Taking afternoon breaks...

[YesterDark]

I agree, my kids are younger than the OP's so they can nap in the stroller. I don't like going all the way back to the resort, we do it sometimes but usually once we are back there, we stay there.
We try to book character meals or TS meals for our breaks. They can be relaxing and eat up an hour or two and enjoy the Air Con.

This is what I'd suggest to any family with kids that are not teenagers, Especially the 3-8 range. I typically book off of free dining and upgrade it to standard plan. I use all my table service credits for a dinner or lunch at or near the parks with a character meal. For example on an MK day I'm doing Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace for lunch or dinner. If it's dinner, then I'm booking Be Our Guest for lunch for a quick service credit. All these places are great for sitting down and getting out of the sun, having fun too!

Other suggestions are staking out a spot for fireworks or parades and just sitting and watching the world go by an hour or so before they begin.

I spend way too much money to get in to the parks that once I'm in, I'm in. Going back to the resort to swim/nap will take a good solid 5 hours out of the day. No thanks, but this is why I build in resort days to my vacation. I won't do more than 2 park days in a row.

 

[YesterDark]

We read all the advise and tried to rope drop, take a break in the afternoon and go back to the parks, but it just doesn't work for us. We lose an hour traveling east and it's harder than ever to get up and going that early. Plus, once we head back to the resort, DD just wants to swim and hate having to get out of the pool. Once she's done swimming, it's time to eat dinner and then no one wants to get back on a bus and head back to the parks. We take longer vacations, so we have the luxury of not having to cram all our fun into just a few days. The few times we were back in the parks in the evening, we really enjoyed it. The sun was off our backs, the temperature cooled and the fireworks were really cool up close.

This year, we have vowed to sleep in, hit the parks late and stay until close, if we last that long. I made all of our fast passes at noon or later and we plan to watch parades and fireworks to our hearts content. We also love shows, so that can be our a/c breaks. We'll see how it goes. I figure if we decide to go earlier, we just use the fast passes at the appropriate time and wait in line other times. I mean, we're on vacation, we're at Disney World, we are going to have fun regardless!

Good plans and I agree with having to go back. My one suggestion is try to cram all your fastpasses in at the beginning of the day so you can use the 4th, 5th etc. all day long. I just bounce my family around the park going from one fast pass to the next via the app.

 

[pixiemama91]

We always take afternoon breaks. Typically we rope drop a park that has early EMH and then head back to the resort between 11:30 and 1 for some pool/ rest time. Sometimes we eat in the park before we head out and other times we eat at the pool. We will clean up and shower and head back out to the parks somewhere between 4-5 for the evening. We always go in the summer so having that downtime i feel is crucial to take a break from the heat.

 

[traveler000mkl]

Thank you everyone for sharing your personal experiences and advice!

We decided not to stress out too much about it. We will see how we feel that morning. Previous day, we are coming back early from EPCOT around 6pm, so maybe we will be up for a super early park entry at 7am? But if not, and we feel tired, we won't stress out about RD'ing Navi and instead get to Dinoland at a reasonable time so that we get Dinosaur and Triceratops in before hitting EE with FP around 9am. If we don't RD Navi, we will see if we can 4th FP Navi that day or ride around our FOP FP time... As for the afternoon break, I decided to leave about 2.5-3hr open in the afternoon, so that we have an option to go back to AKL for a pool break if needed. I highly doubt kids would want to nap but 100% sure DH would welcome that napping window. If everyone is pumped and wants to keep going at the park, we will do some more shows, or let the kids play at Boneyard or other ride they want to FP+ for, if possible...

Regardless, I know it will be a great day!! We are really excited to check out the Pandora, which wasn't there last time we visited.

 

[monorailsilver]

My kids at that age were forced into a nap. We all napped. We just shut the curtains and the room was dark and we all fell asleep. It was wonderful!

My kids are teens and we still do a mid day break. They didn’t nap this last trip btu they did 5 years ago. We were all still refreshed from that mid day break just by getting out of the heat.

 

[Shellyred8]

Going back to AKL from AK is probably one of the best bus trips, because it only takes about 5 minutes. So, if you do need to take a break that day, the bus transportation shouldn't be too obnoxious.