How long to allow for a midday break at the resort ?

[maryj11]

We are going this month and I have added a midday break to our plan. On the other days we are staying at the resort until around 2:30 or 3:00.
Our MK day we will go at rope drop ride rides and then eat lunch at BOG. I figure we will get back to the Poly around 1:00. We have dinner at Ohana at 4:00 then are heading back to MK after dinner.
Is this enough time for a break 1:00 to 3:00? I figure we will swim then will go to the room to will get ready for dinner about 3:00.
We will have a couple of other evenings at MK so we wont feel the need to cram everything in on that one day.
How long of a midday break at the resort does everyone schedule into their plans?

 

[AliceNDinah]

I am wondering this too....how much is "long enough" for a break? We are at Port Orleans Riverside....

 

[stace1214]

We like to arrive for rope drop, eat an early lunch around 11 and then head back to the resort until 4ish. That gives the kids time for a rest and a swim before heading back for dinner and a few more rides. If we plan carefully, even with a shorter time in the parks we're able to do a ton over the week that we're there.

 

[HookPan]

it depends how old your kids are. We are doing rope drop, our kids are younger and up at 6am. We will do a few rides, grab lunch and head back to the hotel (AOA). We will probably head back to the parks around 4/5. That gives us 3 hours of down time. I think that's plenty.

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's not a question anyone can answer for you. Just take the break you feel you need.

 

[Klayfish]

It's not a question anyone can answer for you. Just take the break you feel you need.

Yep, this. We actually never "schedule" a midday break, we play it by ear. We're not rope drop people, ever. We may show up around park open time, but never stand outside the gates. But even on days where we show up at 9:10am, we don't have a break planned per se. It all depends on what we did the day before, what we have tentatively planned for tomorrow, how we're feeling, etc... Sometimes at 1pm we say "We're done" and head back to our rental house. And when we do, sometimes at 5pm, we'll decide to head back out. Sometime we decide a nice quiet evening is the right thing.

Just IMO, we prefer to wing that, like the rest of our plans. We would rather maximize park time, but not to the point of exhausting ourselves. So we'd never do 5 days of 10 hour days in a row, but at the same time we won't plan 10 hours of "rest" time either.

 

[maryj11]

It's not a question anyone can answer for you. Just take the break you feel you need.

True I kind wondered how much others take for their breaks. I'm not sure how much time we will need to feel refreshed. We have taken a midday break one other time a few years back but I cant remember how long we took.

 

[maryj11]

it depends how old your kids are. We are doing rope drop, our kids are younger and up at 6am. We will do a few rides, grab lunch and head back to the hotel (AOA). We will probably head back to the parks around 4/5. That gives us 3 hours of down time. I think that's plenty.

Our youngest is 15 but it is the heat that gets to her. I get hot but it seems I handle it better.

 

[ohiotodds12]

We love the mid day breaks but we are also rope drop people and not late night people. We love the early part of the day, get a ton done, do lunch and we are typically back to the resort probably 3 1/2 hours or so before we are showered, changed and back out for dinner and a few hours in the evening. This worked well when are kids were teens as well, they liked the break, nap and pool as well. Made us so refreshed but we were also there for 10 days at least and it was always 89+ degrees outside so they begged to go back a few times!

 

[DisDreaming4116]

Completely agree with the "every family does it differently" idea. We don't wake up super early, get to the parks between 9:30-10:30 and don't leave until after park closing. My girls are 9 and 3 and there is no way they would be happy with us leaving the parks. I just schedule several shows/rides in AC and we take our time eating.

 

[mtemm]

I'm a huge fan of the midday break! the one day we didn't do it last week did not turn out so well. It was our MK day and we had a noon lunch at the plaza and 6:15 dinner at BOG. I don't normally schedule 2 ADR's in one day but did this time. We debated going back to the room after lunch but figured allowing extra time to come back we would need to leave the YC by 4:30. Lunch was done at 1. It just felt tight so we opted to push through.

Huge mistake.

It was hot, everyone was tired. We had had a fabulous morning walking on to every ride we wanted thanks to rope drop and continuously adding fastpasses. After lunch we added a few more fast passes right in a row but then hit a wall where we had a 3 hour wait for our next one, buzz, that we couldn't modify sooner and DS13 would have been devastated if we had skipped. We tried all the usual spots to relax in park and cool off/rest (COP, philharmagic, people mover, even the train) and we just got hit by the perfect storm of tired and hot. Dh and the kids voted to (gasp!) make it somehow till dinner then skip fireworks and go back and swim instead. I really wish we had gone back after lunch even for an hour or 2. It would have made such a difference!

Our AK day wasn't so much a break as it was a never made it back. We did so much in the morning, pretty much everything we wanted to do except animal trails. It was so hot and getting crowded so we decided to leave at 1:00 with tentative plans to come back and see everything lit up. We weren't tied to an ADR in the park, which was nice. Dinner ADR was at our resort. We never did go back. Sometimes a break is a break, and sometimes it's just time to move on for the day.

 

[nco91590]

I've gone with little kids in the dead of summer, so afternoon breaks were essential. Basically, we hit rope drop, had lunch in the park, did a ride after lunch and made our way back to the room from about 2-4:30. Then we would head back to the parks for dinner and evening fireworks/rides.

 

[robl45]

I don't think you are budgeting enough time. There is walk time out of the park, time to wait for monorail, bus, etc to get back to the resort. You aren't magically changing into swimsuits so it takes time for that and then I'm assuming you are swimming with kids? Good luck getting them out of the pool that quick if they are anything like mine.

 

[buteraa]

I think you need at least 3 hours. By the time you get into the hotel, change, go to the pool, stop for drinks, swim, go back, shower/change and get transportation back to the parks, you need at least 3 hours. We usually nap (one of my favorite things to do at Disney!) and I would say we average 3-4 hours in the afternoon.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I agree with PP that you don't have quite enough time scheduled.

Your lunch ADR is at 1:00. I think you'll be pressed to get out of BOG in under 45 minutes, then there's travel time back to the Polynesian. I doubt you'll hit the pool by 2:00.

 

[loves to dive]

We don't schedule it or plan for any certain amount of time. We get tired or hot, we go back to the resort. Maybe we go to the pool, maybe we just lay around in the room. We might spend 30 min. or 3 hours, just however long we need.

 

[DisTXMom]

Our breaks are generally 4-5 hours. With transportation, that gives us time to swim, nap, chill and return. Most often, we'd leave the park between 1-2pm and return around 6pm. Our kids don't always nap, but everyone enjoys the dark quiet AC room.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We usually arrive around park opening and stay until about 1-2. We won't head back to the parks until around 5. This works for us.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We always say we are going to break...then never do.

 

[bryanb]

I don't usually nap at WDW, unless everyone else in my group is doing so. Even then, I'd probably use that time to get a mug refill, enjoy the air conditioned areas of the resort, or maybe use the gym if the resort has one.