So, how do you schedule your park day breaks?

[tinkerbella16]

We take afternoon breaks every day of our trips, because we love relaxing and spending time at our resort just as much as the parks. We do rope drop in the morning and then by 1pm at the latest, we are ready to go back to the resort to swim, rest/nap, recharge and get ready for dinner and for the evening in the parks and we stay until closing.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I may have mis-explained myself. I don't want to schedule actual bathroom breaks. I only want to make sure I leave us enough time so that we can take them when needed instead of doing the, "OMG, we need to be over there this instant for our FP!" rush-rush-rush.

This is my first time at Disney, so maybe I'm channeling too many vacation comedy movies.

I knew what you meant. That's why I said change your pace to relaxed or slow (whatever the slowest is, can't remember the term they use), because it will leave you enough time between each step that if you take a bathroom or snack or just a rest break, you won't get too far behind on your "schedule".

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We always do a midday break by the pool because my kids are huge pool people. The pool is just as important as the parks to them. And I can't be in crowds for too long. I start to get irritated and just want to relax. So we usually leave the park usually around 12ish and go back to the parks around 5 pm with FP+ in our PM park.

 

[richmo]

If I ever get to the point of having to schedule bathroom breaks, its no longer a vacation. Sure I'd like to use my time relatively efficiently, but I don't get the level of planning I sometimes see. That I occasionally like to park myself on a bench in World Showcase and watch people go by for 10-15 minutes might drive some crazy. Anyway, I'd be inclined to set up my Fastpasses fairly early in the day (rope drop if you want, but certainly not a requirement), then take breaks when you want and if you want. And I'd repeat my main piece of advice to those going for the first time: it doesn't matter how many days you're there, you're still not going to see it all. Enjoy what you can and don't sweat what you might miss.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

For those that go back to your resort for a mid day break....
Just curious as to how much time you are actually spending relaxing at the resort vs how much time it takes you to get from the park to your room and back?
Of course if you are staying say at BC and leaving Epcot or HS for a break it would not take too much time but say you're leaving AK or MK to go back to that same resort? I just don't see how you can be spending more than an hour relaxing.
For me I often stay at POP so if I'm wanting a break while at MK you're talking probably a solid 45 minutes each way... Just doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
Not judging anyone that finds it to be worthwhile to them just curious as to how long you are actually being able to relax in your room.

 

[TJDisneymama]

For those that go back to your resort for a mid day break....
Just curious as to how much time you are actually spending relaxing at the resort vs how much time it takes you to get from the park to your room and back?
Of course if you are staying say at BC and leaving Epcot or HS for a break it would not take too much time but say you're leaving AK or MK to go back to that same resort? I just don't see how you can be spending more than an hour relaxing.
For me I often stay at POP so if I'm wanting a break while at MK you're talking probably a solid 45 minutes each way... Just doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
Not judging anyone that finds it to be worthwhile to them just curious as to how long you are actually being able to relax in your room.

If I leave the park at say 1:00 and plan to be back in the park at 5:00, that gives me 4 hours. I figure an hour and a half for travel time, leaves me 2.5 hours to swim and/or nap/rest. That being said, I do plan on using Uber some of the time on my upcoming trip to cut down on the travel time.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For those that go back to your resort for a mid day break....
Just curious as to how much time you are actually spending relaxing at the resort vs how much time it takes you to get from the park to your room and back?
Of course if you are staying say at BC and leaving Epcot or HS for a break it would not take too much time but say you're leaving AK or MK to go back to that same resort? I just don't see how you can be spending more than an hour relaxing.
For me I often stay at POP so if I'm wanting a break while at MK you're talking probably a solid 45 minutes each way... Just doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
Not judging anyone that finds it to be worthwhile to them just curious as to how long you are actually being able to relax in your room.

We get a good 3 hours of relaxing in. Leave around 11:30-12, at the pool by 1 pm, leave the pool by 4 pm and back at the bus stop/monorail/walking to a park by 5.

