How do you do midday breaks with your family?

kizmet311

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
This is the first "real" Disney trip for my family together. Hubby went as a child, step-D has been 2-3 times, and I've been once with the two of them for one day at MK 6 years ago, but not a true stay onsite, dining plan, do it all for 5 days kind of trip. This will be my 5yo DD's first trip ever.

So, I am trying to balance the whole "once in a lifetime" do it all trip with making sure that I don't exhaust everyone (including myself) so that we can enjoy our whole trip. We are staying 4 nights with 5 day single-park tickets, but I plan on arrival and departure days to still be nearly full days in the parks.

How feasible is it take 4-5 hour breaks in the middle of each park day? We are doing HS arrival day, MK/MNSSHP day 2, MK (with extra magic hours from 9-11pm) day 3, AK day 4, and Epcot on departure day. I've given a general idea of what we want to do at each park below. We are driving to WDW, so we will most likely drive to every park except MK from the Poly (where we're staying) so that we can come and go quickly if we want to go back to the hotel.

My general plan is to get to HS the first day as early as possible - ideally by park opening. My only reservations that day are duplicate H&V Fantasmic Dining Packages - one at 11:35 and one at 4:35, so one will be cancelled. I'm thinking we arrive at Park Opening, each lunch, and then head to the Poly around check in time for a little rest and to get settled in our room, then head back to HS a couple hours before Fantasmic. Rides that would probably be a must do here would be RNR Coaster and maybe Star Tours. The only show that is a MUST is the Frozen singalong, but would also like Disney JR, VoLM, and B&tB (she's seen the last one in the touring Broadway show so it isn't as imperative that we see it). Character M&Gs here are a bonus for the Disney JR characters, but not a must-do since we'll meet Minnie and Friends at our ADR. Can we get everything done if we take a 2-3 hour break for the hotel?

Day 2 would be to arrive at MK as early as possible and get as much done as possible, eat QS lunch at the park, then go back to the hotel for swims/naps/showers and back to MK for check in at BBB by 5:15 before the MNSSHP. Of course the object at the party would be to try to ride rides such as 7DMT that might have longer waits during the day, meet any princesses that have shorter lines or princesses that aren't usually at MK. We have an 8:55 BOG ADR during the party that I am debating whether we should keep or not. I don't want to miss the parade, HP show, or HalloWishes because of the ADR. We would also do some minimal trick-or-treating and hit as many rides as possible.

Day 3 would be to arrive at MK as early as possible and we have a 9:25 ADR at Cindy's. We would get to stay in the park until 11:00 that night due to extra hours, so at some point in the afternoon we would again want to do swim/nap/showers and come back at no particular time, but obviously in time for HEA.

For both days at MK, attractions that would be a must would probably be SpaceMtn, maybe BTMR, ETwB, HM, JC, Monsters Inc, PotC, PCRC, 7DMT, and UtS-VoLM. I would think we would try to hit up HM and 7DMT during the MNSSHP for sure, then spread the rest out over the two days with repeats of favorites if we can on the second day. Character M&Gs that are a MUST would be Rapunzel and I have to get Jasmine here or at Epcot if I miss her at MK. Elena is a favorite and Merida would be a bonus. Meeting Ariel in her mermaid costume might not be necessary if we meet her at Cindy's. FoF Parade is a MUST, as is HEA the second day.

Day 4 at AK arrive at park opening. No ADRs this day, no real plans. Must do FoP, NRJ, KRR, KS, RoL, and probably see as many animals as possible. Must see FotLK and would like to do FN. Meeting Pocahontas is a must. Again, would like to have a hotel break in the middle of the day. DD and I probably would only ride NRJ and KS, so we could see animals and meet Pocahontas while the other two do FoP and KRR.

