Morning at the parks, afternoon nap in hotel, then what?

[jencurtis]

Like others have stated, we took our 3 year old to the park first thing in the morning, headed back to the hotel for a nap and then back to a park in the evening. There were some days when he fell asleep in the stroller, so we found an out of the way place in the park and sat as he napped.

 

[GMS]

We've done the same as others are saying, parks early when not crowded, eat lunch, leave, nap at resort, swim whatever, sometimes even go to a water park for a quick hour or two, back to park for evening rides when it's starting to cool down or get slower, lots of people heading out of parks when we are heading back in...nice sight. Eat at park or hotel near park. Now that our kids are older we still do it...but naps are for us, our kids usually swim lol!

 

[princess jackie]

We've never left the parks during the day. I've been to Disney with all ages of kids (the youngest being 6 months) and we always pushed through the entire day. We go for rope drop or shortly after and stay until the fireworks and kiss good night. The baby/kids would nap in the stroller. Of course we don't run from one end of the park to the other and we take our time and do our fair share of people watching, resting, and snacking. Of course this means we don't get to take advantage of much (if anything) that the resort offers except for the beds!

 

[ilovebassets]

We've never left the parks during the day. I've been to Disney with all ages of kids (the youngest being 6 months) and we always pushed through the entire day. We go for rope drop or shortly after and stay until the fireworks and kiss good night. The baby/kids would nap in the stroller. Of course we don't run from one end of the park to the other and we take our time and do our fair share of people watching, resting, and snacking. Of course this means we don't get to take advantage of much (if anything) that the resort offers except for the beds!

We mostly tour this way, too. Of 7 days last trip, 4 were truly all day in the parks. One was an evening only at Epcot (the morning was spent at 1900 Park Fair at the Grand Floridian and the afternoon resting at our cabin so the kids could actually take good naps). One was morning only at AK (then afternoon at the resort pool and evening doing the chip and dale campfire). Then one day we left MK in the late afternoon and headed over to downtown disney for the evening.

We find going back and forth to the parks to be too much of a hassle even with our own car and staying on property.

 

[Aliceacc]

I know this isn't very "Disney-esque"-- but my kids always adored night swimming.. and still do, though they're not as willing to give up park time for it anymore. And I might be wrong, but doesn't the pool at AoA have music piped in underwater??? Kiddie nirvana!!!

I would say you should plan to use your FP+'s before that lunch break, since there's no guarantee that you'll get back to the parks at night. Or plan for an early dinner-- say a character meal in one of the parks, then let the kids' energy level guide your evening plans.

Remember, your family vacation is only as happy as the most tired member. So plan around the kids being tired, and call it quits when being in the parks is costing you more enjoyment then it's giving your family. So make sure you FP the events that you would really miss, then play it by ear on the rest.