**December 2012 Roll Call** Holidays, FLE Opening & MVMCP!! A very, merry thread!

[Tented1]

Thank you houstonmamma and Suziewan you are so right about the routine.

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

 

[molitva]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

 

[Phatoomch]

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

There is no 'band-aid' for your pain and I am truly sorry. Time is the healer.

Going to Disney will be a great thing for you and your DD - and your sister will always be there with you, inside x

 

[mom2travel]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

We're doing a no-break trip this December too. To me, park hours are too short to spend the time to go back to our resort. (We normally do some type of swim break.) We do have one day when we're doing MVMCP that we might stop back at our resort before heading to MK. we're also skipping park hoppers this time. No breaks & no hoppers hopefully will maximize our park time on this short trip

 

[Phatoomch]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

Meh! I'm a rule breaker. We don't take breaks (and we are the 'group' that is meant to take breaks - parents with medical issues, one in a EVC, an 11yr old, and hubby 51 who is asthmatic & has high blood pressure). We get to the parks early AND we go on EMH nights *gasp* and stay til close - earliest we got back to resort was 11.30pm. We average at least 12 hours in a park, one day with evening EMH we did 16hours . We use our TS meals as breaks

You'll be fine, you're young! I am anti-breaks .... there is no time for breaks when at Disney!

 

[Valgoof]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

The only day I have a planned break is the one where we are starting at DHS for rope drop and ending at MK for EMH until 1AM. Last year the same day was until 3AM so I am hoping the hours get extended. I know I will need a nap or I won't make it. Then I plan to not set an alarm the next morning and get to Epcot whenever we get there. We are normally rope drop to close people so I am not sure how this is going to work for us.

 

[Valgoof]

Meh! I'm a rule breaker. We don't take breaks (and we are the 'group' that is meant to take breaks - parents with medical issues, one in a EVC, an 11yr old, and hubby 51 who is asthmatic & has high blood pressure). We get to the parks early AND we go on EMH nights *gasp* and stay til close - earliest we got back to resort was 11.30pm. We average at least 12 hours in a park, one day with evening EMH we did 16hours . We use our TS meals as breaks

You'll be fine, you're young! I am anti-breaks .... there is no time for breaks when at Disney!

Yeah but that was the trip that you did all "wrong". LOL I can hear you now, telling your kids 'You can sleep at home!!' I may have said that once or twice last year.

 

[Tltorrez]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

When we went to Disneyland in summer we still took a mid-day break. But at WDW in the off- season, now that DS10 is older, we stopped the mid-day breaks. Especially with shorter park hours, we don't find it necessary. However, we never go more than two full days without a whole day off. Or sometimes we'll follow up a full day with a partial day somewhere, depending on what we want to see.

Also, I agree that a TS meal can be a nice break. But only if you're relaxed and nit looking at your watch trying to get on with the touring plan. When DS was still doing nap breaks, I would take him back to the hotel. But I nap; DH and DSis do not. So they would hop on the monorail, go to one of the resorts and find a restaurant or lounge. By the time we met up again we were all refreshed.

 

[Valgoof]

So DS had an insomnia incident last night and I ended up calling in sick. So the one day that I don't check for discounts first thing in the morning...
So I checked my email right before heading to DS's school orientation around 10am and of course saw the announcement. Of course, I had to stop and call.

Not surprisingly there was no discount available for my 2BDR at BWV. A saved $200 on my split stay 2BDR at AKV though, which was a nice surprise.

After the orientation though I couldn't resist coming home and crunching numbers. A 2BDR Lockoff at BWV is really just a 1BDR + Studio. There are a lot of 1BDRs and they're usually pretty readily available. But the 2BDRs and Studios fill up pretty early. So imagine my surprise when I realized that there were still Studios available. At rack rate a 2BDR is considerably cheaper than the 2 rooms separately. But with discount the separate rooms became $1100 cheaper. It took some family discussions regarding who went where and we'll now need an air mattress for DS10. But I went ahead and separated the rooms.

I have to admit it was a little nerve-wracking letting go of that 2BDR that I've had booked all year, knowing it was pretty much an irrevocable decision. Silly, I know. But anyway, we saved $1300 total and if deeper AP discounts come out next week we're now in a better position to save even more. So I'm really feeling pretty good right now.

Glad you were able to get a deal!! I know you were waiting for that discount. I was surprised that you weren't the one who announced it here. Hope you and DS got some sleep last night.

