Morning routine in Disney?

[>Ash<]

I'm already at that point. If I can't put it in my cargo shorts, it doesn't go.

plus you get to avoid the bag search which if your not arriving at a park early can be awful lol!

 

[Tomh]

We are typically rope drop people, though I will admit that from time to time we will just not get out of bed, though that mostly happens when one of us is not feeling well.

We tend to go all day at the park, from rope drop to close. We try to be at the bus stop at least an hour before park open, so 8:00 at the bus stop means we are getting up at 7:00. We don't usually use our refillable cups in the morning, we keep drinks in the room. Breakfast is typically pop tarts (DW and DS there) English Muffins, instant oatmeal, etc.

On mornings that we have a breakfast ADR before park opening, then we will be at the bus stop at 7, which means we are out of bed at 6.

The grand exception is . . . our non park day, when DW is up at the crack of dawn to do laundry, and DS and I are lazy bums and sleep in

 

[suzimar57]

Count us in under "early risers, rope drop" people!

Up by 6am, food court breakfast, then off to whatever park we're going to that day....

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

DH and I are up around 6/6:30. We grab a coffee from the food court and sit on a bench in the courtyards of POFQ. Usually a bunny hopping around. We can look out at the river and enjoy the peace. We wake up kids around 7:30 and are at the bus stop just before 8:00 so we can make rope drop. We all shower at night and just grab a granola bar or toast with juice box for for the kids. This makes for a quick getaway.
This year we are spending a couple of nights at Beach Club. Last time we were there we would get up around 6/6:30 and walk around the Boardwalk - gorgeous and quiet. We'd stop at the bakery to get a pastry for each DD for a breakfast treat. We will do this again as it was really enjoyable.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

My wife and I simply get there when we get there. We only spend about 4 hours in a park itself each day and enjoy mixing it up a bit beyond the parks. We've had annual passes for years and have gotten to the point where there are certain things we enjoy in the parks, but are having a good time finding the out of the way places as well. It will all change when our grandchildren become old enough to go but we have a few years before we do that.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

We try and arrive at the park 30 minutes before rope drop, so depending on park opening we are up 2 hours before the rope drop time. Pack everything the night before and lay out clothes. DD is 16 so it takes her a little while to get ready... so she showers first while we have a quick in room breakfast and then we shower. Then we get ready and are still waiting for DD, last minute check of the weather, then out the door.... We do rope drop, then afternoon break and will go back to a park but we usually don't shut it down, we are in bed by 11 pm.

 

[jsmla]

For all those people that wake up early, what time do you go to sleep?

I'm a recovering commando Disney crazy planner. So alarm clocks setting has been outlawed lol

This made me smile. We ran into the parents of DD's best friend from her elementary school days. Hadn't seen them in years and one of the first things the mom asked was if I was still comanndo-ing my way around WDW.

I'm an early to bed type so somewhere around 10:00 PM. When DH comes along we (Mostly he, I really can't sleep past 6:00.) sleep in more.

 

[calismic]

Wow I feel like my family is a rare breed. We like to SLEEP! Before children my husband and I never saw a park before noon. We'd be out until 2AM though. With children, we're all awake by 8AM, but we like to take our time and relax, so we'll probably make it to the park by 10. The only exception is for Animal Kingdom day. We try to get there at opening to avoid the heat!

 

[Luv2Run]

We're night owls, but our morning routine depends on if it's a runDisney race morning or not. Non-race mornings, we're up around 9:30-10am, on the bus to the parks by 11am. Lunch around noon, FP+ rides & shopping in the afternoon, followed by dinner, then we be-bop around the standby lines for rides in the evening during the time that everyone else is watching the fireworks. We may take time to catch Fantasmic! or Illuminations, but at this point we're more into taking the opportunity to be kids at night. On our last trip, we were able to hop on & off Splash Mtn & BTMRR almost a dozen times in a row thanks to evening EMH.

 

[loves to dive]

For all those people that wake up early, what time do you go to sleep?

I'm a recovering commando Disney crazy planner. So alarm clocks setting has been outlawed lol

One of the joys of getting older is you don't sleep as much. Typically I go to sleep around 11 or 12 and am up around 5:30, no alarm clock, just years of getting up for work so my body thinks it has to. Now we have a puppy that insists 5 is the proper time to get up and play ball, sometimes I convince her she needs to cuddle until 6 on the weekends but after that all bets are off.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Wow I feel like my family is a rare breed. We like to SLEEP! Before children my husband and I never saw a park before noon. We'd be out until 2AM though. With children, we're all awake by 8AM, but we like to take our time and relax, so we'll probably make it to the park by 10. The only exception is for Animal Kingdom day. We try to get there at opening to avoid the heat!

