Afternoon naps with a 2.5 year old logistics

themcfluffybutts

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Right now at just turned 2 our guy sleeps from 8pm to 6am and naps from 1pm to 3pm (sometimes 4pm if he's really wiped). We'll be going to disneyworld in late May and wondering how other parents handled naps. I imagine it'll be pretty hot by noon when we go so we were thinking about having a busy morning, eating lunch at the park, and then going back to the resort for a nap. We'll be taking the bus from animal kingdom lodge and my worry is that we'll spend way more than 3 hours with nap + travel time. When we come back to the park we were going to do more relaxed stuff... shows, indoor rides, etc... and then dinner about 6pm.

Does this sound like a doable plan? Are we going to be ok taking a 3+ chunk out of our day?
 
my biggest worry will be the time from park to your resort. did not work out for us with an 18 month old who crashed on bus and refused to go back to sleep. how does you little one do if he falls asleep in car on way back to your house? remember you will have a walk from bus to room if he falls asleep on bus. we ended up just letting him sleep in stroller at the parks
 
my biggest worry will be the time from park to your resort. did not work out for us with an 18 month old who crashed on bus and refused to go back to sleep. how does you little one do if he falls asleep in car on way back to your house? remember you will have a walk from bus to room if he falls asleep on bus. we ended up just letting him sleep in stroller at the parks

If he falls asleep in the car, we have to carry him in quietly and lay down next to him to keep him napping. If he wakes up during that move, no more nap or its at least an hour long struggle to get him back down
 
The bus ride from AK to everywhere but AK is long. Plan on an easy hour round trip, that's with minimal waits for the bus. We tried this method when ours was 3 and after a day we scrapped the plan. Ours napped in a stroller and then we left the parks after dinner. It was too much to get from park to resort, settle down a toddler, wake up toddler, pack toddler back up, wait for a bus and try to get back in a park by dinner. Try your plan, but make a back up plan in case it doesn't work for you.
 
If he falls asleep in the car, we have to carry him in quietly and lay down next to him to keep him napping. If he wakes up during that move, no more nap or its at least an hour long struggle to get him back down
the struggle was what we had cause it was a lot further from bus to room than car to bed. remember he has to be removed fro stroller on bus and unless you can carry him to room which can be a walk I would not plan on him staying asleep
 
yeah -- I tend to agree with others here. If the kid falls asleep en route to the bus, then you end up having to wake them up to get on the bus and then they're likely going to be super cranky.

This is the reason we do split stays at epcot resorts and monorail resorts right now. We'll do half days at DHS and epcot while at the epcot resort. Then on the day we move, we'll hit up animal kingdom until around 4 or 5 pm -- and let the kids sleep in the stroller while we're walking around the park. Then it is 3 dedicatedl days at magic kingdom with breaks at the resort and then we'll switch it up and throw in epcot/dhs/Dak to hit up anything we might have missed.

Our first trip we did Port Orleans for 4 days and Grand Floridian for 4 days. Going back to the resort for Port Orleans was a nightmare with the stroller. We had a 6 month old and a just shy of 3 year old (34 months). The oldest was fine -- but the 6 month old was not happy about falling asleep in the stroller only to be woken up to get on the bus. So the first 4 days were not great for doing nap times at resorts, so we abandoned that idea and just let them both sleep in the stroller. Worked out much better. Allowed one of us to ride the big rides and get rider swaps, while the other stayed with the kids and people watched or read a book.

Once we moved over to the monorail resort, it was a lot easier to just zip in and out of the magic kingdom (or even epcot) since you don't have to break down the stroller when you ride the monorail. The kids can sleep all the way to the room. It is so much nicer...assuming the monorail doesn't break down while you're there.

In your situation, I would likely plan to just stay at the parks until around 3-5 each day and let him sleep in the stroller while you guys walk around or hang out in the shade. Use rider swap to your advantage. With that said -- keep your plans as they are and just see how the little guy handles it. Every kid is different. Our oldest was much better about it compared to our youngest (she's now 2 years old).
 
My dd would always stay asleep, and for us it was totally worth it, because then we could stay up until 8 ish.
 


What happens at home if you skip a nap or get a short car nap or stroller nap? Do you ever take an earlier or later nap?

I would try to plan on the stroller nap personally atlest some days. I was surprised the other day when my DD took a stroller nap leaving the beach she doesn't even nap every day anymore! So he may surprise you.

You could also do a morning at the pool, nap early then park if early naps sometimes work.

