Arriving at parks later in the day

[Dissssie]

Hi, We are going to WDW for two weeks over easter. I expect it will be busy, but we have come armed with fast passes etc. However, I know my kids are hard work to get up and mobilised in the morning so was planning on arriving at the parks some days later in the day. e.g. after lunch, or early evening to take in fireworks. We are staying off site for some of our trip.

I am wondering if it easy enough to arrive at the park part way through the day? e.g. do the parks, or car parks often reach capacity (we are going 11-25 April). Are the entry queues bigger in the morning or later in the day? We have been to Universal before and all the advice said to arrive 45 mins before parking opening, but we found that arrive at 10 or 11am we just walked straight in. Is Disney the same?

Thanks in advance!.

 

[LizGirl]

I think you'll find Disney to be similar. Obviously you'll be farther back in the parking lot but they rarely reach capacity. The lines for admission and bag check fluctuate throughout the day.

 

[Micca]

Welcome to the Dis Dissssie I'm thinking 10-11 is when a lot of people show up at the parks. That means that there will be some delay at security check points, and the parks will be jam packed. That's not to say you shouldn't do it, especially if you kids will be cranky from getting up early. It sounds like you've done some planning with FP+ and that you're not determined to to try squeeze in every attraction & show, and with two weeks you'll see & do a lot.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We set our FPs to start at 9:30 so that we can arrive as late as 10:45 and still make the grace period for the first attraction. To me, it seems like more and more guests are arriving early and we've been able to walk right through the security points and the tapstyles with little to no wait. You will probably park a little further out, but that just means a little longer tram ride. You may still be able to walk to the gate at Epcot or DHS arriving at that time too.

It does look like part of your trip is over Easter weekend, which will likely be incredibly busy.

 

[Dissssie]

oh thanks, that's reassuring. It not just the kids who have a hard time getting up and out of the house by 8am on holiday!

How does the parking work?. We are staying about 10-15 mins drive from most parks. Say we wanted to get to the park by 12.00 - how long might it take for us to get parked, up through security and into the park? We stayed onsite at Universal so didn't have to worry about this!. I am a bit worried as I keep reading how busy easter will be, I am optimisitically telling myself it will ok as easter is especially late this year.

 

[Dissssie]

We set our FPs to start at 9:30 so that we can arrive as late as 10:45 and still make the grace period for the first attraction. To me, it seems like more and more guests are arriving early and we've been able to walk right through the security points and the tapstyles with little to no wait. You will probably park a little further out, but that just means a little longer tram ride. You may still be able to walk to the gate at Epcot or DHS arriving at that time too.

It does look like part of your trip is over Easter weekend, which will likely be incredibly busy.

Hi thanks for your reply- I didn't know there was a grace period on the FPs??!! That's handy to know - is it about 15 mins?. I was wondering what would happen if we got held up on one ride and didn't make it to the next.

 

[Klayfish]

oh thanks, that's reassuring. It not just the kids who have a hard time getting up and out of the house by 8am on holiday!

How does the parking work?. We are staying about 10-15 mins drive from most parks. Say we wanted to get to the park by 12.00 - how long might it take for us to get parked, up through security and into the park? We stayed onsite at Universal so didn't have to worry about this!. I am a bit worried as I keep reading how busy easter will be, I am optimisitically telling myself it will ok as easter is especially late this year.

It depends on where you're measuring your starting point. The "entrance" to WDW is literally a highway. Once you enter WDW property, you may still have a 5 mile drive to get to the parking lot of the park you want (depending on where you enter). Then you go through the parking plaza. Let's say you're starting the clock from the parking plaza. Once you pass that (which usually only takes a minute or two), you are directed where to park. You can then take the tram to the park entrance...or walk depending on where you are. At HS, Epcot and AK you go right to security and then enter the park. At MK, you still need to take the monorail or ferry, then do security and tap in. For reference, we always stay offsite, and typically our condo/townhouse is 10-15 minutes from WDW property. We measured it exactly one day last summer. From the moment we closed the door in our condo until the moment we stepped foot in MK was 52 (or maybe 53???) minutes. The other parks would be something like 30-35 minutes door to door, roughly.

We never rope drop either. We always show up a few hours after park open. It's actually easier to get in than it is early in the morning, as the morning rush crowd already has come and gone.

Yes, there is a grace period before and after.

 

[MomOTwins]

We are rope droppers, and so we have visibility to compare morning vs afternoon. Here's what I will say.

Morning is the least crowded time in the parks. It makes a huge difference to have open pathways without masses of people swarming around. You can also get a lot done in the first hour.

The most crowded time of day is between 11am (when most of the latecomers have arrived) and 5pm (when people start to leave for dinner). This is when wait times are highest, and it is also the hottest part of the day. .

If you do arrive later, wait times get shorter again around the time the fireworks start and remain shorter through park close. So if you are arriving late but don't need to watch the fireworks, you can still get a lot done in the evening. But there are still fairly large crowds because people are still in the parks to see the fireworks so you should avoid the "hub" area and main street.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Hi thanks for your reply- I didn't know there was a grace period on the FPs??!! That's handy to know - is it about 15 mins?. I was wondering what would happen if we got held up on one ride and didn't make it to the next.

There is an automatic grace period of 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after your Fast Pass window. Anything beyond that is at the discretion of the gate attendant.

And don’t let the rope droppers fool you, there are more efficient ways of touring than arriving before the park opens and waiting outside the locked gates.