What time does your family wake up at Disney?

[This is my happyface]

With myself, my wife and 2 daughters (grown up) sharing a room, we have to take a stepped approach, normally me up first around 6, through the showers and then heading off to get drinks and danish (or whatever they fancy, hang over from free dining although it's not worth paying for it however that is another thread ) while they get ready so we can be out for the bus around 07:30, if course that depends on a wife who would be late for her own funeral, we usually joke that we have to aim for 7 so we can be out by 7:30

 

[chelseabun76]

My family has always been early risers (much to my dismay! LOL!) My kids are up by 7am alllll year long, whether it's school days or Christmas break or summer break. Even if you keep them up until midnight they will NOT sleep in like a lot of kids would.

So, at Disney, we will have no problem waking at 6:30 for an 8am adr, or waking at 7:30am for a 9am RD. And this time we're going when the parks aren't open past 9 at the latest, so we'll still be getting enough sleep. We do have one morning midweek that we'll be not setting the alarm, but only the one day. The rest is going to be 'get your butt to the bus stop by a certain time'!!!

It's Disney. If I wanted a relaxing sleep in vacation we'd be hitting a cottage on the lake somewhere.

 

[lustergirl]

My body is programmed to be awake at 6am. I may go back to sleep after that being on my disney vacation. Next trip I am going solo so I am going to try really hard to be up for rope drop at MK.

I have had mornings at disney though where I will stay in bed a little longer because of too many margaritas the night before.

 

[Minnesota!]

I must be the only one that needs an hour just to get ready myself, not counting getting breakfast. Maybe I can speed it up to 30 min if I put my hair in pigtails. But make up takes 30 min, every time, no matter what.

My husband would leave without me if I took that long to get ready. Shower is a 5 - 7 minute afair. Lotion up, get dressed, blow dry for a few minutes, and 30 seconds worth of make up (mascara, powder, tinted lip gloss), then a minute to get my hair brushed and styled. I am good to go. I got up at 6 this morning and we were out the door at 640...I did a load of laundry, showered, got ready, checked homework, packed lunches, packed snow stuff, and did a little light cleaning.

I have no patience to sit around in the mornings..anywhere! Thankfully I married someone just like me so that we don't irritate each other that way!

 

[wdwjeffc37]

We don't set an alarm when we are at Disney, but my wife and I are always awake by 0600. The kids: not so much. I'll wake them up about 0630 and ask if they want to go to . . . MK, EPCOT, DHS, AK, where ever we had decided to go that morning. If they get up we go, if not we let them sleep for awhile. We have been to Disney enough that if there is something that they really want to do they will get upand go. They understand the benefit of rope drop. If we make rope drop we take a longer afternoon break to swim, nap, chill, etc. before we head back to the parks for dinner and fireworks.

 

[laurielf]

We must be the odd ones out, lol - I usually aim to get to the parks just before noon and then we stay until they psuh us out the door (my boys are 7 and 10 now, but we would just let 'em sleep in the stroller when they were younger) - but as a family we tend to be night owls.

The thought of getting up at 6am on vacation makes me want to cry.

 

[ladyjubilee]

I'm a night owl. Given a choice I would sleep in till 10 at least and preferably 12....but I live with morning people. 6 am on the dot my son wakes up. Ugh.

 

[nightshaderose]

I'm not a morning person at all, and I tend to take it easy overall when at WDW. There are a few early mornings I can be coaxed out for, but those usually have to do with animal viewing opportunities at AK, or getting a round of TSMM in before the wait gets insane. Without a good reason to get up early, I'll probably be conscious at about 8-9am and out the door by 10.
My first few trips I did try to hit all the park openings and "make the most" of my time, but I ended up getting exhausted to the point of getting sick around day 5.

 

[goofy4prez]

I see so many people going for rope drop and I was just wondering...what time do you and your family wake up while on vacation at Disney. It doesn't seem much of a vacation if you are setting an alarm for 6 am everyday!

