Bedtimes at Disney

[winifred]

We are heading to Disney for our first trip in May! My girls are 7 & 3, and, usually, they are in bed by 8:30 PM (sometimes earlier, rarely later). Reading about all of the great events / activities for kids later at night has me wondering, how does bedtime work (or not work) at Disney?

We are staying at the YC and am thinking of seeing the fireworks show at Epcot because its an hour earlier than at MK and we can walk back to our resort. I see that HS has a Disney Jr. dance party during evening EMH (I just discovered this today so am not certain its still around). I think my girls would love it, but it doesn't start until 10PM!

My 7 year old no longer naps during the day, and my 3 year old doesn't nap every day.

Just curious what others have experienced! Thanks!

 

[baseballnut]

My daughter is only 3, but when we went in December we made a point to go back to the hotel after lunch (or for lunch) every day. After the first day it was easy for all of us to take a quick nap because we were tired out, then we were able to go back at night to the parks. The bonus is the parks were much emptier at night and we were able to stay out late.

If you're on property, heading for a break at the resort can help you stay out past their bedtimes. Even if you don't sleep, just unwinding in the dark room with the tv on can help.

 

[SweetMissy]

My kids bedtime is 7:30-8pm, but at disney...that's impossible. So the bedtime goes out the window, they're on vacation too so of course can stay up longer. We're pretty much at the parks from rope drop until dark and normally handle it well. Our little one will nap in the stroller. Some folks go back to their resort to take a rest...that could be something you could plan on doing. We're going in May too! When you going? We're going the 3rd week.

 

[handicap18]

Good luck with that. The rules change at Disney. We've gone twice with the kids when they were young. Some nights we all stayed out real late (closed MK once {it was MVMCP} and HS once). Other nights either my wife or I went back with the kids and the other stayed at the park. One trip my wife went back with her father and our 2 boys (1 and 5 at the time) and I stayed at EPCOT with my daughter (she was 3 at the time) and my sister and BIL. We never made rope drop. Some mornings my wife went to the park that morning EMH for a few hours by herself then came back for breakfast at the hotel then we all went to a park.

You can make it work so everyone has a great time.

 

[design_mom]

My kids are older now (9 and 13), but when the kids were younger we found through trial and error that, for us, sticking pretty close to at-home bedtimes made for a much better trip.

We tried a mid-day break, but I don't think anybody got that much rest. We would stay up for the fireworks one time (usually near the end of the trip), but otherwise we found that happy, well-rested kids during the day made missing some of the evening activities worth it. I am looking forward to our next trip (2015) when we'll probably be able to stay up later and do some more of the later evening stuff.

 

[amomma23]

We go rope drop to fireworks every park day. We do as others have suggested and eat an early-ish lunch, then head back to the resort. The kiddos climb into bed with lights out & curtains closed. They are usually out in less than 5 min (including the 11 year-old). DH and I will just take some time to relax, get a mug refill, throw in some laundry, sit on the balcony and check email... Around 4:00 we get everyone up and cleaned up for dinner. After dinner it's back to close whatever park we're visiting. AK day, we stay until we're done and have an early, relaxing night.

 

[BeckyEsq]

When we took our almost 3 year old last summer we stuck to the early bed time. The only night we stayed out late was our last night, when we went to see the electrical parade in MK. Every other night we were in our hotel room by 8 and once DD fell asleep DH and I just relaxed and played on our Kindles. We were up very early -- although still not early enough not to feel we had to hustle to make park opening -- and had one early pre-opening ADR, one am EMH and were there at park opening the other days. We took a break in the afternoon to shower and change and DD even napped, even though she no longer napped at home. The activity and heat wore her out I guess. We had a dinner ADR every night usually between 5 and 6. One night we went for an evening swim. We did miss out on some of the evening activities but with such a little one we felt it was worth it to avoid meltdowns. I feared if she got overtired she wouldn't sleep, and if none of us slept we would all be cranky. Also it meant when we came home there was no bad transition back to bedtime.

This time we will probably have two later nights as we want to see Illuminations but we will do them late in the week so at least the first few days we are sticking more to our usual schedule.

 

[jacquelinemc]

Same as previous poster...we are up at rope drop, schedule early lunches, come home to nap and swim, then back out to park close! If you plan on having a late night you can always choose to visit a non-EMH park the next morning, too!

 

[seenellie81]

You can stick with the bed times and skip the evening activities. Or you can go back and take a nap during the day and go back out to the parks in the evening. My kids still took naps at disney when they no longer napped at home. They were tired! The nice thing about the afternoon naps is that is when the parks seem to get busier and waits get longer as well as thats usually the hottest part of the day during the hotter seasons. Because of this it is always nice to leave the parks and get some rest. We usually make it to rope drop at the parks and morning EMH. This gives us enough time that by afternoon we are not only ready for a break but we have also gotten alot done in the park. Of course we do make exceptions for this. My kids love the night time EMH at MK, so we do that with them but then the next morning is a later morning for us because we sleep a little later. We also dont usually nap on AK day because the park closes earlier and we are back to the resort earlier. We also find that we are done with AK before it closes.

