Sharing the Disney Magic with my 2 year old....rest days?

[dm87]

We are planning and outlining our trip for May and my wife just brought up the idea of an extra rest day.

Initially I was planning on 5 nights with 4 days in the parks and 1 rest day mixed in the middle somewhere. Is that too ambitious or just about right?

Planning on staying on campus so that midday naps for the kiddo (and dad) can be taken in the room.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

We are planning and outlining our trip for May and my wife just brought up the idea of an extra rest day.

Initially I was planning on 5 nights with 4 days in the parks and 1 rest day mixed in the middle somewhere. Is that too ambitious or just about right?

Planning on staying on campus so that midday naps for the kiddo (and dad) can be taken in the room.

I would not plan a park day for your arrival. Traveling days are rough, especially when you've got a toddler in tow. Our plan for day #1 is to get to the resort and take it easy, grab an early dinner and get the kids in bed (3.5 yo and 14 months) as close to normal bedtime as possible.

The first full day is definitely a park day. However getting back to the resort for a nap can be a challenge. It's pretty easy to get back from the MK if you're staying at one of the monorail resorts. A lot more time consuming if you're at any other resort. The same goes for getting back to your hotel room from Epcot or HS. Skyliner and Crescent Lake resorts are fairly quick and easy. Other resorts will take some time. And there's always a chance that the little one will fall asleep along the way, get their second wind and then it's goodbye nap time! Or the kiddo may fall asleep in the stroller at the park earlier than you planned. The best plan with toddlers is to not have a rigid plan. We're staying at BWV. Our plan is to do naps in the room on Epcot and HS days but hope the baby will nap in the stroller on MK and AK days. But if things don't pan out due to weather or just being out of sorts we will have no problem altering plans to give the kids a break.

If you decide to take a down day, what would that entail? Sleeping in? Character breakfast at a non-park restaurant? Splash time at the pool? Shopping in Disney Springs? Sometimes down days can be just as busy as park days. They're just not spent in a park. Every day is an adventure when you're 2 so chances are good that any down day is more for your benefit than the child's. FWIW, I don't think you need a down day when you only have a 5 night stay. The daily naps should be enough to recharge your energy. But everyone is different and you know your family better than I do.

 

[Specter]

First and most important, your kid will not be the same as someone else's and so you have to work around them.

That said, DD has been at 10 months, 34 months, and 40 months so far. We learned when she was 10 months old that she does best with a real rest in the room. She would sleep in her stroller but we made the mistake of taking that for granted on our 1 HS day that trip and tried to push through without a midday break. She was an absolute disaster by the time we were at our dinner ADR and we ended up skipping fantasmic even though we had done the package because we just couldn't keep her out any longer.

Yes, getting back to the resort is time consuming, especially if you have to use the bus, but for our DD, it was the best choice. It's not just sleep because as I said, she did that in the stroller, but it's getting out of the heat (2 of these trips were in March and one in November but still plenty warm some days...coats and scarves others, that's Florida for you) and all of the background noise and stimulation.

That said, we do not do a rest day. We do the midday break every day of the trip and that's all and it seems to go just fine for us, usually with 7 park days, with our arrival day being for Disney Springs and resort exploration. Both my parents and DWs have a pool as well as the one in our neighborhood and DD has weekly swim classes so while she loves being in the pool, it's not something we really do at Disney because we are there for the parks. Take that FWIW and enjoy your trip in whatever way is best for your family.

 

[Anna131517]

Our kids stroller napped - whether that’s an option for you depends on the child. We didn’t take them back because we’d have to wake them up if getting on a bus. They also napped in line in a baby carrier, and at meals. So if you really want to go back for naps stay at a monorail or Epcot resort to make that more feasible.

We don’t do resort days. We have, but every time we regret it. Disney hotels are pricey. If I wanted to spend the day at a nice pool I could do it for a lot less money at home. The pools also tend to be crowded and not very enjoyable IMO.

 

[etzmn123]

We are taking our daughter for her third trip in February and she’ll be 2.5. Our other trips were at 16mo and almost 2. She will not stroller nap. We are not rope droppers/morning people so we typically get to the parks around 10, stay until 2ish, go back for a nap, and then close down the parks at night. She’s obsessed with fireworks and can hang since her typical bedtime at home (in central time zone) is 9ish. As long as we do midday breaks, we don’t really need a rest day. We planned one for our first trip and then ended up not needing it. The pools aren’t really a selling point for us because we can swim a lot at home. But every family is different! It also depends on the time of year I think.

 

[sponica]

Our first trip with my 20 month old we flew down on a Monday evening and left Saturday morning, we had Tues-Fri in the parks. She was a stroller napper and was up with the birds, so we did rope drop to about 7 for the first 3 days (park hopped every day). Friday we did AK and were done by 3 so went back to the hotel and hung out at the splash pad before dinner.

She hated rides, so we didn't end up doing a ton of them and my MIL stayed with her so that my husband I could ride some must dos. (She literally tried to climb out of Dumbo).