Attractions at park close

[Jarrod Cordel]

To keep from wasting precious park time, i was wondering of the strategy of getting in line for big ticket rides ( FOP, 7DMT, Frozen, etc.) is a good strategy or not. Perhaps 30 minutes until close. My parents are coming into town for Christmas, and I am trying to get them on all of the good rides, while seeing a majority of the parks too.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Yes, that strategy worked very well for us on our late October trip. At DHS, we rode TSMM three times in the last hour of park operation. At AK, we rode Na'vi River Journey twice in the last half hour. At MK, we didn't wait very long for 7DMT when we got in line around 6:00 or 6:30 (party night, so the park was closing to us at 7:00). And at Epcot, it took 30 minutes to get on Frozen. I got in line sometime after 8:30.

Have fun.

 

[Klayfish]

It depends on the ride, but generally speaking, yes. As mentioned above, TSMM is a literal walk on the last 30 minutes the park is open. Frozen line goes down, so does 7DMT, EE, Splash, and a few others. Some, while they do "go down", often remain long...FoP, RnR, Space Mountain

 

[mom2rtk]

Just understand that you will have to evaluate the wait time yourself. At closing, they highly inflate the wait time to discourage more people doing just as you are suggesting.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

It's a good strategy. We recently rode FOP at park close. Posted wait time was 195 minutes, we waited about 90.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We got in line for FoP on December 12th at 7:30 (8pm close) the wait time was posted at about 2-2.5 hrs and we were off the ride in 80 minutes.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Personally I'd opt to do those big ticket attractions either at RD or with a FP+ if possible.
Leaving them til the very end of the day could leave it to chance.
What if someone decides they are too tired to wait or the ride ends up going down and never comes back up?
If they aren't musts or if the park close ride would be the second time around then sure.