Lunch Time and Naps

[flevy]

Most everything I've read suggests that with preschoolers, a 3-4 hour nap/break in the middle of the day is recommended.

Most of our lunch ADRs are between 12-1pm. Is this too late to start lunch and then head back to the hotel?

My DD usually eats lunch around 12:30 and then goes down for a nap around 1ish. I know we'll be getting up earlier than normal on this trip. She normally doesn't get up until 7:30 or so and we don't get out of the house until 8:30ish.

I'm looking for people who have had experience with this. I just don't know if by 12-1, she's going to be so exhausted that she won't be eating lunch or maybe she'll be so stimulated that she'll just be cranky---fun for everyone

This seems to be the hardest part of my planning.

 

[bangzoom6877]

If you will be getting up earlier than usual, then maybe you would want to consider a lunch ADR between 11 and 11:30AM. Make sure also to get to the restaurant about 15-20 minutes before your scheduled ADR time, as sometimes you have to wait that long to actually be seated.

My sons were 1 and 3 when we went on our first family WDW trip. We kept to their normal routines as much as possible. We had CS lunches each day in the parks, and we tried to eat before noon. They are used to getting up very early in the morning since we leave early for work (they get up before 6AM). So, going to the parks for rope drop fit right into their normal daily routine. We left each park at 2PM the latest. So we had time to see plenty of attractions before lunch, and one or 2 more after lunch. We did get to do everything on our list. I made dinner ADRs for between 5 and 6, also their normal dinner time. We rested in the hotel room in between for about 2 hours or so. That was perfect for them. They did not have one single melt-down the entire trip, but I think that had a LOT to do with keeping them in their normal routine with eating and napping. We did allow the kids to stay up in order to see some of the higher fireworks from Illuminations outside our window, but that was after they finished their bedtime routine, and we were all in our PJ's then went right to bed. This worked out very well, and no cranky kids!

This coming July we are going back and they will be 3 and 5. We will be doing the same thing, going to the parks for rope drop, eating lunch at their usual lunchtime, leaving in the early to mid-afternoon to take a break and then returning for dinner (or heading to a resort for dinner).

We also did not do any of the nighttime entertainment. We skipped it because we didn't think they would be able to handle that and then getting up early the next morning to go to a park. We figure we have plenty of WDW trips ahead of us as they grow up, so no need to rush it. If this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for you, you may want to consider going to the nighttime parade at MK and then having the following day as an off day where you don't go to a park. This July, we will be staying 10 nights and only have a 7-day ticket. We are DVC members now and want to enjoy the resort and relax on a couple of our days while we are there. So we might take them to Spectro Magic one night at MK, if the following morning is a non-park day. That way the kids can sleep later if they want. But if we still feel it is not for them at this point, there's always next time.

Just keep in mind that this is all about the kids. OK, it is about you too, but you will have fun no matter what you do, unless you try to overdo it for your kids. The kids will enjoy anything they do and if you don't get to do all the attractions you want to, they won't even notice. After your trip they will just talk about how much fun it was! DH and I keep this in mind and we know we will enjoy anything we do there, and we would enjoy it less if we had to deal with more melt-downs. Just go and enjoy!!! You will have a wonderful time!

 

[AnnetteF]

I have one DD who is 5 and we've been going every year since she was 7 months. I do have to say that often times, ADR's just don't work for us. You have to plan so far in advance and when the time comes, it's often just not the right time for your little one. When it comes to ADR's now, we pick the places that are a must do for us and have at least a couple of different ADR's on a couple different days. That way, if we can't make it a that time, we still have a chance to go to that restaurant some other time during that trip. You can always cancel right up until the ADR time, unless it is one of the few that you have to pay in advance. Obviously, we have found that the dining plan is not something that works for us. If you are on the DP, I would have an ADR for every mealtime, whether you will wind up using it or not - to give you some flexibility. Like I said, you can always cancel the ones you're not going to use.

