Bedtime Wtih 2 Kids - 1 Room

[MrsRyan]

My 4yo and 2yo do not share a room. My 4yo takes FOREVER to go to bed because he likes the play. I usually put them to be at 8PM. My 2yo goes right to bed. My 4yo take about 60-90 minutes to finally go to sleep. While I recognoize that he'll be more tired than usual and it will be later than 8PM, I still have questions.

We're staying at SSR and have a 1 bedroom suite - so a king bed in the bedroom and a pull out couch in the Living Room area. Where do you have your kids sleep in your hotel room that actually gets them to sleep? Where do you go at that time? How late do you keep kids out at that age? I can't imagine keeping a 2yo out until 10PM to watch Wishes.

Thanks for any advice Disboards. I just love all of you! You're always so helpful.

 

[ElenaRN]

When my ODD was 2, she slept in the PnP. If I am remembering the layout of a 1 BR in SSR accurately, I think there is a pretty big closet in the bathroom. We put the PnP in there. It stuck out maybe a little less than halfway. It worked for us. She is now 4 and on our last trip she slept in bed with us and YDD was in PnP.

We aren't strict with bedtimes while on vacation, but if we know we are going back to park after dinner, we try to at least have some quiet time back in room for a bit. ODD was and is a terrible sleeper, but would ALWAYS take a nap in the stroller at WDW and would always be asleep within 5-10 min at night, if she didn't fall asleep in car ride home.

Also, at 2 ODD was TERRIFIED of fireworks, so we would try to be out of the parks by the time any of the nighttime shows started.

I think the main thing when travelling with little kids is to be fliexible. Also, not to have too many expectations.

 

[Feberin]

We were all in one room together. The first night was definitely a struggle to get the kids to go to sleep with lots of reminders that they needed to go to sleep because we were going into the parks the next morning. After that night though they were exhausted and went to bed a lot quicker. Is your two year old a sound sleeper? Could you put them to sleep first then keep your older child quiet with a show or something until they're asleep then put your older child to sleep?
Our kids typically go to sleep around 7 pm. We extended it a bit most nights but I think they went to bed around 8 pm most nights. The last night we did fireworks because we were driving home the next day and wanted tired kids for the car ride.

 

[MrsRyan]

She's a pretty heavy sleeper so 'fingers crossed' she'll sleep through any noise made at night. I think having him watch the iPad if he's still awake is a good idea. I'll have him watch Disney movies to get him excited for the next day.

I'm going to go look at SSR room pics to check out the closet size. I may put her to sleep in the PnP in the bathroom if the closet isn't big enough.

 

[Lupeix]

You can put your 2yo to sleep in a pack and play in your bedroom earlier than everyone else and let the 4yo sleep by himself on the pullout couch and go to bed later.
I have no experience with 2 kiddos, but last time we were at WDW we had a 1 bedroom and we had a crib in our room and I will put DS down (who was 2 and 1/2) early and then stay up late with DH.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

My kids are a pretty big age gap. I have a 8 yr old and a 1 1/2 year old. The younger 1 goes to bed at 8 and the older one goes to bed at 8:30 on school nights and 9:00 on weekends. When we go to disney I plan on keeping my 8 year old out for a lot of the evening activities. We have reservations for the Wishes Desert Party, I am going to let him see Fantasmic, Main Street Electrical Parade, and Illuminations. My little 1 on the other hand is going to go back to the hotel with daddy to go to bed. I might let him stay up 1 night and see the Electrical Parade though. Both my kids are pretty good sleepers. We are staying in a deluxe room at the Grand Floridian so my older son is going to sleep on the pull out couch and we are bringing our pack n play for the younger son. My older son does know the rules though is the baby is sleeping he has to be very quiet. So maybe you could go that route with your 4 year old make is a "quiet" game. Not sure if that will work for you or not. Or you could always try 1 night of evening activities and see how is goes. He may be really sleepy from all the excitement of staying up a little past his bedtime to do something fun that he might go to sleep right away when you get back to the hotel. Fingers crossed for you that its not too difficult, lol

 

[deedeew80]

