Thoughts about midday breaks

[Angharad]

We've always been big fans of taking breaks but then we are usually there for 14-21 days.
We use the time to play some mini-golf, jump in the pool, pop out to the premium outlets or just to unwind in the room before we head back out for dinner. I dare say we if we didn't take breaks then we'd barely make it to dinner and after we'd be straight to bed.
But it really is each to their own!

 

[brockash]

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???

Where are you staying? What's your transportation? For us, unless we're staying at a monorail resort or within walking distance of the park, we have found that midday going back to the resort isn't worth it, even with toddlers, and we go end of Aug./beginning of Sept., so it's hot. I will say while tried the nap thing years ago, it didn't last long and now we just take some breaks in the parks if we need it. It's just a huge hassle to walk out of the park, walk to the transportation, wait, ride to resort, walk to the room, just to do it all over again to go back. Plus, for us we're kinda grumpy when we first have to get back up after sleeping.

If you are relying on Disney transportation I would def. go directly to Trex after TO, and directly to AK after BB, as otherwise the transportation is ridiculous. With the ages of your kids I think you can get by without resort breaks. We don't do them, and we stay open-close with kids as young as 1 up through 15.

 

[Veronique]

Where are you staying? What's your transportation? For us, unless we're staying at a monorail resort or within walking distance of the park, we have found that midday going back to the resort isn't worth it, even with toddlers, and we go end of Aug./beginning of Sept., so it's hot. I will say while tried the nap thing years ago, it didn't last long and now we just take some breaks in the parks if we need it. It's just a huge hassle to walk out of the park, walk to the transportation, wait, ride to resort, walk to the room, just to do it all over again to go back. Plus, for us we're kinda grumpy when we first have to get back up after sleeping.

If you are relying on Disney transportation I would def. go directly to Trex after TO, and directly to AK after BB, as otherwise the transportation is ridiculous. With the ages of your kids I think you can get by without resort breaks. We don't do them, and we stay open-close with kids as young as 1 up through 15.

I agree. You need to stay at a monorail resort or use your car. Younger kids up to 4-5 will sleep in the stroller anyway.

 

[PDXmouse]

So not to steal the thread but I scheduled one day with a 5 hour mid day break from MK. We're staying at Port Orleans. We're willing to uber instead of bus it if it makes sense.

Is this more trouble than it's worth? We probably wouldn't bother going back in the evening except that's the night we got BOG dinner reservations...

 

[Shellyb84]

So not to steal the thread but I scheduled one day with a 5 hour mid day break from MK. We're staying at Port Orleans. We're willing to uber instead of bus it if it makes sense.

Is this more trouble than it's worth? We probably wouldn't bother going back in the evening except that's the night we got BOG dinner reservations...

I think it's worth it - that's a nice long break.

 

[gap2368]

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???

If I am going longer then 5 days I will take one day and have a mid day break back at my hotel. but it dose take a lot of time.

something you can do is table service meals or QS where you can sit inside in the AC for a bit and follow this up with some nice AC shows like philhermagic, at the MK.

also sleeping in one day or leaving early is not a bad Idea either.

 

[Tomh]

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???

The first time we went to Disney, DS was 4, and DD was 13. We also had an older daughter whom was 19, plus my mother, and my cousin. We tried midday breaks. No one napped, no one got any rest. I tried, but there was so much noise and commotion that I couldn't even get a nap. We tried it two days, and after that I gave up. For us, I found the mid day break to be nothing but a mid day waste of time. When we got back to the park, I felt more tired than I had when we left, and we had lost several hours out of the day.

A few years later, we did mid day breaks a couple of times again. Again, not a whole lot in the way of resting happened. We went swimming once or twice. All in all, the idea just didn't work out for us.

Normally, I would suggest that everyone give it a try, and see if it works for them, as each family is different, however, with you already leaning toward not wanting to loose park time, I would be really surprised if you enjoy the midday break.

 

[candygirl75]

We're going for a total of 14 days - 10 of those days are allocated to WDW with 7 days in the park and 3 off days. As others have said, you know your family. For us, the "official" days all have touring plans with at least a 4 hour break planned except for our AK day and we have an off day the next day so i figured we'd be ok. Mid-day breaks have always been part of our strategy. My middle son does not handle heat or stress well and we'll definitely need the breaks. If he's holding up well, we may skip them but since i have the TP's done, any afternoon time will be a bonus and I don't have to stress about if we'll get to everything we want.

 

[Aliceacc]

Here's how our vacation goes:

Rope drop every day.
We're in the parks until 12 or 1 pm. Then it's back to the resort for a swim/nap.
We typically have a dinner ADR at around 6 pm.
Then we're in the parks till fireworks.

We couldn't keep up that pace for a week in the summer weather without those mid day breaks!

 

[Veronique]

If I am going longer then 5 days I will take one day and have a mid day break back at my hotel. but it dose take a lot of time.

something you can do is table service meals or QS where you can sit inside in the AC for a bit and follow this up with some nice AC shows like philhermagic, at the MK.

also sleeping in one day or leaving early is not a bad Idea either.

Yeah it doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation.

In my upcoming trip, I have some full days, from rope to closure, some days with late start, some with "undecided" time after dinner and two water parks day where we will get up late and come back early.

 

[I<3alldisney]

I love the People Mover for a break. We'll ride it a few times in a row just to get off our feet and still get to enjoy the park.