Do you go back to your hotel for a midday break?

[dbal]

O.k. - Like most of you on these boards, I like to plan......EVERYTHING. Everytrip in the past we took midday swim/nap hotel breaks which always worked out fine.

This will be our 1st trip in Dec. I'm anticipating the milder weather will help with our touring stamina. However; with the shorter hours, I'm getting nervous that we won't have enough touring time.

Our 4 dds range from 15 to 2. Also we will be offsite for the first time so we won't be taking advantage of EMH anymore.


Anybody have any suggestions or past experiences to share?
I'm having a tough time with my itinerary this time and now I'm thinking that I'm overthinking this whole thing.

Thanks.

 

[swilshire]

We always stay offsite and always leave around lunchtime or shortly after. Three or four hours is the most my husband will cheerfully stay. Weather permitting, we usually go back later. I always want to. DH is usually reluctant. I don't like to drive our full-size van (I drive a Subaru at home) so I prefer he do the driving except on the open interstate.

We get PAP so don't feel like we're "wasting our money", but I have to confess that even with multiple trips within the year, it seems hard to fit everything in. The kids have their favorite things that they want to do every trip.

We'll be back in October, so hopefully the lines will be short and we can make good use of our time.

Sheila

 

[Suzanne74]

since you were saying our kids, I am guessing you, DH and 4 girls will be attending.

I am no one for advice since I have a one 3yr old and we just got done taking our trip with a mid day break everyday BUT here is a suggestion...

Why not have you and DH take turns taking a break each day. One stay with the older kids who won't want to leave anyway and the other go back for a break with the younger one(s) nap then meet up in the late afternoon?

I am sure the 2 yr old will need a nap each day to survive even if it isn't hot out. I am not sure if she would sleep in the stroller but my dd needed a bed to get herself to sleep. She slept over 2 hrs everyday we were there and still seemed very tired by 9pm.

You and DH just might fight it out to see who takes the break - even without the weather it can get tiring - esp w/ 4 kids to please!

 

[Amirah95]

We never return for a midday break on a park day, but if I had a small child I would.

 

[princessmurdough]

I'd love some input, too. We'll be there Dec 26-30...two families, us with our 13 month old son, they have 3, ages 10, 3 & 2. It's our first time there when it will be this crowded, so what do you guys think? How do we best keep our sanity and see as much as possible? We will have 4 day hoppers.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We really like a mid day break even in December and even though we don't have a young child. After several trips we have learned to slow down and smell the roses. We always go back out later in the evening. However, we always stay on site and in December we like to stay at WL so this is very easy. I'm not sure how worth it, it is to go back to an off site hotel. We did this once when I was a kid and it took forever.
There are lots of ways to take a break with out going back to the hotel.
1. Make sure the 2 yr old has a stroller that reclines for a nap.
2.Take a long ride on the monorail
3. Go to one of the resorts for a long relaxing lunch.
4.Avoid rides and do some indoor quite shows.
5.Go over to Tom S. island and let the kids run wild for a while.
6.Head over to FW and have lunch at TEB and sit on the pourch and let the kids play.
7. OTHER???

Jordan's mom

 

[rcraw45425]

Oh boy will you feel better if you do! We have stayed onsite since our girls were tiny, it definitely makes your day and theirs better. We usually start out after a breakfast in the room, sometimes room service sometimes pop tarts or breakfast bars. We don't go kamakaze to the parks as early as possible, usually arrive around 10. Ride until lunch, usually eat either sit down or counter service. By around 3 we're wiped out. HEad back to the hotel, rest till dinner, eat, then return to a park for the evening. MK and WS are absolutely wonderful at night. The lights make the place seem magical, absolutely different than during the daytime. Our girls are 7 & 9 now, we've managed to stay at the parks till 11 or 12 the past few visits. We were offsite this past spring, it made it a little harder to do but with a dinner at a onsite monorail hotel you can do it. There'll be other vacations but if your child is misable no one will enjoy this magical time!

 

[Rapunsel]

I am a mom that if my DS3 falls asleep he falls asleep and he sleeps when he needs to. last october we stayed at ASMu and the bus and everything it was just too much waiting in line. Our DS was more cranky waiting for the bus than anything else. It was just easier to stay at the park and take the buse only once compared to twice.. We would find a bench and just sit and rest while DS2 (at the time) slept. I do know what you mean about the shorter hours.. So that can pose a problem so IMHO I always just stay and make sure we have a nice lunch and a fast dinner. As by dinner he can be a fit fussy, but nothing that we couldn't handle.

Also having older kids, they most likely won't want to go back to the hotel for a rest.. So I say just play it by ear and if you need to sleep in one day do that. But with only 4 days you are limited...

So just go with your best judgement as only you know your child.

 

[homeschooler]

I have never taken a mid day break and I went alone with a 4 mo old. However, we always go in the winter. From what I am gathering, the crowds a considerably less but I think more importantly is the weather. It is not so hot that the kids are whipped. My middle son napped very little early on so by 4, his first year at WDW, he wasn't napping at all for any reason. The baby of the family was a perfect child for the baby of the family. Very compliant, small build, decent eater, etc. So, we took a stroller, if he tired, he slept. He was small enough that if we wanted to go on a ride, DD 8 years older, or I could pick him up and carry him sleeping into a ride. Maybe he would wake, maybe he wouldn't.

