Parks and relaxing, is it possible?

[mamagass]

We are going to Disney World for five days in May. I have been watching the wait times for the attractions. It looks like if you use extra magic hours in the morning and at night we should be able to take advantage of our Disney resort in the afternoon and head back to the parks about dinner time. Has anyone tried this and how did it work?

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Yes this works.

 

[pad406]

We've done this on both trips and works well for us. But we take long vacations so we have plenty of time to do everything.

 

[mousefan73]

Many people will recommend doing the early morning EMH or rope drops and then taking a midday break during the hottest part of the day. People go back to the resorts, to swim and/or nap.

and then head out more towards evening to the parks or hop to a different one.


For us, this doesnt work as we are not morning people and sleep in.
We sleep in, swim and then head to the parks late afternoon. Sure we could get more stuff done in the parks, but we have to take it easy. My mom cannot rush around too much and my kids dont nap anymore, so it's either morning or evening. We choose evening.

 

[jm106]

We manage it even with out EMH. We eat lunch by the pool and swim, enjoy some down time. We dont always make dinner a sit down so we can have more park tme depending on the park we are in.

 

[HM]

We do that. Hit parks at opening through lunch time. Go back to resort and use the pool for a couple of hours. Then go to the parks again for dinner and the evening. Our trips are generally now 4-5 days instead of a week now.

 

[lizabu]

We always do that. Hit the park at RD. Go until midday. Take a break and come back in a few hours. I usually avoid parks with EMH though.

 

[GillianP1301]

I think this is a really good strategy for a lot of people.

For us, it doesn't work because I really try to stick to DS6's normal sleep schedule while we are on vacation. I find that is the key to have the happiest/stress free vacation for all of us. Because he's normally in bed by 8pm, it doesn't really give us enough time to get much out of evening hours. So instead, we go early and go until fatigue hits (sometimes around lunch, sometimes closer to dinner) and spend the balance of the day in the pool/resort area. When he's a little bit older and able to stay up later without it negatively affecting his mood the next day, then this morning park/afternoon break/evening park will definitely be my strategy.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Yes, we do this. I know the typically rule is "avoid EMH" but if you are going during a slower time, it's really perfect. We either RD or morning EMH, knock out as many major rides as we possibly can, then leave the park when it starts to get hot and crowded.

Nap, swim, relax... either have dinner at the food court or make reservations in the park we are headed back to and then enjoy the evening.

IN the "good old days" of FP and no enforcement of return time, we'd collect FP all morning and then use them in the evening after dinner. It was lovely. Now I will have to figure it out but I'm thinking we will mostly use our FP+ in the evenings when we return to the park.

We enjoy the time so much more when we don't try to spend the entire day in the park. Honestly, it's just so much nicer.

 

[jgasko]

Our last stay with the kids we did that. We hit the parks in the morning, back to the hotel for a short nap and some swimming time, back to the parks for dinner and fireworks, then we ended up taking a cab back since the bus lines get busy when the parks close and the kids were wiped out.

 

[katt789]

I would definitely say that yes that would work. You can definitely get some relaxing fit in there. Do be aware though that the evening EMH can get quite crowded.

 

[linskypens]

Have to agree with everyone. This is the tried and true method of doing it all. We average 4 or 5 days stays(we did seven once).
We hit parks at rope drop, out by 1, swim chill drink nap. Back into parks by 5 or 6.
Works very well and goes a long way to help prevent the burnout of multiple rope drop days in a row.

 

[MickeyOCD]

Yes, this is a good strategy, wait times significantly increase by 11:30 am. We got a lot done by 11 am when we hit rope drop during Spring Break. They are usually long til dinner or Wishes (depending on time of yr, ( during Spring Break then it will be til Wishes) then they drop off.

 

[MaggieMouse]

We are going to Disney World for five days in May. I have been watching the wait times for the attractions. It looks like if you use extra magic hours in the morning and at night we should be able to take advantage of our Disney resort in the afternoon and head back to the parks about dinner time. Has anyone tried this and how did it work?

This is what we do even though my kids are 13 &20! It's always nice to have that break in the middle of the day.