For those that midday break, how long?

[slpeters]

We don't even have kids and we took a nap break every day. We actually didn't mind the transport--a bus ride or a boat trip (we stayed at the Swan) was part of the break. We thought it was a great way to tour--partly because I think we wouldn't have enjoyed the midafternoon hours in the park as much as we did the other times any way--about the time you start to wonder if you're going to lose your patience, you leave! We did an EMH every day, rope dropped when the EMH was an evening one and always closed out a park--with the nap break in the middle (we'd leave the first park somewhere between 1-2 and arrive at the second somewhere between 4-5). I really think those particular hours not only kept us rested but helped us avoid a lot of frustration. We were there for a week, half of which was solid tens, and we still never waited for anything more than 30 minutes and only more than 15 a handful of times. My husband was initially a little skeptical about being up and at 'em so early on vacation but after the first day when he really saw how it worked and how much less time it seemed we were spending in line than everyone else he became pretty insistent that we get a move on in the morning!

The other thing I will say is that for us it helped it feel more like a vacation. I planned this first trip within an inch of it's life--and I'll do exactly the same for the next two we've already planned--and I worried that dh would feel like it wasn't restful. In planning our next trip (where we are spending a lot of it at Universal--another first time experience) I mentioned to dh that Universal seemed like it was a lot more laid back. His response was "but we're still going to do stuff, right?" It turns out he hadn't viewed our Disney holiday where we went from 6 or 7 in the morning until 9 to 12 at night everyday as go! go! go! at all--he had thought it was rather laid back. Why? in his words "I mean, we took naps every day! We don't even do that in Puerto Vallarta."

 

[MischaOz]

Different people like different things. Some people like taking midday breaks, some people don’t, and that’s okay. There’s no need to disparage those of us that do.

The OP simply asked how people structure their midday breaks. It is not a fable, many people do it, and depending on the circumstances, it can also be practical. We stay off site at Windsor Hills, and we drive so we always have our own car (and rent a car if we decide to fly). It takes us 15 min tops to drive to all of the parks. MK takes a little longer to get into since we have to park at TTC of course.

After about 6 hours at the park, we’re ready for a break. We like to cook dinner for ourselves offsite for a variety of reasons. We like having the opportunity to refresh a little, change clothes if needed, etc., and we like hopping to a different park in the evening, and can usually get really close parking when we get back. We love going to the parks both day and night as the experiences are very different. We enjoy our evenings much more when we’re rested and refreshed. That’s what works FOR US.

 

[lovin'fl]

I already posted up thread but wanted to clarify more after reading the one response about not understanding the afternoon break with park transport taking a big chunk of time.

We are DVC and get to visit often. So we are fine with doing our 3 FP and leaving. We also are now empty nest-ish with 3 kids in college so DH and I like to do the Epcot festivals and are into dining. We stay at BWV a lot and can bop in and out of Epcot. Can also walk to HS. We do bus one evening to AK but don't really spend much time in MK anymore.

So we leisurely wake up and take our time getting ready. We often go into Epcot by 11 for lunch. 2 days we will have FP at Epcot as well. We then go back to room to chill...usually around 2-3. We may take a bus to AK around 5-6. We can also walk or boat over to HS. Or we drive to a resort for dinner and may be able to watch MK fireworks from there. Or we can drive over or bus to DS for shopping and a meal.

We were just at BWV for a week and only got on a bus 1 night to go to AK and come back. We aren't in the need to 'do it all' anymore since we know we will be back in a few months.

 

[Minnesota!]

We do rope drop, then cram as much as we can in before lunch time. We eat quick and then head out. So, say we get out of the parks around 1230. Resort for swimming, showers, rest. Then back out for dinner and finish the day at a park.

So - do MK - get all the hot rides out of the way, have lunch at Pecos, head out. Swim, shower, rest. Then dinner at say...Biergarten at 530 and close the night with a few rides and then illuminations.

 

[Minnesota!]

Some people love the midday break, but it's not really that practical to do more than once in a while. The extra 1-2 hours on or waiting for transportation will eat up the time you'll save from shorter lines. Time is money at Disney World so you have to weigh how to not be on busses all day.

I'll add, If you are staying at a Deluxe resort like CR, Poly, GF, BC or BW then midday breaks are more feasible. Especially at the CR/BC/BW since you can walk. But anywhere else you are adding two bus rides for each trip. When we've gone back to a park twice in a day we've been at one of these close resorts. We'd do maybe 9-1, then back, then 5-whenever. Break it into around 4 hour blocks.

