Going to parks at 3-4pm in summer???

[Nancyg56]

Oh holy horrible! In August RD is the best strategy IMO. WE get to the parks early, enjoy the attractions in the relative cool, and then get the heck out of Dodge in the afternoon. Back tot eh resort for a swim, a cool Shower and a little rest. Then back out for dinner and maybe an evening park. I think that your plan will make for misery.

I also do not understand why you think the travel is too much. Disney makes transportation easy.

 

[smiths02]

We go in June. We mostly go at Rope Drop (or pre Rope Drop breakfast), then ride a lot until lunchtime, FP+ before lunchtime, then lunchtime and 2 FP+ then we leave and we are done for the day. We don't go back to the park. We may have dinner ADR scheduled at a resort, but we have a car, so we will drive to that.

 

[JanaDee]

We are going the last week of August. It is so hot during the day to do the parks and we are staying at CBR and I don't want to go in am, leave and go back in evening. It's just too much traveling back and forth. We have most of our adr's in the parks or close by, we were thinking of going early afternoon and riding a few rides, dinner and then staying a few more hours. Leaving the parks by 8:30pm ish. Has anyone every used this strategy? We will be using the bus for traveling, so only want to do it once a day. Our 3 children are aged 12, 12 and 6 years.

That is the hottest part of the day, if it isn't storming or a deluge of rain.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That is the hottest part of the day, if it isn't storming or a deluge of rain.

Yeah, that is the time of day during our August trips when I am in the hotel room saying "Why do I come in August again?"

And my kids are saying, "When are they going to re-open the pool?"

 

[Kbee]

Oh holy horrible! In August RD is the best strategy IMO. WE get to the parks early, enjoy the attractions in the relative cool, and then get the heck out of Dodge in the afternoon. Back tot eh resort for a swim, a cool Shower and a little rest. Then back out for dinner and maybe an evening park. I think that your plan will make for misery.

I also do not understand why you think the travel is too much. Disney makes transportation easy.

Its all perspective, to me her plan is perfect with the exception of planning on not staying late enough.
Misery to me is stressing to get everyone up and ready for RD, spending some time at the park, then going back to the resort, then get ready all over again to get back to the park for dinner and the rest of the evening. Not fun at all.
I'd rather chill at the pool in the late morning/early afternoon then get ready to go to the parks and stay there all night.
To each his own though, maybe the OP should try one day of doing each and see what works best for her family.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I also think the strategy isn't all the way horrible if it's planned right. I've seen other people mention this strategy for the summer months and it seems to work well for them. They usually pick the park with PM EMH and shut the park down. It works for them and they seem to enjoy it.

I've gone in August before and we are going again this year. Our strategy last trip was RD, midday break at the pool, back to the parks until closed. It worked very well. We loved it and I swear by midday breaks.

This next trip we are staying 10 nights so I'm mixing it up. We will be doing some days of RD, midday break, back to the parks in the evening. Each park gets a RD day.

A few days we are relaxing by the pool hitting the PM EMH park around 5 pm and staying until close. With FP+ it makes it even better IMO.

We also have 2 complete non park rest days also.

 

[ariane37]

I can understand your not wanting to leave the park and go back. I planned breaks on our first summer trip last year (last week in Aug.) and hated them. We'd never done mid-day breaks before and even though we like Disney transportation, we just hated getting ready-going-leaving-getting ready again-leaving. If we go in Aug. again I will not be planning breaks. However-
I do agree the best time to go in the summer is at RD. We did more lunch TS meals than dinner that trip so we had a break from the heat, usually around 1:30-2. Maybe some days you could do RD or close to it, a lunch TS to cool off and then just stay till you're tired or can't take the heat? And chill at the resort/pool at night. And on some other days try your plan of going mid-afternoon. I also don't think 3/4-8:30 gives you much time You tend to move slower in the heat. And it does get more tolerable after say 9p.m. so maybe rethink staying longer. My recently turned 13 year old DS actually preferred being in the parks at night the last couple trips; maybe your 12 yo's will, too if the 6yo can handle it

 

[ArwenMarie]

I don't think it's a bad plan, I just think that the weather in August is going to make it tough.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Last week of August AK closes at 5:00. If you don't show up until 3:00 or 4:00, you won't see much!

My biggest worry is just the small amount of time you're allowing for the parks! If you're saying 3 or 4 until 8:30, including dinner, that's nowhere near enough time. Let's say you even do an in-park dinner so no travel. That's still 1.5 hours easily. Deduct that from the only 5.5 that you're allowing--if you show up at 3--and you've only got 4 hours in the park. It will be even less if you're leaving the park for dinner.

