For those that midday break, how long?

[michbaron]

We never plan for a break but take one if we need it, sometimes the kids are tired sometimes we are but if everyone is doing fine or the kids fall asleep in the stroller then we stay longer, sometimes we plan to go back after a rest and decide to just take it easy at the boardwalk or hotel instead, I think with kids just being flexible is what matters, and we always have a car, we probably wouldn’t do midday breaks ever if it involved the buses, and as far as kids staying up past their normal bed time you know your kids best but ours only take a week or so to get bs kninto a routine once we’re home after keeping them out super late disney

 

[IvyWinter]

I almost never take a break BUT i don't have kids. Im usually there in adult only trips or solo. That said when i do, about an hour, hour and a half before we get going again. We tend to take them if we go during a particularly hot time of year.

 

[beccasmom]

We do breaks differently depending on the weather, our room location and park hours. A nice break for us is taking time for lunch at a monorail resort. It doesn’t take a lot of time to get there (usually!); we walk if the resort is the CR.
If we’re staying at BLT, we might head to our room for sandwiches or the like.

If the weather is beastly like August, we might return to our room for either a nap, swim or just chill in a/c for a while. It kind of depends on the circumstances. If we visited WDW less often, we’d probably be less likely to take long (over 3 hours IMHO) breaks. If someone needs a break it kind of interrupts the flow for everyone. Sometimes a Coke or ice cream break does the trick.

 

[stace1214]

We travel in the summer and breaks are a must for us. We typically do rope drop or EMH, stay till 1ish and head back to our resort. Everyone lays down for a hour to an hour and a half and then we take a quick swim then quick showers and back to the parks for dinners and a few more rides. We will usually have two or three later nights (getting back 10/10:30) but are often back to the room by 9ish. The kids always fall asleep fast and are ready to go the next day.

 

[ArielSRL]

We do a break every day. My favorite park time is nighttime so bc we also do rope drop, breaks are required. Not just for the kids but for the adults too...to get out of the heat and away from all the stimulation. We do the pool or rest or nap or a combination of those things. We usually do 1-5 for breaks, including travel time. We have our own car bc we drive from GA so we drive to all parks but MK. Currently we are DVC at Wilderness Lodge so we will take the boat there and back. We usually go in June.

 

[DisneyFive]

We have almost always gone late September, and with the shortened park hours during that time of the year, it was hard to justify a nap, so we didn’t.

Our most recent trip however was in early August and we LOVED the longer park hours. We are all more night people than morning people. So we got to the park for RD and left around 1pm and left the resort again around 4-4:30 so that we could have dinner in or around the parks. Loved it. Felt refreshed all day and had good energy to close the park each night.

Plus, we tended to be sleeping while the afternoon rain came through and the peak crowds were at the parks.

Dan

 

[dminnie]

We took breaks each afternoon last week. We rope dropped and then went back to resort at about 1 or 2 and returned about 5. I would say a 3 hour break is minimum if going back to your resort. By the time you do travel time, it doesn't leave much rest/pool time. I think we probably should have waited until 6 or 7 to return to the parks. By the time fireworks were going on, we were just ready to be done for the day. A shorter visit in the evening would have been perfect.

 

[pdz]

We are staying at Pop and want to do mid day breaks this trip.(Have not in the past) If we have dinner reservations in the parks at 5 would leaving the resort at 4 give us plenty of time to make it to our reservations?

 

[DisneyFive]

We are staying at Pop and want to do mid day breaks this trip.(Have not in the past) If we have dinner reservatiions in the parks at 5 would leaving the resort at 4 give us plenty of time to make it to our reservations?

In our experience, yes. If you want to be extra safe tack on another 15 minutes.

Dan

 

[Chaoticsweetness]

Half an hour to a hour. Like the PP stated add another 15 mins.

When we stay on property we usually had back to the resort around 11a, head back into the parks around 1ish. Then start again.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

We tightly plan the beginning of each week long trip with rope drops, touring until lunch opens, fleeing back to the resort directly after lunch for swimming and a regroup, and then another park for dinner and late afternoon/evening fun. As the trip grows in length the planning gets less detailed, and the last day generally revolves around only a hard to get thing like a FOP FP. We plan 4 hours for a break including transportation. We break if we have to use the bus or if we have a rental car. A dip in the pool and a coat of sunscreen head to toe helps us all keep our minds intact and have longer days. We might also include a short day mid trip that will not include a break if we have an early rise the next morning for a breakfast ADR, Jedi sign ups, or some other early event. That way the kids are able to enjoy night time activities at the resort without being rushed in to bed for the next day. We have found that tightly planning the whole trip falls apart half way through, so now we leave the end free for returns to things we missed or want to experience again. Park hoppers is critical for this kind of planning.

