The Great After Lunch Break Debate!

[Andrina]

I am travelling with my special needs daughter to Disney--she has CP etc and is basically the level of a 6 month old in many ways. She is in a wheelchair. I will also have my precious husband and 13 and 15 year olds

I have read so many books and posts that talk about rope drop and afternoon breaks--but then I was just reading about how not to have a cranky toddler on the tip boards and I think there was a brilliant suggestion--sleep in, no afternoon break and sleep in the stroller. I know, tourguidemike would die!

So am I crazy? The more I think about it the more sense it makes. My first trip with my two older children (nine years ago!) I almost made everyone crazy with my schedule (GET UP IT IS 8:15 AND TIME TO RIDE DUMBO!) so I definitely decided to be MUCH more mellow this trip. SO with a disabled daughter and two teenagers (aka giant toddlers ) doesn't it make more sense to sleep in a little (ok, not until really late) and stay all day, break in the late afternoon and then go out to dinner and a show?

I should add that the nighttime shows will be really wonderful for my disabled daughter. We are really going for those. She loves lights, color and loud music. So I am also concerned about keeping her up as she usually goes to bed around 830.

Shall I buck the system?

Andrina

 

[cynzilla]

My two cents...........I would suggest starting late to the parks so that way you dont feel rushed and no one else does, or if you can plan to take a super long lunch and enjoy the 3ish parade after that....go back to hotel and do a disco nap during dinner time, eat a late dinner (quick service) and then go back for the parades?

Or if you know you are all going to stay out late DON'T plan on doing anything the next day except enjoy the warm sun and maybe a pool depending on where you are staying.

It is okay if you want to break schedule, it is a vacation and you should not feel stressed trying to please everyone, if you feel you should "buck the system" DO IT if it is going to work for you. Everything takes twice as long when you have a memeber of the family in a wheelchair or scooter. I know I am a scooter rider myself because of my disability

 

[jmartinez1895]

Our first trip I booked us breakfast for almost every morning. After about the third day my husband told me that never again are we doing it like thsi and we haven't. I will make a few breakfast plans, but other than that we sleep in ( till like 9 or 10) take our time getting ready and then by the time we get to the buses ther is no wait and the main crowds at the park entrance are gone. I'm all for stroller naps and when our kids where younger we used the nap times to sight see. I would not worry to much about her missing bedtime if you plan on letting her sleep in.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I think it's important to know your family's personal internal clocks and how they work. My family is up early no matter what and we all go to bed early so RD almost every single day and few to no nighttime activities makes sense for us. We try to stick with our normal at home schedule. If your normal schedule (at least when there's no school) is to sleep in and take it easy in the morning then go strong through the day and evening then that's what you should do. I'm a huge TGM fan and our internal clocks work really well with the TGM way of doing things, but it's not for everybody. Remember that TGM is a collection of information. Use it in the way that it works best for you.

 

[kirstenb1]

We have an 11 yr old and a 4 yr old. The 11 yr old likes to sleep in. The 4 yr old wakes earlier, but not much, if left to her own devices. She also has low tone, among other issues. So dh and I let them sleep til 9-10, and then we head to the parks til everyone's ready to go back to the room. I'm afraid if we did an afternoon break, we'd never go back to the parks at night.

Now, when you go really determines my vote. All bets are off on the above plan, if traveling at Christmas, Easter, or July. But we go in early June when school lets out, and the crowds aren't too bad.

 

[Andrina]

Uh oh. I should have said I am going during Easter and also said I have only planned to visit "Green" parks during our stay.

I am just concerned that if I try and get everyone up they will be cranky.

What about getting up and going really late (after lunch) and staying through until the fireworks? Really crazy?

Thanks! Andrina

 

[clanmcculloch]

Uh oh. I should have said I am going during Easter and also said I have only planned to visit "Green" parks during our stay.

I am just concerned that if I try and get everyone up they will be cranky.

What about getting up and going really late (after lunch) and staying through until the fireworks? Really crazy?

Thanks! Andrina

I think that if you plan for a nice relaxing TS dinner and maybe some shows (you know, the TGM fillers) as breaks then you'll likely be fine, though be aware that going that late that many of the FPs for the hot ticket rides will already be gone by the time you get to the parks. I don't know your daughter's needs to know if she qualifies for a GAC or not, but if she does then that might help some.

Have you subscribed to TGM for this trip? Ask on the boards over there.

 

[kirstenb1]

We had friends with very young children who did something that I thought was crazy, but it worked for them, so I'll toss it out. They went over Easter. Parks were crazy busy. They slept in late, went to the resort pool, and didn't hit the parks til early evening. One of the parks (probably MK) was open til 2 or 3 am. They said after 11 pm it really cleared out, and they were able to walk on most rides. I wonder if this would be an option for y'all?

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Hi hi! When my partner and I went last September, we did this sort of thing and it worked well for us. We don't have any kids yet, but I've got fatigue issues so only have limited strength. I found that sleeping in late, then playing in the parks until we had had enough for the day, worked really well for me (also worked well for the fella; he's not disabled, just still a student at heart ).

I suggest you write yourself a list of all your family's "must sees", and make sure you hit them all during your trip. That way, even if you don't get everything done, everyone should go home happy. If any of them are the extremely popular rides, such as Toy Story Midway Mania, you might need to plan one or two early mornings to get Fastpasses for these before they all go. If you do this, it means that you don't need to worry so much about frantic planning and early starts; you can just take your time and enjoy yourselves .

