Breaks in middle of day and/or in middle of trip

[DisneyJen0504]

Like many others, I suggest midday breaks and full days off from the parks to do other things like the pool, mini golf, shopping at DTD, etc. I think changing it up each day (some days sleep in and close the parks, some days wake up early and leave in late afternoon, some days take a midday break and then go back out at night, some days take the whole day off from parks), is your best bet. You have plenty of time to see it all!

[kidsrfun]

I'm a firm believer in midday breaks. When the kids were young AND as they grew up, we always took breaks. When they were young, they'd nap. Sometimes not the first day or two of the trip (too excited), but as the trip went on, they got more and more tired and they'd fall asleep more easily. What I found was that even if they didn't nap, they would rest on the bed, watch a disney movie, hydrate, and just unwind. It was cool, dark, quiet, and much needed! It did they SO MUCH good in the evenings. We were the 'be there at rope drop / leave at noon, back around 4, and stay until close' type of family. Also, we always took a day completely off around midweek. We'd go to dtd, resort hop, play minigolf, swim, etc. It was always a great day and if we didn't nap, it seemed like we'd always get to bed a little earlier on that night. Even this trip, when it's just my dh and I for the first time EVER, we're taking midday breaks and off days during the trip. We just can't imagine going all day and all evening too. Maybe we're just getting old!

[SuperTink]

We take breaks, and we go off peak. We also do the AM EMHs. There's always something to do at night. So it makes sense for us. I think it all depends on your family, their ages, and your touring style. Do what feels right for your family, not what anyone says it "right."

[tefrench]

Our family went in June which was super hot, and even my 9 year old son needed a rest. It really helped us enjoy our visit a lot more. We saw an awful lot of hot, tired, cranky kids, and I was so glad that we took breaks every day. Plus it helped keep mom happy! Just do what works for your family.

[BillyBuckner]

It seems like the vast majority of responders believe that the mid-day break is still pretty important in the slow time of year.

So I have a followup question: Do you think that the 'break' needs to consist of going back to the room and laying on the bed or lounging around the resort? Or would one of the ideas below be a sufficient break.

a.) Boat from MK to WL. Take in lunch, leisurely look around the resort.
b.) Same thing but to a monorial resort
c.) Same thing with Epcot/DHS and one of the Epcot resorts
d.) Go sit for a leisurely lunch then sit in a long, boring and restful attraction (or string a couple back to back) and try to count that as a break (Energy Adventure, Hall of Presidents, etc).

Do any of these help as 'breaks' or is the room and the bed important?

[rdearth]

I think breaks are only needed when the hours are long and the temperatures are high.

But, be flexible.

Basically, as you probably know, the 4 year old will decide when and where the breaks take place and it will probably be in his stroller. That could be at 10 am, 2 pm, 8 pm, there's no telling. Just because you as a family decide to go back to the hotel at say 2 pm every day, that doesn't mean that young children know that's the time to relax and calm down.

So, I would keep the idea of taking a break in your mind, but not put it into the official planning schedule.

I think either of your plans for the two weeks are fine, but again, if possible, I would keep it as flexible as I could as well. You never know for certain if for example Day 2 of the park completely wipes you out for Day 3 until you're there and experiencing it. Maybe Day 4 is the day that you start to notice everyone cranky and dragging.

I know it's not the easiest thing to do if you have ADR's and the like, but when travelling with young children, making an itinerary in pencil is the best thing to do in my opinion.

[Planogirl]

Originally Posted by BillyBuckner

It seems like the vast majority of responders believe that the mid-day break is still pretty important in the slow time of year.

So I have a followup question: Do you think that the 'break' needs to consist of going back to the room and laying on the bed or lounging around the resort? Or would one of the ideas below be a sufficient break.

a.) Boat from MK to WL. Take in lunch, leisurely look around the resort.
b.) Same thing but to a monorial resort
c.) Same thing with Epcot/DHS and one of the Epcot resorts
d.) Go sit for a leisurely lunch then sit in a long, boring and restful attraction (or string a couple back to back) and try to count that as a break (Energy Adventure, Hall of Presidents, etc).

Do any of these help as 'breaks' or is the room and the bed important?

