Would you go back to your villa for a rest break

[kazd]

A lot of people seem to take a couple of hours to recharge their batteries so that they can carry on until the finish. Some people go back to their hotels and have a swim and a nap. Would you consider going back to your villa if it was in Kissimmee. From the look of the directions it does not look like we are very far from disney but wondered what you all think.

Once you have paid for your parking, can you move around to different parks without having to pay again. I guess you would probably use the monorail to switch between parks. So what I am trying to say (badly) if we pay to park and then choose to go back to our villa for a rest will we have to pay again to park. Also you have to get your hand stamped, is it waterproof. Lots of people have said that they go for a swim or a shower, I would of thought that the stamp would wash off.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Kazd,

You only pay once to park and then it's free for the rest of the day at all the parks, so it won't matter if you leave to go and have a rest or not. The water parks have free parking anyway.

As to whether or not you go back to the villa for a rest, that depends on how old the children are in your party, how long the parks are open for (ie what time of year are you going?), what pace you are going at and whether or not you plan on having a good long break in the middle of the day in an air-conditioned restaurant (sometimes this might recharge your batteries long enough to do without a villa rest)

Thanks

Karen

 

[Hilary]

The hand stamps don't wash off very easily! If you have your hand stamped and then go for a swim / shower / get caught in a heavy thunderstorm , there will still be plenty of stamp left on for the rest of that day and probably for a couple of days after that as well.

Go on one of the rides that uses ultra-violet lighting (Peter Pan works well!) and you'll be able to see the stamp very nicely.

I think the most relevant factors when deciding whether to return to off-site accommodation during the day are:
How late will the parks stay open? If you're visiting in the quiet season and MK is closing at 6pm, there's not as much point taking out a few hours midday. If you can stay in the parks until 11pm or midnight, there's much more need to pace yourselves.
How early do you plan to be at the parks in the morning? Similar to the answer about late opening hours. If you're arriving for park opening, you may feel like a break. If you won't be arriving until mid-morning you're less likely to benefit from a break.
Do you plan to eat a sit-down lunch in the parks? As Karen says, this may be enough of a rest to re-charge your batteries. A quick bite on the run probably won't.
What time of year will you be there? Weather will play an important part too. In the heat / humidity of the summer you'll need a break far more than if you're visiting during the more temperate months.

A trip on the WDW transport to one of the WDW resorts for an air-conditioned look around / drink can also be a good way of escaping the parks for an hour or two, without driving back to your accommodation.

Ditto Karen's answer about parking - you pay once for the day at any main WDW park.

 

[kazd]

My kids are 9, 6 and 4. We leave erm, this Friday for Gatwick and flyout Saturday about 11am. We plan to get to the parks first thing.

Karen

 

[Miffy2003]

I would personally be guided by your children and how they are doing- basically if they start getting "tired" or a bit grumpy it is sometimes better to call it quits and go back to the villa for a soak in the pool. You can always go back later when everyone is refreshed and ready to have fun again. I read somewhere (can't remember where but I can't take the credit for it!) that the time to leave is when it stops being "fun" anymore. This sounds so obvious but actually you do see people all the time forgetting this "Come on Bobby, only another 4 rides to do then we've got our money's worth / I didn't bring you all the way to Disney World to not see everything and if you're tired that's too bad" etc etc. You do really hear these conversations all the time!

HTH - have a lovely lovely time. You must be really excited now!

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

We have stayed in various villa locations around Kissimmee and for each one we have had to drive about 40 mins to the park that's 80 mins round trip, therefore 160 mins travelling time if you do it twice in a day. If we want to recharge we take a monorail to Contemporary or GF and sit in one of the bars where its cool and less hectic than the parks, you can just have a drink or maybe order a dessert for the kids.

 

[kazd]

Just call me a 42kt Plonker, we are not staying in Kissimmee, we are staying in Esprit, Davenport, please tell me thats not even further away from Disney.

 

[matty624]

Originally posted by Stitch's Greatest Fa
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

We have stayed in various villa locations around Kissimmee and for each one we have had to drive about 40 mins to the park that's 80 mins round trip, therefore 160 mins travelling time if you do it twice in a day. If we want to recharge we take a monorail to Contemporary or GF and sit in one of the bars where its cool and less hectic than the parks, you can just have a drink or maybe order a dessert for the kids.

Have to disagree I'm afraid.
It depends on where your villa is. We purposely rent villas close to 192. Last year (and this) the travel time to disney was under 15 minutes (probably less than 10 actually). Ds is 4 and dd 5, there is no way a trip to GF would give them or us a decent rest.
I'm sorry to say that I'm pretty sure Davenport is a little further away than Kissimmee. That said, we stayed there a few years back, the villas seemed to be a little newer. It still only took about 20 minutes or so.
Play it by ear, and see how far it really is before you decide whether to have a mid day rest. IMHO, it's always worth it...
Ian

 

[Hilary]

I'm speaking as someone who never drives to the parks, but always uses WDW transport, so I hope I've got it right, but..

It's worth mentioning that it will take quite a while to get in / out of MK. On arrival, once you have parked your car in the parking lot, you will have to take either a ferry or monorail to the MK entrance and this could take up to twenty minutes to half an hour, depending on whether you've just missed one. Ditto on the way back, obviously.

The other parks, however, have parking lots next to the parks, although they are so large you may still need to board one of the trams to get you from your car to the park gates.