I will also mention that, regarding naps, we always found that DD would fall asleep on the transportation back to the resort and then would be wide awake when we got back and not sleep. We found it easiest to let her just nap in her stroller, and we would find a quiet place to sit and relax , but only you know what will work best for your children.

 

[DannysMom]

Until you see just how your particular kid is adapting, it is very hard to judge & plan. I can tell you that when we took my son at 3 yrs 10 months & 4 yrs 10 months, by 11:30 or noon we were looking to either grab a quck lunch at the park, or more often (& preferred by DS) heading back to the resort (Poly) for a low key CS lunch & then taking our break/nap in the room. (We are a hit the park hard at rope drop & take a mid-day break sort of family.)

So my advice would be to make plans, but don't feel married to them, if they aren't working well for your family -- change & adapt during your trip so that everyone has a good time. Have a good trip!

 

[henry72]

When we went with DS (19 months at the time), we only had one lunch ADR and it was at noon. He did fine with that. We did go back to the hotel every afternoon but it was HARD to get him to nap. Our dinner ADRs were 5:15, 6 and 6:30 times and they worked out fine with him. (We have an hour time change so those would be 11 am, 4:14, 5 and 5:30 for us.) This time we have two lunch ADRs and two dinner ones. Lunches are at 11:30 and dinners are at 5:30 and 6. I am hoping DD will just take a short nap in the stroller rather than us trying to get her to fall asleep in the room.

 

[flevy]

Until you see just how your particular kid is adapting, it is very hard to judge & plan. I can tell you that when we took my son at 3 yrs 10 months & 4 yrs 10 months, by 11:30 or noon we were looking to either grab a quck lunch at the park, or more often (& preferred by DS) heading back to the resort (Poly) for a low key CS lunch & then taking our break/nap in the room. (We are a hit the park hard at rope drop & take a mid-day break sort of family.)

So my advice would be to make plans, but don't feel married to them, if they aren't working well for your family -- change & adapt during your trip so that everyone has a good time. Have a good trip!

Great advice--thank you.

 

[serene56]

How long will it take to get from Magic Kindgdom or Disney Studios to go by Disney Transportation back to POP.

by going back to the hotel for an afternoon break we will be giving up the parades.

Cant stay out late either so cant do the fireworks and expect to be at rope drop the next day.

If I had an idea on how the disney transportation worked it might be better for my planning.

 

[Heidijs]

This was a huge issue for me as well. I had originally booked all our ADRs for dinners...but the more I thought about it, the quicker I changed my mind. Everyone's child is different but for my DD just turned 4 and she rarely naps at home anymore. She still will at daycare but at home, rarely. If we get in a car she'll zonk out though. But this is WDW we're talking about so I can see her crashing sometime. I ended up cancelling all our ADRs and booking lunches instead. The first day we're doing MK at rope drop and plan to do QS for lunch and then dinner at the CRT. I know the first day she'll be okay, she'll be all revved up to go. After dinner we may go back to hit the hay early as we have ADR for breakfast at Donald's in AK and then we're pushing it with ARDs at Chef Mickey for dinner that evening. I'm hoping she naps in the park in her stroller sometime...or the bus rides...after that, I'm not pushing it. We have one ADR for lunches after that and then we're free after lunch and doing mostly lunches the rest of the trip. I am booking the HDDR for 7:30 the last night we're here but we'll give her plenty of down time that day and try to get a nap in beforehand...sometimes they get more energy on a big trip and sometimes they sleep a lot. Just depends on the child. My child is one who is full of energy in the morning and early afternoon so these two are her best meal times. Dinners are hit and miss with her and she picks at her dinner so we did more lunches than anything as we know her mood will be better in the mornings/lunch time...

 

[Cindy's Mom]

We only hit 2 parks in the 6 days we go. We go enough that the kids will see everything they need to see.

We get to MK early for our 8:05a ADR at CP....tour around until 1p. Then we go back to resort and eat lunch there, swim for a couple hours, back to room to relax and shower.

