Going at a different time of year with non-RD approach. Help!

[Mikie]

On my next trip, our traveling group will be different (immediate family for the first time in YEARS), we'll be going on Spring Break vs our usual fall (last two were Columbus day weekends, so not as slow as Sept fall trips), and, importantly, the kids will be teen and pre-teen "let's sleep in" people. I have been the Disney plannner and feel like I know a lot of tips and tricks, but these are some significant differences and I don't want to miss some obvious considerations simply because I've assumed my prior experiences will translate. We used to grab breakfast in our value food court, then get to parks just after RD usually. Not waiting 45 min prior to gate time, but usually in the park by 15-30 min after posted opening. Used low crowds near opening time, FP midday, CS lunch and usually a TS dinner and rarely closed the parks. Never managed to implement the midday break strategy.

Anyone have advice on Spring crowds vs Fall break crowds?

We think we'll sleep later and I imagine we could last until 11-12 if park hours are that late (fall used to have closings around 9-10). Is there a "good" later arrival time?

Do you other late arrivers do something else in the morning and early afternoon (like swim or DTD) or do you just sleep late and head to the parks when ready?

I'm kind of assuming that breakfast in the value food court would be equally busy or even less than a 7:30-8:30 window that we're used to. Am I wrong? Would it be a madhouse in the 9-10:30 range?

I'm imagining that a late arrival is just the flip side of a RD arrival. . . instead of RD short waits for about 90 minutes, with FP and "anytime" attractions midday, I'm picturing still FP and "anytime" attractios when we arrive, followed by TS dinner at some point and shortening lines in the last 90 minutes of park time. . . realistic?

I'm also assuming weather is similar and that we're avoiding the July/August heat and need for total avoidance of midday heat - is Spring warm enough to swim, but not still mild enough to tolerate?

Any tips on turning my whole style upside down greatly appreciated!!

 

[loves to dive]

As DS got older we turned in late arrival people, well he did, I still get up early cause I'm old and that's what old people do. He sleeps in, I go and sit outside somewhere in the resort and have my coffee. Sometimes I even go to the park and he meets me there when he finally gets going, around 11 or so. We make FP for after lunch and just catch what we can before then. We stay until park close and catch what we didn't get FP for then, supper is whatever we feel like that day, if we feel like TS, we make those ADRs when we get to the park.

 

[NJ Goofy]

I am a BIG fan of getting to the Parks at or around the posted opening time you can do so much more. With that said, you don't say when you are actually going (Spring Break spans almost two months depending where you're from) but it will be more crowded then you are use to. The normal crowds build around 10:30 am and stay pretty large thru the afternoon. If you're going in May be prepared for very warm weather, we were there in mid-May two years ago and the "real feel" temperature on two days was 103 degrees. You should definitely be able to swim.

I would give the "getting up" late a second thought at least some of the days, better to get up a little earlier than stand in line all day, have fun !

 

[LowesChevy]

I would mix a few sleep in days and rope drop days. My mother needs extra sleep like little kids and teenagers, so I understand the dilemma. Fortunately she can rise early, but needs and afternoon nap. I schedule in some lazy mornings that we can sleep in a bit later than 7 AM, have a quick breakfast then a simple lunch at the park or skip breakfast altogether and have a big lunch. You could sleep in later one morning and head to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon since they do not open till 10 or so. Pick a couple of days to make rope drop, but do mix in a couple of later mornings.

that is one of the positive aspects to the FP+ is that you can schedule your experiences for later in the day-there is no need to feel like you may not get on a certain ride or of the FP run out before you arrive. As long as you plan your 60 days out if a resort guest you can pick the later afternoon or evening times. May is hot, but the parks are open later in the warmer months too. The MK is open till 11 or midnight many nights in the summer as opposed to closures at 7 or 8.
I feel the crowds do get more heavy by mid morning in the summer/spring months because many locals flock to the parks as well. It takes them longer to stream into the parks during the day, but check the crowd calendars from year to year for some rough estimates.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Like PP said, I don't know when in 'spring break' you are going. But, if you are going at a really crowed time (such as near Easter) you may want to try and mix it up. I went to WDW over the holidays with a 19, 15, and 11 year old who would have loved to sleep in. But, they also wanted to ride the headliners multiple times. We made sure to hit each park for rope drop once (MK twice) so that they could do this. And then slept in and stayed out late on other days. Even though nobody wanted to get up early, it was a lot more fun than spending the day in line. Just show them the difference in wait times on a cell phone app for different parts of the day and it will probably be very easy to get them on board.

