Successful late nights with young kids/skipping RD?

[mickeyluv'r]

But I've seen enough kids her age melting down in the evenings to know not all can deal with it. +.

good points! But I've seen plenty of meltdowns at all hours of the day!

The worst is any parent forcing their kids to do something because the parents had over-expectations of what was supposed to happen on the trip. (where the kid is crying for mercy from an uncomfortable hair bow or lugging a huge bag.)

I like the pp who said you have to do what works best for your family.

I also find, sometimes...throwing a little money at a problem makes it go away. Sometimes the $20 you pay for an extra service is SOOOO worthwhile!

We have a running joke. If spending an extra $8 = a smile, we call it an $8 smile!

 

[maramarrie]

We have NEVER witnessed a rope drop...though I'm hoping this trip we will get some early starts. We have stayed late a few times in the last few years, probably as late as 11, and our kids are currently 4 and 6. Sure, they're totally wiped by the end of the day (as are we), but they fall asleep in the stroller whenever they're tired (naps included) and on the trip back to the hotel. When we do late nights we take it easy the next morning or maybe take a whole day for the resort/pool.

 

[mummabear]

Well we have an advantage here if you are looking to sleep in and stay late as we are from a different timezone but we get to the park somewhere between 11&1 and close it out.

 

[BagOLaughs]

I also would think that with FP+ that not being there at RD would mean you only miss out on early rides. No longer do you have to dash about riding and grabbing fastpass paper tickets. If i was in your situation I'd stay later and not be there for RD.

 

[Nancyg56]

We tend to mix it up when we vacation. I remember our family vacation when the kids were little, I needed a vacation when we returned. Never again! A vacation is a vacation, so we plan some early days, and some late nights. I agree that if a RD is going to be a problem, skip it, sleep in and hit the parks later. If you get there at a time when you are there during the heat in the afternoon, plan a few AC attractions and make sure to stay hydrated. Have fun!

 

[mshanson3121]

Excellent point! Big difference btween winter and summer trips! In the winter, am's can be SO cold. (and for pm's we BUNDLE!) (the difference is what ever we bring in AM we have to carry. What we wear for pm, we wear.)

In the summer, you may find it pays to take advantage even of 8am, EMH- just to be about before the HIGH heat kicks up. By 3pm, real feel temps over 100. In summer, beak! is our hard rule.

Winter, the afternoon may be the only part of the day where it's warm enough to ENJOY being outdoors. Jan can = frost, huge plumes of steam from the pool.

Lol. See, I'm from Canada, so your idea of too cold to enjoy and mine are VERY different! Your winter would feel beautiful to me, seeing as how I come from the land of days with a Real Feel of -40f.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm curious, for those of you that do your park touring mostly at night... what do you do during the day? Just stay and relax at the resort? Do a water park?

 

[lauradis]

I'm curious, for those of you that do your park touring mostly at night... what do you do during the day? Just stay and relax at the resort? Do a water park?

sleep in, eat breakfast at our leisure, lay around at the pool, work (lol) emails, chat with friends.

 

[dprincessmom]

On longer trips we typically do the first half of the trip RD and the second half late nights. My DD loves evening EMH and being in the parks late. On shorter trips, we will do rope drop, afternoon break and return to close down the park. You really have to figure out what works best for your family. We have the flexibility of staying on property and if the old teens in our party don't get up and get moving then they have the opportunity to join us later with a bus ride. I know this is not an option for OP but throwing it out there for others in the same situation.

 

[skier_pete]

If getting up for rope drop is going to ruin your vacation - well - don't do it. The other thing is the crowds aren't real bad in September anyways, so RD isn't as critical. (Many families can't or won't make rope drop - which is why those of us that do it love it...)