 

[Tltorrez]

Saved another $400 with the AP discounts this morning. That's a total discount of $1717.

 

[Valgoof]

Saved another $400 with the AP discounts this morning. That's a total discount of $1717.

Wow!! That's awesome! More money for the next trip!!

 

[molitva]

The only day I have a planned break is the one where we are starting at DHS for rope drop and ending at MK for EMH until 1AM. Last year the same day was until 3AM so I am hoping the hours get extended. I know I will need a nap or I won't make it. Then I plan to not set an alarm the next morning and get to Epcot whenever we get there. We are normally rope drop to close people so I am not sure how this is going to work for us.

Okay, ya'll make me feel better! Unlike Phatoomch, give me a rule so I can follow it But I just can't bring myself to lose that much park time. I think we'll be good to go!

 

[Phatoomch]

Yeah but that was the trip that you did all "wrong". LOL I can hear you now, telling your kids 'You can sleep at home!!' I may have said that once or twice last year.

I certainly did I can't help it .... I read all these "you have to do it this way" posts and I'm like "why?"

My way was get there, go on what we want when we want, leave when we're ready to drop. We didn't use a FastPass *shocker* I thought they were kinda crazy .... come back in two hours??? I don't know what I'll be doing in two hours! I looked at the crowd calendars and they said don't go to park X on the days I wanted to go so I was like screw that and haven't looked at a crowd calendar since.

We had an AWESOME trip. No tears, no stress, no clock watching. Didn't feel that we missed anything.

Yep, I'm bad .... and I'm gonna do it all wrong this trip too

 

[Phatoomch]

Okay, ya'll make me feel better! Unlike Phatoomch, give me a rule so I can follow it But I just can't bring myself to lose that much park time. I think we'll be good to go!

Nooooo, break the rules!! *sings in head breaking the law, breaking the law*

 

[grrrlennyl]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I'm in my early-30s and my partner is in her mid-20s and we didn't take any breaks when we went in December last year. Our feet HURT, but we survived. There were days when we'd leave before park close (usually is we went for early EMH), but we were at the parks pretty much all day every day.

Come to think of it, even when I was younger (10) and my brother was only 6, I don't remember taking breaks when we went as a family trip. Ha!

 

[Phatoomch]

I'm in my early-30s and my partner is in her mid-20s and we didn't take any breaks when we went in December last year. Our feet HURT, but we survived. There were days when we'd leave before park close (usually is we went for early EMH), but we were at the parks pretty much all day every day.

Come to think of it, even when I was younger (10) and my brother was only 6, I don't remember taking breaks when we went as a family trip. Ha!

Exactly. You can bleed later

 

[ksromack]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

Me and hubby do not plan on breaking at all.....even on our MK day....planning on rope drop AND MVMCP that night! Neither one of us requires more than 5 or 6 hours sleep

 

[moozle]

Question for those that travel to WDW without kids (or at least, young kids). Do you take afternoon breaks back to the hotel? Even in December?

I know the standard advice is to break mid-day. However, my bf and I (both mid 20's) will be going in December, without kids. With the cooler temperatures and shorter park hours, I haven't planned breaks back to the hotel.

I'm hoping that plan doesn't backfire on me. We have some mid-day ADRs that should provide for a nice break and all our days (except for the last day) should have us back to the hotel no later than 10:30.

Let me hear from all you non-mid-day breakers! Tell me how it's possible.

We travel with kids (currently 8 and 5, but this will be their 4th trip) and we have never taken a mid day break. And we are there usually rope drop to close (but we don't do late extra hours). We've never had a problem.

Our kids have napped in strollers if they needed it, and DH and I have just never even considered needing breaks for ourselves.

You have to do what works for YOU though.

 

[Mom2Cody06]

We aren't planning on breaks during our trip. Who knows when we will ever get to do WDW no kids again. Lol. But we are arriving Monday (after driving 17 hrs) and plan a rest/resort hop day and Tuesday during the day is the same thing until we head to MK for MVMCP at 4. So with a day and a half of rest real be ready to play till we drop.

 

[SAT887]

I would not take breaks if my kids would allow it... They are not the stroller napping type. Too afraid of missing out on something. One year we did MNSSHP and I was slightly jealous by the exhausted sleeping munchkins.... It's the same reason I'm taking a 12:30 flight home and not a 5:30...

When I went on my honeymoon we didn't take breaks. However we were there for almost 2 weeks and by day 5 or 6 we did more "exploring" in and around Disney....