August Meals - Do you do this?

[Ohana4]

Since it's sooo hot in August, we're planning on breakfast between 7:30- 8:00AM and get to the parks for 9AM opening (unless its EMH for MK - we'll grab a quick breakfast on the go) and we leave the MK/MGM/Epcot at 11:45AM for a swim and a nap at the hotel. Then we make dinner ressies between 5:30 - 6:00 and head back to the parks that are closest to where we're having dinner. Lunch is either counter service or a snack because its too hot to eat a big meal. We went to Disney for the Fourth of July a couple of years ago and the heat was too much that we couldn't do a full day in any of the parks. We found ourselves going first thing in the morning and heading out right before lunch. But we saw so many people arriving at the time we would be leaving (11:45). How do you handle the heat? Is the MK less crowded during lunch hours? Do you think dinner at 5:30 is too early? Because right after dinner we only have two hours to spend in either Epcot of the MK which doesn't seem like a lot of time. How do you make the most of your time in the parks and still eat, swim and take a nap?

 

[gigi1313]

we do a few different things, but what we have found works for us best is to get to the park as "early" as we can (when the kids were littler this was easier, now they're sleepyheads!) usually w/in 15 mins of opening having just had a snack (pop tart or a leftover pastry picked up the day before, something easy in the room) and we visit the park of the day for a few hours, hitting either all of one section or going for all the must-dos and then we go for a late ps breakfast in the park (usually a character meal/buffet/all-you-care-to-eat type)... after that meal we tend to take in a few shows and then maybe hit one more "big" ride and then head back to the hotel for our downtime (nap/swim/shop/light snack/etc)... we head back out around 4pm, not necessarily going to the same park, catch a parade or some more rides and then go for a 6 or 7pm dinner ps... watch an evening show or go back to the pool and call it a day... we rarely eat a real lunch and find that the later breakfast ps gives us great character interaction and tides us over easily 'til dinner (esp if we sneak in a mickey bar! LOL!)

 

[lillygator]

we do somewhat similar things....head to the park early and leave by lunchtime to hit the resort pool and then we head back out late for dinner - around 7 or so.

 

[Ohana4]

Thank your for your responses.

 

[duck_adoo]

Hi,
We've gone twice in Aug. and have done many of the same things. Hit parks early,break, ...Two other things we did:
1) bought the personal fans w/little sprayer bottles at Walmart for about $5 each. These were very good, the fans were styrofoam so we didn't have to worry about dd's getting hurt.

2) Also brought fabric hats from home (my cousin actually found Michey dedem hats at a dollar store ). These were especially helpful because we would wet them under the water fountains, squeeze out as much of the water as we could, and put them back on dd's head. It helped to cool them off.


DD's were 5 & 7 when we did this. Now that their 9, who knows if they'll want their hair ruined

Cheryl

 

[puffkin]

We do the exact same schedule when we go in the summer except for the one character breakfast we usually do each trip.

Depending on which resort we stay at, we might do counter service in the park though if the resort doesn't have a good food court. We usually have an early dinner and then enjoy the parks while everyone else is eating.

 

[babybunrab]

Ohana-We'll be doing what you plan on doing as it seems to work best for us northerners in the Florida heat! We usually eat and get to parks before opening, go back around 1:00, then either back to parks at dinnertime, then have dinner around 8 or 9, then back to resort, or, early dinner, then to the parks if we're staying late.

In addition to hats and sprayers, DON't forget your sunglasses! Nothing like squinting all day to give you a headache!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Even living near by what we do go early, leave and return home midday, and then returning for the evening.
That works out very well for us. We have fun and still get things done around the house.

We vacationed once when it was very hot. We both drank so many liquids, and were so busy we did not care about lunch. We ate a decent breakfast. And even at dinner I had a hard time eating past a salad and rolls. The salads were usually large enough for a meal itself.

 

[Emme]

What we do is a bit different. We head out for EMH in the AM, packing snacks in our fanny packs for the morning munchies. Then around 1:00 we stop for a nice relaxing air conditioned lunch. We then finish up around 3:00 head back to the hotel, swim/rest, shower, and head back out again around 7:00. We then grab a quick bite and do some shopping and rides. We beat the intense mid day heat and we are not going to bed on a full stomach which always seems to happen when we eat late in the evenings.