How do you plan in your rest/down time?

[Jess G]

Hey guys,
Wondering how everyone else gets in some rest time during their trips. I've tried it all. From afternoon breaks, to arriving to the parks @ 10ish instead of rope drop, and of course I've done the early morning - late night deal with one day of no parks scheduled in between. Just curious of how others do it to avoid feeling like you need another vacation after your vacation

 

[Timsierramist]

I take extra long lunch/dinner breaks in the parks, then supplement any other low energy problems with COFFEE!!!

 

[Plowboy]

Down time???? What's that? Just kidding. As we've gotten more mature (code for older) we've increased our "off days". We're planning our annual fall trip right now and it goes something like this: Get up at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday to fly cross country with arrival about 8:00 p.m. at the World, late dinner and collapse from long day of travel. Sunday is an "off day" so we maybe play a round of mini golf, lay by the pool, etc. and then have a nice sit down dinner. Monday we do a couple of parks and pretty much hit it from rope drop to closing with maybe a 2 or 3 hr rest back at the room. Tuesday, see Monday's schedule. Wednesday, see Sunday's schedule. Thursday, see Monday's schedule. Friday a.m. we get up early to breakfast at Boma before DME p/u and on to Missouri for 2 days at Wildwood Springs Lodge. Sunday we fly home to NoCal.

 

[KLinder7]

I rest when I get back home after a week at Disney. I'm usually the type to get to the park first thing, and then close it out at night. I get a lot done, but there are times when I'm fighting back my eyes shutting.

 

[Weather_Lady]

For my family of early risers, the "mid-day nap break" is the savior of our vacation. We arrive at parks before rope drop, tour for 3-4 hours, have lunch, and then go back to the resort for 3-4 hours. (Of course, a good hour of that is just travel time, so we're really getting a 90-120 nap break, but that's adequate). We do so much walking in the morning, trying to make good use of that post-rope-drop time, that getting to sleep has never been a problem! Sometime between 4 and 5pm, we head out for a TS dinner -- in or near a park -- then tour for another 3-4 hours, at a more leisurely pace. Exceptions are: sometimes we do take an afternoon/night off in the middle of our vacation to relax and swim at the resort, or to attend dinner somewhere special (e.g., Hoop-de-Doo). Also, we always stay up late the last night for the MK fireworks.

It may seem like we're wasting a lot of time (taking 3-4 hours to nap and touring only about 8 hours per day), but we tour intelligently and efficiently and make good use of our FP+, so we're able to do nearly every attraction in all four parks (not counting character M&Gs -- we do only a handful of those) in about 6 days. Having a decent night's sleep and a mid-day nap also ensures that we feel rested and refreshed all the time -- we have yet to have a Disney meltdown from anybody in the family.

 

[jaklgreen]

For my family of early risers, the "mid-day nap break" is the savior of our vacation. We arrive at parks before rope drop, tour for 3-4 hours, have lunch, and then go back to the resort for 3-4 hours. (Of course, a good hour of that is just travel time, so we're really getting a 90-120 nap break, but that's adequate). We do so much walking in the morning, trying to make good use of that post-rope-drop time, that getting to sleep has never been a problem! Sometime between 4 and 5pm, we head out for a TS dinner -- in or near a park -- then tour for another 3-4 hours, at a more leisurely pace. Exceptions are: sometimes we do take an afternoon/night off in the middle of our vacation to relax and swim at the resort, or to attend dinner somewhere special (e.g., Hoop-de-Doo). Also, we always stay up late the last night for the MK fireworks.

It may seem like we're wasting a lot of time (taking 3-4 hours to nap and touring only about 8 hours per day), but we tour intelligently and efficiently and make good use of our FP+, so we're able to do nearly every attraction in all four parks (not counting character M&Gs -- we do only a handful of those) in about 6 days. Having a decent night's sleep and a mid-day nap also ensures that we feel rested and refreshed all the time -- we have yet to have a Disney meltdown from anybody in the family.

I have a question. Do you actually sleep or just rest? I ask because I envy those who can just fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I personally can not fall asleep during the day and have a hard time falling asleep at night also. Do you find it hard to go to sleep at a reasonable time at night when you actually sleep during the day? I would think that it would mess up you sleep cycle. Also what time would you go to sleep at night if you nap during the day? It sounds like a good way to tour so I am curious.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I have a question. Do you actually sleep or just rest? I ask because I envy those who can just fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I personally can not fall asleep during the day and have a hard time falling asleep at night also. Do you find it hard to go to sleep at a reasonable time at night when you actually sleep during the day? I would think that it would mess up you sleep cycle. Also what time would you go to sleep at night if you nap during the day? It sounds like a good way to tour so I am curious.

