How many of you stay from open to close?

[acarsme123]

Just curious how many of you actually stay in the parks from open until close? I always feel like I have to choose either one or the other....whenever we've gotten to a park at rope drop, we are usually crapped out by around dinner time and are ready to enjoy a sit-down restaurant then go back to the hotel. But then I get bummed that I'm missing the parks at night, as they seem to take on a different personality at night. The only time I've been able to experience the parks at night is on one trip we decided to not get up until late morning halfway through the week, and we didn't head to Hollywood Studios until then.....there still wasn't much at HS yet as Galaxy's Edge hadn't opened, nor Slinky Dog or Mickey's ride. So it was easily just a half-day park....then we still had enough energy to go to Magic Kingdom that night for fireworks and extra magic hours. Just before Covid, we did a trip to Universal Studios, and we paid for the After Hours party at MK and AK. That was pretty cool too. One of my coworkers said they always go from rope drop until close every day on their vacation. I can't imagine how you could even do that. I feel with this new Genie+ system, you're essentially going to have to be there at open to maximize your ride potential....so I'm just worried I'll be too tired to even try to enjoy the parks at night.

Just curious what everyone else does, or what strategies people use to maximize their time. Thanks.

 

[sheilafri]

Even if we don’t sleep in, we linger over our morning coffee and arrive at the parks mid to late morning. We stay until close, usually hopping to MK for HEA. We’re on vacation and still usually walk 7-9 miles.

 

[acarsme123]

Even if we don’t sleep in, we linger over our morning coffee and arrive at the parks mid to late morning. We stay until close, usually hopping to MK for HEA. We’re on vacation and still usually walk 7-9 miles.

I'll be curious what people's experiences are with Genie+ when it rolls out for people that like to get to the parks later....will a paid Genie+ system still allocate slots to the popular rides even for late arrivals. That's my big worry, that you'll need to take early slots to have a chance at maximizing your ride potential.

 

[KristaZ]

We always used to do rope drop to close every day of our trip pretty much. Our vacations are rarely relaxing - our other trips are generally international we're up early exploring and don't return to our room until late, so rope drop to close isn't, much different. We have gotten a bit more relaxed about it if we're on a longer trip. We still do both rope drop and close pretty much every day, but will take a mid-day break back at the resort, especially if it's hot out. If we're on a shorter trip (we like to do long weekends), then we'll still do rope drop to close.

 

[DWillowBay]

At the bus stops in the dark and back to the resort in the dark. Most days, all park time. Some days, water park or Disney Springs or some other activities. We're fierce Disney warriors....

 

[trishadono]

Never have never will.

Trips from 1978- 2021.

Just too much. I can’t enjoy it I I’m pooped.

That’s why we stay on property. Early and late with mid day break.

Also we love resort exploring, pools, bars, shops, boat and skyline riding for fun.

Did I forget to say NAP? Sometimes it’s required

 

[acarsme123]

dang, I'm definitely not as hardcore as most then it seems!

 

[ChanaC]

I do, especially now when I can only get to the parks infrequently. The way I look at it, I bought an expensive ticket that lets me into the park for X amount of hours, so I'm going to get my money's worth and stay in the park X hours. If I had time to go for a long, week-long vacation then things would be different.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We're up around 6:00... no alarms, that's just when we wake up. We hit rope drop easily every day, and I'm excited for my first trip with the new 30 minute early entry at every park every day.

We usually leave the park after lunch for a nap or a swim, and back in the late afternoon for another 3 or 4 hours. We rarely stay for fireworks, and it's bed by 9:30.

Our trips are usually 8 nights and this gets us on everything once.

 

[CynBeth]

We have no kids just us adults who try to visit every few years and pretty much are in the parks from open to close. The others have food allergies so we pretty much eat all meals at TS and the time spent at lunches and dinners is when we relax and recharge.

 

[jo-jo]

In all our trips over 35 years, we probably did morning to night not more than 30-40 times. So maybe one loooong day per trip. Last 5 or 6 years, I don't think we have done a morning to night at all. Last trip, there was a day or two , DH didn't go into park at all. I went into parks with grandkids for part of day and they came back for lunch and went to other park after.

 

[lorenae]

I go often in the winter, when the park hours are shorter, so 9 to 6 is no problem at all for me(us). I’ve done 6:30 AM (when ROTR first opened) to 8 PM (closing, then fantasmic which had an issue and ending about 15 minutes in), but no way in the summer could I survive those hot humid days, mid afternoon storms, and the closing back when the hours were long.

 

[kathy884]

I have a diehard family that is almost always there from rope drop till close. Do note thought that on a six day trip that we only do a theme park every other day, so have a rest day in between each of the theme park days. We also typically travel in winter months or in the spring, so don't have the hot humid weather. You won't see us in Central Florida June - October.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We often go open to close for many days in a row. Take a break doing a sitdown once a day but other than that we can often be found at the parks.

Our motto is, 'We'll sleep when we're home. Let's go!!'

 

[mom2rtk]

We have on many occasions. We've even stayed from rope drop through the end of a hard ticket after hours party. Not something I'd do many days in a row. But we love our park time, and don't get there often enough. So I'm sure we'll do it again.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

We've only done open-to-close during off-season when the opening hours are shorter. We hadn't realized how much of a difference that made until we went once during spring and couldn't figure out why we were so exhausted! "Oh, right...normally we're at MK from 9-7, that's 10 hours. We've been here for 13 hours..." For us, it depends on the day, how long our stay is, and what else is going on. We tend to go early, wander back to the hotel for awhile in the afternoon, and then go back to the park at night. It's seriously a personal preference thing, though - if your traveling party is up for all-day parkstravaganza, then do it!

 

[canyoncam]

I have done all. Rope drop to kiss goodnight, rope drop to mid day, mid day to kiss goodnight, mid morning to mid afternoon, mid afternoon to early evening. Jut depends on length of stay, time of year, who I’m visiting with, what my plans are. The most I’ve done open to close is a 5 day ticket with a water park and a rest day thrown in between the days. Can’t imagine doing more than 2 in a row. I try to break it up so there is not an early morning following a late night more than once on my trips, if even.

 

[MickMick]

I rarely rope drop. But I’m a single rider. My family likes shows, snacks and shopping. We do onnimover rides for nostalgia’s sake.

we leave to have dinner and pool time.

 

[_19disnA]

We never stay from open to close. WAY too much walking required for us to do that. Usually head back to hotel to relax by the pool during the day. Some evenings we may return after dinner.

 

[Lsyves]

We started taking breaks around or after lunch time so our small kids could get a nap or some down time so they could make it to dinner Now we still follow that pattern with teens because they want to swim or lay around the pool, and we have come to enjoy that rhythm!