Planning Break Days During your Disney Vacation

Why rest days are essential for family vacations

Our vacation schedule was pretty packed but I was intentional about leaving break days. I did not want to burn out the adults or overstimulate the kids with activities. As I reflect an additional break day would probably have worked in our favor. Rest days are essential for family vacations, especially for Disney Vacations to provide relief from the crowds, heat, and walking.

In my post Hollywood Studios Was Most Stressful – Career Mom Community, I shared our crazy day at Hollywood Studios that still managed to end on a high note. You can read about the ending to that day here, Hollywood Studios Afternoon Activities – Career Mom Community.

Our travel itinerary included the following:

Saturday – Travel Day & Dinner w/ Family
Sunday – Pool Day at Resort
Monday – Epcot
Tuesday – Resort Day & Dinner on Disney Property
Wednesday – Magic Kingdom
Thursday – Hollywood Studios
Friday – Breakfast at Boma Flavors of Africa and Resort Day
Saturday – Pack and Depart

I’ll share a more detailed schedule in an upcoming post.

Scheduled breaks, whether pool days at your resort, returning from the parks for naps, or some other combination, are necessary when traveling with small children. It is important to keep in mind the ages of all guests when planning a Disney Vacation.

Our first trip to Walt Disney World was actually back in 2014. During that time it was only my bonus son and daughter who was 2 at the time of that trip. My bonus son was 12. We only opted for a one-day park hopper during this trip; the stay was much shorter than this year’s 7-day trip. At the time we considered our 2-year-old and factored in some of the things that our 12-year-old enjoyed more such as arcades and non-Disney activities.

Family Vacation - Career Mom Community — Our 2014 Disney Trip

My parents also traveled with us during this trip but opted to now come to the parks. If you are traveling with grandparents plan out the flow of the day to include areas in which they can relax from the heat or opportunities to enjoy the many indoor activities such as shows.

Every vacation day does not need to be jam-packed

Repeat after me… “Every day does not to be jam-packed with parks and to-do’s”. Now repeat it as many times as necessary. Keep in mind that break days from the parks are helpful.

To Wrap it Up

I loved the balance of our trip schedule. We hit a hiccup on Thursday but the day ended on a high note. As I reflect and keep things in mind for future trips, I am taking a number of lessons learned into consideration. Rest is important!

Let’s face it, family vacations are a ton of fun but if overdone they can lead to exhaustion and meltdowns for little ones. Maintaining an age-appropriate flow to the day is so important.