Resort breaks, how to structure the day?

[DisneyMama811]

Hi all,
heading to WDW in January with our two girls who will be 6&8 planning to take mid day resort breaks on a few days especially on the day we do Fantasmic!
just wondering for those of you who regularly take resort breaks what does your day look like? how long of a break do you take? we are staying at AoA and not renting a vehicle

 

[Anna131517]

You may end up spending 2 hours of your day just to take that break (depending on how busy the skyliner is and how long you have to walk). Have you considered getting a late start to the day instead? Mammoth Club has some videos on how to do that, including in Hollywood Studios. We’ve only ever taken mid day breaks when things went bad (like really bad motion sickness or trouble with the heat) but we often either cut our day short or get a later start.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

1) When my girls were 5, we didn't bother with resort breaks. We would book a nice sit down lunch as a way to rest and reset. On nights that I was doing evening fireworks/Fantasmic, we just let them sleep in as much as they could and started the day at the parks later.

2) Our trip this August, the girls were 8. I expected lots of midday breaks because of the intensity of the heat. They surprised me and were go-go-go. Like, watched the MK castle show in full sun at 2pm and then wanted to stay and watch the parade at 3 despite the heat. What ended up happening was that it was harder and harder to get them out of the room each morning, but once they were up, they went until park close, including 12am MNSSHP and 1am deluxe hours.

For reference, these are kids who haven't napped since they were 3, so I knew a midday nap was out of the question. They also have a very strict bedtime at home (8pm now, I think it was still 7pm when they were 5) so I didn't have high hopes for the evenings and was pleasantly surprised at how much Disney adrenaline kept them going.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We always follow the same pattern -- when the kids were young and even now (pretty much been doing this for the full 50 years). We get to parks for rope drop, then leave around Noon or 1:00 p.m. Back to resort for break, fun, other activities. Then head back out around 5:00 p.m. or so.

 

[snikki]

We do a mix of things.

RD, leave around 12-1, pool time/relax 2-4, back to the park by 5, stay until close. We consider the transportation to the resort and back a rest too. We don’t leave the park because we’re so exhausted. We dislike being in the park at peak crowd time and peak sun time.

Sleep in, relax, pool time, head to a park anywhere from 1-4. Stay until close.

It all depends on park hours and what our plans for the day are too. If no park hoppers I wouldn’t do a midday break with AK since they close earlier. I would just start late there and stay until close. I plan to start around 3-4 at MK on a day they close at 11 pm but on a day epcot closes at 9 pm I’m starting around noon.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

In December it’s usually not so hot that we need mid day resort breaks. I would guess January weather is similar. I usually plan for a sit down lunch or snacks (doesn’t have to be fancy, Columbia Harbour House second floor is our go to rest place in MK) if we went straight to a park in the morning. One of my fav things to do is Skyliner to Riviera to eat at Primo Piatto when I’m at Hollywood Studios. Sometimes those breaks turn into longer ones because the Skyliner goes down or stops for a bit which is fine with us. Connections Eatery at Epcot is loud but good. Watching Festival of the Lion King or Nemo or another show at Animal Kingdom is always a good break too from constant walking.

On days when it is pool-worthy temperatures (rare in December even for us Torontonians!), we wake up, have a leisurely brunch or lunch, hit the pool, explore the resort a bit, do some shopping, wait out the afternoon rain, have dinner early, and start heading to the parks for 5pm. The crowds and heat, if it’s an abnormally warm day, tend to be more manageable by 5.

 

[LadyNia]

We like taking midday breaks. We usually leave the park around 1:00 to go back to our room. We usually leave the room around 4:00 to head back. We don’t stay for night time shows yet, but if you do you may want to a longer break than we do before heading back to the park.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We have 4 and 2yo daughters. We went in February and it was not that warm. We were staying at the boardwalk. My girls don’t nap, but after about 4-5 attractions they would fall asleep in the stroller. They would not sleep if we went back to the room. We learned we had to let them fall sleep in the stroller. Being at the boardwalk worked as we were able to get back to the room from all but AK with them sleeping. They would usually fall asleep around 1-1:30 after eating lunch. We would then go back to the parks around 5 to let them wear themselves out again.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Hi all,
heading to WDW in January with our two girls who will be 6&8 planning to take mid day resort breaks on a few days especially on the day we do Fantasmic!
just wondering for those of you who regularly take resort breaks what does your day look like? how long of a break do you take? we are staying at AoA and not renting a vehicle

When taking mid day breaks using Disney transportation, plan on at least a four hour, or preferably five hour, break that begins when you walk out of the park and ends when you walk back in. If you want to be back in the park at 5pm, leave the park at noon. If your break plan is too short it isn’t worth the transportation trouble.

 

[hpsalb]

We often take a break and do something similar what others have shared - RD until noon/1, head to hotel for a break, head back to park around 4 or so. Actual time depends on the park hours, our specific plans, etc. As others noted, a chunk of your break will be transit.

We don’t usually take a break at AK because the hours are shorter.

