Your Daily Wake Up and Bedtime at WDW

[Main Street USA]

I'm curious as to how most of you spend your mornings and nights at WDW. For example, Do you get an early morning wake up call and make sure to have time for breakfast before the parks open? Do you stay out as late as the parks are open every night? Do you just play it by ear and decide to sleep in, stay out, get back to the hotel, etc?

I'd say we definitely play it by ear. I'd love to have the energy to feel well with only 5 hours of sleep per night and get to the parks before they open, and stay until they close, but I just get exhausted. Too much walking and excitment crammed into one day, I guess.

 

[tigsmom]

We are a play it by ear kinda family. We decide every evening what we will do the next day and go from there. Some days we are up very early others not. Staying out late depends on EMH & if we are participating. We also don't make our ADRs from home, we do them the night before or early in the morning. We've also been know to call around dinner time and ask who has an open spot in the park we are in. Over planning (IMHO) takes all the fun out of a vacation. :wave:

 

[scorp111]

We are definitely a get up early family, or at least I am, which causes the others to be.

We don't always stay until closing though, and if we do, we definitely take a break. We also tend to go during off-peak periods, so park hours are shorter anyways.

We generally make at least one sit-down ADR per day in advance of the trip.
We sometimes cancel instead of going though if it turns out to not fit our plans.

 

[Yanks07]

I am an early riser no matter what time I go to sleep. Nothing I love more than walking over to the Boardwalk bakery for some sweet rolls and coffee, which usually wakes everyone up once I return. The kids are not into the fireworks like I am, so wife and I always see either wishes or illuminations each evening while the kids either hit EMH or watch dvd`s. Either way we are in bed by 10-11 each night:snore: , and out by 9 in the AM, with a mid day pool break.

 

[Kadee]

My daughter and I are early risers, so we are always at a park at opening with a very sleepy husband in tow. We take a break most days (quick nap in the room) and are at a park until closing most every night. We usually bring things with us for breakfast, like Nutrigrain bars or little debbie snacks so we don't waste too much time on breakfast. Some days, eat a good breakfast out (usually at the resort). We hate to miss anything at WDW because we don't get to go too often.

 

[DDuckFan130]

We always get up early. For MK, we try to be there at park opening. For other parks, we get up at around 7am and take our time getting ready.

As far as going to bed, it depends on what we're doing. We can be at the parks until closing or maybe we decided to go to DTD Marketplace. But usually we're in bed by midnight or 1am.

 

[MKCP 1985]

In all my visits, I've never made a park opening, honest-to-goodness drop the rope kind of thing. Many times I've been at the turnstiles within moments of the posted time of the park opening hours. I'd like to do it one day.

What we always do is have a breakfast before going to the park. Sometimes that breakfast is at our hotel and other times, we'll go to other hotels or off site.

When we get to the parks, it is a play it by ear type of thing. Park hopping, back to the hotel for a swim and a break, theme park commando - anything is possible.

We usually stay at whatever park we end up in until after closing. If there are evening extra magic hours, that will be the park we will end up in.

After park close, it is either back to the hotel or to Downtown Disney, and we will almost always have a couple of cocktails out by the pool, reflecting on the highlights of the day, before retiring to bed, no matter what time we get in.

:wave:

 

[d'Isigny]

In all my visits, I've never made a park opening, honest-to-goodness drop the rope kind of thing. Many times I've been at the turnstiles within moments of the posted time of the park opening hours. I'd like to do it one day.

What we always do is have a breakfast before going to the park. Sometimes that breakfast is at our hotel and other times, we'll go to other hotels or off site.

When we get to the parks, it is a play it by ear type of thing. Park hopping, back to the hotel for a swim and a break, theme park commando - anything is possible.

We usually stay at whatever park we end up in until after closing. If there are evening extra magic hours, that will be the park we will end up in.

After park close, it is either back to the hotel or to Downtown Disney, and we will almost always have a couple of cocktails out by the pool, reflecting on the highlights of the day, before retiring to bed, no matter what time we get in.

:wave:

I like the way you end your day...

You've got to do an opening one day. The characters arrive by train MK) or bus (Epcot, AK) to welcome you...

I usually get up around 6:30-7:00...so I can make it into the Parks. My wife prefers to sleep in (we meet up with each other later). She will go in early on certain days...but prefers to take her time, have breakfast...lounge by the pool...etc.

