Mid-Day Naps

[ValarDisneyus]

Hey there. When we go to Disney, my daughter will be 4, almost 5. (It'll be about a month and a half until her birthday.) Do you think the nap situation will be ABSOLUTELY necessary?

For the record, she doesn't take naps on weekends now, her pre-school has formal nap time but from what I understand she only catches about one nap every 2 weeks or so. Her normal bedtime is about 8, but that's when we get her into jim-jams and read her a story. From what I gather about Disney, she will probably pass out on the bus heading back to POP Century.

I'd love for her to see the fireworks, and she'd love that too, and that requires staying up late. I wonder if I shouldn't just try a day with a break and a day without early on to see how either goes.

 

[LSUfan4444]

The thing we have noticed with our little one that age is they don't have to be forced down when it's nap time. When ours starts to get cranky is the only time she ever answers "yes" when we ask her if she wants to take a nap.

For us, the key has been to take our jogging stroller which reclines. She has slept in that thing for hours at a time. Sometimes it's been 10 am she falls alseep, sometimes 1 pm, but we try to keep flexible and we never, EVER wake her up from the nap. She could be missing Elsa turning her stroller into an ice carriage...we aren't waking her up.

 

[nkereina]

IMO, it's easier to plan your days with the assumption you WILL be taking a mid-day break. If you decide you don't need to, you can just stay in the park. But if you've planned your days with no room for a break and decide you need one, it's hard to fit in.

We're two adults, no kids, so can't comment on kids that age but I can tell you that WE are the ones who need the break! Between getting to bed late, getting up early, all the walking, eating and the heat, we need to lay down or hang out in the pool to relax in the afternoons. Otherwise, we'd never make it through the evenings.

 

[marauder]

We just returned from a trip with a 6 year old and a 10 year old, no naps on that trip, but last trip was at 4 and 8 when the 4 year old was still napping.

At the beginning of the trip we tried to return to the resort for naps. It didn't work at all, he wouldn't quiet down enough to nap. Even as just quiet time it didn't work well. By the end of the trip we just switched to getting to the park early and leaving at a decent hour. One day we tried to do fireworks. He saw the fireworks but basically cried on the bus until he fell asleep and then cried like crazy when we had to take him off the bus to the hotel room.

After the trip he never napped again.

My advice is to play it by ear, at first try to keep things as close to possible to what you do at home. If that doesn't work, try different things.

 

[lustergirl]

God Bless you. I am a grown adult and I take naps mid day at Disney

 

[buzznina]

This is what works for our family For both our DDs, we found that going back to the resort did not work for us and that when they both were tired they just fell to sleep in the stroller It has been great ever since. We make sure that if we stay out late to not wake them up real early the next morning. This way they still get their sleep and we rarely ever have any melt downs.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We take midday breaks when we go but not for naps. We go to the pool and rest there. That's enough for us. When DS was younger we did midday breaks for him to sleep because he had to have long naps in bed. When DD was younger she always cat napped in her stroller and we did our midday breaks at the pool. She was not being forced to nap while in WDW.

Last trip we all did hit the room and sleep for a good 2 hours on the second to last day of our trip. It was raining once we got to our room so it worked out. We needed the rest too.

 

[Ragnrok23]

IMO, it's easier to plan your days with the assumption you WILL be taking a mid-day break. If you decide you don't need to, you can just stay in the park. But if you've planned your days with no room for a break and decide you need one, it's hard to fit in.

We're two adults, no kids, so can't comment on kids that age but I can tell you that WE are the ones who need the break! Between getting to bed late, getting up early, all the walking, eating and the heat, we need to lay down or hang out in the pool to relax in the afternoons. Otherwise, we'd never make it through the evenings.

God Bless you. I am a grown adult and I take naps mid day at Disney

haha- my wife and I both need an afternoon nap at Disney

we are going in a few weeks with our 9 month old, we are praying he naps in the room, if not we'll be taking nap shifts

 

[eXo]

good tips here. I'll be traveling next year with a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. The younger one, my son, knows when it's time to lay down and fights it. But will fall asleep fairly easily in the car or a stroller.

