Waking up earlier than normal on vacation

[MudBud]

Hi All! I tried searching but I didn't have any luck.

Do you or would you start waking your kids up earlier at home to have them better prepared to get up early in WDW?

My kids will be 3yo & 7yo when we go. They get up around 8am now. With the time change & to get to the parks early they will need to get up 3 hours earlier.

I will plan a couple sleep in days but should I start getting them up earlier at home or just expect early nights? They don't nap either.

TIA

 

[Mousemommy1]

We don't wake up early at Disney....we get to the parks when we get to them, but our trips are also once a year and 11 days at a time, so we are never rush, rush, rush. Typically, we do get to the parks by 10 am and stick around until around 1. Then we like to have resort time until about 5 and head back to the parks at night.

 

[scrapquitler]

Hi All! I tried searching but I didn't have any luck.

Do you or would you start waking your kids up earlier at home to have them better prepared to get up early in WDW?

My kids will be 3yo & 7yo when we go. They get up around 8am now. With the time change & to get to the parks early they will need to get up 3 hours earlier.

I will plan a couple sleep in days but should I start getting them up earlier at home or just expect early nights? They don't nap either.

TIA

I wouldn't. But when my kids were that age, they were up really early on vacation because they were so excited.

 

[Camshell]

We did some minor adjustment to the sleep schedule, but overall at that age they were pretty excited to get up and go. The thing that worked best for us was for my husband and I to get up first and get ready. Once we were done we got the kids up which helped as we could focus on them 100%.

 

[littlbugmom]

We are rope drop people. We get up early and go! We always return to the condo for a few hours in the midday and then return to the parks in the evening.
At that age, I probably would have gotten them up a little earlier a couple days before the trip but not much.
Now, I have a 16 and 12 yr old. They get up at the crack of dawn for school so it's not an issue.

 

[MudBud]

Thank you all for your input!

 

[jvz82]

We got them up early. We had to be up by 5 am to get to Magic Kingdom by 7 am opening (at Christmas time), which is 4 am our time. It was tough, but it was worth it because mornings were always our best part of the day. When we could, we went back to the resort for naps.

 

[julieFitz]

For some reason, my kids always wake up early when we are on vacation. I think it's the whole idea of all of us in the same room plus the excitement of Disney. But if you are worried about them sleeping in, I would make sure you have outfits laid out the night before and snacks packed so you can wake them at a time that's reasonable and quickly get them ready and feed them while you are en route to parks.

 

[AshleeH]

We don't. We do rope drop and just wake them up when we start our vacation. My kids were 7 and 4 on our first vacation and we told them if they weren't whiney/cranky and didn't fight with each other all week, they could each get a souvenir of their choosing. It worked so well, we did it the next year. The year after that, it was just habit for them by that time.

 

[Accident]

I didn't schedule anything for earlier than everyone would get up normally and now that it's a decade later, we still do the same. My daughter would pass out fast and sleep later than normal. I would get her up if we were at risk of missing breakfast as her mickey waffles were a big deal to start the day.

I personally don't find waking up early a vacation and depending on time of year, night entertainment is probably after normal bed time so trying to keep the morning wake up routine about the same I found really helped keep it a vacation.

 

[Suzanne74]

I wouldn't. There is something about vacation that gets your body up and excited. It is Disney after all. Plus, you have to go with the flow so there are days you get up super early, some where you stay up late, another where the whole family may need a nap at 1pm to make it thru the rest of the day. Ages 3 and 7 can adjust, as long as they are getting enough sleep. Don't just go go go all day long and don't plan a super early morning on a night you may be out late the night before.

So on days you hit rope drop, leave the park for the resort from 1-4pm for naps/pool.
Take a rest day in the middle of the vacation where you sleep in and do some low-key things
Go early to AK and then plan on a nice dinner and early bed.

If we are there in hot/busy weather, rope drop, taking 1-4pm breaks, and then back to park for the evening has ALWAYS worked for us. The heat sucks the life out of you and the kids. One parent naps with youngest, other parent relaxes and takes a swim with oldest. Sometimes even the oldest will nap too, especially if you promise a late night fireworks etc..