No afternoon breaks - am I crazy?

[Mrspeaks]

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.

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you're leaving well before closing, it's not a bad plan.

 

[wmjeffer]

We went back to our hotel for naps last year with my two year old and it was a total bust! I think she only napped once, and since her bedtime was 7pm, we ended up with very little park time in the evening. For our trip this November, we're planning on staying in the parks until late afternoon and then going home, since she's not napping consistently anymore, and relaxing in the evening.

I would get your "must-do's" done in the morning in case you do need to leave early!

 

[Nancyg56]

I think you want to play it by ear. It is still pretty hot in September, and you may be the ones who need the break. I woudl plan to stay if the family is up to it but keep mid afternoon plans fluid so if you decide to leave you have nothing set in stone that makes the decision a tough one.

As nice as early bedtime sounds, your kids may need a nap in the daytime even if they never rest at home. Look at things to do in the evening JIC you all drifted off one day.

 

[wmjeffer]

I think you want to play it by ear. It is still pretty hot in September, and you may be the ones who need the break.

Agreed - I think the key to traveling with young children is flexibility! Be prepared to change your strategy on the fly if it's not working for your family (I struggle with this myself!).

 

[gojoe]

When we head back for what we refer to as Nap Time. We don't nap, we rest in AC or by the pool. One year our little grandchildren stayed at the villa with their dad (not a Disney fan) while the rest of us went back.

 

[mom2rtk]

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.

 

[Chrelaine]

I think it's a lot, but I don't know your kids Our DD was 4 and no longer napped when we went last year. She needed the down time at the pool most afternoons. She got way overstimulated at the parks with the people, noise, rides...etc. On our last day, she woke up and just wanted to stay at the resort.
We maintained her early bedtime except the night we went to MSEP. We went to a park early that day, went back around one, made her take a nap and headed back out for dinner and the parade.
My advice is to keep your plans as they are, but be ready to switch it up if it is too much for the little ones. You'll know pretty early on if this won't work for them...or the adults.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think you want to play it by ear. It is still pretty hot in September, and you may be the ones who need the break. I woudl plan to stay if the family is up to it but keep mid afternoon plans fluid so if you decide to leave you have nothing set in stone that makes the decision a tough one.

As nice as early bedtime sounds, your kids may need a nap in the daytime even if they never rest at home. Look at things to do in the evening JIC you all drifted off one day.

Great point about the heat. That's an important consideration.

 

[Tondee]

Stroller napping is the best. It turned into my shopping time.

 

[lady_hlh]

When our DD was little she never napped at Disney but she loved going back to the resort in the afternoon to swim. We ended up not enforcing a bedtime schedule and going back to the parks at night when it was cooler. I guess like everyone is saying just leave yourself open to see what will make your kids happy. Plus like everyone is saying the heat in September is still really bad.

 

[Nancyg56]

Great point about the heat. That's an important consideration.

I think it is the strongest consideration. We were there in October a few times, and even then the afternoon heat took a toll. We stayed for the afternoon parade and it was HOT! I think it ties out a lot of people who even though tehy may work outdoors or think that they are used to the heat, it is different when you are in a theme park environment.

 

[Nancyg56]

When our DD was little she never napped at Disney but she loved going back to the resort in the afternoon to swim. We ended up not enforcing a bedtime schedule and going back to the parks at night when it was cooler. I guess like everyone is saying just leave yourself open to see what will make your kids happy. Plus like everyone is saying the heat in September is still really bad.

That is how we roll. We leave the afternoon open, so if we want to keep going, no problem. But if we decide we want to head back swim, shower or nap we are not leaving the main attaction behind. We also made sure we knew what was going on at night so we had a destination in mind if we wanted one.

 

[alicat8]

Mine never napped in the room at 2, only the stroller. Afternoon breaks were more trouble than they were worth to me. Walking out of/back into the park and your resort adds more mileage than you realize-plus it's the hottest part of the day. Shortened days worked much better for us on the past 2 trips. We took ac breaks in the longer, sitting down attractions or restaurants (scheduled ts or as). In the heat, with the kids, it was much less exhausting to hang in a few hours past nap time and then crash for good at the hotel.

 

[ariane37]

I think your plan looks fine but agree with pp's to stay flexible. We never ever went back to the room when our DS's were little, just powered through and even stayed into the night if they fell asleep in the strollers after dinner. We didn't keep to their bedtime on vacation. However those trips when they were young weren't during the hotter months; our first trip during a hot month was 2014 when they were 12 and 9. We planned and attempted coming back to the room mid-day but after day 2 nobody wanted to swim and nobody was napping lol, so we decided to stay in the parks and did that again last August. We did lunch TS most days and then did inside attractions as often as we could until the worst of the heat was over.

 

[mom2rtk]

Stroller napping is the best. It turned into my shopping time.

I loved nap time shopping. It was the only time I got to look at things without being rushed along.

 

[Matty_Disfan]

We went in May with a 3 and 5 year old set of lovely ladies.

We left each afternoon around 1-2 and then back for dinner or after a quick dinner at the resort. Got in an other 2-4 hours of fun and then went home for the night.

They did not nap. They went to the pool with me, and my wife napped! She was dealing with a bad cold and needed some rest.

1. But here's the deal: we got out of the constant stimulation, the lines, the music and the crowds. Maybe most importantly we go out of the expectation of rides and timing. We hung out at the room for 1/2 hour in the cool and the dark. We then went for a leisurely stroll to the pool and playground and they made their own fun. There was no time limits, no strategy and no goals. There was much less stimulation, much more self-guidance. We would then head back to the room, wake up mom and then relax a little and actually KILL TIME before we left for dinner.

It was great for everyone. The girls and us were stoked and ready again for the parks. It was basically a wet cloth across a whiteboard, remade us as a blank slate. Cooled us off, both bodies and brains.

Just something to think about. ALSO: the 2 year old will probably sleep on the ride on the bus, or car or even in the stroller as you wait for the bus/tram.

 

[6loversofdisney]

We've taken our kids at various ages and never gone back for naps. They would fall asleep in the stroller and one of us would stay with thr sleeper and then take turns on rides. I knew my kids and knew what they could handle. They were very well behaved and even keeled kids so I knew I could do it that way. It's a personal choice. Try it and see how it goes! Good luck!

 

[Klayfish]

We're all going to give your our own opinions, but the only right answer is what works best for your kids. My personal opinion, and experience, is that your plan works very well. That what we did when our kids were your age. But that worked for them. Some kids wouldn't deal well with that, and are better off going back to an actual bed and taking a nap. Now, with the kids ages 12, 9, 9 we do both. Some days we'll do as you describe, some days we'll do 9am-2pm. Then rest at home until 5pm and go back to the parks until 10pm. Just depends.

 

[nimbuscat]

When we went in 2014, our 2.5-yr-old took stroller naps every day like a champ. We actually have photo pass pictures of her sleeping in the stroller in every park.

This year, she's 5, and baby sister is 20 months. We have short days planned (leaving the parks by 1-2 pm each day but one), then back to the resort for downtime before dinner. I don't know that anyone will nap, but we'll see. We actually don't plan to re-enter the parks at night except one night at MK, but do plan to make good use of our resort pool at night.