Do you leave the parks in the middle of the day? tips?

[loves to dive]

While we don't plan breaks, we have gone back to the resort for whatever reason and then gone back to the parks. I don't find it a problem at all, we've gone back to the resort, had a swim, then headed to another park and even left that park and headed to a different one. We are very loose in our style, basically we don't plan anything but our initial 3 FP and after that, we do what we want. My first impression when you said you were going at the end of April and said you were worried about the heat was to think what heat? I guess it might depend upon where you are from but I've been in early March, early April and early May and never found it too hot to stay in the parks if we wanted to. But then again, we've been in August and September and not found it too hot to stay, we are from Georgia so it's just like home to us. We are also not commando people and never have been, if we go early in the morning, we tend to want to either go back to the resort or head to a different park for awhile and I don't think we have ever stayed at one park from open to close.

 

[KaSe]

We left the parks every day, doesn't matter which park. We are rope drop people so we get a lot done in the morning and by 2 or 3 we are tired. We head back to the resort, relax a little, usually eat dinner and go back to the park for the evening.

We always took the bus and never have to wait very long. .

This is us, too. We're up early & in the park for rope drop, head back to the resort for a couple hours mid afternoon. DD1 (who just turned 18) likes to take a nap & DD2 (who just turned 15) likes to take a swim (and sometimes a short nap, too). It's a nice way to relax & get out of the heat & off our feet for awhile, and then we're refreshed to hit the parks again for dinner & evening hours.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

We've done both- staying all day and taking a break- just winged if based on how we were feeling. One time last trip monorailed from the MK to the poly for a Dole Whip- it was a nice break to go somewhere quiet for an hour.

 

[dkbnyc]

While we don't plan breaks, we have gone back to the resort for whatever reason and then gone back to the parks. I don't find it a problem at all, we've gone back to the resort, had a swim, then headed to another park and even left that park and headed to a different one. We are very loose in our style, basically we don't plan anything but our initial 3 FP and after that, we do what we want. My first impression when you said you were going at the end of April and said you were worried about the heat was to think what heat? I guess it might depend upon where you are from but I've been in early March, early April and early May and never found it too hot to stay in the parks if we wanted to. But then again, we've been in August and September and not found it too hot to stay, we are from Georgia so it's just like home to us. We are also not commando people and never have been, if we go early in the morning, we tend to want to either go back to the resort or head to a different park for awhile and I don't think we have ever stayed at one park from open to close.

we live in the NE and im from the PNW, and very fair skinned. Anything above low 70s can be a bit much for me, especially if its humid .

 

[dlavender]

We tried the mid day break, just didn't work for us. Total momentum killer. We now just let the littles nap in their stroller, and ride the people mover or other indoor shows from 2-5. COP is a great relaxer.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We are more likely to leave the park in the afternoon when our ADR for the evening is at another park or a resort. BUT not once when we left a park in the afternoon, did we return to the parks unless the ADR was in a park. We were fortunate to have most everything accomplished by 2 or 3 PM most days. We had 4 days out of 9 where we stayed in the park through dinner time and left after dinner. 1 day we didn't go to the parks until after dinner for MSEP and Wishes. The other 4 we left in the afternoon and then went to dinner later. 1 time our ADR was in Epcot and we stayed for Illuminations after it. The other times we went back to the resort after dinner. We are not late night people. Everyone was pretty much ready for bed by 8 or 9. We were at rope drop or EMH every morning except the day that we didn't go to MK until after dinner. Transportation can be time consuming so we did avoid leaving if we needed to be in the same park for dinner. Those days I would make an earlier ADR than days where we might leave before dinner. If we were going from our resort to another for an ADR, we drove the cars.

 

[pwdebbie]

Hubby has health problems so we take a mid-day break every day so he can rest. BUT we make rope-drop every morning too because we are up at 5:30. We plan early lunches and then take the bus back to the room for the afternoon. Around 4:00 we head back out to the parks, usually going to a different one than we went to in the morning. We hit the morning EMH at one park and then choose another park that doesn't have evening EMH. This way we tend to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day. We consider riding the buses part of the Disney experience and love chatting with other folks on the bus.

 

[bbjunkie]

We are mid-day breakers. Rope drop til 1:30ish, back to the resort for some quality pool time. Eat dinner at the resort, head back to the parks (often a different one then where we began) around 7-close. Usually no matter where we rope-dropped the morning, we head to MK at night because it is open the latest and we can't get enough of Celebrate the Magic and Wishes or the short lines during them. Part of the fun of the vacation for us is our daughter being able to participate in the afternoon pool parties several times during the week. Plus, I find the soaking of my feet in the cool pool to be restorative.

