Son likes to sleep, how to do all we want without rope-drop?

[uccats97]

If I schedule the 3 FP+, aren't they tiered, therefore making it impossible to get a FP for all the rides we want?

Yes but that's what's great about evening extra magic hours. No FP+ is in use during that time which means lines for popular rides move much faster than during regular hours. You'll just need to prioritize your must do rides and select FP+ for some and do the rest in standby. Keep in mind you can enter a line up to the minute prior to park close. You can also use single riders line at Test Track, Expedition Everest and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

 

[alex9179]

I'm not the most morning of people, haha. I should clarify I don't intend to let him sleep all day, but probably until 10 or so.

It's there anyone who could give advice that has toured this way before? I know there have been many debates on the merits of sleeping in and getting up early, is love to hear from folks who are able to get everything in without getting up very early. Thanks!

You won't. It's impossible to get everything in, even while commando touring. People are able to get their must-dos done, though. You pick 3-4 things at each park and prioritize your FP for them. Anything else is gravy.

I would try to get 1-2 morning EMHs done, just for the benefit of less heat and more rides. AK, in particular, may need to be planned this way. Pandora will have crazy waits this summer, those people will likely try to knock out the rest of the park, and it's a "hot" park even during more temperate weather.

For the rest, sleep in then get a nice meal. Swim in the afternoon when it's really unpleasant, go out in the evening with your FP planned, and hop to a park that stays open really late. Remember that late morning is when the crowds start to swell and late afternoon (3-4pm) is when the heat/humidity peaks and storms pop up. These things are going to slow you down.

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

Well I am right there with you. We have now evolved into a mostly non-rope drop family when my son hit 15 too. We have started going around 10 am. We still are a little earlier than a lot of other people. I would definitely avoid the parks that have morning EMH. If you just have your fast passes and an idea of what you want to do, we have had very successful summer trips. You do have to change your touring style a little and know that you may not get everything you want done but now he is 15 and there are some things that we don't need to do so much. We go almost every summer so it can work!!! Just enjoy. Also you may be surprised, when my son has something he wants to do, he can get up!

 

[DisneyOma]

One adult, one older kid - easy! Go early to do some stuff without him, stay in touch with cell phones. Give him the meeting place for the first FP+ time.

 

[aprincessatlast]

I would just resort to the fact that we will not get everything done or should I say multiple times. I would use WDW as a resort that it is intended to be. I would sleep in have a nice late breakfast then head to the pool. Then around 3 I would head to the parks and stay till closing. We did our first summer trip last year and we did not make rope drop every day and had a wonderful time. We of course do not have the attitude to see it all so that helps. After a week though we did see almost all just not multiple times minus a few favorites.

That summer heat is brutal and the crowds are the worst between 10-2 so there is no way I would rush him out the door for that. Relax at resort until 3! Schedule your fastpasse and hit the emh parks. You will have a wonderful relaxing trip! I was surprised how much we loved a summer trip. Happy travels!

 

[sharonabe]

Great advice, thank you! Getting to the parks around 10 or so, coming back around dinner, heading out until closing is exactly what I imagined. We have park hoppers, and I was thinking we could schedule our FP+ for the evening park. Will we still be able to get FP's at the park we hit in the late morning? Are the only FP's available to us the ones we schedule ahead of time?

You definitely need to go read the FP+ thread. If you schedule your FP+ for the evening, you don't get any during the day. Your FP+ need to be used before you can get any more. The "regular FP" you referenced in your OP are no longer there.