However, in September realize by 11 AM it is extremely hot. By 1 PM it is awful. Don't think you will be avoiding the heat if you show up at 10:30 AM. In particular I would recommend if you can swing it try for RD at Animal Kingdom. That park is by far the steamiest/hottest park of the four. The only way to catch the animals on the safari actually moving around is first thing in the morning. In addition, there's no "Touring late" when the park closes at 5 PM.

 

[mshanson3121]

If getting up for rope drop is going to ruin your vacation - well - don't do it. The other thing is the crowds aren't real bad in September anyways, so RD isn't as critical. (Many families can't or won't make rope drop - which is why those of us that do it love it...)

However, in September realize by 11 AM it is extremely hot. By 1 PM it is awful. Don't think you will be avoiding the heat if you show up at 10:30 AM. In particular I would recommend if you can swing it try for RD at Animal Kingdom. That park is by far the steamiest/hottest park of the four. The only way to catch the animals on the safari actually moving around is first thing in the morning. In addition, there's no "Touring late" when the park closes at 5 PM.

We're actually going in June... which will only make the heat worse, I know, lol. I was thinking the same about AK, but at least there, we won't have to get up nearly as early since we're only a 7-8 minute drive away (as opposed to 15+), and from what I've been told, the process of getting from parking lot to gates is much quicker.

 

[skier_pete]

We're actually going in June... which will only make the heat worse, I know, lol. I was thinking the same about AK, but at least there, we won't have to get up nearly as early since we're only a 7-8 minute drive away (as opposed to 15+), and from what I've been told, the process of getting from parking lot to gates is much quicker.

Yes - the MK process is longer because you need to take the monorail/boat as well as the parking lot tram. June won't be worse than September, about the same really. Bigger crowds will be your issue.

 

[luvmy2babies]

My younger child can stay up late; but is generally in bed early and never slept past 7am until he was almost 4 years-old. His record is 8:30. My older child can be a night owl but if she’s up too late, she then sleeps like she worked the night shift as in not moving until around 1pm the next day and then her schedule is off.

We have done 3 summer trips and tend to do sort of a mix. We either go early and leave early (rope drop to 2pm) or we go late and stay late (between 1-3pm to after fireworks). The day after we do the park to close we do a modified day (10-5). We are not really go early, take a break and go back tourists because I found out that my daughter doesn’t really like to return to the parks after being back at the resort. Since we like to enjoy the resort pool some in the summer and I like to make sure we get down time in and pace ourselves, a mixed schedule works best for us. So on those rope drop to 2pm days, we come back and have a relaxing evening at the resort with pool time until we get hungry and then dinner in the food court.

That is how we do our summer trips. Our first trip was Thanksgiving week in 2010 and we just went early and left the park when we got tired. We didn’t do any swimming. Next trip to Orlando we took in October 2011 where we did Sea World and Magic Kingdom. It wasn’t hot enough for swimming (at least not for us) and the trip was short so we stayed in the parks all day. We went at a really slow pace and took breaks; but I remember we did two 8+ hour days at Sea World and then on the 3rd day did MK from 9am to 9pm (watched Wishes from the Ferry back to TTC). My son was just under 2 and napped in the stroller. No one was over tired. It’s a big difference without the heat.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I'm curious, for those of you that do your park touring mostly at night... what do you do during the day? Just stay and relax at the resort? Do a water park?

Mostly we do close to RD/am emh- we try to arrive just after the initial throng has left the gate. If we have a split stay, on transfer day, we might arrive until 10am or later. We ALSO - try to close a park each night- especially if MK is open late for emh.

In winter/spring, we are often in the parks all day. In summer, we try to break about 3pm-6pm.

3-5 is often what we affectionately call, thunder-storm o'clock, with torrential rain and sideways palm trees. Two inches of water on many paths, all the mtns closed.

If no storm, we swim. If we have an ADR, especially a signature dinner, we shower, change, and primp.

With extended family, (young, old, ill, injured, dehydrated, and in-between) napping is an option.

Breaks are also rehydration time.