We go in August so it's HOT and getting away from that heat and the crowds is worth it for me. Plus my kids LOVE the pool. There were times we stayed at the BC that the kids (teenager and preteen) stayed in the pool while we hit Epcot.

We did early March twice when the kids were younger. It was cooler temp wise and the park hours were shorter. Back then we did midday breaks maybe once or twice during the week but we were also back at our resort earlier and could do evening pool time. I think MK closed at 7 pm a lot of nights.

 

[scrapquitler]

I wouldn't think to schedule potty breaks because our park plan consists of 3 FP+ and the rest of the day we take as it goes. I wouldn't pack my day so full of plans that I had to give any thought ahead of time to when I was going to pee, sit down and rest my feet, have a cold drink or snack, etc. When we get tired, we rest.

 

[kniquy]

We are planning our trip with a 5 year old and planning afternoon breaks. this usually works well if you can get up, do rope drop and maybe plan a lunch (either at the park or back at the resort) and then back to the resort to relax by the pool, back to the room to nap or read. This usually gets you out of the park at its busiest time and then returning when some people start leaving after spending the whole day at the park. Then you can plan your dinner and if you have hoppers you can hit another park or just return to your morning park.

Some small breaks could be -- hitting some shows, a TS meal or just grabbing a snack and finding some place to sit and rest for a little bit. If you are at the MK you can plan an afternoon break at one of the resorts, checking out the lobby or grabbing a QS or TS meal.

Touring plans is helpful, but also make sure you have the MDE app -- i found it more user friendly and if you want to change FP selections it is pretty quick and easy. Want to find a last minute dining reservation - just search up based on your location. I never factor in time for bathroom breaks -- you just need to hit when nature calls. With the FP selections you do have some wiggle room because of your hour window - just know -- they will not let you in more than 5 minutes before your window and if you are late -- consider it gone and you will have to see if you can snag something else.

The best thing that i have done to help with limiting running all over the park for FP or dining is to print out park maps -- i think easy WDW has some. then plug in your FP times figure out what other rides you want to hit, allow some time for walking between attractions, plot out where you will be in the park around meal times and if you will be doing a QS -- see what is around you at that time or book a dining reservation. At this late in the game dining reservations might be hard to come by. Touring plans can help with figuring out the plan with limiting walking, although even when i selected this option i still felt like it had us traveling around a bit.

 

[scrapquitler]

We stay at Pop, and when we do a mid-day break we generally go to the park in the morning, arriving maybe 9:30 or 10:00 (we never do rope drop), and then we ride a few rides, eat some lunch, and get on the bus back to Pop at about 2. Then we take a nap or relax in the room until about 6:00 and head back to the park until closing. Usually we do this on a late closing night at MK, when the park closes at 10 or 11, and hopefully has evening EMH hours after that. When we do this, we stay until the Kiss Goodnight which is about an hour past park close. Doing this, we still have lots of park time and at least 3 hours in the room to relax and shower.

 

[FourLeafClover]

This is making me think to take note of all the rest rooms along my touring plan - as I have 4 kids and someone always has to go!

 

[serenitynow]

An important part of the midday break for us is either swimming or taking a cool shower. Sometimes one adult takes a short nap while the other adult escorts the little demons to the pool. After the nap, shower or pool, everyone gets redressed again, but with clean, dry socks or sandals and any other undergarments necessary. It is amazing how refreshed it feels, like starting the day all over again. We stay onsite, so the break usually last about 2.5 hours, during the busiest and hottest part of the park day.

We have tried to find a cool, long ride or show to relax and stay in the park all day. We tried it once, but it didn't work for us, as we had to leave the park for the day at about 5 pm with meltdowns and cranky adults.

 

[basicprincess24]

I love using Touring Plans to create a schedule, even though we usually give it up at some point once we are actually in the parks. Usually we follow the plan pretty closely through lunchtime, then make it up as we go for afternoon/evening.

