Parks in the afternoon only?

[mi*vida*loca]

I’m hoping for 2 am EMH at MK Veterans Day weekend. It happened last year!

 

[erinch]

For afternoons in August, which we have done many of, planning to go to shows makes it so much better than getting stuck in storms. That is the time to do monsters inc, or philharmonic or American adventure or Nemo. Plan to do the walking around after storms. Another is do your sit down meal at 3 or 4.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I’m hoping for 2 am EMH at MK Veterans Day weekend. It happened last year!

That’s insane!!!! I’m there for Jersey week, but will be gone by Veterans Day. I’m bummed because I’ll be there 5 days, and not a single day has EMH at MK!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That’s insane!!!! I’m there for Jersey week, but will be gone by Veterans Day. I’m bummed because I’ll be there 5 days, and not a single day has EMH at MK!

We are there 11/2-11/11 and I’m looking at 11/10 getting extended. That same Saturday last year was open until 2 am.

 

[nutshell]

They rode once in an hour. We rode 4 times. Same ride.

This is the main reason we don’t do rope drop. It’s too crowded and there are more efficient options available.

When I rope drop I can hit a lot of great rides without line time PLUS I can return at night and, just like you, ride more attractions without a wait.

 

[fla4fun]

Some families do better at night and others prefer early morning.

We’re all much happier if I work with my family’s circadian rhythms rather than against them.

I agree. There’s no one right way to do it. Whatever works best for your family is the right decision for you. There are advantages to both the early morning and late evening plans.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

When I rope drop I can hit a lot of great rides without line time PLUS I can return at night and, just like you, ride more attractions without a wait.

If you’re only there in the morning and evening, when do you do the ‘afternoon’ types of attractions like CoP, etc. I wouldn’t want to waste prime time on those.

 

[nutshell]

If you’re only there in the morning and evening, when do you do the ‘afternoon’ types of attractions like CoP, etc. I wouldn’t want to waste prime time on those.

Late morning or early afternoon before break time.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If you’re only there in the morning and evening, when do you do the ‘afternoon’ types of attractions like CoP, etc. I wouldn’t want to waste prime time on those.

Like PP said late morning or early afternoon before break time. Also when we get back to the park around 5-6 everything doesn't have a low wait. We usually return with our FP+ and do some 'afternoon' attractions in between the FP+. Then the last 1-2 hours we ride the popular stuff, just like we do in the first 2 hours of park opening.

 

[norrsund]

If you are fine relying solely on your fast passes and not hitting all the top rides in the parks, you'll have a good trip. If you're a see and do everything person, you won't be able to do that.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

3 am? Wow!

We still have old paper FP with a return time of 2:48am!

We actually rode it that late too!

But we kept the FP, because we knew it was special and the 3am line was rather short.

 

[rentayenta]

We still have old paper FP with a return time of 2:48am!

We actually rode it that late too!

But we kept the FP, because we knew it was special and the 3am line was rather short.

Thats incredible! The latest we had was 10p-midnight; I didn't make it past 11 pm.

 

[Klayfish]

If you are fine relying solely on your fast passes and not hitting all the top rides in the parks, you'll have a good trip. If you're a see and do everything person, you won't be able to do that.

Huh? Not even remotely accurate. You do not need to rope drop to hit all the "top rides" in the parks.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Huh? Not even remotely accurate. You do not need to rope drop to hit all the "top rides" in the parks.

This level of misinformation is still surprising. Many guests still feel that the *only* place to find short waits is at rope drop.

I’ve still never been to rope drop, and yet somehow find ways to hit all of those top rides multiple times per trip.

 

[DisFam4]

Is this a crazy idea?

My DH agreed to a quick trip after I found super cheap airfare, but his caveat is sleeping in and not rushing in the morning. We will be there during the first week of August, so I know it will rain in the late afternoons. But will it be a complete washout? Will we regret this? The plan is to not get to the parks before noon, and stay until park closes. Thoughts?

