Has anyone ever taken young kids (mine are 8 and 5) to very late night EMH? We will be visiting next week when MK is open until 3AM, and I thought it would be fun to put the kids to bed early and then wake them up at midnight to go ride their favorite rides with no lines. Good idea or horrible idea?
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Very Late EMH with kids?
- Thread starter SHP
- Start date
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
Maybe the 8 year old can stay up longer(not till 3). But 5 is too young to stay up like that. You and the child will suffer for it later. Kids need a lot more sleep then we do and they do not do well to drastic changes. Chances are they would fall asleep long before midnight anyway. We have done the late EMH that ran till 3 am and it is still busy until 2am. The little ones are out by midnight but the adults and older teens stay pretty late. The last hour is pretty dead, but then so were we. 
DryerLintFan
Premium Member
Maybe the 8 year old can stay up longer(not till 3). But 5 is too young to stay up like that. You and the child will suffer for it later. Kids need a lot more sleep then we do and they do not do well to drastic changes. Chances are they would fall asleep long before midnight anyway. We have done the late EMH that ran till 3 am and it is still busy until 2am. The little ones are out by midnight but the adults and older teens stay pretty late. The last hour is pretty dead, but then so were we.
I think he's asking about letting them go to sleep at their normal bedtime, but then wake them up at midnight like you would for NYE fireworks. So they'd have time at the parks from midnight to 3 am, and then go back to sleep.
Yes, that’s correct (although I’m a “she”). We will be doing a lot of walking the first few days so by this point in our trip I’m hoping they will fall asleep by about 7:30 or 8 pm, and then I would wake them up at midnight, and hit MK for a few hours and then go back to bed. I may just consider it for me and my son and let DH and DD rest...
DryerLintFan
Premium Member
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I kept a 5 year old out past 1am.. would have kept him out later if the opportunity was there.. you know your kids, it comes down to if you think they can do it.
I do have a suggestion, order room service to be delivered at wake up time.. or you or your spouse run down and pick some up something at the quick service..get the kids awake, fed, and excited from the second they wake up. They’ll probably be groggy at first, but having food ready should help.
This, above anything else. Think about the amazing memories being made. One night of shortened sleep isn’t going to be a factor in 2 days time.. the memories will stay with you forever
Tinkerbell 2000
Member
Go for it! Plan to have a quiet day the next day but the things that kids remember much later in life about Disney trips is the fun they had late at night when it seems like mom and dad are breaking ALL of their own rules. One of the only things I remember for our first trip is riding Big Thunder Mountain at 1 am with my dad.
I am planning a full trip report, hopefully I can get started tomorrow, but the long and short of it is that my 8 year old was unable to rally at midnight and we decided to let him sleep and try again next time. The hard part about going the week between Xmas and New Year’s Day is that it is virtually impossible to ride your favorites more than once without waiting in impossibly long lines. This late night jaunt would have been a good solution so hopefully when he’s a little older, or we’ll just have to pick a different week.