This will depend on the people taking the break. Unless we go offsite, this is the type of thing we do EXCEPT I think that it's vital to leave the park. I don't get the same feeling of relaxation if we stay, not even in a boring attraction. I do get a bit of a rest when we ride the train around MK but it's the only exception for some reason. I guess that everyone is different.

I also think that downtime is very needed by most kids. Our son usually couldn't relax enough to sleep but he read his books or watched a little TV in the quiet room and that always helped.

[BillyBuckner]

I thank those who attempted to address the issue of entire days of rest from the parks. I understand that most are not staying long enough that it becomes an issue.

Some basic math tells me that when I arrive on Nov 8, leave on Nov 20 (12 nights, 13 days) and I have 10 day park hopper tickets, that I am going to have at least 3 days that I don't go to parks. I am trying to figure out what is the best strategy for spreading out those days.

If I delve a little deeper into my line of thinking-- According to the crowd calendar at Touringplans.com Nov 8, Nov 14, and Nov 21 are all '9' days. So my original thought was avoid the park on Nov 8 (arrival day), avoid the park of Nov 14, and play the ending by ear. (i.e. go to park on Nov 20 (departure day) if I have a day left on tickets, otherwise if I used them all then go home on Nov 20 -- note we are driving)

When my friend started mentioning that they like 2 days on, then 1 day off, then I started second guessing my plan.

Since I know that I have to miss at least 3 days (counting arrival and departure days) I've been looking at options. Most likely options I see are

Original Plan: 1 OFF, 5 ON, 1 OFF, 5 ON, 1 OFF
Plan B: 1 OFF, 2 ON, 1 OFF, 2 ON, 1 OFF, 2 ON, 1 OFF, 3 ON
Plan C: 1 OFF, 3 ON, 1 OFF, 4 ON, 1 OFF, 3 ON

I think I need to pick one of these strategies, or another one. I thik Plan C may look like a reasonable compromise -- The only downer I see for Plan C is that it will put me in the park on one of the days that Touring Plans rates as a '9' for crowds.

Aside from making sure we don't 'hit the wall', My other motivation for deciding this now is so I can call for ADRs on August 10th. ideally I would like to find a set of ADRs that works perfectly for every plan. However, realistically, I think the best I can hope for is ADRs that work for my preferred plan and work 80% of the time for the backup plan.

Any more thoughts on this from anyone?

[mi*vida*loca]

Originally Posted by BillyBuckner

It seems like the vast majority of responders believe that the mid-day break is still pretty important in the slow time of year.

So I have a followup question: Do you think that the 'break' needs to consist of going back to the room and laying on the bed or lounging around the resort? Or would one of the ideas below be a sufficient break.

a.) Boat from MK to WL. Take in lunch, leisurely look around the resort.
b.) Same thing but to a monorial resort
c.) Same thing with Epcot/DHS and one of the Epcot resorts
d.) Go sit for a leisurely lunch then sit in a long, boring and restful attraction (or string a couple back to back) and try to count that as a break (Energy Adventure, Hall of Presidents, etc).

Do any of these help as 'breaks' or is the room and the bed important?

When we went in 2008 DD was 2 and we did no midday breaks. We went the first week of March and parks closed about 8 pm. We did lunch ADR's and rested and relaxed then and did long attractions. But we also only did 4 days of parks.

This past year DD was 3 and we went during high peak time (3/21-3/28) so park hours were late but the crowds weren't so bad until the end of the week. DH was against midday breaks because when he went as a kid they did ALL DAY parks in July/August. I told him we would play it by ear and he said okay.

Well on day 1 we did all day. Day 2 we did dinner at 5 pm and then went back to the resort. Day 3 all day parks. Day 4 rest. Day 5 midday break. Day 6 midday break. Day 7 left the parks around 2 pm for the day. Day 8 we did late breakfast and MK one last time and left. So as you can by the end of the week the temps got a bit higher, the crowds got a bit thicker and we were getting tired and we did midday breaks.

