late riser in Disney

[smartestnumber5]

Anybody else a perpetual late riser? What do you do in Disney?

In the past with my family we've used the strategy of getting out semi-early, spending the morning in the parks, and taking a pool/rest break during the worst heat of the afternoon, and then going back out for dinner and parks. On my upcoming trip, however, we want to avoid a lot of pressure to get up early and get right on the move given we are generally late sleepers.

Anyone else not get out of the hotel til 11 or noon? If so, what does your day look like? Do you take a break and then stay out late at night? Or do you just spend the entire day at the parks with no break.

 

[MinnieM3]

We have always been late risers, even DS6! We usually get to the parks around 11 and do stay until closing. We kinda miss doing the pool thing at our resort, though. Usually we'll just plan a non park day to get in the pool and just relax. I just hate getting up early on vacation! Occasionally we get there at 10, but that's rare. I'd like to TRY early entry one day. Maybe thiss trip, we'll see. Don't fret...it's your vacation.....do it your way!

 

[tinkerbell60]

I agree - our first trip we went nuts getting up early to make EMH and were exhausted when we got home! The second trip we slept in a bit and were able endure the day much better, we actually felt like we accomplished more. We also came home more relaxed.

 

[jwfla422]

We only get up "semi" early for any breakfast PS we make, but we try not to make them too early. We're never really in a rush to get to the parks since we don't do commando days anyhow. We go for a few hrs and then go back and take a break (go to the pool, to DTD shopping or even take a rest in our room). Then we go to dinner an may end up at a park again. We do all of this stuff whether we get to the parks early or not.

Yes, we are on vacation so we like to sleep "in" if we can (although the first morning dd is usually up early because of the "sheer" excitement). I have friends who love to sleep in and almost never get to a park until after lunch, then they spend the rest of the day, as people are leaving to take breaks, they're just getting there.

We have the luxury of going to WDW a couple times of year so we don't need to do "commando" park visits. DD isn't a big "ride" fan so that kinda rules out a lot of stuff (boo hoo for me), so we just pace it.

 

[skondo10]

We wake up at all different times! I wake up early and my DD, DS and DH like to sleep in. As they wake up they all gradually come down and meet me by the pool. My DS usually sleeps in until 12:00 (we go to disney alot so we aren't worried about seeing everything). We eat lunch at the hotel, usually in the food court at POR and then spend some time at the pool and then head to the parks at 3:00. We stay late at the parks but usually leave the park and eat somewhere close by. For example, if at MK we will make an ADR for a monorail resort restaurant OR if at EPCOT we will make a ADR for a boardwalk/beach club restaurant. This way we get a little break from the park and have a nice sit down dinner. Then we head back to the parks until closing. This strategy works for us because my DD and DS enjoy sleeping in and spending time at the pool.

 

[momrek06]

MY FAMILY sleeps in when they are home...like really IN on the weekends.

BUT something about WDW, they are up and OUT. No one in my fam sleeps PAST 9am at all while we are in DISNEY.

That being said...I am a light sleeper and even if I were to stay in bed, I can always seem to hear noise from the halls, be it families or mousekeeping....
MAY AS WELL GET UP AND GET GOING....the MOUSE is calling.

 

[richard_andmel]

We are late sleepers at home. AT WDW, we are up and ready for our breakfast ADR's which are always for about 7:30-7:45. Then we are at a non EMH park for opening. We never mind this while at WDW. But we also have 3-4 hours in the heat of the day for a swim and a rest at our resort.

 

[alite]

That depends on how long we stay at Jellyrolls I usually sleep in while my DF gets up early and has breakfast. I get up and eat while he checks out the resort and were usually at the parks by 10:00 or 11:00.

 

[ADisneygirl]

We used to rise with the birds and run around like park commandos. Not anymore. When I am on vacation, I want to relax and have fun. I can not relax if I am waking up as if it were a work day! We sleep until we wake up, usually about 8:30 or so. No alarm clocks on vacation! We go for a nice breakfast, then we head over to the parks. If it is the middle of summer and hot, we definitely come back to the resort for an afternoon swim.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we can now go so much more frequently. When we were park commandos we were visiting Florida, now we are residents and we get over to WDW several times a year.

I say do what makes you happy on vacation - if that means sleeping late, so be it.

