scheduling a break in the day

[TheGoofster]

I was just wondering how many of you schedule a three or four hour break time in your Disney plans.
We will be going in about a month, and I'm working out my final preparations and plans. Originally I didn't schedule any break time, but now I am going back through and redoing all of our days to add a three to four hour break time to go back to the hotel (we'll be staying at the WL) and recharge our batteries. There are four of us, my wife and I, as well as our two kids, ages 10 and 7. At first I thought that I didn't want to miss out on any fun, but now I'm thinking that we will enjoy ourselves even more if we take a break. I know we can often get grumpy and short tempered when we get tired. Also we will be at WDW for 10 days, so I'm not too worried about missing too many things. We do plan on taking advantage of the Extra Magic Hours as well on some days, and I think a rest during the day will make it easier to get there earlier, or depart later.
So, how many of you do indeed schedule a break, or how many of you just stay in the park the whole day?

 

[dlf]

We've visited about 12 times (before and after kids) and have never taken a break. I find the day goes by so quickly that fitting in a break just wouldn't happen. We always book a character meal about 12 and that naturally breaks up the day.

Have always read how most people take a break during their day at Disney and thought that for our only stay on-site (GF for my 4Oth birthday celebrations 2 years ago) we would do the same. However, even with the short journey to the hotel we still didn't have time to do it!! Most days we are there at the start and leave at closing time. (However, we have never had a chance to do EMH.)

 

[stitchlover]

Our first family trip in '06 our daughter was 10 and we did not build in breaks...and we were sorry! Our trip in '07 our daughter was 11 and we took a break everyday for a few hours. We generally would hit one park in the morning, take a break and hit another park in the evening. We had a better time and everyone was much more relaxed. Our daughter got to swim which was important to her and she and I were both able to keep up with daddy in the evenings!

 

[MickeyMaz]

Our first family trip in '06 our daughter was 10 and we did not build in breaks...and we were sorry! Our trip in '07 our daughter was 11 and we took a break everyday for a few hours. We generally would hit one park in the morning, take a break and hit another park in the evening. We had a better time and everyone was much more relaxed. Our daughter got to swim which was important to her and she and I were both able to keep up with daddy in the evenings!

Ditto to this. By the end of the trip the kids will be dragging. We have at least 3 hours back at the Hotel each day.

 

[mama4]

Hi there!
For me this also depends on how long you are there for and what time of year you go. If you are there for a week or more and during low crowds, you are going to have more time to get some "fun" in than if you are there for a few days and/or during a high crowd season. Also, with hotter months you'll need a break for sure!
We tend to stay all day (or most of the day) if we only have a weekend and if we have to move slowly during crowds. But our next trip will be in February (hopefully low crowds) and we'll be there for 7 days so I'll definitely schedule breaks in or maybe even do half days- some mornings, then some later evenings to catch fireworks and late shows.

DH and I just got back from our 3 day anniversary trip (without kids) and we went to the parks for opening every day- but we didn't stay until closing one time. We even left before nightfall- we just did SO much walking this time we were too tired to stay for fireworks.
Anyway- you'll find what's right for your family I'm sure. Just watch for signs that the kids need a break- I know with my kiddos, if they aren't having fun nobody is.
Oops - I jus re-read you post OP and saw the "be there for 10 days part". Yeah- I'd definitely do breaks. I also wouldn't go to the parks every day. WL would be a great resort to hang out at for a day or two.

 

[Jim from Jersey]

We're leaving in almost a week for an 8 day stay with a total of 13 people at the peak of the week. There will be 7 children and 6 adults ranging in ages from 5 to 47. I have a nap / resort break added into everyday except 2. I find that taking the nap, sitting in the room relaxing, hanging out at the pool, or just hanging out at the resort provides a great relief from trying to do it all during the day. We arrive at the park when it opens, stay for a few hours, leave for a few hours, and then head back to the same park or another. I've told the entire group that it is up to them whether they take a break or not, but if they don't, I don't want to hear any whining! Especially on days that we will be up late....like MVMCP or EMH! I say, keep the break in! Jim

 

[MarkLem]

We take afternoon breaks always, before and after we had our 3 kids. We hit the parks first thing in the morning, take in all the big ticket attractions before it gets crowded. Back to our Disney Resort for mid or late afternoon. Kids love to swim in the pool and it refreshes them (and us) especially on a hot day. Then back to the parks for the evening. Too much for us to do morning to night everyday. Since you are there for so long no need to go commando style...

 

[NMAmy]

We've always taken afternoon breaks. We usually go to the EE park and stay until after lunch--then back to the hotel to rest until dinner time.

We have a lot more fun this way--when we stayed all day, everyone was really cranky by dinnertime.

 

[TheGoofster]

Hi there!
For me this also depends on how long you are there for and what time of year you go. If you are there for a week or more and during low crowds, you are going to have more time to get some "fun" in than if you are there for a few days and/or during a high crowd season. Also, with hotter months you'll need a break for sure!
We tend to stay all day (or most of the day) if we only have a weekend and if we have to move slowly during crowds. But our next trip will be in February (hopefully low crowds) and we'll be there for 7 days so I'll definitely schedule breaks in or maybe even do half days- some mornings, then some later evenings to catch fireworks and late shows.

DH and I just got back from our 3 day anniversary trip (without kids) and we went to the parks for opening every day- but we didn't stay until closing one time. We even left before nightfall- we just did SO much walking this time we were too tired to stay for fireworks.
Anyway- you'll find what's right for your family I'm sure. Just watch for signs that the kids need a break- I know with my kiddos, if they aren't having fun nobody is.
Oops - I jus re-read you post OP and saw the "be there for 10 days part". Yeah- I'd definitely do breaks. I also wouldn't go to the parks every day. WL would be a great resort to hang out at for a day or two.

