Going back to resort midday? How much time?

[nkereina]

We'll do afternoon breaks. We will leave around 12pm, get back to our room around 1pm (this includes time spent waiting and walking to/from bus stops) and then will either relax/nap or go to the pool. We'll shower eventually, and head out again around 5pm, getting back to the park by 6pm. Might sound like a lot of time away, but it's a good break and keeps us from getting crabby and tired out. Also lets us stay out later. Not sure if it's worth the hassle just for two hours back at the resort.

 

[Veggie]

Thanks everyone! We are staying at the AoA. It will be hot outside and we will need a break. Our children no longer needs naps, but we might.

 

[Veggie]

Yes, where are you staying and what park??

We are staying at the AoA. It will still be summer weather and we can't handle the heat. We will probably just need a break from Magic Kingdom. We have three parks day scheduled for that park, so we will have time to see a lot in those three park days.

 

[nkereina]

Thanks everyone! We are staying at the AoA. It will be hot outside and we will need a break. Our children no longer needs naps, but we might.

My advice would be to plan your days on the premise that you WILL take a mid-day break. From my own experience, I've found that it's easier to build a break into your plans and then skip it if you want, rather than planning a full day and needing to take a break.

 

[Veggie]

My advice would be to plan your days on the premise that you WILL take a mid-day break. From my own experience, I've found that it's easier to build a break into your plans and then skip it if you want, rather than planning a full day and needing to take a break.

Thanks! That is what we are trying to do. I'm doing some ADR and wanted to allow time for a break if needed.

 

[cakebaker]

We stayed at the AOA last trip. We've stayed at many different on site resorts- Hands down, the best bus service we ever had. It is a hike to the bus stop from most parks- Especially the MK, but the bus service was excellent.

 

[newestkg06]

Here's the advice I intend to follow: your day is split into three parts: morning, afternoon, evening. You should only be doing something two of the three when your kids are little. If that means taking an afternoon break, great. If that means leaving around 4-5 and hanging out at the resort at night, great. Sleeping in one morning and then going in the afternoon and evening. Trying to do all three is just not possible, particularly with heat. We're going in Sept, so the park hours are short and we only intend to go to fireworks at MK. So, our plan is to hit rope drop every morning and go through the afternoon until we're done and hang out back at the resort at night. The midday breaks don't work for AK at all. We'll do the middday break the one day at MK for fireworks.

 

[Tribe]

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't AoA one of the furthest resorts from MK? Could that affect the decision?

 

[DisneyFive]

Here's the advice I intend to follow: your day is split into three parts: morning, afternoon, evening. You should only be doing something two of the three when your kids are little. If that means taking an afternoon break, great. If that means leaving around 4-5 and hanging out at the resort at night, great. Sleeping in one morning and then going in the afternoon and evening. Trying to do all three is just not possible, particularly with heat. We're going in Sept, so the park hours are short and we only intend to go to fireworks at MK. So, our plan is to hit rope drop every morning and go through the afternoon until we're done and hang out back at the resort at night. The midday breaks don't work for AK at all. We'll do the middday break the one day at MK for fireworks.

Perhaps that works for many, but not all. Our first trip was when our kids were 3, 6, and 8 and we stayed all day for 7 days. Worked great for us, and that was in 88F-91F Sept heat. We were very tired by the end of the trip, but in a good fulfilled way. We had fully intended to take afternoon breaks, but none of us wanted to take a single one.

I fully support those that need a break. Whatever works for you.

Dan

 

[cakebaker]

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't AoA one of the furthest resorts from MK? Could that affect the decision?

As I recall, the ride is 20-25 minutes. But, the bus service was amazing so we spent little or no time waiting to get picked up from anywhere. I've had much longer "trips" at some of the deluxe resorts just because of waiting for the bus and the multiple stops. AOA has it's own dedicated busses making the trips much quicker.

 

[Veggie]

As I recall, the ride is 20-25 minutes. But, the bus service was amazing so we spent little or no time waiting to get picked up from anywhere. I've had much longer "trips" at some of the deluxe resorts just because of waiting for the bus and the multiple stops. AOA has it's own dedicated busses making the trips much quicker.

Thank you! That was very helpful and encouraging! I beginning to hear the same thing from others about the buses at AoA.

 

[tzolkin]

We are a family that likes the midday break.

