regular schedule or "vacation" schedule

[jgmklmhem]

I just wanted to get other peoples feedback on this issue. It seems every time we go on vacation my wife and I get into a tussle over this topic. We have a 1yo and a 4yo and it is her opinion that we have to keep their sleeping schedule the same as it always is at home no matter if we are at Disney visiting relatives etc. I am of the opinion that when you are on vacation it is time to break from the normal routine and do things different. My 1yo isn't really a problem because she basically sets her own schedule, but for my 4yo it is hard. I guess the situations it gets me is when I want to go to the fireworks or something with our 4yo and I get grief from my wife because we would get back so much later than her normal bedtime. She is not a nap taker, but we are also not commandos and wake up whenever we wake up. I think it is ok to stay out later if we are gonna sleep in the next morning...assuming my daughter isn't to the point of tired out and whining which for her is rare. Just looking for comments.....

 

[VAN]

I would agree w/ you. Tell your wife to live a little ... the world's not going to end if your child doesn't get a nap! Also tell her that if your child acts up from not getting a nap, that you will take full responsibility!!

 

[antmaril]

I agree with you. I think you should tell your wife to "not sweat the small stuff". It's supposed to be fun.

Just my two cents, of course.

 

[kyirish25]

I think as long as your child isn't cranky and miserable then there is no reason not to ease up and enjoy the vacation.

Your wife is probably most concerned about getting her to readjust back to a schedule after vacation. She feels that once you bend the rules your child will test you and try to bend the rules after vacation as well.

So maybe agree to fight the potential battles after vacation as well.

 

[disneyandme]

I will have to be the dissenting opinion. I think keeping kids on "close to" their regular schedule is important. An extra hour occasionally is ok, but a whole vacation of being off can really wreck havac on a little one. They don't catch up like adults do. I try to keep my DD5 close to schedules, except for maybe one night of staying out late-- only an hour or two. Good luck.

 

[dzneelvr]

Kids need a break from routine, just like adults. I would say that if keeping them in the "home" routine causes too much stress when you are on vacation, then DON"T DO IT.
When we had our first, we went nuts trying to keep everything on the same schedule. Thank heavens we woke up by the time our DD came along!!
What would you rather have as a memory: rushing around each day to keep everyone fed just so, clean, and "well rested" or a tired, dirty, and sticky kid with a smile on his face and eyes wide open as he watches WISHES at 3 hours past his normal bedtime??????
I say lighten up with the routine.

 

[tjmw2727]

We don't stick to the regular schedule on vacation but we do try and use common sense and compromise. We alternate with late mornings after late nights, take a rest/pool break most days and see how it goes. If one of the kids is getting cranky we adjust and make it an early night. When the girls were little sometimes we would split during the day one parent taking the tired girl to rest and the other to have some 1/1 time with mom or dad.

We never had a problem going back to the regular schedule at home.

Give a later evening a try and if it works out then try again after a more normal day. If not you may have to separate or wait until the kids are older for some of the late night stuff.

TJ

 

[disneyandme]

I'm not talking about keeping a schedule above all else-- don't yank your child out of line for Dumbo just because it's time to head back for bed.

I've seen many kids out long past their bedtimes-- and mom and dad looki like they are having fun-- but no one else. Also, you can tell the in morning who was out too late the night before.

My DD5 doesn't miss ANYTHING she wants to do-- it just takes good planning.

 

[CapeCodFam]

I am a mom of three boys (8,6&2), I say go with the vacation schedule. We have never had a problem. The kids enjoy the brake from routine as do I.

 

[momxx5]

Its called a vacation for a reason....to break free from the hectic, schedule lives we live at home.

Be carefree and enjoy. It is the happiest place on earth.

 

[Brian Noble]

We have a DS4 and DD6, and try to stick "close to" our regular routine at home. We'll stretch it by an hour or so, but not much more. That means we miss out on some things---for example, Illuminations is too late, even with a liberal definition of "close to". That's okay. Those things (or their replacements) will be at WDW for a long time, and we'll get to them when the kids get a bit older.

So, we usually are on our way out of the parks not much later than 8 (our normal bedtime) or 8:30, and try to be in bed not much later than 9. As we always stay in a suite, condo, or vacation home while on vacation, that gives my DW and I time to have a nice glass of wine and a pleasant evening "at home" while the kids sleep behind closed doors before we turn in ourselves. (As a side note, we also take a break away from the parks every day midafternoon to get a rest and preferably a nap.) We might push these limits a bit on our last day, or on a day before an "off" day, but otherwise we'd rather have everyone be well rested than deal with fried kids in the hopes that we can "see it all."

The broader question for me is how do I want to spend my time when the whole family is at the parks. The answer (again, for me) is that I let the kids' capacities govern most of the decisions. For example, I won't get on a ride unless at least one kid can (and is willing to) ride with me. The rides will be there a long time, too, and we'll get to them when everyone is tall (and brave) enough. All too soon, the kids will be too cool to ride with Mom and Dad, and until that happens I'd rather be riding Small World (shudder) with them than anything else without.

