For those who take afternoon breaks and staying at AKL

[kniquy]

For our family trip next April it will be FIL,MIL, DH, myself, Twin DS's 12yo, DD almost 5. I am staring to do preliminary planning and thinking about working in some afternoon breaks for either just myself and DD or possibly everyone. We are there for 7 park day, so are hoping to take a slower pace. Rope drop might be tough if we are planning on night time fireworks at some of the parks -- so probably arriving to the parks around 10am - 1pm, back to the resort for a 2-5pm break then back to same or different park (I'm considering hoppers but still not sure if worth the extra $$)

If you have stayed at AKL and took breaks -- how inconvenient did you feel it going back to the resort from MK, Epcot or HS (AK is close so no real issue there)?

Worth it to take a break or wish you had just stayed at the park?

I am on the fence and just not sure how much park time my DD can handle.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

We always take afternoon breaks. I have stayed at AKL and we did take breaks there as well. The transportation to/from is nowhere as bad as people make it out to be(in my opinion). I would reconsider rope drop. It is the best way to maximize your park time and take advantage of cooler weather in the morning. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Kirk]

Agree with DWB^^^ Rope drop or EMH to early afternoon. Back to resort for relax or pool time. I'll usually hop parks away from crowds if I can. The bus ride is a little long but not that bad.

Missed it in the last 2 visits but next time I stay at AKL I'm going to be early to grab Starlight Safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

 

[katie111]

I think 10-1 is way too short of a time before a break. One ride without a fast pass can easily take an hour of time or longer. If I was arriving at 10, I would be staying for the day. Way too much work going back and forth especially with that late of a start. I would just bring a stroller for the 4 year old. I would also reconsider not doing ropedrop. It truly is the best time of the day in the parks. I would just avoid EMH parks so you don't have to get up too early. I don't think AKL buses are any worse or better than any other resort, but the location is a bit remote so the time on the bus can be longer. We used to just skip the fireworks if the kids were getting too tired, really not a big deal fir our family.

 

[Minnesota!]

Not inconvenient.

Rope drop, definitely, though. Till lunch-ish. Have a QS lunch, head to resort around 1. Nap/swim/shower. Head back to park around 530-6. Tour, dinner, see fireworks if you feel like it, head back.

 

[Dakota731]

When my twins were four we tried the afternoon breaks and I found them more tiring than just staying at one park all day. There's a lot of walking to and from bus stops and through the resort, and we found swimming out in the hot sun made the kids even more tired. We tried it one day then said heck with it and the kids were fine.

 

[kniquy]

Starlight Safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

This sounds really cool, but i check the price - seems a little steep for a 1 hour safari. When you are looking at 5 peeps that adds up. I have heard that if you can get the actual park safari at dusk i guess it is a really different experience than during the day.

Thanks for the input. I am hoping that our 4 yo will do ok. I think when you are at Disney you run on a little bit of Disney Adrenalin, so hopefully she will be excited to get up early in the morning. She is usually a bear if she doesn't get enough sleep i think that is why i am trying to plot things out so far in advance.

When my twins were four we tried the afternoon breaks and I found them more tiring than just staying at one park all day. There's a lot of walking to and from bus stops and through the resort, and we found swimming out in the hot sun made the kids even more tired. We tried it one day then said heck with it and the kids were fine.

I could see how returning to the resort could turn into more work than it is worth (especially a resort you have to bus to/from). I am in such a park commando frame of mind after just coming off of an adult only trip and our previous kid trip which was with the older twins (at the time 9). We have more park days this coming trip so hopefully can go at a slower pace, still see everything, and not have her tire out. Dining reservations and shows can certainly help with a little down time

 

[gmboy95]

Rope drop is really vital to afternoon break plans....it is tough to do the late fireworks and get up, but the naps in the middle of the day should help

 

[Betty Rohrer]

For our family trip next April it will be FIL,MIL, DH, myself, Twin DS's 12yo, DD almost 5. I am staring to do preliminary planning and thinking about working in some afternoon breaks for either just myself and DD or possibly everyone. We are there for 7 park day, so are hoping to take a slower pace. Rope drop might be tough if we are planning on night time fireworks at some of the parks -- so probably arriving to the parks around 10am - 1pm, back to the resort for a 2-5pm break then back to same or different park (I'm considering hoppers but still not sure if worth the extra $$)

If you have stayed at AKL and took breaks -- how inconvenient did you feel it going back to the resort from MK, Epcot or HS (AK is close so no real issue there)?

