The trip to Walt Disney World is finally here. You’ve spent months planning, deciding when to go, where to stay, how to get there, where to dine, how to tour the parks… phew! You made the resort reservations months ago. You dutifully called at the 180-day mark to set up all your Advanced Dining Reservations. You watched Web sites daily to ensure the best deal for your air travel and rental car. You’ve roughed out a weeklong agenda, gone shopping countless times for incidentals and now have packed your bags (and probably those of your spouse/significant other and/or children).
On the eve of departure you set your alarm for an hour earlier than needed, just to be safe. Likewise, you also leave early for the airport—just in case there’s unexpected traffic or a longer-than-expected line at Security. You’re not missing that flight! On the plane, you try to read but you find your mind is running laps—reviewing all the items you think you’ve forgotten or left behind. Did I pack the ponchos? Have I left the extra pair of running shoes in the bedroom? Did I pack the battery chargers? Finally, the plane touches down. You wait, impatiently, while the people in the first 15 rows pull bag after bag from the overhead bin and take their sweet time folding and refolding their coats before finally exiting the plane. Will that shuttle ever get here?
You take the youngest child with you to the rental car counter while your spouse takes the oldest to Baggage Claim. You meet at the rental lot, load the car and set off for Disney World. You get into the check-in line at your resort and tap your foot anxiously as the people at the counter seem to be asking endless questions of the cast members. Do your homework, people!
For the next week you race around the property, dragging your family from boat to bus to monorail because “we only have 20 minutes to make it to Chef Mickey’s for our reservation”. Or “it’s Extra Magic Hours at the magic Kingdom this morning”. How about “it’s our last chance to see Spectromagic this week”? At the end of your stay, you fly home and feel the vacation just flew by. You return to work and the everyday hassles of life in the real world feeling like that vacation was a year ago… or never happened at all.
Does any of this sound familiar? At some point, we’re probably all guilty of a bit of overplanning. In our desire to make everything just right, to plan for any contingency, to ensure we dine at all the restaurants on our ‘must-do’ list, we can, if we’re not careful, regiment all the fun right out of a week at Walt Disney World.
There are some folks that thrive on the Commando touring philosophy. Hours not spent in a park are wasting daylight. They’ll arrive at park opening and stay until closing—often park hopping to whichever park has the latest closing on that day. If that’s your cup of tea, by all means—sip from it.
I subscribe to an entirely different philosophy. After many trips to Walt Disney World, I’ve come to realize the importance of taking some time to relax. We typically subscribe to a practice of taking an afternoon break everyday. You can visit the parks in the mornings to ride the rides and see the shows. You can go back in the late afternoon or evening for more rides, shows and fireworks. Give yourself the afternoon to nap, swim, or just relax by the pool with a book. This advice, in my opinion, applies to us all but particularly the younger and older among us. For the Commandos, you may need to grit your teeth a bit when you try this for the first time but, trust me, you’ll thank me someday.
While I believe this practice should be universal, I realize that a midday break is not practical for everyone. You may be staying offsite and the transportation options just don’t lend themselves to leaving and returning. There are still ways to take that breather without leaving the property—in some cases, without leaving the theme parks. Here are some ideas:
Tour other resorts – You’ve stayed at a few but not all. Take a walk around Crescent Lake in the Boardwalk area. Or Barefoot Bay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Walk around the grounds of the Polynesian and be sure to try out a hammock on the beach. Take note, and some photos, of the icons on the grounds of Pop Century. Try the food court. Go at your own speed—there’s no schedule. Interact with cast members and other guests. There’s an awful lot to see and do at the Walt Disney World resorts.
Rent a boat – It could be a Searaycer, a pontoon or canopy boat—it doesn’t matter. It’ll put you on the water, relaxing, and cruising past some beautiful scenery.
