Closing down the parks is now the best strategy?

[BrotherCraig]

I prefer the last 3 hours of a park. Especially DHS, seems people hop to other parks after they ride rise, or if they didn’t get RotR. AK is also nice in the last 3 hours as people hop to parks opened later.

I 100% agree. No lines for the last couple of hours at these parks. Rode Everest three times in a row and we were the only ones on it. Definitely nice being there the last 3 hours of park hours.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

We are having the same debate: rope drop or late afternoon to close. We are offsite and driving so the afternoon break won’t work I think. I know the 3 teenagers in my group would love to sleep in. I also want to make the most of our days so this is a difficult decision!

 

[Kelly014]

Absolutely, I'm reading on other threads that people who show up to their resort pools in the early afternoon can't find chairs. It sounds like you are choosing between the RD advantage and finding a spot at the pool, at least at some resorts.

Is pool capacity still a thing? Have they added more chairs back to the pool areas? I was hoping with social distancing markers being removed in parks that pools would get back to normal. We are not typically afternoon break people but are going to try to utilize that a few times during our trip in July and will definitely want to hit the pool. Fingers crossed pools get back to normal this summer!

 

[parasail_of_congress]

If you rope drop, you always have the option and staying until park close.

If you don't rope drop and depend only on park close, there's also the potential for rides being down, rain, etc.

For my family, this is a no-brainer - we would like multiple opportunities to ride the headliners if we can.

 

[jrsharp21]

Rope drop and close the parks, with staying at the parks in between! I am grateful that my family has always had the mentality of "don't you dare leave the park as long as it's open". They have always been warriors and gone from rope drop to park close. In all the trips to Disney World, I think we have only gone back to our resort once during the day to go swimming.

If I had to choose, I would choose closing the park. Nothing better than the parks all lit up at night. Plus cooler temps. Crowds potentially decreasing instead of increasing.

 

[isabellea]

We are a rope drop to park close family. When my youngest was younger, I would sometimes go back to the resort with her for a nap and leave my oldest with DH at the park but next trip, we are not planning hotel breaks. Our plan is to do as many rides as possible at rope drop and morning, then a lunch ADR in the park, use the afternoon for shopping and AC attractions (Mickey's Philarmagic for example), QS for dinner and back to as many rides as possible in the evening.

 

[Anne Scaffo]

Doing both has always been the way to go tbh. Rope drop and then get out for a rest break at the resort during the worst of the heat and crowds, then go back in the evening. And it’s absolutely doable without killing yourself if you take a legit rest during your break.

ETA: and during rope drop, zig while others are zagging. Eg. don’t run with the masses to stuff like Mine Train and FOP. Hit the left side of MK instead and the Safari. Save those rope drop headliners for the evening hours instead.

We used that strategy on our last pre-covid trip. It worked well in MK. We weren't able to get FP for FOP so that backfired. The wait at the time was a steady 2-3 hours until the very end of the day. Like you, this trip, I will use a combo open/close and a bit of zigging and zagging

 

[kylenne]

Closing down the parks has always been the best strategy. Unfortunately, it does not work as well when the parks close so early. Back in the glory days you could ride more things in the 3 hours from 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM on an extra magic hour night at MK than you could during the 14 hour window from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

Riding during fireworks was really great too. I rode Splash about 3 times in a row one night

 

[jrsharp21]

Closing down the parks has always been the best strategy. Unfortunately, it does not work as well when the parks close so early. Back in the glory days you could ride more things in the 3 hours from 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM on an extra magic hour night at MK than you could during the 14 hour window from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

I miss those super late closing times for EMH at MK. It was so nice to be in the park from 11pm to 2am. After midnight it would turn into a ghost town.

 

[jimmymc]

Yes, I think so. Rope drop seems to be less valuable now than in the past. You'll get on one ride with a short wait, but by the time you're off the first ride, the other big attractions will be at 60 minute waits. The only time I was able to get two in was at Studios, heading to Tower of Terror then Rockin Roller Coaster. Mickey and Minnie's and the Falcon already had huge waits by the time I got off tower.

 

[jth442]

Headed to WDW on June 6. Does it look like the Rope Drop advantage has disappeared at all the parks? Or is there a park where this is still a good strategy?

 

[jimmymc]

Headed to WDW on June 6. Does it look like the Rope Drop advantage has disappeared at all the parks? Or is there a park where this is still a good strategy?

It is definitely still an advantage, you'll get that first ride with a shorter wait, but after that the park will quickly fill up.

 

[LiteBrite]

Headed to WDW on June 6. Does it look like the Rope Drop advantage has disappeared at all the parks? Or is there a park where this is still a good strategy?

Besides the ability to get one headliner attraction done with a short wait, there is also the advantage that some of the attractions that are popular but not headliners will have manageable waits for the first hour or two.

