How many of you stay from open to close?

[JennSaint]

Most days we would do rope drop with a mid afternoon break then back to the parks for dinner etc. until closing. We'll see how it goes in a few weeks as my sons haven't been in about 10 years and are now in their 20's. Not sure how they are going to like getting up that early. They can nap by the pool in the afternoon. lol

 

[Leigh L]

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....

This is pretty much us as well!

Lately, we do take a down day though. Now that the kids are older and I can take my work with me, I've been adding a couple of days onto our trips to build in some downtime rather than take away park time. On park days, we're mostly open to close.

(In December 2019, we had one day at Disney while in FL. It was Christmas Eve and MK I think opened at 6 a.m.(?) We were on the early bus and stayed until close. I want to say that was around midnight. that was probably our longest day ever! lol)

I am curious how Genie+ is going to change things though.

 

[katyringo]

The key for us is an afternoon break!

 

[luv2cheer92]

Pretty much always.

 

[KaTinkerbell]

I have 2 nightime event tickets (DVMC & Epcot FW Dinner) mid trip so I foresee a mid afternoon hop back to my resort because I automatically wake up early. Rope drop here I come.

 

[sponica]

I don't think I've done open to close since college?

We probably won't until the kiddos are a little older. Mine are monsters if they're up too late. (And since I am the one who has to deal with said monsters, I'm really not a fan of intentionally keeping them up too late)

 

[AndreaDM]

We definitely did when we were there last week, the shortened hours made it easier, esp with Epcot not opening til 11. I long for the good old days when we could be at MK until 12 or 1 with the EMH.

 

[Bama Mom]

We are rope drop to close people. There have been some exceptions (like on my hubby and my 2019 trip when he wasn't feeling well after riding ToT so we both went back to the resort for his to rest and I took advantage of the down time to do laundry). Normally we do open and close, even on our first trip when our two oldest were just 4 and 2. Our upcoming trip will be our first trip in February when I expect the shorter hours to make hubby happy since he will get a bit more down time.

 

[RamieGee]

We have in the past. People think we were crazy for going with the Deluxe Meal Plan, but it actually gave us plenty of time to sit and rest (in addition to EAT). We will be doing it differently this time with WAY less meals than we are used to and less entertainment.

 

[footballmouse]

We don't park hop so since my kids have been little, we've always gone from rope drop to close.

 

[Boopuff]

Never do rope drop, we get up, hop on a bus arrive at park, stroll around (we used to go along with our FP) plan a lunch and make ADR for dinner at a sit down. Usually when we stop for lunch we are "those people" who sip our beverage and relax. If we're at EP my DH likes to camp out at "that English place" and have a few Guiness. So we have been in the parks start to finish.

 

[PaladinButters]

Every time! But we only travel in the "winter season" (can not take the heat in Florida any other time - October for HHN was a killer) so it's a totally different game. Tried the afternoon break thing and the travel back and forth just takes way too much time out of a park day for us (and cut out park hopping for the same reason). "Break" time is now our daily table/signature meal, time spent watching shows, waiting for fireworks, etc. Plenty of "rest" built in without leaving the parks.

 

[gatorlisa]

Historically yes, rope drop at whatever park opens first to rope drop at whatever park closes last. We had a glorious time several years ago when we started at Epcot at 8 am and finished up at MK at around 2 am, back in the days when evening EMH were 3 hours after park close and the parks as a whole were open later. The only break we took was transportation between parks. My heart still wants to do rope drop to park close with no breaks, but my body is starting to resist. We still tend to open a park, but now if we want to close a park that day we might take a break. Or we might call it a day a little earlier (though rarely before dark).

 

[loves to dive]

Not only do I not stay from open to close, I'm rarely there for either. I usually get to the parks anywhere from 1/2 to hour after they open. I do go to the parks at night but usually leave before closing because I don't like the mad rush getting out. I have been at park opening but only because I happen to be up and already had my coffee and breakfast. I think I've maybe been a park close 5 times in over 37 years of going. I don't try to maximize my time, I'm lucky enough to live within a 7 hour drive and can afford to go at least once a year if not twice or three times.

 

[AussieFan8]

I don't think I've ever done rope drop to close. When my daughter was younger, we took a mid-afternoon break. Now that she's a teenager, she sleeps in and then we go to the parks and stay until they close, which I love. It's very relaxing and we love the parks at night. I understand the thinking of staying all day to get the most value from your park ticket, but I would personally not enjoy that (I would be exhausted!) and if you're not enjoying yourself, what's the point? We fit in everything that's important to us and, while we don't go every year, we know we'll be back.

 

[DSLRuser]

We ALWAYS take a break mid day.....usually between 12-5.....to swim or nap. Can remember staying an entire day. I just don't see any fun in making yourself miserable.

 

[luv2cheer92]

We ALWAYS take a break mid day.....usually between 12-5.....to swim or nap. Can remember staying an entire day. I just don't see any fun in making yourself miserable.

Well, if it makes you miserable. It never does for me, or I wouldn't do it.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Before kids, every time, rope drop to fireworks. No leaving the park for a break. We were usually one of the last to leave the parks at night. We loved it. It doesn't matter which park either. Disney, Universal, even Busch Gardens.

Disney isn't a vacation so to speak for us. No resorts. No dinner parties or anything like that. We'd go in and try to do everything a park has to offer. We would spend maybe one or two days in Orlando for parks a few times a year. So when we went, we got our monies worth. I loved being exhausted heading back to our 3 star offsite hotel.

I totally get how unappealing this is to those that go to Disney for a week long or longer vacation. I certainly wouldn't do anything like that if I was at an all inclusive for relaxation for example. But for a theme park, oh yeah.

With kids, we rope drop as we are going to be up anyways, but usually we are out of the parks by 6PM tops. My girls are both under 5. Once my girls get a bit older, if we still have any interest in Disney, we'll try the RD to fireworks again. Maybe. I might incorporate some sort of mid day break this February trips so we can see the fireworks though. I kind of miss that.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

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.

We will do open to close maybe one day on a trip if it's a quick 2/3 day trip but if we're there longer than 3 nights, we usually won't do that, especially in the summer. It's easy to be at the park all day in fair weather, not so much when it's 110 heat index. I think doing open to close everyday of a trip really depends on how you tour the park and who is in your travel party. I know people that do one attraction all day and the rest of the day eat and walk around, people watch, shop and are slow going. If that's how you tour the parks and don't have to worry about nap schedules, etc. then it's probably fairly easy to go all day. I also think some people under estimate what walking around in WDW is like vs doing zumba or their peleton. I don't care how good of shape someone is in, something on your body will hurt you at the end of a long Disney day LOL!!!

 

[Donald Duck Family]

We are only able to go every few years so try to make the most of what time we do have in the parks so are often there from open to close. However, we typically have a couple of down days spread throughout the trip to relax before hitting the parks hard again. Another reason is because the parks can have such a different feel to them throughout the day and we want to experience that. I love seeing the parks "wake up" in the morning, but evening times can be amazing too. Tomorrowland at night is my favorite. We have to do the AstroOrbiter during the day and then again at night.