Touring during peak dinner times

[princesslover]

I wasn't sure how to word this. I am thinking for our trip in April of making our dinner reservations super early, so we can be done by the time most people are just sitting down to dinner, thinking that the wait times will be less during those times. For example, we have a 3:40 at O'hana, figure we'll be done by 5:00 and heading back to MK when most people may be leaving to head for dinner. At DHS, we have our dinner at Sci-Fi at 4:25, thinking that the headliners would have lower waits at 6:00 when we are done, since that is a popular dinner time. Has this strategy ever worked for anyone?

 

[Dumbo777]

Interested to see if this works..

 

[Alesia]

We always eat at off-peak times. We find it works really well. I don't know that it reduces our wait times for rides; we almost never wait more than 20 minutes, but that has more to do with having a good touring plan than when we eat. It definitely makes dining more pleasant, though.

 

[Upatnoon]

I wasn't sure how to word this. I am thinking for our trip in April of making our dinner reservations super early, so we can be done by the time most people are just sitting down to dinner, thinking that the wait times will be less during those times. For example, we have a 3:40 at O'hana, figure we'll be done by 5:00 and heading back to MK when most people may be leaving to head for dinner. At DHS, we have our dinner at Sci-Fi at 4:25, thinking that the headliners would have lower waits at 6:00 when we are done, since that is a popular dinner time. Has this strategy ever worked for anyone?

Wait times for are now steady all day except for the first hour in the AM and the last hour (or last 30 minutes) before close. You may find a wait time of 130 minutes 6 p.m. instead of 150 minutes at 3 p.m. at Hollywood Studios for Rock 'n' Roller coaster, for example, but I would never wait that long.

You will find less crowds at quick-service restaurants at off times, but you are wise to get a reservation at Sci-Fi, which is always busy.

The best strategy for cutting down on wait times is using your Fast Passes and getting to the parks early or staying very late.

 

[princesslover]

Thanks for your input. I think I will still keep them because we tend to do rope drop and a big buffet breakfast around 10:30, so an early dinner works well with that plan. I wonder if fastpass availability is better during peak dinner times? I guess we shall see!! Thanks again.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I feel like dinner is spread out over a number of hours (5:00 to 9:00 or even longer) so other than having less crowding at QS places when you go off peak I don’t think you see much if any reduction in ride times. It’s not like fireworks where a third of the people in the park stop riding rides for the exact same 30 mins. I haven’t noticed any better FP availability during dinner times but I haven’t been looking specifically for that.

EDITED to say that I haven’t seen any of the touring plan / crowd calendar sites mention it either. You can look at easyWDW. He often posts tables with a days worth of wait times.

 

[Klayfish]

I can't say I've measured it specifically, but I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever with wait times. We bring all of our own food in the parks, so we eat whenever we're ready. Sometimes it's "peak" dinner, sometimes it's "peak" lunch, sometimes it's not. Even when we eat during peak hours, we're usually done long before others, as we don't have to wait for our food. I can't say I've ever noticed any difference in line sizes. We use the FP+ system extensively, I'd say 75% of all rides we do are via FP+. I don't notice any difference in getting a FP+ at 6pm than at 3:30pm. Seems the same to me.

 

[gap2368]

I can't say I've measured it specifically, but I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever with wait times. We bring all of our own food in the parks, so we eat whenever we're ready. Sometimes it's "peak" dinner, sometimes it's "peak" lunch, sometimes it's not. Even when we eat during peak hours, we're usually done long before others, as we don't have to wait for our food. I can't say I've ever noticed any difference in line sizes. We use the FP+ system extensively, I'd say 75% of all rides we do are via FP+. I don't notice any difference in getting a FP+ at 6pm than at 3:30pm. Seems the same to me.

I do the same bring my own food notice no difference in wait time for rides,

 

[kniquy]

I think when you are at Disney all traditional rules are thrown out the window, so many people like you have the same strategy or people leave the park for the afternoon and head back for the evening - having just eaten an early dinner at their resort. Many people are advised to eat on an off schedule to help with finding those difficult reservations - such as Ohana - you likely will not find the prime 5-7pm dinner reservation but you will have a better chance of finding the 4pm or 9pm reservation.

Really the only significant variation in wait times would be at park opening and park closing. Possibly during the evening MK fireworks would lower the waits a little, but even parades don't make a significant difference.

 

[ZoZo]

I do think you'll have shorter lines at rides during parades. As others have said, peak mealtimes are stretched out over a few hours, so the impact on ride wait times might be minimal. But since parades draw so many people in a specific, short time window, you are likely to see a bigger impact if you skip a parade.