Comments on Take the Monorail: The Art Of Resting

I hit the parks hard, early in the morning for the...

2010-11-24T05:13:14.557-05:00

I hit the parks hard, early in the morning for the extra magic hours and park openings and late at night until closing, and so I, a 24 year old, take a break after 12:30pm when the parks are often too crowded anyway to take a nap. Often this nap is just laying in bed cuddling with my boyfriend as on the last trip, or on the previous trip my best friend and I eating peanut butter and crackers, watching the Disney Parks preview channel (yes that really bubbly woman running around to the 10 best attractions in the 'World, one of which was a whole park I believe, not really a single attraction at all Ms. Bubbly; I am just going to say it, you are a liar!) and giggling about various things that are amazingly funny when you are exhausted. Usually though, even with everything else that we do during these breaks, we do get an hour or so of sleep, or at least sleep like rest with our eyes closed, which preps us to hit the parks again by 5pm. Our schedule is usually crazy and built for maximum riding, but even with what my friends call an, ahem, Disney Nazi schedule, I always build in rest times. My last trip was my boyfriend's first trip to a Disney park, and we got there on New Years day, which was his birthday and after not sleeping much New Years Eve (we were out of the house by 5:30am and I couldn't sleep until 3am), and staying up until the 2am closing at Magic Kingdom I let him sleep in until nearly 2pm on our second day. Despite my hyper, frequent contemplation of running off to the parks alone, it was a good idea, and after I had some breakfast I settled in myself, and I am sure it prevented us from dragging the rest of the trip.

We have to go back for a nap or our daughter is to...

2009-10-05T11:02:53.602-04:00

We have to go back for a nap or our daughter is totally unreasonable plus she really does not sleep in her stroller. We typically stay offsite so we go back to the house around 11 or 1130 have a nice lunch at home and then lay our daughter down for 2-3 hours and in the quiet she will sleep longer. Then my husband and I will take turns exploring our resort or if we have other family members we will both go out; otherwise, we take a nap along with her so we are not burnt out either (dragging a toddler around WDW can be extremely mentally and physically tyring!).

My best strategy for resting at Disney World is to...

2009-09-08T15:47:35.343-04:00

My best strategy for resting at Disney World is to go with a friend who knows the benefits of doing so! Being a grownup, I never would have thought of it myself--but that smart lady's napping plan was my saving grace once or twice! ; )

When my son was younger, I used the stroller metho...

2009-09-08T11:02:20.563-04:00

When my son was younger, I used the stroller method. He's always been a good sleeper and can sleep just about anywhere. I would walk him around with a blankie over the stroller until he fell asleep and then I would find a shady spot and read my book. This allowed the others in our group to go on the more adult rides that my son was not tall enough to go on. It's also a nice time to eat a meal "alone." Most counter service locations allow you to wheel the stroller up to your table. I even managed to pull off watching the night time parade at the Magic Kingdom while my son slept in the stroller beside me.

Now that he is past the napping stage, I plan half days just to break it up a bit. Every other day we plan some pool time or non-park time for a half day which helps both of us not get too cranky.

Don't be surprised if the little ones fall asl...

2009-09-08T10:54:28.979-04:00

Don't be surprised if the little ones fall asleep in the loud shows/attractions. In May, my 10 month old fell asleep in both the Tiki Room and the Circle of Life (Lion King movie in The Land). I thought that the Circle of Life would be too loud for him, but he zonked right out.