I disagree - we typically take mid-day breaks when we go in the summer, and stay at Pop or AKL. The transportation has never been an issue. We do it daily. Our sanity is worth more than money at WDW, for us, not time. And, the boats, busses, monorails, are part of the fun for us.

We used to go open to close before kids and when they were younger and would rest in the stroller. But, we have all come to love the downtime and a cold room in the summer of Florida. Nothing beats it - it is as enjoyable to us as the parks are, at times!

 

[Catvondita]

No kids just my lazy self . We tend to go for about 2 hours or so. Just enough for the hubby to get a quick nap in and I usually get a drink and sit by the pool. We try to stay long enough at the hotel to justify the traveling to get there and back to the park.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We sometimes break and sometimes don’t. We play it by ear based on how everyone is feeling. We usually try to book our 3 FP to be complete by 1pm so we can decide to break if we want. My kids nap in the stroller so we don’t have to go back for naps unless we feel we all need a little refresh.

For the length of our break, we also play this by ear. If we book a same day 4th FP for later, that will sometimes be our goal to get back to the park.

Generally for us our breaks are at least 2 hours if it’s just travel back to the hotel, change, have a snack, decompress. When the weather is really hot we are more likely to scoot back to the hotel to refresh. Break is closer to 4 hours if swimming, showers, etc. involved. We don’t do that often.

We really enjoy using our first 3 FP in the morning and then we can decide on if we break and for how long later.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Break after lunch--return around 3:30-4 if we do a break at all.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

For those of you who midday break to your resort for pool time, rest, nap, recharge, etc....especially those with kids...when do you usually leave the park and when do you return?

We left the park after lunch and returned around dinner time, depending on scheduled fast passes, etc. So, 4 hours?

Note my family also went in the heat of the busy summer. Skip the crowds and hot sun between 1 and 5PM and head to the pool or a nap.

Now that our children are grown up, we don't really bother with that anymore.

 

[BalooFan]

I no longer travel with children, but typically arrive at the parks before rope drop and leave for my break by 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. By then, the parks are usually hot, crowded, and I have seen more than a few guest meltdowns. I usually try to return to the parks around 5:00 p.m., but if I get restless I might return earlier.

 

[loves to dive]

We don't schedule and it and don't do it for any specific length of time. When my son was young, we just left when he got too tired for words, or when I got too tired. When we went back to the resort when he was young, we would either nap (mostly I would nap and he would watch cartoons) for as long as the nap lasted. Or we would go to the pool and just stay as long as I wanted to (he would stay all day). Now that he is an adult, we tend to go back to the resort if it's hot and we want a refreshing adult beverage and a dip in the pool, or if his back is hurting he needs a refreshing adult beverage and the hot tub, or we are bored. We just stay as long as we want to stay or until it rains us out.

 

[jina]

We follow a similar strategy for breaks - breakfast (instant oatmeal, yogurt and/or fruit) in the room or while in line for rope drop, do rope drop, spend ~3 hours on rides, have lunch (our favorite at DL is doing Blue Bayou at the 11am start to get a waterside table; our upcoming WDW trip we're looking forward to an 11am BOG at MK and 11am Prime Time at DHS), then maybe a ride or show, leaving the park by 1 or 2. Then relax until 5 or 6 then hop to a different park for a QS dinner or in the case of our upcoming trip, some dessert parties! The break may or may not include an actual nap, and almost always includes some pool, board/card game and/or reading time. For our upcoming WDW trip next month we'll be doing the refillable popcorn bucket so I expect our breaks to also include snacking on popcorn .

Also this trip will be a little different because we are renting points for a 3 split stay, going to parks near where we are staying so we will rarely have to take a bus (I think only our 2 AK days involve buses) so we will have more time for breaks. We are all morning people so have no problem w/ rope drop (the first day or two is hard due to the 3 hour time change from Pacific) but we treasure the emptier park time. Plus we are all introverts and need a little quiet and alone time during the day to recharge.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Sometimes we will use Parkhopping as our break. We usually get to the parks at rope drop. We'll leave MK and take the monorail to EPCOT for lunch. The park to park buses are usually pretty empty at these times and we can rest on the ride. We do go back to the resort if we want to swim or nap or if we have dinner plans so we can freshen up. We find the transportation is pretty relaxing if it isn't too crowded. We just kind of play it by ear depending on what we feel like doing. Whatever works for you. Cheers !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

1. We don't always take breaks.
2. Depends on park hours, ADR's or FP's, where our hotel is relative to where we are, and weather.
3. When we think about a break, we think in terms of travel time. Often the main factor is to allow ample time before an ADR/FP to get back to the park. If we have to take a bus, then we allow at least an hour to go from our hotel back to the park. usually it is a little less than an hour, but it CAN take an hour each way. If we are in Epcot or HS and our hotel is one of the Epcot Deluxe hotels, then it only takes about half an hour each way.

