Sleeping In and Staying Until Closing?

[GrnMtnMan]

How are the crowds in the last few hours operating hours at Disneyland and DCA this summer? Our trip is about a month away with DL closing at midnight/11 and DCA at 9 for our days (4 park days, Monday through Thursday August 12-15).

My kids have become quite the night-owls this summer, and I'm wondering if staying until closing is a reasonable strategy. I know I'll be sacrificing getting some good FPs by not rope dropping, but if the headliners are walk-on anyway after fireworks, who cares?

My late-night experience at WDW has been mixed...sometimes lots of walk-ons, other times lines everywhere.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Dream Finder]

I am a WDW vet and have visited DL several times (although it's been a couple of years since my last visit - before GE opened).
Keep in mind that DL has a totally different set of guests. There are a ton of locals who visit regularly. It's often referred to as a "local's park".
Where at WDW - you are most likely going to drive in for a full day or longer, at DL, guests may hop in for a couple of hours. My experience was that as the day went along - the crowds build and build. You can almost feel when 5:00 hits without looking at a watch - the after work crowd comes in ("I'm going to DL just to get a dole whip and ride Big Thunder after work")
Weekdays may be better, but if you can get everyone up and going, I think you will be better served.

 

[ktlm]

We are WDW vets, that have fallen in love with DLR, so we now go to both coasts. We are typically open to close people when we are at Disneyland. Because a lot of the crowd is local or driving in from farther away, the first couple of hours in the morning at DL/CA are usually wonderful even on busy days. We walk on a lot of rides, or have very short lines. They are significantly better than the first couple of hours at WDW, even on moderate or lower crowd WDW days. You can get a ton done in the first 2 hours the park is open.

In the later evening hours, the lines are not that short. They are shorter than in the afternoon, but we don't find much to be walk on at all. I have never seen the headliners as completely walk on near park close--- we did Hyperspace Mountain with a short line WHILE the fireworks were going on during our June trip and as we were exiting the fireworks were ending and people were literally running to get in line. At 11:30 it was still posted at 60 minutes, we had gotten a FP and were riding it with that, but we saw that the standby line was still definitely long. Splash will have a short line late at night- if you don't mind getting soaked. The fantasyland rides close during the fireworks and those lines can build up when they re-open. Big Thunder is usually 15 or 20 minutes at night. With Fantasmic- you don't want to be anywhere near that side of the park when it exits. If you get to POTC or HM while fantasmic is going on, it will probably be walk on. Also, if we are at Fantasmic, as we exit, we like to pop in to POTC because the line is usually short and by the time the ride has ended the crowd of people outside is gone. As far as CA- since its closing is earlier, we don't find the lines all that short near closing. WOC does draw some away. Radiator Springs Racers has a single rider line, so we usually do that with a very short wait at night- if it is not our WOC night. In our experience, the standby line is often still between 40 and 75 minutes right before closing. Using single rider it can be anywhere from walk on to 15 minutes. The rides on the pier close for World of Color, except unless something has changed, Toy Story Mania stays open. Soarin when it was Over the World we have walked on close to closing-- but that line has also been 20 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. Since it reverted to Soarin over California the line has been much longer. We had a FP just before closing in June and the stand by line was still 45 minutes.

Unlike WDW were people sometimes tend to arrive early and leave before closing, at DL/CA people are more likely to arrive late and stay until closing. We have gone to DLR every summer for the last 10 years and it consistently has more people around late nights than WDW.

Do you have a time change? That seems to help with us. My DD is a night-owl by nature and has never been a morning person-- but we get to the parks right around opening (we don't do the extra magic hour because 7:00 a.m. is WAY too early). She even made it there at the crack of dawn-- 6:00 a.m.--- for our Galaxy's Edge reservation--- of course that was special!

 

[Blue32]

Best strategy for DL IMO is still do early morning (rope drop) , taking a nap, and then returning and staying until close. I have limited experience on both coasts but it seemed to me that DL had more people around late nights then WDW.
Early morning hours really are great at DLR and much better than the WDW parks IMO.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

We usually go in August and have found that, at that time of year, the lines are very low in the early morning, rise around 11am and stay (with the exception of little kiddie rides; here’s looking at you bug’s land—may you Rest In Peace...), with possible exceptions of parade/Fantasmic/fireworks related short dips, high (at least higher than my kids and I are willing to wait; especially consider the high temperatures and lack of shade in some lines).

