How did your elementary-age kids do with 11-1 AM extended evening at MK?

[ML_LovesDisney]

Hello,

I just saw that hours for our trip the last week in April were extended, in-line with the rest of spring break (I guess it's going to be busy. . ).

We were all looking forward to the extended evening hours on Wednesday (4/27), but as others have lamented, 11-1 AM is really pushing it for my kids (they're 7 and 10).

Just curious to hear how other families have done with this scenario, i.e. did a "Disney buzz" keep your kids going really late? Did you attempt mid-day naps?

Appreciate any insights!

My kids have never been able to make it that late, and they are now 13 and 16, still can't. Midday nap would probably help if your kids will nap!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

We just did the late night (1 am) last week, and both girls (ages 8 and 11) did great. We did take the next day off to recoup and swim. We had Beaches and Cream for 2:30, and T Rex/Wolfgang Puck for 7:00 so we slept in and took it easy/pool time. Could have done with a later dinner, or an earlier B&C.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

Thanks so much for all the extremely helpful replies!!!

My two biggest takeaways are:

- We're definitely doing a major mid-day break back at WL beforehand. We'll probably still try to make MK early entry at 8.30am (the advantages of that seem strong enough that it would be a shame to waste them), but we'll leave the park around noon and return in the evening around 7pm.

-We'll make the next day (our AK day) an afternoon/evening visit. It will be a change for us not to RD a park, but I've heard that AK has been clearing out a bit around 2 PM, plus it's so lovely at night . I think we'll still manage to squeeze in almost everything we want to do there.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[Tri-Delta4Life]

We plan on doing MK late hours in June with 6, 8, & 10 year olds. TBH I’m more concerned about my 20 year old. Her natural body clock has always been early to rise early to bed. We do plan on sleeping in and doing the pool the next day.

I'm pretty much your daughter I've almost never stayed up past 9:30 for the entirety of my my 36 years - even in college - I was the one asleep on the couch as the party raged.

 

[toontoy]

we are in MST so its not as late, our kids dont change timezoes. We stay on our time and usually close the parks. we arrive later though usually leaving around 10am, 8am at home. Due to this Genie didnt work with our plans and made the trip worse. the nice thing is that mst of the waits were under 10 min even mine train during the hours this past week. It was the only highlight for the trip we took.

 

[juxtapose]

If you take a midday break, probably, at least once. We rope drop, take a midday break, and go back at dinner. We then stay as late as they can make it which has varied between 8pm and midnight depending on the day and how well they slept. They could not go past 11pm multiple days in a row. Last time we went my kids were 9 and 6.

 

[ktlm]

My DD who is now a teen always loved the late nights and we would get there right around rope drop (maybe 20 minutes after) and stay all day. At those ages, she would tell us in the evenings if she was tired or done and ready to go back to the resort and go to bed-but it didn't happen very often (typically at DHS pre Star Wars where she wasn't as engaged).

Of course, she has always been a bit of a night owl. This was the kid that at age 3 we had to drag away from the Barnstormer at 11:45 pm on a MVMCP night kicking and screaming because she wanted to ride it one more time and we were done and wanted to get out of the park before the midnight rush. Don't feel sorry for her though-- she had just ridden it 14 times in a row. There was no line and we didn't even have to get off between rides. I gave up at 11 or 12- DH made it to 14 and then he was done.

It might be a little hard to get them up to make it to rope drop the next morning. We usually did still make it to a park sometime not too far from rope drop. Might be an hour after if we were in the parks really late the night before. She was always a pretty high energy kid. Might be hard to wake her up after the late night, but once she was fully awake she was ready to get back in the parks.

 

[Jacq7414]

We plan on doing this with our kindergartener next week (!!!). I’ll have to get back to you once we get back. We are doing the 4/20 one. Im hoping she can make it!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Hello,

I just saw that hours for our trip the last week in April were extended, in-line with the rest of spring break (I guess it's going to be busy. . ).

We were all looking forward to the extended evening hours on Wednesday (4/27), but as others have lamented, 11-1 AM is really pushing it for my kids (they're 7 and 10).

Just curious to hear how other families have done with this scenario, i.e. did a "Disney buzz" keep your kids going really late? Did you attempt mid-day naps?

Appreciate any insights!

I don't think you asked the question from the right angle.
The question is, what hours do your elementary aged kid keep normally, especially on non-school nights and how did they do at Disney.
For us, the answer is great.
We are a late night family. Always have been. Staying up after midnight is normal on non-school nights. So it fit in great at Disney.
It also means we aren't a rope drop, early morning family.
I'm not sure it's easy to do both. Surely not in the same day. Maybe alternating if you have a longer trip.