Last day would be to eat breakfast at the Poly and try to hang out until close to checkout then head to Epcot before 11:00 when WS opens. I know this puts us behind the crowd, but I don't think we'll make it all day to Illuminations if we don't start late this day. Plus at the end of the day we'll be starting our drive home by either staying in Orlando in a non-Disney hotel or driving a couple of hours towards Gainseville and stopping there. Rides that are a must here would be FEA, maybe Soarin, Test Track, and maybe Nemo. I don't think they care about SE. Our biggest goal at Epcot would be WS and meeting any princesses we missed at MK. Anna & Elsa would be a huge win, although I will not tell my daughter about any princess or character just in case it doesn't work out. Belle in France would be nice since I don't think she signs autographs at ETwB. Mulan and Snow White would be nice. Jasmine would be a MUST if we miss her at MK. And of course, I would like to see Illuminations if my husband will stay that late. On this day, we do have an ADR at Paddlefish at DS between 3-4:00, so we could theoretically take a break and go there then go back to Epcot later. My biggest thing here would be trying to meet any princesses we haven't met yet.

Finally, there will be several situations where our party splits FP attractions with my DH and step-D going on rides and me and DD going to a show or M&G, so hopefully we can cover a little more ground that way. Sorry this is such a long post! I just really want some advice on my "game plan" and whether or not my midday breaks are realistic with what we want to do. Since we are paying for the Poly I want to be able to enjoy some time there swimming and relaxing/gearing up for each evening. Plus, I am trying to do as much as possible, because we may never go back to Disney or if we do, it would be at least 5 years away.
 
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I would cancel the MNSSHP BoG ADR. We did that last year, and while nice, it ate up a lot of party time. We ended up buying tickets to a second party that week to make up for it. Maybe you could keep checking for a lunch BoG ADR on that day?

Taking long breaks at the poly every day is an awesome idea. You will love it.
 
I would cancel the MNSSHP BoG ADR. We did that last year, and while nice, it ate up a lot of party time. We ended up buying tickets to a second party that week to make up for it. Maybe you could keep checking for a lunch BoG ADR on that day?

Taking long breaks at the poly every day is an awesome idea. You will love it.

Thanks! I keep getting the same advice about the BOG ADR during the MNSSHP on my Dining thread and in the party thread. I think I need to go ahead and just cancel it!

So you think that with my general plans and must-dos that we would still be good for 4-5 hour breaks at the Poly each day? I know we might not get to everything and that is ok. I have a friend who used to do planning for KTTW and she told me to pick 3 must-do things in each park and if we accomplished those to then do more.
 
You should be fine, as long as you are able to get decent FP+ at your 60 day mark. FOP is your #1 priority for FP+. I also recommend getting a FP+ for 7DMT, even though you are planning to do it during MNSSHP. The line for 7DMT at the party may still be longer than you would like. If it isn't, multiple rides = more fun! The MNSSHP fireworks are amazing.

If you miss a few things here are there, remember that it will not ruin your vacation. More breaks with your family means less stress. If you get tired of your break, you can always head back to the parks earlier than you were planning (one of the things that makes the Poly so great).

Enjoy this wonderful time with your family.
 
We aren't park commandos, so we don't get there at opening, but we still do/see pretty everything we want. We usually leave the park after lunch and return to the park after/around dinner. Then stay til close. We're definitely night owls (as are our kids) hence why we don't do park openings. I think your schedule looks good. Usually we do a day in the middle that we don't go to park til afternoon 3ish. Gives us a chance to lay around, use the pool, and just recoop. You may want to think about that as well. Have fun!
 
I, too, would recommend cancelling the BOG party ADR. I would also recommend doing the 11:35 am H&V Fantasmic package on your DHS day. That way, if you get to Poly and want to relax, you aren't pressed for time to get back for a 4:35 pm ADR.

I would just caution about burning the candle too much on both ends. Even with naps and relaxing midday, planning on RD after staying in a park late the night before can wear everyone out pretty quickly. I've done dozens of trips with DS9 and we still can't tour like that. It's late night or early morning. He can't do both. Certainly, you know your children best, but for us, trying to get as much in as we can prior to going back to the resort works best. We then plan, maybe, one or two must-do's for the evening (a ride and fireworks, for example) to try not to burn out.
 
Breaks are definitely doable, especially if you are at RD and planning strategically. I think a 5 hour break with swimming is going to be more exhausting than a 2 or 3 hour break relaxing. I'm obviously in the minority here, but I think you will have to make some changes if you want to fit in that much down time.