Resist the urge to make a lunch and dinner reservation every day – If you need to be someplace every day at lunch and dinner time, you might as well be at work. On a couple of days, eat when you’re hungry. I know you won’t be dining at the more popular places without a reservation but… so what? Substitute an ice cream sundae for dinner—you’re on vacation and you’ve earned it. You won’t go hungry. Trust me. While not really taking a breather, this one can still help reduce the stress of rushing around when you have to be somewhere.
Take a break in the parks – What? How can I escape the hustle and bustle of the theme parks without leaving? Let’s start with Epcot. A long, dark ride can be just what the doctor ordered for a nice rest or, dare I say it… a nap? Spaceship Earth is a wonderful and educational attraction but it does fill the bill as dark and relaxing. It’s also air-conditioned for those hot summer days. A similar experience can be had in Ellen’s Energy Adventure. That attraction has the added benefit of what I call the “radio room” toward the end of the ride. You will sit in a darkened theater for some time, waiting for all the ride vehicles to get positioned before that last film starts. I’m yawning just thinking about it.
A quiet stroll around World Showcase can be very relaxing – Take in the sights, listen to the music and watch the people. If the timing is right, grab a seat and catch one of the shows by Off Kilter or the British Invasion. At the risk of sounding a bit un-patriotic, I would also suggest the show in the American Adventure as one where you might be able to catch a bit of shuteye. Once again, it’s cool, dark and relaxing.
A glass of wine and a bench toward the back of the France pavilion – offers an opportunity to sit, sip and listen to some music away from the hustle and bustle of Epcot. It’s very nice, particularly after dark.
If you’re in the Magic Kingdom, you have a few of the best in-park rest areas at your disposal – The Tomorrowland Transit Authority is almost never crowded and will provide a relaxing ride through several of Tomorrowland’s attractions. It’s mostly covered, sometimes indoors and generates enough of a breeze to cool you on a hot day. It’s entirely possible you can ride a second or third time, without getting off, if the mood strikes you.
If the Tomorrowland Transit Authority is a little too wild for your tastes, take in a show at the Hall of Presidents – You can sit in air-conditioned, semi-darkness while you relax your eyelids for a bit. The Carousel of Progress is another attraction that can be quite relaxing but is difficult for sleep, mainly because every few minutes you will find yourself singing “It’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow…”
What about Disney’s Hollywood Studios? – Is there anywhere there to catch a bit of a rest? Certainly. The Voyage of the Little Mermaid offers the requisite cool and dark theater… with the added benefit of the cool mist and water sounds. Muppetvision 3D is also a possibility but, the Swedish Chef ruins most of that for you. The Great Movie Ride is the best. You’ll have to wake up when you hear some gunfire and also when the Munchkins start their bit but much of the ride is dark and cool.
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail or Maharajah Jungle Trek – Surprisingly, Animal Kingdom is a bit tougher finding a suitable spot to relax in. The shows, particularly the Festival of the Lion King, are a little too upbeat to grab a quick nap. Even the 3D film, It’s Tough to Be a Bug, is a bit too intense to really relax. And who can even think about a quick nap with all those screaming children? Instead, take one of the walking trails, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail or Maharajah Jungle Trek, at Animal Kingdom but stop and spend 20 minutes with the gorillas… or the tigers.
Get outta Dodge – What? Leave Disney property? If you’ve got a vehicle, it can sometimes help to get out of the theme park mentality for just a bit. Drive over to the Premium Outlets. Visit an off site restaurant. Maybe just go for a drive.
Of course, all of this needs to be adapted to your own situation. If this is a once in a lifetime trip to the World, maybe you’ll want to pull out all the stops and see it all, or as much you can. Similarly, if you manage a trip every 3-5 years, you may need to schedule things to get the best bang for your buck. But, if you visit every 1 to 2 years, or even more frequently, you know you’re coming back so there’s no real need to see everything on every trip. We all need to stop and smell the roses, figuratively if not always literally. It will make those WDW vacations that much more special.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