I understand the many questions and needing responses and I have asked many myself but I find myself repeating pretty much the same thing:

It really depends on you and the child/children and they will let you know if they need a break or not.

Have fun

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I think I read somewhere that another poster said this past christmas 2 of the parks were at maximum capacity by 11 am. If you leave, you might not be able to get back in. Since you are staying off site you might want to take crowds, parking, etc, into consideration. I only did new years eve once and we were staying with friends in melbourne, never again.

 

[cinder1]

It's funny, but we were just having this discussion with a couple of other families recently. They take midday breaks but we never have. We are going again in 2 wks (weather permitting!!) and I'm concerned that this time, we or at least me and our 4 mth old will need to leave. We have 3 other kids (9, 7, 4) who have never left the parks at midday. The youngest used to sleep in the stroller as necessary. We just rested at the parks by stopping for an afternoon snack and soda or riding the train around, etc. We are staying at the CR so if the baby and I need to leave for a bit, it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[WDWFAN9]

Mom of four here (DS 27, DD25, DD 19, DS,17). I started going to WDW with the kids when the youngest was 18 months old. We always went in the summer and stayed on site for the option of going back to the room for a mid-day break. We never did though, and way back then (1990) the MK was open til midnight many nights. The youngest kids were used to napping in their strollers, so we just paced ourselves. If they were sleeping one of the adults would find a nice shady spot and sit and people watch while the rest of us continued with our fun.

I always hated to miss even a minute of park time, and the hassle of leaving and coming back didn't seem worth it to me. A lot depends on your kids. If they can't drop off in a crowd a break at midday might be unavoidable!

 

[mamalle]

we usually do and let our son take a nap along with dh. dd and I head to the pool.

 

[BevS97]

we never leave for a midday break - when we stay offsite, we would either arrive early and leave around 3, or arrive after lunch and stay till late (even in the winter MGM and Epcot are open pretty late, and MK is some nights)
My kids have always napped in the stroller when they needed a rest, and we take a leisurely lunch/dinner someplace cool and airconditioned (we have travelled with 3 month old, 3 1.2 yrs, 4 1.2yrs and 6 yrs -not all at once ) You don't have to have a full sit down meal to take a break - many of the counter services places are in relaxed surroundings where you can recharge your batterys.

I think if we headed back to our off-site villa then we would be unlikely to come back out again later.

We aren't full on commando's in the parks -we take things easy and stop frequently - but the time to get in and out of the parks is too long - especially if you are getting the boat or monorail at MK.

 

[Mainebound]

We play it by ear. We always have a sit down lunch in a park and decide after lunch whether we will stay or not. Our boys are ages 2 and 4 and we have been two times with them. We go when it is less crowded and shorter hours, in early March. But if it's really hot we might go back to the hotel (so far always onsite) right after lunch. One thing we sometimes do is stay until 3:00 or 4:00 rather than (a) leave at lunch or (b) close the park. Also, some of our best memories are returning to MK at 6:00 for just the last hour the park is open to do a ride or two and then see Wishes.

I am so compulsive, I actually make up a couple of itineraries for each day!

 

[BevS97]

Also, some of our best memories are returning to MK at 6:00 for just the last hour the park is open to do a ride or two and then see Wishes.

we really like to do this too - although tends to be a non-park day with a trip to MK in the evening (we have APs so we can do this without wasting a day). We find MK after dark is really magical, and we get loads done in the evening - Fantasyland and Tomorrowland always seem to be really quiet, and we have managed to get on things like Indy Cars which have too long a line during the day.

 

[tedhowe]

We nearly always take a mid-day break.

We head back to our villa shortly after lunch, take a rest and go back in the late afternoon.

This worked great with our 1 year old in Jan '03, but we always did it before we had kids anyway.

 

[hokiefan33]

A break during a park day? Surely you jest! Seriously though, we've never taken a midday break while we're down there. I don't think I could bear to break away. We've rented a double stroller for the kids (DS7 and DD4) to ride in if they get tired, but they always seem to have more stamina than we do (probably b/c I'm the one pushing the stroller!).

There are other things you can do to slow the day down though, without actually leaving the park:

Take the kids to a show - we use the Hall of Presidents, guaranteed nap for my DD!

Eat at a nice sit down restaurant where everyone can cool down.

Ride the TTA numerous times - great way to cool off and still be on a ride.

We just couldn't stand to leave during the day. You lose so much time, even if you're onsite, and if you only go once a year like we do, we try to make the most of our time!

 

[disneycrazzzy]

We've never taken breaks even when our children were small. This year we are planning a 10 day trip and I am hoping that we can get a break in each day. It will be April, so I assume the parks will be open moderately late. I know during our past trips, we've always had to take a whole day break after three days of touring or we'd all get too crabby. I'm planning a break each day and hoping we will go to a different park each day of our trip.

 

[msfredna]

On our trip in May I was determined that we would not take a break on our first day at MK because I didn't want to lose a minute. However, by 3:00 my 4 yr old DD was about to melt. We ended up taking a very very very long ride on the train and our daughter stretched across us in the seat and rested.
The next day, we stayed at MGM until 3:30 and returned to the resort (Pop) for a break and then went back to MK for Wishes and parade at about 6:00. It was a much better day for everyone.