Evenings in the park after leaving for several hours

[BriannaRuth]

In the past, we've toured in the mornings til about 1, pulling FPs as we go, then headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for a rest, returning to the parks in the evening around 6-7. But that was when you could use your FP anytime after the specified time.

I'm concerned that trying to go back to the hotel in the afternoon is going to seriously mess with our FP return times. Has anyone been able to consistently pull later FPs with evening return times? Or do you just make the best of it and go FP-less in the evenings if you go back to the hotel in the afternoon?

I also see difficulty in another strategy we've always had -- touring one park while occasionally having a runner go pull FPs at the other park for evening returns there. I've always liked splitting the days up, but not sure how this will work with the enforced return times.

How do you make going back to the hotel in the afternoon work with having FPs for the evening?

 

[jkolkemo]

I found that last year it was hard to do the fp thing at night, the year before we would collect and then do like you all night using them. Last year we did more single rider at night and the shows. Some nights I went back solo as my kids and husband were spent from the heat and a big dinner. Not me, I go, go go, when I am down there, even if I can barely walk, I usually drag myself back to the hotel and then dose up on Ibuprophen for the night so that I am ready to go again first thing in the morning.

 

[Cholula]

The only one that really affected us in mid-June was RSR. When we went to pull a FP for later the times were right about when we would be coming back from break, so we had to wait around a few minutes until we found a better return time.

When we returned in the evenings we found there were still FPs available for the rides we wanted. I think the only one that was out (besides RSR) was ToT.

 

[wenrob]

We were there Mid June and I had been really concerned about it but it worked out fine. We took a break every afternoon. I think because people are no longer collecting FPs there are more left later in the day. We actually didn't pull very many over the course of four days. I'd say 80% of those were right at times we wanted to ride. Just stay on top of return times (use an app or Call Otto) and you should be fine.

 

[lk2500]

We used to tour the same way as you but had to change things up on our trip this past 6/26-6/28. We arrived at noon on 6/26. We made rope drop on 6/28 and didn't take a break out of the parks until 4pm. Here's how our afternoons/evenings went:

On 6/26 we:
- Pulled a FP for IJ around 3pm for a 7:45PM return time
- Took our hotel/Red Robin break from about 4:30-7:30.
- Went back, rode IJ with FP
- Pulled FP for Splash
- Rode BTMRR regular queue around 9:30pm (45 minute wait)
- Headed back to hotel for me (back spasms)
- DW and DS's headed back and rode Splash and got Dole Whips

On 6/28 we:
- Pulled FP for RSR for around 11am for a 5:55pm return time.
- Took our hotel/In-N-Out Burger break from 4pm-5:30pm.
- Went back, pulled FP for GRR
- Tried RSR but it was down, messed around taking pics in Cars Land
- Rode GRR with FP
- Rode Soarin regular queue
- Rode RSR around 8:30 with our FP's
- Wandered through the Mad T Party
- Tiki Room/Dole Whips
- IJ regular queue (30 minute wait)
- BTMRR regular queue (10 minute wait)
- Matterhorn (with special FP due to TSMM breakdown in the am)
- Splash Mountain at midnight,
- Pics at the Castle and a slow stroll down Main Street as our finale.

So, you can still get quite a bit done in the evenings, just not at the same pace as with the collected FP's.

 

[madasax12]

This is how we plan to do things.....with two young kids we want to hit the park early and get things done, walk back to our room at Disneyland Hotel for rest/pool time then go back in the evening to do more things. My wife when she would go as a kid her parents would just go-go-go then leave, she has never been in the park at night. I told her she has missed out on soo much. Its totally different at night!

 

[lk2500]

This is how we plan to do things.....with two young kids we want to hit the park early and get things done, walk back to our room at Disneyland Hotel for rest/pool time then go back in the evening to do more things. My wife when she would go as a kid her parents would just go-go-go then leave, she has never been in the park at night. I told her she has missed out on soo much. Its totally different at night!

Yup, Disneyland is awesome at night. We love to be one of the last boats on Splash, stroll slowly down Main Street after midnight, then McD's for hot fudge sundaes on our way back to the FFI.

 

[Blue32]

This was back in early June with Grad nights, but we always found IJA to be a good FP before our break because the return time was about 4 hours out. If Space had been up and running, I imagine that one might also be a good one to grab.

If the FP times are not taking off like you expect, you might hope to grab something when you return.

 

[rentayenta]

With Disneyland enforcing FP return times, we have basically stopped caring about FP in the evening unless it's totally convenient. RSR is the only one we try to time to be there when we return after a midday break. Morning FPs are still a major factor but not so much in the evening. We get what we can and go from there.