Head back to MK at 6ish, for a 7p ADR, usually at LTT. We stay there as long as the kids are able to. We do plan our parks around the EMH, so if we want to stay until after midnight we can (and have).....next day is a total resort day of sleeping in, but only until 10a and swimming.

This has been our pattern for years and it works for our family. That afternoon parade at MK, we just can't make it. We usually go in the summer and we are ALL too hot and tired to wait for it. We do catch the night parade though.

 

[Ramsfan28]

Until you see just how your particular kid is adapting, it is very hard to judge & plan. I can tell you that when we took my son at 3 yrs 10 months & 4 yrs 10 months, by 11:30 or noon we were looking to either grab a quck lunch at the park, or more often (& preferred by DS) heading back to the resort (Poly) for a low key CS lunch & then taking our break/nap in the room. (We are a hit the park hard at rope drop & take a mid-day break sort of family.)

So my advice would be to make plans, but don't feel married to them, if they aren't working well for your family -- change & adapt during your trip so that everyone has a good time. Have a good trip!

+1 and great advice.

I just got back from the World with my DD that is 18 months and two nieces (one is 3 and one is 6). We tried to get all of our lunch reservations between 11:00 and 12:00 so that the kids could take a break if it was needed after lunch as we are early to the parks each day. I decided to keep my daughter on her "normal" nap schedule and get her a nap around 1:00 for about 2 hours.

My nieces on the other hand didn't want to rest and kept at it all day until they basically collapsed at night!

My advice is, make all your reservations so that you have a plan, BUT be prepared to be flexible.

 

[scard192]

We had lunch around noon time and headed back to ASSp so my 3 yr old grand daughter could take a nap everyday. She usually naps at about 1PM but didn't fall asleep until ~ 2:15-2:30 and slept for at least 2 hours. It was really hot (low 90's) when we were at WDW in September so it was good for all of us to get out of the heat for awhile. Our dinner ADR's were close to 7PM so the late nap didn't mess anything up.

 

[pixarmom]

I will also mention that, regarding naps, we always found that DD would fall asleep on the transportation back to the resort and then would be wide awake when we got back and not sleep. We found it easiest to let her just nap in her stroller, and we would find a quiet place to sit and relax , but only you know what will work best for your children.

Same here! It's really different for everyone, and sometimes, it's hard to know before you go. So another vote for the plan with ADRs, but then be prepared to change and adapt approach! We tried to do the nap/break years ago, but it didn't work for us so we've been doing the stroller nap and it's been great.

As for mealtimes, we always do CS for lunch around 11 or 11:30 and ADRs for dinner at 6pm, because that's similar to our routine at home. (Very similar to post by Henry72) Our youngest crashed in the stroller for one of the 6pm ADRs last time, but it was a very quiet dinner and we picked up a kids' meal at the resort for him!

 

[Debonna]

Definitely just go with the flow, as others have mentioned. Last year, my son had just turned 2 when we went to WDW. I don't know if it was sleeping in a strange bed/place, but his sleeping at night got all messed up. He would wake up around 2:30 a.m. and then for good at 5:00 a.m., about 1 1/2 hours earlier than at home. We'd get to the park at rope drop, but by 10:30 - 11:00 a.m., he was ready for a nap. The first full day, he made it until 11:30 lunch (CS), and then immediately fell asleep in his stroller for 2 hours. DH and I found a nice bench and people-watched for a while, and then we strolled around in the park shops. As the trip progressed, he became more and more tired with each early morning park visit. We were staying offsite and just tried to cram way too much into a short amount of time.

We'll be going again next week for his 3rd birthday, so we'll see how it goes. I have several ADR's but am prepared to cancel them if it just doesn't work out. He can go longer (sometimes all day) without a nap, but we're going to try the mid-day break to see if that works for us. Priority for us is to keep him happy and avoid the "tired and crankies."

Good luck!