Me, I can stay in the parks from morning to night...

 

[justducky78]

We usually play it by ear. We decide (the night before) where we're going the next day. If it's a particularly warm/sunny day, we plan on a waterpark day. We're normally up pretty early anyways, so we enjoy a lazy breakfast or early walk and then head over to a park for the morning.

Around 1pm, we head back to the hotel for a swim/nap until late afternoon. We shower, get a little more dressed up and head to dinner and then later to the parks/parades/shopping, etc. With a mid-day nap/swim we rarely get overtired at night or feel the need to sleep in, but if we do, no big deal.

 

[swimmom]

Our last trip we were up every day by 7:00 or 8:00, even the first day after our 4 hour flight delay and arriving at 3:00 a.m. If was just a 4 day trip and we had no time to waste. Since we are not morning people, we usually stay to park closings or go to DTD and try to be out of bed in the mornings by 8:00. I usually need to catch up on sleep after a trip to WDW!

 

[jasonchas]

When I go I get up around 6:30 and close whatever park I'm in at the time of closing. That's one reason I need three days to recover when I get home.

 

[GenerationX]

We don't set an alarm. So, whenever we get up, we eat a quick breakfast in the room and head to the morning's park (knowing this tendency, I plan for us to avoid early morning hour parks). After a mid-day break at the hotel, we head out to the evening's park. We usually stay there until close.

The one time I went down to WDW by myself, I stayed in the parks from open to close.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Generally I sleep a bit later. I usually get up around 8-9 am, get dressed, get out the door to breakfast ( YUM Boatwright's usually!!) and then wander over to the parks. I usually make it to the park du jour anywhere between 11 am and noon. I will always stay in the park after that till close and through EMH if they have them. After that it is over to PI or Boardwalk on some nights. Belle

 

[jesserin]

Hmmm... the first couple days we're up with the sun (8ish ) and hit the parks by 10 -but after that we start sleeping in and really enjoying our vacation, thus we usually don't make it to the parks before 11ish the rest of the trip...

 

[stankly182]

Me and My Mom get up at 6:30ish to get ready, leave the room by 7:15, and then run down to the foodcourt where I get a croissant and an orange juice *I do this every day of our stay, every year, same breakfast*. Then we go and wait for a bus to be able to be at the park before opening. We usually go back to the resort around 1pm, or when it becomes to hot for us, take a nap, and head back out around 4:30 back to the park. We buy the park hopper but we rarely switch parks,so we usually go back to the park we were at that day and we usually stay until closing. We do this everyday we are there, every year we go. We are creatures of habit

 

[aklodge]

When our family stayed at POR about 3 weeks ago we usally got a wake up call from Mickey and Stitch somewhere around 7:00. At night, we usually didnt get back from the parks (and I say parks in plural because we hopped ALOT) until about 11:00pm. The last couple of days we were there though, we came home about 1:00 and had a nap. At 7:00am we usually would go to River Roost or McDonalds. When we stay at AKL this December, we will be much more relaxed seeing that we will have more days to spend outside of the parks and exploring the resort and other activities such as DisneyQuest, etc. etc.

Hope that helps.

 

[bullyx3]

see all you can see

Breakfast is never missed head to a park ,afternoon break .then dinner a park and emh

 

[wishiwzthere]

We sleep in,:snore: and stay up late, always ending up at the park that has EMH, and then if that isn't enough, we head to DTD.

 

[MouseMadness]

I have a tough time getting off my normal schedule. So, up at 7 and usually asleep between 11 and 12, with exceptions if we decide to go to PI or whatever. That's normally not enough sleep for the kids (or the rest of the adults in our group :lol: :lookaroun ) so typically, since we get to stay concierge more often than not, I run up and eat while they are all still asleep. It's nice because then I can get them all ready and fed since I'm all set to go myself!

 

[Ringo8n24]

We get up later than I would like, say around 8 or 9, but that is usually because we are so tired from the night before where we usually go to be around midnight. One thing that gets me up better is hearing all the other hotel room doors opening and closing around us and hearing the kids outside all excited to be leaving. It motivates me to get up once I realize where I am and what I am missing. I wish I could be there for opening one time. Maybe next time...