is it too time consuming to go back for naps?

[Jenny Sanders]

I recommend going back to the room for the occasional break, or taking a day off from the parks if time allows. Having crabby, overtired kids at Disney isn't fun for anyone...It can make the vacation a nightmare. It's always nice to refresh.
29 trips to Disney World and counting...next stop POFQ March 2014

 

[matthewhavens]

We are going to wdw the week of thanksgiving with an almost 4 and 6yr old. We are staying at CSR. We are taking a stroller but I'm hoping they will nap in the stroller and not need to go all the way bk to the room! Opinions??

Let them nap in the stroller if they need it.

Mine are 5 and 3 and they have gone from 8am to 9pm some days without a nap. Other times they have taken short naps in the stroller.

CSR is a million miles away from MK and the busses can be few and far between during peak weeks. You could spend well over an hour and a half each way just on travel.

By the time you made it back to your resort they could be done with their naps and wide awake and ready to go and now you need to travel an hour back to the park.

Don't plan the nap. Just plan some restful attractions in the afternoon and let the naps happen if they do.

 

[MABEE]

In my experience, well rested kids are happier kids, and happier kids = more magical experience. A 6 year old will have a nearly impossible time napping in a stroller, and having a kid that age touring for a whole day without a nap (or at least a period of quiet restfulness) is, in my experience, not that much fun for anyone.

 

[Gracie09]

We don't. We tend to be up early at the parks around rope drop people. Our girls will nap in the stroller. The one time we tried to leave for a nap they had the meltdown to end all meltdowns. Now we pick one night to watch fireworks and that day we hang at the pool until lunch and hit the park later. We do an early dinner - by 5 and most nights leave soon after we finish. We hit the pool at the resort, then bath and bed. For pretty much all of us.

 

[Elise79]

In my experience, well rested kids are happier kids, and happier kids = more magical experience. A 6 year old will have a nearly impossible time napping in a stroller, and having a kid that age touring for a whole day without a nap (or at least a period of quiet restfulness) is, in my experience, not that much fun for anyone.

I agree - our DD napped happily in her stroller when younger but now at 5 it was a real no no.

We take breaks anyway but stroller napping helped as she adjusted to the time difference as we fly from the UK so have a 5 hour adjustment. Only takes a day or 2 to get her settled but miss those stroller naps!

 

[cheesemouse]

We always go back to the room for naps. It doesn't take too much time in our opinion. We generally leave the park around 1:00, are back at the hotel around 1:30, nap until whenever the kids wake up (usually 4:00) and then either swim or have dinner at the hotel and then head back to the park between 5:00 and 6:00.

 

[ZoZo]

To me, it all depends on how late the parks are open during the time of year you go.

If the parks close early (7:00 or earlier), then it's generally not worth the time to me to go back and take a break. It's usually a three-hour proposition to travel from a park to a resort, take a break, then travel back to a park, especially if using WDW transportation (unless your hotel happens to be located right next to a specific park, like Epcot). If a park is only open for ten hours total, losing what amounts to a whole afternoon isn't worth it to me!

But if the parks are open late (10:00 or 11:00 or later), then it would totally be worth it.

 

[larryz]

We are going to wdw the week of thanksgiving with an almost 4 and 6yr old. We are staying at CSR. We are taking a stroller but I'm hoping they will nap in the stroller and not need to go all the way bk to the room! Opinions??

Silly! That's what Ellen's Energy Adventure is there for!

 

[ougrad86]

Normally we don't, but since we are going during Spring Break this year, may take a break in the middle of the day. We hit our rope drop, get the headliners and some others, then get out for awhile and come back later as the families start heading out for the day. Not sure if I can nap, never been a napper, but would probably be nice to get away from the crowds . Just hit what rides we can in the morning before the crowds build up, and schedule our FP's for the evening when we get back .

 

[ktlm]

I think it depends on your kids and their personalities, and I think you won't know how they are going to react and be at WDW until your first trip there.

DD was 2 on her first trip. I was convinced by these boards that we needed to go back to the room for an afternoon nap and rest. Boy was I wrong!!!! I dragged a kicking screaming 2 year old who did not want to leave out of MK and who refused to nap for 2-3 hours at the resort because she was so angry with us. We finally gave up and went back to MK, where she promptly and happily climbed into the stroller and went to sleep. From that day forward, it was stroller naps in the parks for us. They worked great for her. We were in the parks most days from open to close. She is 7 now, and we have gone every year, and that is what worked for her through her 5 year old trip (the last stroller trip). She gave up naps entirely on her 3rd birthday, but she would still nap at WDW in the stroller during the day. The kid is now a total commando. We were there in October and she went from park open to park close about every single day with no breaks.