If you find your daughter getting tired in the afternoon, all of the First Aid centres have beds you can use if you need. If you just go along and explain that she needs to rest because of her health issues, they will show you to a bed that she can nap in. Your teenagers and one or other of you and your DH can carry on exploring the parks, while the other one has a rest in the air-con with your youngest (maybe take a book or MP3 player to the parks with you, to keep you entertained). Hopefully this break will be enough to perk her back up for the evening entertainments.

All of the night entertainments, except for Wishes, have wheelchair viewing areas, to make sure your daughter gets an unobscured view. These are all manned by CMs, to make sure no idiot comes along and stands in front of her chair (yes, there really are people that dim!). Your daughter will sit up front, with the rest of your party either standing behind her or sitting on the ground in front. You'll probably want to get to these reasonably early, to stake out your spot and get everyone settled in. I particularly like the area in Liberty Square, MK; and the two IllumiNations viewing areas at the join between World Showcase and Future World.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[prncess674]

I have a feeling you may have some differing opinions on what your group wants to do. Most teens need to be blasted out of bed. Maybe you, DH and your special needs daughter could hit rope drop and ride some rides with your DD when the park is less crowded. Your two teens can the get up and meet you guys in the parks where you can enjoy some rides as a family and also collect some fastpasses for attractions your DD won't be able to enjoy. You, DH and DD can head back for an afternoon break and then meet up with the teens later for evening entertainment.

 

[robinb]

When are you going? If it's at a busy time then sleeping in with be the kiss of death for getting on anything that your youngest DD can't ride. You can get a GAC for her and use it for everything else but I am sure that your older kids will want to ride the roller coasters.

 

[dizcrazee]

We have decided that we are going to do mostly a late entry plan on our upcoming WDW trip. We are normally rope-drop people, but we've been to WDW many times now, so we are going to have a more relaxed approach on this trip. Rope-drop every day is very taxing on us, so I'm hoping a more relaxed approach will mean that we don't come home completely exhausted.

We have picked out a few attractions that are our "goal" attractions for each park. If we don't get to do everything this time, that will be okay. If we weren't willing to accept this possibility, then we couldn't do this plan.

This is the plan:

Day 1: Arrive mid-afternoon; dinner at Captain's Grill; pool time; view EP fireworks from pool at Dolphin.

Day 2: Late Breakfast at Chef Mickey's; MK around noon. Get FPs where possible; do less crowded attractions; parade; Liberty Tree for early dinner. Probably won't stay for fireworks. Pool time and bed.

Day 3: Breakfast in room; arrive EP around 11:30, pick up FP, lunch at Coral Reef. Use FP; tour future world only this time. Dinner at Yachtsman, pool time and bed. View EP fireworks from pool at Dolphin.

Day 4: This is our only rope-drop - for DHS. Breakfast in room; arrive DHS 8:30; tour; Lunch in room; rest; pool; back to DHS for dinner at Melrose; Fantasmic.

Day 5: Breakfast in room; arrive Typhoon Lagoon mid-day; Dinner at Grand Floridian cafe; view MK fireworks from GF beach.

Day 6: Breakfast at Captain's Grill; check out at 11:00; begin driving home.

We normally drive straight through (about 700 miles), but we are stopping over both ways this time. I'm hoping that the combination of breaking up the driving time and doing fewer rope-drop days will make a big difference in our energy level and overall enjoyment.

That's it! Have fun however you decide to do it!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We just got back Sunday. We had a GAC for my son and we utilized fast passes whenever possible. What worked for us was to get in the parks between 9 and 10 am. We left from about 1:30-6 to have lunch, dinner, and a break. Between the fast passes and the GAC we managed to ride plenty of rides in the amount of time we were at the park even with the crowds being a 10 most days.

 

[Mouse's Shadow]

I think it's up to what will work for your family. I'd have a family meeting to discuss the crowd levels you'll be facing with the pros and cons of getting up late vs getting up early. Maybe you'll want to alternate days. My only concern is that it is during Easter, and the crowds could be huge. Hitting the big rides right after the park opening can save several hours of standing in line.

I'm sure you'll have a great time.

 

[carrie1626]

I like to do "the every other day or close to it plan". This means that the day after arrival is a sleep in day because we always fly down to Florida very early in the morning and are exhausted the first night!.
I take a real good look at the park hours and any EMH for the mornings /evenings and plan around that. My kids ( now 20/17 ) would never agree to getting up early every day, but they will do it a few days

 

[Andrina]

Thanks everyone!

I think we will sleep in bit--so thanks for the advice. We will try to do some very early days as well. So excited!!
Andrina

 

[clkelley]

We had friends with very young children who did something that I thought was crazy, but it worked for them, so I'll toss it out. They went over Easter. Parks were crazy busy. They slept in late, went to the resort pool, and didn't hit the parks til early evening. One of the parks (probably MK) was open til 2 or 3 am. They said after 11 pm it really cleared out, and they were able to walk on most rides. I wonder if this would be an option for y'all?

That's pretty much what we do, especially when bringing the camper.

We'll go to breakfast somewhere really late (usually about 10:45am) at another resort, then go back to the Fort and chill out most of the day. (Looping on the golf cart, fishing, sitting on the Porch of Crocketts in a rocking chair).

Then we go to dinner somewhere at a sit down, then go to the late EMH park.

On nights when there is not late night EMH, then we go out on the golf cart again armed with "drink fixins", watch Wishes and the Electric Light Parade from the beach and then usually can find another DIS Fort Fiend and hang out at their campsite with the drink fixins (or they come hang out at ours).

 

[Andrina]

CKelley--I like your style! Thanks for giving me a new term to use--Drink Fixins!

 

[clkelley]

CKelley--I like your style! Thanks for giving me a new term to use--Drink Fixins!

Thanks!!