It’s of course anybody’s guess if these patterns will hold this year, given the sweeping AP blocks and price increases. I always noticed a shift in people when we did stay late, from families with small kids, who head out & hit the hotels at that time to teenagers and young adult couples. I figure that the latter are probably mostly locals, out for date night, so it’s possible that the AP blocks could indeed affect those.

In addition to amazingly short lines (which you are unlikely to experience at any point in the evening), you also get the nice, cooler morning temperatures, before the real Anaheim summer heat hits. I am not a heat or crowd person, so for me that makes all the difference.

We, as a family, feel so strongly about the value of that early morning time, that we practice getting up extra early the week before we leave for our trip, just to get used to our Disney-rhythm. My kids are a bit spoiled about wait times... they at this point scoff at getting into lines that are longer than 30 mins, so to sleep in and stay late would for us mean getting a lot less for the same money.

Also, if you start early & use Maxpass, you can take a midday break when it’s hottest while still collecting fast passes for later that afternoon, so when you go back, you can use those and won’t have to worry about standby lines...

The problem with sleeping in and staying late is that a vast number of other people usually that exact same idea, and the secret to happy parks touring is and will always be to swim against the stream of what most other people do.

 

[Pamela M]

It used to be that that park emptied out after the fireworks. I don't think that's necessarily true any more. Park opening is when you can get on the most rides however if park opening is 9am it will be busier right off. Your staying for 4 days ( not sure if your staying onsite or off) if your staying off site I recommend doing at least the early morning entry one day. If you are staying close you can always leave mid day to cool off and rest.

 

[Lauren in NC]

I'm 100% completely a night owl, as are my kids, and we do rope drop at Disneyland. I agree with NorthernCalMom that we actually "train" ourselves to get up earlier starting about the week before, it's that important to us. If your family can take mid-day naps, I'd agree that you could get the best of both worlds - those early morning quiet hours, avoid the heat and crowds around mid-afternoon, and then go back in the evening, and if you have MaxPass you can stack your FPs for later in the day.

 

[gpjacobs]

We usually go in August and have found that, at that time of year, the lines are very low in the early morning, rise around 11am and stay (with the exception of little kiddie rides; here’s looking at you bug’s land—may you Rest In Peace...), with possible exceptions of parade/Fantasmic/fireworks related short dips, high (at least higher than my kids and I are willing to wait; especially consider the high temperatures and lack of shade in some lines).

It’s of course anybody’s guess if these patterns will hold this year, given the sweeping AP blocks and price increases. I always noticed a shift in people when we did stay late, from families with small kids, who head out & hit the hotels at that time to teenagers and young adult couples. I figure that the latter are probably mostly locals, out for date night, so it’s possible that the AP blocks could indeed affect those.

In addition to amazingly short lines (which you are unlikely to experience at any point in the evening), you also get the nice, cooler morning temperatures, before the real Anaheim summer heat hits. I am not a heat or crowd person, so for me that makes all the difference.

We, as a family, feel so strongly about the value of that early morning time, that we practice getting up extra early the week before we leave for our trip, just to get used to our Disney-rhythm. My kids are a bit spoiled about wait times... they at this point scoff at getting into lines that are longer than 30 mins, so to sleep in and stay late would for us mean getting a lot less for the same money.

Also, if you start early & use Maxpass, you can take a midday break when it’s hottest while still collecting fast passes for later that afternoon, so when you go back, you can use those and won’t have to worry about standby lines...

The problem with sleeping in and staying late is that a vast number of other people usually that exact same idea, and the secret to happy parks touring is and will always be to swim against the stream of what most other people do.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[stardusty21]

I always book a "crack of dawn" flight so we have to get up extra early. Then we are so tired by 8:00pm the first night that it's lights out. Makes getting up at 5:30am for early rope drop totally do-able. In fact, rope drop at Disneyland is the only time my daughter will get up super early and not complain!

