Will my toddler really leave the park to nap???

[TammyC]

I'm trying to make plans for a visit in Nov or Dec and wonder if we will need to leave the parks in the afternoon for naps. My DS will be 2 1/2 then. Now he is so excited when he visits grandma that he won't even nap there, so am I crazy to think he will leave the MK to go to hotel for a nap? Maybe he would do a quick snooze in his stroller?

 

[cmbelle]

We just got back from WDW and my 2 year old didn't take any naps. Now, he's not a big sleeper in the first place, but I found that he just didn't need the naps. Besides, with the parks closing at 7 pm, it just wasn't worth it to leave the park.

 

[NLK]

We took our 2 1/2 in Jan. '03. She usually takes her nap at noon at home but when we are at someone else she just won't sleep. I'm happy to say that every day in the parks she feel asleep in her stroller. It was usually around 3 p.m. but that was fine with me. She was so tired she just crashed. We never had to go back to the hotel. It would have been to much work anyway to try and get her to sleep there. It work out great for us because then we got to do all the big rides while she slept. We even had a few nice lunches. I think you'll be fine. Have a great trip

 

[phoebusII]

We never went back to the resorts during the day for a nap. It just takes too much time out of the day. I found that both of our children would fall asleep around 3:00 p.m., usually when we held them while waiting in line for a ride.

 

[Gillian]

My 2 year old is a good sleeper, but he was very excited at WDW. We just waited to see what he would do, and every day slept for 1-2 hours in his stroller! The first day it was much later than his normal nap, but within a few days he'd gone back to his usual schedule.

We used this time to relax & eat lunch. One day he napped at the AK AP lounge, which was fun for us, as they had a free video driving game!

 

[Jacksmom99]

The best advice I can give is follow your child's cues. On some days my DS would fall asleep and take a really good nap in the stroller. Other days, he was a raving, mouthy, crazy mess. On these days we headed back to the hotel before the bad meltdown occured. We have taken him to WDW 3 times. Once at 9mo, 2 1/2, and 3 1/2. As he's gotten older, he is more resistant to sleeping in the stroller and more prone to getting over stimulated and in need of an adult to set limits for quiet "down" time. If your child is happy or falls asleep in the stroller, than great, stay in the park. But, I think that you know your child best, and can tell if they are on the verge of having "enough". Do yourself a favor and head back to the hotel for down time. Vacation is no fun if everyone is on edge and overtired. Besides, you can always go back to the park after nap time.

 

[pstepka]

My kids would fall asleep in the stroller for about an hour or so each day. We took our full sized strollers and it worked out great.

Pam

 

[crisi]

The first day we tried to go back for a nap and the kids fell asleep on the launch between the MK and the WL. We never got them back to sleep after we woke them up to take them to the room.

Lesson learned: Let sleeping children lie. And that the 10 minute cat nap is the kiss of death for a long nap.

We know from experience that our kids fall asleep quickly in the car seat when tired, and we would go until about 1:00 (my kids were 2 1/2 and 3 1/2) and then board the bus (or the train in the MK) and ride it around in circles for an hour, holding our sleeping children on our shoulders. We never tried the monorail, but riding that in a circle would work as well.

An hour was about enough so the kids weren't cranky, we didn't waste hours of park time in napping.

My kids don't fall asleep in strollers well. We tried that - and my daughter took some short naps there. But we saw plenty of kids sleeping in strollers.

 

[catwho]

my (then) 2yo ds didn't take a nap on days 1 or 2, but by day 3 he did take a snooze in his stroller (and we took advantage of that to do some baby swapping and do some rides he couldn't with our older girls) When I took my (then) 2yo dd she did take a light nap in the sling while in line a couple of times. I just dont' worry about it and find that they make up for the time they didn't sleep during the day at night. They were both awake and raring to go first thing each morning.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. We did find that getting a double stroller was a good investment. That way our ds could sort of lay down using our back pack as a pillow.

If you find that he just really needs a nap, you could always take a ride on the Monorail. We did that once with our ds just to give him some down time. Ride from MK to Epcot and back again. Nice quiet ride and the Monorail is rarely crowded heading to Epcot (except right before Illuminations)

 

[cinjam]

When we went with DH in April (then 14 months) I worried constantly as to whether he would nap or not. The 1st day he completely surprised me by falling asleep in his stroller (something he'd never done before). He slept for about an hour & a half.

The 2nd day he didn't and we just continued on, but he did became cranky.

On day 3 we went back to the room and although he didn't sleep we all relaxed on the bed for about an hour before dinner - that was good.

