midnight closing times.. midnight w/small kids?

[cedarparkgirl]

I just printed out the calendar from Disney for Spring Break. I noticed the park is opened till Midnight each night we are there. I am wondering if anyone has actually stayed till Midnight with small kids? We were planning on taking a break mid-day back at the hotel. And as I am trying to plan our touring strategy, one thought I had was wait till the last 2 or 3 hours the park is open for my husband and I to do trade offs to ride the rides we would like, while the other one stays with sleeping kiddos in strollers. Also, if anyone has gone during Spring Break or other times when the park is opened till midnight, what are the lines like from 9pm-12am?

Thanks!

 

[hlbtimes2]

Yep, I wont admit how many times we closed the park. Ours kids are now 5 and 8, and this is the 5th trip for the older and 4th for the younger. You'll find that once fireworks and F! start for the evening, tht the lines really die down. And once the those are over, many people leave. We have done kids awake late, kids sleeping in strollers, and sometimes one of us (usually me) will head back to the hotel with the kids and the other one stays to ride on rides. One day on our last trip my dd and I were really tired, so we went back to the hotel. My husband kept our 4 year old there to watch the 10 (or 10:30?) F!, then they rode a few rides before coming back to the hotel.

 

[Adi12982]

If you are staying at a hotel nearby it is a good idea to get there at opening ride and do as much as you want then take a long afternoon break - swim and sleep. When you get back you will all be refreshed and enjoy the evening. You will easily enjoy the park until midnight. And as was mentioned, the lines will be more bearable during the later hours!!

 

[MATTERHORN]

My kids are 6, almost 4 and 18 months and we have been staying till midnight (or later with main street open later) with my kids since I only had 1! Last year was one of our latest with 5, 2.5 and 2 months and we didn't make it back to the hotel till about 1:30am!! Not recommended for everyone, but my kids are night owls and can EASILY handle it without getting all crazy and crying on me!!

If they will sleep in the strollers you are ahead of the game so I would definitely take advantage of those later hours!! Sometimes from 11-midnight, we can get on about 10-11 rides!! It is my favorite time of day there!!


Andrea

 

[hlbtimes2]

EASILY handle it without getting all crazy and crying on me!!

Mine cried one night on the last trip. But it wasnt because they were tired. It was our last night, it was after midnight and we had to tell the park goodbye. They cried like they were saying goodbye a favorite grandparent. "when can we come back again..........."

 

[MATTERHORN]

hlbtimes2, I hear ya!! My 6 year old had tears streaming down her face leaving DCA in December and that's even with knowing we would be back in February!! Sometimes the crying is a good thing!!

So when are you taking your poor crying children back again???


Andrea

 

[MommyWithDreams]

We were there every night until closing this past week. My son is 3. We did head back to our hotel every day though for a nap and snack. He did nap in the stroller only one day when we were there...
It's vacation....everyones schedules will be a little out of whack. I know there are some that think it's "torture" on your kids to let them sleep in the stroller....but they are obviously comfortable enough or they wouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place. Taking that nap during the day REALLY helps..and as everyone has said..you can do SOOO much at night!

 

[momto2nenas]

Once again, this is a question I could have asked myself.. : so I am enjoying the replies! Thanks!

 

[ozbrooke]

Mommywithdreams, did you rent a stroller? Do they recline?

I definitely plan on going back to the hotel in the middle of the day for a nap, but DS might fall asleep in the stroller if it reclines.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I brought my own...and no the park ones don't recline. But they did seem pretty comfy and I saw a lot of kids napping in them. They are like jogging strollers so they would still be very easy to nap in eventhough they are not reclined.

 

[hlbtimes2]

So when are you taking your poor crying children back again???

The end of April. I think in another thread you said you would be there at the same time. It will be 14 months since they were there, a year for me and dh. They dont know about the trip. I think we'll tell them the morning we depart.

 

[Ksquared]

The parks won't be open as late when we are there in April, although DCA will be open until 11:00 on Sunday April 22nd. we plan to stay as late as we can with the kids (4 yr old, 2 yr old). Last year at Disneyworld, we used the late magic hours and stayed in the park until after midnight one night. I was the one who was sooo tired and called it quits (we had to get up early next day to check out and fly home). My kids just slept in the stroller and we had friends with us so we took turns watching all the kids.....I guess it's a matter of how much your kids have napped, if they can sleep in the stroller, etc. We swam that day in the afternoon and took a nice long break so it helped staying in the park later. And worse case, if they get cranky, call it a night!