Staying onsite with Kids and Bedtime

[kmacht]

Ok. Thanks everybody for the replies and suggestions. We went ahead and booked a room at POR last night. Since nobody came back and said that it was a total disaster staying in the same room for a week with their kids I think we'll be able to make it work with just one kid. Thanks again.

Keith

 

[emma'smom]

We just say "Get into bed and go to sleep! We have a big day tomorrow and you want to be ready for it". Shut the light over their bed off. We leave the one over our bed on and the TV. Sooner or later they fall asleep....

 

[GAMC369]

Don't worry about it! We've done lots of hotel stays with our toddler and while I was initially very nervous about it he never had a hard time. If there's action he stays up late just fine (even though we are on a strict 8pm bed time at home). And he falls asleep almost instantly in a hotel. After about 10 minutes of him being asleep we can start to do things in the room without waking him. Sometimes we watch TV with low volume or put a DVD in the laptop and use headphones. Or we realize we're also very tired and go to sleep early too I'm sure Disney will tire your little out enough that combined with a later bed time there will be no problem!

 

[robinsegg]

Hi!
Our kids *always* sleep with a CD player on (we listen to Focus on the Family's "Adventures in Odyssey" series). So, we play the same Cd's while we're gone, and a bit of noise doesn't bother. As for the bathroom light . . . why not leave it on all night . . . just open/shut the door for more/less light.

Also, start preparing dd 2 weeks or more by starting whatever strategy you plan at home. That way, it will be familiar, not new.

 

[dsneygirl]

We have 4 kids and we stay in one room. They are so tired at the end of the day that I could have the Spectromagic parade in the room and they couldn't care less. I always watch tv and read with the lights on every night on vacation. I can't sleep without the tv on. I wouldn't worry about it. She'll sleep.

We have never had an issue with DS falling asleep. Like others have said most nights they are so worn out they just crash. We were able to watch TV, turn on a light in the bathroom no problem.

 

[tlh0726]

Oh my - my neice and nephew are the same way!! They are usually asleep by the time we get off the bus - lol!! Does this picture look familiar?

Adorable!!

DH looks at ours sleeping in the stroller and always says the same thing,
why can't they get along that well when they are awake?

 

[billwendy]

Adorable!!

DH looks at ours sleeping in the stroller and always says the same thing,
why can't they get along that well when they are awake?

Lol - they sure do have their moments - this was at Night of Joy a few years ago - they were EXAUSTED!! But, because we had the stroller, we were able to stay till 1am - this was great for their teenaged siblings!! But getting them on and off the bus was - fun - lol

 

[tlh0726]

Lol - they sure do have their moments - this was at Night of Joy a few years ago - they were EXAUSTED!! But, because we had the stroller, we were able to stay till 1am - this was great for their teenaged siblings!! But getting them on and off the bus was - fun - lol

Is that when the shoe went missing??

We rented a car and drove to the parks. 2 sleeping kids,1 big stroller, and 2 parents does not equate to using the bus at night. We plan on using our stroller for as long as possible.

 

[Elmo888]

Ok. Thanks everybody for the replies and suggestions. We went ahead and booked a room at POR last night. Since nobody came back and said that it was a total disaster staying in the same room for a week with their kids I think we'll be able to make it work with just one kid. Thanks again.

Keith

Sorry to reply late, but we did have a terrible experience in one room at WL with DDs 2 and 6 at the time. They wouldn't go to sleep. We put DD2 in a pack n play in the sink area. She just stood there and watched tv, so I had to turn it off. And the lights. And she has a sound machine that she uses every night and we had it on vacation. It didn't work.

This was our first family vacation, and we haven't stayed in a one room hotel with them again.

We went back for naps during the day, every day (all four of us napped, not just the 2 yo!), and I don't know if not doing this would have helped (it was January, so we didn't really need to get out of the heat). They were both just tweaked from all of the over stimulation. Neither of them passed out from shear exhaustion (DD6 did not use a stroller, so one would think that she would have passed out from shear exhaustion!). And they are both great sleepers at home and generally need a lot of sleep (esp. the older one). I can only guess now at what the problem was, but it was very frustrating at the time.

So, we stayed in the All Star Music Family Suites on our second family trip (DDs were 7 and 3). A separate bedroom - it was great! I also changed the afternoon nap part - we only did this every other day (again, it was January). Even so, younger DD,who was 3 at the time, never fell asleep in the stroller, afternoon or evenings.

I just want a place with two rooms - one for us and one for them. We are staying there again in a few weeks. DDs are 9 and 5 now. I think that, eventually, I wouldn't mind being in the same room with them, but not now and not for a week!

 

[cadchick]

My kids were once this age when we first visited Disney. Its such a great time, but it can be over whelmng. What worked best for us was to do away with all the normal rules for bedtime and just keep a watchful eye out for them. We never stayed in the park if they seemed fussy or cranky. We took them back to the resort and let them take naps or go for a swim. If we all were having a great time and they were filled with energy we kept going. Even if that meant we didn't return to our resort until midnight. The next day we just slept in. The best thing about being on site is that you can come and go a lot easier. Our best times at Disney were never dictated by the clock but by what felt right to us. This is obviously not your first trip to Disney and probably not your last. Forget about what's normal for bedtime and just play it by ear. Most days my kids were sleep within minutes of being put to bed. After the soothing ride of the Disney buses and a warm bath, back ground noise never played a factor. Remember, if you envision a problem there will be a problem.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My kids were 5 and 2 last trip and it was a wonderful trip. We stayed at POP and dd2 slept with dh and ds5 slept with me. My older dd and her bf were in another room. We never took breaks and the kids slept occassionally in the stroller but not consistently every day. Except for 1 day we did rope drop and stayed until fireworks. They passed out immediately every day as soon as they hit the bed - and so did we so staying up after they were asleep was not a problem. The 1 morning we didn't do rope drop was supposed to be our Chef Mickey's breakfast, but they were so tired they couldn't be stirred.