Afternoon breaks or no?

[pixiedust2u]

Do you suggest we forget about the breakfast reservation in order to have a normal park day and get there at early entry?

Honestly, I find HS the most important park to do rope drop, so if it were me I’d skip a breakfast reservation and maybe instead do an in park sit down lunch. Maybe Hollywood & Vine, which is a character meal and may appeal to your 6 year old! You can play it by ear and do a mid day break after lunch if you need it as well.

 

[pixiedust2u]

And yes to a stroller especially if your little one isn’t used to talking miles upon miles a day. There are LOTs of kids in strollers at Disney that wouldn’t otherwise be anywhere else. It’s A LOT! We just stopped using our stroller last year when our youngest was 6. But he’s done th parks many times, as well as other vacations where we’ve averaged 20k steps a day. But for a kiddo who isn’t used to this it can wipe them out.

 

[martikus]

We hate mid day breaks as so long to get back and forth when kid was that young. Instead we rope dropped and headed back when tired 3? 4? 5? Dinner and swimming most nights. But our kid was an early riser.

it means we never saw the fireworks but that’s ok. When he was older we did.

Maybe I’d have felt differently if we could walk to a hotel. But we always stayed at POFQ.

 

[LordVader]

Definitely not!!! Haha. My wife and I are firmly in the no breaks camp. But we also only get to visit once a year so we make the most of it. Our 3 and 5yr old daughters both did amazingly with no breaks and they're not prone to tantrums or anything so it's easier for us. Plus when they get tired they end up napping in the stroller.

We just to make the most of our time and leaving the park is counter productive for us lol. More power to those that need naps though!

 

[lampshadehead]

Do you suggest we forget about the breakfast reservation in order to have a normal park day and get there at early entry?

Well I saw suggestions for skipping Fantasmic and doing a lighter breakfast, and that is actually where I am leaning. Can you schedule a character late breakfast/or lunch in the park? Stay as late as everyone is comfortable, without making Fantasmic a priority.

Its so funny with breaks, because years ago, and I was traveling with young kids, the day would typically consist of getting to the park around 930am and staying there until close. One year, and oh how I miss these operating times, MK was open until 1am (I really want to say it was actually 2am??) and that day was going to Epcot around 11am then hopping to MK until close. We did do more table service at that time.
Now, with the park hours the way they are, I really don't like taking breaks if we get to the park after 1030am-ish. But aging made the breaks happen more often haha. I find that breaks work best if you get in early, do the break around noon-1pm, and go back to a park about 5-6pm. If its a late MK night with an 11pm close (1am if its EEE), 6pm-7pm will work. Otherwise, for example your HS studio day, go a bit later in morning and stay as long as you can.

 

[CaroM8]

Well I saw suggestions for skipping Fantasmic and doing a lighter breakfast, and that is actually where I am leaning. Can you schedule a character late breakfast/or lunch in the park? Stay as late as everyone is comfortable, without making Fantasmic a priority.

After reading all the comments and suggestions (which I truly appreciate!) I think this is what we will do:

Keep Topolino's breakfast because I've been looking forward to it so much and it's too hard to reschedule.
Arrive at HS whenever we get there, probably 11 ish
Do what we want/can
LL for Slinky Dog at 4PM (which is my daughter's only real request for the entire trip so it's almost non negotiable - if I can get an earlier time though I will)
After riding Slinky we will assess the situation and go from there
Probably won't be seeing Fantasmic, unless we are up to going back to the park later just for that

 

[Gary Stocker]

After reading all the comments and suggestions (which I truly appreciate!) I think this is what we will do:

Keep Topolino's breakfast because I've been looking forward to it so much and it's too hard to reschedule.
Arrive at HS whenever we get there, probably 11 ish
Do what we want/can
LL for Slinky Dog at 4PM (which is my daughter's only real request for the entire trip so it's almost non negotiable - if I can get an earlier time though I will)
After riding Slinky we will assess the situation and go from there
Probably won't be seeing Fantasmic, unless we are up to going back to the park later just for that

You forgot "stop at Baseline Tap House to chill, have a huge pretzel, and a couple beverages."

 

[JFDIS]

A mid day break is a game changer. I have a 6yo and 7yo. Sometimes we swim and sometimes it’s just a quick break where the kids watch tv for an hour. Going back into the parks in clean clothes, freshly showered gives us a better attitude. Seeing all the miserable, sweaty people when you return always makes you feel like you made the right choice.

 

[scrappinginontario]

While it's nice to plan ahead to do A or B, I really think it's best to see how things go with your family and be prepared to adjust as necessary.

Our family tends to go from park open to close at the beginning of our trips and then they alter as the trip progresses. We tend to sleep in more days after we've been there for a bit or, take a break in the afternoon.

OP, since this is your first trip to WDW, my suggestion is to go with the flow based on the needs of your family.

 

[sponica]

The visits where we've gone back to the hotel usually end up with the kids in the pool and we're done with the parks.


I don't like to go back to the hotel unless I'm ok with not going back to a park....

 

[Anna131517]

We don’t do breaks, but we may cut the day short or get a late start. Play it by ear on your first day. Your child may surprise you, especially if you build in rest time (like a nice relaxing lunch) or bring/rent a stroller. And honestly going to the pool is not “relaxing” for my family - it’s exhausting. No way we’re going back to the parks after swimming. We’ve been going to WDW since our oldest was 6 months old. At 6 our kids could usually hang in there all day, but would sometimes stroller nap. Our last trip my youngest was 6 and she reliably fell asleep in the stroller at 3 pm every day for about an hour. The other two (8, and 10) were fine all day. We log 25,000 - 35,000 steps a day at WDW. The kids wear fit bits there and like to see who gets the most steps!

