My animal-loving, Frozen-loving 18 month old insisted on nursing and/or sleeping through nearly every ride I swore she would love! Kilamanjaro Safaris x2, Frozen Ever After, etc. Ha! Oh well. She was wide awake and clapping along for Small World! That was so cute.
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Just to say, I think the length of your stay probably plays some part in the break/no break decision too. We pretty much always go for two weeks and there is no way we could do rope-drop-til-park-close every day - we need some relaxation built in. If we were going for less than a week (which weâve never done) Iâm sure our touring pace would be different. 
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Weâve always taken the afternoon break, even on adult trips, even when offsite. That said, weâre usually there during warmer (aug/sept) months, with longer hours & of course heat/humidity.
My fam loves the pool &/or nap/rest time in afternoons. I like that lines are shorter, crowd lighter in mornings and evenings in the parks. The crowd level spikes highest in the afternoons, so in the summer with the weather & higher crowd, Iâd rather skip out for a few hours.
Itâs a personal preference. If touring thru the day works for your fam, then thatâs a good thing. BTW, having a stroller for both your kiddos is a smart move, even for those who take the midday break IMO.
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at 21 months old my son fell asleep in the haunted mansion, lol
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I took my mother for a quick 4 day trip in late March (2 park days, 2 travel days). We went RD to Wishes both nights, and on the plane ride home I was constantly falling asleep. And we both had scooters so we werenât even doing a ton of walking! Last October I went with my sister and her boyfriend for 8 days, and we did midday breaks each day and I felt great before, during and after. I will always do breaks, no matter the length of the trip.
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We had our familyâs first trip when DS was a few months shy of 3 and did 4 days, no breaks. He took a late nap in the stroller every day. We RD or were at the parks right after opening and stayed until close at all but AK (and went to Chef Mickeyâs for a late-ish dinner that night. He was a trooper and we were all exhausted by the end of those 4 days but we had a blast. It was February, crowds were low and temps were perfect.
This year we are going in October, high anticipated crowds, DS is now 6 and we are adding DD almost 3 and my mom who is almost 70. Plan to slow the pace and are planning a midday break the first day, shorter days the second and third days (and no evening plans) and a full 9am-8pm on our fourth and final day with no break.
My daughter isnât one to pass out from exhaustion - she melts down instead. And my husband isnât getting into Orlando until LATE Saturday night, so I think a family break/nap the first day will be ideal for us to last at MK from RD to close. Iâm hopeful we can power through a full day at AK but at least itâs the end of our trip if it doesnât work out lol
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Thatâs what I figure, by day four theyâll be exhausted but then we head to the coast and spend thanksgiving with family and their pool I feel like taking the bus back to the hotel and them refusing a nap will be just as exhausting as if we just pushed through at the park.
Yes! I feel like by the time we take the bus back to the hotel and then swimming? Theyâll be more tired from that. I remember our last trip we went back to the hotel (MK walk to Contemp) just to freshen up for dinner, maybe gone a total of an hour and there was no way we were swimming, too tired! Day of arrival and leaving weâll pool it and then head to the coast for Thanksgiving and they can swim there
Oh goodness there is no way I could last that long without breaks in between either!
Thanks all! Glad to hear it isnât crazy. Weâre pretty good with not overdoing it in our regular lives at home with kid activities etc and protective of sleep, but figure going slow and steady we should be fine. Itâs Disney, if we donât leave tired whatâs the point? haha
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Another thing we did was had a picnic on Tom Sawyer island. My girls loved just running around and playing on play ground and it was quiet and peaceful there. I think just getting out of the crowds and strollers and waiting in line for a bit helped them. They were 4 at the time. Part of our group ran to Thunder mt railroad while I stayed on island with them. Itâs just across from entrance. So they got to do a big ride and young girls got to just play and relax from crowds. Have a fun trip !!!
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Thatâs a good idea. My husband and I were talking about how Thunder Mtn and Splash etc are close so weâll do them together but then my little guy kind of misses out, but that can be his break time to hunt for bugs and chill out like he normally does
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My son liked the small play area under the bridge near the exit to Splash. And one year we were in the area late enough to watch the Hoedown and Country Bears while we used FPs (and rider swap) on the big rides.
