How long do your kids last?

Well, mine done last all day and neither do I or my DH! We just went to six flags New England a few weeks ago and left our house at 8:30 and returned home at 10:30 and we were all shot!

For Disney, we leave early (eat breakfast in our room), leave the park after we have lunch/no later then 1 and take a nap then return for about 5. I have done that with a 15 mo old, 22 month old, 2 1/2 year old and up to a 12 year old. We go in summer and I have not had a grumpy crying child under my watch!

I am not sure what next year will bring since I will have a 17 yo who may still want to nap! Plus a 14 and 12 yo.

Oh and we have dedicated pool days, no naps on those days as you can sleep in but the day is spent at the pool!
 
At that age my kids lasted from rope drop until about 6 with a stroller nap in there. We tried the back to the room for a break and that caused the most incredible tantrum a 2 year old ever threw and no rest for anyone. So we moved to stroller naps. We did early lunch. Early dinner (4:30ish) and back to hotel for a swim, bath and sleep. Yes we missed fireworks except what we saw from our balcony but that's life as a parent sometimes
 
Every family does Disney differently... But for my family we arrive as early as possible but rarely actually rope drop. But usually within 30 to 45 min of rope drop and we stay all day. We have never left for breaks. My kids are now 3, 7,10, and 17. We have always stayed all day long as in all the way through night time shows/ fireworks. We usually go 6 days and take one day off from parks but I wouldn't call it a rest day so much. We usually go to Disney springs 1/2 a day swimming a few hrs and restock any groceries/ water we might need. This has always worked for my family. Now the younger kiddos have always napped when they wanted in the stroller and rarely get whinny. But at the same time I am a fan of strollers for this reason. My 3 year old will have her stroller and I will bring my carrier to throw her on my back from time to time. She's only 31ish lbs. But she likes to walk and I'm sure shell walk alot more than my others did. 7 years is when we consider them walking only with no stroller. But my now 7 year old does tire more quickly so we may try it the 1st day with parking his stroller somewhere and making him walk but I don't think he'll be able all day. So we agreed to play it but ear with him. Hope u have a great trip
 
All day, like @Fosteringaprincess above, we go a little after rope drope and stay all day. Last trip, my daughter was a open to close kind of kid, with dining and snack breaks. We did the resort nap break once, and she couldn't stand it (luckily, neither could we). Every kid is going to be different though.
 
Thanks again! I guess I will just have to be a bit more flexible and feel out my kids! I was also planning park day every day with shorter days, but maybe I should reconsider that play!
 
We usually hit RD and my DD is asking to leave the park and go to the pool by about 11AM every day. So we usually leave between 12-1PM, we'll stay to 2-3PM occasionally. Sometimes we go back to the parks after dinner but not often. She probably could last a full day but wouldn't want to be there all day (neither do I). We plan a sleep in day or pool day about every two days.
 
at that age, we had a stroller. We did a park day (LONG) and then took a day or two at hotel pool to relax. (we're cheap) the kids always napped in the stroller when needed,and we did rope drop to closing on our park days. We had no problems,and just stopped an relaxed a bit ourselves when the kids were sleeping in the stroller...perfect time for a break and a cool drink while we waited for nap to end. But our kids were always used to being with us wherever anyway. Some of our best trips were 10 days, but parks for only 4-5 days tops when they were little. That was our style,to save money on park admission while still having fun. edited to add... we always traveled in January when they were young, so not too much worry about heat then.... I think that makes a difference. If it was the middle of summer, I might go super early in am, then poolside during heat of day to relax, then park again after dinner to keep cooler. In fact we're planning a family trip upcoming with small ones and might just do that.
 


I just wouldn't book any "must do" experiences at night, or only once if it's fireworks or a dessert party. My kids are 5 and 2 and we go every year. We usually bring one umbrella stroller and a wrap (baby carrier). When they're little they will nap on my back better than in the stroller. We've never made it past dinner in the parks, and we've only done dinner twice.