I was really worried that if we left the park every day to go back to the room for a nap, it would turn into 30-45 minutes to get back (just walking from where ever we are in the park out the gates takes a decent amount of time, and that doesn't include waiting for the bus, riding it, and then walking to our room). Then getting to the room, fighting him for an hour to fall asleep (he gets second winds once he gets to a bed), then waiting 3 hours, then spending an hour getting everything together again and another 30-45 minutes going somewhere. Especially since we are staying at WL and will be there during the Christmas Party evenings, which means at that point we can't even go back to MK as it will be closed for the party.

It seems like it would be a LOT easier to simply try to get him to fall asleep in the stroller, and then stay in the park and just eat a long lunch or something else restful with my older daughter.

If we go back to the room, I think it will be for the rest of the evening.

 

[lustergirl]

haha- my wife and I both need an afternoon nap at Disney

we are going in a few weeks with our 9 month old, we are praying he naps in the room, if not we'll be taking nap shifts

All that walking plus heat (depends on when I go) wears me out. I usually go to a park in the morning, spend a few hours there, head back to my room for a break, and then back out to a park for the evening with fireworks.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

Disney has always been too exciting for my kids to nap in parks or at resort. The only WDW naps we saw happened spontaneously in a stroller a few different trips when our youngest was between 4 months and two years old. Once the kids were toddlers and older, we had to go until we were done and then go back to the resort. It worked best if we left before they were over-tired.
To see the fireworks, we stayed up late the first night of a trip when they were too excited about being in WDW to sleep at the regular bed-time anyway.
Your nap plan will depend on your child's personality...

 

[ncbunnie]

We also found that the time it took to try to take a mid-day break wasn't worth the struggle for the "might happen" nap that NEVER happened once we got back to the resort.

My secret is to make Disney BORING for the little one. When you can see it's time for a rest, find something VERY boring to do and tell the kids that this is something Mom & Dad want to do and you will let them know when it's time to do something fun again. Usually for us this resulted in an almost-immediate nap in the stroller, followed by a few minutes of peace, then hours more touring with a better attitude and a well rested kid.

In each park there are sure-fire "boring" places for this to occur. My personal favorite was in Epcot at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China. It was a great, peaceful place to sit for a while and people-watch. We would grab a snack and tell dd that we were going to sit and talk while she rested. Even at 5 and 6, when she was SURE to not take a nap, just the sheer boredom of listening to adult conversation was enough to make her sleepy.

At HS we found the Backlot Express to have a quiet corner, especially around nap time after lunch when most of the crowd had gone. It also worked to be a great spot to head out after the nap and catch the parade, right between it's exit and Star Tours on the side.

At AK Pizzafari was a good stop for us because, again, after lunch, it got quiet and easy to find a quiet corner. The very back room was nearly always pretty quiet for us in the middle to late afternoon.

MK is trickier because there's so much going on, ALL the time. But if it's nice out, there's some benches outside Hall of Presidents that were a good spot. Also had some success on the Liberty Square Riverboat. Maybe it was the nice splash of the water but something there was soothing to my little one. Again those QS places that slow down in the afternoon are good choices. I just avoid Cosmic Rays because it's NEVER quiet in there and the "entertainment" is a sure fire way to kill a potential nap!

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Let her nap in the stroller in the afternoon/evening. If she is sleeping close to time for the castle show/fireworks then use the stroller to stake out a good spot where you can see the castle. Wake her up before the castle show starts to give her some time to be fully awake. Once the castle show starts it should be enough to keep her attention and the fireworks are shortly after. This method worked when my were younger. Good luck and have fun!

 

[ktlm]

I think what is necessary totally depends on the kid. We have taken DD, now 8, to WDW every year since she was 2. Other than the very first day, of the very first trip, we have not taken a mid-day break (learned really fast that leaving the park did not work for her). Most days we stay in the parks from open until close or just about closing.

But, we did take a stroller up through her 5 year old trip, and she did get in it and take cat naps when she needed them. DD never set foot in a stroller at home or anywhere other than WDW from the time she took her 1st steps at 12 months, no matter how much walking was involved. Our first trip to WDW, the minute she saw how big the place was- she jumped in the stroller without complaint- something unheard of for her. At WDW, she needed the stroller through the 5 year old trip. She took cat naps in the stroller at WDW when she got tired, and then she was ready to go again. DD did not take naps after her 3rd birthday at all- but she would still get tired and take one here and there at WDW in the afternoon.