 

[amylevan]

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.

We take breaks EVERY day. (Well on our last trip, we didn't on our 2 AK days, but they were not rope drop to close days.)

I would be miserable if I spent every day of our 8 day trips in the park from opening to close worrying about getting the absolute most for our money. I'm on vacation, and FOR ME being on vacation means relaxing, enjoying our resort pool, and not being surrounded by people and stimulation for 12 hours a day. The parks are the busiest (and hottest) in the afternoon. You aren't missing prime touring time by taking an afternoon break. And judging by the number of kids breaking down and the number of adults losing their patience, MORE people should take afternoon breaks.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I can't do 12-14 hours straight in a theme park. It's too stimulating, too many people, too many crowds. I need to get away and decompress. We usually head to the pool. Maybe once or twice a trip we will take a nap.

When we do midday breaks we usually leave by 12/1pm and return around 5 pm. We are usually at the pool by 1:15 pm. Back to our room by 3:30 and on our way by 4:30ish. It's enough time for us to get ourselves together.

When the kids were smaller we stayed offsite twice. On those trips we got to the parks around 9:30-10 and left by 6-7 pm but we did lunch ADR's to give us a "break." Our first onsite stay was during February/March and park hours went until about 7 a lot of nights. We didn't do midday breaks since park hours were so short but we did dinner ADR's. Then we went in August and had 6 park days. We did a midday break each day and fell in love with it! Since then we have always done August and done midday breaks. It was so refreshing and made us love our vacation even more.

Next trip is Jersey Week. Just DD and myself. I don't know if it'll be warm enough to swim. Either way I'm planning midday breaks some days and some days we will sleep in and hit the park a bit later and stay until closing (hoping for 2 am EMH at MK and we are doing MVMCP). If we don't want to do midday breaks I will make same day lunch ADR's and use that as our break.

 

[amylevan]

We take breaks EVERY day. (Well on our last trip, we didn't on our 2 AK days, but they were not rope drop to close days.)

I would be miserable if I spent every day of our 8 day trips in the park from opening to close worrying about getting the absolute most for our money. I'm on vacation, and FOR ME being on vacation means relaxing, enjoying our resort pool, and not being surrounded by people and stimulation for 12 hours a day. The parks are the busiest (and hottest) in the afternoon. You aren't missing prime touring time by taking an afternoon break. And judging by the number of kids breaking down and the number of adults losing their patience, MORE people should take afternoon breaks.

Edited to add: forgot to answer the actual question! LOL. We usually eat lunch in the park around 11, do a few more attractions and head out between 1 and 2. We then usually return to the parks around 5.

 

[piratepride]

Stay till 2-3 pm. Return to the parks between 5-5:30 pm

 

[KellyHonos]

I think a break is only truly needed if you're in need of a nap. My last trip to WDW, My sister and I would wake up, get breakfast, get to the parks at open, or at least within 10-15 minutes of opening, and then we would do our first 3 fast passes, grab lunch, then we would head back for an hour or so, recharge, change for dinner, and then go back. With that being said, it was kind of silly that we did that because of all the time we wasted on the bus. Changing for dinner was definitely not essential, so we will probably scrap that ritual (unless we absolutely need to change or something).

I say, just play it by ear. If there's a day where you got really good rest and you're feeling awake and energized, just stick it out, because unless you're at a deluxe resort and just a monorail ride away, you're going to end up spending a decent amount of time on the bus. If there's a day where you're really feeling a nap is necessary, head back and set your alarm for an hour and then make sure you add in 40ish min to get back to the park you're having dinner in or have a fast pass in.

Also, don't forget every park has sit down attractions/shows where you can kinda knock your head back for 10-15 minutes and get out of the sun for a little. And remember, caffeine exists

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

For us it just depends on what we have scheduled that day and also which park we are in/going back to. We usually don't leave a park till after lunch, but before 2pm. Then we are back in the park in time for dinner. On average I would say we are typically leaving a park around 1, and are back in a park anytime between 5 and 7. It can take up to an hour to get back to our resort on Disney transportation, then a few hours to swim and freshen up/change for dinner, then another hour to get back to the park. Our breaks are usually no less than 4 hours total. In the cooler months we take less breaks since it's not so hot midday and the parks close earlier at night. But in the summer when it's hot as hell midday and the parks have decent late hours we take breaks everyday.