Another option park early, stay till 1/2 get back to the hotel 2-230 late nap then hang at the resort.

You can try being back at the room by 1 for nap every day and it may work for you, we have done it (DL and DW) but I had a day where she feel asleep on the way to the room and then wouldn't sleep when we got back and this was walking from MK to the contemporary!

Every kid and family is different but if you can swing a stroller nap even a few days I think it would really be nice for you and him.

Also his napping and sleeping patterns may change a lot between now and May so absolutely be flexiable in whatever you plan.
 
We stayed at AK (split stays) the past 2 summers when our son was 1 and 2 (we have 2 older daughters as well). We would be at the parks at rope drop and leave around 12. He would inevitably fall asleep as we were exiting the park which was an hour or 2 earlier than normal. He was just too wiped out. He would sleep on the bus ride and then DH would carry him to our room in order to keep him asleep.

By the time we waited in line for the bus, took the bus ride and walked to our room a good 45 minutes had passed which was half of his nap. We experimented a bit and found that he slept well with a stroller nap (and slept longer). Some days it was just easier and less stressful on us to have him nap in the stroller 12-2 (again, earlier than at home) go back to the resort around 2, swim, relax a bit and head back to the parks around 5 or 6.

While Disney is an amazing place it is incredibly exhausting, so be prepared for a different sleep schedule for your child. Just be flexible and you will have a great time
 
We always stroller nap! We never wanted to waste the time to travel back and forth and we have multiple kids plus us that doesn't want to lose park time. We go every year and most days are open to close with a stroller nap or a nap in the Tula. Both have always worked with my kiddos.
 
We stayed at AK (split stays) the past 2 summers when our son was 1 and 2 (we have 2 older daughters as well). We would be at the parks at rope drop and leave around 12. He would inevitably fall asleep as we were exiting the park which was an hour or 2 earlier than normal. He was just too wiped out. He would sleep on the bus ride and then DH would carry him to our room in order to keep him asleep.

By the time we waited in line for the bus, took the bus ride and walked to our room a good 45 minutes had passed which was half of his nap. We experimented a bit and found that he slept well with a stroller nap (and slept longer). Some days it was just easier and less stressful on us to have him nap in the stroller 12-2 (again, earlier than at home) go back to the resort around 2, swim, relax a bit and head back to the parks around 5 or 6.

While Disney is an amazing place it is incredibly exhausting, so be prepared for a different sleep schedule for your child. Just be flexible and you will have a great time

We always stroller nap! We never wanted to waste the time to travel back and forth and we have multiple kids plus us that doesn't want to lose park time. We go every year and most days are open to close with a stroller nap or a nap in the Tula. Both have always worked with my kiddos.


For those of you that had kids stroller nap... how did that work out in the heat? That's my worry is that he'll just be a sweaty overheated puddle and that dad and I will be too hot to just walk outside with him.
 
For those of you that had kids stroller nap... how did that work out in the heat? That's my worry is that he'll just be a sweaty overheated puddle and that dad and I will be too hot to just walk outside with him.
We have a stroller fan...a nice one that puts out quite a bit of air. I clip it to the sun shade and throw a light weight blanket over the stroller to block alot of the light. Our stroller has several areas that you can pull up to only have mesh ( city mini) so there's air flow through the stroller even with a blanket used. It works well. We have done both say it's nap time go to sleep and we just continue riding things .... Or just let them fall asleep when they get tired...we have 3 adults and 3 kids so we alternate who stays with the sleeping one with the grown ups. We wouldn't do naps any other way to be truthful. We stay all day all the way through the evening shows. If my youngest two get sleepy then can nap no biggie. My 7( new 6 year old last trip) year old will fall asleep several days but it may only be 20 min but enough he feels better.
 
You also need a stroller with a good sunshade. Consider renting a Baby Jogger City Mini if yours doesn't have one.
After lunch & restroom visit, I would give my son his blankie to snuggle (a backup blankie, not his favorite, just in case we lose it) and then power walk for about 15 minutes to get him to fall asleep. Once he is asleep, we usually browse through the air conditioned shops (perfect for exploring the countries in Epcot) or find a shady spot to relax.
I prefer staying in the parks to getting back on the bus.
However, I have learned that some days the nap just isn't going to happen. While my kids napped at home everyday, occasionally they were just too stimulated at Disney to fall asleep. I give it a nice 15 minute try and then I don't worry if it doesn't happen (I learned this after one long day of non-stop walking trying to make it happen). They will sometimes fall asleep later and we just go with it.
 
