How To Always Wake Up Early At Disney

[eclipseSD]

Whether we have early PSs, extra magic hour, rope drop ceremony, or whatever other early morning event to attend to; getting up on time can be be very crucial and possibly the difference between doing 10 attractions in the morning and doing two.

Now, the usual key to getting up early is going to bed early. Unfortunately, we many times find ourselves out at the parks or DtD until midnight or later on Tuesday Night; but still want to wake up for the Wednesday morning EMH. The new EMH system will further put tolls on our sleeping time.

So, in the event that waking up naturally at 6 A.M. becomes impossible, we many times turn to artificial or forced means of wake up. These artificial means will be the main topic of this thread.

Alarm Clocks
Everyone has one, and just about everyone has to hit the snooze button four or five times before they can get out of bed. So here are a few suggestions to optimize alarm clock effectiveness.

* Set the clock as far away from your bed as possible. If you don't have to get out of the bed physically, you probably won't.

* Get another alarm clock. Set two clocks to go off within 5 minutes of each other. The urgency of turning off two clocks should get you out of bed.

* Set the alarm to a radio station, because sometimes the buzzer is just too jarring, and can ruin your whole day. However, I suggest the following…

* Set the alarm to radio static, as loud as possible. I find music just tends to weave itself into whatever dream I am having. The static is more effective than the music and buzzer combined. Try it and see.

Drinking Water
Drink lots of water.The more you drink, the more likely you will wake up in order to take care of some very urgent business.

Exercise
Exerciseing an hour and a half before bed will tire your body out around bedtime.

Curtains and Lamps
Keep the curtains open and let the sunlight shine on your bed. This will cue your body to wake up. Or put your lamp on a timer an hour before you want to wake up

Telephone
Simply dial your hotel's "wake up" feature and arrange a call for your desired time. This is not recommended as the lone wake up source, but one in addition to the others listed

Alternatives
There are some "out-there" alarm clocks and home made contraptions as well. From physically shaking your bed to 90db maximum volume to spraying water on your face through a clever water bottle/fan/egg timer linked contraption; there are many devices people use to force themselves up. If you have had any luck with these or any other methods, feel free to list them.

 

[Stiff]

here is one

take a toddler with you

mine wakes up with the roosters

 

[mudd]

You could always take me with you. I promise to go to bed early and get you up very early. Nothing worse for me than to know the park is going to open and I won't be there waiting.

 

[Mrs. Toaster]

Our toddler loves to play with my husband's alarm clock (which actually goes off earlier than the toddler gets up, which is still early!), and so it often goes off to static! I can vouch for the fact that this definitely wakes you up!

Having a toddler also make sure you do not sleep in!!

 

[Talking Hands]

Originally posted by eclipseSD
Alternatives
There are some "out-there" alarm clocks and home made contraptions as well. From physically shaking your bed to 90db maximum volume to spraying water on your face through a clever water bottle/fan/egg timer linked contraption; there are many devices people use to force themselves up. If you have had any luck with these or any other methods, feel free to list them.

What do you mean by "out-there" alarm clocks? I use a vibrating alarm daily and so do many of my friends. It is natural for use. My alarm also hooks up to a lamp and flashes my face. I even have a travel one that vibrates.

 

[outstandinfarmer]

I also am the two alarm clock plus a wake up call type of girl. Well, at least I used to. My family had such a HARD time getting up all the time. (Now were all take a vitamin drink so we get up with smiles on our face everyday, but anyway. . . ) I would set the alarm clock, my cell phone and wake up call. The cutains don't make that much of a difference though because usually we were getting up before the sun rose!!!!

 

[crazywig]

Originally posted by Stiff
here is one

take a toddler with you

mine wakes up with the roosters

mine too .

maybe we can start a toddler swap for people who can't get up?

 

[LoriAnn630]

I thought I read in the Birnbaums book that you could get wake up calls from the Mouse? I thought that meant Mickey would call to wake us? I was looking forward to that! I figured that would get us all going!

