Mid-day breaks, how important?

[Lovetherodent]

Mine will be 22 and 24 on our next trip and we still do breaks! Instead of napping and swimming, however, the break is now more about lounging in the sun. We RD (but no more morning EMH) and stay til park close (loving evening EMH). My motto might be "sleep is for the weak," but sometimes, you just need to get out of the noise. Plus, we park hop, so we're going to be getting on a bus, boat, or monorail at some point anyway.

 

[caribbeandream]

Our favorite version of the "mid-day break" is to plan a Table Service lunch and take our time. A nice lunch spot can really make you feel removed from the chaos of the park and crowds. If the park you'll be at is only open until 8pm, I'd shoot for a TS lunch and plan to eat QS for dinner. Otherwise, your plan of doing a TS dinner is a nice way to get a break on 9-10pm nights, too.

Another votes for thinking outside the box when it comes to "taking breaks." Whether it's Disney or another location it's nice to sit down and take a break.

 

[bopper]

I think the thing to realize is you can't do 8am to 11pm at a park (esp. with kids).
So you can do 8am to Dinner, or you can can do morning, break, and back for evening.
Maybe you pick an evening that you want to do stuff and on that day you take a break in the afternoon, but other days you just leave earlier.

 

[bladiator]

There is always an option to take a mid-day break in the park too. Find a spot to relax, have a snack, even meander around and look at things without rushing around to the next ride.

I am taking a 1 year old next month, and I already had resigned myself to taking a mid-day break because the night time shows are my favorite part of the parks. But I'm hoping that perhaps we can do just this ... stay in the park and get a nap. Unfortunately (?), we've "babied" our baby a lot and she's not used to sleeping in a stroller or out in public so ... WE SHALL SEE!

 

[pens4821]

We planned to go back to the resort when we've gone in Jan/Feb, but didn't need them. We just stayed in the parks. We would hop, and just take our time throughout the day. We rushed around maybe the first hour or two trying to get in quite a few rides with low waits, but other than that we didn't rush. We also had an ADR for dinner every day, so that was a nice little break. We did take one day in the middle of our trip where we slept in and didn't head to a park until about 3.

We are planning on going in the end of August next year, and are going to take breaks for sure. We are planning on getting there early, setting an ADR for around 12-1, then head back to the resort. We will then hop to another park and leave the resort about 5. We know it's still going to be HOT, but we don't want to be walking around the parks especially 2-4. Hoping we'll be able to deal with the heat as the sun is coming up and going down. Not sure if we will hate it or not, but that's the only time to go that works for us now.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I pretty much have to have breaks. Maybe not every day. But certainly every other day. And we don't have youngsters.

But health wise I need to get out of the craziness for a while. Sometimes I can do it in the park, but sometimes I need a nap.

So, I plan my parks wisely, with breaks that I think I will need. If I am okay, I will push it and not take the break. Sometimes I pay for that and sometimes it works out.

Think the key is, to have a plan that is a little flexible.

 

[revdon64]

Our kids were not good nappers. So all a mid-day break did for us was waste time that could have been better spent in the parks. This is something that varies greatly by family.

My boys (7&5) are very much like this - napping has always been a battle. Still, getting that time out of the crowds and the chaos just seems right (maybe more for me than them?).

It depends also on where you’re staying. If we can walk or boat back, we usually go for a break, but it’s less likely for us if we must take a bus.

We'll be at POFQ, so it's busses.

This is why I love the DIS! Thank you all for the great input. My big concern is with shorter hours and cooler weather - will I really need to do the mid-day break thing. Since the 7y/o and I will be there 36hrs or so before the rest of the family, I think we'll try going without one on the first day and see how we hold up. Thanks again all!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Park day of 8 am to midnight midday break is important.

August heat midday break is important.

Cool temps midday break not important.

Park day of 9 am to 7 pm midday break not important.

If your kids need a bed to nap they'll raise holy hell midday break is important.

If your kids nap in strollers fine then midday breaks aren't important.

 

[slpeters]

We're scheduling midday breaks. I'm not honestly sure whether we will need them, but I want it to feel like bonus park time if we don't take them. We don't have kids and I'd like to think we could run around doing stuff from seven or eight in the morning until midnight each night but I'm not sure it's really realistic. Also, since we've never been before I want to make sure that either way we do it neither of us feels like we're being party poopers if we decide what we would really like is a nap.