My DS also always naps in his stroller (but that's what he does at home too).

If you can get him to sleep in his stroller, that's a great time to use rider swap on some of the height restriction rides. Also, as previously mentioned, you can keep him out of the heat while he naps by going into air-conditioned stores.

At Epcot, one of the best stroller nap areas is Test Track. Use rider swap, and the waiting parent can take the stroller/sleeping child in through the ride exit/gift shop. If you keep going to where the cars are on display, there's also a couple benches. Cold a/c and a place to sit.
 
It depends on the child. If you have an easy sleeper who will sleep in the room after a bus nap then go for it. But some kids have a ten minute power nap then won't lay down.
 
For those of you that had kids stroller nap... how did that work out in the heat? That's my worry is that he'll just be a sweaty overheated puddle and that dad and I will be too hot to just walk outside with him.

We make sure to keep him really well hydrated and have a huge sunshade. Usually, my husband will take our 2 oldest and go on a few rides and I will get some shopping done during stroller naptime. The shops along Main Street are great since they are all connected, you never have to go outside!
 
I went with almost 3 year old twins in June 2016. We stayed at AoA. We had a car, but MK was the bus. Neither breaks at the resort or naps in stroller worked for us.
The worst day was when I did a half day at MK, then we went back to rest, then we had to get back to Ohana for dinner. I found out that dinner ADRs did not work unless we had slept in and stayed at the resort in the morning because I couldn't predict how long they needed to nap (longer than I thought, it was a nightmare waking them to get ready for dinner, but I didn't want to lose $50 and their behavior at dinner wasn't awesome so we didn't get to enjoy dinner).
And one of mine would nap in stroller while the other really had a hard time and kept getting woken up and both did not get well rested, so they didn't enjoy the evening anyhow.

I learned my lesson and planned differently for my almost 4 year old twins in June 2017.

5-6 hours of doing something in the parks was enough for us each day in the heat for 8-9 days. Yes, we did not get to see/do everything, but it was enough.


We did early wake up, breakfast in room, rope drop/EMH , use one FP until really late character breakfast or TS lunch (brunch or lunch would be our ADR), use next two FP, go back to resort, and then bathed, and rested, enjoyed resort, used pool, ate quick service/leftovers/microwave dinner, watched Disney channel on tv, visited arcade (kids loved this), play with the toys they got as souvenirs and time for bed

OR we did sleep in late, breakfast in room, pool, resort quick service/lunch in room, short nap (since we slept in), leave for parks around 2 or 3, use FP+, dinner ADR, nighttime show (Fantasmic, etc.)

We also have an older son and we did each get to spend time doing something special with him (one night after an early wake up day, my older son and I did the star wars dessert party and late EMH at Hollywood Studios while DH and the twins played in arcade and went to bed early....while another day my older DS and DH went fishing in world Showcase while I took the twins to breakfast at Akershus)
 
I wouldn't worry about it until you get much closer to your trip. We have 3 kids and their nap times changes a lot over the course of an 8 month period. Personally, we always just stayed at the parks from opening until the kids were exhausted. We'd always have strollers until they were 7 so they could hop in and nap if they needed to. Usually it was no problem at all for them to fall asleep as they would be exhausted. Heat, rides, crowds, stimulation....all make for very tired toddlers. We had one instance at Chef Mickeys where our oldest two were about 2 & 3. It was an early dinner, around 6, but the oldest just had a complete meltdown and we had to leave before we ever got seated. That was a long ride back on the monorail to the BC. So most days on our follow up trips we would schedule a sit down lunch and then just do either CS or just find somewhere with last minute availability for dinner. We rarely ever saw the fireworks or the nighttime parades but that was still much easier to me than trying to schlep 3 kids back to the room for naps that may or may not happen. And the kids used to love going back and taking a nighttime swim before bed. And you are correct, it will take much longer than 3 hours in total to go back to the hotel.

Also, with the naps, I've never understood how people just go back & hop into bed. It seems so gross. You are completely sweaty. I would have to take a shower, shower the kids, and then try to nap. Way too much work.
 
For those of you that had kids stroller nap... how did that work out in the heat? That's my worry is that he'll just be a sweaty overheated puddle and that dad and I will be too hot to just walk outside with him.
because of other requirements we have to do summer trips long story short and the youngest have always done stroller naps after that first trip. if you only have single stroller use some of time looking in the stores to help stay cool. most shows are not a help as no strollers
 

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