For 11 days/10 nights we are doing 5 rope drop days (one being BB), 2 full rest days and 3 days where we are starting late.

We sleep in the entire time we do our Jersey shore vacations. But we do WDW a bit different.

My kids can sleep. On weekends and during the summer it's not rare to see my kids sleep until 11 or 12 and DD's been doing this since birth. They love their sleep so I try to do some of that during our vacation.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For all those people that wake up early, what time do you go to sleep?

I'm a recovering commando Disney crazy planner. So alarm clocks setting has been outlawed lol

It depends on what we did that night. PM EMH? MK? Epcot? If we do a late night yhe next day is rest day or sleep in and do a park later in the day.

I would say on average around 11ish.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

We sleep in, shower, eat breakfast, then head to the parks. I have planned all our FP+ for the afternoons, with the exception of our MK day. We have been so many times, that I don't feel the rush to get there like I did when my kids were little. We do things at a more relaxed pace, knowing we will be back...Plus, a lot of non park days to shop and relax by the pool.

 

[RustManFan]

We take our showers at night after returning from the park...

We have previously headed for the food court for breakfast and then left our refillable mugs in my car to use again when we return from park. Next visit we might want to head out earlier and keep some breakfast "stuff" in our room.... especially on MK day(s). I love a good breakfast so on some park days we will stick with the food court idea.

 

[princessesandpascal]

Like many others, we get up early for RD: we do take advantage of EMH some days (the first three days of our upcoming trip we are using EMH mornings) so if we do so we usually get up two hours before the park opens. I shower the night before so my mom will usually get up first and shower, and then wakes me up so we get ready together. We lay out clothes the night before to make it quick and one of us will head down to refill mugs (whoever is closest to being ready!). Then we get some breakfast (waffles if we have time to sit down and eat, otherwise we grab muffins or cinnamon rolls to eat at the turnstiles) and we head out, usually catching a bus to time our arrival between 15 and 30 minutes before opening. Unless it's DHS (Toy Story run), we don't really need to be at the front of the turnstiles, as long as we're there at opening we're happy!

As for when we go to sleep, if we're closing down a park late that night we'll take an afternoon break after the morning in the first park. If we're not (for example, DHS being only open till 8:30 most nights of our trip), we'll go a full day and rest in a show or long attraction.

 

[lelesansan]

Being that it is just two of us, adults acting as kids (25 and 26) we usually start the morning about 7am. We fill our mugs up the night before and refrigerate them so all we need to do is dress and head out. I usually pack a couple of breakfast bars or some peanuts to hold us over til our morning Mickey Ice Cream treat.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

That sounds like my normal routine as well. However, this time traveling with a toddler will change my routine. Going to try and prepare everything the night before.

 

[bookgirl]

For all those people that wake up early, what time do you go to sleep?

I'm a recovering commando Disney crazy planner. So alarm clocks setting has been outlawed lol

My natural body clock is set to night owl. (been that way my whole life as in I was one of those babies who wanted to sleep all day and be awake all night).

Despite the change in time zone and early mornings I cannot fall asleep much before 11 (midnight back home). I do try to be in bed 'relaxing' earlier than that, but my brain refuses to turn off most of the time.

At home I'm up at 6:30 on work days and 8:30/9:30 on non work days.

At Disney I am always 'awake' between 5-6 but, with the exception of tours, I am rarely out the door before 7:30. Some days I don't get going until 9 but I can never sleep on vacations and while I may be slow to get going I rarely want to spend mornings in the room. I'd rather go early then maybe come back mid day to relax. (I also rarely nap, I am worse off after an hour nap than I am with no sleep).

 

[pigletgirl]

That sounds like my normal routine as well. However, this time traveling with a toddler will change my routine. Going to try and prepare everything the night before.

Oh yeah, the stroller was always re-packed before I went to bed. DD loved the splash zones so she really did go through 2 outfits/day. With little ones there is just lots to think about. As long as you are one step ahead you'll have a great vacation!

 

[egjlsmommy]

We are definitely rope drop people. My kids sleep all summer long (weekends too) so I figure they can get up early for a few days while at Disney. Being teenagers, they are initially not thrilled with this plan, but they usually warm-up to it. We try to have as many late nights as we can, regardless of what time we're getting up the next morning (early), because we are also "take a break/nap in the afternoon" people. Kids shower at night and DH and I shower in the morning. Sometimes we get something to eat at the food court, sometimes we don't. My girls aren't big breakfast eaters, so we'll see what we do this year on our Christmas trip.