How will I keep my child awake for Wishes?

[Dazer22]

How do you manage keeping little ones awake for evening events such as Wishes at 10:00p.m..

Does anyone else have children that are used to early bedtimes (8 p.m.-9p.m.)
and start fading after this time or worse they just fall asleep.

How do you manage with kids who are so used to their early bedtime and do not seem able to stay awake?

p.s. my kids won't take naps.

 

[beattyfamily]

Unfortunately, I haven't found a way!

I have a 7 and 10 year old and my 7 year old has never made it and my 10 year old always has made it so go figure. I think it depends on the child and how much sleep they need.

I also couldn't get them to nap either, especially on vacation!

Thank goodness for our video camera. That is the only way our younger DD has seen Wishes and MVMCP/MNSSHP parades.

Good luck though.

 

[Dazer22]

Yes. It definitely depends on the child. I have one child that can stay awake, but one that is an early morning person who starts wilting at 7:00p.m. It's difficult to go against their natural time clock.

I remain stumped.

 

[Minnie824]

Sadly, I still have not managed to take my DDs to Illuminations. We've gone after thanksgiving, and that was at 9:30 and there was no way they would make it. We've seen Wishes, but it was earlier. I don't think that at ages 5 &2 even, they could have made a 10pm wishes. And that was with going back to the room and napping during the day. A few nights we watched some late Wishes from our room at GF, which was nice. I think you'll just have to play it by ear and not be too disappointed if they miss it.

 

[jenrein]

My kids are all in bed by 8pm. However, they do stay up for the Superbowl and for New Years Eve. And I think Disney will be much more exciting than either of those so I am not going to worry. We are doing the Illuminations Dinner and also plan on the Wishes and all that good stuff.

 

[U2_rocks!]

My kids' normal bedtime is between 7 and 7.30 (a little later in holidays), yet I have been able to keep them up until 11 p.m. on the odd occasion. I also woke them at 11.30 this New Year's Eve so that they could walk down the drive-way with us to see the nearby fireworks display, and afterwards they played until about 1.30 a.m. quite happily.

I know my 7 yo DS will stay up, no problem. The DDs might fall asleep in the stroller (we'll likely rent a double that night), but we should be able to wake them in time to see Spectro at 9, and then they will be all excited and able to stay up until Wishes. Then they will crash hard - we have nothing much planned for the next day!

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

My DD was 4 at the time and she was looking so forward to seeing Tink. She managed to stay up to see Spectro, but 3 minutes before WISHES, she went out. We just couldn't wake her up. I cried because I knew she really wanted to see it. I don't know how to keep them awake, especially when their bedtime is much earlier and they are already tired from a long day at WDW.

 

[Dashzap]

I didn't. I tried not to make a big thing of the night time events to my kids when they were little.

Even now, my 7 year old would never be happy awake at 11pm. His natural body clock gets him up early, no matter when he goes to sleep. If he stayed up to see the fireworks, the whole next day would be a disaster of crankiness.

So we work with what we have: we go to early entry, park all day, nice dinner, and then regular bedtime. He can see the late night fireworks when he is older. Sometimes I go to e-nights (or whatever they call them now) with my older son, leaving the younger asleep at the hotel with DH.

 

[NotUrsula]

Mostly by staying out of the parks for most of the earlier part of the day, or by only doing the morning, and spending the middle of the day in your room or at the pool. (You would be amazed how easily a tired kid may fall asleep watching TV in a dark room after a park morning and a vigorous swim.) Any time we do a late night with a small fry we don't spend any time in the parks between 11 am and 6 pm.

Also, most of the time when kids do manage to stay awake through a fun show, the drudgery of leaving the parks afterward can make them testy, and they tend to fall asleep in the car or on the bus back "home". Having them brush their teeth and put jammy-type clothes on jsut before the show can help make getting them to bed much easier.

One other point: kids who are veterans often don't care about seeing a parade or a fireworks show more than once. If you want to see it but they don't care, consider sending them to a kid's club for the evening.

 

[perdidochas]

How do you manage keeping little ones awake for evening events such as Wishes at 10:00p.m..

Does anyone else have children that are used to early bedtimes (8 p.m.-9p.m.)
and start fading after this time or worse they just fall asleep.

How do you manage with kids who are so used to their early bedtime and do not seem able to stay awake?

p.s. my kids won't take naps.

