going back to the hotel for a swim or a nap

[dsdeleon]

At the beginning of the trip we do RD and breaks in the day, I need my 6yo to make it to 3am. By the end of a 10 day trip we drop RD and hit the parks late night only.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Our answer is highly variable. It mostly depends on the weather, and park hours. Summer doesn't mean an absolute promise of very hot weather, last August the weather was actually so cool we wore long pants! We were shivering at the pool!

Another weather related consideration is the frequency of the later afternoon thunderstorm. It's possible to slog one out in the parks, but rain sometimes comes in buckets. Heavy downpours are a great time to be at your resort.

Changing clothes mid-day can have multiple reason: adding layers in cold winter evenings, dressing for dinner, washing off sweat, swim break.

That said, we're opportunistic. If the weather is nice, we tend to skip the break. Unless we're staying Club level.

 

[abmitch01]

thanks for the advice!

 

[Micca]

We have done it but it's not a strategy of ours. It will take up at least 3-4 hours of the day if you plan to nap. In the "off season" when the hours are shorter, I have a hard time leaving for that long. We have learned on our last couple of trips that we kind of just have to go with the flow and do what is needed though. If everyone is exhausted on day 4 and we've already been to the MK twice then a break is easier to take. I've not been in the middle of summer though since I was 12 so I'm betting I would be demanding a break if I was there in the summer months!

I agree that breaks are a great idea, but as momto3 points out, it consumes a pretty big chunk of time. On a longer trip it's certainly worth giving the strategy a try.

 

[JZCubed]

going 8/9 for 10 days with DD 15. Have never not gone gonzo all day and night in the parks because we were offsite. Do most on-site people take a break midday? It sounds heavenly, just so different from what we're used to.

Thank you for celebrating my birthday at Disney.

My rule of thumb is the younger the child, the more likely the nap.

But this also depends on if you like taking a nap.

Also, it depends on what your night activities include.

For instance, if you have a special Signature dinner planned or just want to enjoy extra magic hours (or just a late Park closing time), it's still fairly personal.

We just finished, what I hope will be, our final plans for our upcoming trip in anticipation of making our FP+ reservations. This meant having ADR's in place and having an expectation of what our days will look like. We have a 5 y.o. and pool activities are also a 'must do'. So while we rarely plan naps anymore, we fully expect to leave the Parks by early afternoons before they get too crowded and with the expectation of what we also have planned for the evening.

So in a nut shell, and to answer your question - a great benefit of staying on-site is having the ability to take a rest and reset to enjoy an event filled evening. But there is no hard fast rule - even for people who intend to take a rest period.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

So in a nut shell, and to answer your question - a great benefit of staying on-site is having the ability to take a rest and reset to enjoy an event filled evening. But there is no hard fast rule - even for people who intend to take a rest period.

It's is also worth saying that the answer is variable depending on location. How long would it take to go back?

If you are in Japan of the WS, and point 'B' is an Epcot resort, then going back to the resort means a ten minute walk (assuming no downpours). If you are in Epcot's Japan and your hotel is a MK area resort- well, that's entirely different.

That's the biggest perk, IMO - of the deluxe resorts. Location! Even among the deluxes- slower transportation- is one of the reasons why WL and AKL are priced less (also smaller rooms). The biggest drawback of the very large mods (CBR, CSR, POR) are also slow transportation. Many buses loop all the stops around those large resorts. (Also lots of walk time within those resorts.) If taking breaks is a priority, transportation-wise, the values are often faster, especially if you've got a 'preferred location' room.

All that said, the answer also depends what OP means by 'offsite' resort. Offsite could be a hotel all the way in Tampa/St.Augustine- or it could be the Marriott World Center/DTD resorts and a handful of other very close options. The very close offsites, paired with a car- offer shorter commutes than some onsite WDW buses.

 

[abmitch01]

we're staying onsite for the first time in POR. I'm worried bus transportation will be too slow to make going back midday do-able

 

[RubySue]

It depends on your family.

Last time we went to WDW in 2012, we (me, DS, grandson 16, grandson 12) stayed at the cabins at FW.
The first two days, we tried the "get up super early, be there for rope drop, parks in morning, go back to resort in afternoon, return to parks" strategy.

At the end of two days everyone was cranky and nothing worked out. Because so many people use this strategy now, we found resort restaurants and pools crowded. Even with my GSs running fast after rope drop, they still found themselves in long lines. Waiting for buses back and forth was annoying.

I realized that the strategy wasn't for us. We're all night owls and like to sleep in in the mornings. We found that we were much happier sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast, then hitting the pool or other resort things before going to the parks, having lunch and going full tilt all afternoon and evening until closing.
It's not what most people do, but it works for us.