So if we have a 6pm ADR, then the LATEST we can take a break via bus is 4pm. More likely the latest would be 3pm, to make sure we get at least an hour at the hotel.

In summer though, we take a slightly different approach. In summer, we usually leave the parks 2-6pm, assuming the parks are open late.

 

[pillowbook]

I learned this strategy from here the boards and I would never vacation the "commando" way again. Like a lot of people we usually leave around 1 - 2pm whenever it starts to get too hot/crowded and then don't come back until 5 - 6pm. The trick is to just be willing to get up early and do as much as possible in those early morning hours. Coming back at night is usually just to walk around and see the nighttime show at whatever park we are at.

It depends on what you are hoping to accomplish as well. If you want to do everything single thing in the park, a midday break might not work. But if you're okay with have a productive morning, but not managing to see and do everything - midday breaks are wonderful. Its about whatever expectations you set for your vacation.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

4 hours minimum from the time you walk out of a park until the time you want to be walking back in to a park. Anything less than that is just not worth the effort it takes for a midday break. If you want to do pool time and a nap you may want even more time for your break.

Ha!

Sometimes our 'breaks' have been pretty hectic! We've takes swim breaks that were only 30minutes long! So we've cut them shorter than 4 hours.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my earlier post- it also depends what kind of ADR we have. If our dinner is at one of the signature locations, then at a bare minimum, we change our clothes before dinner (in cooler months). Summer + Signature ADR's = afternoon shower.

 

[Summer2018]

For those of you who midday break to your resort for pool time, rest, nap, recharge, etc....especially those with kids...when do you usually leave the park and when do you return?

Most of the time we leave at lunchtime and eat at the resort. While hubby grabs a quick service lunch, I have a protein shake and a piece of fruit. Eating such large breakfasts and dinners with desserts is a bit much with a big lunch too. Then we hit the pool or nap. We shower around 3:30-4:00 pm and get ready for dinner. Most of our ADRS are on the monorail resort loop.

 

[Magpie]

Some people love the midday break, but it's not really that practical to do more than once in a while. The extra 1-2 hours on or waiting for transportation will eat up the time you'll save from shorter lines. Time is money at Disney World so you have to weigh how to not be on busses all day.

I'll add, If you are staying at a Deluxe resort like CR, Poly, GF, BC or BW then midday breaks are more feasible. Especially at the CR/BC/BW since you can walk. But anywhere else you are adding two bus rides for each trip. When we've gone back to a park twice in a day we've been at one of these close resorts. We'd do maybe 9-1, then back, then 5-whenever. Break it into around 4 hour blocks.

Count us in as "some people".

Rarely do we spend more than half an hour on or waiting for a bus back to our resort. At absolute worst, assuming we're trying to get back from the Magic Kingdom and the previous bus was pulling away just as we go to the stop, it might take an hour.

Time may be money, but Disney World is a sunk cost, and taking 30 minutes to get back to our resort room so we can have a nice, refreshing nap is a bargain. Especially when I consider how much better we'll feel later that same night.

We stay at the Pop Century. Busses are frequent, and the resort is incredibly close to 3 of the 4 parks. It's only a 10 minute bus ride once you start rolling! Magic Kingdom is about 20 minutes away. 25 on a busy morning, with lots of traffic.

We get up at about 7am, arrive just before park open. Tour until 1 or so. Eat. Back at our rooms by 3 at the latest. Nap until 5ish. Then head out for dinner and an evening of touring.

For us, this is eminently practical.

 

[RocketCityMama]

Pretty much similar to everyone else, we rope drop, head out around 12-1 depending if we each lunch at the parks or not, relax, swim, nap or whatever for a few hours and head back around 5-6.

 

[riversend22]

For those of you that have younger children and head back to the parks around 5-6, how do you keep them on a normal bedtime schedule? Debating on whether I should be pretty rigid with my son's schedule (bedtime between 7-8 usually) or if we just let it fly and enjoy some things at night. He'll be 13 months at the time of travel.