Take a Break? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dtootsie42]

When our three daughters were younger my husband kept us on military time....we ran here, there and the girls even made comments that Dad schedules everything even bathroom breaks. When they got into their teens they had a revolution and military time trips stopped. Now they do their thing and hubby and I do our thing and we meet for lunches, dinners, special rides etc, etc. It works great.

My hubby likes to get up and get going so I tag with him and the girls of course like to sleep in a bit. This year we cannot afford a trip to Disney World so we are going to the Land which of course is much closer. We are only going for a few days, my husband scheduled one day for an early breakfast and then told our daughters by the way if you would like to join us we have breakfast on our first full day at 8:30....to his surprise they were all enthused.

This is going to be a trip of firsts....our oldest is in college so she is not coming and we are just going to wing the whole trip. This will be interesting!

[Jeri Lynn]

I think on our first couple of trips we were a little more militant...but now that our family has gone multiple times and I have gone on my "girls" trips multiple times, I have seen everything I want to see. Now we take time to relax at the pool.

Our typical vacation now is going to a park in the morning, staying until 11 or 12, then going back to the hotel, puttering in the room and going to the pool, doing laundry, just relaxing and heading out to another park about 5pm for the evening. It's really an enjoyable way for us to vacation.

I think if I was only going once and knew I would never be able to go back I would want to cram as much in as possible, but for me, I know I plan on going once a year for as long as I can so if I miss something it's ok, I'll see it next trip!

[pixiesmimi]

The first few trips we made (even with small children) we went commando style, never going back to rest. We did schedule in a day of rest in the middle and just hung around the resort or went to DTD. It depends on how long our trip is. If it is just a couple of days, we go when it opens and don't leave until it closes. We don't want to waste our time going back and forth. The kids nap in the stroller and we take breaks.

Last year just DH and I went alone and took our time strolling through all the parks and doing what we wanted and it was much more relaxed. DH likes to get up early and eat a big breakfast. I like to make the EMH in the morning. Most of the time it is too late at night for the Evening hours or we are bushed or, as I have found some times, the parks (like Epcot) are really dark (they turn off a lot of the lights and shops close) and it isn't as much fun. But if I ever get DH back to the resort for a break, he will lie down for a nap and never get up. Sleeping is his favorite way to spend the afternoon. So I don't give him a chance. The last time, when we got back to the resort, I wanted to rest a while and then get out and enjoy the resort. He would nap and never get up so I either had to do it alone or forget about it. So now I don't give him the chance.

Now our upcoming anniversary trip, we are going to relax and enjoy both the resort and the parks and make it a real vacation. Also, we are staying at the Poly which is a monorail resort and it will be faster getting back and forth without wasting a lot of our time. But with kids, we try to ride everything and see everything. If they want to swim or whatever, we do that. We try to make our character meals in the mornings so they are ready to go the rest of the day without melt downs in the TS. They don't want to leave the parks any more than we do.

[AllDisney]

We used to go for 6 days. The last few years we now stay 7 days. It's not as rushed since we added the extra day.

We still go, go, go. We never know when we'll be back and don't want to miss a thing

[Lizzie]

When it was just me and my husband we would go for a shorter amount of time and go commando. But now with kids its not happening.

Our next trip will be in a couple of years and will have two 5 year olds and a 2 1/2 year old. We plan on staying two weeks. So we can get up early and go and come back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. And than go out again. My kids are part fish so part of the fun for them is swimming everyday.

[irish1967]

We ALWAYS take a break. But, we also go in July - so by 2:00 or so, we are definitely ready to get out of the heat and cool off in he pool.

We tend to eat breakfast early (7:30 or so) and head out to whichever park as soon as we are all ready. CS for lunch and then after another ride or two, head back to the resort for a swim. Typically, we have an early-ish ADR for dinner which gets us back to the parks by 8:00 for a couple more hours.

The heat is so exhausting that we normally don't do EMH - we are ready for bed by around 10:00.

Honestly, I think it depends on the personalities of the people involved and if everyone in your party can handle it, then a military schedule is fine. It is when someone can't handle it, that it becomes a problem.

For some people, children and adults, it is a problem and when that is the case, a break in the day is necessary because ultimately, they end up making everyone around them miserable!

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Military style!

We go go go. We get up and hit the parks and don't return until the parks close. I want to see and do everything that I can. If we are getting a little tired then we stop and get something to drink and/or eat and rest for a little bit. We never go back to the room to rest or enjoy the pool.

[homeschool mom]

I can see my children writing this same post years from now. We go from sun up to sun down when we are at WDW. There is too much to see and do to take a break. However, on our last trip, we were a little more relaxed in the parks. I guess we've been to WDW enough times that we know what we want to see and do and if we get to do each one once a trip, we're happy.

[#1Dduckfan]

When I was younger, my parents also took the commando approach to visiting the parks. Mainly because we didn't go that often. Once my parents bought into the vacation club, we began to go every year for sure, sometimes multiple times a year. After that happened, we discovered the beauty of taking it slow. We now rest sometimes in the afternoon at the hotel, or we start our day late and begin at a water park. It's nice to do it that way, but I understand the aggressive route too.