Planning for the after effects of a very late night?

[kohlby]

We're going to MNSSHP - yay! My child who makes her bedtime very, very early at home wants to do it, so we are! This may be our only chance to try it as we usually go a different time of year. I've made my plans - so, that means it's time to second-guess some!

Right now, our plan is two waterpark days after MNSSHP. I figure then if the kids are tired, it's easier to do waterparks. Or, if they just want to hang out at the condo the day after the party, then they can. I don't mind not using up every waterpark option on our tickets - but do want to use all 7 of our park days up.

But on the other hand, it would be nice to end the trip with a bigger bang than a waterpark - especially since the waterpark that day could be a repeat of another.

We're going to keep the day right after MNSSHP as a waterpark/Disney quest day - figuring it's okay if we decide to do neither afterwards. But the day after that is our last park day.

Would your kids be recharged enough to do EP after that - and after a rather lengthy trip? (Right now, I have our plan down as arrive, HS, EP, EP, MK, AK/HS, waterpark, EP, MK, Legoland, MNSSHP (maybe minigolf before that), waterpark, waterpark, leave. (With the first and last waterpark days also having Disney quest). Kids are 5, 8, and 11. None are capable of napping and youngest will have a stroller.

 

[poohfriend77]

We did MVMCP when my DDs were 4 and almost 7. Our plan was to take a nap before the party. We went to the parks at rope drop, then went back to the room after an early lunch. Our "nap" consisted of my husband snoring away, while I said "Be quiet. Lie down. Close your eyes." to the girls every two minutes for an hour and a half. You just can't make non-nappers nap.

They did great at the party, and we made it to the very end, probably getting in bed about 1 a.m. They did sleep in until about 10 the next morning (VERY late for them!) We hit Epcot for a few hours, and turned in early that night. By the second day after the party, they were fine for a full day.

 

[MandiC]

I think the day after would be most important to recharge, let everyone sleep until they wake on their own and plan on going to bed fairly early the day after the party. If you do that I'm sure you'd be fine to do a park the day after that.

 

[Happyjen27]

I think if they sleep in, they should be capable of doing whatever you want to do!

Just go to the park of your choice, enjoy it until everyone is acting like they're done and then be done.

I can't say as I think that a waterpark would be less tiring than EP.

 

[msmama]

My son (6) would be more likely to wake up early on the day after a late night. So, for us, that day would most likely be a wash. We'd do stuff, but probably call it an early day no matter what we did.

I'd think he'd be good to go the following day though.

However, for our longer trips, we rarely do full days. We either hit rope drop and go until early afternoon, or go to the parks late to stay late. On shorter trips we may tour more commando style (but usually not as I find leisurely Disney tours to be the major benefit of going often).

 

[buzznina]

The day after a late night we ALWAYS let our DDs sleep in and wake up on their own, and it has worked out very well. We also take the 3rd or 4th day off from parks as well. Have yet to have any melt downs

 

[kohlby]

Ooops, I realized I forgot to mention that two of the three will definitely not sleep in much, especially the youngest. He probably won't sleep in at all. Middle child - who is normally fast asleep by 8pm as she's our early sleeper, will likely be able to sleep in by half an hour only. The eldest finally will, but he also does just fine on little sleep. We sometimes have the two-day curse - when the lack of sleep catches up more two days after than just the day after. But it sounds like most of your kids would be fine with a park two days after a late night, so that's encouraging.

A waterpark would be less tiring than EP since there isn't nearly as much walking involved and they would be cooler and we wouldn't stay as long. Two of the three kids have some sensory issues and won't think of trying the thrill waterslides, so that limits some of the climbing/walking in the water parks too.

 

[MandiC]

If I were you I'd just really focus on making the day after the party as low key as possible. I'd even consider doing nothing and making it a resort day. My kids are early risers too but after a few days in Disney it was hard to wake them! LOL so you just never know. We didn't do any extremely late nights either, we were back in our room around 10pm even on our latest nights. If you make it a resort day you can swim at the pool (which resort will you be at? lots of them are pretty awesome and I am pretty sure they all have pool games throughout the day) and just relax and go to bed when the kids get tired (probably even earlier than they would go to bed on a normal night)
The people I have talked to have said the water parks are nothing to write home about...but we also live in an area where people vacation in Wisconsin Dells on a yearly basis. We just never felt the need to do the water parks at Disney.

 

[kohlby]

Thanks. We're off-site for the second part of our trip, so we'll be off-site during MNSSHP. We've never been to the water parks and are doing them since they were included on our tickets. (We're doing it through a group, so there was just one option - the 7 day park hopper water parks and more. Also, our second hotel is a condo where we were able to book a week for the price of 3 days, so we figured we might as well stay longer then). We had planned 3 waterpark days, with the day after the party being one. We did that figuring it would be easy to scale it down to 2 days if we found we needed to. I'm mostly concerned about not knowing how long it will take my kids to recover from one late night. We adjust it to their needs quite easily the day after - and I planned for that. I'm just not sure if they need an easier day the next one after that as well.

I think I've decided to leave our EP FP+ as they are right now. And if the weather is promising, then we'll switch and do a waterpark that day instead - so we can end our trip with EP. I'm mostly concerned about making EP a good day - as we're fine doing a waterpark for a couple of hours but want to do EP for several hours.