How long can your family handle in the parks in Sept?

[kohlby]

Mid-day breaks have never worked for us. They've just taken extra time and the kids don't settle down back in the room. One child in particular needs to get to bed at night at a reasonable hour too, so it's not like we can stay at the parks extra late either. However, we're headed to Disney in Sept. so I'm thinking we may need to attempt the mid-day break again. (Most of our other trips were in the winter). Though we live in the southeast, I know the heat is going to impact us. Normally, I'd say to figure it out as we go - but with planning Fastpass plus, I'm going to have to plan ahead more than I'd like. We are rope droppers - but without any stress or waking up early. We're naturally there easily by rope drop.

So, what's the longest your family can handle before needing a cooling off break from the parks? My kids will be 11, 8, and 5. We will have a stroller for the 5 year old due to his sensory issues. All the kids - and the adults - are in good physical shape and have above average endurance.

 

[Hannathy]

In Sept? easily rope drop to close. The hours aren't that long.

Went rope drop to close during Spring break with a 5 yr old and those were some long days. We usually take a waterpark day in the middle of the week but if we are there we go! Don't get there as often as we like so want to get the most out of it.

We never take mid day breaks either , find them more work and tiring than good. tried it once and that was it.

 

[jcano]

Our 4 year old with Type 1 diabetes went rope drop to close multiple days when we went in Sept several years ago. We typically go RD to EMH. We figure we can always sleep when we get home.

 

[jezebel73]

We've never had much trouble going all day long. Our two September trips were in 2008 and 2009, when my daughter was turning 4 and 5. It was HOT and humid for sure and although we never went back to the room to rest, we did usually have some relaxation time in the park in the mid afternoon. My daughter would sometimes hit a splash pad and we would rest on a bench. Or in air conditioning.

 

[Gracie09]

We get there around rope drop and stay until after an early dinner (5 or so). We do try and spend one night for wishes and may do fantasmic this trip. After dinner we hit the pool, shower and the girls are asleep by 8:30. It keeps them happy during the next day

 

[Kingdome8]

Last April we stayed all day with a 9,5,1 year old.
Except Epcot we did leave early after doing everything.
But with HS and mk open to close.

We rented a double stroller from park for 5,1 year old.
Nice to have. Gives them a break here and there to relax.
I even didn't care if my 9 year sat in every once in a while.
(She's tiny). Stroller for us makes the kids happy which makes me happy. Lol
But my one year old took naps thru out day. But I would never leave the park just to give her a nap. No way.

 

[kohlby]

This is so great to read!! I was expecting for people to tell me to leave a lot earlier than I thought. I know we can't handle staying late - since if the middle child doesn't get enough sleep, we ALL suffer dreadfully. But it's good to know our normal touring style will likely still work out.

We'll have waterparks for the first time this trip too, as well as Disney Quest. My plan is to do plan the parks for the first 7 days and the rest after - figuring I'd rather change FPP to the later days than the earlier days if needed. (Also, by the later days, we'll be using the FPP to repeat rides instead of doing it the first time on the trip).

 

[mm1971]

Mid-day breaks have never worked for us. They've just taken extra time and the kids don't settle down back in the room. One child in particular needs to get to bed at night at a reasonable hour too, so it's not like we can stay at the parks extra late either. However, we're headed to Disney in Sept. so I'm thinking we may need to attempt the mid-day break again. (Most of our other trips were in the winter). Though we live in the southeast, I know the heat is going to impact us. Normally, I'd say to figure it out as we go - but with planning Fastpass plus, I'm going to have to plan ahead more than I'd like. We are rope droppers - but without any stress or waking up early. We're naturally there easily by rope drop.

So, what's the longest your family can handle before needing a cooling off break from the parks? My kids will be 11, 8, and 5. We will have a stroller for the 5 year old due to his sensory issues. All the kids - and the adults - are in good physical shape and have above average endurance.

While we do take breaks on some days, we have never had a problem going start to finish on days we plan to. I think you'll be OK going from RD until you are ready to leave. We usually do one day where we sleep in and head to the park later so we can catch Wishes and do some evening EMH.

 

[brockash]

We go in Sept. every yr with kids from infants through 12...so far. We've never had a problem going open-close (we've done up to 6 park days in a row like this). As long as you have a a stroller for the 5 year old, I think you'd be fine doing open-close and certainly open til evening if you're set on being back at the resort by a certain time. It's a hot time of year, but there are plenty of shows, attractions that can get you out of the sun.

I will say we do usually plan to do things like COP, Mickeys Philarmagic, other shows, meals etc. during mid afternoon.

 

[texasroni75]

We didn't do any real breaks during our September trip last year. When we felt we needed a little rest, we'd go on an air-conditioned slow ride, stop for a treat, or just sit and people watch until we felt refreshed.

