taking naps durring day

[thebabyconnection]

My baby naps for about 20 minutes in the stroller - not enough! In a bed/crib, she's out for at least two hours. She and we need that time in order to get through the rest of the day. Otherwise she'd be fine till early evening, then be a basket case and want to sleep at 6:00, then be up in the middle of the night, no thanks. I guess if you can get your kids in for a good nap in the stroller, great. if not, you may want to seriously consider heading back.

 

[staceymay00]

Yes, it does eat up a lot of time. But when you have young kids you have to be flexible. If you can make it all day and everyone is happy, great, but that does not work for many of us.

Our first (and so far only) trip to WDW with our kids was Jan 07. The kids were almost 2, 4.5 and 6.5. We had planned all along to leave after lunch for naps. That allowed us to return in the evening until the park closed at 9PM. We will do tha same in the future.

We had planned to go to MK two days in a row. Because we stayed up late the first day there was no way we were going to be at MK at opening the next. We actually took a day off and then spent the next day at MK, with naps and going back to the park that night. For us that worked well and it was fun being inthe park at night.

Personally I would spend two days at MK. We are going back in May for a few days and spending two days at MK and one at EP. In October we are doing the same and will also have a day at DS. One day we will visit AK but it is not high ont he priority list right now.

Just be flexible and I'm sure you'll have fun.

 

[Rylee]

I keep hearing about how essential it is to leave the park mid day to go to the resort for naps/swim. But it sounds like we would be loosing alote of time by doing this. What do you all think? I especially concerned with the day we r in the Mk. My kids r 2 and 5. The MK is the only park that I feels has a whole lot to offfer both my kids. I made up an list of all the attractions we want to go to and it seems like alote. Am I really going to be able to go back to the resort mid day and still get on everything there is to do? I've never been to Disney b4 so I really dont know. We r staying at AllSt Movies. I'm affraid leaving the park, chilling at the resort then traveling back to the Mk will cut out alote of my day. What do you think?

All kids are different, and you need to do what is best for your family.

I just have a comment about returning to the room for naps... Some people find their child falls asleep on the bus ride, and that's just enough of a snooze so that by the time they get to the room, the child doesn't sleep.

As for our family... some days we stay in the parks all day, other times we go back to the resort for a swim/nap/break... it really depends on the crowds, heat and Mommy's mood. Plus, on the days we go back to the resort, I end up at the pool with the kids and the only one that naps is DH!

Also, my children have no problem falling asleep in the stroller.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My DS is 12 and we still go back for naps! But DH's work schedule is kind of weird (3 AM - 1 PM), so he needs a nap, too. He can't break out of his normal patterns since he is so used to that schedule.

Our long trips are in August when it is brutally hot, so a break is necessary. Our short trips have been Dec/Jan/Feb so it's possible to stay in the park all day without a break. It is cooler and the hours are shorter.

We are very early risers and always get to the park at opening. There are no "sleeping in" days, and we do a park every day. Our DS gets very tired, and he falls asleep on the bus back to the hotel at night almost every night. And he is REALLY asleep - if he was little we would probably carry him up to the room! On the other hand, he has never had a stroller (his first trip was when he was 8) so that may work out for younger kids.

 

[nancy drew]

i found that we have a much more pleasant experience when we take naps. a nap day involved getting to the parks around 9 or 10am, leaving at 1, going back to the parks around 4 or 5, staying until close (9ish). non-nap days involved getting there around 9 or 10am and leaving by 5 or 6, and then being stuck in our room with sleeping children for the rest of the night. i would much rather break up the day and be able to relax and enjoy our time. plus my kids were extremely crabby when they missed naps, which meant that there were tears and tantrums over every little thing. it quickly became apparent that naps = happy kids, and happy kids = happy adults.

 

[crisi]

As others have said, it depends on your kids.

When ours were little, we tried the back to the room - it was a disaster for us. We had more luck riding the train around the MK with sleeping kids, taking the monorail with sleeping kids, riding the bus with sleeping kids. Then keeping early nights, or popping them in a stroller while we did Epcot each evening (Epcot is a great evening park for Mom and Dad and tired stroller kids).

In a few years, when they no longer needed naps, then we'd go back to the hotel for a re-energizing swim.

It also depends on the time of year you go. If you go at a time of year when the MK closes at 6, you may discover naps aren't an effective use of time - you get there at opening, after three hours are leaving for a nap at 12:00, it takes you half an hour or longer to get back to your room - 12:30 (monorail resorts with nappers are WONDERFUL), your kid then refuses to sleep until almost 1:30 and then sleeps for three hours and you look at the clock and realize you can't make it back to the parks and do anything before closing .....
If the parks close at 9:00, you still have another three or four hours of park time.

