How Long is your Mid-Day Break?

[RedOne3781]

It depends on how tired we are and how late our night time park is open.
This August for example, MK is open til midnight or later a few days we are there and AK til 11.
The nights we are going to those parks, we will probably be napping/swimming/enjoying our resort from 1-5.

 

[KristiKat]

We usually leave the park around 12 and head back around 3. Sometimes we don't take a break, we leave the park earlier. Our Epcot day is usually shorter cause the kids aren't that impressed with it. We have a big lunch at Biergarten and usually end up leaving the park around 5 or 6.

 

[mindeola]

For us we hit RD stay until between 1-3 (depending on how we feel what we want to see and do, etc.). We return after dinner so between 5-7 and stay until close. Our breaks can be long depending on when we left or relatively short. For us we base it more on how we feel and what we want to accomplish that day. With the longer hours and the higher temperatures we expect to get less done and take things at a slower pace. I say do what is best for your family, there is no right or wrong answer to this.

We usually do our ADR's at lunch (cheaper prices) so we usually eat around 1, then head back to the resort to rest and back out between 4-5.

These are pretty much what we do. We always go in May or June. It is nice to get a break from the heat. Totally re-charges us. I thought we could do away with it when the kids got older, but everyone still needs some downtime it seems. They are in college now and I think they would prefer to sleep in and swim and hit the parks in the evening only. I will let them try that next time, but I am still rope-dropping!

Doing a girls trip next December and with shorter hours and cooler weather I do not plan to take breaks.

 

[Heather1101]

We usually leave the park around 1 or 2pm and go back for dinner in the park around 6pm or after dinner if we eat elsewhere.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

Depends on the park LOL
MK: TTA
Studios: Beauty and the Beast Show
EPCOT: American Adventure, (even though it's one of my favorites
AK: ITTBAB

 

[katt789]

It really depends, and is up to you. We used to live down in Florida, so taking midday breaks wasn't one that we'd do, obviously as it was too far, but what we DID do:
-Rope drop to shortly after Fof parade finished, SOMETIMES, we'd wait for Hoedown or 5:40pm MiSi to be done, and then we'd head over to Trader Sams or the Grand Floridian, grab some food, have some wine, enjoy the a/c for a few hours, usually spend 2 hours, maybe more if we had a sit down meal, at the resort, and head back into the parks for Wishes/Dep. It was always nice to take a break and get out of the park during the busiest part of the day since there's all the day people, and all the people who are just coming in for the evening.

Midday breaks DEFINITELY help keep you going in the heat/crowds/whichever, it's nice to take that break, 2-3 hours isn't a lot at all, esp if that includes transport back to the hotel. Also think of it this way, if you're ONLY spending an hour at the hotel, do you sleep the whole time, swim the whole time, just relax and eat? or try to divide it up? When you give yourself a few hours you have time to do it all.

I usually work it out so I'm not taking a break every day when I'm on vacation, I'll do rope drop to wishes at MK,(using things like, meals, Caroseul of Progress, Country Bears, Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents for a/c breaks/naps) schedule a break on DHS since it's lacking options, and AK USED to be "do it all by 4pm, then have a resort night" now I'm thinking I'd do as much as I could by say, 2pm, then head back for a break before the evening festivities. Epcot's a chill park for us, and you've got a couple of options to take it slower/use the a/c there, plus when you're wandering world showcase there's lots of shops to jump in and out of and shows to kinda slow down to watch

 

[kaybird]

For us, it is usually 2-3 hours, which includes travel time, more or less. We leave the parks during the hottest/most crowded part of the day, then hop to a water park for a few trips around the lazy river. Cooled and relaxed, we usually head off to eat, and/or a great evening at a park!

 

[maltdizzy]

It varies day to day and which parks we are hopping. DS is 9, so we can and have done all day at the parks on some days.

On water park days (we go in the AM), we usually only break long enough to shower and change cloths before heading to a park.

Other days it may be a 2 hour pool break.

And some days, it may be all afternoon at the resort and no return to the parks.

 

[ghtx]

We usually aim to be away from the parks between 1 and 4. Though we often don't actually get back until 5.

It seems crazy to leave the parks for such a short break (when taking transportation into account) but we always find that it's worth it.

 

[Rivergirl2005]

We left between 11 to 12:30 depending on the park we were at. Then we returned around 3-3:45ish depending on where we were going. A great place to take a break is at Art of Animation, at 2:00 you can take an animation class with an animator. It's totally free and a nice break from the parks!

 

[shruley]

We arrive at rope drop (or EMH if we are doing that) and leave anywhere between 11:30-12:30. Maybe one day we will stay til 1. Typically we eat QS lunch in the park pretty early, 11 or 11:30, since we aren't big breakfast eaters. We then schedule a pretty early sit down supper, usually around 5. Then after supper,we go back into the parks (eat TS in the park, or a resort near the evening park we are in). So we are out of the park up to 4-5 hours depending on how you count supper. Part of this is because we go the end of Aug a lot. It's so darn hot, we can't stand being there through the heat of the afternoon. Usually when we are done with supper about 6 or 6:30 the temp is much more tolerable. And then it's perfect because the kids are usually hungry for a snack while we are waiting for the evening shows, and eating gives them something to do while waiting! I know people aren't always fans of doing morning EMH, but it's another hour when it's cooler to be in the parks, and if we're done with rides about 11:30 we are leaving when the crowds are just starting to get too bad.