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this - and to all the others who have responded.

I am in the middle of My Disney Year! Have gone a few times and currently have a couple more weeks coming up (Sept & Dec). The first 3 trips this year have been an "overplanned" (is there such a thing? lol) experience with my wife and 2 older kids. It was always leave hotel early hit a park, park hop to another till late at night, not getting back till midnight most nights. Even did all 4 parks in one day (just to say I did it lol). The next stay is an 8 day at BWV with just my wife for 5 days, then my daughter joins us for the last 3. Luckily I read this and completely redid my plans.

For those 5 days we will not have anything planned until after lunch (2'ish) with the morning spent enjoying coffee at the Boardwalk and some pool time. If we happen to be up early and want to head somewhere then we will, but there will be no planned early morning meals or FP+ for us. I think I will finally be able to enjoy some Disney Vacation Time at the hotel.

 

[maryj11]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this - and to all the others who have responded.

I am in the middle of My Disney Year! Have gone a few times and currently have a couple more weeks coming up (Sept & Dec). The first 3 trips this year have been an "overplanned" (is there such a thing? lol) experience with my wife and 2 older kids. It was always leave hotel early hit a park, park hop to another till late at night, not getting back till midnight most nights. Even did all 4 parks in one day (just to say I did it lol). The next stay is an 8 day at BWV with just my wife for 5 days, then my daughter joins us for the last 3. Luckily I read this and completely redid my plans.

For those 5 days we will not have anything planned until after lunch (2'ish) with the morning spent enjoying coffee at the Boardwalk and some pool time. If we happen to be up early and want to head somewhere then we will, but there will be no planned early morning meals or FP+ for us. I think I will finally be able to enjoy some Disney Vacation Time at the hotel.

After reading this thread I have decided to pretty much do the same thing. Our mornings are free to decide what we feel like doing. I did cancel a 11:00 am lunch at MK to take some of the pressure off. If we decide to go to MK that morning we will try to get a same day reservation for lunch. After looking over our plans I felt it was to much of being here or there at a certain time. Most of our FP's are for evening. We will be heading to AK on one morning before park opening but that is the only one set in stone.

 

[maryj11]

This level of misinformation is still surprising. Many guests still feel that the *only* place to find short waits is at rope drop.

I’ve still never been to rope drop, and yet somehow find ways to hit all of those top rides multiple times per trip.

I agree. If you learn how to work that FP system you can ride about anything you want and by taking advantage of the hours before closing.

 

[FTM22]

Just found that someone had asked about our late night until 3am. Well, the EMH at MK on July 3 was 2am but the shops stayed open after that while the guests straggled out. So our night lasted until 3am but the rides and such ended at 2am. So sorry for the confusion and for missing the question.

 

[jsbowl16]

Like PP said late morning or early afternoon before break time. Also when we get back to the park around 5-6 everything doesn't have a low wait. We usually return with our FP+ and do some 'afternoon' attractions in between the FP+. Then the last 1-2 hours we ride the popular stuff, just like we do in the first 2 hours of park opening.

Out of all of the strategies we have tried on our annual July/August trips, this is by far the most efficient. Just need to get use to sleeping a little less at night and then taking a nap in the afternoon. If you think about it, you are there for the slowest times (most rides) of the day plus you dont get exhausted in the brutal afternoon summer heat and humidity.

 

[kayteekt]

So glad I saw this thread and read through it! We got in for the August V.I.Passholder event so I'm throwing together a very last minute and short trip. We have our big trips planned for Oct and January and I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around making plans for this one! DH isn't thrilled about going, just because it's August. Kids are excited, but DS6 doesn't tolerate heat well. My gut kept saying, let's not plan a bunch of stuff. Let's just go out in the evenings stay until close. Sleep in, in the mornings. Hang around resort/pool. But I was worried we would feel like we wasted our few days down there. But thanks to this thread I'm feeling much better about it! So thank you all!!