We RD or close to it every morning, and go hard until a relaxing TS lunch around 1. Finish our FPs and ride anything left that doesn't have a long line. We're usually back to our room by 4 or 5 and can relax for an hour or two before another TS dinner. My 5 y/o falls asleep at the dinner table 100% of the time - he has done this on every vacation we've ever taken, WDW and other places. My younger boy has a bit more stamina, but would still never make it to fireworks at this age. Even if we didn't RD they're up by 7 or so every morning, so I don't think a late start to the day would help much. Our touring style works for us, and we'll just modify it as they get older.
 
When mine were young, we hit rope drop and then used their cues to figure out when to leave. It ended up being around dinner time - sometime between 5-7pm. We didn't plan out dinner ahead of time so we felt we could use their cues better. We tried doing a mid-day break a few times with different kids being in that age range and it never worked. None of my kids napped in a stroller except for one trip when

My kids were all early risers when young so rope drop was easy to make.
 
I recommend the stroller naps as well. My kids always get a second wind if they are taken out of the park. I find it better to tell them we are walking to a ride and then just walk in circles until they fall asleep. Also, I like the stroller naps because it gives me time to sit and people watch or shop in the park.
 
Thanks! I am definitely leaning towards stroller naps! It would be nice to have some quiet time in the parks!
 
My DD is now 11, and has been to WDW every year since she was 2, and twice when she was 3. The toddler years were some of my favorite trips. Those years we went in December right around the time you are going, or the week after Thanksgiving. She was a high energy night owl. We would go for 8 nights. She wanted to do parks all day every day- no off days for us. She was also a rope drop (well we usually did 10 to 20 minutes after rope drop to avoid the lines- as she was not a get there well before rope drop kid) to almost closing; nap in the stroller during the day, kind of kid. Once she was awake (and that was the hard part since she is not a morning person), she would be standing at the door dressed and ready with her stroller telling us to hurry up. We always ate breakfast in the room- she was a very picky eater, so at those ages, we typically had garden grocer delivered so we would have something we knew she would like.

We would schedule a TS for lunch which was a good time for us to rest and recharge and it would also wind her down so that she would nap in the stroller after lunch. (Also, DD gave up naps entirely on her 3rd birthday- except for at WDW-she would still nap in the stroller once or twice every afternoon at WDW) We tried going back to the room for a nap break once (the first day of her first trip) when she was 2, and it was a disaster. Some kids are room nap kids- ours was not. Ours was an angry to have been taken out of the park kid who stood behind the curtain and refused to nap for 2-3 hours until we finally gave up and went back to the parks. She threw a whopper of a tantrum when we pulled our out of the park to go back to the room too. It was a total waste of time. That was the only tantrum I remember from her 2 year old trip- she was much better behaved at WDW than at home. (She had a whopper tantrum at 3 about having to leave WDW to fly home- but that is another story). The going back to the room rest period did not fit her personality at all. Also, DD never rode in a stroller from the time she was 12 months old and took her first steps EXCEPT for at Disney. At Disney, the minute she realized how big it was, she had no problem with the stroller. We did the stroller through her 5 year old trip. The 6 year old trip without the stroller was probably our roughest trip. She did not quite have the stamina for all that walking yet, and we also missed the convenience of storing stuff in the stroller as we walked around. Another year later, and she was back to open to close and walking the whole way. I would say absolutely plan on a stroller for the 4 year old as well as the 2 year old.

Every kid is different. My niece is nothing like DD. She has never been a high energy child-- I would say she was more a low energy type. She was a nap in the room in the middle of the day and still leave well before closing kind of kid.

I think if your kids have not been yet, it really is kind of trial and error and hopefully the same thing works for both. I would say just stay kind of flexible and see what works for you.
 
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We took my 5 and 3 year old girls in June 2016 ( we are headed back in 7 days). We rented a stroller for both and we went from 8 am to 11 pm with MK days having a break at mid day. My 5 year old never took a nap and would fall asleep in the stroller after the fireworks. My 4 year old took a nap at the hotel one day and would take a nap in the stroller if we did not take a break. EPCOT and AK days we did not go back to the hotel.

Every kid is different, but I was proud of how long they went and they did not throw tantrums. The only issue was they would argue on which side they would sit in, in the double city mini.
 

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