To Nap or Not to Nap...

[Dizneydaz]

My DD6 hasn't been much a napper for years now-since she was 2 I think. However, that being said, while at WDW she's has fallen asleep while there and we let her sleep in the stroller. (She's even fallen asleep on the Safari ride first thing in the a.m.) Sometimes it's just a short cat nap but that's all she needs. Even though she's 6 we still use a stroller (mostly to carry things in and to give her a place to rest if she needs it.) She is small for her age and still fits in one-mostly. For us the 3 hour time change from California messes up her sleep schedule anyway. We never tried scheduling nap time for her and I don't think it would have worked. However, we usually don't stay in one park all day, so we do take breaks. Sometimes we adults nap for 10-15 minutes, even if she dosen't)

The hardest part, for us, is getting up early (again due to the time change) and going to bed at a decent time. It takes us a few days to adjust.

 

[ptslp]

DH and I took breaks on one trip, before kids, and it worked out great. We napped and were well rested for the evenings (we went the week of July 4) so everything was open very late.
On our last two trips with the kids (1st one 2 1/2 and 6 mos, 2nd on 3 and 1yr), we ended up not taking breaks for a couple of reasons- first, they fell asleep in the stroller before we were able to leave the park, second, it was too much of a pain to get them to the car, back to the resort and into the room while asleep.
I think you have to gauge your kids- we thought we would nap, but it didn't work out- breaks in the parks work better for us- at this stage anyway!

Good luck

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

They may seem fine without a nap at first. Our second day last time, we didn't have time for the nap after Epcot and before our dinner ressies so we skipped it. Kids seemed okay - were fine all day.

BUT. You should have seen the CRANKY attitudes the next day when we wanted to get up early for park opening at AK. Both kids were in a nasty mood until they went back for their nap. Then they were happier. So this time, we're definitely napping (or at least taking a pool break) every day.

Plus we added more days, lol. But that's another story.

 

[ChristusG]

We never really do break times. By the time you leave the park, go back to the hotel, stay there, get back to the park, get into the park, etc, you have used up several hours. We just crash at night LOL!