Get up early or stay up late?

[KaityBsMom]

We like to do a little of both. I am not a morning person (and neither is DD, although DH is), but we try to get up as early as possible and try to make it to the parks by opening time most days. We like to try to catch the opening shows and/or just get a jump on the crowds (not that that was much of an issue on our most recent, September trip). We do like to have rest days built in if possible, where we can sleep late and laze around. We have also gotten up later and gone into parks later, but I feel like I am missing so much of the day if I do that.

I would say try out the getting up early and see how it goes. If they really complain, you can change. If you are going to have a few days (or more) there, you can still get lots done even if you get going later.

Have a great trip!!

 

[wishuponastarforever]

BOTH!!! If you had to choose one - early is the best to beat the crowds.
We have always opened the parks. By mid-day when most of the people are arriving, we return to the hotel to swim and rest.
We go back refreshed for the last few hours when most people have worn out and run down.
This has worked well over the years with every stage - small children, teenagers, grown children and even now - solo's again.

Have fun whatever you choose

 

[Sher]

BOTH!

We can sleep in Illinois! haha

Sher

 

[Yael]

Well, I have been to Walt Disney World 8 times. Each vacation we took was two weeks long. Now that we have seen about everything there and we hate mornings, we love sleeping in and then going to the pool when it's nice and hot in the afternoon. After that, once it cools down, we hit the parks until they close! Well have a great time!

 

[MichaelH]

I would say that the best thing is to play it by ear. We will usually do a few EEs and then sleep in a few days. We just set the alarm and decide if we feel like getting up.

However I am a morning person and I like to get up and hit the EE days.

Hope that helps.

 

[senecabeach]

Early or late takes on a whole new meaning when you're at Disney. Theres nothing like taking 1st timers and I'm betting they will surprise you in whatever you decide.

If I look at the past 30 yrs. of visiting...guess I've done it many different ways. I now prefer, most days, to go early, come back mid-day, swim, rest, nap then go out for dinner and stay the evening.

You might want to mix it up and alternate both plans.
Have a GREAT time!!


Oh...to be 17-18 in Disney !!

 

[faeriekisses2]

we are going this year in November do the parks close early .

 

[senecabeach]

For the most part..yes. Except around Thanksgiving.

 

[karylrocks]

I always plan to get up early but with all of our trips we only made it one time, EMH at AK. You would think people would sacrifice a couple of hours sleep to go to the parks, but in my family sleep seems to take precidence. I think everyone will just be frustrated if you try to get non-morning people up early. That being said, I am once again planning to get to the parks at opening this trip but we are only going every other day with sleep-in days in between.

 

[AeroKiss13]

Disney is the only thing in the world which can change my sleeping habits - I wake up at least 2 hours before the park opens to get ready, and I stay as late as I possible can without getting kicked out of the parks. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but a semi-seasoned veteran though!

 

[dlstc]

I was checking out allearsnet.com for emh attractions/rides and they are very limited...at least for us.

I will be taking DD2 and DD4 to the parks. At MGM, Playhouse Disney is the only preschooler-oriented attraction open during EMH. At Epcot, there are no such attractions open (i.e. Futureworld). AK has the safari and trek. MK is the only park with more than 2 or 3 attractions open for my little ones. So I guess I will probably avoid all but MK's EMH.

Diana

 

[BoboJacks]

Both, I have always got to the park at opening, and stayed to closing, with no breaks, since I was 3!

 

[littlebitofpixiedust]

spend as much time as you can, it doesn't matter how much you get done, as long as you see the things you want, and you have a fun time doing it, it shouldn't matter (but i always thought disney was a lot cooler at night)

 

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

Get up early and get to the parks at least a half hour before "official" opening time. Stay until about 1:00 in the afternoon, then go back to your hotel for a few hours. Those that are tired can nap and those that aren't can have dip in the pool. Then when you return, you'll be all charged up and ready to stay until they kick you out. You will be able to do twice as many rides in the morning and late at night than you missed during this couple of hours.

The only park where this doesn't work so well is in the MK because you have to get to your car via monorail or boat, and then back again.

Also, if you have hopper passes, you can hop from one park to another when you come back.

Pack a cooler with drinks and food and leave it in your car. You can have them while driving back to your hotel and save some $$$$!

 

[Gomez Gang]

Our gang consists of myself, DH, DD- age 8, DS- age 6 and DD-age 5. We always arrive on Saturday and stay until the following Sunday (7 days/8 nights) The 2 little ones may sometimes snooze during a show (the older one never does ) but all 3 of the kids keep on truckin' because we are having so much fun! We open and close the parks everyday that we are there with the exception of Wednesdays. That is our "rest day". We sleep in, go to a brunch, lay around the pool and in the p.m. go to the boardwalk to stroll around. We will also go to bed a little earlier that night. It lets you recooperate from touring for 4 days straight and refreshes you for the remaining part of the week. When at disney, we try to not waste a minute--YOU CAN SLEEP AT HOME!!!!!!!! WDW has to much to offer to waste it on sleep (however I do ALLOW my family sleep from 9:30 p.m.- 7:30 a.m. on our touring days--LOL!). This is a "doing" vacation, not a "relaxing" vacation for our gang!

 

[tomerin]

this july we will be arriving on the 7th by 11am, so an early start is out of the question. relax after a long trip, explore the Wilderness Lodge then off to the parks.

what i would like to do is at the least for the first few days is get off to the parks for EE. my DW and DS (17) are both sleepers so it will take some convincing to get them going. my other DS(14) is like myself, an early riser. so off to the parks early for at least the first few days. then since we are there in the heat of the summer we will go back to the hotel around 2-3pm for an afternoon snack and swim and then off to close the park of choice.

if my DW and DS are not up to getting up early i will go early with DS#2 and get an early start. This works well for us for 2 reasons. Wife and DS#1, do enjoy sleep and are not into the more intense rides like RnR. so i wlll take DS#2, do all of the rides that we are pretty sure the others will not want to go on so the rest of the day we can do everything else together. when they are ready to leave for the park they will just call us and we will meet them for a very enjoyable day.



spring has finally sprung here on long island and my countdown has reached the 100 days to go mark




have a great disney day

tom and erin

 

[busymom_ot]

I foresee a problem w/ not going to AK or MGM until midafternoon - AK closes early & the animals are most active in the morning & MGM has a lot of shows which stop in the evenings. Last time we were at MGM it seemed a lot of the park was closing up late afternoon/early evening.

 

[hogie1]

I think you have to just suck it up and get up early. I'm not a morning person at all, but in WDW I drag myself out of bed and get to it (although my wife would disagree, she drags me out of the bed!!!). Go back and rest up during the middle of the day, and then you can go back at nitetime. If you are there for a while, maybe sleep in one day, but not too late cause you can't ride the rides while still in your pajamas!!!

 

[photobob]

I agree totally with Scott, up and out early witha afternoon nap and return until closing...

 

[CPM]

Originally posted by hogie1
I think you have to just suck it up and get up early. I'm not a morning person at all, but in WDW I drag myself out of bed and get to it (although my wife would disagree, she drags me out of the bed!!!). Go back and rest up during the middle of the day, and then you can go back at nitetime. If you are there for a while, maybe sleep in one day, but not too late cause you can't ride the rides while still in your pajamas!!!

I can't imagine *anyone* getting me up early while I'm on vacation. JMO. It's a vacation for heavons sake <G>.