If you take an afternoon break, when do you ride the "afternoon" rides?

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We've never been to rope drop as we always stay until closing to take advantage of the short late-night standby lines.

Our standard plan is to arrive by about 11 am and use our fast passes right away. We then spend the afternoon hours seeing the air conditioned, no wait attractions like HoP, COP, Philharmagic, Ellen, GMR, Nemo, Laugh Floor, etc. etc.

Evening and night time hours are then spent re-riding all of the headliner over and over again when the lines are at their very shortest.

So my question is, if you take an afternoon break when do you hit those "afternoon" attractions?

 

[AngiTN]

Ooops, I misunderstood the question. We do what you call the afternoon rides when we return from our break

 

[itchin2go]

We do rope drop, so we hit those kinds of attractions after the headliners ... so mid-morning to lunch time, if at all. Of those that you listed, the only one we regularly do is Philharmagic.

 

[illinidp]

Usually when we get back to a park after dinner if at all.

 

[MainMom]

Those rides are take it or leave it for us. We would rather have the break/pool time.

 

[scjo68]

When we are hot and lines are long! Might be before or after break. Often we do them between our fastpasses.
I agree with you OP that night hours are great!

 

[Disneylover99]

We do them anytime....except for rope drop and the first few hours.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've seen pictures of the early morning rope drop crowds and can't imagine getting in the middle of all that. We like to close the parks and take advantage of the really short lines.

I just wondered when guests hit those typical mid day attractions if they're not in the parks at mid day.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I am a rope dropper. I like to save my FP+ for later when it becomes more crowded

 

[Trinity88]

We skip a bunch you mentioned. But for the ones we do, we usually do them late morning or when we return later. We can't stay late though with a 4 year old. Can't wait until we can take advantage of the later hours!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We skip a bunch you mentioned. But for the ones we do, we usually do them late morning or when we return later. We can't stay late though with a 4 year old. Can't wait until we can take advantage of the later hours!

That 4 year old might surprise you. My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mtn moments before midnight with her screaming "one more time Daddy" all the way.

 

[cakebaker]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've seen pictures of the early morning rope drop crowds and can't imagine getting in the middle of all that. We like to close the parks and take advantage of the really short lines.

I just wondered when guests hit those typical mid day attractions if they're not in the parks at mid day.

We do both- open one park, then close at another with a break in the afternoons.

We ride secondary rides in the morning when there are virtually no lines at the MK. We ride the headliners at night using FP+ and evening emh's.

Rope drop doesn't have to be a crazy mess. If you aren't going where the masses are going, it's quite calm and easy to do. The CM's do a great job of walking the crowd at a normal pace and we veer off before they get to the castle and long before they actually drop the rope that holds them in check. We'd never fight a mass of people to get on a ride, so if this was the least bit hectic or difficult, we wouldn't be doing it. Leaving the park after closing is much, much worse!

 

[nonnydd]

I like rope drop for the relatively cool temps in the summer. And we stay ahead of crowds with 8am breakfasts in the parks. We find even walking to indoor shoes to be brutal at 2pm, so we are safely at naps or pools by then. I think some emphasis on rope drop is based on kid rhythms. That is why you find so many headliners free after bedtime. Enjoy!!

 

[shaycamp21]

We do rope drop for all parks but the only one we take the afternoon break in is MK. We usually leave around 1:30 relax, nap and or swim and have a TS dinner around 5:30 and are back in the park by 7:00 and stay until close.

 

[Jfsag123]

We do them while waiting for our next fastpass. Works out well for us.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Here's an example of why we prefer late nights:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Leaving the park after closing is much, much worse!

The only park we find still crowded at closing time is Epcot. The early closing time combined with Illuminations keeps the crowd in place until close.

 

[Mouse of Mystery]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've seen pictures of the early morning rope drop crowds and can't imagine getting in the middle of all that.

The RD crowds quickly melt away as they all head off in different directions. 10-15 minute waits (or walk-ons) are fairly common early for rides that build up later in the day. Don't be scared off by the photos as everyone is just jammed into a tiny space. It's very relaxing until about 10:30 am.

Here's an example of why we prefer late nights:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

That's an anomaly. HS is notorious for having only a few high-demand rides. TSMM is one that builds almost instantly because early FP+ riders and 1/3 of the people entering the park are headed directly to that ride. MK is altogether different, though 7DMT and A&E can get busy fast. If you're not concerned about those two (use FP+ for those!) then you have your pick of whatever is open.

AK is another park in which you can ride everything you want if you hit RD. In fact, we often save our FP+ for whatever park we go to when we leave AK.

 

[wisblue]

We don't have to see the "anytime attractions" every trip. But, if we go to them, we will do them after lunch after doing the headliner attractions at rope drop, or in the evening along with our FPs.

 

[aretha30]

When we are hot and lines are long! Might be before or after break. Often we do them between our fastpasses. I agree with you OP that night hours are great!

This! We do rope drop, take a break (swim/nap) and come back to close down a park. In between though we do still get hot and tired (we go in August every year) so this is the ideal time to hit these types of rides. We get headliners in at RD, with FP+, and during EMH or late night hours.