Talk to me about afternoon breaks.. yes or no? why and how long

me_grumpy

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
My family has never been an afternoon break group. We rope drop to the park close. I'm wondering if I should add it to my upcoming trip in June. So how long do you take? If on Disney buses I'm figuring it would take an hour to get there and back. How long swimming and napping?

Is there something that sways you one way or the other?
 
It depends. How old are your kids? Do you have a car? Where are you staying? We are very methodical about our stays and we don't have to see everything. For example we rope dropped ak. Road Everest twice. Did the Safari, festival of the lion king and lunch at yeti and yak and we were done. Went back to the pool. Did dinner and off to another park for the night. But we're in our 50's and not toting around young ones. If there's extra magic hours sometimes will hit up a third park!
 
All grown ups except on 7 year old. At 5yo it was RD to closing in all parks except AK, but we had the stroller. This year we will not. No car, no hoppers and staying at POR.
 
We are rope droppers but we could never make full days, we just run out of gas. We go back to the hotel for 3 hours plus travel time. We will usually grab dinner and go back to the parks for a couple hours to see it at night but we usually just walk around, we don't usually ride rides unless there is no wait time.

It depends. How old are your kids? Do you have a car? Where are you staying? We are very methodical about our stays and we don't have to see everything. For example we rope dropped ak. Road Everest twice. Did the Safari, festival of the lion king and lunch at yeti and yak and we were done. Went back to the pool. Did dinner and off to another park for the night. But we're in our 50's and not toting around young ones. If there's extra magic hours sometimes will hit up a third park!

I've got to hand it to you dancemonkey, I'm 41, DW 38 and DD 17, we would never see a 3rd park in one day....
 


You should totally go for the rest! It really does wonders. We were just there for four days. One day we didn't even go to a park till night. We try to avoid the masses at all costs. We're currently into getting the biggest bang for our buck since we became annual passholders. We love the discounts on the rooms. I think our goal is to go four times.
 
All grown ups except on 7 year old. At 5yo it was RD to closing in all parks except AK, but we had the stroller. This year we will not. No car, no hoppers and staying at POR.
Hoppers make a big difference. Like you felt I had to get it all done in one day when I didn't have the hopper. I would not take the time to go back to my room if I didn't have a hopper!
 


I'm not a break taker either, but I don't have kids. I think it eats up too much time, I don't really like to swim, and I am not a nap taker. In fact, if I do manage to take a nap, I wake up feeling horrible. Plus, I will lose all motivation to go back out, once I'm down and relaxing.

I do not over schedule my days, I take at least one leisurely table service meal per day, I space out some shows where I sit and relax throughout my day, and I don't do open to close every single day. I will have a couple days where I have an earlier day, and a couple days where I have a late start. I also just relax on the day I get there. Lots of traveling, and I'm exhausted by the time I get there, so I just make it an early night, and get to rope drop the next morning.
 
We tried afternoon breaks. They went something like this . . .. decide to leave the park, wrangle everyone to the bus, ride back to resort, an hour and a half down. Try to wrangle the kids into a nap, 45 minutes wasted, no one gets any sleep. Go swimming, another hour and a half down, get dressed, ride bus back to park, 2 hours. Total time spent over 5 hours, rest gotten . . . nada. Ultimately, we felt that the afternoon "break" at the resort didn't give us a break, it took more out of us.

Now, we spend that afternoon time in the park just taking it easy. Nice long leisurely lunch, preferably indoors for some cooling off. Strolling at a slower pace, taking in shows, doing some shopping, just really taking it easy while still being in the park. It leaves us with more energy than we had after taking that mid day break at the resort.
 
We definitely take a break (I'm 21, my boyfriend is 24). We normally factor in an hour for travel both ways (it normally doesn't take that long) and at least 2 hours back at the resort. I need to at least rest and normally just sitting for table service for lunch doesn't do it if we're doing rope drop. Though I'm normally a person that if I have time to nap during my regular day, I will.
 