Also for the time you are going, there won't be that many late EMH nights. If you're hitting the parks around 10 or so, I'm not sure I would plan a break back at the resort. Perhaps plan an early dinner at your first park or the one you're headed to so you get out of the heat and get a break that way. The parks will close around 9, and even the EMH you have will only go til 11 or MAYBE 12.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You're biggest obstacle in August will be the heat. If you can deal with that, you will have absolutely no problems getting to the parks later. We never do rope drop and I typically start our FP+ around 10 am and then do back-to-back FP+ so we can start looking for our 4th FP around 12:30 - 1 pm. I think in your case, in terms of strategizing, I would definitely look at the park hours and plan on being at the park that is open the latest each evening, but make your FP+ for whatever park you will visit earlier in the day. Also keep in mind, there are single rider lines at Expedition Everest, Test Track and Rock n Roller Coaster, so, if you are willing to do single rider, you won't need FP+ for those rides, which will help with FP+ tiers a bit. So, in EP, for example, I would FP+ Soarin' (if you have no interest in the Frozen ride), do single rider for Test Track and then pick two more FP+ based on your interest (maybe Spaceship Earth and Mission Space). In DHS, do single rider for RnRC and FP+ Toy Story, Tower of Terror and Star Tours (or others based on interest). In AK, there may be a possibility of tiers when Pandora opens, but know one knows what is happening yet. Still, doing EE as single riders would definitely open up another FP+ for you there.

 

[Hikergirl]

We have never been to RD, we have always arrived at the parks late morning and just stay late. That is what works for us, I have a family of sleepers (except me).
If you don't want to miss it though, I would just tell him that on some days he'll have to get up early. Maybe on those days come back to the resort so he can have some hang-out time then go back later.

 

[Tomh]

I typically do Rope Drop, just because I love to ride ride ride in the morning, then take it easy in the afternoon when it is hot (we visit in August) BUT .. . . with the advent of FP+, it is possible to plan most of the big rides ahead of time.

The only situation where you might run into some issues is in the tiered parks, if you are only spending one day. For instance, Epcot, Soarin', Test Track, and Frozen Ever After all are in tier 1. You can only choose one of them for FP+ per day. If you only have one day in Epcot, AND you want to do all 3 of these attractions, AND you don't get up until 10, and thereby don't make it to the park until 11:30 or so, you are going to be standing in some long lines. In this situation, I would FP+ Frozen Ever After, use single rider for Test Track, and standby Soarin' but there is going to be a line for it.

I expect that the same kind of situation will exist in AK. I think when Pandora opens we will see tiering there, with the new Pandora attractions, and probably Expedition Everest all in tier 1. Likewise, Hollywood Studios you have Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster, and Toy Story all in tier 1. Again, you could do single rider for Rock n Roller Coaster, and FP+ Toy Story, but Tower is going to be standby, and arriving at the park 11:00 or later, you are likely going to be standing in a substantial line for at least one of those attractions.

If you have multiple days in the parks, then you can just plan one tier 1 attraction FP+ for each day, and arriving late won't be a problem at all.

 

[MammaMoe48]

If you're both ok with not doing everything in each park then go ahead and sleep until 8 or 9 to be at the park by 10 or 11. While it will be very hot, you may wind up missing the worst of the crowds because they'll all be heading back to their hotels for that afternoon nap (after being in the parks since RD). We did that and we had no problems with getting on rides. We stayed hydrated by taking advantage of the free ice water and taking advantage of the many indoor, air conditioned rides available. At 15 he can deal with the heat and humidity. Try it for the first day, you may like how it works out, if he doesn't like it then he'll have to get up early for the rest of your park days.

 

[dreiwhit]

My son and I are early risers, while my wife and daughter would sleep 'till noon if they could. When we go to Disney, everyone understands in advance that we will have to get up early (even earlier since we live in the Central Time zone) to get to the park before RD. My wife and daughter accept it because they realize that we can get a lot done if we go at RD. We also lay out clothes, shoes, backpacks, etc., the night before and they take their showers before they go to bed.

I would talk with your son in advance and let him know he will have to get up early. Stress that it is just for that vacation. If he's excited, and wants to do Disney, he'll agree to it.

On the fun side, one of our favorite videos is from the morning of my kids first day at Disney. My daughter is eating breakfast, half asleep, and really wants to be left alone. Her sleepiness disappeared the moment we pulled into Epcot!