 

[mamamelody2]

We have never taken mid-day breaks and probably aren't starting now. This next trip is just DH and I, so we do plan to slow down a bit. Sit and people watch, poke into secluded corners, etc. That said, we've always gone in September when hours are short. Hours will be longer this trip, so it is possible after a few days, we will need a mid-day break to catch up on rest.

 

[revdon64]

So now I have to rethink it again. My test day just became longer as I booked us for EMM Fantasyland that day. So we have a 730am start with breakfast at Pinocchio Village Haus, and 5:55pm ADR at Via Napoli for dinner. Hard to see how we can do a long day like this one without the break.

 

[Zuriamira]

So now I have to rethink it again. My test day just became longer as I booked us for EMM Fantasyland that day. So we have a 730am start with breakfast at Pinocchio Village Haus, and 5:55pm ADR at Via Napoli for dinner. Hard to see how we can do a long day like this one without the break.

I have the same concern (only no park hop) EMM and a 5:30 skippers followed by HEA dessert party. Are you planning a late night the night before? I’m debating staying at Epcot for illuminations the night before EMM or heading out early to get plenty of rest. Even then I’m wondering if I should cancel skippers and take a midday break with such a long MK day. My kiddo is 7, no naps at home unless she passes out in the car or something so I’m wondering how I should go about it.

 

[revdon64]

I have the same concern (only no park hop) EMM and a 5:30 skippers followed by HEA dessert party. Are you planning a late night the night before? I’m debating staying at Epcot for illuminations the night before EMM or heading out early to get plenty of rest. Even then I’m wondering if I should cancel skippers and take a midday break with such a long MK day. My kiddo is 7, no naps at home unless she passes out in the car or something so I’m wondering how I should go about it.

Not particularly planning a late night before. We have a 5:05pm dinner at Boma on Monday, but that's the day we'll be coming back from a three night cruise. I have park tickets for that day as well. If I can score FoP on FP+ before or after dinner, I'll take it. But if not we may just take in another park for a bit in the afternoon, do dinner, and head to bed because of EMM the next day. I very much understand your dilemma. My7y/o doesn't nap, but I'm sure he could and I definitely don't want to burn him out... or me for that matter.

 

[Zuriamira]

Not particularly planning a late night before. We have a 5:05pm dinner at Boma on Monday, but that's the day we'll be coming back from a three night cruise. I have park tickets for that day as well. If I can score FoP on FP+ before or after dinner, I'll take it. But if not we may just take in another park for a bit in the afternoon, do dinner, and head to bed because of EMM the next day. I very much understand your dilemma. My7y/o doesn't nap, but I'm sure he could and I definitely don't want to burn him out... or me for that matter.

Will you be hanging out after your Via Napoli dinner? Or playing it by ear? We have Via Napoli the day before EMM (DDs 7th birthday) and I’m thinking same as you that we will probably want to get to bed early before EMM. (A little bit of a bummer cuz I really wanted to do the frozen dessert party with her- oh well...) Still considering the midday break on EMM day otherwise we’ll be going 7:30-at least 9:30. Going in March so not sure about hours yet.

 

[Happy_2_B]

I know that it really is different for everyone and depends on your kids, but how important have you found it to be to have those same mid-day breaks when it's not as hot and maybe even the pools aren't open?

When my kids were little- we took them seven times before the youngest reached 11. We always went in late November/early December, and we always took frequent breaks while in the parks- and a long break in the middle of every day. Speaking from an Exercise Specialist point of view, IMHO time of year doesn't matter. We never expected a little kid with half the stride length of an adult (or less), a limited capacity for overstimulation, and the need to use a significant amount of their available energy stores for growth to trudge through parks and not get tired, which always happened sooner rather than later. Once they were teens they did fine with longer days in the park with an occasional break for a snack and a sit down meal, but even then if they wanted to go back to the hotel for a swim we would leave the parks and take a break. We ALWAYS planned our day from our kids’ point of view, and when they started to get tired we would stop for a snack break- then when they got to the point of being overly tired we left the parks for a long break- regardless of our premade touring plans. We took our kids on those trips so THEY could enjoy WDW, and dragging them through the parks when they were tired would not have been enjoyable for them. So, in short- we reacted to how they were doing, took breaks when they needed them, and made the trips about them.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Depends on your family and your trip goals. If you are trying to fit in as many attractions as possible, then January is a great time to press on and forego a break. If the trip is more about seeing some highlights and chilling out, be sure to plan some down time.

 

[PetePanMan]

we do like mid day breaks but over the years as we return to wdw more often we are now moving more to just half days (either mornings or evenings). We find doing the "to and from" to a park only once a day helps us keep more refreshed..