In the past few years, though not with this year's sky high prices, we stayed club level. On club level 5-7pm is the appetizers buffet, and half the reason we pay extra for club level. (The alternative to 5-7pm, is a dessert hour that runs until 10pm. At CR, that means the fun of the Wishes dessert party minus the post-party bus crush.)

Other options include: visiting gift shops, resort lobbies, enjoying an adult beverage while maybe listening to live music (GF lobby). In recent years, the gift shops aren't anywhere near as appealing as they used to be. Still, afternoons can be a fun time to see something like the new Four Seasons.

We've also taken care of practical matters: groceries, pharmacy visits, bandaging wounds, modifying plans, unpacking/repacking, boarding passes, etc.

I've only done a water park once! in 40+ years of touring.

 

[maryj11]

We got early to go to MK our last trip in May, it was a hot day in the low 90"s and we stayed all day until 11:00pm. After the fireworks we went to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder. They were both walk on. By then we were worn out but wished we had slept in so we could of stayed longer to enjoy the cooler temps and lower wait times. But we were exhausted and left after riding Splash and BTMR.

 

[ghtx]

1. Has anyone ever had successful trips where you did later nights (9 or 10) with young kids (5 & 8)?
2. Has anyone done a trip where they didn't do ANY rope drops?

The majority of park visitors never do any rope drops - but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

The majority of park visitors never do any rope drops - but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

I suppose it depends how you define it, but I disagree- at least in part.

RD is highly over-hyped on the DIS.

Almost any day MK is open past 9pm, if I had to choose between 9am-10am and last two hours the park is open, I'd pick the last two hour hours, except when bad weather is a factor.

Now I already said we try to use some of the RD first hour, because all the periphery park hours are among the least crowded of the day, but the PM periphery hours are almost always less crowded than the first two.

Also, well, owls are often seem happier than early birds (to us). It might be caffeine, it might agenda anxiety, or it might be something else. Owls are usually in the bonus round of e-rides.

I've been to the running of the bulls that happens at RD a number of times. Our days are usually more magical when we avoid it.

 

[jcemom]

We're actually going in June... which will only make the heat worse, I know, lol. I was thinking the same about AK, but at least there, we won't have to get up nearly as early since we're only a 7-8 minute drive away (as opposed to 15+), and from what I've been told, the process of getting from parking lot to gates is much quicker.

June won't make the heat a whole lot worse than September lol, but it will make the crowds MUCH worse. September is on the low end of the crowd scale and June on the upper end.

We are rope drop people. We feel that the reason we are there is to do the parks. We want to do just about everything in each park. If we wanted to sleep in and relax we would not be at Disney. We do try to enjoy our resort and the other amenities too, but the parks come first. That is just how WE feel. It's the "right way" to tour, for US.

Having said that, this is YOUR vacation and you can make of it whatever makes YOU happy. If hitting rope drop is going to make everyone unhappy then don't do it. Tailor your park touring to suit YOUR family. I like using touringplans custom plans for any non-standard park touring. They're fairly accurate in predicting wait times. I put in the slowest walk speed to allow a little wiggle room, and try to keep the touring plan fairly loose with spare time built in to cover any unforeseen issues. Arriving in the heat of the day will pretty much force you to take it a bit slowly anyway, due to crowds and temperatures. I would try to plan for the longer, air conditioned attractions with typically shorter waits when you first get to the park. Work in your FP+ wherever it's convenient. Then save the rides with longer lines for later. Normally, the later it gets the shorter the lines get. Stay hydrated.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Last 2 hours = twice the fun in half the time.

We've been to MK twice this week. I don't think we've waited more than 10 minutes for anything (including 7D) after 9:30 or so.

Our 7D wait was about 5 minutes right after Wishes on Monday night. The posted wait was 65.

 

[bigcrit]

I agree you need to do what is best for your family. I weigh the cost of that 1 - 2 hours. That time could cost me 4 hours in wait time each day, waiting in lines unnecessarily. Just my two cents.....