Scheduling breaks v. seeing parades

[Rose Marie]

How can we schedule a decent afternoon break, see the afternoon parades (3pm or later) at MK, DHS and AK, and still have dinner at a reasonable hour? So far we've been planning early mornings at RD with dinners at 6pm or so, but I just realized it won't work if we want to see the parades and have a break from the parks.

 

[rocio]

If you figure that one out, let me know, because I'm guessing we'll just have to skip the afternoon parades.

 

[catne]

skip the day parades...the break will do you a lot more good.

 

[Faithful_Tink]

Are you asking because you have little ones who need the break?

If so, I have to agree with the above poster. The parades are fun but you could risk having the rest of your day shot if you don't get a break. We often alternate between the days and see a parade one day and skip the large dinner, or break during the day parade and enjoy a character meal or something in the evening, along with a late parade and firework show.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We don't push ourselves to see the afternoon parades, but on the days that we do we simply leave when it ends. We normally drive back at night so it saves some time. We also make our dinner plans for a little later like 6:30-7:30, to give us a little extra time.

Because my children are a little older we can do this. If your children are smaller you should do whats best for them. You may just see how they do, they may surprise you.

 

[alldiz]

Exactly why I haven't seen an afternoon parade.
Kerri

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We always leave the parks by 2:00 or so. That way we get some rest in before we enjoy our evening.

 

[srwarden1928]

While the afternoon parade is not a high priority for me, I certainly respect that it might be for you. And while I understand that many families like their afternoon break, that would never work for my family. DW would refuse to go back to a park after we had left.

We do get hot and tired like everyone else. We just choose to break in the park. We stop, get a drink or ice cream, and people watch for awhile. Then after we are rested, we continue with our touring. We get our rest without taking the hours it would take to leave the park, rest, and come back later. We also do not hop, so we are sticking with the same park regardless. Those who hop can rationalize that part of the rest time they would spend hopping anyway. We prefer to maximize in the park time.

You have to decide for your family whether an out of the park break is more important or whether seeing the afternoon parade is more important or whether doing something else is more important. Just know that not everyone wants or needs to take the out of the park break, although it may seem so at times.

 

[Pembo]

We mostly miss the parades especially on summer trips. It gets so hot in the afternoon and I can't imagine waiting for a parade.

 

[tzolkin]

It depends on how much of a break you want to take. (Do you have little kids or intend to nap?) We did not see any of the afternoon parades during our trip. We often went to a park for amEMH and then left at around 11:00 to head back to the room. We ate lunch and took a long nap (until about 4:00-- and yes, we ALL slept) and then headed back to another park around 5:00. If you were going to take a short break, you could probably leave the first park around 11:00 and then head back by 2:00 to catch the parade. Personally, this would be too stressful for us, not worth it to go back to the resort for such a short break, and part of the reason we went to the resort was to get out of the heat (depends on the season you're going).

We may stay for the parade at MK on our first day this trip. If our room is not ready until 3:00, we might as well hang out in the park until after the parade.

 

[Selket]

If you want to see all the afternoon parades and your trip is short, that is tough to do.

Otherwise you could pick a favorite afternoon parade or two. Sleep in and spend some time at your resort, etc. then hit the parks in time to get a good spot for the parade. Do the parade, do some rides that are not headliners (so no long waits) and then do your dinner, do some shopping, etc. You probably wouldn't be able to do any of the major rides or attractions as the waits could be too long. You might be able to FP something for the evening. This plan works best in the summer months when the parks are open later.

Those afternoon parades in the summer are hot and hard to take.

 

[PrincessMomto2]

We find that taking a good break is more important than the afternoon parades. We do go when the weather is extremely hot and physically we need to get out of the heat for awhile, go back to the hotel maybe swim at the pool or just take a nap. It makes our evenings much nicer. This year we will probably stay for the MK parade on our first day there since we won't be getting to the parks at openning and like the previous poster said or room more than likely won't be ready until 3.

 

[shannn]

We've never seen an afternoon parade. We hit the parks at rope drop, go until lunch, and then go back to our resort. We rest/nap for a few hours and then head back out. It's worth it to me to miss the parades in order to have happy children at night. I'm a night person, so I can't imagine going to bed early at Disney. I'd rather miss a hot afternoon. I know that doesn't work for some people though.

 

[sandym718]

We basically decide to skip the parades to take the break, it's well worth it. With one exception - in 2007, we did RD at MK, took a break for a CM brunch and then DD and I headed back to the MK to see some Princesses and see the parade, we headed back to the Poly the instant the parade was over, so she still got to take a nap. DH and DS had gone back to the Poly to swim after CM. We didn't have a TS dinner scheduled that day, since we did the brunch, so it worked out just fine. We ended up doing CS at Captain Cook's I think, and just hung out at the Poly. So it worked well - because we didn't have big evening plans.

DD and I are hoping to see the MK parade again this year - on the day we have our CRT lunch scheduled. Again, DS and DH will probably go back to the Poly after their CS lunch, and we'll stay. We DO have a dinner ressie - at the T-Rex, but I made that for 6:30, so as long as we get back to the Poly by 3:45/4, she can still nap for almost 2 hours. We have our car, so we'll be driving to DTD.

I don't think there's any way to see all the afternoon parades, take a decent break, and still have an early/reasonable dinner. But it's possible to make it work for a day if you want.

 

[Rose Marie]

Thanks for all the feedback! I probably should've provided more details. It's only me and my sister. We're both in college, and we've done long theme park days before (Disneyland, Magic Mountain in CA).

It looks like it depends on what the parades are like, so I'll poke around for some pics or threads about them so we can decide.

 

[brie182]

Exactly why I haven't seen an afternoon parade.
Kerri

Same here. Missed all the afternoon parades each time we have been down. A nap was much more needed!

 

[liznboys]

Thanks for all the feedback! I probably should've provided more details. It's only me and my sister. We're both in college, and we've done long theme park days before (Disneyland, Magic Mountain in CA).

It looks like it depends on what the parades are like, so I'll poke around for some pics or threads about them so we can decide.

At that stage of my life I wouldn't be thinking about taking breaks and naps! LOL Enjoy the full park days while you can!!