Bus back to the hotel. Allowing 1 hour each way for travel, plus 2 solid hours to just lay down in the hotel room. So 4 hours total. Sometimes we got back sooner and it was more like 2-½ hours laying down, which was great!
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Our last trip we left for nap and pool time, the day we didn’t we regretted it. My 4yo said his favorite part of Disney was the pool. So this trip he is a little older and doesn’t nap regularly, but we are still planning either RD and leave the park by mid-afternoon, arrive early afternoon and stay late or mid-day breaks.
Lot of good responses in this thread! My biggest problem in wdw is my anxiety in crowds, and I’m an early riser by nature. So for me the best plan is rope-drop and then leave the park after lunch as the crowds get heavier. On my first honeymoon (approx a thousand years ago?) I had the most epic panic attack meltdown when I couldn’t get out of frontierland during the parade, so I try to remind myself of that when I put together a plan.
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It all depends on the people involved. I;ve done breaks where I rode the train at MK, have done breaks going back to the resort and room. Mostly, my breaks are the meals which normally are sit down type and do take an hour or so. It helps that for these we do not have any kids.
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We usually RD each park one day per trip and then have later morning arrivals the other days for FPP and shows (usually do 7 park days) so usually only 1 day RD to close (the last day!). Everyone always talks about going back to resort and how refreshing it is. My kids were teens and 6 and 8 last trip. If I had young kids <4 or just teens and adults, heading back to resort could be relaxing. But we tried it last trip, I found that walking to front of park, waiting for bus, riding to resort, walking back to room, getting kids ready to swim, hitting pool, changing, hanging in room for 30 min or so, walking back to bus, waiting for bus, riding back to park, and then walking back in was more exhausting than getting a snack and catching a show or no-line wait. I have to add though that I have never been in the heat of the summer (trips in Nov, Dec, Mar, Apr, and May).
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We like to arrive late and stay late. As an all adult group usually, we prefer to sleep in and take our time in the morning. The morning mob scene at rope drop is just a drag to us. Plus, our brains are on West Coast time, so getting up at 6 is like getting up at 2 or 3 to us. No thanks! If you work the fastpasses and evening magic hours, this can work well. We like to leave and go to one of the resorts on the monorail for dinner or cocktails in the lounge in the late afternoon or early evening.
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Summer is a different ballgame altogether. Even last April we had a couple of days that were a little over the top. My son called an audible and had us do a mid-afternoon break we weren’t planning on and it was such a wise idea. Sometimes the 9yo knows best 
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With our kids getting older, we are starting to tend toward this way of touring. It’s super nice to have more flexibility as they grow up.
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Thanks for that perspective. It’s nice to hear from people who have different experiences to consider!
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It really depends on YOU and YOU alone. Some days we want to rest - some days we don’t. Sometimes I go back to the room, sometimes my wife and kids go back - it all depends. Just go with the flow and if you are tired - go rest - you are on VACATION. So enjoy it. Also make sure to stay well hydrated and feed so that you have the energy. I am very fit - but a long day of walking and being baked by the sun is quite tiring
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I probably wouldn’t have taken a break at resort without kids. I would definitely find a nice restaurant to relax in or some other comfortable area to take a breather in. (This depends on weather, too, of course!) But you will be more flexible with adults so you’ll be fine no matter what.
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I think where you stay also impacts breaks. This trip we are at BC and I don’t have a break on our MK day because it’s farther from our hotel then say Epcot where we will take a break. On our Epcot day we will rally to and from so it’s easy to head to the pool for a few hours. On the MK day I’ll schedule some easy rides like CoP, HoP, or Philhamagic during mid day plus a TS lunch so we get some time in the AC. I also schedule some mornings and evenings at different parks so we break after one and then hop to the other. If you are hoping anyway then a break doesn’t seem as crazy as exiting a park only to return a few hours later.
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That’s the thing, we’re staying at POR so it’s pretty far from everything, but based on all the great feedback in this thread, I’ve kinda of compromised and I mad long sit-down meal breaks as well as made plans to do shows and indoor cool things during hot afternoon hours. I’ve also made all my meal times around times that I thing others may not be so hopefully that also works in our favor. I think once I get all my actual FPR’s I will set my schedule in stone and post them to see what people think.
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I just finished a 5-night stay - solo adult - and did not do midday breaks. A time or two I hopped, and once I planned a QS dinner out of MK but a monorail ride away, but no “go back and nap” (and I don’t do pools, so definitely no “back to swim” for me).
What I did do was plan in indoor sit-down things like Carousel of Progress, Tiki Room, Spaceship Earth, FOTLK, Finding Nemo, etc. so I’d have some “off my feet” breaks, but that was it.
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Years ago I found out that Disney has an operational policy of rotating out the Cast Member at the many of the queue entrances because they were getting stressed out from hear the same audio track over and over again. I figured something similar was true for guests. All that sensory pressure from the surroundings can put you on edge and you don’t even realize it. I started working in some form of a mid day break and will never go back to the all day marathon.
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This is an excellent point that I hadn’t even thought of needing to explain in my reasoning for why I always take midday breaks. I am naturally an introvert, and my husband has anxiety. The balance of 4-5 hours in then a few hours out is also really necessary for me to enjoy myself. Great point for others to consider. Same goes for kids, and most of the time they can’t verbalize that.
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@Mjfc42083 is this your first trip? do you plan to return?
On my last 2 trips I used our table service dinners as a time to sit and relax and unwind a bit. Loosen up the shoestrings (literally a few times each trip!).
On our next trip, I promised DH and DD that we would take some more resort rests - enjoy the pool and hang at the hotel some, and spend more time at Disney Springs. Flexibility will be important on our next trip. I’ll give the option to do more rides/attractions, or go to the pool and come back. But at some point in the evening, this becomes less practical and you just have to stick it out if you want to see the evening fireworks/shows.
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it’s not our first, but the last time we went, we went with a friend and his boyfriend at the time, who turned out to be one of those awful “I need to speak to your manager” type people and he RUINED the week for us. Complained the ENTIRE TIME. I was devastated. This time I want it to be completely magical! 've scheduled lots of sit down meal breaks, and shows, and chill things like Jungle cruise and people mover, two trips on the AK safari, and both of the stage shows, at HS were gonna do the IJ, B&B, and VotLM shows, and taking a break to boat to Epcot for dinner. I think I’ve not only made this a sort of “Ultimate” touring plan as far as hitting up all our favorite attractions and shows, but also giving us plenty of time to stop and smell the roses (literally, at the Epcot flower and garden festival). Everyon’s feedback in this thread has convinced me that as adults, we don’t necessarily need to go all the way back to the resort (P.O.R.) but we are definitely taking it MUCH slower than I had initially planned. So incredibly excited! I make our FP reservations a week from Saturday!!!
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HS - I suggest the Frozen Sing A Long. DH who has no interest in kiddie movies loved this show and said he would see it again. So, shameless plug for the Sing A Long. It’s a great time and 30 minutes in the AC 
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I was interested in this, but I was also reading that it is mostly just scenes from the movie, and not a live performance. Can you verify? This is why we are skipping the Pixar Short Film festival at Epcot because we own all three short film blu-rays that have been released so I didn’t want to spend any park time doing things that aren’t necessarily "new: to us. What are you thoughts?