Late Night Tips

[Albytaps]

Everything is better at night. The only downside is the food choices. However, Gaston's seems to be open late in case anyone has a craving for a pork shank.

I can't wait for Pandora so AK can stay open late.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

What about after wishes on a crowded day how will lines be ? I hate to miss wishes !

Families stream out of the park en masse after Wishes. On MK nights, our plan is this:

1. Ride during Elec Parade #1. Lines are short, especially in Fantasyland. You should be able to hit every attraction, including Peter Pan, during the 9 to 10 pm hour.
2. Watch Wishes. I like the walkway between Tomorrowland and the Fantasyland train station.
3. Watch Elec Parade #2. Crowds are very light in the Frontierland area. Our favorite viewing area is in front of Country Bear Hall. You can usually get a spot at the rope about 10 mins before the parade arrives. If you're running late, wait near a cross walk area. They will eventually rope off the crosswalk and you can grab that spot.
4. Multiple re-rides after the parade. I prefer to sit on a bench near Saywer's Island and let the kids run back and forth between Splash and Big Thunder over and over and over again.

 

[Michblue]

I have been to Disney many times and have never made it to even one rope drop. We are late risers and night owls. I love the food courts at a 10:30 breakfast, no crowds. Sometimes we don't get to parks till noon, but we will stay until close. Our next trip will be with family. They want to do a more 9-5 type of touring. It will be interesting to see how that works for my family. I know my kids want at least a couple late nights at the parks.

In March I notices the hot dog place on Main Street, near Crystal Palace, was open at midnight and packed. Also the turkey leg stand in Adventure land was open at 10:30/11:00. The ice cream stand next to Pooh was open at midnight too.

 

[DisDreamsAshley]

We love to go to the Magic Kingdom in particular late at night. Something we just learned after 7 trips this last one, was that everything on Main Street stays open. Why is this important? Well as someone said you get hungry if you eat early! So we headed up to Casey's at midnight for a snack. It was perfect.

 

[Kate and Family]

Any tips for late night with kids (5 and 9 yr old). They like the night, (school sort of nixes the night owl thing) - and I think they would enjoy it.

 

[BandontheRun]

Any tips for late night with kids (5 and 9 yr old). They like the night, (school sort of nixes the night owl thing) - and I think they would enjoy it.

Hotel pools are great at night for kids at 5 and 9. Gets their energy out and when it gets too late, it's a short walk to get to bed vs being in the parks.
If you want to be in the parks, an afternoon nap will be key.

 

[pinkvol7]

Does anyone know how late Starbucks is open? We will be there June 1st (really the 2nd) for evening EMH from 1 - 3am! Super excited about it, but might need some caffeine to keep me going!

We will be there then, too!! My 12 year old really wants to stay until 3. I may send DH and DD(7) back to the room around 1 and stay with DS until 3. I made FP+ for 1:30 the next day so we can sleep in.

 

[brielise]

If you are an early eater like we are, make sure you plan accordingly for a late night MK EMH. Last October we struggled to find anything open and by midnight we were starving! We ended up eating fries at Cosmic Rays because they were done serving everything else and nothing else was open, not even a popcorn cart.

I know - hungry at Disney, especially on FD?! Yes, sadly we were. I think it was because we'd eaten so much during the trip up to that point we were used to eating every so many hours/our tummies were stretched. LOL

This was something we didn't think about until it was too late.

I've had this issue, but worse yet was the no coffee! I hit empty around 9:20, which was 20 minutes too late for most places in MK apparently!

 

[Delirium]

If you are an early eater like we are, make sure you plan accordingly for a late night MK EMH. Last October we struggled to find anything open and by midnight we were starving! We ended up eating fries at Cosmic Rays because they were done serving everything else and nothing else was open, not even a popcorn cart.

I know - hungry at Disney, especially on FD?! Yes, sadly we were. I think it was because we'd eaten so much during the trip up to that point we were used to eating every so many hours/our tummies were stretched. LOL

This was something we didn't think about until it was too late.

Casey's Corner almost always shuts down the park. Not necessarily the best food, but food nonetheless.

 

[tigertirz]

Late night in the park was awesome! First trip to Disney was a few weeks ago and I had grand plans to do rope drop. Never happened. It was just myself and my husband. We did water park during the day then took advantage of EMH in MK and HS. Little to no wait. Wishes from Splash Mountain was great too!

 

[shyjade]

Casey's Corner almost always shuts down the park. Not necessarily the best food, but food nonetheless.

Good to know! Even during the PM EMH? We asked some CM's where to find food but nobody mentioned Casey's. Of course, we never checked on Main Street for food. Will definitely keep that in mind in October.