 

[aml1676]

My 7 yr old did great for the VMAH Christmas party when we were there last November. We had a late night at Epcot the day before with extra hours for deluxe resort guests, so we had a relaxing resort day the day of the party so we would be fresh and ready to go. She was totally pooped out by the time we finally made it back to the resort and to bed, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I had originally planned for us to do AK on our party day and was relieved to be able to switch that... no way could either of us have done a park day + late night party. We slept in the next day (we are not morning people, and don't rope drop, ever) and hit AK in time for our lunch reservation.

 

[LiveLikeJack&Sally]

We did the MK extended hours on 3/29 with a 4 year old and two 10 year olds. We actually made it all the way until 1am! We rope dropped HS earlier that morning and were back at WL around 2:30. We had the kids take a long nap and we had dinner in room. Left to take the boat to MK around 8pm. Got to Tomorrowland area a little after 8:30 and rode Buzz and then People Mover during the fireworks. Did some more rides after 9 that were low waits. Around 10:30pm we all had a snack from Aloha Isle and kept on going. The 4 yr old eventually fell asleep in stroller before midnight. We rode Haunted Mansion a few times taking turns with someone waiting with the 4yr old and stroller. Got some great pics at night of Haunted Mansion…a cast member saw me taking pics outside the entrance and told me to just come in past the entrance to get a better pic since no one was there. Took our time taking pics of the castle on the way out. My time stamp on the picture we took on the boat ride back to WL shows 1:09am. We weren’t really planning on staying that late but time kinda flew by. We loved the extended hours!

ETA: We had no plans the next morning and all slept in. We didn’t leave the resort until after noon, and then came back by 7 for the evening and went to bed early. This plan worked for us so we could do the extended hours the night prior.

 

[RamblingMad]

Kids need sleep.

https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/children-sleep.htm

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Kids need sleep.

https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/children-sleep.htm

Significant if kids went to Disney every day

 

[dk413]

We tried this last week with a 6 and 8 year old. We woke up late that morning. Took a nice long nap during the afternoon/hung out at the beach. Headed to the park around 5pm….the kids lasted until 11:15. We got exactly one ride in during extra magic hours before we left. There was no Disney buzz happening in this family.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

We have done this several times in the past. If we were doing a party like MVMCP, we would have a pretty chill day. Go putt putt and swim. One of my favorite pictures is my daughter at 5 standing under a clock on Mainstreet at midnight. She was so proud of herself. It was hysterical watching her try to not fall asleep on the tram ride back to the car. By the time we made it back to the resort we poured her into bed.

 

[Lilsia]

10 and up do better then the younger ones. We did not keep them up that late when they were that young. It was not worth it for them to get thrown off of their schedule that much and have them feel like dirt for the rest of the trip. I don't recommend keeping a young child up that late.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Hello,

I just saw that hours for our trip the last week in April were extended, in-line with the rest of spring break (I guess it's going to be busy. . ).

We were all looking forward to the extended evening hours on Wednesday (4/27), but as others have lamented, 11-1 AM is really pushing it for my kids (they're 7 and 10).

Just curious to hear how other families have done with this scenario, i.e. did a "Disney buzz" keep your kids going really late? Did you attempt mid-day naps?

Appreciate any insights!

Jeez that's really late. We go in May with our two littles ones (5 and just under 2) and we're hoping to get some value out of the extended hours. But I don't even know if I would make it to 11:00, let alone 1:00, let alone the kids! Those kind of hours would just make it a non-benefit to us. Kinda stinks for deluxe guests who were promised this as a "perk" when the timing makes it a clear non-starter for families with kids.

 

[pookybean]

My youngest has always been a night owl, we can never do rope drop because she just cant get it together (even now at 14). I loved the old emh when she was little where we would shut the park down at 1 or 2am. Get a nap in in the afternoon, head back out around 5 or 6 and they should be good. Also, a stroller doesnt hurt!

 

[LiveLikeJack&Sally]

Our kids were good and the rest of our trip and their schedule wasn’t affected by going to the extended hours (Only did MK) during our week. But that’s not to say it wouldn’t be super hard to manage for other families, especially with very young toddlers. The hours changed to an 11pm close at MK just before our trip to accommodate the crowds so we adjusted our plans. After 9pm the crowds did thin out tremendously, so maybe that could be an option to not keep the kids up as late? Originally MK was set to close at 9pm so our extended evening hours were supposed to be 9-11pm until they changed.

 

[isabellea]

Our plan is to rope drop in the morning, take a break in the afternoon (hopefully my youngest who will be 10yr will nap a little) and then back at the park with extra hours early evening. But more importantly, NO parks the next day. A pool/shopping/mini-put day on the Tuesday and beach day on the Thursday, our checkout day.

I'm sure as long as we are in the parks, my kids will be fine but I'm dreading the return to our room.We are staying at the Dolphin so we will walk from Epcot and I expect my youngest to complain the whole way and make us all miss the stroller (her first trip without the stroller, which she loved so much). For MK, I'm debating if we should drive there or take the bus...