 

[Stinkerbell317]

Only you know your kids' tendencies. Mine are VERY EARLY risers no matter if we're at WDW or not, so they really require a midday nap. I usually schedule our MK days for the days when MK is open very late (midnite or later). That way after their naps, we will still have a good 5-6 hours at night for MK, as well as in the morning (pre-nap). Our typical day at MK is Rope Drop to 1-2pm, naptime, back to MK around 6pm til 11pm-12am.

That being said, if your kids aren't too overly tired by 1-2pm, you could probably get away with no nap. But consider the timing of the night parade and the fireworks. If you push them too hard all day, they might not make it to the fireworks. That's just not an option for my own family. We live for WISHES!

Good luck with your planning and have a WONDERFUL time at WDW!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Here's my 2 cents:
You don't mention when you are going, but if you are going June-August and don't take a mid-day break, you are asking for a major meltdown. It's not just the kids who needs a break mid-day either. If you are going in summer, get to the parks at opening, tour until around 1 or 2 and then return in the evening if you have the energy. Seeing it all won't make you happy when you are sweating and ready to pass out. We love our summer trips, but we approach touring very differently than when we go in Feb. or April. Plus, most kids are as happy at their resort/ pool as they are at the parks. We don't look at it as getting away from the fun. It's just a different kind of fun.

Also, I disagree 100% with those who say just to focus on MK. Sure, it's our favorite. But, there are tons of things to entertain and please young kids at all the other parks. It's all about the your expectations and the way you approach the parks with them. If you are looking for ideas of what to do with young kids at the other parks, just let us know.

 

[PaDisney02]

thanks for all your advise. We r going at the end of Aug. I'm now considering the park hopper. I def. want to go to Animal Kind and MGM, I do realize however that both parks dont really have much to offer us with the 2 little ones. Maybe with the hopper we can do half days of Animal kind and MGM and focus more on Mk. Thanks again!

 

[ashlansmom]

We just returned and had our 18 month old with us. We really found that getting to MK for opening was KEY! We knocked out most of Fantasyland with little to no wait time on anything by getting there so early. The only thing we waited for was Dumbo and it was probably 15 minutes wait. We walked onto Pooh, Carousel, Philharmagic, Small World, Snow White, got fastpass for Peter Pan....

I really don't think you can get a 2 year old through the park without getting there and knocking things out early in the morning. Our daughter didn't sleep well at the hotel and konked out on us on Small World, woke up just in time for our Peter Pan fast pass.

We cancelled our plan to do Animal Kingdom so that we could go back to MK because she loved it so much. Both days we got there for opening. The 2nd day we did Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Aladdins Carpet ride *twice with no wait* right when the park opened. We waited for NOTHING! Then we headed to Toontown, met some characters, and then back to Fantasyland and had done a Fastpass to get onto Pooh once more because she loved it.

All kids are different but we found our daughter did not wait in line well, so getting there early really worked out well. I would think about scrapping either DHS or Animal Kingdom in order to plan in a 2nd MK day. OR, do 2 MK mornings to knock out a lot early on, and do the other parks later in the day. A nap in a stroller or at hotel for 2 year old will be necessary.

 

[adell557]

We do naps just becasue our kids need the break. Other wise it isn't worth it to be in the park b/c they are crabby and aren't enjoying themselves anyway.

My reccomendation would be to take the break especially if you are going during june or july which are VERY hot and can be draining Do a MK day, HWS day and if you feel like you want to do more at MK b/c you missed things or didn't get to do them, skip AK. We went to AK and spent about 2 hours before there wasn't really anything else to do. We watched the festival of the lion king, which is a great show, but my at the time 3 year old only was interested for about the first 10 minutes and then was ready to go. We didn't find AK to be that great for young ones.

 

[skuttle]

Hey Skuttle! I know this is off topic but I see your power ranger pic and I was wondering where you can see them in the parks. My sons love the power rangers and would get a kick seeing them in person!

They are at DHS, back near the car stunt show. They only come out a few times a day and only for a short amount of time. There's a separate line for each ranger, so you may or may not get to meet them all at once. There's usually one ranger from each of the most recent series. I think there's a total of 5 or so rangers. I suggest trying to hit the first meet and greet of the day when it's less crowded in the back of the park. On our last trip, we were next in line to meet the white ranger when they were called back to their car. DS started crying because he was so upset. The white ranger saw this and motioned for us to quickly do the autograph and picture. He was great! Saved the day!!