Also, even though things clear out some late at night, we found that it was never as quiet as in the morning and the lines at the popular rides stayed very long until well after midnight. This is especially true if the parks open before 9 am.

 

[cleophus12]

I will say that your dilemma is one of the things that makes FP+ attractive. We took a slower approach this past month and made our FPs for later in the day. We were able to get our FPs for our must-do rides, but when you go late in the day there won't be much else to do. Wait times were long for other rides and we weren't able to take advantage of the fourth FP in most cases because they were all gone. However, we knew that going in and we were just prepared to go to the parks, do our thing, and move on. We also had ADRs for dinner in whichever park we had FPs for, so that gave us more time to soak up the park atmosphere. Getting into the parks late just changes one's touring strategy. Since you have obviously been before, maybe your crowd will be happy with a slower paced trip.

 

[amylevan]

TBH, if you are talking the week before or after Easter, I'd drag those teens out of bed and get them into the parks early at least a few days. Those 2 weeks the crowd is insane. And we've traveled with teens who usually never rise before noon if they can help it, but DO manage to make rope drop because they also saw the advantage of getting rides done with little crowds.

The parks are usually open later, but how late depends on exactly which weeks you are talking about.

I can't speak to the food court timing personally, but since the parks start getting crowded by 10:30, I would assume most people are eating breakfast 9-10:30, so I would assume the food court would be crowded during that time.

 

[linana514]

TBH, if you are talking the week before or after Easter, I'd drag those teens out of bed and get them into the parks early at least a few days. Those 2 weeks the crowd is insane. And we've traveled with teens who usually never rise before noon if they can help it, but DO manage to make rope drop because they also saw the advantage of getting rides done with little crowds.

The parks are usually open later, but how late depends on exactly which weeks you are talking about.

I can't speak to the food court timing personally, but since the parks start getting crowded by 10:30, I would assume most people are eating breakfast 9-10:30, so I would assume the food court would be crowded during that time.

Oh man, I just realized Easter falls on the last day of our Spring Break this year. I was considering a short Disney trip for Spring Break also... might reconsider now. Is it really crazy the week before Easter? We'd be going Sun-Wed March 20-23.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Rope Drop is good if you want to ride the headliners once. Late night is good if you want to ride them multiple times. Just keep in mind that the posted wait times are often greatly exaggerated in the evening. Knowing this is the key to successful late night touring.

We try to arrive at our first park around 10:30 or so then we stay out until the last park closes. Having Park Hoppers are a plus as AK and Epcot close too early for our tastes.

 

[amylevan]

Is it really crazy the week before Easter?

Yes.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Here's an example of why we prefer late nights:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Spring Break with rope drop is a hot mess. If you are definitely doing this, I would advise the kids to come to the parks when they are ready, but leave the room without them when you are ready (for rope drop). My boys went through a phase like this and they were a nightmare when we "forced" them to get up early. It effected their attitude for the rest of the day. When we let them sleep in, they were happy - even though they didn't get to ride many rides. But my wife and I left the room much earlier than they did. We all had fun, but in our own way.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Oh man, I just realized Easter falls on the last day of our Spring Break this year. I was considering a short Disney trip for Spring Break also... might reconsider now. Is it really crazy the week before Easter? We'd be going Sun-Wed March 20-23.

I haven't seen crowd calendars for 2016.
That said, Easter was on March 31st. back in 2013. According to wdwmagic.com (news archives) MK reached phase 3 capacity closure on March 25, 26, 27 and 28. (So, the Monday through Thursday of the week leading up to Easter). If the past is any indication, I would expect huge crowds. The plus side is that MK usually opens at 7am when the crowds are like this so if you are willing to get up early, you can get a ton done. (At least that was my experience with 7 am openings at Christmas)

 

[SmallWorld71]

Rope Drop is good if you want to ride the headliners once. Late night is good if you want to ride them multiple times. Just keep in mind that the posted wait times are often greatly exaggerated in the evening. Knowing this is the key to successful late night touring.

