Staying Until 5:00 vs. Afternoon Break

[Skroops]

How long is your vacation? Have you seen Wishes?

There are only three things I'd hate to miss in the evenings, Fantasmic, Wishes and Illuminations. We can miss the rides and attractions at night except for these.

Maybe you can alternate your early to bed nights and just see the fireworks shows. No matter how many times we see these shows, it still is special to us. A cuddle, and a kiss as the fireworks light up the sky makes my vacation most magical.

 

[airtime]

I'm surprised that no one here is mentioning the #1 reason (IMO) for taking afternoon breaks. The parks are less busy in the evening (in general) than they are in the afternoon. Shorter lines coupled with no heat (especially in summer) makes for a lot more enjoyment of attractions in the park.

Since the OP is apparently a WDW vet, I'm assuming that this isn't news. However, some less seasoned visitors need to know that there are advantages (as well as disadvantages) to the afternoon break strategy. I think when the MK is open until 11 pm or midnight (like summer), the arrive early/afternoon break/dinner/return til close strategy is the best if one can acclimate to making up for the short nights with the naps. In January, when MK & MGM close early, a lot of the advantage goes away since arriving early gets you all the time you need.

We go to WDW because we love the parks, so we tend to be commandos. Our point of view is that we can always do other things back home, but we have only a short time each vacation at WDW. The afternoon break is the way we are able to keep going, and going, and...


Tim, who's a theme park commando, and proud leader of Team Airtime! (He does have to work on repressing his trip nazi tendencies, however - he has definitely "organized" his share of "Bataan death march"-style WDW trips!)

 

[dizcrazee]

Yep, I know the crowds will be worse in the afternoon. That's definitely a drawback to the no-break/early night plan, but we're going to see if maybe we can collect FPs/do low-wait things in the afternoon. Like I said, this is all experimental, we've ALWAYS done the afternoon breaks before!

We have seen all the evening shows, and we do hate to miss them. We'll just do one this time, and next year we'll do another, etc. (assuming the new plan works out). It's a tradeoff for a lower exhaustion level. The late nights just wear us out now that we are middle-aged and wimpy, and my DD is used to early nights, too. No more Bataan death marches for us (maybe)!

 

[tricia]

My kids are also used to early nights, so we usually get to the parks as soon as we can. We stay there until our ADR (usually around 5 or 5:30pm) then it is back to the resort for swim and bedtime. We usually schedule 1 or 2 nights on a 10 day vacation to stay up for illuminations or Fantasmic or Wishes, but no more than 2 nights. My guys get and even when they get too tired.

 

[ParkPrincess]

Thanks for starting this thread. It's very interesting reading. This will be our first time where we've planned to get to the parks at opening. I've done up an itinerary for each day that includes everything imaginable. We're planning on leaving the parks around 4 or so to go get a shower and get ready for dinner. We're not interested in viewing any nighttime events. Our DD is afraid of the fireworks anyway, so this is probably going to work out best for us.

 

[RescueRanger]

I know you said you are from Mississippi and are used to the heat, but it is still hot. I am from Southeast Texas and the weather here is pretty much identical to WDW, but it still doesn't change the fact that it's hot. Oh, did I mention it's hot? We have tried the parks in the afternoons with no breaks and we were zapped. Good luck in your endeavors but we will always avoid the hot afternoons ( and the crowds) even if it means getting to bed a little later.

 

[NancyIL]

We have done it both ways. One of our most cherished memories is the time we went to Epcot in blowing snow, 32 degrees. After about 6 cold,miserable hrs we left. DD was crying, my ears were killing me, and allwe wanted was to go home. We went back to our POR around 5pm, ordered a pizza, took warm showers and hopped into bed where we spent the rest of the evening watching movies.

It was SNOWING at Epcot?

 

[Catrin]

For a week long trip, we do both.....

There are days when we plan on leaving - like a morning at MK, break then night at Epcot.

Then there are days when we just go the full day (AK for example) until 4 or 5, then call it a day.
I think one thing I have always underestimated, was the timing of the break. By the time we get back to the hotel, swim, lunch, nap, rest etc... we are usually later getting to the park than expected.

I think if you are going to spend a whole week at Disney, you need at least two or three early quiet nights to gather your energy for the rest of the week!
Catrin

 

[Randy K]

Our 1st trip we did not take breaks back at the resorts just plenty of breaks in the parks. There are plenty of Shady places to sit and rest and enjoy a soda or ice cream. We were fine for seven days of this in the July heat and I can't stand heat. This trip I have planned afternoon breaks for about half of our days because everyone here seems to be sold on them but I am reconsidering now. They just seem to kill alot of time waiting for buses and travelling twice. I feel much of our break will be spent doing that as we will be too wound up and excited from being at the park to sleep.

 

[dizcrazee]

Another thing to think about...it may be kind of trivial, but it's always bugged me. When we take an afternoon break, we swim and then we all have showers. Then we go back to the parks and get all hot and sweaty again (sorry to be gross), so we all have to take another shower when we get back late that night. Between the commuting, the swimming, the extra showering, the hair drying, the extra clothes used, etc., the afternoon break plan is kind of burdensome to me.

As for the heat, I know it's hotter than 5 h-e-double l's down there in the summer. If it's too hot to have fun, we'll give up the experimental "stay till 5:00" program and go back to the old burdensome afternoon break plan.

 

[disgal1]

We used to leave on our breaks, but now that our kids are older, our " break "
is usually to go over to the GF for tea, or Poly for a nice drink. We sit in the ac for about an hour. We talk, people watch, and just stop moving!!

We then head out again, and after another couple hours, go to a nice dinner. That takes about another hour of AC, and relaxing.

By that time , it is about 7, and we are all energized for the evening activities. Usually leave around 10pm. We have always gone in the summer, and the pool breaks worked for years, but now for just the 2 of us, the food and tea breaks have worked out.

Plus, we always get to the parks when they open. We never change that. We can do so much more in the early am.

 

[vellamint]

Another thing to think about...it may be kind of trivial, but it's always bugged me. When we take an afternoon break, we swim and then we all have showers. Then we go back to the parks and get all hot and sweaty again (sorry to be gross), so we all have to take another shower when we get back late that night. Between the commuting, the swimming, the extra showering, the hair drying, the extra clothes used, etc., the afternoon break plan is kind of burdensome to me.

I agree with this....the one trip we did this it worked out great in that it did energize us but boy oh boy....6 showers in the afternoon or even if we didnt shower (it was April and not That hot) we either had to put sweaty clothes back on - yucky - or we used two sets of clothes a day.

 

[BrerRabbit_fan]

In the summer we go early, leave midday and come back in the evening. It's too hot and exhausting to be there all day and late into the night. In the winter, we just stay all day. The day is shorter and you accomplish more faster.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I think it depends on what time of the year you are going. In the summer months I think you need the mid-day break. We went in February, very pleasant weather and not large crowds. On several days we did what your husband is suggesting. We were there for the park opening, stayed until after the afternoon parade then headed back to the hotel for the evening. It worked great for a few days. I do need to see some of the nighttime fireworks though. Good luck and try and see how you like it.