Afternoon break at the resort...good idea?

[dancebird78]

My husband and I are taking our 9yr old an 6yr old for our first WDW trip. We only have time (and the budget) for two days at MK this October. With park hours now extended we'd like to get to the parks early and get on all the must do rides since we are early risers. MK is 8am-12am our first day. I'm thinking we get to MK as close to 8am as possible then go to the resort (Pop) between 1-3:30pm the first day just to rest and then aim to get back to MK around 4pm. More rides, dinner, character greets, snack/treat, fireworks. I'm strongly thinking that this break is necessary. But, can traveling back and forth be a major headache?

 

[babyruth]

I think this all depends on what type of family you have and only you know that. You also don't mention if you have any fastpasses booked for rides. If you haven't done that yet, do it now, so you can have a better idea of a plan. My kids at those ages didn't need naps. It's the husband who gets grumpy in a park all day LOL. If you are using Disney transportation that could shave an hour off your planned break time. Think 30 minutes for walking and waiting for bus, the ride to the resort and getting to your room, then same back out.

 

[dancebird78]

Thank you. I'm really torn. It doesn't realistic to be inthe park at 8am and then still be there for night time fireworks. My kids may or may not actually nap but maybe just having the option to rest will be helpful. I have my morning fast passes and BOG lunch. We are hopefully going straight to MK that morning, so we'll have our car to get to the Pop for the mid-day break and check in but will rely on the bus to get back to MK. Hopefully, after we use our initial 3 FP+ we'll line up three more for the afternoon.

 

[prprincess]

Would you be able to play it by ear and see how you feel? I'd planned for mid-day breaks during our last trip, but my boys only needed on the first park day. I think by the time we hit the other three parks, they'd gotten used to the fast pace/long days.

 

[HeatherL1985]

I highly recommend afternoon breaks if your children still take naps or tire easily. I would rather miss park time now to relaxing than miss it later to a meltdown.

If your children aren't nappers, though, there are some really good spots/rides to unwind a little in the Magic Kingdom that won't require a full trip to the resort and back. Perhaps schedule a sit down lunch, ride the Carousel of Progress or take trip over to Tom Sawyer's Island to decompress a little and recharge the batteries.

I always schedule mid-day breaks for my family since my son can't make it through the whole day. Plus, we find we really enjoy escaping the hottest part of the day and then closing down the park when the ride times are lowest (this will not work on party nights without a separate ticket). So, for us, it's a rope drop morning, head back to the resort around 11am - 1pm, swim/eat/nap, 6pm fastpass, 7pm fastpass, 8pm fastpass, evening shows, and then we ride rides until we drop or they kick us out. LOL

Good luck and HAVE FUN!!!

 

[dancebird78]

I always schedule mid-day breaks for my family since my son can't make it through the whole day. Plus, we find we really enjoy escaping the hottest part of the day and then closing down the park when the ride times are lowest (this will not work on party nights without a separate ticket). So, for us, it's a rope drop morning, head back to the resort around 11am - 1pm, swim/eat/nap, 6pm fastpass, 7pm fastpass, 8pm fastpass, evening shows, and then we ride rides until we drop or they kick us out. LOL

Good luck and HAVE FUN!!!

I think this is my family. So, do you skip morning fast passes since you are at rope drop? and then schedule your three for the afternoon/evening? I was hopeful that after we use our first 3 Fast passes, I'd score 3 more for the evening. So, can you really swim/eat/nap all in that time frame? I'm really trying to avoid a meltdown with my 6yr old. He can get overstimulated and then any thought of fun night activities is a total wash. My 9yr old would be so upset.

 

[wampuscat7]

It's my understanding that once you use your three fastpasses, you can only get one at a time, so you can't count on getting three more fastpasses for the evening.

 

[HeatherL1985]

Yes, we skip morning fast passes and don't count on any evening fastpasses being left. Once you use your first three scheduled fastpasses, you can start using a rolling fastpass, meaning you can only book one new at a time but can continue to book until they're done distributing for the day.

