Parks only at night?

[Jajone]

We have been to WDW many, many times, including in the summer. This summer we are considering spending the day at the resort and only doing parks in the evening. Does anyone have advice? Kids want to sleep in and swim during the day. I'm thinking with FPP and EMH this can be done. We have always been rope drop people so this scares me a little, but we do not need to see and do everything.

 

[Disneylover99]

As my kids get older, we do less rope drop and more late nights. It's relaxing to wake up whenever, and then spend time at the pool. Go whenever you're ready.

 

[GEM]

This is one of the thing we really love about the fastpass plus system. It makes a schedule like this possible. We've done a few days (not whole trips) like you're describing and it's been great!

 

[MrKnight]

My absolute favorite time of day to visit the parks is in the evening! I honestly cant remember the last time I was at rope drop for any park. There is something magical about enjoying the park all lit up at night, all the nighttime shows/festivities, and it also seems that the later it gets the more it feels like you have the entire park to yourself!

My main advice would be to review the park hours closely for the various parks prior to your visit to ensure that you plan each park day on the day that its open the latest, also take advantage of Evening EMH. MKP normally has the latest hours (sometimes stays open as late as 3am during the summer!!) followed by DHS and Epcot.. DAK rarely has late hours unless there is Evening EMH, this will likely change though once Rivers of Light opens later this year ..

ENJOY!!!

 

[LoverDisney]

We are also going to try this for our trip in August. It will be nice to go to the parks when it is a little cooler.

 

[englishteacha]

I love going at night. I get sunburned if I even glance at the sun, and going at night is the only time I don't have to wear SPF 60!

 

[AngiTN]

I can see this being something my gang would like. DH is horribly allergic to mornings. He gets up and does it for me at Disney but it is a struggle. He can't let go of staying up to 1, 2 AM. So doing late nights in the parks would work well for him. Me, not as much. I can't switch on and off my wake up times. I get up on the weekends or vacation about the same time I get up for work. That means I rarely see 1 or 2 AM. Maybe we'll try it that way on one of our summer trips

This is one of the thing we really love about the fastpass plus system. It makes a schedule like this possible. We've done a few days (not whole trips) like you're describing and it's been great!

I agree. It is a huge benefit to FP+. There are times I want rides at night. The outdoor coasters change a lot at night. I don't want to spend 60+ min in line for them so I book FP for them. I missed this option so much when we were in DL last summer. It was dang near impossible to plan to pull a FP for a ride and get a time for night.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Lines do get much shorter at night as guests that arrived early eventually tire out and head back to the resorts. Here's just an example of what can be accomplished on a crowd level 8 summer evening in just 4 hours (8 pm - midnight) with no FP+. Just keep in mind that posted wait times are intentionally inflated at night to discourage riders.

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train (10 min wait right a closing time)
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the parade and fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

 

[DSLRuser]

The resort choice is very important for this reason.

We tend to go to the the parks in the morning 9:00 or so, but not rope drop (normally). Stay until noon riding all our fast passes. The go back to the resort and hit the pool until 5:00 or 6:00. We return back to the same park around sundown and cherry pick things with small lines or see shows.

Each park has a distinct morning atmosphere and a night atmosphere. You need to see them both.

 

[bscott6471]

We have rode more rides on late nights than anytime! Those EMH at MK until 1am are the best!

 

[jolene63]

Late nights at MK are always our favorite part of our trips. We love the cooler temps and can ride so many rides. It's also so beautiful at night with everything lit up.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We have done this on trips during the hotter months and when it's busier so the parks are open later (pre FP+). I imagine FP+ only makes this better.

Our last few trips have been in January with shorter hours and cooler weather so we haven't taken this approach but will on our next trip when the parks are open later and the weather is warmer.

 

[Ratpack]

We are looking at doing some days this way for our trip in June. The sad thing is there is only one EP and one MK evening EMH for the week we are there, everything else is morning EMH. Maybe this will change as we get closer.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

We stayed club level at the Poly this past Labor Day. On our drive to our "longhouse", the bellman driving our golf cart suggested doing just this...

He said to swim all day and go to the parks at night.

We kept our original touring plan and I had wished that we did exactly what he suggested. The kids would have loved it and it would have been more more relaxing....and cooler!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We are looking at doing some days this way for our trip in June. The sad thing is there is only one EP and one MK evening EMH for the week we are there, everything else is morning EMH. Maybe this will change as we get closer.

We've visited in June the past two years. They only schedule evening EMH once per week at MK, DHS and Epcot. If you're lucky, MK will be open until 1 am with EMH until 3.

 

[DisDadDVC]

It's still hot at 8pm....

 

[MrKnight]

We are looking at doing some days this way for our trip in June. The sad thing is there is only one EP and one MK evening EMH for the week we are there, everything else is morning EMH. Maybe this will change as we get closer.

MKP is open until at least 10pm every day in June on non-EMH days which means that it will stay open until at least midnight (or later) on EMH days. See this link, this may be helpful:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_June.pdf

HAVE FUN!

 

[MrKnight]

It's still hot at 8pm....

Not as hot as mid-day on a summer day with thousands of people around you and the sun beaming on your heads..

 

[bc7ate9]

It's still hot at 8pm....

Hot in the dark is very different than hot under the afternoon sun.

This sounds like a great plan. Very relaxing.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

MKP is open until at least 10pm every day in June on non-EMH days which means that it will stay open until at least midnight (or later) on EMH days. See this link, this may be helpful:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_June.pdf

HAVE FUN!

These are just preliminary hours. In June, MK hours will be extended to midnight on most nights with a few nights until 1 am and a few only until 11 pm. Last year, June hours were finalized on May 11.