Does everyone have the same idea for Summer?

[Bullseye]

Same as what everyone else is saying here. The people on these boards are the ones that generally follow the mid-day break plan. It's the uninformed masses that show up mid to late morning and stay through the hot, hot afternoon. Mid afternoon when the parks are really starting to fill up, you will be on your way out for 3-4 hours of respite

 

[heybravo626]

We have done 10-18 days every July for over the last decade (kids 12 & 11 - first went at 6 and 18 moths old). In the summer, we always start early and break in the afternoon to swim. Not only is it crowded in the parks in the afternoon, it is super hot (not just the air and sun but also heat from sun radiating from all of the concrete). Just guessing from our experience, I would say the peak times at the resort pools is approximately 2:00-4:00PM as people break between the parks and dinner. We try to beat that time so we can at least find a seat (at times, all seats can be taken or shamelessly saved by people not even there).

We do rope drop and stay in the parks for ~ 4-5 hours, break, swim, eat and back in a park in the evening. You can accomplish a great deal in peak crowds if you are early and have a plan. We either use or FP+ times late morning or in the evening (we hop most of time) depending on plans.

Depending on what resort you are staying at, you may have the option of secondary pool(s) at the resort that are smaller and no frills but can be less crowded.

 

[Hadley's Mom]

When my kids were little, this is what we did and we never had issues at the pool. Now they are older and like to sleep in! We usually have a nice TS lunch and hit the parks with our FP. We then stay and close them down. My kids do much better with late night hours than early morning!

 

[happymommy]

Got to agree about the quiet pools! A couple years ago, spring break, staying at the BWI, we took an afternoon break at the quiet pool (me, DD, her friend and her friend's mom). We were the only ones at the pool. It was so nice!

We always plan late FP's at the parks. But, my DD is in a wheelchair at Disney and can't go all day, so we get a return time or two, and since we've been so many times, we don't need to do everything every trip! We're just chill and happy to enjoy our trip.

Quiet pools are just that - not popular, no slides, but nice and relaxing! Even at a busy time, they are often not busy.

 

[Klayfish]

We almost always go in the summer, and take really long trips. We're a bit different than many on this board, in that we don't rope drop and we don't do a lot of planning. Here's how we do summer trips.

First, we either plan our day to be an "AM" day or "PM" day. If it's an AM day we'll usually show up within 30 minutes of park opening, roughly. We will set FP+ for between 9am and noon or 1pm. We hit rides with short waits in between. While we're sitting to eat lunch, we'll decide what we want to do next. Stay in the parks a few more hours, or go home. If we stay longer, it's usually only until 3pm or so. If we go home (the condo offsite that we rent), we don't make specific plans to return to the parks at night. However, if we're in the condo and decide we want to go back, we will...but most often we don't. If it's a planned PM day, we sleep in, go for a swim, just relax. Hit the parks around 3 or 4pm. Gives us plenty of time to do things...the parks are open late in the summer. Even with Epcot closing at 9pm, we still get a lot done, as the park really starts to empty around 8pm...many of the rides are straight walk ons.

Yes, the parks during the mid-day can be crowded, because I agree that most visitors don't read this board, we're a small group. However, it's still manageable if you have patience and know what rides are less crowded. Also, given that it's pretty hot, we try to do indoor rides midday and spend less time outside.

One thing we try not to do too often is PM followed by AM. It's unavoidable unless we did all PMs, but we try to limit it. Or if we do a PM, the next AM day is a bit later start. First FP+ will be 10am.

 

[beep10]

Thanks everyone.

We went in November 2015 and we were able to rope drop all parks and get all of our must do rides in before lunch. Then we decided if we wanted to stay in the park or head back to the resort. So far this is what I am thinking:

Friday 6/9 MK rope drop, BOG lunch 1:40, back to resort for break and back to MK for 5 until close

Saturday 6/10 AK rope drop, Yak and Yeti lunch 1:15, back to resort for break (we normally do AK as a 1/2 day park but with pandora I will have to wait to see if I can get fast passes for anything and adjust accordingly)

Sunday 6/11 HS rope drop, Chef Mickey ADR's for 1:00, back to resort for break then hop to whichever park we feel like

Monday 6/12 Water parks day

Tuesday 6/13 rope drop Epcot, leave park around 2:00 for break, return for 7:15 for Via Napoli ADR

 

[thevolcanogod]

We typically rope drop then stay through the day but don't stay extremely late. Heat isn't bad if you drink a lot and maybe carry a hyper-evaporative towel. We schedule fast passes for D and E ticket in the mid day and mix it up with low wait rides and shows. We do just fine and enjoy ourselves and dont get stressed about changing plans if we want to.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

The biggest issue in the afternoons in the summer isn't necessarily that it's crowded (which it is) or that it's hot (which it is!) it's that the park is crowded hot, tired, cranky people and especially hot, tired, cranky kids! If you take a break and come back around 5:00 or 6:00, you will be amazed at the number of people who are pouring out of the parks because they've had enough.

 

[TristiK]

We went this past June and our touring plan was different. We did rope drop every day but did not do an afternoon break. We stayed all day until around 9 (my kids are younger and couldn't do late nights). We're from northern Illinois, so while we often get up to about 90-95 in the summer, it's not the same as Florida. We managed pretty well in the heat - lots of water, indoor shows during the afternoon, breaks in the shade, etc.