 

[Minsc]

My son and I are early risers, while my wife and daughter would sleep 'till noon if they could. When we go to Disney, everyone understands in advance that we will have to get up early (even earlier since we live in the Central Time zone) to get to the park before RD. My wife and daughter accept it because they realize that we can get a lot done if we go at RD. We also lay out clothes, shoes, backpacks, etc., the night before and they take their showers before they go to bed.

This is us, pretty much. Two of the six of us would sleep until the next day, then start again. I let them do it their way on one day of a trip before, and they didn't like it so much. So now we all have an understanding that at Disney, we burn the candle at both ends. They miss their sleeping in, but that is what beach trips are for!

 

[alex9179]

I have to point out, letting him sleep until 10 will mean being at the park at around 12. This doesn't include security/bag check or a meal with enough fuel to get you through your rides. Both stand-by and FP lines will probably have decent waits because Disney reduces ride capacity, for a variety of reasons. Not to mention rides that malfunction and send wait times spiraling. You won't get a lot done, but that's ok if you're good with it.

 

[Klayfish]

I have to point out, letting him sleep until 10 will mean being at the park at around 12. This doesn't include security/bag check or a meal with enough fuel to get you through your rides. Both stand-by and FP lines will probably have decent waits because Disney reduces ride capacity, for a variety of reasons. Not to mention rides that malfunction and send wait times spiraling. You won't get a lot done, but that's ok if you're good with it.

This is so not true, unless you take a 90 minute shower. We stay off property, so we have to factor in a 15 minute drive. If we get up at 7:45am, we're in the parks by 9:30am, without rushing. This includes: having breakfast, packing lunch, driving, parking, tram, bag check. If we rush, we can be in by 9:00am (though we rarely do).

It's also not true you won't get a lot done...though I guess that depends on your definition of "a lot". We get plenty done. We always have our 3 FP+ booked, and will do rides that traditionally have smaller lines anyway. Unless it's a rare exception of a day, it's not like 6 rides all malfunction at once, for extended periods. The FP+ lines normally don't have long waits at any time of day. Sure, standby lines get longer than they do in the first hour, but then they drop at the end of the day. We can easily get 7 rides in before lunch (I'm guessing, we don't keep a specific tally).

Just don't want OP to get the impression that you "won't" get a lot done simply because she doesn't rope drop. That's completely and absolutely false.

 

[ErinsMommy]

We are not rope drop people either - we eat a slow and casual breakfast around 9:30-10:00, then head to whatever park we're going to and that's where we typically stay for the balance of the day until park closing. We book our first FP for around 12:30 and once they're used up we try and pull a 4th and if none we just wait on standby. It's always worked out great for us and we enjoy vacation that much more because we're not in such a rush in the morning.

 

[alex9179]

This is so not true, unless you take a 90 minute shower. We stay off property, so we have to factor in a 15 minute drive. If we get up at 7:45am, we're in the parks by 9:30am, without rushing. This includes: having breakfast, packing lunch, driving, parking, tram, bag check. If we rush, we can be in by 9:00am (though we rarely do).

It's also not true you won't get a lot done...though I guess that depends on your definition of "a lot". We get plenty done. We always have our 3 FP+ booked, and will do rides that traditionally have smaller lines anyway. Unless it's a rare exception of a day, it's not like 6 rides all malfunction at once, for extended periods. The FP+ lines normally don't have long waits at any time of day. Sure, standby lines get longer than they do in the first hour, but then they drop at the end of the day. We can easily get 7 rides in before lunch (I'm guessing, we don't keep a specific tally).

Just don't want OP to get the impression that you "won't" get a lot done simply because she doesn't rope drop. That's completely and absolutely false.

Her definition of a lot seems to be "everything". I'm working from her post, not from anyone else's perspective. They won't get everything done if they leave the room at 11am. I don't personally know a teenager that moves quickly. That would be awesome, though! Bus to park 20-30 minutes, go through security, grab food...yeah it will take a while. Best to anticipate longer times than be frustrated, but I'm a plan for the worst/hope for the best kind of person.