We planned an afternoon break when we went in 2014 (last time there was about 15 years). It was 4 adults and a 6 year old. It never happened though. We felt like we had so much to do, and going back we wouldn't get it all in. We also went in January with shorter hours so we couldn't head to a park late.

We are going back in February, and once again are planning breaks. We've added hoppers, and an extra ticket day (last time we took a day off midweek). We are figuring that we'll be able to go to the parks multiple times, so a break should be doable. We aren't going to do it every day, but are thinking of a couple mid day breaks, an early evening (maybe head to a park for the night show), and a couple sleep in days where we'll head to the bus stop about 10.

Between the hoppers, extra day, and being there recently we should be ok for a few breaks. We wanted to do everything last time (but of course we missed stuff), but this time we know what we for sure want to do and what doesn't really matter (an everything in between).
 
This year we will not. No car, no hoppers and staying at POR.
12a.jpg
 
I usually will figure it out as I'm going. I can't give advice for kids as the only time I've taken my kids(12 and 7 at the time) to Disney, we didn't get there till after 12:00pm and really didn't break too much.

As for my personal experience without them; I've never taken "breaks". The few times i have stayed on Disney property, we really don't ever leave the theme park, we tend to relax at various shows or a nice food break, but never really leaving the park.

Really, it comes down to your family, how everyone feels, and what the best course of action is.
 
If we want to rope drop and do the evening fireworks/show, we need to take a break (2 adults, in our 30s, no kids!) - we travel in August, so the heat is a big factor. I don't nap, but going back to the room, maybe grabbing a shower and having a lie down make a big difference. :)

We don't hire a car, but do that on Disney transport without too much bother.
 
We never "schedule" breaks, but we seldom go all day open to close in any park. WE last til sometime after lunch and then leave. We like to shower and relax before dinner so that time is not a killer for us, but it is not for everyone. WE also bounce between RD and later arrivals depending on evening entertainment.

You should do what makes sense for your family. There is no one plan fits all.
 
I think it's something you have to gauge based on your family (and child's) needs. I know when I was very young my family took us back to the hotel and we would swim. I don't think I took a nap, but could be wrong. But that was back when there was only 1 or 2 parks and we were there for a week so we didn't feel like we were missing anything. I think we stopped doing that when I was 8. That said, you know your child. Talk to him and let him know there is a possibility of taking a break in the middle of the day. THis way, he will be expecting it if it happens and it might avoid a tantrum. But also, he could let you know if he's plain exhausted. Looks for his "overtired' warning signs as well. You will know them better than anyone. Good luck and have fun!
 
When it was just DH and I we could do RD to close no problem. When we had kids we would RD to about 7 with no break (except meals). Now that the kids are older (12 and 7 for our last trip in August) we RD take a break around 1 or 2 and go back around 6, staying until close. This works for our family, helps the kids recharge their batteries and we are out of the parks during the hottest part of the day. As the kids get older we may stop doing breaks again, just depends on them. Do what works for your family.
 
My family has never been an afternoon break group. We rope drop to the park close. I'm wondering if I should add it to my upcoming trip in June. So how long do you take? If on Disney buses I'm figuring it would take an hour to get there and back. How long swimming and napping?

Is there something that sways you one way or the other?

Have you ever been in June before? You will likely want a break. The heat is exhausting. We went the end of June, and with humidex it was 110-115 every day. We only did breaks twice, the other days we just did RD to about 1 or 2. The two days we took breaks, we left around 12 or 1 and were back by 5. Storms were typically around 4:00ish and lasted 20-45 minutes. Though we had one bad storm that rolled in around 8:00 one night and didn't let up until 10:30. It is amazing how refreshing a dip in the pool and a 30 minute cat nap can be. The downside to the breaks was that we never got to see FoF, so next time we'll plan a full day RD to 4 in the park, where we make use of indoor attractions, indoor ADR etc... for cool down/rest, so that we can see the parade. But I wouldn't want to do that every day.
 
There is usually just the two of us.
We are at parks at rope drop......we leave about 2 and go back about 4 or 5.
DH likes a nap. I like to put my feet up and relax and also to reorganize.
We take 2 week trips so we don't need to go commando
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top