How do you make naps happen?

[Mrspeaks]

We will be traveling with our two year old in September. She currently takes a two hour nap after lunch. We are staying on property at POFQ. How have you worked naps into your park days?

 

[BillSears]

I traveled last year with my 2 1/2 year old Grandaughter. She would nap in the stroller in a quiet spot we would find. I'd hang out with her and read while her parents did all of the coasters.

So all you have to do is bring a happy Grandfather along.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I traveled last year with my 2 1/2 year old Grandaughter. She would nap in the stroller in a quiet spot we would find. I'd hang out with her and read while her parents did all of the coasters.

So all you have to do is bring a happy Grandfather along.

This is what we did with both of our boys at that age, some times with grand parents, sometimes without. We almost never went back to our rooms.

 

[Pesky]

At DLR it just didn't happen for DS. We simply rested in the room instead and that worked well for him as he needed to escape the stimulation. The one time he did take a nap was in the stroller and he just hung out with his grandfather in a quiet spot and both were happy as clams. DD didn't nap at all. What we did was make sure to just take quiet breaks -- time to sit and eat ice cream, watch a parade, feed the birds, etc., and that worked for her. We're planning on a mid-day break for most days but that's more about fitting in some swim time than anything.

 

[Heidi K]

Both times that we went with 2 year olds, we did go back to the room for naps. It was kind of a pain, but it kept the child (and us!) in good spirits. Also, our kids were never good at napping in strollers.

If you do go back to the resort, allow four hours. We would usually have an early lunch, then leave a park about 12:30 to 12:45, then about four hours later we'd be re-entering the park.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I think it depends on how your child naps. DD was a great sleeper at that age; would sleep in the storoller if need be and stay on schedule. DS... not so much! If he napped for 20min around his nap time and was awoken somehow, that was the end of the nap! He would have just built up a sleep deficit and been pretty cranky by mid-trip if we counted on stroller naps.

We made our way back to the hotel midday for naps. Gave everyone a break and a good dose of A/C, and we headed back out for a nice evening. We also park hop, so we'd hop to a park with late EMH when available.

Now that the kids are older (9 & 11), we still sometimes take a midday hotel break if we feel like we need it. Who are we kidding... DH needs his naps now!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

If you try to go back, there's a good chance your son will fall asleep before you get there, unless you stay very close by. (Which is why the monorail resorts are so nice with little ones.) We would let the kids sleep in their strollers and keep walking, or sometimes at night, we'd drive around with them in their car seats. We saw a lot of resorts that way when we were new to WDW. After arrival, if we'd had an early flight, we always tried to nap for an hour or two once we got there. Three of us would nap without difficulty, and one, who shall not be named, always had trouble settling down, lol. We insisted he had to at least lay down for a while.

 

[disneysteve]

When our DD was of nap age (she's 20 now), we would find a relatively quiet area in the park (which can be a challenge) and get her to sleep in the stroller. Once she was asleep, she was fine and we could move around with her still asleep. The problem is that there is so much sensory stimulation at Disney - music, colors, lights, sounds, fireworks - that getting her to wind down was tough.

 

[gtpoohbear]

When the kids were young, we always went back to the room after lunch. That was their normal nap time at home, so they fully expected that they were going to bed and it wasn't an issue. They were usually so worn out that they were asleep by the time I got the lights turned out, lol!

DH would usually go to the pool while they slept, and sometimes we would go join him later after they were up. Then we would head back to the park for a few hours in the evening.

Especially on our trips during the hotter months, these breaks were crucial. We never would have made a full day in the park in the heat.

 

[disneysteve]

When the kids were young, we always went back to the room after lunch.

Same here, actually.

I always tell parents the most important thing is to stick as close as possible to your child's normal schedule for meals, naps, wake time, and bed time. If that meant we were back in our room by 6:30 each night, that's what we did. Don't be one of those parents dragging around an exhausted kid at 11pm because you'll pay for it later.

 

[Misha72683]

My kids would both stroller nap. They were 2.5 and 4 when we went and the 4 year old mostly alept at night, but the 2.5 year old would sleep mid-day. He'd just pass out in his stroller and we'd continue on. There were 3 adults, so one could stay with him while the other 2 took the 4 year old on rides and we shopped during this time, etc.

 

[DisneyLover83]

We just did a week with our 16 month old, we went back to the room after lunch everyday for about 4 hours. I couldn't expect a stroller nap to refresh her.