Now, the last week of August will be the least crowded of the summer and we've never had too much issue with lines, but still 4 hours isn't a whole lot of time!

And no nighttime shows at all? We don't stay until close every night, but do try to see some of the shows at least.

We usually do RD or very shortly after. It's amazing how much you can do in those first couple hours! Then we'll have our FPs scheduled for late morning/early afternoon. Take a break for lunch--somewhere COOL!! Then probably head back for a little rest. Come back out in time for dinner at one of the parks or close-by resort, and then back to the park for a few more hours. Some days we'll just stay at the park through until dinner and then call it a night after that--enjoy the pool for the evening.

 

[mrzrich]

I think the plan would be ok if op didn't want to leave the park at 830.

Your family should be well rested since you are relaxing all morning. Not sure why you feel the need to call it a night so early. The least busy time besides RD is around closing, and it's also the coolest. (In temperature and wow factor)

For example last night I walked on Splash Mountain at 10 pm. At 7 pm there was a 55 minute wait.

 

[lorli]

Don't listen to these people. Go with your plan, it will benefit those of use that like the earlier park times. Honestly though, I have to say we used to be just like you but then we tried the rope drop strategy about five or six years ago and haven't looked back. You can get a lot done first thing in the morning, I didn't believe it until I actually tried it.

 

[CookieRobot]

This is the same plan we use except we stay much later. We sleep and hit the pool while everyone is at the park then use our fast passes on air conditioned rides around dinner time along with an ADR. Nighttime at Disney is the best. Good luck with whatever you decide is best.

 

[kwdw]

After my experience last August - I think your plan to arrive at 3-4 is fine. But DON'T do this unless you plan to stay LATE (9pm-midnight or later). Your kids are old enough you can easily stay late and let them sleep late each morning.

Yes - it will still be HOT at 3, but if you have a FP+ or two early (3-5), eat dinner, have another FP right after dinner - and then plan to stay late - this works. There's more SHADE later in the day. And you have to plan indoor stuff early - like longer shows - Hall of Presidents, Car. of Progress, American Adventure - when it's still late afternoon. Save things with non-air conditioned lines for after the sun goes down.

However - if you are really only going to do 4-5 hours in a park each day (which is like no time at all) - RD to when you want to leave is also a good strategy.

The key is this - it's HOT 10am to 5pm. Don't plan your whole day in this peak heat time.

 

[Lisann]

If the parks are open late, why not just go and have dinner, then enjoy the parks in the evening when it is "cooler". I will be at the World during the last month of August, a time we never travel to WDW, but it just has to be that way this year. It will be very hot during the time that you want to go.

 

[Tomh]

Sorry, seem to have quoted the wrong thing . . will try again

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Why would you leave the parks at 830? I completely missed that part and wouldn't recommend the plan if leaving at 830. I would if you are shutting the park down.

 

[Tomh]

Trust me. Or don't. Whatever. I have used the after 2 pm approach at Ak for years. Most people arrive at RD and are done by 2. The park honestly does empty out.

Last week of August, AK actually closes at 5 every day. Notice that the title of this thread implies the OP intends to arrive at 3 or 4, not 2. No matter how much you say trust me, I can't see one or two hours in a park the size of AK in the hottest part of the day being enough to accomplish a whole lot of anything.

 

[bumbershoot]

What are you going to be doing in the morning and early afternoon? Sleeping, good, eating, good. But I bet the pool will show up at some point. And that could really exhaust the family, and make people unhappy to go out. Swimming and sunshine can sap the energy.

I agent been to orlando in august but we lived in Miami for a few years, and what everyone is saying about that time being key for thunderstorms is true.

Much better to get up earlier, hit the parks, then be done with parks around 4 and go back for swimming, resort, and relaxation time.

It's pretty rare to get consensus on the Dis but you're pretty close here, op. I'd pay attention.

 

[Shmily01]

FWIW, We go every other year around Labor Day (late Aug to early September) and on the last two trips it rained every day around 4 or 5. We conveniently had our dinners around that time so we missed most of it but we were there for a week and it happened every day.

 

[palavra]

If you use FP+ wisely, this could be a great strategy. However, I do think you are going to have to plan on staying later at most of the parks. I could see you arriving at 3:00 at DHS and going to a couple of shows and eating dinner in the hottest part of the day, and then taking advantage of well-timed FPs for Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror later in the evening. End the night with Fantasmic, and you've got a great plan!