I do think you need to hit the park early because it doesn’t make much sense to go at 10 am and then take a break at noon, for example.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We have 4 and 2yo daughters. We went in February and it was not that warm. We were staying at the boardwalk. My girls don’t nap, but after about 4-5 attractions they would fall asleep in the stroller. They would not sleep if we went back to the room. We learned we had to let them fall sleep in the stroller. Being at the boardwalk worked as we were able to get back to the room from all but AK with them sleeping. They would usually fall asleep around 1-1:30 after eating lunch. We would then go back to the parks around 5 to let them wear themselves out again.

We actually tried going back for breaks but after 3 miserable days of trying to do that, the 4th day our DD fell asleep in the stroller and instead of going back to the resort DW and I would take advantage of this time to shop or we would get a snack and find a nice place to sit, relax and people watch or get out of the heat if it was hot. We also would let them sleep in after a late night, so even though they were not on their schedule they still got the sleep they needed and it worked out for all of us

 

[DebLovesPooh]

When she was 3-4 years, we would only do 3/4 days. By the time she was 6, my DD wouldn’t go to a park unless I had a pool break scheduled mid-day, lol. We would leave around 12 and go back, usually to a different park, around 3. Going to a different park helped keep all of our energies up into the evening.

 

[tinkerjo]

My kids were/are early risers. We rope drop and do all we can, eat lunch in the park and hit a show before going back to the resort about2ish. We usually don’t nap, but some pool time sure feels good during that break. We usually eat dinner at the resort and head back 6-7 for a few hours anyway. The exception is AK. You can get the entire park done by 3 and head back for the day. At 6&8 they probably won’t nap, but just having a couple hours downtime for everyone is nice

 

[ShannyMcB]

We would get an early start and stay at the parks until like late "lunch time" somewhere between 1230 and 130. Head back to the resort for lunch, a snack at the park before this was critical for us!
Chill at the resort for anywhere from an hour to 3 depending on what was going on for the evening, the later the night the longer the break. An hour and a half seemed the best amount of time for our kids this last trip-10, 7, and just turned 4.
Of course we had a day where the 4 year old didn't nap in the hotel and ended up falling asleep in the stroller on the way back to MK...what can ya do?
We found for us the best use of breaktime was a quiet lunch in the room followed by showers all around and some TV time. Then planning what we were going to do when we got back to the parks.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We still take mid day breaks even now, but we’ve always been rope droppers, do as much as we can, eat lunch at the park, then head back to resort for a swim/rest break. We wouldn’t usually leave the resort again until dinner. Occasionally we will go back after dinner to ride things, usually not though. Dinner and shopping, then back at resort by 9-10pm. We are definitely not commando parkgoers and enjoy spending time enjoying the resorts and Disney Springs too.

 

[mwmom]

We always follow the same pattern -- when the kids were young and even now (pretty much been doing this for the full 50 years). We get to parks for rope drop, then leave around Noon or 1:00 p.m. Back to resort for break, fun, other activities. Then head back out around 5:00 p.m. or so.

This is exactly what we did and it worked so well for us!

 

[DVC Sue]

My kids always wanted to keep going. But they didn’t want to go anywhere the next morning unless we took breaks.

 

[glocon]

Question about a September trip.
Does it usually rain for a while every afternoon?
The last couple of times we went at the end of July/early August and you could count on rain every single afternoon. At least for us, every single afternoon.
In 2023 we are planning a trip the second week of September.
No park hoppers. Going for a week with 7 day tickets. So far the plan is MK x 2, AK and HS x1 and EP x 3 (going mostly for F&W).
We were thinking of taking the mornings easy, get up when we get up, have a late breakfast at a resort near the park for the day and explore the resort a bit, then head to the park of the day early afternoon.
But will it most likely be raining every day when we get to the parks at that hour?
Do we need to rethink our plan and have either a longer lunch or resort break to be out of the rain?
Thanks for your thoughts and input!

 

[Smugpugmug]

Question about a September trip.
Does it usually rain for a while every afternoon?
The last couple of times we went at the end of July/early August and you could count on rain every single afternoon. At least for us, every single afternoon.
In 2023 we are planning a trip the second week of September.
No park hoppers. Going for a week with 7 day tickets. So far the plan is MK x 2, AK and HS x1 and EP x 3 (going mostly for F&W).
We were thinking of taking the mornings easy, get up when we get up, have a late breakfast at a resort near the park for the day and explore the resort a bit, then head to the park of the day early afternoon.
But will it most likely be raining every day when we get to the parks at that hour?
Do we need to rethink our plan and have either a longer lunch or resort break to be out of the rain?
Thanks for your thoughts and input!

I did a trip September 2021 and it rained every single day of our trip around 2 pm approximately. Some days the rain was quite heavy and there would be thunder. It would rain for about 1-2 hours and then stop. My family would do mid day breaks during the rain and then go back to the park when it stopped.

 

[glocon]

I did a trip September 2021 and it rained every single day of our trip around 2 pm approximately. Some days the rain was quite heavy and there would be thunder. It would rain for about 1-2 hours and then stop. My family would do mid day breaks during the rain and then go back to the park when it stopped.

That sounds very similar to our experiences in July/August.
At least we have time to rethink our plans. We just don’t want to rush in the mornings, but afternoon breaks for late lunch or resort exploring sounds like a good way to avoid being out in storms.