 

[dprincessmom]

Bedtime goes out the window on our trips. My 7 year old only sleeps during the day if she is sick at home, but at WDW we have a mandatory rest. After the first day the rest ends up as a nap.

We hit rope drop most mornings, nap after lunch and then close the park down. We have been touring this way since she was 5 and have never had a problem.

At home bedtime is 8 and wake up is 6 so she is used to getting up early. It is funny how cool the younger kids think they are getting to stay up late at WDW. She talks about it all the time.

 

[tanyaandallie]

When my kids were younger we tried to stick as close to normal bedtime as possible. This was not too difficult as we normally traveled during non-peak seasons when the parks were really not open very late. During the summer months when fireworks are at 10 PM that is really tough. When we went in more crowded times we would pick a night or 2 for late nights.

We have always done rope drop til after lunch, back to the resort for naps, and then back to the park for dinner and more rides. I personally cannot imagine my kids (or hubby and I) making rope drop til close every day of our trip during the summer when parks are open late. That would just be misery for us.

 

[winifred]

Thanks all for sharing your experiences! I think we will probably do a mix, on an emh morning we will do a break, if not, we might try for a late arrival.

 

[seenellie81]

Thanks all for sharing your experiences! I think we will probably do a mix, on an emh morning we will do a break, if not, we might try for a late arrival.

I think that you will really enjoy the EMH in the morning. Its really worth it to get there early. My kids were able to ride their favorite rides over and over with little to no wait, sometimes they didnt even have to get off the ride and back on because they had no line. I dont know how much this was affected by the new FP+, I am hoping not much at all. I have read that it hasnt affected it much. We go until about lunch time then head back to the resort, have lunch, swim, nap etc. Have dinner and head to a different park for the evening. The only reason we go to a different park is because i have read that the park that has EMH is usually the busiest for that day. I dont know how true this is because i have always avoided those parks after lunch time, just because thats what i have read. I hope your family has a great First Disney Vacation, I promise you that there is no other place that compares to the feeling you get when you walk down main street for the first time and see the kids reactions!!

 

[msmama]

We've never done more than one late night during a trip. I find it's just easier to stick to a normal ish bedtime - or within an hour or so of normal bedtime. No way would we be able to stay up until 10!!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We each know our kids best. Our kids don't get cranky when they are tired. Two of them just crash. The other two will tell us when they had enough - even at a young age so then one of us would go back with them. We do go back to the hotel to take a break and head back around 6 or 7pm and stay until closing.

Our kids look forward to the extended bed times at DW. We all love staying until late. We get to go on our favorite rides over and over again.

 

[dsneygirl]

We're in the "bedtimes go out the window" camp. But my kids always just passed out in the stroller when they were exhausted. Maybe 8 maybe 10 o clock. If not in the stroller than 99% of the time on the bus.

My ODS is 7 and can easily go until 10-11 at night. He doesn't nap but we always take a mid day break, swim, watch a little Disney Channel and then go back.

 

[kmb584]

At home DD goes to bed at 8:30p but that flies out the window when we're in Disney. Most nights we're back at our resort and getting for bed around 10p but there have been nights (MNSSHP to name one) that it's after midnight by the time we get back. If I know it's going to be a late night I watch DD like a hawk for signs of tiredness and adjust plans accordingly (back to resort for a nap, quiet spot in the park to relax, etc).

 

[jms]

Our bed times also go out the window at Disney. One of the best tips I have seen is to bring pajamas for the little one and change her at the park.

 

[smiths02]

When my DS was about 3, we mostly did EMH/rope drop, afternoon break, dinner (usually a "fun" dinner) at 5-6 and back to hotel for bed

One thing to keep in mind is that some of the night activities are scary for little kids (loud fireworks, for example)

Another thing to keep in mind is heat and crowds...it will probably be easier to do things at rope drop

Our next trip, when our twins are 2.75, we will plan mostly to do as we did with our first son, but we might try to stay out later a few nights if we can sleep in the next day. The problem with my kids is that they NEVER sleep past 7:30 am no matter how late they stay up.

Oh, and DS was outgrowing nap, but in June heat and getting to parks at 8/9 am, we were all tired by 2 pm and we usually all took a nap. We were all usually tired again around 8 as well!

 

[Happyjen27]

As with all things, it depends on the child.

For us, we can push bedtime two or three times a week, but, we always make sure we have no AM plans the next morning so we can sleep as late as we'd like. More late nights than that and we're asking for overtired kids. So, every other night, we'd make sure we're in the hotel room by 6, in bed by 7:30. The morning following that would be a Rope Drop morning.

But, that's my style. I don't like pushing my kids until they are too tired, I would rather see fewer things but set my kids up for success by ensuring they are well rested. In real life, we aren't a go, go, go family. They are fit and active, running and playing all the time, but don't do more than one extracurricular, we are pretty laid back and chill. So, it makes sense we would vacation in the same easy, relaxed manner.

After 2 visits to WDW, we still have never seen Illuminations or Fantastmic!. We did watch Wishes once in the park, and from our room in December quite a few times, but just as many times the kids were in bed sleeping. When my pair is older, we'll of course catch the other late night shows, but they don't know what they're missing, and haven't noticed. They would notice the missing sleep though.