Pro's and Con's of mid-day breaks?

[davper]

I can't go all day if park closing is 10-midnight. Midday crowds get to me. There's so many people, the heat, the stimulation. I need time to decompress. We don't even do naps but just go chill at the pool and relax. Also we stay deluxe so we like to use the amenities of our hotel. It also leaves us rejuvenated.

Next trip I have a few RD days (we get to the parks 10 minutes before opening, not 45 minutes), midday break at the pool and then PM park to shut it down. I also have some sleep in, hit the pool and then hit the park in the afternoon.

When the kids were younger we went during February/early March and the parks had a lot of 7 pm closings. We would go all day those days and use TS lunch as our "break."

What this poster said.

If the park closes early, try and get an indoor lunch as a break to refresh.
If the park closes late, look to take a midday break.
If you come from a cooler climate, the heat will take a lot out of you. And a break is almost required.
If you have small kids, a break is mandatory unless they can sleep in the stroller and you get them out of the sun.

 

[fely1st]

To me me the biggest reasons to leave for a break are the crowds. I feel panic with too many people. And I also think that the beautiful disney resorts are some kind of attractions and I want to enjoy them. And honestly, I couldn't make it till late without some little nap by the pool.

 

[omniscientmommy]

Last year our boys were 3 & 6. We only went to the parks in the morning then back to hotel at lunch. We stayed at AK kindani and that bus ride out of MK was enough for us not to go back to the parks later on. The 3 yr old refusing to nap made it impossible to go back to the parks after the break in the day. We mostly just hung at the pool in the afternoon then did dinner out, which in reality was too much for the kids. This year the plan is to go to the parks at rope drop then stay 2-3 hrs go have a filling lunch head back to hotel(CSR), hopefully nap, then try to go back to a park. Our biggest rule is just change the plans if the kids can't handle it. I'd rather have wasted money and have happy kids then everyone be pissed off and crabby.

 

[Gail H]

I'm coming in June for 5 days (from Australia) and I know I may never get back there again, so I will be going RD to close every day, but lots of ADRs to give us breaks. Staying at Dolphin and feel a little sad about not having time to enjoy the nice hotel facilities but hell, there are nice hotels all over the world - the parks are what I'm travelling all that way for.

 

[pkpope]

A little background - DH and I are going in May for our first trip since we were kids. We're both super excited, and planning to rope drop the days that we are there, but I'm worried that we might burn out. We're sort of battling this need to see everything we can during the time we are there (we've already accepted we won't see everything), and whether we should take some time out mid-day to take a break/nap.

I'm wondering if people could give me feedback about what helps them make the decision to go all day vs take a few hours back at the resort. Our FP's for each day end around lunch time, and we have ADR for later in the evening each day excluding AK when we are going to leave the park before dinner to head to Disney Springs for The Void.

Can you tell we're less than 30 days away and I'm starting to panic that I've planned terribly?

I think it depends mostly on 1- your willingness to wait in long lines and 2- how you like your evenings to go. My family always takes a midday break because we dont wait in any lines that are longer than 30 mins and by midday lines are at their longest. We also enjoy getting more dressed up for dinner/the evening and the midday break allows us to do that.

 

[Lexx1214]

DH and I are early risers so all our breakfast ADRs are for as early as I could get them, lunches are around noon and dinners are late evenings (we are on the DxDP). We are hoping to get our FPs for the mornings at each park and leave a four to five hour window each day. This way we have the flexibility to head back to the resort and nap, swim, relax or whatever. We love having a mix of structured and flexible so we don’t miss out on our top priorities (which to be honest is mostly good food and a couple of rides) and being able to do whatever we want because it is a vacation after all.

 

[Summer2018]

A little background - DH and I are going in May for our first trip since we were kids. We're both super excited, and planning to rope drop the days that we are there, but I'm worried that we might burn out. We're sort of battling this need to see everything we can during the time we are there (we've already accepted we won't see everything), and whether we should take some time out mid-day to take a break/nap.

I'm wondering if people could give me feedback about what helps them make the decision to go all day vs take a few hours back at the resort. Our FP's for each day end around lunch time, and we have ADR for later in the evening each day excluding AK when we are going to leave the park before dinner to head to Disney Springs for The Void.

Can you tell we're less than 30 days away and I'm starting to panic that I've planned terribly?

I can only tell you what works for my family.

Our first trip was 14 years ago when DD was 7. We actually thought that the trip was going to be a "one and done" because we didn't realize that we would become absolutely obsessed with WDW. So, on that trip, we tried to do it all. We had no idea of the magnitude of activities. We had maybe two days that we went all day without a break. It was just too exhausting, and we weren't having fun. All of the non-stop walking led to blisters upon blisters. So, on the third day, we started the midday pool break or nap. We have travelled that way since.

Now that we are older, we no longer stay value or moderate. We insist on staying deluxe for a variety of reasons. We rope drop, return to our resort midday, and most times do not return to the parks. I've reserved a pool Cabana for two days of our trip. We enjoy signature restaurants at night and view fireworks from our resort or restaurant. During early days, we were go go go!!! We also couldn't afford a deluxe resort.

Our travel style has changed, but the midday breaks have been the one constant in all of our WDW vacations.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We too stay deluxe for park proximity. We would not take a mid afternoon break if we had to block out 4-5 hours but staying deluxe makes it easy to jump on the monorail or grab a boat for an afternoon siesta. We also enjoy the parks when they are less crowded and always have hoppers. We will do one park in the morning and another in the evening. We also stay 8-10 days annually and have no reason to try and do everything.

