For those who leave the parks in the afternoon...

[CJK]

What do you do? Do you go back to your resort and sleep? swim? I'm always tempted to sleep, but I always feel cruddy after having a nap no matter what the length. I read that in order to get the most out of your nap (and thus your sleep pattern), you should sleep for 20 minutes or an hour and twenty minutes. Even when I've tried these lengths, I still feel cruddy after sleeping in the day and it takes me a while to get back to the parks. What do you do during your afternoon breaks??

 

[Slartibartfast]

You can't get me to sleep during the day (I don't care HOW tired I am, it's just the way my body is). I find a good shower invigorates me for the evening's events. The kids love to swim, too.

 

[jbwolffiv]

Having a 3 yo with us we will go back in the afternoon so that she can get a nap. We either take a turn going to the pool or nap. Sometimes I have taken this time to read. I agree with the problem with napping, it takes some time to feel right again!

 

[txdznydude]

A short nap, an invigoration swim and I'm ready to take on the world again! Mornings and evenings are my favorite times at the parks. I don't care for the crowded, hot afternoons. So I'm usually at the parks as early as possible, leave when it starts to get busy, and return around dusk. Mid-day you could also do a
little touring of resorts, Disney Quest (it's indoors and air-conditioned), or maybe a water park. I love grabbing a tube and floating round and round castaway creek or cross country creek for an hour.

 

[TerryU.]

As soon as it starts getting very hot and crowded, usually around 1:00 we head back to the resort, have lunch and either take a nap or go swimming and head back out later.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

thats what we do to. we go back and either have lunch and swim, stay awhile then shower and head back to the parks, we usually go in Aug. so we need the break. sometimes we might go over to another hotel , have lunch relax a little.the last few summers we also take a day just to do whatever we want. stay at pool, have lunch out, etc. we also squeeze in 1 or 2 days of water parks.

 

[ChefBilly]

The intent is to take a nap. But I never have.
So I just close the curtains, crank the air conditioning all the way up, and watch the in-room Disney channel.

(All while my DW sleeps.)

 

[Duckfan]

Okay, I think I only took a short nap one day out of seven and that is because I got very little sleep the night before (like none) but even when I was tired I couldn't nap. We didn't get to swim for various reasons but did things like laundry and hand washing, cooled off, read, watched tv, organized my pins ( I am a pin collecting fool), organized my suitcase, and just whatever I felt like doing. Hope this helps. It was really helpful to be able to cool off in the summer because we got really hot by 1.

 

[mkpat]

Go back to the resort, grab a quick bite, take a shower, and head back out to the parks. Touring the resort is good as well.

 

[TDS373X]

we go back and grab a bite to eat, then the pool is a must since I'm sure my DD is part mermaid...this year we grown ups found that about 15 min in the hot tub was a wonderful cure for what might be aching...then back to the room to shower or nap (yeah right) or just relax...then we're good to go for the evening. The one afternoon we all napped this year we ended up sleeping until 7pm and then were just totally thrown off schedule.

 

[jimmiej]

A daily swim did wonders for us this past trip.

 

[travelbug]

Grab a snack or some lunch, then maybe hit the pool or just put my feet up and read a little. I may shop a little in the resort stores. No matter what I/we decide to do during an afternoon, the important part is a change of pace and a little "downtime." Makes the evening so much more enjoyable!

 

[Geomich]

Also cannot nap but enjoy hanging out at the pool, grab a bite to eat and a nice cold beer - then I am ready to go again!

I did the "run the whole day" thing once and we were all miserable the next day.

 

[GeekChic]

man, i just can't do a whole day anymore either, even though i'm in a chair at WDW it's just too exhausting. everyone gets hot and cranky.

i love going back to the resort, letting dd swim with her dad, grandpa takes a nap, i usually have a coffee or hit the shops.

mostly it's getting out of the heat that is important for me.

i have SWORN to myself that with the exception of for the PSB, we are never going into Epcot in the morning again. We get too tired to stay for the fireworks and then it takes forever (that monorail switch at the TTS is a killer if you're disabled/pushing a wheelchair for somebody) why don't they have elevators at all monorail stations???

so anyway, we never end up going all the way back into epcot. so this trip, i swear, if we're going to try to make it to the fireworks, we will head into Epcot no earlier than 4, get some dinner, and then we might make it LOL.

geek

 

[LuvTigger]

I've been finding that just splitting the day in half somehow makes me feel less tired. So I might go to one park in the morning, then in the afternoon, head over to another park. Sometimes in between we might stop off at another resort. For example, last trip we went to MK in the morning, caught the monorail to the Contemporary for a counter service lunch and a bit of exploring, then headed over to EPCOT.

We did the nap thing once and ended up sleeping WAY too long!

 

[Geomich]

I am ashamed to admit it but I never realized they didnt have elevators at all of the monorail stations- that has to be a nightmare

 

[Mickey76]

I like to go back to the resort and go swimming to cool off and relax a little. I then go back to my room, take a shower, and get ready to go to one of the parks in the evening, or make my way over to DTD for dinner and to spend a lot of money.


Mickey76

 

[Tinkerbell04]

...but Iam a napper. Ilive to come backand crash for an hour...I guess that is becaus eI never get to do that at home and it seems like it is part of my vacation...I also have a two year old that NEEDS a nap in the afternoon or else she turns into one of those psycho kids that everyone talks about!!!LOL

 

[weluvpluto]

We always try to take a swim or relax in the air conditioning in our room
I don't think we could stay at the parks a whole day any more!

 

[WDW_bn_dt_gb]

Go back to your resort, grab something for lunch from the food court and go back to your room and eat. I love eatting in my room where it is dark and cool. It really gives you your second wind.