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Taking a break in the day back to the hotel. Pros and Cons
- Thread starter EpcotMark
- Start date
Tom P.
Well-Known Member
I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, so forgive me if I duplicate some of the comments of others.
My wife and I have five children as well, very similar in ages to those of your sister, and we have taken them to Walt Disney World numerous times. We have read all the advice from people who say that taking those mid-day breaks to go back to the resort and rest is essential. But, quite frankly, we've always found them too much of a nuisance in practice to actually do.
Even when you are staying on property, it is not like it is a five minute trip to go back to your room. You're talking about potentially as much as a couple hours tied up in travel time to and from, including getting in and out of the park, as well as however much time you spend back at the resort for your break. That's a pretty significant chunk of the day. We normally have not done it and have been fine.
Now, let me qualify that with a couple of caveats: First, we are not rope drop people. Not in the slightest. We hate the idea of waking up early on vacation. So we don't. We sleep in and get to the parks later, but we also tend to stay until park closing at night. Second, we do not do the parks "commando style," trying to cram in every last attraction we can possibly get to in a short time. We go to actual sit down restaurants where you get a break, we make sure to frequently get on attractions that are indoors and have air conditioning, etc. And, finally, we tend to take longer trips where not every day is a park day. We build days into our schedule to spend a day at the resort, or go play a round of mini-golf, or go to the water parks which are far more leisurely than the theme parks.
With those things in mind, we tend to do pretty well without the mid-day resort breaks. Yes, all kids will get tired and cranky sometimes. But we don't usually have any real problems with big meltdowns or anything like that. Of course, it all comes down to your style of vacationing and knowing what works for you and the kids you are with.
Bottom line: Don't let anyone tell you that you "have" to do your vacation a certain way. Figure out what works for you and your family and go with it.
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Rsj88
Well-Known Member
For us it depends on temperature, crowd levels, park hours, and how exhausted we are! If we go when it is hot and crowded we absolutely take a break! We rope drop, eat an early lunch and leave around 1:00 as the crowds come in. You won’t be riding that much anyway because of the lines and then you can’t stay out as late because you are exhausted! So we then come back around 4:30, eat dinner and go ride again! When we go in the winter and hours are shorter we just stay all day but I can’t stand the heat!
Tk0021
Active Member
We took two trips ( 2016 and 2017). The first trip was so much better IMO. We had more fun. There are several variables, first trip to Disney, in laws and parents were on the second trip, hotel location, first trip we stayed at the contemporary, etc. I have been racking my brain to figure out the main reason and it maybe that we took mid day breaks. The first trip my kids were 5 and 3 and we would walk back to the contemporary on MK days. The second trip we stayed at AKL and because of the buses did not do mid day breaks. I think the breaks were a bigger factor than I originally thought to a better vacation.
I look back on it now, would we like to take a break or wait in line and ride the little mermaid for the 7 th time that day?
I look back on it now, would we like to take a break or wait in line and ride the little mermaid for the 7 th time that day?
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WannaBWendy
Well-Known Member
We always take a swim at midday and that cools the kids down and relaxes them enough for a nap. Then head back out late afternoon.
I haven't read through whole thread so pardon me . . .
IMO, your sister's family will need a break, particularly the 1 and 3 year old (and likely the 5 year old too). Days are just too long, particularly with the summer heat. As for the rest of the group, you can probably stay with your parents and the 10 year old till no one can go any longer and then return to the room for whatever night activities you have planned with the rest of the group. Enjoy.
IMO, your sister's family will need a break, particularly the 1 and 3 year old (and likely the 5 year old too). Days are just too long, particularly with the summer heat. As for the rest of the group, you can probably stay with your parents and the 10 year old till no one can go any longer and then return to the room for whatever night activities you have planned with the rest of the group. Enjoy.
note2001
Well-Known Member
This.
Just heading back to the room and expecting kids to nap doesn't always work out as planned. BUT if you dip them in the pool, let their bodies cool off and slow down a well needed nap usually comes about.