All this adds extra time on to your journey to/from the villa, and needs to be taken into account - especially with MK.

 

[UKDEB]

You've received a lot of great advice already. We stay in villas and we <i>do</i> take breaks. As Hilary says, it takes longer to get to and from the MK, so we wouldn't go there in the morning and return there, but we might park hop. Epcot is open until 9pm for IllumiNations whatever time of year you visit and, as it's a park which needs more than one day to do it justice, it's well worth allocating an evening to.

The area described as Kissimmee covers a huge area. The sub-divisions which have homes for rent are almost all within a 15-20 minute drive of WDW. Like Ian, we tend to choose those within a 10 minute drive and, although Davenport is a bit further out, I would still consider taking breaks on some days. Davenport also covers a fairly large area, so the distance for you will depend upon your precise location, but you could find you're within a 20 minute drive. I think Stitch's Greatest Fan must be referring to the time taken to actually reach the park gates taking into account parking and waiting for the tram (which is actually probably more useful to you given your question). Either that or the villas have been way east near Downtown Kissimmee.

 

[Mpet]

Hi

Esprit is on the US27 vey near the junction of the 192 (we stayed there a few years ago). You can either drive along the 192 and enter Disney from there, or drive donw the US27 and pick up the I4 - which was more miles but usually a lot quicker as the 192 can get very busy.

I would say that it is about 20 mins to Disney main entrance plaza, but then you have to park, pick up a tram etc. To get to the MK main gate, it is probably another 20 mins. The other parks will be less. Everyone is differnt, but we usually find a nice air conditioned restaurant have a drink/ice cream and find that's enough to re-charge the batteries. We tried the off par break before and found no-one could be bothered to go back.

Maxine

 

[vernon]

There are a lot of villas in the Western end of the 192 that are easily reachable in 10-15 minutes from WDW. The easiest and quickest parks for this area are AK and BB if you exit through the access road by AKL. MGM and TL I find are also pretty quick to exit, although add 10 minutes to drive time from here. IMHO all of the above are practical to take a break from.

Epcot and particularly MK can take quite a long time to even get out the car park and I think the benefits of taking a break from these parks is a little less obvious. IMHO a much more workable solution from Epcot is to take a relaxed walk through the International Gateway (located between France and the UK exibits on World showcase) and enjoy lunch in one of the airconditioned restaurants on Boardwalk or at the Y+B club hotel. You could also rent a watersprite (mini speedboat) for 30 minutes for something different. At MK a good option for a break is to take the resort monorail to one of the monorail hotels (GF is my favourite) and take lunch and a wander round the hotel for a while.

 

[MARTINIUS]

We took breaks if we'd had an early start at the parks or the kids were tired. We were in a villa near Medieval Times on the 192 and it was only a 15-20 minute drive from most of the parks. It was an very relaxing to have a swim in your own pool for a few hours before going back to the parks for late afternoon/evening for the fireworks etc. On 2 occasions we had a morning in the pool and then a late start in the early afternoon although the parks are busier then.

 

[athurstance]

We are on Esprit and we almost always go back for an hour or so at lunchtime when the parks get busy. The roads are empty at that time of day so it is an easy drive.
My kids are 12 and 9 now so it is more me and DH who start to flag in the sun around 1 to 2pm so we appreciate a quick dip in the pool and a cool drink while the kids can amuse themselves with the pool or PS2 or whatever.
You usually find when you head back to the park there are loads of tired people coming out as you go in on the tram and it is really nice to feel all refreshed.

Angela

 

[kazd]

Originally posted by athurstance
We are on Esprit and we almost always go back for an hour or so at lunchtime when the parks get busy. The roads are empty at that time of day so it is an easy drive.
My kids are 12 and 9 now so it is more me and DH who start to flag in the sun around 1 to 2pm so we appreciate a quick dip in the pool and a cool drink while the kids can amuse themselves with the pool or PS2 or whatever.
You usually find when you head back to the park there are loads of tired people coming out as you go in on the tram and it is really nice to feel all refreshed.

Angela

Angela,

I am laughing, I think its your villa we are renting. Do you live in Bedford?

Karen

 

[Disney owl]

Another vote for a break.

My kids are older eldest is 17 but still benefit from a break.
They usually hit the pool but occasionally had a nap infront of TV & were much more refreshed.

 

[kazd]

It is Angela's villa that we are renting (I have spoken to her via email), what a small world. Anyway, she has given us some directions on our paperwork that are a short cut, she said its about 10mins to AK from the Villa. So thats not too bad.

Kazd

 

[SidB]

Personally I wouldn't take the break at the villa. If you think the kids will get tired consider taking a break at one of the restaurants, Crystal Palace for example. In my experience once the kids are back at the villa they don't want to go back to the parks. Remember that at the start of the holiday the time difference will effect all of you. Just think that 5pm is 10pm UK time.

A problem I have with Disney is the entrance price. Rather than taking 3 days with a break each day I'd take 2 days with a full days break in the middle.

I don't believe the 10 to 15 minutes being quoted, That may be the time from door to door, IF the traffic is good. With 3 kids you'll appreciate how long it takes to get out of the villa and into the car. There's also the trip to and from the car. Then there's also the time you'll all take to dry off and get changed after swimming. Then applying fresh sun-tan cream.

I'd say stay at the parks and take the breaks there.