That said, we're planning on going the same week in 2018 and are planning mid day breaks. Kids will be older so hopefully will be able to stay up later!

 

[pd1138]

We have been doing our trips that way for a few years now, since we've been so many times, the resort time is more important than it used to be. Every day we do the same thing - Rope drop a park, leave around 12:30-1pm and then back to the parks at night. We never noticed the pools being overcrowded but that could be because of the time of year we go. We went to Stormalong Bay every afternoon of our trip last September, and we never had a problem getting chairs and the pool didn't feel crowded.. and after Labor Day, the pool was really empty in the afternoon. We plan on sticking with the same plan on our next trip.

We do this same plan , but in August and it works for us. At rope drop and during the morning hours we managed to do everything we wanted and even hit some of the headliners a couple of times. Our kids are younger so we can't utilize the later evening hours (after 7:30 pm) yet. Usually by 1 pm we went back to the pool because the parks were not only hot, but crowded too. We never found the resort pools too crowded. It was more crowded on a Saturday then a weekday, but never a problem finding a chair!

 

[princessanj]

We usually go in June and we follow the rope drop head back after lunch and swim crowd. One thing we did notice last year, every time we got back to the resort to swim, the daily thunder storm hit us. It was like clock work. The pools weren't too crowded though. After the storm rolled out, we would have a little down time to swim. Just take time to rest out of the heat at different times during the day. And bring a poncho. Way more downpours than October.

 

[pd1138]

Don't take what you read here as the majority opinion necessarily. This board is full of planners. If everyone read these boards then you might see things change, but the overwhelming majority of people who go to Disney don't plan to the level that we do. The reason that people here do rope drop and mid day breaks is because it's more crowded and hot in the parks mid day. It works exactly because most people don't know or don't care to know about this strategy.

I have several friends who are not Disney planners some stay onsite and some offsite and their touring is very different. They show up to the parks late morning and hang in the park all afternoon. They still have great vacations. I do have one though who didn't even book fastpasses 60 days in advance or in advance at all....she told me she never liked the fast pass system. So there are many people who do things a lot different then what you may read on here!!

 

[Klayfish]

If you take a break and come back around 5:00 or 6:00, you will be amazed at the number of people who are pouring out of the parks because they've had enough.

Sure, absolutely. Many of those people are probably the rope droppers who have been out for 9 or 10 hours. That's kind of what we figure when we plan a PM day in the parks. We will show up between 3 and 4pm. We know the first hour or two will be busy, but then there will be a slow transition as the morning crowd leaves and the night crowd starts to arrive.

 

[dprincessmom]

Sine my daughter hit kindergarten the only place she will name (now 13) is WDW unless she is sick. We hit rope drop - leave around lunch time for resort/pool/nap time and then back to close down a park (sometimes the same one, other times we hop). With early morning and late nights it would not be any fun come day 2 or 3 with less sleep, more heat, long lines.

The heat is going to be LAish, but while you are outside a lot at home, you probably aren't typically standing in one area of pavement for long stretches as a time.

Do what works for you but please don't change your plan until you see it in action for yourself.

 

[srauseo]

Totally agree with PPs. Many disers take the midday break approach but the average guest does not. I can't tell you the number of times I've been walking out of the parks around 11am (having already gone on ten+ rides) and I'm like a salmon swimming upstream trying to get to the exits.

 

[GillianP1301]

We go late August every year and don't use the afternoon break at the resort approach, for the most part. We do an early breakfast ADR, then park touring with a lunch ADR, which is like a built in rest/cool down period and then we continue in the park for the afternoon until we've had enough. Sometimes that's mid day and sometimes it's time for our dinner ADR. If it's a day where we tired out mid afternoon, then we go back to the resort and head out again for dinner and evening plans, but that rarely happens. I find between ADRs, indoor attractions and not racing from one place to the next, that our days are relaxed enough to not need a break every day. Of our 10 day trip, I plan 2 pool afternoons.

 

[720L]

I prefer doing rope drop,staying all day....we see shows or choose longer indoor rides (like Elllens Energy Adventure) during the hottest time. It usually rains in late afternoon so sometimes people leave which makes it a little less busy. We swim at night (8 pm or so).....which I love because it's still hot enough to swim but no sun is beating on you.

 

[DisneyOma]

We've found the pools to be very un-refreshing in the summer. The pool deck is way too hot, the water is tepid at best. We tend to go back to the room, crank the AC, nap for a bit, take a second shower, and head out to a different park than the one we went to in the morning.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

We go from PPO til the kids tire out (in July). A few times we came back to the resort for a late afternoon/early evening swim and the pools were fairly quiet (it was great!).

 

[DaniellePoppins]

I wouldn't say everyone has the same idea. On many previous trips we were in around 9 or 10 depending on where our ADR was and going till about 5 or 6 when we'd hop and do another ADR. We rarely took breaks. Now we're all a little older and crave the down time. Making it more of a vacation rather than a trip has become more important. Everyone's style is different based on their own family and needs. And that can change obviously.

And when you consider how many people are in those parks in the summer, the people who take those breaks are usually onsite guests. It would be quite the hassle to be offsite and leave the park for hours and come back. I couldn't imagine getting back to the car, driving in Orlando traffic, and then getting a parking space later in the day! It also wouldn't be worth it if you're paying $100+ for the ticket for the day to not get the most out of that.