 

[fivikse]

We have gone twice and almost always take a break each day. We just get too tired doing all day every day at the parks, and my kids really enjoy games at the pool. We usually stay at Fort Wilderness. Our usual plan:
MK days - get there at rope drop, try to ride all of our important rides by lunch. Boat back to the Fort, swim, relax. Dinner and back to MK by boat for the anytime attractions.
AK days - rope drop, leave a little after lunch, swim, stay at Fort and do evening activities - campfire, etc. either our own car or Disney transportation. Not sure how the night time stuff will change this.
EP days are trickier because transportation is more difficult to leave and come back. One EP day is usually a sleep in day and maybe a character breakfast and then head to EP for the rest of the day through illuminations. I believe one time we did stay at EP from rope drop to close - it was difficult for us.
We have never been to DHS and we don't do hoppers.

 

[kwdw]

With an 11 and 8 yo - unless you are planning to stay out late to attend fireworks/Fantasmic - I probably wouldn't leave the park. Just get up as comfortable and go in the morning. I WOULD suggest "planning" a mid-day break - but maybe make that a TS lunch at the park (or at a monorail resort on a MK day). Or plan on hitting some indoor activities mid/late afternoon. For example - we plan Peoplemover, CoP, and Laugh Floor on a hot afternoon - they are close together and aren't short - and give us a rest. At AK we take the train out the Conservation Center and watch a show (FOTLK, NEMO). At EPCOT - we go ride Ellen's Energy Adventure or get a snack at wherever we are in World Showcase. At DHS - that one is tough for us because the shows are not air conditioned (and now LMA is gone) - so I almost always plan a meal sometime between 1:30-4 pm.

If you go from 8-2, head back to resort at 2 - gets you there at 3. Break from 3-5 (as an example) - now - you need dinner - that's an hour. Getting back to a park - that's an hour. And an hour to plan to get back to your resort after the park in the evening. What time do you want to get to bed each night? How do your kids behave best? Some do better with a sleep routine, others it doesn't matter.

I'd judge by your kids sleep habits. You can mess up my niece's sleep routine anyway you want - as long as she gets to catch up the next morning by sleeping late after getting to bed late - she's good to go. Me - put me to bed too late - I'm still awake really early in the morning and I can't nap at Disney (I've tried) - and now I'm sleep deprived and a crank.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

we are going to WDW the last week of april for spring break. We usually stay at the parks open to close. This time I am worried about the heat (we always go in the winter) and the NE spring break crowds.

I think we might want to leave in the heat of the day and return in the evening, but afraid once we leave we might not make it back.

We are staying at POR- sounds like Epcot might be the best park to leave and return to, or maybe MK. Epcot would be the shortest bus ride. How difficult is it to just pick up a taxi at POR- will we have to call for one? I thought a taxi to Contemporary Resort would be the quickest way to get back to MK.

Also, DH isn't coming on this trip. its me and 11yo, 8yo.
thanks
D

We did on both our MK days in March with our DS5. We stayed from rope drop (actually 1st day we had a 8:05am ADR at Crystal Palace so we were there even earlier) until about 1:30pm, went back to room, grabbed a nap, a bite to eat in the Pop food court and was back at MK by 6:30pm for a few more rides then Wishes/fireworks.

What we did as far as transportation was drover our park to the car in the morning - took the bus back to the resort for break - bus back to park in evening - car back to resort at closing.

We also drove to AK, stayed there til about 3pm and was done for the day.

We took the bus to and from HS - got there about 9:30am and stayed til Symphony of the Stars was over with no break and son did great. It was our last day, so we pushed thru to enjoy as much as we could.

 

[dkbnyc]

With an 11 and 8 yo - unless you are planning to stay out late to attend fireworks/Fantasmic - I probably wouldn't leave the park. Just get up as comfortable and go in the morning. I WOULD suggest "planning" a mid-day break - but maybe make that a TS lunch at the park (or at a monorail resort on a MK day). Or plan on hitting some indoor activities mid/late afternoon. For example - we plan Peoplemover, CoP, and Laugh Floor on a hot afternoon - they are close together and aren't short - and give us a rest. At AK we take the train out the Conservation Center and watch a show (FOTLK, NEMO). At EPCOT - we go ride Ellen's Energy Adventure or get a snack at wherever we are in World Showcase. At DHS - that one is tough for us because the shows are not air conditioned (and now LMA is gone) - so I almost always plan a meal sometime between 1:30-4 pm.

