taking breaks/naps

[lovemy2girls4eva]

I have 2 small kids so I want to take breaks from the park in afternoon so they can stay up to watch parades, fireworks, etc. They don't nap in the strollers so I have to go back to the resort and then back to the parks. How you handling the whole breaks/naps....back to resort or stroller naps?

 

[mrsp1030]

We've done both. Just depends on the day and the kid. However, napping in resort is great for all of us, adults included.

 

[kohlby]

We've tried both with multiple kids. And both have failed - every single time. We learned that it worked best to stay in the park and not plan a lot of night time entertainment - or to plan it carefully, like for the last night.

 

[msmama]

The one time we tried going back, DS fell asleep on the bus and was wide awake back at the resort so basically it was a huge waste of time. He gave up naps early, but we would do stroller naps, if he would. But like pp said, we just don't do nighttime stuff.

He's 6 now. Last trip we saw fantasmic but he's never seen disney fireworks. Frankly, it's easier to skip and keep the peace during the day! The day we did see fantasmic was a late start day. We stayed at the resort until early afternoonish.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I would do some practice car rides near naptime to see if you can get your child back to sleep after getting home. remember you will have either a car ride or bus or boat ride back to your resort. going back to the resort was a big failure for us. slept on bus and then would not go back to sleep and fell asleep at dinner. grandson was only 17 months old at the time and had to be in his crib at home to nap. he did stroller naps the rest of week, which worked a lot better for us

 

[AKL_Megs]

We do stroller naps. With all of the excitement, our three-year-old would never relax in the room with so much going on outside of the door. Sometimes she falls asleep in her stroller at home on walks when she is dead tired. Sometimes, she simply relaxes and enjoys the scenery.

Our plan this year is to hope for a stroller nap and a stroll, and if not, perhaps a long ride on the monorail (where she may fall asleep), or a monorail ride to a resort for an adventure for mom and dad (maybe a cocktail by a pool) and the hope she will at least relax with her blanket for a few.

 

[acourtwdw]

Stroller naps for our almost 3 year old and 17 month old nephews. It takes too much time to go back and forth. We used the baby care center one day for some downtime when they were over stimulated and wouldn't settle down.

 

[smscrapbooks]

We've been going to Disney with our kids since they were 3 and 21 months. Now they are 7, 5 and 17 months. What has worked for us is to have an early lunch and then leave the park about an hour prior to regular nap time (If nap is at 2, we leave at 1ish). We also drive our own car so we can get back to the hotel pretty fast. On the drive to the hotel for naps, I pass out some kind of cookie dessert which seems to amp them up temporarily and keeps them from falling asleep. In the hotel, I have a portable white noise machine running and all their favorite things from home (blanky, stuffed animal, etc.) Should they fall asleep in the car, what has worked for me is to let them run around for 30 minutes and then lay them down for their nap. They still need more sleep and a 30 minute cat nap shouldn't ruin things when they are exhausted from the day at Disney.

 

[SWofDisorder]

Even as adults with older children we go back mid afternoon to avoid the heavy crowds and heat.

We find a car helps to get around fast. We have a lunch around 11:15, go on a few more rides, then get back to our hotel around 2 and sleep for a few hours. Dinner and we are ready for more park until late in the evening.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

just remember if at MK driving car you still have to take a boat or monorail to TTC and most likely a tram to your car. no direct parking lot as at the other parks

 

[quakechicago]

I have 2 small kids so I want to take breaks from the park in afternoon so they can stay up to watch parades, fireworks, etc. They don't nap in the strollers so I have to go back to the resort and then back to the parks. How you handling the whole breaks/naps....back to resort or stroller naps?

My (now 3.5 yo, last trip almost 3 yo) kiddo NEVER sleeps anywhere but a bed. EVER! Not even as an infant. Even if she's ill she will struggle to stay awake. And she will never go IN a stroller since she could walk. Not without serious begging and bribes.

And yet she rode in one and slept like a log 1-2 times daily in a rented reclining stroller in Disney World PLUS took a nap in the room every day. It's total sensory overload for them. Disney magic works. She would be so happy she'd be singing a song as we went to our next ADR, M&G, or fastpass and suddenly stop. Silence. I'd look down and she'd be completely passed OUT!