I will also suggest (as others already have) that you set your walking pace slower than you think you need. DH and I are super-fast walkers, and probably could use the fastest pace just fine. However, I set our plans one pace down (Average?) so we could build in some wiggle-room. This allowed for bathroom breaks and some spontaneity without getting "off plan." If we walked by something with a super short wait, or we wanted to do a ride more than once, we could do it, and still "catch up" with our plan.

 

[DaisyJ]

We rest when we're tired and need a break. That's how we schedule them.

 

[DaisyJ]

For those that go back to your resort for a mid day break....
Just curious as to how much time you are actually spending relaxing at the resort vs how much time it takes you to get from the park to your room and back?
Of course if you are staying say at BC and leaving Epcot or HS for a break it would not take too much time but say you're leaving AK or MK to go back to that same resort? I just don't see how you can be spending more than an hour relaxing.
For me I often stay at POP so if I'm wanting a break while at MK you're talking probably a solid 45 minutes each way... Just doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
Not judging anyone that finds it to be worthwhile to them just curious as to how long you are actually being able to relax in your room.

It doesn't take 45 minutes to get to Pop, for anyone wondering.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

It doesn't take 45 minutes to get to Pop, for anyone wondering.

I beg to differ here.
If I'm at BOG for lunch and want to go back to POP it takes a solid 10 minutes to get to the bus.
Then if there's not a bus there you have to wait for it and if there is a bus there you may have to wait on it for a few minutes if its not full to see if anyone else comes.
After that you can expect a roughly 20 minutes to get to POP and then add a few to get to your room depending on where its located.
I am not simply counting travel time ON the bus... I am counting up how long it would take to get from where you currently are in the park, to the bus, time waited, travel time, and time it takes to get to your room and then in reverse.

 

[wonderstruck88]

I beg to differ here.
If I'm at BOG for lunch and want to go back to POP it takes a solid 10 minutes to get to the bus.
Then if there's not a bus there you have to wait for it and if there is a bus there you may have to wait on it for a few minutes if its not full to see if anyone else comes.
After that you can expect a roughly 20 minutes to get to POP and then add a few to get to your room depending on where its located.
I am not simply counting travel time ON the bus... I am counting up how long it would take to get from where you currently are in the park, to the bus, time waited, travel time, and time it takes to get to your room and then in reverse.

You said it would take 45 minutes each way, which implies that it would take you 45 minutes to get from the park to POP, and then another 45 to get back to the Park. In this response you say you're including both, so perhaps that is where the disconnect is coming from.

I never count time to walk from some random point in the park to the buses, because...well, you could be near the front of the park already. Seems kind of arbitrary to assume you'd be at the back of the park, so I count the time based on how long it takes from when you leave the park to when you're back at the hotel. Guess everyone times this stuff differently.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

You said it would take 45 minutes each way, which implies that it would take you 45 minutes to get from the park to POP, and then another 45 to get back to the Park. In this response you say you're including both, so perhaps that is where the disconnect is coming from.

I never count time to walk from some random point in the park to the buses, because...well, you could be near the front of the park already. Seems kind of arbitrary to assume you'd be at the back of the park, so I count the time based on how long it takes from when you leave the park to when you're back at the hotel. Guess everyone times this stuff differently.

Read my first post in this thread...
BTW many attractions are not right at the park entrances...

 

[wonderstruck88]

Read my first post in this thread...
BTW many attractions are not right at the park entrances...

I'm just pointing out that your first response didn't match up with what you said in your response that DaisyJ quoted, that's all. Not that I would agree with your first post either - for my family it's more than worth the effort to go back to the hotel for a midday break, and it has a major positive effect on everyone's overall mood. But hey, different things work for different families.

 

[drosenbe0813]

If you arrive for Rope Drop, then follow the TP plans, you are usually done with the headliners in any park by about 11. We always take a break, but Disney puts a lot of weenies between you and the gates, so it usually takes us 45-60 minutes to actually get out of the park ("oh, look, a character", "Oh, lets go into this shop")
Taking a break is mandatory for us. When we tour Universal, and have to spend the whole day there, I can tell you that we are all fried by the end of the day.