Ever open AND close the same park?

[Coyotesweat]

We will be doing that most days on our trip. But we have short hours, so except for Super Bowl Sunday, Epcot is our longest day at 12-12. Super Bowl Sunday we will get there early to ride our favorites, then in afternoon will ride monorails, have lunch at contempo and watch monorails, and boat to fort wilderness and back just for fun, then likely stay and play til midnight. I work til 11:30 pm and usually go to bed around two, so even if I get up early, body not ready to sleep til late. Adults, no kids to deal with though!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

...as in get there at rope drop and then leave while the staff is sweeping up behind you?

We have done this on a few occasions but it's nor our usual method of touring. We prefer to get into the parks a little later (11am) and stay until 1am-2am when the parks are open later. During shorter hours we always do rope drop to close.

 

[married2mm]

yes,but not often.
normally we leave one park,then return to another one later.
they have a different feel morning and night.

 

[mommykds]

Yes! And those are usually the most fun days we have.

 

[cc-atl]

We will likely do this a few times in our upcoming trip. We typically avoid parks with EMH, the weather should be nice (going in 2 weeks), and the park hours are relatively short (outside of MK the parks are closing btw 7-9pm).

 

[EagleFlyer]

Yes, but we went during the "off" season, so open to close meant 9-5 at AK and 9-8 at MK.

 

[BeerMe]

Once at MK started at 8am and left at 4am. With a stop in Epcot in between. At Easter.

 

[Radiorox]

When we do a weekend trips, we drive up from Miami on Friday night, hit MK from around RD until closing without leaving. It's always amazing to me just how long you can stick around and never see the whole park.

 

[nchulka]

Yes! We are always the last ones out of anywhere we go I want to get my moneys worth At DL we were there for a 8:00 AM opening and didn't leave until 2 AM! The kids were 3 & 1 at that time. At WDW it wasn't technically an open-close but one day we did early ADRs at AK at 8:00, then stayed at AK till 5:00 close. We then drove directly to MK for MNSSHP and stayed till midnight! The kids were 7 & 8 then. I come from a go, go, go family, my kids have never known afternoon breaks

 

[shademan]

A few weeks back me and my spouse did this! We got to the Magic Kingdom at 8:15 and left 45 minutes after it closed! I have to admit I was exhausted. I could have used a break from about 3-5 or so.

If you know what you are doing at the MK and you go from opening to close, you can basically ride everything twice, and some things three times. Fantastic day.

 

[ktlm]

Every trip. We quickly learned when DD(6) was 2 that she was a commando like us and that mid-day breaks didn't work for her. When we where there the week after Thanksgiving, on Monday we did Epcot from 9:00 a.m. and walked out as Illuminations was going a little after 9:30 (DD doesn't like it, so we leave while it is going and beat the crowds), and the next day (Tuesday), we got to MK at 8:45 for the 9:00 a.m. rope drop and didn't leave until 11:30 p.m. (we were at MVMCP). Not quite open to close, but very close. This was our first trip without a stroller, and DD was a real trooper. I couldn't believe she made it that long 2 days in a row. We love full days in the parks.

 

[newt2]

I've had some really long days at Disney parks, most at DLR though. We visit WDW in the winter and it's not open late.

I've done early magic hours at DL and stayed until after 1AM on many occasions though. That's about 17 hours of Disneyland in a day. You're pretty wiped out by that time.

 

[DizzDoll]

Every trip. Sometimes we're draggin' our wagon at the bitter end of evening EMH and sometimes not, but we do it at least once per visit.

 

[minnie mum]

Pretty much every day. But we go during quieter times of the year when the park hours are a bit shorter. Or, if the park is open quite late, we'll have a midday nap at the resort.

 

[bennifer]

Every day of every trip!!! Is there any other way?

 

[BuzzBiteyear]

Not sure if this one qualifies or not. This past summer we went to DL. Got to DCA for rope drop and get FPs for RSR, while DW and the boys rode Tires. Now we didn't spend the entire day there, as we hopped over to DL for a time as well, but we ended up back at DCA and we were the last car to ride RSR. This was after a nearly 2 hour breakdown, when we got in standby as a "last ride of the trip" whim. So it was well past normal closing time, we rode, and DW just asked a CM if we could ride again, and he said sure. Pretty cool, but odd, walking out and there is no one around.

Back a few years ago, DS8 and I were at MK's rope drop and headed straight to Buzz. We were the first ride of the day, and later that night were the last to ride Buzz as well.


Those are the two that really stick out, though we've done rope drop to closing a few other times. I wonder why we need a vacation when we get home from vacation?

 

[anonymousegirl]

Often in winter time when the parks open later and close earlier.

Last time was at DLR and the One More Disney Day last Feb 29. Opened the park at 6am and closed it at 6am March 1. Very long day but so much fun.

 

[ty_n_cy]

One of my favorite days ever was on our first trip. We started the day at Epcot with an 8:20 ADR at Akershus for breakfast. Once the World Showcase opened at 11:00, it started drizzling. We were on the ride in Norway when it started POURING!

At the time, our kids were 2, 3 and 8 years old. Our stroller and all the belongings in it were getting soaked while we were in the gift shop trying to figure out what to do.

We covered the girls in the stroller with ponchos... put a poncho on our son... and then made a day out of it. We walked over to Coral Reef for lunch. When we got out, it was still raining but not as hard.

Soon, the sun came out and we spent the rest of the day drying off. We had dinner reservations at Tutto Italia at 8:30 that night... finished up there around 10:00, then spent the next hour hitting some more rides before the park closed.

My son and I were in line for Mission Space when the park closed... and by the time we got done, it was almost 11:30. Got back to Caribbean Beach Resort around 12:15 the next morning and slept like rocks - until our 8:20 ADR at Crystal Palace the next morning.

We thought it would be our only trip, so we did EVERYTHING we could. Bought into DVC the next January and have been back every year since.



CY

 

[mm1971]

Yup! And we had EMH till 3AM at MK. My children were 7 and 9. It was their idea and they wanted to do it so we went at RD, had cinnamon rolls at Main Street Bakery for breakfast. Dinner at the Tavern and slowly and methodically did everything in the park. Of course we slept in the following morning and relaxed most of the next day. We all still talk about it after several other trips. It's still the highlight.

 

[luvmyguyz]

Yes - our 7th day of our 10-day trip in November, which was originally supposed to be our "park-free" day, turned into a 17-hour day at MK because the night before I realized that this was the only night we would be able to see Wishes (lots of MVMCP's scheduled that week!)

We arrived at 8:30 AM and stayed until the park closed at 1:00 AM - we took 0 breaks, and didn't even have any TS meals that day - just QS!! Cinnamon rolls at MSB for breakfast, Dole Whips in Adventureland, dinner at Columbia Harbor House - I'm sure we had lunch, but for the life of me I can't remember where!!

We were seriously dragging our butts by the end of the day (we have a photo of my hubby and I literally laying down on the carpet at Mickey's Philharmagic because we were so exhausted - I would share it with you if my legs didn't look sooo super fat!!)

But honestly, that was my absolutely favorite day. We went on almost every ride, we were able to preview New Fantasyland (this was before the official opening), and my boys spent some time doing the Sorcerers game. We had such a blast!! We wound up sleeping in until almost noon the following day, but it was totally worth it.