An Orlando holiday can involve some seriously busy days. Early starts, miles of walking, Florida heat and late-night fireworks can take their toll, particularly when several theme park days are planned one after another.
That’s why rest days shouldn’t be regarded as wasted holiday time. For many families, they’re an essential part of enjoying Orlando.
One of the advantages of staying in a villa is that a day away from the parks doesn’t mean sitting in a hotel room wondering what to do. With your own living space, kitchen and private pool – and, in many homes, a games room or other entertainment – staying at the villa can become an enjoyable part of the holiday itself.
Don’t Fill Every Day Before You Leave Home
It’s easy to get carried away when planning an Orlando itinerary.
Disney World, Universal Orlando, Epic Universe, SeaWorld, water parks, shopping, restaurants and other Central Florida attractions can quickly fill every available day.
But just because you can fit something into every day doesn’t mean you should.
A common mistake is creating an itinerary that looks perfectly achievable on paper but becomes exhausting once you’re in Florida. If you’re staying in Debbies villas, leaving some quieter days in your schedule can also give you time to enjoy the villa rather than treating it simply as a place to sleep.
Rather than asking, “How much can we fit in?”, ask, “How much can we comfortably enjoy?”
The difference can transform your holiday.
Rest Days on a 10-Night Holiday
With 10 nights in Orlando, you may not want to devote several complete days to doing nothing, particularly if theme parks are a major reason for your visit.
Instead, think about breaking up your busiest periods.
If possible, avoid scheduling 4 or 5 full theme park days consecutively.
After 2 or 3 intensive park days, consider having a slower morning or a full day away from the attractions.
A 10-night holiday might include a mixture of full park days, 1 complete villa day and another couple of slower days where you don’t enter a park until the afternoon.
The important thing is giving everyone an opportunity to recover before tiredness starts affecting the enjoyment of the holiday.
Rest Days on a 14-Night Holiday
A fortnight gives you much more flexibility.
Rather than treating all 14 days as opportunities to visit attractions, deliberately leave several spaces in the itinerary.
You might plan 2 full villa days and another 2 or 3 slower mornings across the holiday.
Try placing one rest period relatively early rather than waiting until everyone is exhausted. Another can work well around the middle of the holiday, with some flexibility towards the end.
Specialists such as Debbie’s Villas offer Orlando homes with private pools and a wide variety of additional facilities, making it much easier to regard a villa day as part of the holiday rather than simply a gap between theme park visits.
A Rest Day Doesn’t Have to Mean Doing Nothing
Different families have different ideas about relaxing.
For some, the perfect rest day means nobody leaving the villa until dinner.
For others, sitting still all day would be torture.
There are several ways to build downtime into an Orlando itinerary.
The Full Villa Day
Don’t set an alarm wake-up call. Have breakfast when everyone wakes up, spend the morning beside the pool, make lunch at the villa and simply enjoy having nowhere you need to be.
Children can swim, adults can relax and everyone gets a break from queues, crowds and car journeys.
You could then cook at the villa, order a takeaway or head to a nearby restaurant in the evening.
The Pool Morning
A pool morning is a useful compromise when you don’t want to lose an entire day from your sightseeing plans.
Have a leisurely breakfast, spend several hours around the villa pool and head out after lunch.
You could go shopping, visit an attraction, play mini golf or arrive at a theme park later in the day and stay for the evening entertainment.
The Late Theme Park Start
Not every theme park visit needs to begin at opening time.
After several early mornings, deliberately planning a later start can make a considerable difference.
Spend the morning at the villa, have lunch and then travel to the park for an afternoon and evening visit.
You won’t necessarily experience everything the park offers that day, but that’s not always the objective.
Sometimes 7 enjoyable hours are better than 12 exhausted ones.
Make Use of the Villa
A villa isn’t simply somewhere to sleep between theme park visits.
The kitchen means you can have a relaxed breakfast without getting everyone ready to go out.
Separate bedrooms give different generations their own space.
Living areas provide somewhere to watch television, read or simply escape the Florida sun for a while.
And, of course, having your own swimming pool can make staying at home considerably more appealing.
Many Orlando villas also have games rooms, pool tables, cinema rooms, games consoles or resort facilities, depending on the individual property.
When choosing accommodation through Debbie’s Villas or another Orlando villa specialist, think about which facilities your family would actually enjoy on the days you’re not visiting the parks.
If you know you’ll have several rest days, those facilities become much more important.
Different Generations Need Different Kinds of Rest
A multigenerational Orlando holiday can include grandparents, parents, teenagers and young children – and they probably won’t all become tired at exactly the same time.
Young children may need a quiet afternoon or an earlier night after a long theme park day.
Teenagers may appreciate a morning when they can sleep until lunchtime.
Grandparents might enjoy sitting beside the pool while other members of the family head to the shops.
And parents may simply appreciate a day when nobody asks what time they need to leave the villa.
One of the advantages of villa accommodation is that everyone doesn’t necessarily have to do the same thing.
Some members of the family can enjoy the pool while others relax indoors. If you have separate cars, one group can even head out while another stays at the villa.
Be Prepared to Change Your Plans
An itinerary should be a guide, not a contract.
You may arrive in Orlando with every day carefully planned and then discover that everyone is exhausted after your first 3 theme park visits.
Change the plan.
Florida weather may also have something to say about your itinerary. A day you intended to spend beside the pool could turn out wet, while another day might provide perfect weather for relaxing outside.
Leaving some flexibility allows you to respond to how everyone is feeling rather than forcing the family to follow a schedule created months earlier.
Leave Some Blank Spaces
This can be surprisingly difficult.
When you’ve spent a considerable amount of money travelling to Florida, an empty day in the itinerary can feel like something that needs filling.
Resist the temptation.
Leave some time deliberately unplanned.
Once you’re in Orlando, you might discover a restaurant you want to try, decide you want another shopping trip, return to somewhere everyone particularly enjoyed or simply realise that another morning beside your pool sounds wonderful.
An unplanned day isn’t a wasted day.
It’s an opportunity.
Remember That the Villa Is Part of the Holiday
There’s little point choosing an Orlando villa with a private pool, plenty of living space and entertainment facilities if you’re going to leave at 7am every morning and return exhausted at 11pm every night.
Theme parks will probably provide some of the biggest memories of your Orlando holiday, but they don’t have to provide all of them.
A lazy breakfast beside the pool, an afternoon swimming with the children, a family games night or a takeaway eaten together at the villa can be just as much a part of the experience.
Whether you’re staying with Debbie’s Villas or elsewhere, build genuine downtime into your itinerary from the beginning.
Your feet will thank you – and there’s a good chance the rest of the family will too.