We generally do, really sleep during those nap breaks (and for what it's worth, we NEVER nap at home during the day, so it's a Disney-only behavior for us.) By the time we lie down around, say, 2:00pm, we've been up for 7-8 hours, walked several miles, and had a decent lunch. We turn off all the lights and draw the curtains so it's good and dark, strip down to undies and a T-shirt (or some other comfortable sleepwear), and turn on the air-conditioning so the room is cool, and we have some nice "white noise." In these conditions, the kids and DH are out like a light. There are some afternoons when I don't drift off for awhile (and sometimes, probably not at all), but I know that just resting quietly is better than nothing. We don't set an alarm, but we find that we wake up after an hour or two. We freshen ourselves up for the afternoon (put on a clean shirt if the morning was muggy, brush hair and teeth, touch up makeup, etc.), slip into our sandals (we tour faster and harder in the morning, so we typically wear sneakers then, and change into sandals for the evening - changing footwear mid-day also helps prevent blisters), and head out.

If we leave around, say, 4:00pm, we'll head to a park, do a couple of "anytime" attractions while awaiting our dinner reservation (generally about 6:30pm), have dinner (which typically takes less than an hour), and tour until about 9:00pm or so. That has us arriving back at the resort and getting into bed between about 10:00pm, having been "up and at it" for about another 6-7 hours. With full bellies and a few more miles' worth of walking under our belts, getting to sleep has never been a problem. We get up around 7:00am (the same time the kids would be getting up for school if we were at home -- it's great to keep them on the same schedule, at least for waking) and have a leisurely hour to "wake up slow," eat cereal in front of the TV in our PJs, get showered/dressed and head out for the bus stop. That means we're getting about 8-9 hours of sleep per night, which is actually an hour or two less than the kids and I (I need a lot of sleep; don't know why, I just always have) generally get at home, and another reason why the afternoon nap is a good and welcome respite.

I know everybody is different, and that for some folks, changing anything about their sleep patterns is difficult and more stressful than restful. This is usually the case with us at home, but we find that at WDW, when we're all getting plenty of exercise and fresh air, sleep comes very easily.

 

[jbird327]

My last trip was the slowest paced yet (maybe due to turning 60?). The trip was extended from our usual 8 day to 9. No rope drops but we were at the parks by 10 and usually out by 3 and back to the Poly. We would hang there until 6:00 or so, depending on the dinner location (either Epcot or another resort). Only late night was the Halloween party. We spent day 6 totally at the Poly. My 3 kids (all in their mid to late 20s) + son in law mostly kept to the same schedule except for the day off and a few nights. It was my most relaxed Disney trip in many years.

 

[jaklgreen]

We generally do, really sleep during those nap breaks (and for what it's worth, we NEVER nap at home during the day, so it's a Disney-only behavior for us.) By the time we lie down around, say, 2:00pm, we've been up for 7-8 hours, walked several miles, and had a decent lunch. We turn off all the lights and draw the curtains so it's good and dark, strip down to undies and a T-shirt (or some other comfortable sleepwear), and turn on the air-conditioning so the room is cool, and we have some nice "white noise." In these conditions, the kids and DH are out like a light. There are some afternoons when I don't drift off for awhile (and sometimes, probably not at all), but I know that just resting quietly is better than nothing. We don't set an alarm, but we find that we wake up after an hour or two. We freshen ourselves up for the afternoon (put on a clean shirt if the morning was muggy, brush hair and teeth, touch up makeup, etc.), slip into our sandals (we tour faster and harder in the morning, so we typically wear sneakers then, and change into sandals for the evening - changing footwear mid-day also helps prevent blisters), and head out.

If we leave around, say, 4:00pm, we'll head to a park, do a couple of "anytime" attractions while awaiting our dinner reservation (generally about 6:30pm), have dinner (which typically takes less than an hour), and tour until about 9:00pm or so. That has us arriving back at the resort and getting into bed between about 10:00pm, having been "up and at it" for about another 6-7 hours. With full bellies and a few more miles' worth of walking under our belts, getting to sleep has never been a problem. We get up around 7:00am (the same time the kids would be getting up for school if we were at home -- it's great to keep them on the same schedule, at least for waking) and have a leisurely hour to "wake up slow," eat cereal in front of the TV in our PJs, get showered/dressed and head out for the bus stop. That means we're getting about 8-9 hours of sleep per night, which is actually an hour or two less than the kids and I (I need a lot of sleep; don't know why, I just always have) generally get at home, and another reason why the afternoon nap is a good and welcome respite.

I know everybody is different, and that for some folks, changing anything about their sleep patterns is difficult and more stressful than restful. This is usually the case with us at home, but we find that at WDW, when we're all getting plenty of exercise and fresh air, sleep comes very easily.

That sounds like a great way to tour. Sadly, I know it would never work for me. I would not be tired enough to take a mid day nap. My everyday life is much more activity then I ever do at WDW. I get up, take the kids to school then go to work. I work in a restaurant so I am on my feet running my tooshie off for 7-8 hours straight with a 15 min break to gobble some food down. Disney is actually a physical break for me since all I am doing is walking normally. LOL But this would work for my hubby, he likes his naps hehehe.