 

[hertamaniac]

We usually call it a day around 1 PM unless it's one those rare few weeks we actually have cold weather. Then it's nap/pool time until dinner around 6 PM. That gives great timing to hit a park for a few attractions and night show(s).

 

[brockash]

Honestly, I find HS the most important park to do rope drop, so if it were me I’d skip a breakfast reservation and maybe instead do an in park sit down lunch. Maybe Hollywood & Vine, which is a character meal and may appeal to your 6 year old! You can play it by ear and do a mid day break after lunch if you need it as well.

I was going to say the same. If we were only rope dropping 1 park; it'd be DHS for sure. - Itsthe most pleasant rope drop experience and we feel we get the most accomplished there. If there's any way you can move your breakfast to a different day, we would. - Plus that would make breaking more realistic.

We've gone back and forth about breaks. The first cpl yrs when the kids were really young I insisted on doing a break every day but it really does take a lot to trudge out of the parks, break the stroller down, get to the room, settle ppl down and then have to get up to an alarm for a 2nd time in the same day. After a cpl. years of doing that we stopped and just spent some down time at the parks if needed and everyone was happier. Now my kids are older (no strollers) and we do a combination on most trips. We'll do a cpl days with a break in the middle and the others without. It also depends on where we're staying. If we're on the skyliner or monorail then we usually break on the park days that r convenient to that.

 

[corellianskies]

We always take afternoon breaks and for us, transportation time to and from the hotel has never been a problem - it's never something we felt like "wasted" time. I will say, when he was little, we paid good money for a lightweight stroller that folded up to the size of a carry-on bag and could be folded up in one fell swoop. That made travel seamless at that stage, and now that he's bigger (5), we just rent a stroller in the parks so we don't have to worry about that component when it comes to transportation. The stroller rental in the parks was a breeze for us and definitely worth it.

We build in 3-4 hours for midday breaks - that's lunch, rest, and pool time before heading back. It's also a good compromise because my son would be perfectly content to spend every waking second in the pool, so building in pool time at least convinces him to let us go to the parks too

 

[AngieInOH]

1st, why do you have hoppers? According to your schedule it doesn't look like you are hopping.

For me taking a break would depend on how much you want to get done. Is this you one and only trip? Will more trips be taken in the future? Breaks take a big chunk of your time away from the parks. Personally, I would try to avoid them and just take a "break" in the park. I like to fit as much in as possible.

 

[R&RsMom]

We have done mid-day breaks for years. My kid are adults, heck my granddaughter is turning 21, and we still appreciate breaks. Plus, great time for the kiddos to swim. On the few trips when e did not take a swim or nap break, people were much more tired. It’s also a good time to change out of soggy clothes if you go when it’s hot. We would love mostly for lunch, so between 1-2 and come back between 5-6.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Honestly, it's hard to know what really fits your family until you try it. I think you have a good basic plan now, and it helps if you have a Plan B in the back of your mind in case you find things need adjusting.

Our touring style has changed a lot over the years. When DS was a little, we would rope drop, schedule a TS in the middle of the day for an AC break, and then leave the park early and do dinner back at the resort. Somewhere in the middle years, I think we had a trip with long days mid-day breaks. Once FP+ came along, and we had a teenager, we tended to just start later and stay later. Now it's a mix, depending on ADRs, etc. Sometimes we all go in the morning, leave mid-afternoon, then DS and I go back in the evening but DH doesn't.

Throughout it all, we would divide our plans into "must do", "would like to", and "maybe we'll get to". - For each park, we would hit everyone's one or two must-dos (be it ride, attraction, or restaurant) and then as many of the secondary and tertiary things as fit nicely around those without stressing us all out.

 

[CaroM8]

Throughout it all, we would divide our plans into "must do", "would like to", and "maybe we'll get to". - For each park, we would hit everyone's one or two must-dos (be it ride, attraction, or restaurant) and then as many of the secondary and tertiary things as fit nicely around those without stressing us all out.

I like this idea a lot.. thanks!

 

[crazymomof4]

Mom to four here. Have taken kids at all different ages to WDW. I'd say your DHS and Epcot breaks are much more doable due to skyliner. I'd like to also add that a "break" doesn't necessarily mean going all the way back to the resort room. We would take breaks from the heat and crowds with the little ones by going over to Tom Sawyer's Island or taking the boat or monorail to one of the resorts and finding a quite air conditioned spot to rest (Grand Floridian has a lovely lobby with plenty of comfy seating and you might get live piano music). There are some quite out of the way spots in Epcot, although they may not be airconditioned. Explore the gardens in Japan pavillion! Your little one might enjoy watching the Koi fish. Or the waterfall area back by the Canada Circle Vision theater. Inside the Mexico pavillion there are a few benches near the stairway into the "courtyard" / market area. Even the boat ride in Mexico can be a retreat!

Have a great trip!!!

 

[angryduck71]

I am also going next week. By myself (well, a friend is in a conference so will meet up with her in the evenings). I plan on taking a break in the afternoons for a nap and because it'll be HOT.