At the end of August she's looking at park closings at around 8-9pm, MK 10pm or 11pm with emh. And, reading easywdw, ride capacity has been reduced pretty regularly. This increases both FP and standby waits. I would anticipate having to deal with this at the end of August.

 

[Klayfish]

What you highlighted is exactly my point. It depends on what you consider to be "a lot". Your post was clear in trying to tell the OP they wouldn't get "a lot" done, and even went to say that's it's OK to not get "a lot" done if you're good with it. Maybe I misread it, but I read that as trying to warn OP that not doing rope drop is a bad idea because she won't get to do much. I completely and totally disagree with that. As I said, I'd guess we get a solid 6-7 rides in before lunch, with a 9:30am park start time. For us, that's a lot. If that's not your definition of "a lot", I respect that. But I don't want her thinking it's a lost cause if you don't make it at rope drop.

 

[china mom]

My son, 14, doesn't want to get up early so we just have him meet us at the park. DD (12) did that one day last trip as well but we had to meet her out front since she can't enter the turnstiles alone until next year. But none of that answers your question...

One trip, it was just the kids and I and we dubbed the trip "Disney after Dark. We would get up when we wanted, eat breakfast, relax by the pool and make it an effort NOT to go to the parks before 4M. We made our fast pass choices accordingly. Although it is not my preferred touring style, it worked out very well for us. Especially when there were evening EMH. All of the good parents, took tier tired children home and we have very low crowds. The only issue was food. A lot of food options shut down earlier than we had expected and we ended up hunting for food (not actual hunting )

My BIL and his family of three hate getting up and they always do Disney after Dark and love it.

 

[alex9179]

What you highlighted is exactly my point. It depends on what you consider to be "a lot". Your post was clear in trying to tell the OP they wouldn't get "a lot" done, and even went to say that's it's OK to not get "a lot" done if you're good with it. Maybe I misread it, but I read that as trying to warn OP that not doing rope drop is a bad idea because she won't get to do much. I completely and totally disagree with that. As I said, I'd guess we get a solid 6-7 rides in before lunch, with a 9:30am park start time. For us, that's a lot. If that's not your definition of "a lot", I respect that. But I don't want her thinking it's a lost cause if you don't make it at rope drop.

I had to edit, my response didn't make into the post where I quoted you.

 

[kj2mom]

No matter what your touring plan is it is next to impossible to do everything. Just a fact that we accept and plan for. When I took my children for their 5th bday I was all about letting them sleep until they naturally woke up because I really wanted to focus on the night time entertainment (which wasn't too late since it was October). I brought clothes pins to clip the curtain closed and made the room absolutely as pitch black as I could so they would sleep as long as they needed. Sometimes this meant until lunchtime (especially after we closed down MNSSHP) and I was perfectly okay with that. Well rested children meant happy children which meant happy mom.

I took them back as teenagers and I insisted that we RD the first day because it was 4th of July, we were staying off site and I was a little nervous about the traffic/crowds etc so I wanted to get in there. After the first day we talked each night about when we wanted to head out and they always wanted to be there for RD. Seeing how much we got done that one day walking on almost everything all morning (then having our FP in the afternoon after lunch) sold them on the process so we closed the parks and opened them pretty much every day of our week long July vacation. This may sound like a lot but we were only about 15 minutes away from the parks and we had a time share where we each had our own bathroom and bedroom. We could be up at 7:30, on the road by 8 and parked wherever we were going by 8:20 or so giving us plenty of time to get through bag check and the taps before opening (with the exception of 4th of July when the park opened earlier so we got there earlier). There was only one night we were back in our room really late (again 4th of July) but all of the others were between 10pm and 11pm (if I am remembering correctly) which gave us a good 7-8 hours of sleep (gosh was it awesome to each have our own bathroom). We were refreshed and ready to go.

Anyway, all of this to say we have toured different ways at different ages and both were successful in their own way. We picked out a couple of top priorities for each day, I scheduled FP when applicable, and plugged in other attractions as we stumbled across them if the waits weren't horrible.