It usually takes us about 4-5 hours to do our mid-day breaks (figure about an hour to get to/from the park). I usually try to include pool time because it saps the last bit of energy out of my son so he's fairly guaranteed to konk out for a nap.

If your son does become overstimulated, you can split up with one parent and the 9 year old at the park and one parent and the 6 year old either back at the resort for more swimming, a movie under the stars, or over at Ft. Wilderness for their campfire and Chip n' Dale meet and greet (just a boat ride from the Magic Kingdom). So, even in the worst case scenario you can still have fun, make memories and aren't "out" all the money you paid.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Thank you. I'm really torn. It doesn't realistic to be inthe park at 8am and then still be there for night time fireworks. My kids may or may not actually nap but maybe just having the option to rest will be helpful.

I have the same internal dispute, as the travel times sound SO awful, eating up too much of our day. But your first sentence is where the reality is. If you are actually going to make RD, you get up so early that there is no way the kids will be happy by the time fireworks happen. And you would be surprised by who naps. On our first DLR trip, I told the kids it was "quiet time," not nap time, to avoid a dispute. I'd turn on the TV to Disney Channel, turn off the lights, close the curtains, and make everyone chill in bed. Not all days, but some days even my then-8yo eldest son would end up snoozing. Kids who wake up at 6-7am and pound the pavement at an amusement park until after lunch are ready for a break.
Having said that, I do like all the suggestions people give for taking a break in the parks and might try that some day, too, esp if we end up sleeping in and getting to the park later.

 

[roseaster]

I think it depends. Mid day breaks never worked for us. When the kids were little (napping age) they fell asleep on the bus and then were awake when we got to the hotel and wanted to swim. Swimming is NOT relaxing. All that playing in the water just tires them out more.

When they were your kids' ages and didn't nap they just wanted to keep going in the parks and would make it the whole day, running on sugar and excitement.

The commute does eat up a lot of time, depending where you are staying.

 

[monorailsilver]

We nap/rest. It's a must for us. When I was a teen we didn't nap but dos the pool but when I was a teen there was only the MK and epcot! So it wasn't as exhausting.

But yes we nap, all of us. We are, well me, are up at 6, take a shower, dh wakes while I am in the shower, as I get out of the shower the kids are waking, dh goes in the shower and then the kids and I eat breakfast, I fill water bottles and dh does breakfast and I am packing our park bag. We are out the door between 7-7:15.

Have lunch in a park and like to be back no later then 1. Wake up, we all take quick showers and are out by 5 til closing.

I can't do that more then 2 days in a row anymore so we do a pool day every 3rd day.

But yes a break is a must. I have happy kids and well there are happy parents too. No one is tired.

 

[Figmentmommy]

My husband and I are taking our 9yr old an 6yr old for our first WDW trip. We only have time (and the budget) for two days at MK this October. With park hours now extended we'd like to get to the parks early and get on all the must do rides since we are early risers. MK is 8am-12am our first day. I'm thinking we get to MK as close to 8am as possible then go to the resort (Pop) between 1-3:30pm the first day just to rest and then aim to get back to MK around 4pm. More rides, dinner, character greets, snack/treat, fireworks. I'm strongly thinking that this break is necessary. But, can traveling back and forth be a major headache?

Only you know your family's tolerance for being out all day. I can say that we've never taken midday breaks that involved going back to the resort. My kids were 9 & 7 during the first trip that they can really remember. (Their very first visit was at ages 4 & 2) We used meal time as our break time and found it worked well for us. Maybe consider a TS meal within the park or at a nearby resort to give you the break you need.

 

[JOBrien08]

We are going in Feb for the first time as a family. My kids ages are 7,5 and 20 months. We planned to do the exact same thing. Hit it hard in the morning then head back to the resort, grab lunch and let at least the baby nap. The older kids don't usually sleep unless theyre exhausted but the break I feel is needed! Then go back for the evening. Hoping to avoid mid day crowds as well.
My parents took the older ones -before the baby was born- and they went the whole day 9 am to 10 pm, and at that time they were only 4 and 2. But they didn't see as much because they got pretty tired and cranky, and they set the pace, not the adults.
My husband and I went for his birthday and even we were exhausted and back at the resort by 8 pm!

