Tell me about your preschoolers days @ Disney

[rere101399]

We will have a 3.5 and 5 year old when we go. Both have always been very early morning risers and now that no one naps, typical bedtime is 7-7:30 here.

I'm trying to envision what our days in the world will be like. With your kiddos this age who no longer nap and go to bed early, do you still take a park break in the middle of the day and go back in the evening? Or do you try to
push through as long as possible and maintain early bedtime? I know they will probably be a bit different than normal while on vacation. But will kids who are used to bed at 7 really be able to make it through an evening return to the parks or should we try to make the most of our day in one fell swoop?

 

[kboo]

Ah, the dilemma! Our kids are early morning risers too. On our May 2015 trip, ODD was almost 4 and had not been napping for a year. But we still took a park break in the middle of the day, she napped for an hour or two and we went back for dinner, etc. We still kept bedtime by 8pm, because WDW is just that much more tiring. She did great, we had a great trip, and she had almost no meltdowns. We easily made it to our pre-rope drop ADRs. She was even able to stay up for Illuminations at 9pm, loved it, and had no meltdowns. (If someone had tried to sell us DVC that trip, we certainly would have bought.)

Fast forward to March 2016, DD is now 4.5 and we have a new baby. We also had my parents, my sister, her partner and baby, so we had limited ability to structure our days. We *TRIED* to take a break each day, but usually ended up getting back to the condo way too late (by 2 or later), and then my sister or the grandparents would be there, so there would be added delay in getting to nap. The baby would nap, and ODD would lie in our bed and fidget and want to be up playing. Eventually she'd fall asleep, and still be sleeping when it was time to leave for our dinner ADRs (between 5-6). Then she'd have a meltdown because we were waking her up. On a few days we just couldn't get her to nap and then headed to dinner, at which point we'd have a meltdown after dinner on the way back to the hotel. So basically, we could choose when we'd have our meltdown. Sigh.

We are leaving on Saturday for a vacation just our immediate family. We plan on being back at the hotel no later than 1pm and having a rest or nap. Even though ODD is older now, I think a rest/nap would still help because it's just too tiring to be in the parks all day. For many of our dinner ADRs, we are planning them at resorts instead of in the parks, too, so we can have a more chill day from time to time.

Good luck! Given our experiences, I would definitely try for a midday nap and if it goes well, let them stay up for fireworks once or twice.

 

[imthemamahere]

My son has typically been an early riser - we used to be happy when he didn't wake us before 7am. (Now, at age 6, he's like a teenager who can't get out of bed in time for school. But that's besides the point.)

On our previous trips with him, we had a stroller. When he got tired at a park, we would try to figure out the best way to make it through the rest of the day. Some days, the answer was to have him chill in the stroller, and if he was really pooped, he'd fall asleep there, and be raring to go after an hour or so. If we knew it was going to be a late night, or if the night before had been late, we made a point of going back to the resort for some r&r in the afternoon. We always rent a car at Disney, so we often found that he would fall asleep in the car seat - the combination of tiredness + movement would just take him off. When that happened, we'd just park by our resort, crank up the a/c to make the car comfortable, and wait out his nap.

When we took him at age 5 1/2, he was too energetic to nap in the afternoons, but sometimes would crash out on the way to dinner. That was fine, too - we dropped him in the stroller, brought him to the table, and let him get some zzz's while we ordered and ate. Ordered him a meal to eat when he woke up. If he woke up with tons of energy after that late nap, we could go back to the parks for fireworks... if he woke up fuzzy and cranky, we went back to the hotel, gave him a relaxing bath, and got him to bed.

So basically, we went with the flow, following his differing needs on different days.

If you're interested in protecting that bedtime at all costs (I can see how it's harder to go with the flow when you've got 2 who might flow differently) - I'd say that it makes sense to do most of your park time in the morning-afternoon. As long as they aren't melting down, don't worry about a midday break - just leave in the later afternoon (after the MK parade). Go for dinner. Go for a swim, maybe. Once or twice, you can probably get away with a fireworks night without really upsetting the applecart, if you want to give a late night a try. Or, call it an early night every night, if that's what works best for you

 

[Shanti]

I would only do half-days at the park with a preschooler. Don't push them (or yourself) into meltdown mode. Our visit when my son was in preschool was magical, and it wasn't focused mainly on the rides. It was child-centered, in the best way.

 

[OhanaBreadPudding]

We went with a 5year old and 18mo in september And we took breaks everyday. The 18mo needed them, but one day my older son napped and every other day he really like relaxing and getting some alone time with one of us.

Actually, one day he went to HS with my husband and one day we pushed through at AK and had an early bedtime. We try to keep to our normal schedule and just push them two or three nights. We typically go for 9 nights.

They wake up early no matter what. So we try to get them to rest or just give in and do an earlier bedtime. The good thing about early risers is you get so much done in the parks before people get there, so it's not like you really miss much more than the ambiance of the night time in the parks