I think what you need is a really detailed itinerary for each day so you know what times you want to be where. Print out the park map and mark every attraction and note show times. Then make a path on the map so you can hit all our must-dos without backtracking too much. Estimate what time you want to be at each point. You don't have to follow this exactly, but now you know what you might have to skip if you decide to take a long break, if an ADR runs long, or if someone wants to get back in line and ride something again.

We always plan for breaks. Generally, we RD as much as possible and take advantage of EMH. If you're going in the morning, get there early for RD so you can be through the security lines and actually ready to go when the park opens. We hit as much as we can until about noon when the park starts getting busier. We head back to the hotel and make sandwiches in the room so we can put up our feet and really relax. Some of us might go for a quick swim or the kids lay down and watch a cartoon. Then we are back at the park around 4, maybe 5 if EMH are until 11. If MK has really late EMH, we plan to sleep in a little the next day and swim in the morning.

FWIW, I think you have a lot of park time being spent on ADRs and meet and greets if you are also trying to carve out as much as 4-5 hours for a break each day. If you're not already committed to a dining plan, I would consider cutting back on the ADRs. Especially since you're also doing the party. They can take a long time while you wait for each character to get to you. We've had to wait as much as 45 minutes past our reservation time just to get in. They will text you when they're ready, but that means you have to be in an area close by. Our first trip with our kids was packed with character meals but after 1 or 2, they were kind of over it. Same with M&G. They like meeting some characters, but mostly they want to be at the attractions. The second trip we kept our budget the same but cut back on ADRs and just ate what we wanted, when we wanted, and we had so much of our vacation savings left that we were able to move up our next trip. And we felt better and were happier not being tied down to all those reservations. I'm not trying to be a downer. We like to eat and we eat well. I know that ADRs are a huge part of the experience for a lot of families. Just my 2 cents on what worked better for my group.
 


We do breaks on all our park days but I find that isn't enough anymore. We also plan a few non park days to sleep in and veg in/at the pool for the day, as in the only transportation I take that day are my feet to the pool or to captain cooks!

On our park day rest breaks, whatver park we go to, we get there before opening. We eat breakfast in our room to cut down on time. We have lunch at the park and then return to our room for our nap. Yes nap!

When my oldest was 4 1/2 and my son was 22 months, my DH and my son sleep in the room while I took our oldest to the pool for our break. Well she fell asleep in her stroller at 7pm! Big mistake. Luckily she fell asleep that night. So after that we all did nap time.

Even our last trip in 2013 when our kids were 12, 9 and 7 we took a nap. It really was necessary in the hot summer sun.

We would wake, shower (again for DH and I) and return to the park around 5. But after 2 park days in a row I am done. I still wake up at 6 but we aren't in the go, it's just me on the go to the pool!

As far as your arrival day and rest at the Poly, just be prepared that your room won't be ready when you get there for a break. I forget what check in time is? 4? 3? So there may be no place to relax other then the pool.
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I know that we may definitely have two early mornings/late nights in a row, with the MNSSHP and then MK is open 9-11 pm for our second day in the park. Hopefully we can adjust our other days to not shut down the parks, although we do want to see most of the night time shows. I certainly don't want everyone to be worn out after Day 2 of our trip. Since this is very likely the only time we'll do Disney this "big", it is definitely hard to have a non-park day in the middle of it. We probably won't go back for at least 5 years, if ever, so it's hard to skip a park day. Plus, we are only staying 4 nights and have 5-day tickets. And I completely get that taking a long break in the middle of the day is not the same as going late or leaving early.

I don't necessarily want to get to the parks so early that we are waiting inside an hour before rope drop (except maybe the day of our Cindy's ADR - I would like my daughter to see the park opening ceremony before we head in to the castle). I guess I was thinking more along the lines of, if the park opens at 9, then I would like to arrive by 9. My DD will be 5 and right now she typically gets up between 8-8:30 in the morning and she can easily last until 11 for the rare occassion. We start bedtime routine around 9:30 and I leave her room by around 10:15 each night. So, she is a bit of a night owl as long as I don't get her up too early in the morning. Plus, I plan on driving everywhere except MK to cut down on the time resort transportation would take. I don't want to waste over an hour with a bus.

