Go early or stay late?

[Ds4angels]

We're thinking of planning a trip either the 1st week of May or the last week of August. We've only ever gone in Jan or Feb and never w/ FP+. Before we're be rope drop (and by this I mean we're at the park by 8:15 at the latest) and make the best use of FP plus early rides equaled riding our favorites multiple times. MK we stayed till 10:30 the rest we left at around 8 to miss the end of the day rush on the buses.
I'm wondering if we'd be better off hitting the parks later, say around 10:30 11 and just staying till the push us out the door? From what I understand the night time standby times are very over inflated.
Has anyone toured this way and found it effective? We'll have 4 adults and 2 kids 12 and 10 (both awesome troopers who are good w/ either up w/ the sun or sleep in late and stay up late)

 

[mummabear]

We usually go in May and have never done a rope drop (our time difference is large so we just sleep in and stay up late) we usually get to the park between 11 and 1 and close the park.
We find the wait times are good int he evenings esp after about 7pm in Fantasyland.
However we havent done RD to compare...

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've gone the last week of August and it is HOT so what we do is RD, midday break to the pool (no naps here) and back to a park in the evening. During that week I just find it important to be out of the park during the hottest part of the day.

Next trip it's also the last week of August. 11 days/10 nights. I do have 2 sleep in days where we will hit a park for PM EMH and make it a late night. After the late nights we will do rest days and sleep in and just do pool time, DTD or a water park.

 

[DCLogs]

For the past couple of year we have went to WDW in early May. I say go in early. We had most of the rides we wanted done by 11am. We even change FP's for rides because rides like Peter Pan had only a 10 minute wait time at 9am. I'm not sure about the Mine Ride though.

What we do is go in the morning, leave back to resort at noon. Naps swimming, maybe a couple of cocktails for dad, than go back in after 5. The wait times at 12-4 are long.

And as your question about night waits, We walk right on most rides from 8-11 because of Wishes are going on.

 

[jharaldson]

We have gone in late April or early May the last 2 years and my favorite time to ride is end of the day. Especially during EMH. They also seem to run some nice hours during that time as well as they had Magic Kingdom open Saturday until midnight and we got some great ride volume in during the 10-12 timeframe. The kiss goodnight and the way main street is lit up is nice to see at night as well.

 

[wareagle57]

I much prefer closing down a park than getting up early for rope drop. That said, I think the "best" strategy is to do rope drop. Yes, if MK is open late enough most rides will be walk-on the last hour or two. But it is ALWAYS that way the first hour. And the last hour at Epcot will not yield walk-ons for TT or Soarin. It took us the entirety of EMHs to ride those two rides. If you go at RD you can knock out both in the first hour easily. Same for DHS. You can do TSMM, RnR, and ToT all in the first hour. You may get lucky and do that every once and a while the last hour, but not always.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I prefer rope drop. You can get a lot done in the first two hours and I like having my evenings to do other things (downtown Disney, go out to dinner, etc. or just relax).

 

[mcd2745]

We've done the last week of August a couple of times, and are going back this Auguat (Aug 25). In the end of August, you want to be at rope drop. Two reasons, first being that the parks start closing earlier. MK will likely close 9 or 10pm. DHS may close at 7pm. AK probably won't be open past 7pm. Second reason is you want to get a couple of touring hours in before it gets to the peak heat of the day. You don't want to start out in that.

 

[chelseabun76]

We are doing both... going at open and staying until close, but our park hours are at the end of January and AK is 5pm and the others are 9pm at the latest. lol

 

[LSUfan4444]

We prefer as early as possible for a few reasons, but mainly because it allows for more flexibility and makes it easier to adapt for things like weather, crowds, or unexpected things that may pop up.

 

[mcd2745]

We've done the last week of August a couple of times, and are going back this Auguat (Aug 25). In the end of August, you want to be at rope drop. Two reasons, first being that the parks start closing earlier. MK will likely close 9 or 10pm. DHS may close at 7pm. AK probably won't be open past 7pm. Second reason is you want to get a couple of touring hours in before it gets to the peak heat of the day. You don't want to start out in that.

Following up on my post, since August 2015 operating hours literally just came out. For the last week of August...MK closes 10pm each day, AK 5pm each day, DHS 8pm every day, and of course Epcot never changes. As always, these hours are subject to change. However, we see that the long summer hours are gone by the end of August.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

We generally do both, with a nap in between. But I'd be more inclined to say stay late because the parks are just so much more magical at night IMO

 

[asbyrneva]

we are rope drop folks. But even if we weren't, I would think it would be better going early so the switch to getting back to school isn't so hard.

Getting back to school is hard enough!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

I've gone the last week of August and it is HOT so what we do is RD, midday break to the pool (no naps here) and back to a park in the evening. During that week I just find it important to be out of the park during the hottest part of the day.

This is our routine. We've gone in late August for years. We find it draining to be out in the heat at the parks; however, the afternoon swim gets us refreshed and ready to go again.
If I had to chose between rope drop vs close the park, I would always choose rope drop because I think it's the way to get the most done.

 

[disnut1149]

Following up on my post, since August 2015 operating hours literally just came out. For the last week of August...MK closes 10pm each day, AK 5pm each day, DHS 8pm every day, and of course Epcot never changes. As always, these hours are subject to change. However, we see that the long summer hours are gone by the end of August.

Where did you see the hours posted? They're not posted yet on the Disneyworld site.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I'm in the vast minority here, but I find that late nights are a much more efficient use of time for our touring style. My kids like to reride the headliners multiple times and we find that easiest during the evening hours.

We visit during peak summer hours and always stay out until the last park closes. The key is recognizing the exaggerated wait times and enjoying short waits while other guests head to the stores and/or exits.

You can also find lots of good info in the "Late Nght Tips" thread.

 

[ebonyeyes]

Following up on my post, since August 2015 operating hours literally just came out. For the last week of August...MK closes 10pm each day, AK 5pm each day, DHS 8pm every day, and of course Epcot never changes. As always, these hours are subject to change. However, we see that the long summer hours are gone by the end of August.

I can't seem to find the 2015 August hours!

 

[princessesandpascal]

Like some other posters have said, we usually do Rope Drop at one park and then close out (or at least stay till we're tired) at another using our park hoppers. We take a nap in between or even if we don't want to nap, relax and have some downtime.

As for timing, we're also planning a trip for early May, and my mom's sister's family went in early May a few years ago and said the crowds were not awful. Getting there early always helps.

 

[Alesia]

Where did you see the hours posted? They're not posted yet on the Disneyworld site.

I can't seem to find the 2015 August hours!

Travel agent calendar: http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_august.pdf

 

[Laketravis]

I'd say try going to the parks in the middle of the day, because it sure sounds like everyone else goes in the morning and evening!