 9am-7pm with fantasmic showing at 7:30, would you recommend a break? or will relaxing and taking in some shows be fine? will be traveling with 14 month old and 9 year old.

I would never have taken a break from AK or HS. We never stayed long enough at those parks to justify a break. Both are just 1/2 day parks for us.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Only way my kid would nap in the stroller was if we left whatever park we were in. Made it possible for us to check out some other resorts.

 

[Figmentmommy]

We've never been a break-taking family either and I'm eternally jealous of people with kids who sleep in strollers. If there was stuff going on, there was no way my kids were going to fall asleep. Oh well, those days are past me now.

Those days are long gone for me too! My kids would mostly fall asleep during quieter times or very late in the evening. Otherwise they were riding and running and having a blast! But if they were tired they would lay back in the stroller and just close their eyes. We never had to try to get them to take a break or a nap. (This was mostly the younger one!) DH & I were very lucky and we know it!

 

[Figmentmommy]

Sorry misse320, I couldn't remove that smiley face I inadvertently added to your quote!

 

[mrzrich]

Another way to make a no break day more tolerable is to plan a low key air conditioned table service meal mid day.

 

[hsmamato2]

I think you'll be fine at DHS just taking in some shows or people watching. If your baby will nap in a stroller or in your lap you'll be golden. I would suggest considering this at other parks too. Sometimes the traveling back and forth can be bothersome. We were never a break-taking type of family, but my kids slept in the stroller wherever and whenever and we just kept doing what we wanted to do.
Have a great trip!

Yep. I never understood mid day breaks....esp. when the kids were little.... they just took naps in the stroller when needed, sometimes while DH and I found a shady spot out of the way to put up our own feet and relax too!

 

[itchin2go]

I might *try* to go without a break at DHS, but to some extent with a little-bitty one, you will have to play it by ear. I think at AK, you may find you're not even there until park close - just decidedly less to do there than at MK and Epcot.

We always take an afternoon break ... and really, we just return *somewhere* for dinner mostly. The break is probably for the grownups more than my daughter. LOL. We do make it to rope drop every day, so we get a LOT accomplished early in the day.

 

[merina888]

I never thought my kids got quality sleep in the stroller so we are a take a break after lunch family. My daughter needs several hours of nap or she is a bear. I also require a nap. My husband usually uses that time to do laundry or whatever.

 

[mrzrich]

He lets you nap while he does laundry? Umm....does he have a single brother?

 

[Ava]

Neither of my kids were/are good stroller nappers so we need to take a break on the longer days. On an AK day, she can make it with just a short stroller nap but we have an early dinner and bed time that night to compensate.

 

[tstottle]

Do you get there at park opening? When are you going (will heat and super crowds be a factor)? If you are going to that 7:30 show, I would say no break...plan a TS dinner to relax and then after dinner head to the show. If you eat at 5:30, you won't have time for a break but since the end of your day is kind of "slow" you hopefully wouldn't need one! Especially if this day is maybe sandwiched between break days.

 

[pens4821]

We were there January 2014 for the first time in over 10 years. We planned on taking breaks, but just never happened. We are planning on going next May and will most likely take breaks that time though. Since we now know some of the things we do/don't want to do, it should open up more free time. While I get some staying in the parks all day, that's just too tiring for us. We figure in the AM go into a park for a couple rides, maybe stroll around, then back to the resort by late morning/noon time. Then, around 2 ish hop to another park where we have FP set up.

We figure if we go to HS in the AM, we'd just ride RNRC or TSM and TOT. After that we'll most likely head out, maybe after a stroll. Will save the rest of the park for some evening we're there (we most likely won't be doing Indiana Jones or the stunt show). One morning we'll go to Epcot where we'll probably just ride TT or Soarin and Nemo (nephew loves it) then head out. Will explore the park more in depth the evening we spend there. It may seem silly to go to the park for two hours, but this way we get to ride our favorite rides, plus have a couple relaxing late mornings early afternoons.

We won't do this for MK or AK. We didn't go to AK last time, so we'll probably try to cram as much as we can from opening until about 1. Our MK days we'll probably just make that our only park (maybe hop somewhere for show at night).

 

[steelernation]

we're going the last week in october. plan on being at parks as close to rope drop as possible. MK and AK plan on having 8 am ADRs. I'm def. planning on breaks from MK and Epcot just to get away from the crowds for a bit. DS has ADHD and can sometimes get over-stimulated and excited. Really feel like a quiet break will be beneficial for him. DD is very calm and sleeps very well in a stroller. The breaks are more for DS and the adults. My main question I guess was geared more towards HS.

 

[Ava]

HS has a lot of shows and other indoor attractions (Magic of Disney Animation, One Man's Dream) that you could plan for the afternoon to give you a break from the heat. We also like to do a TS lunch as a way to take an afternoon break without leaving the park.

 

[caroline1851]

When my kids were younger (DD2, DS6) and then other trip (DD5 and DS8), we didn't take breaks. We just did overall shorter days because most days they were ready to leave thepark by 3p or so and just wanted to go back to resort and swim. It seemed also like a huge hassle to travel back and forth TWICE in one day. This upcoming trip, it's just going to be DS13 and me (believe it or not, DD didn't want to go) so we plan to go back to resort mid day for 4 hours or so then head back out for late nights.

 

[PoohsFan1]

DHS is the only park that we don't bother leaving the park to take a break. Since that park is the smallest of the parks, and there are a ton of shows to sit and relax in, plus we always make sure to make an ADR at a TS restaurant for lunch, we never had a reason to leave. My feet tend to not hurt as much at the end of the day when we go there, plus DHS is really easy to navigate, so even if you have to criss-cross paths to get to certain attractions, it really isn't a big deal.