For instance, we rope dropped at AK this week. We walked on to FoP, then walked on to Dinosaur, and followed that up with a 10 minute wait at Expedition Everest.

And there's the advantage that some areas of the park will have a peaceful (and cooler in the summer) atmosphere to enjoy in those first couple of hours, which is worth a lot to me.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Thanks everyone, and apologies for the confusing subject title! We're transitioning as well as my kids are now both teenagers and we're so used to being up at 6am, rope dropping, and usually not returning in the evening unless it's Epcot (we always stay at BC) but now staying at every park until it closes is more appealing. Can we do that *plus* rope drop? We'll see - I guess that's what afternoon naps are for.

One thing about summer...I'm not sure how to explain, but we tolerate summer heat much better when we arrive early. FL weather in warm months is such that the humidity isn't bad at 8am, but then it builds and is intense for few hours. If we try to arrive early we acclimate better. If we arrive at 10:30am, it is like a brick wall.

Also, afternoon/evening storms are common. I mean downpours. It isn't just rain, but many attractions stop running during lightning. About half of AK shuts down. All the metal coasters, all the animal attractions....now AFTER the storm passes the park is often somewhat empty. That's another reason why afternoon breaks can sometimes be helpful.

As others have said, the parks currently aren't open very late.

There's also the - possible - matter of mask fatigue, or no mask fatigue. This isn't meant to debate masks one bit, but only to mention if people end wear them much of the day, it has been a factor in when they opt to take breaks, and why they are not out at night. It has been an important factor- to date- to explain pandemic crowds patterns. Maskless park goers will likely be willing to stay later.

 

[dmband]

It is funny to me that “now” closing the park is the best strategy.
It always has been imo, you could literally do more rides and multiple times from say 9 to 11 at MK than you could the whole rest of the day.
forget about if the closing time was 12 or later, it got kinda boring riding so much so fast

 

[Mango7100]

We were rope droppers and our trip last week has me converted. I don’t want to be in the car at 630 to try to get one ride in before the masses descend. We went to the pool at 10 after waking up later and having breakfast/coffee in our room, stayed at pool until 1-2 while watching all the people arriving after 12 wander around looking for chairs, the go to parks about 4. We did sacrifice trying to get a ROR spot, but we are going in July and will do it then. We did everything we wanted to do with our longest wait of 30-35 min for Slinky Dog (the other 2 times we rode were less than 25 minute waits). We weren’t as tired, DD8 liked sleeping in and watching Disney shows in her PJs, and we were just more relaxed. I am one of those people who would be freaking out if we were late to RD, not on the first transportation to the park, and overall yelling at my family to “hurry up, we will miss our window of short lines”

Aside from trying to do DHS one morning if we get a ROR spot, we plan on doing the same thing in July.

 

[jth442]

We too have always been rope droppers. But I'm concerned that the trade-off may not be worth it. Basically get up at 6:00 for AK & MK. Get in Skyliner/Bus line at 6:30 and wait, only to wait again at the park for early entry. And then have long lines about an hour after park opening.
We may to have to try a rope drop and make our own determination. The idea of arriving late in the heat of day doesn't sound too appealing either.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

It’s the only strategy - I long to go on vacation not giving up any park time!

 

[Tomizgrl13]

I wouldn't suggest saving MK for night. If your going to take the park close advantage, I would do it for AK. I'm an annual passholder, and we are constantly doing park close at AK. We normally get there around 3 and finish the park by 7, sometimes even earlier (Always save Everest for night, theres always a posted wait of like 20 mins, and ends up being a walk-on). I know with DHS it's hit and miss. There are times the wait dropped and we were able to get a lot done, and other times the wait stayed about the same until the last half hour. I think a lot of it has to do with park hopping and capacity. People make reservations for say Epcot and AK, go scan in at 1:50 so they can go to DHS / MK at 2 if there were no reservations left. I've also noticed sometimes there's a 1:30 to 2:30 dip. People who are either going to lunch, or back to the hotel, or park hopping. A few times when timed right we were able to get a lot done then too. I would say keep your eye on the app and wait times a few days before you go, and you'll notice some trends that will help you figure out the best plan. Have fun!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It is funny to me that “now” closing the park is the best strategy.
It always has been imo, you could literally do more rides and multiple times from say 9 to 11 at MK than you could the whole rest of the day.
forget about if the closing time was 12 or later, it got kinda boring riding so much so fast

Not always.
I have long been using peripheral park hours. It isn't always the case that PM or AM park hours = low crowds, or that one is universally better than the other. I'd say much depends on the park hours that week, and also the weather. sometimes cords build quickly in the AM; other days they build gradually. If it is a nice weather, then people tend to stay later. When it is cold/rainy/hot, they tend to clear out, or arrive later. In summer, they tend to arrive earlier.

Another poster mentioned swimming early, and that can be a good strategy, but it also depends on the weather cooperating