Coffee and cigarettes usually keeps my kids up.....



Just joking. On a related note, for kids who aren't used to caffeine, a coke at dinner time works wonders.....

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We have only managed to see Wishes once with the kids - it was a 6:30pm show in January (the park was closing for Pirates and Princess party).

 

[Princess Roo]

That was part of the reason we went last December. Wishes was really early, like 6 or 7PM because they close the parks early. Otherwise, it's not worth stretching our DS' bedtime just for the fireworks. He would be a terror the next day!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I am not meaning to sound preachy here, but...your best bet is probably to keep them as close to their at home schedule as possible. Save the night time shows for when the kids are older. Sometimes we put too much pressure on our kids to have fun, and in so doing, we overload and overwhelm them. I learned, the hard way , that it is better to not try to do too much.

 

[deedeetoo]

OK I'll admit it. We have never seen Wishes. We are an early to bed and early to rise family and even dh and I have trouble staying up late enough for it.

Every year I plan to see it. I read about Tinkerbell coming down from the castle, and how great the song is, and how they so much better than regular fireworks, and I really want to go.

But then I'm there and I'm tired and I just want to go back to the room and put the kids to bed and have a glass of wine with dh. Maybe someday.....

 

[dbmarie]

Just joking. On a related note, for kids who aren't used to caffeine, a coke at dinner time works wonders.....

My dd's equate disney with being able to have coca-cola. I'm such a bad mom .

 

[Skatermom23]

I am not meaning to sound preachy here, but...your best bet is probably to keep them as close to their at home schedule as possible. Save the night time shows for when the kids are older. Sometimes we put too much pressure on our kids to have fun, and in so doing, we overload and overwhelm them. I learned, the hard way , that it is better to not try to do too much.

Perfectly said!

 

[Whosemom]

My idea of the very height of romance: kids sleeping in the rental stroller so I don't have to worry about them running off, holding hands with dh and watching fireworks over the castle.

 

[monorailsilver]

My kids have stayed up for all the night time shows that are at 10 (or 9) & they start bedtime at 7ish.

In 2002, I had my then 15 month old dd nap in the afternoon say about 1 ish (after lunch). She slept for a few hours & then we either went back to the park or took a quick dip in the pool depending on time.

I go back to my room to because for me I need a break from the park & to get rejuvinated & showered again, let alone the kids.

Then we'd head back to a park at about 5 & watch the parade/fireworks & then very quickly get back to the monorail to get back to the Poly (I only do MK & Epcot at night since we tend to stay at the Poly & the monorail is so easy vs the bus). I have been back to my room at about 9:45 following Illuminations & yes we walked thru the crowds quickly.

When we went in 2005, dd was 4 1/2 & ds was 22 mo. DD did not nap anymore. The first day I took her to the pool with me during our mid-day break while dh & ds napped in the room.

She nicely passed out in the stroller after we had dinner in Epcot say around 5:30. Luckily she went fell asleep around 10:30 that night vs much later.

DS was fine too. Once we got back to the room after the night time events he fell asleep.

As for dd on that trip, the next day we made her nap. Of course she refused but we made her lay down just to rest & we had to wake her up past 4 to go to the parks for the evening.

So far my kids have done great with staying up. I am the one that wakes first in the am so at about 6 I am in the shower while dh is sleeping but he hears me so he wakes & then the kids start to wake between 7 & 8 & we have breakfast in the room so it makes less rushing.

I guess I am lucky.

 

[perdidochas]

My dd's equate disney with being able to have coca-cola. I'm such a bad mom .

Well, for us vacation (anywhere)= fruit loops for breakfast and coke with meals.

 

[Merriwind]

I am not meaning to sound preachy here, but...your best bet is probably to keep them as close to their at home schedule as possible. Save the night time shows for when the kids are older. Sometimes we put too much pressure on our kids to have fun, and in so doing, we overload and overwhelm them. I learned, the hard way , that it is better to not try to do too much.

Definitely agree! It was years before DD got to see any nighttime shows, etc. Even then, it was only on days that she would nap. She is very much an early to bed, early to rise girl. Heck, we all are! Even now, WDW is the napping place for her. She took one on her 9th bday! If she naps, she's good to go until 11ish, otherwise, we need to be back more like 8.

Work with your kids' schedule, you'll all be happier.