We also stayed and are again staying in a monorail resort which makes running back for a rest much easier. Truth be told, I (who often need to nap at home) am go go GO! at Disney but DH needed one daily too.

 

[Vacationgirl1]

We've always gone back to the resort and it's been a lifesaver. =)

 

[Mainst]

We've done both. Just depends on the day and the kid. However, napping in resort is great for all of us, adults included.

Well said. Some days, our kids (3.5 and 1.5) have needed that break. They always need a nap but we found that when our oldest was 2.5 that he was too excited to sleep in middle of day. Baby would sleep anywhere in the stroller.

Some days, we felt it was easier to keep them going with quiet time in the parks. Like watch a parade, have a snack, do a a/c break.

For us, gathering all the stuff up and getting them back out is more work than just staying out.

 

[buzznina]

You did not mention if you will be doing rope drop. With our 1st DD we tried going back to the resort (even listened to DISsers and stayed on the rail). What a waste of time it ended up being I can laugh about it now but did not then. She would not fall asleep and just got crabby after the the first 2 tries, along with DW and I. On the 3rd day while walking towards the exits, we looked down and she was out She took a 2 hour nap and I found a nice place to sit and people watch(very entertaining) while having a Disney snack DW would go shopping or maybe hit a ride etc. and we would swith off. Well; we have not did nap breaks since, did not even try with our 2nd DD. We do not do an early mornings, if we stayed at the parks late the night before, we would turn the alarm off and when our DDs woke up that is when we would start the day. We also made the 3rd (now 4th) day a non-park day to unwind and swim, shop or do minature golf... I hope you have a great and magical trip

 

[msquoted]

We left the parks everyday except for AK day around 1:30/2:30pm and went back to our condo. We had done rope drop each day (and on our Y.E.S. days were there even earlier). The kids didn't necessarily have to sleep but we told them that we were "resting". They could watch a movie, read, lay down, whatever as long as it was quiet. We then ate dinner and then headed back around 6p. This let us recharge, change out of our super sweaty clothes, avoid the heavy crowds and the hottest part of the day, etc. We then stayed until after the parks closed and most of the crowd cleared out. My kids are past toddler/preschool age, so it wasn't too hard to get them to at least rest. I am not sure what we would do if they were baby/toddler age. To us, the breaks in the middle of the day were extremely helpful and helped us all avoid having a stressful trip.

 

[Kwoodruff]

We usually opt for stroller naps. Too much of a production getting back and forth for possibly no nap! With young kids we would prefer to push through but we always leave early and get back to resort for dinner/rest/wind down/bed.

 

[mamabellefortwo]

Naps/breaks strategy will vary based on time of year (hot?), park hours (long?) and whether you want to do the nighttime entertainment.

We travel during warm weather months. Our MK days include breaks to hotel for swim and naps (at ages 3-6 on our trips). Kids know we aren't going back until they "rest" (not necessarily sleep, though they always do). The swimming helps get them ready for nap.

For non-MK parks. We are more inclined to power through and go back to resort early in the evening (MK is our favorite nighttime entertainment).

For us, it was important that our kids were rested at MK at night- wanted them to feel good and have energy. All kids are different- some can take in some low-key attractions or stroller nap and then be energized. Ours needed downtime. Go with your gut feeling- you know them better than anyone.

 

[dsneygirl]

Even as adults with older children we go back mid afternoon to avoid the heavy crowds and heat.

We started with DS#1 at 3 months and never "scheduled" naps. Both kids are stroller sleepers. Last Sept my 2 year old slept while we took turns taking ODS on the big kid rides.

Then we'd head back to the resort around 1-2 for a swim, shower and clean clothes and not go back into the parks until 6 and the little one would fall asleep in the stroller and we would keep going.


Last 2 trips were also 10 days in length so we had no need to go commando all day long.

 

[kangamangus]

We did stroller naps (kids fall asleep easily) but even if they didn't nap we still stayed late and they would fall asleep in stroller around 8pm. I always kept a small lovie for them to help with naps.

 

[stwestrox]

We go back when we are tired and the kids are out of control, sometimes we sleep, sometimes we just have quiet time. Usually the kids sleep, but even f they don't the time away helps us.