For those that midday break, how long?

[mi*vida*loca]

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!

My kids prefer the CBR over the Poly pool and they were 15 and 9 when they declared that.

Last trip my son stayed at SAB two whole days while we went to Epcot on top of our midday breaks. He met a lot of teens and they played volleyball in the pool for hours. About 90% of the kids were also from NJ so they made instant friends.

 

[Angharad]

Cannot remember taking a trip without a midday break, especially since our trips have been restricted to August since 2005. Far, far too hot. That being said we always have our own transport and we're usually staying for 21 nights.

On a typical day we'll be done with rides/shows by 11:30ish and will be aiming to have our QS meal at 12, whether in park or at a resort. We don't always head to the room, sometimes we explore another resort or play a round of crazy golf first. We usually end up at the pool for about an hour before heading back to shower but we've similarly headed to Disney Springs for a bit (especially when staying in Saratoga.) We're usually heading back to the parks at 4pm for frightfully early dinner ressies.

 

[maltdizzy]

Like some others here, we never schedule the break, but we often take one while hopping parks. We drive to the parks, so we don't loose much time to transpiration.

Time and length vary greatly (I would guest 2-3 hour average). If we head back to the hotel and weather is good, DS may kill 2 hours at the pool, but that is often cut short by Late August thunderstorms ... and when the rain moves in, we head back to the parks as others are leaving. We also schedule a 1/2 day for each water park, those days don't have a pool break; we usually come back, shower and head to a park.

 

[Auroraborealis18]

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 read that some people nap in the park. We might try that but I think that's awkward.

 

[odd man out]

Pretty much what everyone else has been saying. Leave early afternoon for a few hours. On one day of our recent trip, we had the RoL Dining Package for Tiffins at 2:30) PM. We then had passes for early RoL show (to show up before 7). This kind of messed up our plan. By the time we were done with eating I asked my wife if she wanted to go back to the AKL for our afternoon break. I pointed out that by the time you take the mile hike from the restaurant to the bus stop, the mile hike from the bus stop to the room, you may only have an hour or less to rest before reversing those mile hikes to get back. So in reality the "rest" break would be a lot more work than staying in the park. So we went to see the Nemo Show (45 minutes of sitting), saw ITTBAB (another show, not quite as long) and then just found a quite part of the park to chill until our FoP time came up. So sometimes you can take your break in the park.

 

[B. Shoe]

I can’t tell you how much relief reading this thread gives me. This is the first major vacation I’ve been able to take with my DD. We’re spending a couple of days before Disney at a family beach house in Daytona, but there’s been a sinking part of me that was growing worried that our time in Disney would be nothing but running from place to place, hunting and hoping for FastPasses and waiting in lines for four days.

I want to be able to allow her to experience as much of the parks as she can, but I want to be able to take in some of the comforts of staying at the CR, also. Reading some of these posts gives me some breathing room to know it can be done and still take in a big adventure.

 

[FindMeInFantasyland]

3-4 hours when staying at Monorail resort. That is usually enough time for a quick (30-40 min) swim and nap.

 

[JennyMP03]

I can’t tell you how much relief reading this thread gives me. This is the first major vacation I’ve been able to take with my DD. We’re spending a couple of days before Disney at a family beach house in Daytona, but there’s been a sinking part of me that was growing worried that our time in Disney would be nothing but running from place to place, hunting and hoping for FastPasses and waiting in lines for four days.

I want to be able to allow her to experience as much of the parks as she can, but I want to be able to take in some of the comforts of staying at the CR, also. Reading some of these posts gives me some breathing room to know it can be done and still take in a big adventure.

I tried to stay dawn to dusk the first two trips I took, and let me assure you, it was infinitely better when I discovered the midday break. I realize it may not work for everyone. But for me it almost made the trip seem longer and fuller. A fun morning in a park, a break, and a fun evening in a different park. It was almost like two days in one day, as silly as that may sound!

My first two trips were each a full week. My third trip was five days when we first tried a midday break, and I felt like we had a much better time and were less rushed than the full-week trips when we tried to go all day.

 

[DSLRuser]

We show up to the park in the morning around 9ish......stay till noonish....... swim till 5ish.......head to dinner or a park at 6ish......

at least one day out of 7, the pool time turns into nap time in the room. We spend so much time at the resort it is what resort choice plays such a huge role in our vacation.

But there are some days we sleep till 10ish....and swim till 5ish