If you are going during a cooler time, you might not need such a large afternoon break, and 2-3 hours may be more doable for you.

 

[lustergirl]

We hit the parks early, go back to our room around 2pm, and head back out around 5pm.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We are usually out of the park around noon and return around 5 or 6, depending on what we're doing and what we want to do. Kids are now 15 and 13, and I was the only one that napped. They swam or went to a water park.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

We usually grab a lateish lunch and try to be out of the park by 2:00. That gives us swim and rest time; we try to be back by 5:00 - 5:30.

 

[aprincessatlast]

Honestly Disney is BTDT for us, so no need to rush. It has been a awhile since we visited but still are not feeling the need to run around the parks and jam it all in. We plan on seeing most but just not willing to kill ourselves to do it. We will see, but our plan is to spend 4-5 hours for the days we have breaks and the other days not arrive until after lunch to mid day. We are looking at the parks as our entertainment to our vacation not the vacation itself. The plan is for lots of pool time and some nice dinners. So leaving around noon-1 and coming back after dinner.

 

[Mikie]

At least 4 hours with travel time, which is what I planned for this past June, but I think 5 may be better, so I'll probably adjust accordingly for June 2017.

Call me slow. . .I've never properly executed the RD-break-return plan and really just can't wrap my head around timing. . . So if you headed out of the park, say 1:00-1:30, did you eat lunch in the park as part of your morning touring, or somewhere along the way of your break? Then you're walking back into the park, 5:30ish (4 hours later), when do you eat dinner? (Maybe not everyone is a 3 meal a day family like me!) THEN, how late are you in the parks? I can imagine feeling well rested for a nice evening, lasting til 11 or so, but then you're looking at maybe 11:30-midnight before you're in your room and 12:30 to be asleep. Do you rope drop again the next day?

The midday break is so often recommended that I see the need/value, but I used to get to travel in fall and wasn't so hot that we HAD to do it & never really made it work out. Going forward, looks like school schedules will send us to WDW in summer, so I am trying to picture the days. . .

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Call me slow. . .I've never properly executed the RD-break-return plan and really just can't wrap my head around timing. . . So if you headed out of the park, say 1:00-1:30, did you eat lunch in the park as part of your morning touring, or somewhere along the way of your break? Then you're walking back into the park, 5:30ish (4 hours later), when do you eat dinner? (Maybe not everyone is a 3 meal a day family like me!) THEN, how late are you in the parks? I can imagine feeling well rested for a nice evening, lasting til 11 or so, but then you're looking at maybe 11:30-midnight before you're in your room and 12:30 to be asleep. Do you rope drop again the next day?

The midday break is so often recommended that I see the need/value, but I used to get to travel in fall and wasn't so hot that we HAD to do it & never really made it work out. Going forward, looks like school schedules will send us to WDW in summer, so I am trying to picture the days. . .

When we went in May, we realized around 1 pm that we (and the kids) were burning out, so we grabbed a nice relaxing lunch at Skippers. When we came back (5-ish) we got a hot dog at Caseys. We try to do 1 sit down meal a day, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. We found out during our 2014 trip that we sometimes weren't hungry, even with a good amount of time between, so now we try to either do a QS before or after a sit down. BTW, we will definitely do Skippers on our next visit. Loved it!

 

[heidijanesmith]

Even when it's not blazing summer hot, we still take a mid day break, every day. We usually leave around noon, after eating lunch at the park and then head back to our hotel. We take our break by swimming and or napping and then head out again about 6PM and eat dinner at the park.

We have to take the break, it recharges us for the day. Even with transportation time, it's worth it.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We do not have a fixed schedule on breaks and mix it up over the course of our ten day trips. Sometimes we have lunch in the park and sometimes we eat in the room (we stay in DVC and have kitchen). We are the same with dinner--some in the room and some out. We usually eat one in and one out each day but that's not set in stone. We make our FPs either late morning or after the 6:30-7:30 pm window then come and go as we please.
It could depend on how quickly we get through rides and how crowded things are getting. Dead day we might stay longer and enjoy repeating favorite attractions, crazy crowds that day we say we will come back a less crowded day.
We do hit the pool for a couple hours each day even in December trips. It is so refreshing and enables us to start at rope drop and then stay for EMH.

 

[Missymoe4]

We have been doing a certain touring style for so many years, it is just what we're used to - arrive at rope drop and stay until 12:30-1pm (when the park is the most crowded and hottest), relax at the resort for 4 hours or depending if we have a dinner ADR to get to, we make sure to allow enough time to get there. We actually do afternoon breaks each day, and our trips become more and more enjoyable having that pool time or short nap to recharge for the evenings. We never feel like we are missing out on the parks too much, because we've been so many times and the resort has become a big part of our vacation as well as the parks.

Ditto for us.