I have been wondering about this as well. We are staying at All Star Movies..in one room, with 2 full beds. There is me, DH, DD5 & DS3. As of right now (we are moving in a few months) the kids share a room & are great sleepers. They both go to bed at the same time. Usually around 8 or so. I'm not sure how we are going to work bedtime while in Disney. I don't want to keep them out too late though. Maybe 2 or 3 nights we will plan on watching parades and fireworks (they love them!) My thing is, once the kids go to bed, what are DH & I going to do?! LOL! The kids don't sleep with the TV on so that's out. It's a value resort, so no balcony to go on. I mean, I guess we could sit out from of our room for a little while. Then again, DH has no issue with this, and will probably just go to bed himself! LOL! I'm the night owl!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I have been wondering about this as well. We are staying at All Star Movies..in one room, with 2 full beds. There is me, DH, DD5 & DS3. As of right now (we are moving in a few months) the kids share a room & are great sleepers. They both go to bed at the same time. Usually around 8 or so. I'm not sure how we are going to work bedtime while in Disney. I don't want to keep them out too late though. Maybe 2 or 3 nights we will plan on watching parades and fireworks (they love them!) My thing is, once the kids go to bed, what are DH & I going to do?! LOL! The kids don't sleep with the TV on so that's out. It's a value resort, so no balcony to go on. I mean, I guess we could sit out from of our room for a little while. Then again, DH has no issue with this, and will probably just go to bed himself! LOL! I'm the night owl!

LOL if your the night owl have him stay with the kids and you head back to the parks and have some fun. I did that before and it was a lot of fun just to have some me time. Or maybe you can hire that babysitting service that Disney recommends and you and your husband can have a date night while your kids are asleep. Disney is not just for the younger generation lol

 

[Pesky]

Mine were 4 and 6 and I had a similar scenario (luckily has changed since DS had his tonsils out -- he's no longer a night owl so probably an oxygenation issue previously). I got extra pillows and divided the bed. I told DS I would take treats away for the next day. I only had to do so once -- then he learned his lesson and he was so tired he just went to sleep. You can either let your oldest watch some movies or TV (non-exciting stuff) in your room while your 2YO gets to sleep or read to him in your room. I'd just probably do something low-key to let his brain unwind and get ready for sleep. Then you can put him to bed. We often put on classical music or Norah Jones to help them get to sleep -- swear she knocks my kids right out!

 

[Feberin]

I have been wondering about this as well. We are staying at All Star Movies..in one room, with 2 full beds. There is me, DH, DD5 & DS3. As of right now (we are moving in a few months) the kids share a room & are great sleepers. They both go to bed at the same time. Usually around 8 or so. I'm not sure how we are going to work bedtime while in Disney. I don't want to keep them out too late though. Maybe 2 or 3 nights we will plan on watching parades and fireworks (they love them!) My thing is, once the kids go to bed, what are DH & I going to do?! LOL! The kids don't sleep with the TV on so that's out. It's a value resort, so no balcony to go on. I mean, I guess we could sit out from of our room for a little while. Then again, DH has no issue with this, and will probably just go to bed himself! LOL! I'm the night owl!

We stayed at All Star Sports so similar room. We had a little area with a curtain that separated a sink and the door to the bathroom from the rest of the room. We pulled that curtain and went back there when the kids were bed then got on a laptop and ipad we'd brought for a little while until we were ready to fall asleep. The first night we also had to turn the lights off and sit completely silent until they went to sleep but every other night they were out pretty quickly even with a normalish bedtime they were exhausted from being the parks all day. We were pretty tired too and although we typically stay up until 11 or so at home we were ready for bed around 9. Later in the week they were so tired we'd have the lights on after they were in bed walking around, talking and getting things ready for the next day. Usually they would have woken up from that but they slept through it. We probably could have turned the TV on but we didn't chance it.

 

[deedeew80]

We stayed at All Star Sports so similar room. We had a little area with a curtain that separated a sink and the door to the bathroom from the rest of the room. We pulled that curtain and went back there when the kids were bed then got on a laptop and ipad we'd brought for a little while until we were ready to fall asleep. The first night we also had to turn the lights off and sit completely silent until they went to sleep but every other night they were out pretty quickly even with a normalish bedtime they were exhausted from being the parks all day. We were pretty tired too and although we typically stay up until 11 or so at home we were ready for bed around 9. Later in the week they were so tired we'd have the lights on after they were in bed walking around, talking and getting things ready for the next day. Usually they would have woken up from that but they slept through it. We probably could have turned the TV on but we didn't chance it.

