For those with children who return to room to take a nap

[workinmomof2]

what time did you make your ADRs for dinner? What time did you return to your room? How long did you break? We are going to be staying at the CBR. My kids will the 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 while we are there. There is no question that we will be heading back to the hotel for that break. I just do not want to schedule dinner to early and not be able to make it. Is a 4 hour break reasonable? Does your break time the travel time to and from your hotel? Sorry so many questions.

 

[PEANUT1]

we have a 4 and a 1 year old and I made most of my dinner ADR's for 6-6:30pm..I figured we will be up early (as usual) and stay at the park til after lunch at like 12:30ish and then head back to the hotel for a nap/break. We will have to leave for our reservations by like 5:00 to not have to worry about time, so that would make our break like 4 hours. I think that will work.

 

[workinmomof2]

That is exactly what I needed. Thanks.

 

[septbaby]

We only took naps twice, we had lunch ADRs those days, but had tickets to the Pirate and Princess party one night. Party officially started at 7pm, but we arrived closer to 8pm and were fine with that. We didn't feel stressed or jipped. We were on vacation and if we needed to sleep a bit longer, so be it. Those party tickets were paid for whether I stressed out that night or not. The second day we arrived at MK in time for Spectro and Wishes. It rained both days so we didn't try to get in pool time, just naps. You may want to consider some lunch ADRs. Ours were a great break after a busy morning and clean place to head back or decide what to do next.

I would make my ADRs so I didn't feel like I had to pull the kids from the pool or playground if they are having fun or wake them pre maturely from a much needed nap. If you make the ADR for 7 and arrive at 6:30 chances are they'll seat you as soon as something opens up rather than simply make you wait. If you are a bit slower in getting going for round 2 of your day, you've built in a bit of slack. People talk about ADRs ruling their days. I don't quite believe that, but you have to know your family and plan accordingly. We had one ADR that did end up interfering with our park day, but our daily schedule had changed and Momma wanted this Fantasmic ADR, so no way was I cancelling it. You know what they say about Momma being happy!

We also stayed at CBR and the food court is great there. You could really save stress by planning some dinners there (CS) so you can really eat when you are ready. You also have the option of cancelling a TS ADR if you decide to stay "home" for dinner. We did this with a breakfast ADR and traded that time for a CS breakfast and morning at the pool, best change of the week. There is also the possibility of planning a dinner at Shutters (TS) at the resort. We didn't eat there, but at least its an option.

 

[diningindisney]

Hello:

We just got back from 9-days in WDW with our 23-month old daughter. She normally would nap from about 2-2:30pm until about 4:30pm since we made most of our advanced reservations for 5-5:30pm. It definitely worked for us and she seemed to not be too cranky for us in the evening when we hit the parks.

Every kid is different so you'll have to base your reservations on when your children eat at home (as in try to keep it about the same) and also try and keep the naps as close to the same as possible too. My only other recommendation is to check the park times too. I know a lot of people are recommending a 6-7pm reservation for dinner but you may miss some good park time depending on when they close (Magic Kingdom, for example was closing most days at 8pm or so) so pay attention to that as well.

Our only major issue for eating came when we ate at Sci-Fi Cafe for a "late lunch" at 3:45pm........big mistake as it was right in the middle of her normal nap time. She was not a happy camper and I want to apologize to all those who eat near our car at Sci-Fi on September 22nd at that time. It wasn't pretty.

Good Luck!
Brian

 

[traviesojmt]

We have always taken afternoon breaks/naps during our trips. We pretty much use the same schedule everyday. We hit the parks at opening and use early entry. We have found that we can get alot done during that first hour of the day. We then usually have lunch at the park and leave the park usually no later than 1pm. My kids would usually sleep from about 2pm until around 4pm. We would usually leave the room by 5pm to head to dinner. So, our reservations were usually around 6pm.
On a few days, we would leave the park a little earlier and get in a swim before nap. This schedule really worked for us. Even when it was just my DD3 napping, my DH and DS9 would use the time to swim or rest as well. It made our whole family enjoy our vacation more. We are definitely not comando type people.
I hope you have a great vacation as well.