No afternoon breaks - am I crazy?

[Disneymom1126]

One thing I'd think about doing that really works for us on our longer trips is to alternate between full days at the park and 1/2 days. If we rope drop the full day, then the half day is a relaxing morning with some pool time and then going to the park in the afternoon/evening and plan FP+ and/or meeting characters/seeing shows (depending on the park) for that time since the lines are longer. Even if you're getting to bed at a decent time every night, all the activity and excitement from the parks will still tire the kids out and so rope dropping every day may just not work out.

 

[busymommy2pink]

Not crazy! We do shorter times in the park with no breaks as well. Sometimes we go in the morning and sometimes we sleep in and go all afternoon/night (with a day off the next day or at least the opportunity to sleep in a bit). we like the parks and night just as much as the day. Sometimes we will do the morning, head back for a nap and swim and then go all isn't at a different park. We've been doing this since our girls were 3.

 

[Shanti]

hi,
We are doing September 3-10 with my dds 2 and 4, husband and parents. We plan to rope drop, have air conditioned ADRs most days, stay til after dinners around 5-6 and head home. We are hoping the 2 year old will nap in the stroller or one of us will go back with her. The 4 year old doesn't nap. Since we plan to keep the kids on their early bedtime schedule if possible, I feel coming home for an afternoon nap/pool would take away too much park time.

Yes, it'll be fine in your case, because you're leaving early. Afternoon breaks are for when you're doing the park from open to close.

 

[heath92681]

That never worked for us. Any time we went back, the kids stayed awake, and when I laid down in a darkened room, I just got more tired (since I couldn't nap either) than I would have been just staying in the parks.

Stroller napping worked great for us.

This. We've never taken a break. The kids fall asleep in the stroller if they're tired.

 

[lustergirl]

<<<adult takes a break every afternoon.

 

[lady_hlh]

<<<adult takes a break every afternoon.

That is true we don't have a little kid now but I still want an afternoon break because it is just too darn hot during the middle of the day.

 

[tlmadden73]

Nope . .not crazy and better use of time.

"rest" in the afternoon (the little one will hopefully sleep in stroller) by sitting around, snacking, seeing a show or two.

And since you plan on not staying late, I think no afternoon breaks are perfect.

It is what I have done (when my son was 2 and (and later 3)) and it worked out great.

 

[GillianP1301]

Not crazy at all, taking breaks doesn't work for us. We first took my son when he was 4 and had a similar plan to yours. We would start each day with a nice breakfast (usually an early character buffet) and then head straight to the parks and we would tour until we had enough. Most days that was around dinner time, but some days it was after lunch. We would head back to the resort and enjoy some down time. We stuck with bed time as close to home as possible (8pm), get up and repeat. It worked great. We had one night that we planned to be out late to see fireworks and on that night, we went back to the resort for a break, but we probably would've been better off with just starting that day later.

Each year since, I have taken a similar approach. My son is now 8 and just last year was when he could start to handle late night touring without being over tired. Each year we would add an extra nighttime activity into our plans and this year we have 4 planned. We still get up pretty early (naturally, no alarm usually) and have a big breakfast and we don't take resort breaks. We do have 3 ADRs most days though and those serve as our cool down/rest periods during the day and with those meals/breaks, we don't need to go back to the resort to rest. We do have a half break day mid trip where we only do a park for a few hours in the morning and then pool/resort for the afternoon/evening and that helps to recharge for the 2nd half of the vacation.

 

[AliceIn]

hi,
We are doing September 3-10 with my dds 2 and 4, husband and parents. We plan to rope drop, have air conditioned ADRs most days, stay til after dinners around 5-6 and head home. We are hoping the 2 year old will nap in the stroller or one of us will go back with her. The 4 year old doesn't nap. Since we plan to keep the kids on their early bedtime schedule if possible, I feel coming home for an afternoon nap/pool would take away too much park time.

It is very hot in September, and you may or may not want to walk around in the afternoon heat after your lunch ADR. Mornings and evenings are much more tolerable. We would generally do rope drop, then head back to the resort after lunch and stay there until 5 pm or so. We'd head out again and stay out until 9ish before heading back to the resort. I would play things by ear and see how you do.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

My kids have never napped at Disney, but breaks are always essential when we go during summer, and you still have summer heat in early September. For us, we need to recharge by cooling down in the pool and being able to shower and change our clothes. We just get so hot and sweaty and gross feeling if we try to go all day long. By far, our more successful days have included a break.

 

[lroger01]

I suggest you do a little testing. Plan a weekend soon and take everyone out to the zoo (or another theme-park-like place). Enjoy your day but use it to gauge everyone's stamina. Then if possible, do another adventure the next day. You really need the back-to-back, outdoor, physical days to really get an idea of how you'll be at Disney. It's also a good time to instill behavior expectations for the kids, learn how best to deal with the heat, and test out any touring products you plan to take.

 

[Crystal824]

Your plan isn't crazy. We do this some days and some days we take a break. Be prepared for the kids to ask to go back to the hotel to swim. My 5 year old would ask everyday if we could go back and swim after being in the park 2-3 hours. Every trip, the pool is one of her favorite things.

 

[dlavender]

Definitely not crazy. I agree with pp's who also feel they are wasted time. We take breaks on CoP, People Mover, Tom Sawyer's island. Never out of the park, too much hassle.

 

[lady_hlh]

Your plan isn't crazy. We do this some days and some days we take a break. Be prepared for the kids to ask to go back to the hotel to swim. My 5 year old would ask everyday if we could go back and swim after being in the park 2-3 hours. Every trip, the pool is one of her favorite things.

My daughter did that every time we went when she was little, I think she loved the pool as much as the parks.

 

[DisneyFive]

We've had 5 previous trip, all 7-9 nights each, and have taken an afternoon break exactly.... once.

It was that one afternoon break when we found out that we didn't like afternoon breaks!

We might try them this year though. Leaving in two days. With the parks open later than we're used to, and the potential for hotter days, it makes more sense to try it again to see if it works for us.

Dan

 

[jsbowl16]

We went to Disney in 2014 with our two year old DD and we decided we were going to go the route of the afternoon break so we could hit rope drop and late evenings to get everything done including short lines for some rides and character meets in the morning and then of course the fireworks shows in each of the parks at night. We also wanted to tour during the cooler parts of the day during the morning and evening and miss out on the thunderstorms that come through every afternoon. This strategy became a hassle as we were staying at POFQ so it seemed like we were wasting 1.5 to 2 hours per day with the bus trips back and forth for our break. Last summer and this summer, we have chosen deluxe resorts just so we can continue our current touring strategy but not wasting as much time by being able to walk to the parks. We are staying at The Boardwalk for seven days and then The Contemporary for two so we will only need to ride the buses one day to MK from the Boardwalk and another day to AK. All of the other days we will be going to a park that is within walking distance. So to sum it up, the only reason we stay at Deluxe is for the location and being able to keep our touring strategy of afternoon breaks. We pay a little more but that shows just how important it is to keep our afternoon breaks but not waste much time doing them.