Thoughts about midday breaks

[Kbate]

Hello. I am traveling with my three young daughters, 8, 9, and 11 and have heard a lot of recommendations for a midday break. I hate the idea of loosing park time, but I really am not sure how much it will be needed.

One other question, on one day, we have Typhoon Lagoon scheduled for the morning and are planning to do TRex that night. Should we shower and get ready at TL and head straight to DS, or head back to the resort for some down time? Also another day we have Blizzard Beach in the morning and Ak in the afternoon. AK closes at 9 and I am wondering if we can pull off a whole day without a break.

Thoughts???

 

[stace1214]

What time of year are you going? If it's summer, you really might need the break from the heat. With those ages, they'd probably be fine without a break if it's not so hot out.

 

[samara]

In my experience, it really depends on your kids. If they are usually very energetic and want to go, go, go all the time at home, you will probably be fine without a break, especially every day. If they tend to need downtime on a regular day at home, though, they will definitely need it at Disney. It also depends a bit on the weather. If it's going to be very hot during your visit, then the downtime will feel more necessary. Honestly, if you can make rope drop, you will make up enough time that taking a break in the middle of the afternoon and returning several hours later shouldn't stop you from experiencing most attractions in a park.

As for the water parks, personally a water park makes me more tired than a regular theme park so I would plan a break for those days in particular.
Hope this helps and that you have a great trip!

 

[Emtgirljen]

Hello. I am traveling with my three young daughters, 8, 9, and 11 and have heard a lot of recommendations for a midday break. I hate the idea of loosing park time, but I really am not sure how much it will be needed.

One other question, on one day, we have Typhoon Lagoon scheduled for the morning and are planning to do TRex that night. Should we shower and get ready at TL and head straight to DS, or head back to the resort for some down time? Also another day we have Blizzard Beach in the morning and Ak in the afternoon. AK closes at 9 and I am wondering if we can pull off a whole day without a break.

Thoughts???

It's been a long time since I've been to the water parks, but I don't think that there's anyplace to shower and get ready there. I could be wrong though, someone who's been more recently will probably know. Just wanted to give you a heads up to the possibility of no place to get ready, though.

 

[travelgirl77]

We leave on Friday with an 8 year old and almost, almost 5 year old. I basically did not "plan" anything everyday between 1230 and 330. I figure that will give us wiggle room should we want that break and if they do not need it, then we can stay in the park. I will report back when we return and let everyone know how things went!

 

[Klayfish]

The water parks do have showers and dressing areas, so you could do that if you wanted.

As for the midday breaks, it's purely subjective. How long is your trip? If it's only a few days, you could probably do without them. If it's a really long trip, they may not be a bad idea. We don't like to lose park time either, but we've found that if we try to do full days non-stop back to back to back to back, everyone gets tired and cranky. We don't particularly "plan" midday breaks, but we try to be smart. If it's 3pm and we've been there since 9am, and the day before was a full day, we'll just say "let's call it a day" and go back to our condo (we stay offsite).

In summary, I don't think a midday break is a "must", even in summer. But I wouldn't recommend doing 10 hour days more than 2 or 3 in a row (but again, YMMV).

 

[Babrook]

Even when going with a group of adults we've found that the mid-day siesta is basically a requirement. Even if it just for two hours back at the room, or at the pool, it helps prevent the crankies from setting in in the afternoon. It gives everyone in our party a bit of alone time to do their own things, freshen up, etc. Yes, you're going to lose park time, but I think the park time you have is much more enjoyable as a result. The Magic Kingdom is a lot less magic after eight hours of being in the 90 degree heat at 4pm. Of course your mileage may vary - you know how your kids are better than anyone, obviously.

 

[kniquy]

When we traveled with our then 9 yo twin boys we didn't plan on it but pretty much did rope drop til late most days. I planned for some afternoon breaks, but we were having so much fun and wanted to do more so we just kept going. Like a pp mentioned it does depend on the time of year. Our trip was for NYE so the weather was beautiful, but summer time i would want a break.

The parks are demanding but you figure you do spend some time standing, riding rides or watching shows so you get a little break here and there. you can always plan a later TS lunch to relax -- that gives you probably a good hour or hour and half break.

 

[Emtgirljen]

The water parks do have showers and dressing areas, so you could do that if you wanted.

See, I knew someone would know better than me! Now I'm wondering why we never took advantage of these to change out of wet suits before getting on the freezing cold bus?

 

[Parker Clan]

If you go in any of the summer months I feel it's necessary to have the break. But that's just my opinion.
The heat can really get to you if you don't take a break by the pool, in your room or anywhere in the AC for a while. I don't feel like I'm missing out on park time at all because we always go back at night

 

[sharonabe]

Just a thought on showering/getting ready at TL before going to DS. You'll need your own towels (and I presume soap/shampoo), and then you'll have wet clothes and towels to tote around with you at dinner. I wouldn't want to do it, but to each his own.

