To split up the day or not

[3daughters]

I have only 4 full days to see all the parks. My youngest child is 11. We are on the DDP so I have made ADR's and have arranged them so one day we will do a TS for lunch, another a late dinner, another early dinner, etc..

I was hoping this would give us our needed rest, however, I've read so much about taking breaks during the day, going back to the resort, then coming back later. My problem is we are going shortlyand the parks are not open late.

Is this advice only for when the parks are open very late? If the park closes at 8 or 9:00 would you still take the resort break in the middle with kids that aren't little? My kids are pretty athletic as we are too, I can't imagine us not being able to get thru the day, granted we will probably drop by 9PM, but I'm afraid I'll waste too much time going back to the resort during the day.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[PlutosFriend]

For me, it would depend on how long of a stay I have. We have never been a family that goes back to the hotel to rest, and my kids are just now 6 and 8. We just aren't nap takers If it were hot, and we wanted to go swim, now that is a different story for us

 

[ckay87]

Probably everyone is going to disagree with me, but I say skip the break, especially if your visit is soon. You won't have the horrible summer heat - that's a big reason that people like to take breaks. And without as many hours in the park and with being able to sit down for some nice meals...it won't be necessary. Your kids are big enough.

Our trips are usually pretty short - 5 days or so. We stay in the parks all day, in the summertime too and with longer hours. Our rule is that whenever one of us is tired, we sit and rest, no questions asked. With short trips and the fact that we only get to visit about every other year, I don't want to miss a thing! I'll rest up the 725 other days in between trips.

 

[Buttercup Roberts]

For a short trip like that, with a lot of time spent doing dining, I wouldn't plan on leaving the park. Get there for opening and go commando until it closes!

If you want to, you could do Extra Magic Hours in the MORNING ONLY, make sure you actually get there 1/2 hour before the official start time (take the bus that leaves from you resort 1 full hour before the EMH hours begin), and then if hop to another park with later hours, you might could fit in a quick break back at your room.

A day with AK morning EMH and then a break then a hop to Epcot, for example, would work that way.

I could go commando for a 4 day trip!

 

[themudd4]

honestly I think it just depends on you. If you think you would be happy all day in the same park then go that way...for us we are ones that get bored with say AK after 1/2 and we head back to the reosrt for a swim, or lunch or something then back out to another park. Plus if we find a park just overly crowded we may switch to a less crowded park if need be. We don't usually take naps either although just having a break in the day sometimes helps.

 

[Lucky82061]

I would skip the break if you can especially during a short visit and during this time of year. During the summer when it's blistering hot then a break mid-day is well worth it.

 

[DisneyMom5]

Skip the break. It takes too long when the park hours are shorter. Sounds like your kids will be fine.

We didn't even take a break in Aug., but we only stayed for fireworks one night. The rest of the time we went back and swam around 6 pm.
But our kids are flexible and our littles don't mind snoozing in the stroller.

Have a great trip!

 

[MinnieCandi]

My family likes to go back to the resort in the afternoons to take a swim before we go back to the parks for dinner and fireworks. It gives us all a chance to decompress and get away from some of the crowds. We are from NY, so swimming outside in November was hugh draw for my DD's!

My advice would be to just be flexible. Have your must do's at the parks when you get there, go do them, and then see what happens. If you decide to stay in the parks all day, or not, you will be on vacation ! You may decide one day to take a break and go swimming because its 85 degrees and the next day it could be 75, perfect for staying in the parks and going commando!

However you choose, Have fun!!

 

[daisax]

You can also choose your in-park schedule to provide a break, either with a sit down lunch or a sit down show to get you off your feet for a half hour or more.

 

[Hannathy]

We never take breaks it takes way too much time and effort, even when our youngest was 2 1/2 we didn't take a break. Many days at Easter we were there from 8 am till midnight. If you have sit down meals I would consider that your break. With the shorter hours you won't need one and will really loose out on a lot of park time if you try to take a break and do sit down meals.

 

[3daughters]

I have ADR's set for 2 of the days that will affect time, and we are doing Cirque, but I didn't think it takes that much time to do a sit down TS... or does it?

 

[bgirl29]

I would say a TS dinner will take around 1 hour. Which would be a nice break if you are not taking any other breaks. I agree you might want to take a swim some afternoons, then head to say Epcot or whatever park is open the latest to finish out the day.