49 more days to go! Im more excited than the kids!

 

[outstandinfarmer]

YEP! The mouse does call you!! It's so neat. The only downside is stopping the kids from fighting over the phone when he calls!

 

[mep319]

Wish I had that problem...I'm such a light sleeper that I could never go back to sleep after an alarm went off...

 

[Purrrrfecta]

Several years ago - before the kids arrived

I would have room service do it with a pot of tea

 

[Fooz]

My wake up call is a 4 year old jumping all over me at 5:30 - 6:00, no matter what time he goes to bed!! Works everytime
I can rent him out if you want, cheap!!

 

[VancouverFoppa]

Turn the TV on. This prevents family members from falling back to sleep.

 

[GEM]

Well, I don't have any trouble getting up, but my husband does. So, here's what I do. I know it's sneaky, but it works. First of all, he doesn't wear a watch and never really pays any attention to what time it is - until it's time to get up. Then he complains loudly about being dragged out of bed so early. I always wake up at least once during the night, and when I do, I set the clock ahead an hour. So, when Mickey calls to wake us up at 6:00a.m., my husband looks at the clock and thinks he's being woken up at 7:00a.m. He complains a lot less and gets up easier. Now, this only works because he has no clue what time the parks open, when our ps times are, etc. He leaves all that to me. Then, sometime later in the day, I can adjust the clock back without him noticing.

 

[outstandinfarmer]

Well, I don't have any trouble getting up, but my husband does. So, here's what I do. I know it's sneaky, but it works. First of all, he doesn't wear a watch and never really pays any attention to what time it is - until it's time to get up. Then he complains loudly about being dragged out of bed so early. I always wake up at least once during the night, and when I do, I set the clock ahead an hour. So, when Mickey calls to wake us up at 6:00a.m., my husband looks at the clock and thinks he's being woken up at 7:00a.m. He complains a lot less and gets up easier. Now, this only works because he has no clue what time the parks open, when our ps times are, etc. He leaves all that to me. Then, sometime later in the day, I can adjust the clock back without him noticing.

My DH is the same way, he doesn't know what time things start and he doesn't wear a watch. SO I know that I could pull that one over on him!!!!

 

[dani blaski]

On our ecent trip, we found difficulty waking up earlier in order to take advantage of the EMH. So, I would wake up early thanks to Mickey's wake up call and would piddle around to get ready. After I would get out of the shower, my husband would get up & get ready. He was responsible for getting lunch ready for that day while I finshed getting dressed-I take longer than he does obviously. But that was the trade off since he slept in. It worked OK most of the time, except when you have JUST missed the bus taking you to your park...

 

[eeyoregirl]

Hi Everyone!!

My family rarely has trouble getting up in the morning at Disney, and this may be because there are 7 of us. Some of us are slower than others, but we have a beautiful 5 year old to keep us motivated, and knowing that we worked all year to pay for this trip gets us out of bed!

 

[JohnsPrincess]

I have a hard time getting out of bed no matter what. I'm NOT a morning person unless I can do it my way. I need to be able to kind of "adjust" to waking up! Like, turn the tv on and lay in bed for 5 min listening to it with my eyes closed. If I can do this I'm a happy girl. This is a post on how NOT to wake someone up. On a trip I took a couple years ago with my mom, my little sister, and a family that is our friends. We stayed together in a hotel...I think we had joining rooms or something? Anyways, they are all getting up and well, I figured I couldn't get into the bathroom right away Anyways, so let me lay here. They are as big of Disney freaks as we are and they had this Buzz Lightyear alarm clock. I can't remember exactly what it did but it was horrible. They brought it right over to my head and set it off. I tell you what...they all thought it was funny then but when they had a VERY grumpy girl (headache PLUS that horrible feeling you have when you are Jarred out of bed) on their hands all day... yeah... not a good idea!!!