Worth it to take a break or wish you had just stayed at the park?

I am on the fence and just not sure how much park time my DD can handle.

if planning on almost 5 year old napping make sure she does not fall asleep on bus because after walk back to room most likely she will not sleep again. plus with 10 arrival at park you will only get 2 maybe 3 rides or 2 and lunch before you are heading back to resort. are your 12 year olds going to be happy with that esp if one of rides is for younger child or younger child sitting and watching older 2 ride then going to lunch with heading back to resort next? granted we were at cabins at the Fort but our 4.5 year old did well with your arrival times and staying thru evenings but she did rest I double stroller with little sister. our group also included her almost 12 year old and 15 year old cousins. your plans would not have gone well with our group as older ones would not have been happy with only short time in parks before leaving. if you have time before your trip try a trip to a local park with your group.

 

[Macprincess]

We just did spring break staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Yes, we did do afternoon breaks for some in our party. (We had two rooms and 2 adults and 3 teens.) Yes, it is a bit of a trek from Magic Kingdom back to AKL. What worked for us was the agreement ahead of time to leave by a fixed time each day and this varied. Some days we did rope drop some days not. We set up our fast passes for after nine each day trying not to go past one for those first 3 fast passes. Then if anyone wanted to return to the hotel they could. More often it was hubby and I who returned and we let our teens stay in the park if they wanted. We then had early dinner reservation usually around 5pm that everyone was required to attend. Then most of us went back to the parks for night time entertainment and some rides. A few times some of us would blow off the night time in the parks. We also scheduled a down day mid trip where we hung out at the pool and around the resort...The biggest thing we learned is a plan is nice but if someone needs a break it was best for everyone if we let them have it. Family vacation for us does not mean every minute must be spent together at all times.

 

[rer1972]

Going to have to agree with most of the points in the previous posts. We stayed at AKL in May 2016; this included my wife and two daughters (DD2 & DD3 at the time).

1. There are multiple benefits of rope drop, or at least making it within the first few minutes of opening. The temperatures around that time are not quite as high as in the afternoons, you are more likely to not only have shorter wait times but get to more rides due to those wait times.
2. The afternoon breaks were so helpful for us. I'm sure you know how cranky the kiddos can get when they are tired (worse when hot and tired). We didn't always have the girls take naps either. Sometimes a bit of play time in the AKL (Jambo's or Kidani's) pool and splash area really helped. Even the grown ups appreciated being able to take a cool dip in the warm weather.

Our schedule was something like...

9:00 AM MK rides & some FP
11:45 AM LUNCH @ BOG (pre-ordered)
12:30 PM MK rides & other PF
2:00-2:30 PM back to AKL
3:00-4:30 PM napping/swimming maybe something to eat before going back to the park or eat something at the aprk
5:00 PM head back to MK
5:30 PM rides & FPs
9:00 PM-11:30 PM night parade (when they had it), castle show, fireworks
11:30-12:00 PM head back to AKL

Of course we would hit any really long wait time rides in the morning times (Peter Pan, enchanted tales, mickey or princess meet & greets), leaving things like 7 Dwarves Mine Train for FP (got one early on), indoor cool rides/shows around noon time, and hit what we could in the evenings.

We also gave ourselves days where we didn't get up early for rope drops, and just knew going in we were not going to ride long wait time rides those days.

Visiting AK is a bit easier due to how close it is to AKL, so those days we could cut a bit of travel time out of plans.

 

[my2lovedisney]

We have stayed at AKL and taken afternoon breaks, in fact sometimes once my kids hit the pool getting them back out to hit the parks again was a struggle. But, we're always there when it's super hot. Definitely do-able and the trek back to the hotel isn't as awful as people make it out. Plan your day accordingly. I would say try rope drop with a pool break one day and see how that works out. Trying to pull late nights and rope drops may be tough.