We did park-hop, and the monorail/bus ride/boat ride between parks counted as a little bit of down-time too.

We do live in Texas, though - where it's still very hot in September (many days still above 100 degrees), so the heat and temps in WDW that time of year feel pretty darn good to us!

 

[kiramay]

For US it was more important that I have well rested kids than to stay until park close. So we'd do RD or morning EMH, tour until dinner (5ish), have a nice dinner, and then mosey back to the resort. Shower and bed by 8:30ish.

This trip I'd like to see Fantasmic and Illuninations, so we'll have 2 longer days, but I plan to still get the kids to bed at a decent time the rest of the trip. (Wishes is at 10 pm on our trip, which is too late unfortunately.)

 

[worm761]

We don't do the mid day break. Though we are entertaining the idea for our trip this August.

September/October is when we usually go to Disney. When we need a break we find a nice air conditioned attraction. I have found that making lunch ADR's really helps. We have a nice break in air conditioning off of our feet.

 

[Kristian]

We didn't do any real breaks during our September trip last year. When we felt we needed a little rest, we'd go on an air-conditioned slow ride, stop for a treat, or just sit and people watch until we felt refreshed.

We did park-hop, and the monorail/bus ride/boat ride between parks counted as a little bit of down-time too.

We do live in Texas, though - where it's still very hot in September (many days still above 100 degrees), so the heat and temps in WDW that time of year feel pretty darn good to us!

We can easily do rope drop to close in September. I have found that going back to the resort for a break really doesn't benefit us as far as break time goes. Our dd (5) isn't a "napper" and while I know that a break doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go to sleep, I find that for us going back to the resort is pointless. As soon as we head back dd wants to swim, play on the playground, play in the room or what have you and there wasn't much "resting" involved So we sit in the park and people watch instead for however long we want or we hop on the monorail or a boat and enjoy a relaxing ride. We do take a day off from the parks and have a resort/pool day to incorporate more pool and down time into the trip because it is after all a vacation, but breaks taken at the resort for us is really just a waste.

 

[amym2]

I think some of that depends on how many days you will be there. Our last Sept trip was only 5 days so we felt the need to squeeze more in. We made it through 2 long days but by day 3 needed a break. The kids enjoyed the mid-day break to swim and I more than anyone needed to rest. DH doesn't like needing a vacation from vacation, so we have learned over the years to slow down a bit. We spend more time at our resort and less in the parks because we know we will always go back (we joined DVC so that definitely helps!). Our kids are 12 and 10 and have more stamina than any other kids I know, but even they agree that 15 hours in a park for days on end isn't fun. We can generally go rd to dinner and then back to the resort or rd to lunch, mid-day break, then back to the park until closing (which is fairly early when we go in Sept/Oct). We usually alternate break and no break days, and we never break on day 1 when we are too excited to be at WDW to rest.

 

[prettylittlelady]

We easily did rope drop to close when we went in September 2013 with our then 3 1/2 year old, 4 year old, and 5 year old. It was their first trip to Disney, so it really surprised me. We had planned to do mid day breaks but instead, went with the flow and took our breaks in the shade, or on a breezy or air conditioned ride. We took a camelback and snacks with us to the parks, so that probably helped, as well. We even park hopped between 3 parks on one of our days there. My husband and I couldn't believe it because at home, they are all ready for bed by 8 pm!

 

[kohlby]

I think some of that depends on how many days you will be there.

We're looking at about 10 days, not including the drive days - which is 8 hours each way. We don't do parks on drive days. We figure that will mean 7 days of theme parks, 2 days of waterparks, and we *might* do the Halloween party on our last night. (And fit in Disney Quest and DTD in there somewhere as well, likely on the waterpark afternoons or morning/early afternoon of the Halloween Party. And/Or hubby takes eldest child out at night to Disney Quest). We are rope droppers, but naturally. We do have one earlier morning, due to a class, but even that should be fairly easy for us to make.

We won't stay until close if it's too late. I just was hoping an afternoon break wasn't an essential park of Sept since we would prefer to leave somewhere between 5-8pm - and figure it out as we go for evenings depending on the kids and the next day's plans. So, it's wonderful to hear that the afternoon break is not essential even in Sept!

 

[wishtdream]

We have two kids and have traveled to WDW in August or Sept in 5 if the last 6 years. For our first trip my youngest was six weeks and the oldest turned 5 during the trip. We have found mid day breaks to be more trouble than they are worth. The time and aggravation it takes to travel back to our on property hotel are just not worth it. We often try to find a quieter activity to take a break during the day. We often go from rope drop to close. My kids seem to need less sleep at Disney than at home.