For our family we don't have to set a clock to wake up, it's like "clock work" for us to just wake up at 5:00 am. We have been doing it for years and it's just the way our bodies are. We are morning people so rope drop works great. Now when it comes to staying out until 2 or 3 in the morning we have a hard time doing that and just wouldn't seem like a vacation for us. I guess different strokes for different folks.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

We love rope drop, especially since we always go in August and it gets too hot later in the day. We get up early 2 days in a row and sleep in the third day ... repeat this pattern for the trip. We all shower the night before and get our clothes ready before bed. Adults get up around 6:30am and have a short walk / coffee. Get DD's (12 and 15) up at 7:30am and at the bus (almost always POFQ) by 8:00am. DD's eat a granola bar / have a juice box at bus stop. Generally we are at the parks around 8:30am. This works for all of us. I love being up early and having a coffee with a quiet stroll. The gardens around POFQ are beautiful and peaceful.

 

[Kiwini]

If it were just up to me, I'd get up and running much earlier, but that ship has sailed . In 10 week-long visits I'm not sure we've ever been to a single rope-drop.

We do land with a 3-hour jet-lag from the west coast, which makes first mornings harder, but after a week, we should have adjusted.

 

[vfalkner]

Me- Like, 5:30 or 6 because I like to make rope drop.
Rest of my family- 7:00 at the latest
Everyone on the last day- 9:30 a.m. in a pool of tears

exactly!!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My teens wouldn't get up until 11 or noon. I slept in until 8am, got ready and let them sleep while I went to the parks. LOL

My husband usually followed the teens schedule - sleep till 11am, get on computer until teens woke up.

We all stayed up late at night.

When I go solo I am up early and try to get to the parks before opening.

 

[OasterP]

When we went in September I got up at 6 every morning to get in a run. Then I came back and showered. The boys usually got up around 7. For me getting up at six is still way better than normal PLUS I got to run in the morning, so a major win for me!

 

[lauradis]

Normally up by 6am or earlier. My aging body will not let me sleep pass 7am most of the time.

The new rules for Disney according to hubby and preteen are

no more then one ADR before 10 am per trip

No alarm clocks set unless its last day of trip

No forced RD

No waking them up for Disney madness

I'm a reforming commando, Rope drop, Disney addict.

We do go during the slower times so parks open at 9 am normally there by 930-940

I have been reformed for two trips now, hubby still lols at me for the rope drop twitch that I get. Must be at MK rope drop must cant control it, move you slugs, move.


Actually last trip was the best we have ever had, it was planned for what hubby and daughter wanted and when I need the commando march, I left and did rope drop at MK twice in 10 days they meet up with me for lunch at 1pm lol slugs

 

[ebtbmom]

I try to relax and sleep in at WDW, but I'm so excited I just can't do it. I don't set an alarm but I still wake up at 6:30 with this giddy, joker like grin on my face ready to hit the ground running. It's one of the things my family "loves" about me!

The only day I slept until 8 was our Discovery Cove day.

 

[KimBean]

My husband works at home (for himself own schedule) and my girls are homeschooled. We are NIGHT owls big time. And if we are up before 9 that is good. Except my dd in 8th grade, she starts her own work at 8:30 (so disciplined.) But, she likes to get done by early afternoon.

Anyway, at Disney that all gets thrown out the window. We are rope drop to close people. Everyday, all day... Then we crash when we get back.

 

[pixel_pusher]

I'm not a morning person, but we love the RD and afternoon nap/break approach. This will be our first trip with a kid(we went twice pre kid)and I think this strategy will still work pretty well. After we did our first RD and got to ride and do so much before noon we were hooked. As to whether or not the extended family will get their butts out of bed, we'll see, but they've been warned we're hitting the road early. As much as I like to sleep in, I like lower crowds even more.

 

[niffer5150]

it depends. since we fly from west coast, our internal clocks get all sorts of messed up. we try to go to sleep at 10 or 11 florida time but it doesn't always happen... and usually we are late, late risers, but sometimes we're up with the sun (this never happens at home) and we accidentally hit rope drop. i just don't plan early stuff till like day 4 or later. we just aren't morning people. it's the only thing that's kept me from doing surf lessons at TL.

 

[Liver lips]

We do all of the late night Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic etc so we get in our room late and then sleep in til 8-8:30, have a quick breakfast in our hotel room or food court and are usually in parks by 10:30 til close