 

[longboard55]

WDW go late. DLR go early. Crowds are light before 12

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Thanks Everybody!

 

[lalasmama]

In fact, rope drop at Disneyland is the only time my daughter will get up super early and not complain!

I had to laugh at this. My 7yo grandson is always the first one up in the mornings--up and ready for adventure at 6am kinda kid. I, on the other hand, actually *like* to sleep in the morning as well as the night, so I tend dread his early morning wake-ups! Haha!

We were at Disneyland last month and Hubs and I were awake and fully ready to go at 7am every morning for an 8am rope drop. Grandson? Nope. Seriously pushing him into the shower half asleep every morning! Made me crack up since it's such a stark contrast to our typical sleep-over mornings!

 

[CharleneTheDM]

I'm a nightowl but insist on being a morning person when it comes to DL vacations. Disneyland is the only reason I would get up at the first ring of my alarm. I usually hit snooze 5 times.
What I do is I get up early and make it to rope drop. Stay in the parks until I have some late lunch and I take a shuttle back to my hotel to take a nap. Even 1 hour feels like 4---total deep sleep rejuvenation. I'd hang out in the hotel for a few hours before I head back to the parks for dinner reservations and stay until close.

My breaks are usually from 2-6pm.

 

[Jimsig]

Last Aug 26 was a Sunday and was also the day of the CHOC walk. We (myself and then 9yo DD) originally were not going to go that day but decided to add it on last min as our first park day. We arrived at 515p and was able to do 13 attractions/rides as well as a TS at Blue Bayou with the F! package. We got in line just before park close (around 1150p) for Peter Pan and we we were out of the park just after 1245a. Being first timers at DL we were unsure what to expect and had no idea how much we would get done. We were quite happy with what we got done in that time frame

The other 2 days we were there at Rope Drop or shortly after for both DL and DCA.

 

[wowsmom]

Here's my experience as a local, from yesterday. We got into DCA about 5:58 pm. We have Max Pass on our APs. Guardians had a FP return of 8:45. We chose Incredicoaster with a return of 6:05. Once off the coaster, my son grabbed Guardians for 9:05. We used the time in between to eat dinner, have drinks, shop and relax. We headed out of the resort about 9:45-10:00. At 11:02, I checked FPs for DL and found that Buzz, Star Tours, Big Thunder, Splash and Haunted Mansion all had returns at 11:05. HSM and Indy were all gone. I went to tell my son and at 11:05, all those rides had a return of 11:10.

This is not normal for summer, but it seems to be normal for THIS summer. YMMV

 

[cdatkins]

It’s 2:26pm and I am writing this from my hotel room at the GCH. We are getting ready to go swimming. This morning we did every attraction in Tomorrowland, had lunch, and were done by 12pm. Then we did Splash Mountain, grabbed a treat at Pooh Corner, watched every single window diorama scene on Main Street, casually walked over to DCA, rode Grizzly River run, and now are back in our hotel.

Meanwhile the crowds and heat and the lines are growing. That’s how important it is to do stuff in the morning here.

 

[Jimsig]

Also we used MaxPass

 

[CateinPhoenix]

We visit from out of state 2-3x per year. Always RopeDrop and always leave in the afternoon from 1/2-4:30 ish (we try to make it back for Flag Retreat). We avoid the parks at all costs in the afternoon!

 

[maverik85]

Only been once but do recall it didn't clear out at night the same as WDW. At WDW I usually do rope drop and then take a small break in afternoon for pool or something then head back to another park. Disneyland is pretty easy to do that with everything so close together, so I'd recommend getting early to the parks then head back to the room for a bit if need to then go back out for the nighttime expereinces

 

[Niebz]

We are night hawks too and have no issues arriving at the parks later in the day. If you have Maxpass you can refresh for cancelled fastpasses and that helps a lot. We do find the lines much shorter later at night too. (Not necessarily walk on but close to it for many attractions). We jump in the line for Raditor Springs 2 minutes before park close. Once all the fast passes are done the line moves really quickly and is usually only 20 minutes or so - so almost as fast as using fast pass earlier in the day. Our touring style may not be as efficient as rope dropping every day but Disneyland is our vacation so we choose to take it a little slower. We still get to go on everything we want to.