 

[jennymouse]

We usually get up and get to the parks at opening. Our next trip is in July and I would love to be able to sleep in, have breakfast, hit the pool for a while, take a nap, eat an early dinner, then head out to the parks and stay late since the parks are open late. I'd like to do most of our park touring after sundown to avoid the heat. But, I know that we can't do that because all the fastpasses will be gone and the lines will be too long and we won't be able to ride the biggies. Especially EE and we haven't experienced that one yet. I'm thinking about maybe getting to the park early to just do the biggies, then leave around 10 or so, do pool & naps, have dinner, then head back to the parks. I dunno...

 

[SarahK]

I'm not a morning person at all, but when I'm at WDW I always seem to get up early! I'm sure its going to drive my DH nuts when I finally get him to go with me, because he is not so perky in the mornings even on vacation!

 

[lisaross]

that being said, its our first family trip but this is what i'm plainning,

the first 2 days hit Epcot and MK in the morning and stay till afternoon or whenever we've had enough.

MGM day sleep in and head out late morning so we'll stay till the fantasmic show.

AK day get up early and spend the day since it closes by 5pm

our last two days back to mk and epcot but sleep in and go in the afternoon for dnr and fireworks............

trying for the best of both worlds.......................

lisa

 

[Deb & Bill]

At park opening, you can take advantage of the shorter lines and see a lot more attractions. As the morning progresses, lines get longer. I refuse to wait in any line longer than 15 minutes. We always get up and go to park opening and leave by lunch time. We'll head to the pool, swim, take a nap on the lounge chair (or back in the villa) and then head out again in the late afternoon and evening. That works for us.

When we're leaving the parks at about 11:30 or 12 Noon, it's always amazing to see the throngs of people pouring into the park, maps in hands, looking for the shortest line.

My son could sleep all day and be up all night if I let him. But at WDW, he's up with the birds.

 

[muntzfab4]

I am an early riser but the rest of the family is not. What we did this time was plan alternate days at the parks and at the pool and it worked out great for us.
On park days we arrived around 11 am and stayed all day. On pool days we went to the pool also around 11 and relaxed all day by the pool. The parks were crowded (spring break) no matter what time we got there, and on pool days we found the pool not as crowded in the am, but very crowded in the afternoon. With my family, the back and forth thing would not work because I can't get them moving! It was a lot less stress this time!

 

[allegracristina]

At park opening, you can take advantage of the shorter lines and see a lot more attractions. As the morning progresses, lines get longer. I refuse to wait in any line longer than 15 minutes.

I agree completely. We are always at the parks at opening so that we are able to do all the things we want to do with little to no wait. Then if we want, we can leave to chill at the resort, go to DTD, eat a nice lunch, etc. For me, there's nothing worse than "fighting the crowds" at WDW.

 

[scoolover]

We will be sleeping in this October. No earlier than 6:30 am for us this time.

 

[clonetothebone]

I'm an early riser along with DD6. Part of the reason I get up early is that I work overnight shift so I'm used to getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a time and then getting up to pick up the kids or getting something done around the house before they get home. Even on my days off I rarely sleep past 0530. DW and DS on the other hand would sleep all day if they could.

We are going to try the first 3 days early up and hit it hard, 4th day waterpark then relax until dinner, and last 3 1/2 days take it easy and see what we didn't fit in the first 3 days. This way DW and DS can be rested before we get back.

 

[Chester's Mum]

I am a morning person, the only one in my family (me, dh, dd 17 and ds 12). If I want to have a good time, then I let them sleep in or the early part of the day will be with some really grumpy faces.

I usually get up, dressed, slip out to the refillable mug station and have my coffee by the pool, if we are at POFQ I get some beignets (my dirty little secret). There is something special about the resorts early in the morning when very few people are milling around.

By the time I have enjoyed my coffee, and filled all the other mugs to take back to the room, they are usually falling out of bed. We always have breakfast stuff in the room so I don't have to do the breakfast PS thing. It works for us.

 

[pooch]

I'm always up early at WDW, but everyone else sleeps in (it's vacation!!!) so I usually get my coffee and a good book & read until I can't stand it anymore!! I'm hoping to get everyone up & out by 11AM. We'll do what we can do at the parks. Perhaps if they miss something they really wanted to do, they'll get up earlier the next day! There's nothing worse than fighting w/everyone over vacation & I'm NOT gonna do it this time!!!

Pooch

 

[Vickie46]

we are up and starting to get ready at 6 am.. to make sure we are ready when they open!!!!!!!! we do take a break in the middle!