 

[Thing 1]

There is no way my family-3adult and 1 almost 10 year old- Could go from 8-midnight. You are going to need to be at the bus stop by 7ish that AM so you are talking 17 hours!!! What we would do with that day, knowing we only have two days, would be to be at rope drop at 8:00. We would tour without FP till about 11:00 and then book for 11-12-1.As soon as you use the 3rd one, book one for after your break....6 or 7. I would leave the park about 1:30 or 2 and head back to the room for a rest-TV-ipad-nap-chill till about 5ish and head back for the evening. When the hours were shorter and we had limited days in the park, we have left the park about 4 or 5 and did a sit down dinner at a monorail resort or FW, returning after dinner for the night time activities and a few rides.

 

[pwrflpills]

I suppose this is somewhat irrelevant to you because of age, but on the topic I'll quickly share our experience with our 3 and 1 year old boys late last August. We did rope drop and my plan was to get an early lunch (11) and head back to the hotel (Dolphin) in our car for nap time. Realizing they might fall asleep in the monorail/car/stroller, we agreed that if they were out in the stroller before we left, that would be their nap and we'd just stick it out in the park until they woke up. Sure enough by the time we made it to Town Square they were both out, so we shrugged our shoulders and turned around. Next thing I remember I was circling in the shade under the People Mover track that circles the Astro Orbiter for about 30 minutes (the ambient noise was great) and then into the gift shop at Space Mountain (oh, the A/C was glorious!). They eventually woke up after probably an hour total, but it wasn't a great quality nap and our 3 y/o didn't want to do anything so we headed back to the hotel and came back later, only to be washed out by intense thunderstorms. The storms aside, I think we still would have easily been able to do just about all of MK that day. But ultimately I wouldn't advocate sticking it out with little kids.

 

[dancebird78]

thanks everyone for your responses! Well, my plan was to take the afternoon break but I just remember though that our first day (and our longest day) at MK is when we check in at the Pop. So, it's highly likely that our room will not even be ready for us by midday even after we've checked in online. I would hope so. But, I guess there is no guarantee. I may have to rethink our options. Maybe we just wait for the text before we head back and hope that it will be earlier rather then later.

 

[Nancyg56]

Will your dates includes the parties? If so, you may need to regroup. If I had two days in the MK, and I needed to work around parties, I would get to the park as close to RD as possible on a party day. Stay as long as the kids can handle and then head back to the resort to rest and have dinner. Maybe swim, etc. The next day I would sleep in and head to the park later so that I could stay for evening entertainment.

If no parties, I would still plan an early start, stay til after lunch, go bac to rest and then head back for evening entertainment.

 

[dancebird78]

Our first day is not a party day so 8am-12am. I think we'll get to MK as close to rope drop as possible and head back for rest between 3-6. This is typically when my 6yr old is most tired on a school day. We'll eat at Pop or have snacks. Then we can go back to MK again for the time time activities until after Wishes. Our second day is a party day so, 8am-7pm. We will obviously stay all day. Not sure we'll make 8am rope drop but I have some late morning fast passes lined up and brunch at Chef Mickey's.

 

[Nancyg56]

Our first day is not a party day so 8am-12am. I think we'll get to MK as close to rope drop as possible and head back for rest between 3-6. This is typically when my 6yr old is most tired on a school day. We'll eat at Pop or have snacks. Then we can go back to MK again for the time time activities until after Wishes. Our second day is a party day so, 8am-7pm. We will obviously stay all day. Not sure we'll make 8am rope drop but I have some late morning fast passes lined up and brunch at Chef Mickey's.

Sounds good!

 

[tinkerbella16]

We work in afternoon breaks EACH day of our trips, with or without kids. Enjoying the resort has become just as important to us as the parks. To relax at the pool, and just take it easy.. it really recharges us for late afternoons and evenings in the parks. Our trips have been so much more enjoyable because of those breaks.