Should I schedule a down day?

[synlight]

Hi everybody!! My DIsneymoon is Sun, Nov 28th - Sat Dec 4th. I was wondering if I should plan for a day with NOTHING on the agenda other than an ADR or 2 not in the parks. When should it be? Midway through the week? At the end of the week? I'll be 5 months pregnant, if that changes anything. Thanks for the advice!!!

 

[Albytaps]

If that's what you want to do, then so be it. Disneymoon eh? Congrats!

I personally like to cram in as many park days as I can. There's plenty of downtime days when I get older.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

We always like to have one down day to go shopping or resort hop. It is also nice to have a little pool time or just sleep in a little later. It is a nice break for us. Might not be a bad idea. Enjoy your trip.

 

[MHSweb79]

I always TRY to schedule a down day, but we've never managed to take one. Certainly if I were pregnant I'd try to take a mid-week break, just to give me some energy for the second half of the vacation.

Congrats on the baby AND the Disneymoon!!!

 

[dqpowell]

Normally I would say it depends on your traveling party. With kids or grandparents, I always recommend a down day if your trip is more than 4 days.

I would lean towards recommending a down day for you, given your pregnancy. But you're the best judge of what you can handle.

If you do a down day, I would suggest it should fall close to the center of your trip.

David

 

[fallen_angel727]

We booked our Disneymoon too for July of next year. We actually added an extra day to our 10 day vacation so we could have 2 down days (one will include a morning at TL, but the rest of the day is open). DFi loves just sitting around and exploring the resorts and since we're doing a split stay he wanted 2 days to wander lol

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

we don't take a down day... but we go back to the hotel after lunch until dinner and take a nap and relax or swim. it's normally the hottest part of the day and when the most people are out.

 

[Moms]

While we don't schedule a specifically "down day" we generally hav a day that is virtually unplanned. We may have an ADR in the evening but leave the day open for whatever we feel like doing. This year we have early morning massages scheduled and an ADR at Boma in the evening but will decide what to do for the rest of the day when it gets here!

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

Schedule a down day in the middle of the trip. There is nothing at all that recharges our batteries like a break midway through our trip. I find that by the middle of the trip everyone's getting tired, and waking up early is getting harder. We take one day to sleep late, have a late character breakfast or brunch, spend the day shopping, swimming, boating, going to the spa, whatever, and a nice dinner that night. The next day we are all ready to get back to the parks and have a new found energy!

As we continue to go more and more often we find that we are now taking even more time away from the parks because we've discovered how many wonderful things there are to do outside of the parks. A day away from the parks doesn't have to be a boring day at all. Some of those off days have been our very best memories of WDW!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Schedule a down day in the middle of the trip. There is nothing at all that recharges our batteries like a break midway through our trip. I find that by the middle of the trip everyone's getting tired, and waking up early is getting harder. We take one day to sleep late, have a late character breakfast or brunch, spend the day shopping, swimming, boating, going to the spa, whatever, and a nice dinner that night. The next day we are all ready to get back to the parks and have a new found energy!

As we continue to go more and more often we find that we are now taking even more time away from the parks because we've discovered how many wonderful things there are to do outside of the parks. A day away from the parks doesn't have to be a boring day at all. Some of those off days have been our very best memories of WDW!

We've been to WDW 43 trips and always have a down day, mid trip. I agree that there's more to WDW tahn the parks....... on that day we can sleep late, sit down breakfast...pool time....DTD shopping...rent a pontoon boat....visit FW and the horse barn...rent a surrey bike at OKW or WL....Play some putt-putt....gosh. I could go on but that day is for relaxation and resting the old legs and back, what a vacation is for.

 

[disneynutsss]

another vote for down day. after i went my first trip as an adult i always schedule a down day right smack in the middle of the vacation!

 

[aenelson]

We are taking our Disneymoon in October, what we did was have an off morning. In the morning we plan to have a breakfast somewhere, then maybe DTD for a movie. In the afternoon we will be going to Epcot just to walk around.

Oh BTW Congrats!!

 

[TinkBride]

I will be there while you are there!

Take a down day and check out some of the resorts (esp. monorail resorts and BW/BC/YC) for the holiday decorations. Make sure you at least check our GF. It is a nice relaxing day and you get to see all Disney has to offer for the holidays.

 

[Satchmo128]

We spent our honeymoon in WDW, too! Congrats!

Our trip was a Tuesday through Thursday of the following week. The Sunday of our trip turned out to be our super relaxed day. We had a dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe, but otherwise had no real plans so we were able to sleep in and recharge for the second half of our trip.

I would highly recommend a non-park day (that could include going to Downtown Disney to shop/walk around, travel around to the different hotels and resorts to see how different they are - and how awesome the theming is!), etc.

Yay for Disneymoons (and babies!!)

 

[prnces1214]

I vote for a day off in the middle of the trip! Its always a nice break to enjoy the resort and the pool and enjoy everything else Disney Plus since you are pregnant (congrats) im sure your body will be thanking you for the break!

Have a great Disneymoon!

 

[jessieroo]

We always have what we call a "free day", usually just past midweek. Also if you get early starts to your day an afternoon break/late lunch/early dinner is good too. Congratulations, enjoy your honeymoon! Best Wishes!

 

[scrappinannie]

We usually try to plan a down day no matter where we are on vacation, even before we had kids. This last trip to Disney we had one day completely free and another where we had half a day planned at Typhoon Lagoon, then a free afternoon/evening. We wanted time to explore the resort, swim, maybe go to Downtown Disney for dinner. Good thing we did. DD got sick after we spent a few hours at Typhoon Lagoon and we spent the next 2 days in our resort room. Had we not had those non-park days, we certainly would have missed out on something. Luckily, DD recovered in those 2 days and all we had to do was re-arrange a few ADRs.

 

[synlight]

Thanks for all the input (and the congrats!!!)

I think, after reading all of your experiences, a down day is def. in order!

 

[kaligal]

I always wonder what the hell people do on their "down day."

An entire day to do nothing? I LOVE the pool, but even I do not spend an entire day and evening there. Plus, if I'm going to have a day with no theme parks, I can have it at home and not pay for a hotel. I also have yet to find a hotel that takes me 12-15 hours to "explore."

To each his own! But I vote "no" on down days.

I do take mornings off...or an afternoon/evening off. Mornings off always come after we've been out late seeing Illuminations, Wishes, going to Jellyrolls, etc.

A "free" day to go where the spirit moves you? Sure. But a day to do absolutely nothing but stare at your hotel room, swim and "explore" your hotel? No.

 

[hookedonears]

I'd say just take it easy all through the week. Down days are tough, especially if you're staying on property. With all of the $$$$ you spend, it's tough not doing anything.