 

[ErinInCT]

My 2 are 4 & 1 as well. We just went end of Sept. My 1 yr old is still taking 2 naps which she didn't do on vacation. We came back to the hotel every afternoon for lunch (we stayed at VWL) & then a nap for dd1. DD4 would not nap to save her life so she would go to the pool with dh & then come back for her bath (& showers for us cuz we did not want to "waste time" in the morning & knew we'd get sweaty anyway). We'd then go out for the evening (either dinner or back to a park). For most days we were home by 8pm (dd1 goes to bed at 6:30pm if you can believe it & sleep suntil 7ish!!) & dd1 went right to bed. DD4 would "go to bed" but stayed up to "watch" a few of the bedtime stories on tv & would probably fall asleep around 9pm (which is fine since she stays up until 9 in the summer anyway). Both kids were up before 7 everyday (jeez, I think even earlier which was a bummer for us!!). We watched Wishes one night (both kids did fine) which was the latest night I think (it was at 8pm). We did not kill ourselves to get to the park at opening (it is uncrowded in Sept anyway) so we could sleep in if we needed to (although they DID NOT). SO here is my recommendation:
Come back every afternoon for a nap, or quiet time or to refresh.
Don't wake the kids up, let them sleep as long as they need to in the morning.
As long as your kids are preschool aged, try to come in the Fall when parks close early & are completely uncrowded.
But most of all, have fun!

 

[mrsg00fy]

Our boys are now 6 and 9. They have been to WDW about 18 times. We NEVER stick to a regular schedule. Our rule has always been that When and if the kids are tired and cranky, we leave. It is vacation time and precious time. I could not imagine leaving the parks just because we need to keep a "regular schedule". We have never had a hard time readjusting back home. There is plenty of time to get back into the swing of things, to do homework, etc.

I can tell you that we have videos of our boys each at around age 1 watching the Spectromagic parade. The parade is at night after most kids' bedtimes. Their expressions and squeals of delight are priceless.

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

You're on vacation so go with the "vacation" schedule. They will settle back into their normal routine when you return home (hopefully).

 

[ahutton]

I've never really worried about schedules on vacation. If everyone is doing okay and having fun, we'll stay. If the kids have had enough we'll start to make our way back. Depending on where you are and where you are staying it can take a long time to get home. Even walking from Future World to the Boardwalk can seem to take forever! We also have used a stroller in the evenings for our kids. The little one will ride full time by evening hours, and if the older one needs a breat we'll carry the little one for a bit. It has worked great for us.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

I say just try it and see how the kids do. I have no problem letting the kids stay up latter if they are happy and content. My DS however WOULD NOT alter his bedtime for anything. No matter where we were or what we were doing between 7:30 and 8:00, he would go to sleep. He slept through a rock concert once!!! Activitiy levels are so different at WDW that just reality dictates some changes. I never take a nap at home and even I get one at WDW. Good luck!

Jordans' mom

 

[poet123]

I think maybe the fact that you only have 1 child is a factor here. With our first we too tried to stick to a routine both home and away.
With our second/third kids we had realised that they dictate the pace and late nights are not overly harmful and some will be memories forever, like illuminations etc
I say go with the flow on holiday, routine belomngs at home with all the other everyday stuff!!!!!!!!!!! like cleaning, cooking washing and work, enjoy your break.
Remember you never get these years back, our eldest is 20 now and I wonder where the years went!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kerry34]

We go with the flow on vacation, if the kids are okay then we stay. We basically go by them. It's vacation as far as I am concerned and I don't worry about it. If they get tired and cranky we leave.

 

[crisi]

My kids would never nap (or nap well) at Disney. And they got up early because they were excited. (They never napped well at home either, though. And at home if they stay up two hours past their bedtime, they are still up at the crack of dawn - I don't expect Disney to be different).

So they made their own schedule and we listened to them (or rather - their moods). Which didn't leave room for fireworks or MNSSHP or Spectromagic - because they were tired after getting up early and not napping.

And which means they ended up with a very normal for them sort of schedule - early mornings, light naps if any, reasonable bedtimes - and were still exhausted and cranky after a week.

We will go back and my kids will eventually be able to stay up later without me regretting it the next day.

I don't find WDW the happiest place on Earth if my kids are overtired.

 

[logan1_2000]

I think last prev. post and some others get to the core issue--are the children on a "vacation schedule" that fits what they want to do on vacation? Reading the children, are they about to melt down or are they doing fine, is paramount. DS was still taking naps many days on last WDW trip when he was 4 1/2 (4 yrs ago) and there was a day when my sister and her husband scheduled a last minute addition character meal, and it was either miss EPCOT or miss a nap if we were going to get the character meal in. Explained to him that he could choose, and if he got too tired that I would be the tired police who took tired children to a good napping place--so he said he would skip a nap, and we got everything in. And other days on that trip when we had discussed seeing fireworks at night, the kids fell asleep and the naps RAN LONG!! So we didn't see fireworks that night is all.

I think schedule is all need-based anyway--bed time is dictated by what you have to do in the morning at what time and how much sleep you need--a child with early entry to AK might need to get to sleep earlier to see the animals and therefore go to bed earlier the night before than the same child at home with a school day that starts an hour later than AK opening time. And if it is water park day, those dont open until what, 10? Seems like the night before is a good night for fireworks (unless that was the early morning wakeup for AK and staying up late would equal meltdown).

And exactly one week from now I'll find out if I was right or wrong as I load up the car to drive home from WDW. I have touring schedules made out, all manner of planning done and research cross referenced--if we get 30% of that done it will add up to a great trip, and nothing is indispensible--last trip was my first time at WDW in 25 years and I didn't make it to space mountain--oh well, hope to make it this time!