I feel like its taking a chance on missing out on a lot to see and do, and also wastes money. In my plans i’ve made a good amount of walk around and chill time but never to leave the parks. thoughts?
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That depends on you and your family. Also if you have a car to drive to your resort or must use Disney’s buses. A break like that is good but you can also rest in the parks.
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This really depends on you and who is with you.
I don’t need it but I am usually just with my hubby. No small children.
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Depends on a lot - who are you traveling with, what time of year, what’s the weather like, what did you do the day before, what are you doing the next day?
So many factors.
But we generally find that it is well worth it to take that break - especially in summer months when the heat is just so zapping - and we find we are a much happier travel party as a result
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Way back when we were on our honeymoon, we did leave the parks and returned back to our resort in the afternoon to rest and then returned to the parks right after dinner. With 6 days, it was definitely worth it to get out of the sun for a while and refresh for the evening.
But since we don’t say on site any longer, getting off property to rest is just too inconvenient. We still feel resting from the sun and activity is necessary in the afternoon, but we usually use that time to find an air-conditioned location, get some water and a snack for a while to revive. It makes getting through the day much nicer, allowing us to stay close to closing time. We rarely stay actually until closing, but occasionally do.
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I’ve never regretted leaving the park mid-day for a break. Even if you don’t return to your hotel, I think getting away from the madness for a bit can be good. We strolled over to Ample Hills when we were at Epcot and HS to grab ice cream and family members went to lunch at Animal Kingdom lodge during our AK day. I love going back to the hotel and taking a nap or just sitting in the room and relaxing for a while.
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As others have said, the answer really depends on your traveling party. We don’t take midday breaks, but my 4yo son would prefer to collapse in the stroller than to go back to the hotel. I also tend to plan TS reservations midday to get a break (and air conditioning when it is hot) and have a rest day in the middle of the week. We also had a lot of frozen snacks last September!
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It will depend on your family. We had our preschool/elementary aged kids with us on our last trip. Breaks did not work well. They did not nap at all. We found it better to arrive at rope drop and leave at dinner or arrive around lunch and stay late. On our honeymoon we took breaks to our resort to wash up and take a breather.
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3 adults going, no kids, BUT I made ALL my dining reservations inside parks that have EMH… did I totally set us up for failure? I’m hoping we could just kind of use our meal times to kick back and relax, I scheduled los of character meets and shows for chill time as well as people mover and mellow stuff like that. Parades too, and a fireworks dessert party the first park night. Our first day of travel we do pool and springs and a horse and carriage ride.
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We use our meals to relax as well. With three adults, I don’t think you will have a problem. But you could always switch things around a little when you are there if it isn’t working.
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Just adults? You should be OK. Do as much as you can in the morning, take an early lunch, then take it easy in the afternoon. Stick with the continuous running shows. (ie Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents ect.) They are easy to get into while it is busier, air conditioned and a good place to relax (Nap) Then enjoy the evening.
Don’t get me wrong, going back to the room is great also. Especially if you are tiered at all. Get in a nap, swim, and come back rejuvenated. Its a lot better than dragging your a** all night.
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Speaking as an adult who only goes during cooler weather (Nov-Mar time frame), I have never felt the need to leave the parks for a break. If I was going for 10 days I might feel differently, but my trips are usually only 4-5 park days, so taking a few hours off in the middle of the day means that many attractions I won’t see. I almost always have TS lunches and dinners, so those are my “breaks”. If I ever had a lapse in sanity and went during the summer, I think I would need the breaks to prevent death from occurring. Even in my 20s August completely wasted me by mid afternoon; now, approaching 60, it would probably land me in the ER.
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When traveling with kids, we tend to take breaks especially in the summer. But on a wonderful adult only girls trip, we did RD to park closing day after day and loved every second of it. We did take the time to do TS meals. And taking time to sit and watch shows provides a bit of rest.
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What is this thing called “rest”? I am unfamiliar with the concept…
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Flexibility is the key. You might have days where you can go RD to close and other days where you need a break. The main thing is to have a good time.
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We tend to go back tot he resort for breaks on most days. Our 4yo loves her pool time - it allows her to cool off, run around and just relax, away from all the noise and impressions of the parks. On days when we don’t go back, we still have some downtime. This can be things like pony riding at Fort Wilderness or a visit to Disney Springs (with plenty of play time at the Lego store). One time she ended up playing for over an hour in the Beach Club beach volleyball court sand - after that she wanted to go back to Epcot. 
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Traveling with my 4 year old, a nap in the middle of the day was an absolute must! While him and my wife napped I just explored the resort. I did feel like we were rushed and lost time but it would have been a pain to deal with an overly tired 4 year old! We will be staying a few days longer next time to make up for the lost time!
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I have taken 3 trips to WDW. The first trip was 8 days with almost all having midday breaks. The day we didn’t, we regretted it. The second trip was 3 days and we didn’t take any midday breaks due to the short length and while that was the right decision, we were absolutely exhausted and fell asleep on the plane ride home, at 10 am, after full night sleeps every night. The third trip was 14 days with all days having midday breaks. We felt great throughout and great going home.
I will never ever ever not take midday breaks. The argument can be made that you are “wasting money” by not being in the parks every single minute they are open, but this is vacation and being miserable is not worth any amount of money.
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We took breaks every day bc we went in June and it got hot by 1:00, plus we stayed at The Beach Club, and enjoying the resort if part of our vacations we really enjoy. We didn’t head back until 6 or so. It rained most afternoons. We ate an easy dinner in the room. Many night my feet were still killing me. The first day at AK walking back to the bus my son said “ my feet feel like they are going to split open”. Enough said.
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@sarahraegraham Regarding your 8 day trip with midday breaks. Are you talking about midday breaks just sitting on a park bench at one of the parks or having a drink at a restaurant and just relaxing? Or are you talking about taking the bus, monorail or uber/lyft back to your resort to relax?