Days 5-9 we played it by ear - if he didn't fall asleep in his stroller then we did go back to the room for some down time before dinner - once in the room sometimes he slept sometimes he didn't. It seemed like the downtown was enough.

We are going again next week WOOOOHOOOO, now DS is 2. We will do the play-it-by-ear thing again and follow his cues.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Pocahontas1]

We just returned from WDW after a trip in December. DS is 2 1/2 years old and a bit of a night owl. He likes to sleep late and stay up later at night. Was not a problem for us on vacation.

He was quite happy to get up early 'cause he was going to see Mickey. Took a nap at MK on our first day in the stroller from about 11am to noon. We left the park about 3pm since we were coming back that night for MVMCP. Got back to the hotel about 3:30 and we all (DH, DS and I) laid down and took about an hour and a half nap. Got up, dressed and headed to LTT for PS.

DS was well behaved, not cranky and stayed awake for the entire evening. Was still awake when we went to the parking lot a little after midnight. Fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car though.

Even though the parks weren't open late, we planned either a nice dinner, or evening at DD. Since he took a longer nap during the day, he was much happier at night. DH and I also needed the break during the day.

Have a great trip...

 

[MinnieGi]

Our 2yo DD took longer naps at WDW than at home. We always did EE and were in the parks for a long morning and by the time we got back to the room she was exhausted and took a long nap. Actually usually all of us ended up taking a nap!

 

[skoba-nelson]

This doesn't really help or apply but DW and I thought it was hilarious that our 5 month old fell asleep in the carrier on the Kilomanjari Safari, then stayed sleeping while we boarded the train to and from Conserv Station and walked through the trail to see the gorillas.

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

We just returned from 8 days at WDW with dd (33 months). We returned to our room every day (except for the days of arrival and departure) around 1 or 1:30 for a good 2+ hour nap. It made such a difference compared to our trip last year where we did not schedule naps each day. DD was happy each evening and therefore so were we

It should be noted, however, that dd is a good sleeper at home also and really needs her naps every day. She also sleeps 12+ hours at night. Unfortunately, she does not sleep well in her stroller though so we learned from our last trip that in order for us to enjoy the trip we had to schedule breaks each day. It worked out great for us but of course each family has to decide what is the best strategy for them.

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

I agree that it really depends on the child (and only you would know that) as well as agree wholeheartedly with the advice that Kim and others gave... to play it by ear.

When we went on our trip with the kids (barely 2, just turned 5 and almost 9yrs old) -my oldest ofcourse didn't take naps, my middle child SOMETIMES did but only if he was really tired- and my youngest was a wishy-washy napping type child. Somedays she did, some days she didn't.

So we just played it by ear and some days she didn't take a nap (usually because we'd slept in later that morning or had an "off" day to rest a bit the day before so she wasn't as tired) or she slept an hour or two in the stroller. (She doesn't usually sleep in the stroller but she's not usually IN a stroller for long periods of time either! Usually only when shopping or the zoo or something- things too interesting to take a nap or not in the stroller long enough to fall asleep)

My 2 year old is a good sleeper, but he was very excited at WDW. We just waited to see what he would do, and every day slept for 1-2 hours in his stroller! The first day it was much later than his normal nap, but within a few days he'd gone back to his usual schedule.

This is about what happened with her. I think there was only 2 days she didn't sleep for a nap and the first day it was much later than her normal "nap time" (if she is going to take a nap that day I mean) but after that she was back to the normal time.

 

[sha_lyn]

We stayed on site in 2000 (our first trip) with the idea that DH and I would take turns taking the 2 1/2 DD back to the room for a nap. At this age she was napping an hour or so several days a week at home. Well we found that trying to get her out of the stroller once asleep would get her "wide awake" again. We learned to just let her nap in the stroller.

Fast forward a yr to our US/IOA trip. By this trip she did not nap at home. On the second day (I think) we were standing in line and DD said , " I want to go home and go to bed", so we went back to the hotel and she rested (but didn't fall asleep) for about an 1 1/2 hours.

Just follow your child's needs and you'll know just what to do.

 

[fiveforall]

My DS was 2 1/2 when we went in Oct. We left the parks at one and went back to the resort. Sometimes he'd nap and sometimes he didn't, but he REALLY needed that break (as did DH, DD, DD, and myself as well) It was worth coming back just to take off our shoes, have a nap, or just veg in front of the tv. We tried ONE day to not take a break and by 3 he'd had a total and complete breakdown over dirt being on his pacifier! Our next trip will have midday breaks every day.