 

[Cornucopiaoflove]

Thanks for everyone's input! DH and I are now planning on the breaks midday. I'm sure those plans could change depending on how we feel, but I'd rather have it built in just in case one of us gets cranky and needs a nap haha

 

[Haz23]

DBF and I found we were able to go a full day if we were in Epcot, AK and HS but needed a break from the heat and crowds in MK so tended to head back to the resort for a few hours before returning again in the evening and staying late with extra magic hours. On our first day we were jet-lagged so were there from rope drop to the fireworks finishing, the Disney excitement and adrenaline kept us going but definitely burned us out. I expect we'll plan to do the same on our next trip.

 

[KellyHonos]

I think breaks are dependent on your group. If there's just 2 of you, and you want to knock everything out, or you want to take things slow, or whatever you 2 agree upon, there's less people to satisfy. When it comes to traveling in larger groups, there's more people to accommodate to, different levels of energy and physical fitness, etc. I think you just have to come to an agreement with whoever you're traveling with and decide if it's necessary to anyone or not.

 

[Summer2018]

We have taken midday breaks ever since day 3 of our first trip to WDW when we had blisters on our blisters and were exhausted. We finally came to our senses and started taking midday breaks. It was hard to do at CBR because of the bus situation, a little easier at ASMusic, and very easy at the Contemporary being a short walk away from MK and on the monorail. We look forward to the similar convenience at the Poly with the monorail and boat.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Its nice to go back to the room and do a mid-day recharge. Have lunch at the resort, go for a swim and give your feet a rest. Then hit the park again when the heat of the day is over.

 

[DomesticPrincess]

My thought is how used to the heat and humidity are you? We hail from Texas and spend a lot of time outdoors, so we like to think of ourselves as heat hardy. Orlando has a complete other level of humidity, though. Every afternoon it was like the air would get too heavy with humidity and just weep out of a cloudless sky. This added another helpful dimension wherein we had to decide whether it was better to just get wet from the rain or put on our dollar store ponchos to see if we could stay drier just living with the sweat they promoted. My hope for our next trip is to snag dining reservations somewhere with AC between 1:15 and 2:30 every day. With just a little pixie dust luck perhaps we'll manage to both cool off and avoid the poncho dilemma.

 

[YawningDodo]

I know you already decided, but my answer to the question:

What decided us on our Disneyland trip last fall was that when we tried to do commando days, we would inevitably poop out mid- to late-afternoon, go back to the AirBnB, crash, and not get back up until the next day. We looked at park schedules, looked at how long it took to drive to and from the apartment and how long we needed to stay there in the AC to feel refreshed, and realized we would get the same number of park hours we were already getting if we actually planned ahead, left the park for a break a little after lunch, and came back in the early evening to stay until closing. Literally the same number of park hours, but when we took the break we were getting those park hours during the cooler, less crowded parts of the day instead of slogging through the heat (Anaheim had record-breaking heat that week).

Now, I'm one of those people who can push through the mid-afternoon exhaustion and just keep going and going like the Energizer Bunny. I pulled a 17 hour park day this last January, and enjoyed doing it once I got my second (and third...and fourth...) wind. It was a huge mistake. Even though I felt at the time like I could handle the long day without a break, it did a nasty number on my immune system and I was sick for an entire week after the trip. That Disneyland trip, though, when my housemate pushed me to actually listen to my body and take breaks and/or early nights? Both of us came back from it healthy as an ox. So that's a point to consider beyond how you feel in the moment, while you're still on the trip.

 

[Nakkira]

Breaks are on my mind a lot too. I know My hubby will do better with a mid-day heat break, but I don't WANT to loose several hours each day when we have only 4 park days!

 

[Julylady]

We never spend all day at a theme park from rope drop to park closing. We think about the day in 3 parts - morning, afternoon and evening. Most days we spend two of the three parts of the day in the park. So we might spend morning, and evening on day 1, returning to the resort for afternoon swim. The next day we would sleep in and leave for the park about noon staying to close. Up again early the next day and stay until about 5 pm, but then spend the evening relaxing at the resort. And on and on. This has always worked well for us and the kids never got too tired.

 

[JB097]

A little background - DH and I are going in May for our first trip since we were kids. We're both super excited, and planning to rope drop the days that we are there, but I'm worried that we might burn out. We're sort of battling this need to see everything we can during the time we are there (we've already accepted we won't see everything), and whether we should take some time out mid-day to take a break/nap.

I'm wondering if people could give me feedback about what helps them make the decision to go all day vs take a few hours back at the resort. Our FP's for each day end around lunch time, and we have ADR for later in the evening each day excluding AK when we are going to leave the park before dinner to head to Disney Springs for The Void.

Can you tell we're less than 30 days away and I'm starting to panic that I've planned terribly?

First off, the void was AMAZING. Good choice!

We never plan our breaks in advance, we decide the day of. (If one park is busy and another is slow, we might squeeze in another park... If we’re hot and tired, we go back to take a nap etc.) You’ll just need to do what feels right for you!

 

[YawningDodo]

Breaks are on my mind a lot too. I know My hubby will do better with a mid-day heat break, but I don't WANT to loose several hours each day when we have only 4 park days!

I’ve done my best to stop looking at it as time lost. That time is going to be “lost” for me no matter what — if I don’t take the break I’ll either lose time off the end of the day when I poop out early, or I’ll lose triple the time from the week after the trip by being terribly sick because I pushed my body too hard.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

You will find that over time your energy will sap quickly if you don't take meaningful breaks. By meaningful I mean off your feet, in air conditioning and preferably asleep for an hour or so. It doesn't affect day one because no one is tired yet, but it gets worse by day.