Open the park or close it?

[debdebdebby13]

Can you get as much done at the end of the day as you can if you rope drop?

In previous trips we've tried to rope drop and we make it the first couple of days but then we get tired and can't manage it. Now we have a 7 year old and he won't be able to do both if the hours are extended in 3 weeks when we go. Kiddo needs his sleep! We may be able to rope drop and close the park the first day, but beyond that we are going to have a major grump on our hands if we try to do both.

We wouldn't be starting our day that late if we didn't rope drop. Said 7 year old is generally still an early riser. If we don't get up at 6-6:30a on purpose he will wake up by 7:30 on his own, if not earlier.

Sorry, this is a stream of consciousness thread. But yes, the original question...if we don't rope drop, to allow kiddo to get enough sleep, will we be able to make up for it at closing?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Can you get as much done at the end of the day as you can if you rope drop?

In previous trips we've tried to rope drop and we make it the first couple of days but then we get tired and can't manage it. Now we have a 7 year old and he won't be able to do both if the hours are extended in 3 weeks when we go. Kiddo needs his sleep! We may be able to rope drop and close the park the first day, but beyond that we are going to have a major grump on our hands if we try to do both.

We wouldn't be starting our day that late if we didn't rope drop. Said 7 year old is generally still an early riser. If we don't get up at 6-6:30a on purpose he will wake up by 7:30 on his own, if not earlier.

Sorry, this is a stream of consciousness thread. But yes, the original question...if we don't rope drop, to allow kiddo to get enough sleep, will we be able to make up for it at closing?

If he's an early riser, I'm guessing he has an early bedtime as well, therefore it's probably better to rope drop than close out the park. Not a good idea to adjust bedtime only for vacation.
I'd still be sure to take an afternoon break back at the hotel to get some rest.
However, to look at your original question, at 6pm on a Saturday night, very few rides have more than a 30 minute wait across all 4 parks. With 2 or more hours left til closing at all parks, I'd imagine you could do a lot with those short wait times.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We tend to rope drop towards the beginning of our trip then kinda flip mid-way to staying late when getting up too early is a challenge.

Another option if it works for you is to do both if you're able to fit in some quiet/down time in the afternoon.

 

[debdebdebby13]

If he's an early riser, I'm guessing he has an early bedtime as well, therefore it's probably better to rope drop than close out the park. Not a good idea to adjust bedtime only for vacation.
I'd still be sure to take an afternoon break back at the hotel to get some rest.
However, to look at your original question, at 6pm on a Saturday night, very few rides have more than a 30 minute wait across all 4 parks. With 2 or more hours left til closing at all parks, I'd imagine you could do a lot with those short wait times.

He does typically have an early bedtime at home, but there is no way he'd rest if we came back mid-afternoon. He'd exhaust himself more because he'd insist on going to the pool. A mid-afternoon break isn't really an option. We did that when our now 14 year old was 2 and felt like it wasted so much time between waiting on buses, riding buses, walking back to our room etc.

Basically if we have 12 park hours, we'd either do 7-7 or 9-9, but not 7-9 with a break. That would result in less sleep no matter what.

 

[GBRforWDW]

He does typically have an early bedtime at home, but there is no way he'd rest if we came back mid-afternoon. He'd exhaust himself more because he'd insist on going to the pool. A mid-afternoon break isn't really an option. We did that when our now 14 year old was 2 and felt like it wasted so much time between waiting on buses, riding buses, walking back to our room etc.

Basically if we have 10 park hours, we'd either do 7-7 or 9-9, but not 7-9 with a break. That would result in less sleep no matter what.

I hear ya. I think my wife got more rest out of afternoon breaks than either me or our 6 yo though we only really left one park in the afternoon in January but wished we hadn't stayed in epcot as long as we did without a break. But 11am-8pm is hard to split up.

If it were me, I'd rope drop and keep his current sleep schedule.

 

[Skippyboo]

Do you have park hoppers? I think you can get a lot done rope dropping MK especially knocking out 7DMT. I like popping over to HS at the end of day. It’s hard to totally plan when your park hours may change as your trip approaches.

 

[debdebdebby13]

Do you have park hoppers? I think you can get a lot done rope dropping MK especially knocking out 7DMT. I like popping over to HS at the end of day. It’s hard to totally plan when your park hours may change as your trip approaches.

No, no hoppers

 

[MarkS2112]

Depends what park and when they open and close. Pre COVID HS was opening super early and you had to do that for RotR. Now with all the staggered park times you have to plan based on the varied times each opens and closes.

 

[bakerworld]

Our daughter introduced us to visiting the parks 30 minutes before close. I'm not saying always but many times we've been able to as much at the days end. The MK fantasyland into frontierland is doable because the the rides are so close together.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I feel like we get more done in the last hour of park opening than the first. We rarely rope drop, but did in August because of the shortened hours. But we ‘ve closed the parks for years. The park fills up faster than it empties out. Without the fireworks and shows, attendance trickles out during the day and by the end of the night many things are walk on. We always try to do fantasyland and Tomorrowland the last hour or two of the day. The rides are close enough together to get off one, and back on another within a few minutes. And if you are in line at close, you still get to ride which is great for rides that the lines never really get low like seven dwarfs, flight of passage, ect. We pick one to get into 5 minutes before close.

 

[lvdis]

I like closing out the parks personally. Then you can go when everyone is up and ready to go. It can sometimes be too frantic in the morning when you are trying to be there ahead of rope drop.

Another consideration; are you coming from a different time zone? That can make it either easier or harder to get up early.

 

[Hadley's Mom]

With 2 teenagers, we have switched to closing down the parks, everyone is happier! We have not had any issues with not being able to ride everything we wanted. We head down in May for our first post-Covid trip but lines look like they diminish towards the end of the night, especially with people not hanging around for fireworks.

 

[NashvilleMama]

At that age, definitely park open....my kids were just puddles at the end of the day when we'd close the parks, no matter what time we started. I think the anticipation of being able to go back to the resort, eat dinner or go to the pool, keeps them going versus knowing they have to go to bed the second we get back to the room. We're slowly switching to park closing now that they're in their tweens and they actually will sleep in a bit in the mornings!

 

[cc-atl]

I think you typically can get a little more down at rope drop than park close, but it is close enough that you can make either strategy work so it just depends on your preference.

For what it is worth, when my kids were about that age the taking a break at the resort and then heading back to the park started to work pretty well. We did not force them to take a nap (which was never going to happen) but found that just getting them away from all the excitement and heat for part of the day was key to them being able to enjoy a longer period of time in total in the parks. A nice cool down in the pool followed by a movie or something in the air conditioned room (while their mom napped) really helped refresh them.

 

[Tawney]

We are definitely not rope drop people, and typically we don't enter a park until 11AM or later. ...even with children. It's vacation and we like to stay up late on vacation. Disney parks are much more magical to me at park close than at rope drop! ...plus my mood is a little more magical at night, too!

 

[Meriweather]

I'm a morning person, so have always opened the parks and have continued to do that.

 

[BrianL]

In my experience being there at open is much more beneficial than at closing unless it is one of those really late nights (that they don't have currently). The first hour of park operation is the best for short lines!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

If you're a pool time family, entering the pool area when it opens means less people and more room to swim and play. We did a pool morning on our Epcot day. We planned on entering Epcot after lunch and stay as long as the little one's legs ( and disposition) would make it. It worked out great!
It was a nice change to relax all morning!