Our first trip my youngest was under two and I was dreading having to stop and take him back to the resort to nap, but we found that when we got into a dark, air conditioned room all five of us fell asleep for about four hours. Our second trip DH joked that he was looking forward to it just for the naps. Our usual schedule was park for morning EMH (back then they offered them every day), head out around 11 just as the crowds and heat were building, then go to a different park around 5pm. It seems like a lot of missed park time, but we go for 10-14 day trips so we are still fitting in everything we want.

My kids are all much older now, so we don't take naps. But we all find that we still need an afternoon break. Although we love Disney, the crowds and noise are just too much for us to handle all day. An escape from all the external stimulation is essential for us to have an enjoyable time.

We have never considered the transportation time to be a waste. For us, riding an empty bus in silence is absolutely heavenly.

 

[maryj11]

They need to have a nap area in air conditioning in each park

 

[wdwjeffc37]

It's called Hall of the Presidents at MK.
Ellen's Energy Adventure at EPCOT.
I'm not sure about the other two parks. We don't spend all day at either of them.

 

[MolonLabe]

As I recall, the ride is 20-25 minutes. But, the bus service was amazing so we spent little or no time waiting to get picked up from anywhere. I've had much longer "trips" at some of the deluxe resorts just because of waiting for the bus and the multiple stops. AOA has it's own dedicated busses making the trips much quicker.

I agree with horrible transports at the deluxes.Our best bus service was 6 days at POP in 2011. It was outstanding due to the dedicated busses.

7 days at Contemp in 2012 were a transport nightmare... except walking to MK obviously.

8 days at Contemp in 2013 was even worse.

Both trips the resort rail was down at least 50% of the time. It was ridiculous! Buses are super slow too, both times.

Walking from MK to CR can't be beat though.

Personally I won't stay at a monorail resort again until they get the transportation fixed. I gave them a second shot.

Anyway, like others have said, split days eat up a lot of time. We rarely do them for that reason. I'd rather do a half resort day and half park day instead.

 

[tlmadden73]

I'd say just plan on taking a break IN the park. I would think there are plenty of places you can just chill out .. whether it be a show (like Hall of Presidents) .. a slow ride .. or just a shaded waiting area. I would think that the time to get back and forth would just not be worth it.

 

[Day-Day]

We don't always take mid-day breaks and when we do, we do not always do them the same way. Most times, we will have a car with an ice chest full of drinks. We leave the park and have a comfortable seat back to the resort in our car with cold drinks. We often eat lunch at our resort room using groceries we purchased at Walmart, Publix, or Winn Dixie.

It does take time and effort to reach the park exit and then get to our car or Disney transportation. We figure 45 minutes travel time to be the maximum though. Two hours at the resort is usually plenty for us. A little time for lunch if we didn't eat in the park and 45 minutes to an hour at the pool is plenty sun-and-fun. Some folks may nap and not go to the pool at all or some may go to the pool and still fit in a 20 to 30 minute nap.

If we stay in the park all day, we will look for some cool spots during the middle of the day. This often means a sitdown meal for lunch instead of supper.

On very hot and crowded days in the parks, this mid-day time away from the park is not a "high value" time in the parks anyway. The parks are the most crowded this time of day with the longest standby wait times; we dont' feel like we are throwing away valuable park time when going back to the room.

 

[kmoore7]

We've never done midday breaks. We go all day and night. If we need a rest we take extra long lunch in ac somewhere. Our breaks are the down days. Easier to stay up late if you know you can sleep in the next day.

 

[djp0630]

I would say at least 4 hours. To be honest, I've traveled with young children the last few trips and have never taken a break. I prefer to leave at a reasonable time to get kids in bed so usually skip the nighttime entertainment. My babies/toddlers have just slept in the strollers. It's not worth it to me to go back especially if I have to take a bus. This upcoming trip we are gonna try to see some nightime entertainment so we will see. I plan things at the park in the afternoon that isn't lines ...like BBB or pirates league.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I think that is probably a good general estimate. We have a toddler who still takes a nap so midday breaks are important to us too. We plan to get to the parks at rope drop (we are all early risers) and go until after lunch and the head back to the resort for 3 to 4 hours and the go to dinner and hit the parks again after dinner. If our kid gets a solid 2-3 hour nap midday, she is ready to go fairly late in the evening.

remember the down time to get to your resort, how does your toddler do with falling asleep in the car get room and go back to sleep. for us the bus ride back to resort waking up as we got off and by time we got back to room toddler was very cranky but would not go back to sleep. he then fell asleep while waiting for dinner not very restful for anyone. he did better with stroller naps even in August heat