That sounds like a good idea with the curtain! Like you said though, more than likely we will be tired out as well & ready for bed! Lol!

 

[MrsRyan]

Yes Yes! All of these ideas! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Elacklen]

Headphones with iPad? For a kid or adult...a way to stay awake in a darkened room

 

[HCinKC]

LOL if your the night owl have him stay with the kids and you head back to the parks and have some fun. I did that before and it was a lot of fun just to have some me time. Or maybe you can hire that babysitting service that Disney recommends and you and your husband can have a date night while your kids are asleep. Disney is not just for the younger generation lol

Hmm, this is a good idea. I might have to do it...the me time, that is.

We are staying in a single at CBR and have been wondering about bedtime, too. Our 6yo is a fantastic sleeper, always has been. Our 7mo is not. at. all. Currently, we plan to put them both to bed at the same time, then we'll sit outside the door. We might watch Netflix, but we also really like to unplug on vacation, so we might just talk. Whatever we do, it will be outside until we are ready to go to bed. There is not a chance the baby will stay asleep with the tv on. If that doesn't work the first night or two, we might move his pnp into the bathroom. If that doesn't work, I guess no one is sleeping for a week...haha!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I was really worried about this too when we went last year. We had our 8 month old and I was concerned about his sleeping pattern. First of all I was concerned bc he had never slept in a pnp, then I was concerned about what we would do when the kids went to sleep.

First of all both me and my husband are not really night owls lol. Most of the nights my husband went to bed with the kids lol. As for me a couple nights I went into the parks myself for some me time lol. Apparently out of my family I was the only one that wanted to see the electrical parade. The other nights I sat out on my balcony. We stayed at the CR with a theme park view so I just sat out there and watched the fireworks.

But in all honesty there was so much going on during the day for my 8 month old to see and experience that by the time bed time rolled around he didn't want to know nothing and he slept sound asleep the whole night.

 

[leahlefler]

We usually dim the lights in the hotel room at bedtime and turn the TV on to something boring (boring for the kids, anyway), like ESPN. My kids normally do not watch TV to go to sleep, but when we are on vacation we bend the rules with this - when they were 2 and 4, they didn't really care about ESPN and would doze off (and DH was able to watch something he was interested in, but was still OK for kids to watch). I always brought my Kindle so I could read.

I do think the ESPN technique has backfired, though, as they are now 7 and 9 and are HUGE sports fanatics. That won't work for us this time (they LOVE ESPN now), but they are older and (hopefully) will just pass out at night due to exhaustion. LOL

 

[buzznina]

We have always had music playing and a small light on whenever we put our DDs to sleep at home since they were an infant. Now once they are asleep DW and I can watch TV, discuss our plans for the next day and get everything ready... without worrying if they wake up. The only thing we usually have to do is lay down with them until they fall asleep, rarely over 30 minutes. I will say some of those times laying together have created some great memories, because sometimes we will just lay there and talk about the day we had and what were our favorite things etc. Just listening to their excitement and some of their answers from their perspective on rides, characters or even meals would crack DW and I up. We also do not stick to their home bedtimes and if we stay out late we do not get up early the next morning, we try to make sure they get their needed sleep. Hopefully your children will be so exhausted that it's a none issue. Have a great trip

 

[Meghoya]

We usually set up a divider of some sort so LO can't see the older ones. Usually this involves a pack and play behind an ironing board and blanket

 

[crisi]

Most people who worry about this worry unnecessarily. After a full day of stimulation and sunshine, the vast majority of kids go to sleep easily at Disney - probably earlier than you want. Mine didn't see fireworks until they were tweens, they couldn't go that long.

 

[djp0630]

I took my almost 2 year old son and 4 year old daughter to WDW and we all stayed in one room. We rented a crib from A baby's best friend (www.abbf.com) for my son and put him on the opposite end of the room from my daughter because I was worried about that. Close to the door/bathroom. They had NO issues going to sleep. And in our last trip, we took our twin 18 month olds, our 4 year old and 6 year old, and they all shared a room. We again rented cribs for them from A baby's best friend. I felt they were too big to have them sleep in a Pack N Play all week and we needed sleep. After the first night, they all slept fine since they were worn out! We did not do any fireworks, but again they were up later than at home.