Rest in our room or rest in the park?

[NvrBnToWDW]

Now, I know it takes a long time to get on a bus and go back to our hotel for a break. Wouldn't it be better to just find a place to rest in the parks (like a restaurant)? My kids are older (9 & 11) and they never nap (neither do I).

 

[kilee]

Before my trip last week- I would of given a different answer. In the last 2 1/2 years we've taken 5 trips. Until last week we've never taken a mid-day break. We did the parks opening to closing. We have 1 son and he's 11 now. Just never felt a need to. Last Oct/Nov we even had 9 newbies w/ us including a 16 month old and 6 yr old. They even made it all day w/o any issues or meltdowns.

Fast forward to last week. It was just DH, me and DS. It was so hot- by 1-2 pm we were drained. We had to go back to the hotel. If for nothing else to just have the chance to really cool down (we swam not napped). The A/C on the rides was great-- but the 5-15 minutes just wasn't long enough. We didn't go back to the room long-- about 1.5-2 hrs. We stayed at the Dolphin and found transporting back to not be as difficult as we thought it might. Granted it added about a 1/2 hr total round trip to our out of park time. However, it was so worth it. We felt very refreshed and great after our mid-day swim. The only park we didn't do this with was AK because they close so early.

I really think it depends on your family and the weather.

 

[capthooksmom]

Originally posted by NvrBnToWDW
Now, I know it takes a long time to get on a bus and go back to our hotel for a break. Wouldn't it be better to just find a place to rest in the parks (like a restaurant)? My kids are older (9 & 11) and they never nap (neither do I).

Where are you staying?

 

[michygoomy]

When we went last summer, my kids were 7 and 10. I planned mid-day breaks at the hotel all week. Turns out, DH and I would use those breaks to rest, and the kids, no matter how hot and tired they were when they left the park, would be bouncing off the walls of our little hotel room as soon as they got in air conditioning for a few minutes

Our hotel breaks got shorter and shorter as the week wore on. I finally realized that a nice long lunch in a park restaurant would have served the same purpose and saved some travel time and probably a few frayed nerves.

Another advantage of going back to the room, though, is replentishing supplies (water bottles, snacks, etc.) or even changing out of wet socks (it was pretty rainy). Also, since we were there during the busy time, there was not much point being in the parks mid-day due to the crowds.

If I were to do it again--I would make more PS's for late afternoons and stay around the park. Or maybe hop a bus or a monorail to go to another park.

At that age, my kids really could handle a 7am-11pm touring schedule as long as there was some change of scenery and a nice long meal in there somewhere.

 

[NvrBnToWDW]

We're staying at All-Star Movies and it is quite far from MK and I don't think the parks will be open real late during the first week of May. So time is precious.

 

[capthooksmom]

We do both depending on how tired we are and how hot and humid it is.
Most of the time a show or cold drink in a restaurant will do it for us, but we have taken the bus back to Pop Century when we were totally whipped. This was peak season and didn't have too long of a commute.

 

[swilphil]

I have to go back to the room to rest, but our last two trips have been in the middle of the summer. I also stay at the Swan or Dolphin so it's not too far and we can often avoid the whole bus thing. My kids are toddlers though they don't always nap. We just need a break to be able to take advantage of the later park hours. Plus it's nice to get out of the parks when they are at their hottest and most crowded.