 

[Veronique]

Really, it's up to each family and I would only advise to be flexible and watch out for grumpy (don't forget to eat!). My family:

I went with a 4 months old and 5 years old in july 2015 and never took a midday break. It was an 8 days trip + 1 day where my husband and son went to Legoland and I stayed at the timeshare with the baby. We did leave in late afternoon twice because we were tired.

I went for a 10 days trip in sept-oct 2016 (daughter was 18-19 months old) and still did not took a midday break (unless you count the hurricane that closed the parks a break lol). But again we left early twice.

And we are leaving in less then 2 weeks for a 10 days + 2 water parks days and still not planning any breaks, but we always plan 4 commando style days, one for each park, and the rest are more open to leaving early our a late start.

We take lots of small break, walk slowly, enjoy the theming, etc. We usually plan long indoor attractions and shows in the afternoon as much as possible. If we leave, take a break and come back later, I doubt we would be able to rope drop the next morning too.

And we are also planning TL and direct to DS and T-REX for dinner lol. We will probably just rince off, dry ourselves, change our clothes, throw our bathing suits in a bag and call it good enough.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Having three kids and going at different times of the year, we ALWAYS scheduled downtime in the middle of the day. We boys sweat in hot weather. Dad and boys got to stinking, daughter and mom got grumpy because we stunk. Good shower and change of clothes made everybody much more happier. I will say, not all Disney World visitors care if they smell bad though. Met a few that were actually proud of it I think! Staying cool and fresh is not a given, it takes hard work!

 

[scard192]

we did them when the kids were younger and the youngest needed a nap. We all enjoyed getting out of the heat back at the resort when we went in September and even October.

Last trip - Mid November 2016, the youngest was 6 and our first trip with no naps. We got SO much more done without going back to the resort and then returning to a park.

have to say I missed having a stroller, no place to store the bottles of water, etc.

 

[gwmort]

We are big fans of the midday breaks.

We were there last week and the weather almost necessitated them (rained almost everyday but usually between 2 and 6 pm.

We would do our best to rope drop, have a productive morning, lunch, then head back to the room, if the rain hadn't started yet we would hit the pool or otherwise just take a nap, after the rain was over we would head back to the parks for the evenings (worked the EMH so most nights we had until 11 or 12 anyway).

Don't feel like we missed anything and everyone stayed far less grumpy and comfortable.

 

[Kbate]

What time of year are you going? If it's summer, you really might need the break from the heat. With those ages, they'd probably be fine without a break if it's not so hot out.

We are traveling in September. I do worry about the heat. We are from Maine and have had quite a cool summer so I worry about being able to tolerate the heat.

 

[Kbate]

Even when going with a group of adults we've found that the mid-day siesta is basically a requirement. Even if it just for two hours back at the room, or at the pool, it helps prevent the crankies from setting in in the afternoon. It gives everyone in our party a bit of alone time to do their own things, freshen up, etc. Yes, you're going to lose park time, but I think the park time you have is much more enjoyable as a result. The Magic Kingdom is a lot less magic after eight hours of being in the 90 degree heat at 4pm. Of course your mileage may vary - you know how your kids are better than anyone, obviously.

Thanks. I guess I just need to think more about quality vs quantity. I know that it won't be fun with three cranky kids.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Midday breaks are definitely a family-to-family thing. When DS was little, we didn't do them, as our normal schedule was skewed very early. We just planned shorter days and spent evenings back at the resort. Later on, we would sometime take a break and do a later night.

I always tend to want a shower and a rest after water parks, though.

 

[JackOliva07013]

I have younger kids 7 and 5 and midday breaks are mandatory for all of us. not just kids. grown ups get tired and cranky too.

in the morning we always went to the park that had EMH and started at 8am. We were trying to leave that park before noon. that gave us 4 hrs park time and be able to get on 3-4 rides with minimal wait.

to limit time getting back to resort you can get Uber or Lyft.

from my point of view - the breaks were needed not only for kids - but grown ups as well. 90 min nap can save a meltdown.

We would go back to same park around 4pm and use our FP+ for the afternoon time.

sure - its a waste of precious time in the park. but we only had 1 meltdown and for me it was worth it.

We are traveling in September. I do worry about the heat. We are from Maine and have had quite a cool summer so I worry about being able to tolerate the heat.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

Last trip our DS was 5. We did MK at rope drop (both days we visited), left at lunch time for food, a swim and nap then back to the park by 5pm. I love the difference in the park from daytime and nighttime. Riding 7DMT during Wishes is one of my favorite memories.

AK we didn't stay but maybe 6hrs (we missed a lot, but had dinner plans).

DHS - we were there open to close and it was marvelous. It was our last day so I think that kept us motivated to keep moving. We closed out the day with dinner at Mama Melrose, Fantasmic then the Star Wars fireworks. Though we stayed the entire day, we sill missed things like the Muppets and Indiana Jones.