As for the adult version of the nap - while I really love an afternoon snooze, I cannot while "on duty" looking after the kids, even if they are sleeping. Still, the rest does me a world of good and I can catch up with my reading.
daringstoic
Active Member
We used to go every summer and never did breaks. When we were little, if we needed a nap, my mom would lay the stroller seat back and we'd sleep right there. She wasn't into the big rides, so she'd just find a bench in the shade somewhere or browse through stores and wait for my dad to take the older kids on something like Space Mountain. By the time we were out of stroller age, we just went all day. We didn't exactly rope drop the parks, but we'd be there by 9:30/10 and stay until at least the fireworks most of the time. I'd much rather stay at the park and sit and have an ice cream or a table service meal for a break than waste hours catching buses back to the hotel, especially since the All-Stars aren't close to anything. Time is money at WDW and when you look at spending at least 3 hours after factoring in transportation and relaxation time every day, that adds up to a lot of wasted park time.
Librartist
New Member
OK. So June is really hot & humid here. We live in FL but we stayed 3 nights at a Disney resort last May. It was 99 degrees and humidity about the same. We tried to do a whole park in one day and had heat exhaustion big time. Even tho its a pain to get in and out of the parks, my vote is get there when the park opens, leave around 1:00, go home eat lunch (cheaper food outside of park), take a dip in the pool, and a nap. Then back to the park around 4:00 or 5:00 until closing.
Hamlit
New Member
In my experience, my kids love the pool as much as the parks. When they were little, we went to the parks at opening, stayed until it got crowded/hot, around noon or 1, went back to the pool while we relaxed on pool chairs. When it got cooler we would go back to the parks. If you go this route, get your fast passes all back to back in the morning. If you get to your first fast pass and the line isn’t busy, go standby first, then use your FP so you can ride twice. Anyway, after using all three fast passes, get a 4th for later when you will be back, or another park later. The parks will get lighter in late afternoon/evening. Hope this idea helps. Only con is your little ones may be too tired to go back to the park late. In those cases we didn’t go back, just had a nice dinner somewhere and chilled out.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Swing and a miss. That's a myth.
Magic Kingdom
Contemporary - 10 minutes
All Star Movies - 23 minutes
Epcot
Contemporary - 34 minutes
All Star Movies - 20 minutes
Hollywood Studios
Contemporary - 19 minutes
All Star Movies - 18 minutes
Animal Kingdom
Contemporary - 25 minutes
All Star Movies - 22 minutes
So unless you spend an inordinate amount of time at the Magic Kingdom, the All Stars are almost exactly as convenient as the Contemporary.
Joebradley62
Active Member
With children 1, 3 and 5 they will need a break or they will meltdown. The break can be midday in the hottest time and should include pool time naps etc. The transit time is just a given but the rest time is vital especially for the youngest (and oldest!) Members of the group.
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
This!! I couldn't survive a WDW trip without that daily afternoon nap!
Corgi
Active Member
A tip I have is to take maybe the middle day of your vacation and schedule nothing. Use it to relax at the hotel, go swimming, or do whatever you want to that day. We plan this into our Disney vacation every year. It’s nice because it leaves a day to use the resort pool for a long time.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Counter-point: I find that a complete day of "nothing" gets boring extremely quickly. By lunch time, everyone is twiddling their thumbs trying to figure out what to do with themselves. Also, you're completely wasting your opportunity to get three FastPasses that day.
Rather than one full day off, I recommend two half-days off. For example, you might consider taking off the morning after IllumiNations or the evening after you do morning EMH.
ctcdisneymama
Active Member
We've only gone with adults but even we take breaks mid day. It was so nice to come back to the hotel and recharge to go back in the evening for dinner. We've done vacations both ways - mid day breaks and no mid day breaks - and the mid day breaks made the entire trip more enjoyable.
ctcdisneymama
Active Member
We plan a day of nothing as well! It's always in the middle of our stay. We usually sleep in, spend the day at the pool or even go and check out Disney Springs. We will always plan a day like this in our trip; it makes a huge difference!!
daringstoic
Active Member
As of my last All Star stay, they still share bus routes during slower times like the afternoon, which will easily add 10-15 minutes to each leg of the trip. And just because the All Stars are closer to a couple of parks than the Contemporary doesn't mean that they're actually close to anything.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Lolwut? That's exactly what it means. "Just because they're closer doesn't mean they're closer."
Joebradley62
Active Member
Some people hate to be contradicted even if the facts support the opposing view.