Bedtimes

[Dragonfly_34]

Do you try to stick to your children's usual bedtimes when you're at Disney or do you let them stay up later than normal?

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Later than usual, but my kids are 11 and 8.

 

[msmama]

My son is the kind of kid that wakes up EA RLIER after a late night so we try to stick within an hour or so of regular bedtime.

If we do a late night we don't do rope drop the next morning (even if we are awake).

 

[MandiC]

They were 7 and 9 on our trip, they stayed up later and woke up earlier...and they were fine

In general, when we are on vacation or at any special event (wedding, family gathering, ect) we allow our kids to stay up later than we normally would.

 

[SweetMissy]

My kid's bedtime is 7:30....so no, we don't stick to their schedule while on vacation. That would make for some boring nights, lol.

 

[Dragonfly_34]

My kid's bedtime is 7:30....so no, we don't stick to their schedule while on vacation. That would make for some boring nights, lol.

This is my problem too.....we start the bedtime routine at 7:30pm and everyone is in bed by 8pm. My 5 year old won't sleep in past 6am regardless of what time he goes to bed, and usually one of the twins will wake up then too. I was thinking of taking them to outdoor movies by the pool a couple of times but they start at 8:30pm and I don't know if that will make for too late of a night. I'm going to let them stay up as late as they want when we are at the Halloween party and I'm hoping that won't be a mistake since we head home the next day.

 

[Gracie09]

They usually go to bed around 7:30. At wdw this last time they were going to bed around 8-8:30 but they get up around 6:30 regardless of the time they go to bed and we had a one bedroom villa so my husband and I just hung out on the balcony watching the electric boat parade and enjoying some downtime.

 

[Disney Mommy D]

My kids are so worn out after a full day of Disney that most days they fall asleep around their usual times. We only stay out late one night during our trips. My kids are morning people, so we wake up and get started pretty early.

 

[happymommy]

When my kids were young their bedtime was also about 7:30. My DD especially was ready for bed pretty much by 8 at Disney, so sometimes I'd have DH put her to bed and I'd have DS in his jammies, and we'd go out for a little stroll in the stroller for a bit - he'd be out by 8:30 or so.

Honestly, we were tired too so just hung out and went to sleep pretty early.

My kids would be up early, so we'd have breakfast and head out.

They never really saw any fireworks until they were older - it just worked out better for us to have them get a good nights sleep.

They would still nap daily in the stroller while we were out.

 

[Tylerandhayleysmom]

At home my 3 and 7 year old are down by 8:30PM, but when we're at Disney it's WHENEVER THEY WANT!!!! YAY!!! lol..... I call it "Disney Time". It's as much of their vacation away from the "Norm" as it is mine...so we throw caution to the wind and let them poop themselves out whenever that time is They love the extra freedom.

 

[Ladcassidy]

We give a little bedtime leeway to DD6, so that we can enjoy Wishes one night of our trip and HDDR another evening. Otherwise, we stick to our general bedtime schedule (8:00) as much as possible.

 

[mrsp1030]

We are very flexible at Disney and often let them dictate when we stay out later than bedtimes, going off cues of how tired they are. Many nights I recall my husband in the pool with our oldest DS at 10pm.

 

[OZMom]

We are very flexible at Disney and often let them dictate when we stay out later than bedtimes, going off cues of how tired they are. Many nights I recall my husband in the pool with our oldest DS at 10pm.

This is totally our plan. Bedtime at home is 8 on school nights and sometimes later on weekends, if they are not cranky. We want to be at RD most days, so I am sure we will not have a lot of late nights, but who knows with all the excitement of Disney My kids are champs though and usually have a good attitude, even when they are overtired so fingers crossed they don't make a liar out of me on vacation!!

 

[Happyjen27]

If I were travelling with 2 year olds, I would stick to the normal bedtime most nights.

My first trip was with my 5 year olds, and we stayed up late maybe 3 of the 9 nights. And only when we didn't have any early plans the next morning, so they didn't have to get up and go, go, go.

We still have not seen Fantastmic! or Illuminations because we don't want to burn them out by staying out too late many nights. When we go to other vacation, beach house rentals, cruises, things like that, we stay up late every night. But, Disney is different. It's exhausting, and I want to keep them as rested as possible by at least offering their normal 12 hours of sleep a night.

 

[bostonminnie]

We just got back from a week at WDW with our 2 year old. We kept his bed time consistent with what we do at home (7:30), but he's the kind of kid that needs a consistent schedule. We also traveled with my 2 year old nephew who did stay up later and slept in later. Our son will still wake up early even if he goes to bed later. I say it just depends on the kid whether or not you can do later bed times.

We did miss out on some of the fun evening activities, but it was worth it to us to have a well rested toddler.

 

[AZMermaid]

My kids are 2.5 and 4. Bedtime starts at 7, asleep by 7:30. We stick as close as possible to this on vacation. They are early risers (5:45ish) and later bedtimes does not change this. Our last trip (not Disney) we did stay out until like 9 for a wedding. We will likely try one late night, but the rest, try to be starting bedtime by 7/7:30.

 

[pineappletreat]

Like other people have said, it depends on your child.

My now 7 year old (need to update the profile after his October birthday!) needs 12 hours of sleep. And it doesn't matter what time you put him to bed, he'll be up around 7. So bedtime is 7 (teeth 6:45).

We know this about him though so we booked a 1 bedroom with a theme park view. So many people say that you don't spend much time in your room so save money there, but since I know at least half of my time will be spent in the room, we wanted to be comfortable.

I am really hoping to do Fantasmic though on our first day, it is at 6:30. I really don't want to start the trip off with his head spinning around from lack of sleep though. Decisions, decisions.

 

[ilovebassets]

The last time we went, the kids were about 1.5 yrs and 3.5 yrs. We definitely stick to bedtime as much as possible, which is about 8pm. Though I won't lie, by then end of a nine night trip, we definitely have some bedtime drift and it'sm more like 9pm. My kids typically wake up between 6:00 and 6:30, and if anything, keeping them up late makes them wake up even earlier. I can't wait for the days when we really can keep them up late, but we aren't there yet. It just makes everyone tired and then everyone is miserable.

Cruising next month...we'll see if they can start staying out a little later. I'm guessing the four year old will be ready but not my two year old.

 

[Crystal824]

I think it depends on the kid too. In the past, we have not enforced our normal bedtimes at WDW. With my older DD, we would stay out later and sleep a little later sometimes. She would often fall asleep in the stroller. She is a flexible kid. Honestly, on the weekends at home, we don't adhere to strict bedtimes with her. We do during the week because she is in Pre-K and preschool before that.

Our youngest is only 4 months, but I'm already worried about our upcoming trip. She demands to be nursed, rocked, and then put in her crib about 8:30 every night. If we happen to not be home (has happened once or twice) she gets very upset. I can already tell she is going to be a very different kid, less flexible and all that.

 

[mcjaco]

We played it by ear last time.....which meant at 15 months, we were back at the hotel by dinner, and they were out cold by 7 or 8.

This year we have some late night stuff planned so, were going to the parks later on those days, and if they pass out in the stroller will roll with it and take quiet time as well.