I just talked to DH today and he said he actually likes midday breaks now. This next trip park hours will be around 9-7/8 for the parks. We will be going first week of March. For our next trip I plan to do about 3-4 days of midday breaks and one rest day out of our 8 day trip. So not including arrival and departure day two days we won't plan a midday break because it'll be Epcot day and the kids relax when we do WS. The other day is DHS and with so many shows the kids really relax then. Plus we like to sit on benches and people watch, catch a snack BUT we aren't opposed to taking a midday break those days IF needed! I would like to hop to PM EMH both of those days so we may very well be doing midday break those days but knowing my group we won't need it. Especially since Epcot day is our 1st full day at the parks and we will just want to go go go and the DHS day is the day after rest day when we are all rejuvenated and ready to go again.

[lustergirl]

I think breaks are important for a family with younger children. Come day three at full force you are probably due for a major breakdown. Disney World is alot of ground to cover so don't over do it.

[dougsmom98]

If you were going during the hot summer months, I would say that you would have to take a midday break. In November, you won't need a midday break. I like your second plan except, I never tour on our departure day. We have done 5 days in the parks in a row but we were pretty tired in the end. I would do 2-3 days in the parks in a row tops and then throw in a rest day.

[flipflopmom]

We went with the FULL intention of midday breaks. Sun, we didn't take one, 2 year old slept in stroller, rest of us took it easy in the pm. Monday, MK, we did. DH and I slept, the DD's didn't. We ended up with a much crankier child that day. To our surprise, she slept much better in the stroller than going back to the room. For us, sleep, not just rest, made the difference for her. So we stayed in the parks, gave her plenty of chances to nap in the stroller, and used middays to visit some A/C places, longer lunches that we weren't really hungry for, but enjoyed the break from the heat and crowds. Yes, she fell asleep at dinner a few times, during our Wishes cruise, and sitting for an hour before Fantasmic. Did I care? Nope, b/c she was getting what she needed. Our nine year old did GREAT with no room breaks, in fact, best week of our lives.

So.... make a plan, and be prepared to change it daily! We didn't have much problem rearranging ADR's once there to make things fit into our schedule, mood at the moment! (Cancelled two, added two, change time on one..)

[Madzac]

As you can see, I think everyone has a different strategy that works for their family. I never was a break taker, or even one who took a day off from the parks. We dont get there every year and I wanted to see all! Once we had kids and took our first trip, we planned maybe two days with mid day breaks. It was really tough to leave for me, but needed. The kids didnt always sleep, but getting a swim and just some down time with less stimulation was good. By the 6th day of a 7 day trip, we were wiped out. We slept in, did DTD, napped, all of us, and didnt go the the parks until 4pm.

This past trip I mixed it up. We had 8 days. The first day we went all day. then we alternated. We would take an afternoon break from say 1-4pm. The baby would be put down to get a full nap (he did SO much better!) and our 4 yr old would take a dip in the pool and then nap which made a huge difference. Then we would head back to the park for dinner and evening parades/fireworks. I made sure if we were up a late night at this, that we didnt have rope drop the next day, we slept in and had a character late brunch and then toured the rest of the day without a break.

You may have to play it by ear and see how everyone does. My family going a length such as your trip would want your original plan... we want to be in the parks! We would go 5 days on then a break day. We dont usually take full days away from the parks, but would in a trip your length. Also, you could always go for just a couple hours to see a parade or hit a favorite ride if you wanted.

As for parks closing early, we dont take a break our AK day since it closes early. We plan to head right back to the resort after it closes though and an early bed. I would think you could plan mid day breaks just on those days you intended to be out later.

[princess63]

Hi, everybody!

Haven't been to WDW in years, but planning to go hopefully sometime next fall. I definitely think you should take a midday break, especially with young ones. If you plan on staying on-property, this shouldn't be too difficult. It takes time away from the parks, but there's not much point in being there if you're too tired to really enjoy them.

As for the two plans, I think you should make up an itinerary for each, and see how the kiddies (and the adults!) are doing after the two days are up. If they're up to going a few more days without a break, I'd say go for it. If not, at least you won't have to worry about rearranging all of your plans.

Hope you all have a great trip!

[daisax]

I don't take mid-day breaks for the physical relaxation (though it does help) -- I take it for the mental relaxation. I really appreciate stepping away from the high intensity of the park atmosphere, closing the door behind me, and gearing up for the evening out.

I find I'm much better tempered the rest of the day, and I've found children I've traveled with are much fresher as well, even if they don't actually nap.