 

[Angel Ariel]

We will be traveling with our two year old in September. She currently takes a two hour nap after lunch. We are staying on property at POFQ. How have you worked naps into your park days?

We took our 3 year old to DL in November. She naps for 2 hrs when she gets home from preschool, but during the weekend she doesn't usually nap at all (we lay her down, but she doesn't sleep). She's always been able to fall asleep in her stroller if she really needed to, though. We spent all day in the parks, she crashed in the stroller if she needed to (didn't every day, but did a few days), I had a cover to tie over/around the stroller for when she did fall asleep in the stroller (just a simple cotton cover). We followed her cues. If she slept in the stroller, we stayed in the park a little later. If she didn't nap, we headed back for an earlier bedtime.

Personally, at WDW, I wouldn't plan on going back to the hotel for naps unless you are *positive* she will nap in the hotel. With the transportation time to and from the hotels, plus the nap time...if I weren't positive she would nap, it wouldn't be worth it. But, as I said, we've always had a stroller napper. Our DD's more likely to nap in a stroller than in a PnP or crib in a hotel..just who she is. If she were not a stroller napper at all, then I'd more likely consider taking her back to the hotel.

 

[mickeymom22]

We tried once to go back to the resort to take a nap. It was miserable. Hubby and I could have easily taken a nap, but the kids weren't having anything to do with it. It was just easier to let them sleep in the stroller.

So we went to Plan B: We used this time to look "leisurely" in gift shops or we would often find a quiet AC spot and we would take a break too! Once I sat in Pizza Planet for an hour and half with a sleeping toddler. I couldn't believe she was okay with all the noise, but when she woke up she was so sweet and rested. Another thing that worked for us was leaving her in her stroller and riding the monorail. She fell asleep on the monorail and we got off at the Polynesian and just hung out sipping a nice cool drink.

 

[jawa7400]

We still go back to the resort because DS3 still naps. We plan to leave the park by 1pm. This gets us back to the resort for nap later than he lays down at home, but once he takes a 2 hour nap, we stay put later at night than he's used to at home. We were back on the park by 5 and stayed put until 10 or so. He's a good sleeper but wouldn't have slept for 2 hours in the stroller. We annoyed the resort break for ourselves too. Time to recharge!!

 

[momof2n2]

Same here, actually.

I always tell parents the most important thing is to stick as close as possible to your child's normal schedule for meals, naps, wake time, and bed time. If that meant we were back in our room by 6:30 each night, that's what we did. Don't be one of those parents dragging around an exhausted kid at 11pm because you'll pay for it later.

I will politely disagree. The one vacation ever I tried to encourage a nap it just wasted our time and frustrated me. I have six kids and they've never become those meltdown-types. They have all been low maintenance and are so into the activities that fatigue seems minimal. I've found with my guys that when/if they are tired enough they can drop off in a stroller. And a 45 minute power nap keeps them going til closing.

I DO agree with keeping them fed, cool, and hydrated.

 

[disneysteve]

I will politely disagree.

The other equally important thing is to know your kid(s). If yours can go all day and be fine, go for it and enjoy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My son was always the type to keep going, and if he did, he was fine, but if he stopped, he'd likely fall asleep. So he didn't really like to stop. This actually never really changed much, even in his teen years. We were at WDW when he was turning 16 and MK was open till 3am one night. The park was gloriously empty for several hours. Toward 2am, as we were heading to Splash Mountain, we had the sudden urge to go into Country Bear Jamboree, as it was just about to start. DS was like, "No, please! Not Country Bear Jamboree!" but the majority overruled. Within a couple of minutes of the show starting, we looked over and DS was sawing wood, lol. Just like old times. We had some good laughs about it, and he woke up no problem at show's end and we kept going. Point being that sometimes the traits do continue from the younger years into the older years. It's good to figure it out while they're young.

 

[GPC0321]

I don't have kids, but I when I was one, I loved playing in the hotel pool and then retreating to the quiet, cool darkness of the hotel room for a nap. That's some good sleep. Playing in a pool really tuckered me out, and hotel rooms were always so soothing for some reason. Loved it!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

the one thing you need for resort naps to work is a child you can move and keep asleep or move and able to get back to sleep. if you have a light sleeper or one that will not go back to sleep, going back to resort is setting yourself up for a bad time with no rest for anyone.