Some people find breaks a waste of valuable park time. For my family these breaks make our trips so much more enjoyable. Not only do we not get burned out on the parks, or over tired, but we truly enjoy hanging out at our resort pool midday. In the "early" days when we did the parks commando, we came home from those trips absolutely exhausted. When we started incorporating daily breaks (especially during the summer) we enjoyed those trips so much more. Those trips actually felt like a vacation and we weren't exhausted at the end of the week.

 

[KellyHonos]

For us it just depends on what we have scheduled that day and also which park we are in/going back to. We usually don't leave a park till after lunch, but before 2pm. Then we are back in the park in time for dinner. On average I would say we are typically leaving a park around 1, and are back in a park anytime between 5 and 7. It can take up to an hour to get back to our resort on Disney transportation, then a few hours to swim and freshen up/change for dinner, then another hour to get back to the park. Our breaks are usually no less than 4 hours total. In the cooler months we take less breaks since it's not so hot midday and the parks close earlier at night. But in the summer when it's hot as hell midday and the parks have decent late hours we take breaks everyday.

Some people find breaks a waste of valuable park time. For my family these breaks make our trips so much more enjoyable. Not only do we not get burned out on the parks, or over tired, but we truly enjoy hanging out at our resort pool midday. In the "early" days when we did the parks commando, we came home from those trips absolutely exhausted. When we started incorporating daily breaks (especially during the summer) we enjoyed those trips so much more. Those trips actually felt like a vacation and we weren't exhausted at the end of the week.

It's really great that you allow your family to build in time for breaks. The florida heat can get so exhausting, and tending to an entire family can become really draining. That's great that you don't make people stick it out. All that does is make everyone crabby!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For us it just depends on what we have scheduled that day and also which park we are in/going back to. We usually don't leave a park till after lunch, but before 2pm. Then we are back in the park in time for dinner. On average I would say we are typically leaving a park around 1, and are back in a park anytime between 5 and 7. It can take up to an hour to get back to our resort on Disney transportation, then a few hours to swim and freshen up/change for dinner, then another hour to get back to the park. Our breaks are usually no less than 4 hours total. In the cooler months we take less breaks since it's not so hot midday and the parks close earlier at night. But in the summer when it's hot as hell midday and the parks have decent late hours we take breaks everyday.

Some people find breaks a waste of valuable park time. For my family these breaks make our trips so much more enjoyable. Not only do we not get burned out on the parks, or over tired, but we truly enjoy hanging out at our resort pool midday. In the "early" days when we did the parks commando, we came home from those trips absolutely exhausted. When we started incorporating daily breaks (especially during the summer) we enjoyed those trips so much more. Those trips actually felt like a vacation and we weren't exhausted at the end of the week.

This sound very much like us. Especially the bolded. While reading on the Dis before our first August trip I read about midday breaks and decided we should do them. I didn't say anything until we got there and my XH and kids just went with the flow. Probably because it was so blazing hot. At the end of the week my XH and I were amazed at how we felt and how much more we enjoyed the trip. It was like opening up a whole new world!

I also feel that I'm paying money for these resorts and I want to use the amenities. Especially the pool. The resorts are part of our vacation too. My kids are also huge pool kids and they probably enjoy the pool as much as the parks!

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

This sound very much like us. Especially the bolded. While reading on the Dis before our first August trip I read about midday breaks and decided we should do them. I didn't say anything until we got there and my XH and kids just went with the flow. Probably because it was so blazing hot. At the end of the week my XH and I were amazed at how we felt and how much more we enjoyed the trip. It was like opening up a whole new world!

I also feel that I'm paying money for these resorts and I want to use the amenities. Especially the pool. The resorts are part of our vacation too. My kids are also huge pool kids and they probably enjoy the pool as much as the parks!

Absolutely! We tend to prefer the deluxe resorts, so if I am paying all that money I fully intend to utilize the resort. Our resort is as much a part of our vacation as the parks. And in the event that we don't stay deluxe, our go to moderate resort is Caribbean Beach and they have great pools!

My kids are older now (18-16), but they still enjoy breaks back at the resort. When they were younger they would sometimes meet kids at the pool and they would schedule "playdates" back at the pool. On one trip they informed DH and I that it was "Sarah and josh's" last day in Disney and they told them they would see them at the pool. Lol. Sure enough when we got to the pool a few kids were saying "look Collin and Landon are here". They were around 10 and 8 at the time. But those are the memories that really stick!