It is not a bad idea to try a day each way- but you might just play it by ear and see how she does not leaving the park.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Every kid will be different. We went on our summer trip with every intention of midday breaks back to the hotel so my 3.5yo could nap. I was adamant about it. Day 1 we were able to walk back to BLT and he fell asleep in the stroller. We wheeled him into a dark room and let him stay asleep in the stroller. Day 2 he didn't fall asleep in the stroller, wouldn't even lay down in bed, and we had to do 9 laps of BLT for him to finally fall asleep, but only after a full on meltdown. Day 3 he fell asleep in the stroller at DHS and when he woke up was an absolute joy to be around all night. Thus the midday break back at the resort was done for us. It was actually great because my wife was afraid of ToT and it allowed me to ride that and RaRC while he slept.

 

[TheQueenMom]

My daughter was 4 years, 9 months, on our trip last month. Like your child, she doesn't sleep during the day on weekends anymore (although she does have quiet playtime alone in her room), and I don't think she ever naps at preschool anymore. At Disney she napped at the hotel every day for at least 1.5 hours, sometimes closer to 2.5. On our last full day I decided that we should just stay at the MK and forget about nap time, but by 1:30 her eyes were drooping and she just wasn't having fun anymore, so we headed back to the hotel, just like every other day of our trip. For us, nap times were vital and contributed to an amazing (almost) meltdown-free vacation. In fact, the only time she cried was the morning after our MNSSHP/VSS evening when I inadvertently left a leaf she had been carrying around in the ladies room at AK!

 

[Mikie]

good tips here. I'll be traveling next year with a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. The younger one, my son, knows when it's time to lay down and fights it. But will fall asleep fairly easily in the car or a stroller.

I was really worried that if we left the park every day to go back to the room for a nap, it would turn into 30-45 minutes to get back (just walking from where ever we are in the park out the gates takes a decent amount of time, and that doesn't include waiting for the bus, riding it, and then walking to our room). Then getting to the room, fighting him for an hour to fall asleep (he gets second winds once he gets to a bed), then waiting 3 hours, then spending an hour getting everything together again and another 30-45 minutes going somewhere. Especially since we are staying at WL and will be there during the Christmas Party evenings, which means at that point we can't even go back to MK as it will be closed for the party.

It seems like it would be a LOT easier to simply try to get him to fall asleep in the stroller, and then stay in the park and just eat a long lunch or something else restful with my older daughter.

If we go back to the room, I think it will be for the rest of the evening.

That was pretty much my nap time experience with my kids. We did better with a couple half days or 3/4 days where we left the parks early but had no ADRs or evening plans to rush back to. Napped once, just rested & hit the pool once.

HOWEVER I love the advice that you should be prepared for a break and just pleasantly surprised if you don't need it. Last trip included 3.5 year old and 2 year old niece and nephew who regularly nap 2-3 hours daily. their aparents made no attempt to get them rest other than allowing them to stay in strollers if they did pass out sometimes. Those poor kids were exhausted nightmares by trip's end!

 

[lmcarr49]

Great advice in this thread about letting them nap in their strollers. I will definitely try this with my 3 and 2 year old.

 

[msmama]

Mid day breaks never worked for us, but my son was always a terrible napper so that wasn't a surprise.

We did Fantasmic on our last trip (he'd just turned 5) but we got a later start that day, we didn't go open to close. Otherwise, if we hit RD, we don't stay much past dinner.

So, are mid-day breaks a must? No, but going gung ho every day probably isn't a good idea either.

I'd say breaks also depend on where you're staying and time of year. In hot months I think breaks are more important. Also, if you're staying in a Deluxe that's close (especially walking distance) it's not a big deal to take a break (easier than a 30 minute bus ride when the kid falls asleep, but then wakes up as soon as you get to the room).

 

[LSUfan4444]

I think part of the key to success is knowing what you have scheduled as they get cranky. If they are pushing it...forget about trying Finding Nemo the Musical. Opt for 15 minutes in the boneyard to help tire them out, then put them in the stroller and do the Pagani Trail or something.

It's important that Mommy and Daddy slow down when the kids need to slow down as well. Sometimes, that means sitting At Studio Catering Company drinking a few beers while they sleep.