Summer - evening's only in the park

[maospt2]

Anyone go to the Disney with the intentions of only doing the parks after the worst heat of the day? The plan would be sleep in, do the pools, and then head to the parks after 4 to close. Most likely just Epcot and MK, but maybe HS. We do not have season passes, so we are trying to decide if the cost is worth it. We have always been a rope drop family but thinking of doing it reverse this trip.

 

[JodyK]

I haven't done this strategy personally, but after our most recent summer trip I have been considering it if we ever do a summer trip again. It was pretty unbearable this past July when we were there and I think we would have been less miserable doing this strategy instead of trying to rope drop, pool/nap, and return to parks.

 

[flipflopmom]

We say we’re going to do that…: but we’re at the bus stop every morning 90 minutes before park opening. Hahaha. We have gotten enough done in those first 2 hours to make it worth it, plus we always hop to a different park in the pm.

 

[AussieFan8]

Yep, we do this pretty much every trip now, although we sometimes get to the parks a little earlier (around 2 or so). We love it. We do take advantage of deluxe extended evening hours and buy after hours/party tickets when we can. We also stack Genie+ for the evening, especially if we're going to a park that doesn't have extended evening hours that day.

 

[CarolynFH]

DH and I have done exactly that for two summer trips now, and Genie+ makes it so much easier! As you envision, we spend most of the day relaxing at the resort then go to the parks around sundown or after dinner (maybe a little earlier for AK, depending on what time it's closing). For MK and DHS I start in the AM, buying ILL$ and stacking G+LL; being able to modify G+LL now, not to mention being able to overlap LL windows, really helps a lot. For Epcot and AK we don't buy G+, just the ILL$ for GotG and FoP. We stay out as late as we can and take advantage of the Deluxe Extra Evening Hours too. However, I will admit that being just the two of us, no kids, having been to WDW many times and expecting to return, makes it easier, because we just ride our favorites and don't feel we have to ride "everything" anymore. And I'll add that we've never been a rope-drop family, because we come from the Central time zone and quickly realized on our first trip that getting to rope drop meant getting up earlier than at home, and that's no vacation!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I think it just depends on what you enjoy doing and what you want to accomplish. If you have a goal to hit a lot of rides, this may or may not work even if you use G+/iLL$. We go over the summer months and usually do mornings, not always RD, take breaks/pool and go back at night. I could maybe see doing this one day of a trip but not every day. Even if you take the wasted ticket $ factor out of the equation, I just don't see the point of being in Disney to bypass a good portion of the parks since that's what we really enjoy. We like to hit a good amount of attractions. I realize a lot of disney goers do this but they usually have APs/DVC so there's no real perception of lost value and they go often so they can swtich up their park touring based on the season pretty easily.

 

[eac578]

This is our plan for this summer. 2 teens with late sleep schedules, we are planning 4 regular park days (1 per park) arriving 3-4pm with stacked LLs and staying till close. Plus 2 AH events.

I knowomy kids enough to know that sleeping till 11, having a swim, staying up late will work best, even if it isn't the best park strategy.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

This is our summer plan too - although we usually roll in around 5 and then stay til park close, or til we are tired (I’m too old for 1am closures at MK!)

It does make for a relaxing vacation. We have gone frequently enough that it’s okay if we don’t ride everything every trip.

 

[kylenne]

We plan on doing this for maybe half our park days on our upcoming trip in late May/June, but not for every single park day. Reason being we enjoy shows and live entertainment as much as rides and these offerings usually stop running after a certain hour. So that is definitely something to be aware of.

 

[glocon]

For our Sister’s Trip in September, we plan on doing this… kind of.

My sister doesn’t do almost any ride that has a drop or spins so mostly we will only be doing the A or B ticket rides.

We DO plan on getting some fun breakfast reservations, doing the Sangria U, the tequila experience at EPs Mexico pavilion (if we can get it) stopping at the lounges in the parks, exploring all that the World Showcase has to offer and mostly F&W.

But the plan is not to rope drop at all and get to the parks when we feel like it or after a breakfast reservation.
Plan to explore the resorts where we make the reservations for meals as well (will help us to avoid the worst of the heat).

I think that not rope dropping will be a novel experience but a fun new way to “do Disney”.