Our earliest ADRs will be BOG at 8:40 am (just me and DD) and then Cindy's the next day at 9:25. I really just want to arrive early enough to get through security and to walk through the park to arrive at the restaurant by our ADR time. We have a Tusker House ADR at 10:20 am, so maybe that could be a sleep in day and just arrive in time for breakfast, especially since AK closes earlier than the other parks. We could leave the park right after ROL. For our last day at Epcot, I just want to arrive by the time World Showcase opens, since we have to check out of the Poly by 11:00 anyway. We won't have anywhere to go for a break other than a restaurant and right now it's a little up in the air whether we will stay all day for Illuminations or decide to head home earlier. We won't be driving all the way home that night, but will either stay somewhere in Orlando other than Disney or drive an hour or two north.
Yes, we have already signed up for a dining plan so we definitely wanted to do the ADRs for TS to make sure we can use those credits. We are only going to be tied down to 3 ADRs for that, though. Plus, I thought that doing the ADRs would save time on meeting some characters. If Ariel is at Cindy's then we won't have to meet her at her grotto. If Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Daisy, & Goofy are all at H&V, we don't have to stand in line to meet them somewhere else. I was trying to get as many characters as possible in the ADRs to avoid M&G lines. I don't care about Tusker House, except that we wanted the ROL dining package for reserved seating and the breakfast menu looks best. We will be able to split some of our FPs for DD and I to meet princesses or attend shows, while DH and stepD are riding rides. My DD is a pretty anxious child and even though she might be tall enough for some of the rides, I don't think she will do them. She might do the kiddie rides like Dumbo, PCRC, or Magic Carpet and maybe FEA or the Little Mermaid, but she isn't going to do much else. She will prefer the shows and (hopefully) the M&Gs. Plus I think she is going to LOVE AK. When she gets to see an okapi in person that is on the Lion Guard she is going to love it.

So, if check in for the Poly is at 3:00, are you saying the room will not be ready by 3:00? We are heading straight to DHS on our arrival day, hopefully arriving close to park open, and will leave the park long enough to get settled at the Poly before heading back that night.

Also, does the Poly have a refrigerator and microwave in the rooms or just a refrigerator?
 
I, too, would recommend cancelling the BOG party ADR. I would also recommend doing the 11:35 am H&V Fantasmic package on your DHS day. That way, if you get to Poly and want to relax, you aren't pressed for time to get back for a 4:35 pm ADR.

I would just caution about burning the candle too much on both ends. Even with naps and relaxing midday, planning on RD after staying in a park late the night before can wear everyone out pretty quickly. I've done dozens of trips with DS9 and we still can't tour like that. It's late night or early morning. He can't do both. Certainly, you know your children best, but for us, trying to get as much in as we can prior to going back to the resort works best. We then plan, maybe, one or two must-do's for the evening (a ride and fireworks, for example) to try not to burn out.

Thanks. I like the idea of doing as much as possible in the morning/early afternoon, then a break, and then head back for a more relaxing evening to watch fireworks and ride a ride or two and just walk around. I'm hoping that for DD, who will be 5, that I can give her a bath during our midday breaks so in mornings she can just hop up and go and at night she can crash when we come in. My stepD and I can shower at night and my DH is quick so he could do mornings. No one else will want to have to get up and get ready in the morning (other than throwing on clothes and brushing teeth/hair, lol).
 
We aren't park commandos, so we don't get there at opening, but we still do/see pretty everything we want. We usually leave the park after lunch and return to the park after/around dinner. Then stay til close. We're definitely night owls (as are our kids) hence why we don't do park openings. I think your schedule looks good. Usually we do a day in the middle that we don't go to park til afternoon 3ish. Gives us a chance to lay around, use the pool, and just recoop. You may want to think about that as well. Have fun!

I had thought about that, but now I've got breakfast reservations every day except arrival/departure, so we probably won't be able to do a late park day now. It would have been perfect for our second MK day since the park is open until 11, but we have the Cindy's ADR at 9:25 that day.
 