I think you will just have to plan to be flexible and adjust depending on what works for the kids...and hopefully they will both be good with the same thing!!!

 

[kellyjeanie]

We didn't. My 2-year-old still naps but my 5-year-old wouldn't. What sorta worked for us was a late lunch, and then the 2-year-old would crash in the stroller. We hit the parks around open, but our days ended up being sort of short - for example, one day we made it to Epcot around open and by 8 p.m. we were seriously done, even though Illuminations was at 9 there was NO WAY we could have made it another hour. Something's gotta give and for us it was the late nights. We did take a sort of a rest day on day 5, where we took it easy with no parks which probably helped. I thought the going back to the room for a nap was a good idea in theory but for us it didn't work.

 

[North of Mouse]

We are going to wdw the week of thanksgiving with an almost 4 and 6yr old. We are staying at CSR. We are taking a stroller but I'm hoping they will nap in the stroller and not need to go all the way bk to the room! Opinions??

We never took the time to go back for naps - if our children were sleepy they had to sleep in the strollers - and did with no issues. When they're tired enough they will gladly fall asleep. At those ages, they would sometimes skip naps - they had the option, but at home we always had quiet times regardless (and they usually fell asleep).

Mommy needed the rest! LOL

 

[KimK2006]

We always are there by RD, so going back to the room in the early afternoon for a rest/break is great! We started doing it when our kids were little and still do it now when they are 18 and 14.

 

[PEC]

With older children (tweens or teens) you could do shows and things indoors like Ellens energy Adventure. I actually like the show but it could be a great chance to nap also.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We have never gone back for naps. When the kids were little they slept in the stroller. Keep in mind that you're going in the off season and the parks will close earlier.

We tried going back for a swim on our first day in early October - we left Epcot around 3 - we had a 5:45 ADR at Garden Grill. By the time we caught a bus and got back to the room, the kids had 20 minutes in the pool before they had to dress to head back out (we used the 20 minutes to unpack). We went back early the next day from AK to change and head to the MK for the MNSSHP but we sure didn't have time to nap or swim. We gave up even trying after that.

 

[kiford]

We have no kids but usually go back to the resort for an hour or so. Sometimes one or the other of us will nap; sometimes we just watch TV for a bit. We both get cranky if we try to go all day and we don't even get up early. We just find that it makes for a feeling of restfulness, like it's actually a vacation, and that we get along better. It's one of the reasons we stay on-site. We still see and do a lot so we don't feel like it takes away from anything by taking the time to relax and enjoy each other's company or just rest.

 

[Ladcassidy]

We always are there by RD, so going back to the room in the early afternoon for a rest/break is great! We started doing it when our kids were little and still do it now when they are 18 and 14.

We take a break most days, too. RD (or early ADR) most mornings. Even with the daily break, we can only muster a couple of "late nights" where we make it to Wishes or other evening fun.

 

[RCharnay]

We never felt it was too time consuming. We would do RD (and all the advantages that holds) and plan for lunch by 1:00. Then we head back for naps. When the kids were small sometimes they would fall asleep on the bus-which was fine. If not, we put on a movie and they'd crash. Or, if everyone was wound up, we'd head to the pool for an hour and then go back and shower and sleep. Then we'd get up and head back to the park by dinner time. Everyone was well rested and ready to stay until the park closed.

The system worked so well for us that we still use it 26 years later. Although we don't always make it to close these days.

 

[wallskm]

We tried going back for naps on our last trip, but found it to be too much trouble. We had a 16 month old and an almost 4 month old that wasn't napping anymore. Most days the 16 month old fell asleep before lunch, if we had left after lunch he would be ready to wake up and play by the time we got back to the resort! He napped fine in the stroller though so he was well rested. The older one napped a couple days but most of the time he was fine without a nap. Must have been the Disney magic. We are going back in April and are not planning on going back for naps though we will be flexible and if we need to we will. At the very least we will have planned in-park downtime.

 

[troll buster]

My kids are grown now but we never left the parks. We were there from open to close.