We try to arrive at our first park around 10:30 or so then we stay out until the last park closes. Having Park Hoppers are a plus as AK and Epcot close too early for our tastes.

This really depends on when they are going.
We went to the 7am openings at MK over the holidays and the rides were a virtual walk-on until about 9. (with the exception of 7DMT) We rode the other headliners many times. OTOH, the lines for these headliners stayed long until well after midnight. (The lines themselves, not just the wait times) I do imagine if we'd made it until 3 am they would have been shorter, though!
When the park opens later (like 9) I have found that what you say is very true.

 

[amylevan]

This really depends on when they are going.
We went to the 7am openings at MK over the holidays and the rides were a virtual walk-on until about 9. (with the exception of 7DMT) We rode the other headliners many times. OTOH, the lines for these headliners stayed long until well after midnight. (The lines themselves, not just the wait times) I do imagine if we'd made it until 3 am they would have been shorter, though!
When the park opens later (like 9) I have found that what you say is very true.

This.

And again, if we are talking the week before or after Easter, those are the types of hours you are talking about. If your group can hang til 3am, then I'm sure that's a great plan. We can't.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We find that the crowds are much smaller at night when the park opened at 8 am or earlier. I guess that too many guests get up too early and get tired and leave. Others that arrived later get frustrated by the large crowds and also leave early.

We've often arrived at MK at 8 - 8:30 pm and found bumper to bumper traffic leaving the park.

Here's an example of what we accomplished on a recent visit to MK on a Crowd Level 8 day between 8 pm & midnight with no FP+:

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train (10 min wait right a closing time)
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the parade and fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

 

[mickeymom629]

We find that the crowds are much smaller at night when the park opened at 8 am or earlier. I guess that too many guests get up too early and get tired and leave. Others that arrived later get frustrated by the large crowds and also leave early.

We've often arrived at MK at 8 - 8:30 pm and found bumper to bumper traffic leaving the park.

Here's an example of what we accomplished on a recent visit to MK on a Crowd Level 8 day between 8 pm & midnight with no FP+:

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train (10 min wait right a closing time)
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the parade and fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

Very impressive and something I will keep in mind next time we go during a peak time!!

 

[SmallWorld71]

We find that the crowds are much smaller at night when the park opened at 8 am or earlier. I guess that too many guests get up too early and get tired and leave. Others that arrived later get frustrated by the large crowds and also leave early.

We've often arrived at MK at 8 - 8:30 pm and found bumper to bumper traffic leaving the park.

Here's an example of what we accomplished on a recent visit to MK on a Crowd Level 8 day between 8 pm & midnight with no FP+:

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train (10 min wait right a closing time)
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the parade and fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

What time did the park close?
When we were there, it was crowd level 10, regular closing time 1am. EMH was until 3 am. We would up doing things like Tiki room and HoP because even rides like Winnie the Pooh were 60 min. +. Our morning list was much more like your evening one.
Or maybe it has to do with the make-up of the crowds themselves? There were a TON of international visitors at this time. Perhaps they were more likely to stay out later than get up early? Who knows?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

What time did the park close?
When we were there, it was crowd level 10, regular closing time 1am. EMH was until 3 am. We would up doing things like Tiki room and HoP because even rides like Winnie the Pooh were 60 min. +. Our morning list was much more like your evening one.
Or maybe it has to do with the make-up of the crowds themselves? There were a TON of international visitors at this time. Perhaps they were more likely to stay out later than get up early? Who knows?

MK generally closes at midnight in the summer. We've attended EMH until 3 am also, but I think that the attraction lines are the shortest from about 10 pm to midnight on a non-emh night.

Our favorite day to hop into the MK is the day of emh morning with the thought being the earlier they arrive, the earlier they'll leave. This theory has led to some pretty efficient night time touring, even during high crowd level periods like the week between Christmas and New Years.

 

[SmallWorld71]

MK generally closes at midnight in the summer. We've attended EMH until 3 am also, but I think that the attraction lines are the shortest from about 10 pm to midnight on a non-emh night.

Our favorite day to hop into the MK is the day of emh morning with the thought being the earlier they arrive, the earlier they'll leave. This theory has led to some pretty efficient night time touring, even during high crowd level periods like the week between Christmas and New Years.

Early or late, I guess it's all better than standing in an extended queue for Stitch in the middle of the day.