Breaks are definitely doable, especially if you are at RD and planning strategically. I think a 5 hour break with swimming is going to be more exhausting than a 2 or 3 hour break relaxing. I'm obviously in the minority here, but I think you will have to make some changes if you want to fit in that much down time.

I think what you need is a really detailed itinerary for each day so you know what times you want to be where. Print out the park map and mark every attraction and note show times. Then make a path on the map so you can hit all our must-dos without backtracking too much. Estimate what time you want to be at each point. You don't have to follow this exactly, but now you know what you might have to skip if you decide to take a long break, if an ADR runs long, or if someone wants to get back in line and ride something again.

We always plan for breaks. Generally, we RD as much as possible and take advantage of EMH. If you're going in the morning, get there early for RD so you can be through the security lines and actually ready to go when the park opens. We hit as much as we can until about noon when the park starts getting busier. We head back to the hotel and make sandwiches in the room so we can put up our feet and really relax. Some of us might go for a quick swim or the kids lay down and watch a cartoon. Then we are back at the park around 4, maybe 5 if EMH are until 11. If MK has really late EMH, we plan to sleep in a little the next day and swim in the morning.

FWIW, I think you have a lot of park time being spent on ADRs and meet and greets if you are also trying to carve out as much as 4-5 hours for a break each day. If you're not already committed to a dining plan, I would consider cutting back on the ADRs. Especially since you're also doing the party. They can take a long time while you wait for each character to get to you. We've had to wait as much as 45 minutes past our reservation time just to get in. They will text you when they're ready, but that means you have to be in an area close by. Our first trip with our kids was packed with character meals but after 1 or 2, they were kind of over it. Same with M&G. They like meeting some characters, but mostly they want to be at the attractions. The second trip we kept our budget the same but cut back on ADRs and just ate what we wanted, when we wanted, and we had so much of our vacation savings left that we were able to move up our next trip. And we felt better and were happier not being tied down to all those reservations. I'm not trying to be a downer. We like to eat and we eat well. I know that ADRs are a huge part of the experience for a lot of families. Just my 2 cents on what worked better for my group.

Right now we really only have the two character meals - H&V and Cindy's. I think they are going to help us avoid some M&G lines, though, depending on which princesses are at Cindy's. I know there will be characters at Tusker House breakfast, but we will have already met them, so not really concerned about it. We're mainly doing it for the ROL package. That's it for our ADRs. The rest will be QS. I am DEFINITELY going to have to come up with an itinerary before doing FP reservations. I figured I would need to get park maps and plot out a path so we aren't rushing from one side to the other for an ADR or FP. Our other strategy will be to split up as much as needed. DD and I want shows and M&Gs. DH and stepD want to ride rides. I want everyone to have fun doing what they want to do and not waiting in line for something they don't want. We may not get to stay together all day, but with a 5yo and 15yo, that's just how it's going to have to be. We will be together for our ADRs, nighttime shows, and I will have DH/stepD take my DD on a few of the rides (I don't do most rides) that I think she can handle like FEA, Little Mermaid, or Nemo. There are a few we will all do together like KS, JC, and maybe NRJ, but those are pretty much the only rides we'll do. My DH and stepD aren't really Disney fanatics so they are mainly going to want to ride rides that go fast and don't care so much about the characters.
 
So, if check in for the Poly is at 3:00, are you saying the room will not be ready by 3:00? We are heading straight to DHS on our arrival day, hopefully arriving close to park open, and will leave the park long enough to get settled at the Poly before heading back that night.

Also, does the Poly have a refrigerator and microwave in the rooms or just a refrigerator?

The room may not be ready so I just want you to be prepaired. I forget what the actual check in time is-its either 3 or 4. The room may be ready at 2 or even 11 it's a crap shoot. I have arrived at 12 ish and my room Was ready but it was arrival day and we just sit at the pool so it wasn't a biggie with jet lag and a park day.

There is a fridge and no microwave. The last time we went 4 very long years ago, I requested a microwave since my son has food allergies and I was able to heat up stuff for him.
 

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