Later in Day / Evening park visits?

[BradyBrenMom]

I have always been a there for rope drop, follow the touring plan sort of person, but this summer, for an adults only visit, I'm wondering if some afternoon / evening visits might be worth a try so we can sleep in and enjoy the park lit up for the evening. Give me your honest feedback--will I regret doing this? Would it work better at some parks than others? When we arrive at rope drop, we tend to head back to the resort for a break in the early afternoon, and I thought if we arrived later, we could skip the back and forth of doing this.

 

[sponica]

I feel like it depends on whether you buy Genie + or not. Like if you're going to buy Genie+. you'd be able to schedule and modify and stack for the afternoon/evening.

 

[beccasmom]

In the summer we prefer late afternoon/evening visits because we think it is a bit cooler (although still humid, you’re out of the sun at least). We don’t have expectations regarding what we will do, preferring to be spontaneous most of the time. So I guess it would depend on your “bucket list” plans for attractions. We go to either the MK or Epcot. Going back and forth to the parks takes too much time (even if you are on-site) and is tiring (although we have done our share of it over the years with littles in tow! ). So we either visit early or later, not both. I’m sure it has something to do with our energy levels not being what they used to be!

 

[NYCgrrl]

During an adults only December trip , one night, I convinced the man to try some of the roller coasters of Frontierland and he loved them. Not so much during the day which in his eyes had too many people and noise.

It was definitely less crowded as we didn’t use any FPs and Genie hadn’t been introduced yet.
One of my best WDW memories.

 

[scrappinginontario]

While we have done afternoon/evening visits when we have Genie+ and stack rides, being that you're going in summer I would guess the majority of days you'd be happier with early AM, break if needed then back for evening.

Not sure if you have been to Disney in the summer but it's HOT and humid. Also, it's very common for storms to roll in in the afternoon so sometimes the break helps to avoid some of the wet weather as storms are often brief.

 

[BradyBrenMom]

While we have done afternoon/evening visits when we have Genie+ and stack rides, being that you're going in summer I would guess the majority of days you'd be happier with early AM, break if needed then back for evening.

Not sure if you have been to Disney in the summer but it's HOT and humid. Also, it's very common for storms to roll in in the afternoon so sometimes the break helps to avoid some of the wet weather as storms are often brief.

That's a good point--I forgot about those summer afternoon pop up storms.

 

[pens4821]

We find we are able to get more done the first couple hours of rope drop than the last couple hours before closing. One nice thing is in MK during the fireworks you can usually get on rides quite quickly. But then right after they end (if you’re going at a time when the park is still open for a hour or two) things get crazy again until right before closing.

While the waits arent what they are posted at the end of the night, we’ve never had great luck like alot of people I read do. Some people say rides will be listed and hour plus in the last hour/half hour and they can walk on and reride before closing. We never wait the full posted wait time but they aren’t ever just a couple minutes for us either. We also go busier times (MLK week or spring break) so that could be why.

 

[Jhp8]

Nights in the park are my favorite memory/part of the trip. Getting to the park about 10, taking a break from 2 to 6 and closing out the park is perfect for my family.

 

[loves to dive]

It really depends on what you want to get done. Are you wanting to ride as many rides as you can or just ride a few rides and enjoy the parks? The good thing about the summer is the parks stay open later so you really can max. those late afternoon/evening hours. I tend to do the best of both worlds. I don't rope drop (unless I just so happened to have been up and dressed any way) but arrive usually maybe a half hour or so after regular park opening. I might do a few rides, grab something to eat and sit and watch the people and leave around noon or so and go back to my resort. Then I leave again for a park around 3 or 4 and ride a few rides. I rarely stay to park close because I just don't want to deal with the crowds, except for Epcot and HS because I tend to stay at the Epcot resorts and can just walk back to my room. This works for me because: I don't need to ride all the rides. I always either have PHs or an AP and I go to a different park at night then I did in the morning. I'm older and have been a lot so I don't need to get everything done.

Even when I want to ride a lot of rides the above works. I ride what rides I can get in during the late afternoon/evening hours then go to the same park the next morning and knock out the rides I want to ride that I didn't get the night before. If I'm there for longer than 4 park days, I can hop back and forth between multiple parks, going where it's not as crowded. I never buy Genie+ and always ride everything I want to (note I said everything I want to because I don't always want to ride some of the "must do" rides) For me, if it were an adult only trip I'd concentrate on Epcot and HS with maybe a little time in the other two parks and avoiding Epcot in the later evening hours (or at least WS).