Early bedtime - 1 room

[cleocat30]

We're going to be at the all star movie resort for 7 nights with my 4 year old daughter. She goes to bed around 7:30. Any tips for sharing a room with someone who goes to sleep before it's dark out???? We don't travel much--and when we do, we try to get a suite. We just couldn't afford anything more than the basic room at WDW.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

 

[lclark0621]

Are you going to be keeping the same bedtime?

When we are at Disney, we throw all bedtimes out the window. We start our day when DS wakes, go back to the hotel for a mid day nap & go back to the parks at dinner time, staying until we are all tired. I find in WDW, DS is always ready to GO GO GO, so that helps. Also if he is tired, he will take a cat nap on my or DH's shoulder, or his stroller, in a show, etc.

I couldn't imagine leaving the park so early every day. But hey, my kid loves it at the parks, and is fine with late nights. We are not schedule people at home either. So while my DS will go to bed earlier at home (usually between 8:00-9:00pm), but when in Disney, he stays up much later.

For bed what we do is, I will lay down on a bed with DS until he falls asleep. During that time DH will either go out around the hotel, or lay on the other bed working on his computer. Then once DS is asleep, I can get up, DH & I can talk quietly, watch tv quietly, sit on our balcony, etc. We have ordered room service, or DH has run down to grab something from the food court, etc.

Since we are usually in the parks late, we are usually all tired & most nights have no problem all going to sleep at the same time. Disney World is a LONG day.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I'd have to say the same thing, that going to bed early never happened on our vacation either, all of the excitement and everything new pretty much kept them up until we were all tired.
But if you really wanted to get your child to bed early i'd say turn off lights , and t.v. and lay down until he/she falls asleep. Which I know doesn't sound like a blast, but I don't think there's much of a choice in one room. At least any that I could think of.
Some children fall asleep if they are tired in strollers, you could try a little walk around the hotel.

 

[Hannathy]

Heck 7:30 is usually about when we decide it's time to eat at Disney! I couldn't imagine leaving the parks that early, I'd never feel like I got my money's worth. We are usually there till closing and then the kids sleep walk to the room and collapse on the beds(and heaven forbid on the BEDSPREAD!) and it would take fireworks right in the room to wake them, if it would. I'd just stay out a bit later and then when you return they will fall right to sleep and you won't have to worry.

 

[lauritagoddess]

I had this problem in March with my son who also was in bed around 7:30-8:30 depending on the night. There was no way he'd nap during the day and he's up before 6:00 in the morning so I had to have him in bed early. What I did was put him to bed and then take a shower and hang out in the bathroom long enough until he was asleep. I had to read in there one night because he it took him about a half hour to fall asleep one night. This worked for me because we were the only two in the room though. Then I could watch TV, talk on the phone. When we go back in December I'm taking my laptop and will play on that a little.

 

[pigletforever]

DS is 4 and bedtimes go out the window when we go on vacation as well. We just got back from 6 days in Denver and he never went to bed before 930 and would get up around 630 or so. We did plan it to have several quiet afternoons at the hotel so he could rest or nap if he wanted. We are planning the same thing at Disney.

 

[pixiepower1971]

My family has never had bedtimes on vacation! If they are in bed that early you will miss all the night time shows! And there is just something so special about the parks at night. My girls would rather be there in the dark.

Will your DD nap in a stroller? If so, I would try that....she can sleep and you can stroll around and enjoy the evening.

I would go NUTS if I had to spend too much time in hotel room...especialy if I needed to keep it quiet. The rooms are small!

Good Luck!

 

[crisi]

We did it when our kids were little and its hard. We laid down with them and got them to sleep. Then we'd sit and read, or sit on the balcony (which, if you aren't in a Deluxe, is less of an option) for a bit. We'd also take turns going to the hot tub. Although, there were nights I fell asleep with the kids, and all nights we were asleep within a few hours.

 

[mjantz]

When we went to DL a few years ago, we had 1 room. The kids were 2 & 5. We found they were so tired by the end of the day that by the time we got back to the hotel, ate in our room & took baths, they were out in like 15 minutes. We were 2 hours off though (Central to Pacific) so we were leaving the park about 4:30ish & they were usually in bed by 7, if not earlier.
I would allow her a bit of time to wind down. She'll probably be pretty hyped from the parks. A bath, snack & bedtime story is probably a good idea.

 

[kstinw19]

I am right there with you b/c my dd5 just falls asleep early. In fact, for the past two years she has fallen asleep at Disney at 7:30 p.m. EVERY NIGHT no matter where we were One night she was asleep during Spectro and Wishes, one night she literally fell asleep IN the pool (on my dh's shoulder).

But my other ds would be up later so it is tricky in one room. Usually dh would take him down to the arcade at the hotel and let him play while dd slept and come back when he was ready to sleep. Of course he was the tough one to wake in the morning, but it worked.

Another suggestion I have, which I got off of the organizational tips board, was to bring a cheap plastic shower curtain and put it between the beds so you could split the room up. I plan to use this for the baby but not sure if it work work for your dd.

Most nights, however, we were just as tired as the kids and fell asleep right with them!

 

[cleocat30]

I am right there with you b/c my dd5 just falls asleep early. In fact, for the past two years she has fallen asleep at Disney at 7:30 p.m. EVERY NIGHT no matter where we were One night she was asleep during Spectro and Wishes, one night she literally fell asleep IN the pool (on my dh's shoulder).

But my other ds would be up later so it is tricky in one room. Usually dh would take him down to the arcade at the hotel and let him play while dd slept and come back when he was ready to sleep. Of course he was the tough one to wake in the morning, but it worked.

Another suggestion I have, which I got off of the organizational tips board, was to bring a cheap plastic shower curtain and put it between the beds so you could split the room up. I plan to use this for the baby but not sure if it work work for your dd.

Most nights, however, we were just as tired as the kids and fell asleep right with them!

How do you hold the shower curtain up?

 

[DizGeek]

Get a bottle of wine, grab 2 chairs from the room, prop the door open and sit on the balcony. Enjoy.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I've read somewhere else that people took those little play tents for kids to snooze in while the room lights were on. (I think they're actually pretty compact before you put them together.) Maybe that would work for you.

Good luck, and have a great trip!

 

[kstinw19]

How do you hold the shower curtain up?

Now I haven't tried this but got this off of the organizational thread. They say that you can get those 3M hooks that have sticky pads on the other side and you stick them to the wall, and then hook the curtain onto them.

 

[Stephres]

When my oldest was little, this was the way we went to Disney. DH would hit the hot tub and I would turn on the tv with the sound off while we put him to bed. Then when he was asleep I could turn up the tv a little so I could hear it. When it was nap time, DH would go to the pool and I would take a nap with the kids.

 

[QueenGoblin]

This is the only time I'm not envious of those of you with kids that are in bed by 7-7:30, even 8. DD is a NIGHT OWL and has been forever. She is 3.5 and we are lucky if she is in bed by 10. We can put her in bed earlier than that but she will just play with her toys, read stories to herself, etc. etc. I'm thinking she is going to make it all the way through MNSSHP when we take her in Sept! Luckily, she usually does sleep in till 7:30 or so. But we have never had a problem with her sleeping through normal noise levels/lights, etc. We can watch tv, talk, eat, etc. and she will sleep through it. Hopefully your little one will be so tuckered out that once you are back inthe room and have him sleeping you can pretty much do whatever you want.