Staying Until 5:00 vs. Afternoon Break

[dizcrazee]

Does anyone here choose to stay in the parks until about 5:00 in the afternoon and then swim/rest at the hotel for the rest of the evening instead of taking an afternoon break and going back to the parks at night?

We have normally taken afternoon breaks, but my DH thinks we ought to consider staying in the parks until late afternoon and then get in bed early (by early I mean 9:00 pm, our usual bedtime) instead of doing the nap/late night thing. We are "early to bed, early to rise" people and non-nappers in our usual daily schedule, and he thinks it may work out better for us overall. We are always at the gates about 30 minutes before the parks open, so the afternoons could be spent seeing the less crowded attractions.

He pointed out that we wouldn't have to deal with two park commutes, as well. We would go to MK one night to see Spectromagic and Wishes, but we would have to skip Illuminations and Fantasmic this year in order to work this plan, obviously. Although I love the parks in the evening, we are always exhausted throughout and after our vacation and we think we are willing to forgo most of the evenings if this new plan would help us maintain our energy level.

What do you think? Thanks in advance for your advice/input.

 

[LukenDC]

I always take a break in the afternoons because I cannot tolerate the heat and humidity. I have lunch, nap, swim, and shower so that I can be refreshed for the evening. Night is my favorite time at Disney, so there is no way I would miss that.

 

[RobInBigKC]

If you can stand missing out on the fireworks, etc. shows those nights you're back at your resort, I say go for it and do what you want to do!

Personally, I try to get into the parks as much as I can to see as many of the night time shows as I can (Wishes at 8:00, Illuminations at 9:00 -- it can be done if the pixie dust is working for you that night) because they are one of my absolute favorite things at WDW!

The one possible flaw I see in your plan is that it is possible that you might find the noise at your resort, hotel, or motel to be too loud for a 9:00 p.m. bedtime?

-- Rob

 

[Merriwind]

We've done it both ways and both work fine for us, depending on the day. Give it a try! Enjoy!

 

[BTown]

I have learned, through experience in traveling in general, that these sort of things are better left to be "played by the ear" (no pun intended). Just go to the parks and stay till you get tired and leave for the day Or, if you are staying on DIsney property, its really very easy to sip off to your room for a quick rest, and not worry about the commute. But I wouldnt plan a set time by which to go home everyday, because it seems like such a shame to not make the best of every moment, and to miss out on all the fireworks.

For my last trip, by daily schedule always went something like this -
Sleep in till 9:30, at the parks by 10:30
Possibly back to the resort by 5:00 for a quick nap
Back in whichever park is staying open latest by 6:30
Stay in the parks till close
Back to the resort, drinks by poolside until 1:00am or so, then off to bed to do it again.

 

[dizcrazee]

I agree that it would be nice to be able to play it by ear, but we need to make our ADRs! Therefore, we always try to come up with our basic schedule well before we arrive. Then if for some reason we have to make a change, we do so.

 

[loribell]

We have now been enough that it does not bother us to miss the night time activities. Last summer we didn't see a single park after dark. For the past several trips we have been leaving the parks by 1 or 2 and seldom make it back for the evening. We just enjoy relaxing by the pool, having a leasurely dinner or just whatever we want to do! We also like to be at the parks for opening because we can get so much more done before the heat and crowds arrive and we ARE NOT morning people!

Do what you think will be best for your family. That is what will make your vacation the best.

Lori

 

[dizcrazee]

We also find that we can get a lot more done in the first few hours that the parks are open. I realize that afternoons will need to be shows, TTA, Tom Sawyer, etc. at MK. We're big fans of the Unofficial Guide, so we feel we're bucking the system a bit by staying for the afternoon!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We get to the parks early take a break about 1300 and then return in the evening, cannot stay for a long time as we have to go in August when the weather is very hot.

 

[minkydog]

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.

 

[philaround]

On our next trip, 4/29-5/8, I am trying every combination of park/resort breakdown. We will have some early starts with either a midday break or late afternoon park departure. Some days we will have late starts, after lunch, and stay as long as we are able.