And we hopped on railroad at one point. It takes about 20 min to go all the way around. We left strollers made a full circle and they enjoyed it but it also was a little restful time. We went in December so it wasnât hot. So that was another easy relaxing time. Then, while the older group rode space mt I sat with girls at a stage to the right in tomorrow land ( donât remember name). But they had music and then some characters come out and dance. (Maybe the incredibles. ) Anyway that was another down time with girls but we were close so could do rider swap at space mt. There really are areas and ways that you can kinda wind down and "rest ". But never leave park. I agree if I was going for 12 days i would have to schedule rest days. We live in ga so we usually come over long weekend for 4 days. Never have stayed for extended period.
Thanks for reminding me about that play area - DD3 wanted to stop there on our last trip but I was Mean Mommy and told her had to leave for our ADR at Skipper Canteen. Will definitely allow for some play time there in October!
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This is a good topic. We are talking out first trip DD 8 DS 6 in early Nov. I did not plan midday breaks but our afternoons are not jammed pack either. We plan to either RD or early morning ADR. I have planned out the days the important things are in the morning or before lunch. Anything after that can be dropped. Some days we will TS lunch for a break or pick a show were the kids might fall asleep or just chill out. I hope to make it until close/fireworks but if we donât I wonât sweat it. Arrival day is just Chef Mickeys in the evening and then early to bed. It will be a long day anyway. Hopefully the magic bus wonât take long and the room will be ready so we can catch a nap once we get there. We will do 2 days/2 parks and then no park for 1 day and finish with the other 2 parks the last 2 days and then the next day is departure day but we wonât need to be in the bus until about 1 or 2pm.
We are going in early December with our 2 kids, who will be 6 and 4 at trip time, and my sisterâs family, which includes 3 kids (6,4, almost 2) will be along as well. We have not actively planned any days with mid-day breaks (gasp!). We have some days arrive very early but perhaps leave the park early, or other days arrive later & stay later, and yes, some days from RD to close. Before everyone says Iâm borrowing trouble though, our experience with our kids so far is that they both are open til close little humans just like their parents are. We have tested them with local theme parks & holiday events that have extremely long hours & our 2 are troopers! So, weâre taking the chance & will rent a side by side stroller that reclines for some cat naps & rests while in the park. If we start to see crankiness & unhappiness, weâll adjust! Like others have mentioned, Iâm also planning on slower, easier rides to relax on as well, if we need a bit of rest time. And, I have already decided that although we will try pretty hard for healthy food during our trip, Iâm not going to say no to multiple ice creams each day - that stuff can perk up my two kiddos like nobodyâs business, ha ha!
Now, that said - my sisterâs children may not behave the same way. So weâre trying to plan our park time in such a way that we can experience certain rides together in the AM in case they need to head back to the hotel.
Iâm going to try to remain flexible. Iâm hoping not to have to head back to the hotel, but if we do need to, Iâll have a contingency plan ready to go.
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No breaks for us. We are a couple with no kids. We like to get the deluxe dining plan and use meals as our breaks. One table service for lunch and then a 2 credit signature dinner. It works out great, we are relaxed, and no travel time to the hotel and back out every day!
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I have done 3 park days in June, no midday breaks with 5 kids: 7,5,4,2,and 1. We did have a rest day I think. There were grandparents, aunt, adult cousin and dh and I in the group as well. We did not do rope drop, but did get there as early as we could make it from off property and did stay relatively late, including fireworks the last night. We used strollers for the kids. We did not do table service in the parks, just snacks we brought and lighter QS food. This summer there were 15 of us, 1 grandma, 2 sets of parents and 10 kids 13 down to 1. We went as early as we could lol (9 something?) and left after fireworks, no breaks, but it was just 1 day (in July though).
We usually do RD to close with no rest days added. We first went when our DD was 6 years old for 6 days, no stroller, no afternoon breaks during spring break. We have done trips as long as 8 days with no rest days or afternoon breaks (I donât recommend that). If we do a long trip (8 days or more) we do take a rest day in the middle now. You will be exhausted at the end but for us, it is worth it. I do agree with others about staying somewhere other than WL if you do RD to close every day. We also did that our first trip. It was a waste of money because we never saw most of the resort. For us, the resort/hotel, is simply somewhere to sleep and shower. You know your kids better than anyone. If a day at the beach makes them have meltdowns, RD to close at Disney is probably not the best idea.