 

[maryj11]

Families stream out of the park en masse after Wishes. On MK nights, our plan is this:

1. Ride during Elec Parade #1. Lines are short, especially in Fantasyland. You should be able to hit every attraction, including Peter Pan, during the 9 to 10 pm hour.
2. Watch Wishes. I like the walkway between Tomorrowland and the Fantasyland train station.
3. Watch Elec Parade #2. Crowds are very light in the Frontierland area. Our favorite viewing area is in front of Country Bear Hall. You can usually get a spot at the rope about 10 mins before the parade arrives. If you're running late, wait near a cross walk area. They will eventually rope off the crosswalk and you can grab that spot.
4. Multiple re-rides after the parade. I prefer to sit on a bench near Saywer's Island and let the kids run back and forth between Splash and Big Thunder over and over and over again.

Can you see the Celebrate the Magic from the walkway between tomorrowland and Fantasyland ? What time of year do you go ? We will be there on opening day of SDMT. I plan on trying this but afraid the SDMT will mess it up with crowds lol.

 

[FINFAN]

I love not having to use sunscreen! The lights of Tomorrowland? the best.
No offense to the folks with little ones, but far less buggy/strollers biting at my ankles
and my personal favorite experience in late nights (so far)?
The CM'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will interact so much more since crowds are down, we have so much fun with them

 

[sandgrace]

This is a great thread! As a rope dropper you guys are making me want to try the late nights at least a couple times during our upcoming trip in 4 days!

 

[MmmSuite]

Thanks for this thread. I think we are going to attempt to park hop out first day there. I hope we can do it after the drive.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Can you see the Celebrate the Magic from the walkway between tomorrowland and Fantasyland ? What time of year do you go ? We will be there on opening day of SDMT. I plan on trying this but afraid the SDMT will mess it up with crowds lol.

You can't see the front of the castle from that vantage point. You do have full view of the fireworks. Still, I prefer the fact that literally no one is over there.

We generally go in June. We'll be there on the 1st trying to last until 3 am.

 

[mom2travel]

We love late nights!!!! Can't wait until our next trip in July

 

[buckeev]

Carry a snack or three with you if closing down the super late night parks. As several folks have mentioned, most food venues are shut down way before they start kicking you out of the park, and the few that might be "open" may have very limited offerings-and very long lines to get those cold, $4 fries!

This is especially important to those of us with super picky eaters in the family unit!

This one should be obvious to all of us...but....
When closing down a park at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00...Be prepared to "sleep-in" a bit the next morning, if possible. If we don't plan a late day or two, we're usually setting ourselves up for major meltdowns. (And that's just my meltdowns!)

 

[dprincessmom]

Hotel pools are great at night for kids at 5 and 9. Gets their energy out and when it gets too late, it's a short walk to get to bed vs being in the parks.
If you want to be in the parks, an afternoon nap will be key.

Second the afternoon "rest." We are not nappers at our house, BUT the rule is to do late nights you must "rest" (read that as nap, but rest goes over better with the I am not a baby crowd).

We hit rope drop, back to hotel for swim and then rest. Back to parks 6 or so until close. Nothing better than closing down the park with your child. They think that you are the coolest ever and you get great time in the parks without crowds and heat.

 

[leebee]

Does anyone know how late Starbucks is open? We will be there June 1st (really the 2nd) for evening EMH from 1 - 3am! Super excited about it, but might need some caffeine to keep me going!

We will be there then, too!! My 12 year old really wants to stay until 3. I may send DH and DD(7) back to the room around 1 and stay with DS until 3. I made FP+ for 1:30 the next day so we can sleep in.

We always do late night at Disney, whenever possible! We usually have a sleep in morning or lazy pool morning, a solid lunch, and hit the parks around 1pm. Although it's challenging to find things to "ride" at that time in the afternoon, and in summer it's blisteringly hot, we are always busy. This is often the best time to hit the a/c shows like HOP, Philharmagic, COP, etc. I think with FP+, it'll be even better (did I SAY that???) because you can make reservations for rides that'd normally be swamped during that time! Anyhow, there is nothing as cool as being in MK at 1 or 2AM! DD and I were the ONLY ones walking through FrontierLand at 2:30AM, headed from HM to Splash- it was like having our very own private theme park!! One "funny" side to late night touring; we left MK at 3:20am-ish and took the bus back to POP, only to pass the sad, tired folks dragging their suitcases, headed to DME/MCO for their early morning flights. It seemed weird to be pumped up from a "day" at MK, headed for bed, only to see all these early risers dragging out of POP, headed for the airport!

ANYHOW… late night touring. If you are fireworks maniacs, forego watching Wishes from in front of the castle and watch from FantasyLand. You miss the story and projections, but it's AMAZING to have the fireworks going off all around you- literally overhead! It's very noisy, and a tad scary, but it's like being right in the middle of the fireworks!

We will next be at Disney in October, so there's only one "late" night at MK, and it's only until midnight. Kind of a bummer… we LIKE having our very own private theme park at 2AM!