 

[jaysue]

It would depend on the weather - if was hot/humid/sticky I would retreat - if it was cool/nice then by all means the 5pm thing sounds like a good plan with the 9pm sleepy time

cheers
jaysue

 

[DisneyMom5]

This is what we did this past August, and it worked very well for us. We would eat dinner at the food court, swim and then bed. It takes way too much effort for us to come back for a nap, and we had seen the fireworks etc. on our other trip, so no pressure there.

And we were on very early buses to get to park opening, and that was great also. Not so crowded.

 

[Disney Ella]

We do that most days, leave whatever park we're at about four or five. We tried the resting in the middle of the day thing, but it was a struggle to get everybody back out after a few hours of downtime, so we'd rather see as much as we can during the day and spend the evening relaxing.

 

[ely3857]

I would say play it by ear.

On our last trip in Aug '05 we had to leave as the heat wiped us out but I doubt we will do that everyday in Oct '06



Jodie

 

[dizcrazee]

Thanks for all the input. It's hard for us to get going again after the nap, too. We don't want this trip to be another one of those "Bataan death marches" that our WDW vacations usually turn into! (Although we must have masochistic tendencies, because we love it anyway and are always sad when it's over and we go limping home to recover.)

This time, we want to keep to our normal sleeping/eating schedule as much as possible and see if we feel better. It will be the end of May, and I know it'll be hot....but I'm a native Mississippian, and believe me, I'm accustomed to serious heat and humidity!

 

[susykt4]

We've also done both. During our April trip (busy spring break week) DS was still napping daily so we happily left around noon when the crowds were so thick you could hardly move anyway.

We totally intended to take midday breaks during our January trip, but the crowds were so low and the temps so cool that we ended up staying from park opening until 4 or 5, depending on the park. We did this every day for 7 1/2 days and the kids (5 and 3) never were overly tired. It was absolutely wonderful not to waste all that time on the bus going back and forth for break time. It was also nice on the days we park hopped to go directly from one park to the other. It was also great to keep the kids on a regular schedule and ALWAYS be back in the room for their 8pm bedtime. We never saw fireworks this trip, but we did see the afternoon parades for the first time. DH and I both preferred the no break method, but I doubt I'd attempt it during a hot and/or crowded time.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

Does anyone here choose to stay in the parks until about 5:00 in the afternoon and then swim/rest at the hotel for the rest of the evening instead of taking an afternoon break and going back to the parks at night?

We have normally taken afternoon breaks, but my DH thinks we ought to consider staying in the parks until late afternoon and then get in bed early (by early I mean 9:00 pm, our usual bedtime) instead of doing the nap/late night thing. We are "early to bed, early to rise" people and non-nappers in our usual daily schedule, and he thinks it may work out better for us overall. We are always at the gates about 30 minutes before the parks open, so the afternoons could be spent seeing the less crowded attractions.

He pointed out that we wouldn't have to deal with two park commutes, as well. We would go to MK one night to see Spectromagic and Wishes, but we would have to skip Illuminations and Fantasmic this year in order to work this plan, obviously. Although I love the parks in the evening, we are always exhausted throughout and after our vacation and we think we are willing to forgo most of the evenings if this new plan would help us maintain our energy level.

What do you think? Thanks in advance for your advice/input.

We have done this quite a few times during the years. When we do it, we usually get back to the hotel around 4:00 p.m., put our swim suits on and head to the pool. We then eat by the pool also. My children are very into swimming so for us, it is a great way to end the day sometimes. Then early to bed for an early start the next day.

 

[dizcrazee]

My child loves the swimming pool as much as the parks! That's another issue...when we take an afternoon break, we wind up swimming too long and then we all have to shower and try to settle down for a nap (we're not used to taking one, so we actually have to make a concerted effort to make it happen). By the time we do all this and make the commute, we get back to the parks late and stay until closing to make it worth our effort. Then it's hard to get up the next morning, yada, yada...

 

[remfam5]

Your family sounds like ours-- mom, dad, DD9, DS6, and we aren't exactly morning people either- but we made a point of being at the parks openings! We left each day after dinner and went swimming then bed. With the exception of one night, we had an early dinner (4:00pm) which really helped to break-up the day and then stayed for the fireworks. And then for that next morning, we slept in and went to Typhoon Lagoon at about 10am. We didn't feel the least bit guilty about getting to the waterpark later!
Give it a try--- our kids are still young enough that the fun, popular rides in the morning are more important than fireworks late at night!

Have Fun!!