If you go from 8-2, head back to resort at 2 - gets you there at 3. Break from 3-5 (as an example) - now - you need dinner - that's an hour. Getting back to a park - that's an hour. And an hour to plan to get back to your resort after the park in the evening. What time do you want to get to bed each night? How do your kids behave best? Some do better with a sleep routine, others it doesn't matter.

I'd judge by your kids sleep habits. You can mess up my niece's sleep routine anyway you want - as long as she gets to catch up the next morning by sleeping late after getting to bed late - she's good to go. Me - put me to bed too late - I'm still awake really early in the morning and I can't nap at Disney (I've tried) - and now I'm sleep deprived and a crank.

thanks, those are good ideas. I did plan a few ADRs at lunch time for the reasons you mentioned- a nice, sit down break. I think I'll play it by ear, maybe we stay all day and leave before close so we can get a good nights rest.

 

[DisneyLove2015]

Nope. We don't do midday breaks. We've gone in summer and for Thanksgiving. We do rope drop and plan some slower paced stuff in the afternoons. Even when DS was younger, he would nap in his stroller and we would just people watch and stroll around. We've been rope drop to Wishes many times, but there are some nights where we're done earlier. Just depends. . In the summer we would hit attractions like Laugh floor, philharmagic, small world, people mover, etc.

Edited to add- DS is 8 now and DD Is 1. He's been going to WDW since he was 1 and she's been at 4 months and 9 months.

 

[aretha30]

We always take a break mid-day. We go back to swim or nap. We have our car so sometimes we drive in the morning (and back for our break) and sometimes take the Disney transportation. Either is fine. When we take the buses they aren't full mid-day, in-fact they are mostly empty and pretty quick!

 

[NavyDad]

We do this every single day of every single trip (from our 2nd trip on).

The two biggest keys are doing rope drop and leaving at a certain time you decide on ahead of time.

Even if the day is not extremely hot (most days were high 70's last week for us) it is great to get out of the sun and away from the busiest crowds of the day. Whether you take a nap in the dark like we do or just go back and relax and/or swim it's a great way to recharge the batteries.

We do rope drop and use our 3 FP, make our 4th FP selection for later that evening and leave the park by about 1 PM. Basically you get the first 3-4 hours and the last 3-4 hours in the parks each day (which is the best times to be at the parks).

 

[anniemae]

We tried the mid day break, just didn't work for us. Total momentum killer. We now just let the littles nap in their stroller, and ride the people mover or other indoor shows from 2-5. COP is a great relaxer.

this is what we find too. Lots of wasted time walking to the bus, getting back to the resort. I mentioned on another thread, but EVERY time we tried this, housekeeping was in our room or about to be in our room so it was awkward. We felt we spent so much time going back and forth for just a little break. Easier of us to find a quiet spot at the parks to rest. I will add that we are not rope droppers, we like to sleep in a bit on vaca (GASP!)

 

[Lumiere Lover]

We always leave the parks in the middle of the day. We get up early, leave right after lunch, and return for the evening. You are already doing the most important thing-staying in site. Having the busses take you close to the park entrance helps out a lot!

 

[Micca]

We have been traveling as an all-adult group for a while now, we don't take afternoon breaks per se but we sometimes chill at the resort for an hour or two before dinner (maybe that is a break!) We have a summer trip coming with small children and there's just no way they are going to be able to tolerate the heat and the crowds for long periods of time, so we're definitely planning on breaks based on their "fuses."

Ideally you're staying for a long enough period of time such that you don't fret losing park time. It's tough to justify bailing on the parks for 4 hours at a time if you're only staying 4 or 5 nights, much easier at the 7-10 night level. I'm aware that a number of our UK friends stay for longer periods, and I think that's a great way to see "the world."

 

[pa. dad]

We never leave mid-day. We tried it (mostly because everyone here says it's a must) and found that we end up more tired and cranky than if we just stay all day. For us it's just a massive momentum killer

I guess it's different if you have kids that normally take naps when they are home. My guys never were nap takers. But I have to agree that it must be a real momentum killer.
On a hot day, we'd do more indoor shows and rides. or let them get wet on something which was always a popular idea. I think my guys could find their way blindfolded to aloha isle from anywhere in the park from an early age also.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

We never leave mid-day. We tried it (mostly because everyone here says it's a must) and found that we end up more tired and cranky than if we just stay all day. For us it's just a massive momentum killer

That's us. My health really demands a break. But the thought of leaving just makes me cranky.

We find a quiet spot and rest there.