Thanks for your great inputs everyone!
Actually we are going to be taking a break from the parks about mid-way through our trip. We will be doing all four parks, then taking a day off to go see all the hotels (Christmas decorations will be in full swing), then after our day off, go back and do all the parks again, and finally have a day or two to do our favorite parks even again (we aren't doing the park hopper option to save money) with at least two days in each park (and three in two of them) we should have plenty of time to see and do pretty much everything that everybody wants.

My natural tendancy is to be a comando-type parker, but I am making a promise to myself and my family not to do that. I will have a general plan for seeing the parks (got me one of them Unofficial guide books), but that will be more for the first few hours of each day, after that I want the flexibility of doing what each person wants to do, with no pressure. I have also scheduled in parades, shows, eating, etc... but even that is not set in stone.

Seeing that we are going in December, I don't know if we will be doing a whole lot of swimming, but I do want to have a few hours each day to be able to just enjoy the hotel (go swimming if the weather permits), and just chill and recharge to enjoy the parks in the evenings.

 

[eyenjeff]

We have stayed at the WL before too and there is alot to do at the resort itself! You can rent mouseboats, pontoon boats, etc... and take a tour of the lagoon andbay lake...SO worth it!! Lots of fun. You can rent surrey bikes and ride thru the wooded trail, the pool there is aweesome too. The lobby itself it a great place to relax and just rock in the rocking chairs. With having 10 days, ( we once stayed 12) you will have plenty of time to schedule in rest periods. The idea of traveling around to see all the decorations is a great one too. We did that for our last trip and it was so beautiful tosee all the decorations and the individual gingerbread houses at the resorts. Each one is different and themed tothe resort. Take the monorail ride all around and try to sit in the front car with the driver. All in all the best advice it to have a plan for each day, and be flexible with your plan. You never know what is going to come up in a day. Have FUN!!!

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

We ALWAYS take breaks, or else we dont enjoy ourselves because we are so exhausted. We get there very early, go back and rest, and go back at night. Works out great!

 

[disneyjunebug]

We are going for a long weekend (Fri-Tues) in a couple of weeks and I've built in breaks on some days and not on others. My DH demanded a break on the Saturday so that he could watch UM play OSU, but I really don't have a break on Sun or Mon built in.

We will probably go back to the hotel sometime during the day to "freshen" up a bit (we are driving), and if the boy falls asleep in the car, hooray for us! Right now, he is 4.5 and taking naps is not on his agenda! The only time I can get him to take one is to strap him in a carseat and hit the road!

 

[MonkersMama]

We are... with DS (3) and I'm 5 months pregnant...I'm looking forward to a nap/swim in the afternoon. DS is an early riser and he can really keep going at night as long as he "recharges his batteries" in the middle of the day.

 

[Andyjo0930]

I was always the type not to take breaks. We were up early and stayed late and that worked for us. BUT, we then had two children and we went in August and we "scheduled" breaks every day for the kids. After the first day, we were rushing around more than ever!! We had planned to be at MK at rope drop (which we were) and we were going to stay until noon. We then were going to go back to the hotel, grab lunch, relax and be back at MK at 5:30 for dinner reservations at LIberty Tree Tavern at 5:45. We were doing really good, hit all of Fantasyland right off the bat, and that's were we lost control. We were going to go on POTC and then back to the hotel. When we were walking there, the Enchanted Tiki room was just starting a show and the kids wanted to go so we went in there. We then went to POTC and it said it only had a 10 min wait, but in reality, it was closer to 20 minutes. We then tried to get out of the park, but now its after noon and the crowds are getting pretty thick. As we were walking, a photopass person stopped us and asked if we wanted to have our picture taken with tinkerbell and of course I said yes. We then finally got out of the park and had to wait for the bus back to our resort (ASMu). By the time we got to our resort it was almost 2:45. We now have dinner reservations in 3 hours, so nobody wants to eat lunch (though we did get the kids something small to tide them over.) We changed our clothes swam for an hour and then had to start getting ready to get be back by 5:30. After that, we threw all our well laid plans out of the window and decided that we were either going to get up early and spend all morning and part of the afternoon in the park, or we were going to sleep in, relax at the hotel and by the pool for the morning/early afternoon and then spend the rest of the afternoon/evening at the parks. That seemed to work best for us rather than try to leave and come back. We were a group of 12 so I know with that many people its hard sometimes just to get moving in the right direction, so with only 4 of you it may be easier. Just do what's best for you!

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

When we went this past April, we took an afternoon break just about every day. We'd be at one park for the opening, see what we wanted to see, then head out once it got crowded. We'd go for a nice lunch offsite somewhere, then come back to a different park around 4:00 PM or so and stay until closing.

On the trip we just got back from, we didn't take quite as many afternoon breaks because of the parks closing relatively early (5PM, 7PM, etc.), so we mostly stayed at one park until mid to late afternoon and then called it a day.

 

[shyjade]

We planned on taking breaks our last trip but since we were only there for 4 days we had trouble telling ourselves "time out" and kept going. Big mistake! We were so worn out by the end of the trip that we spent our last night (which was MNSSHP) riding TTA over and over again while my DD8 slept. What a waste!

 

[lustergirl]

always take a break otherwise I would be asleep on a park bench somewhere!!

 

[ScottNBecky]

We schedule a break all the time. It makes the kids refreshed and allows us to take a breath. Then in the evening we are all ready to go.