What time do locals usually arrive? And afternoon break times?

[PRINCESS VIJA]

Trying to strategize our August trip and breaks. I've read here that locals won't arrive at park opening... so what time do they "usually" arrive? Is there a time frame that they leave or do they tend to stay in the parks late.

Scheduling in our daily break, is it best for early afternoon (12-3), or mid afternoon (2-4), or later afternoon (3-6) Which one is better to avoid the larger crowds, longer lines?

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

Us locals can pretty much arrive any time we want, but we usually can't get our butts out of bed at the crack of dawn to be there at rope drop. You'll actually see lines at the ticket booth all day and in to the afternoon from the locals. Usually the peak arrival time seems to be 10am-11:30, then a lull until after lunch (so folks don't pay to eat lunch at the park). There's also a new influx later in the day for folks just coming for night time activities. A lot of us with little ones come around 10 and leave around 3:30 - 4, before local traffic gets bad.

Hope that helps!

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

thanks! It definetely does help.

 

[dina7]

Don't know about the locals, but we have been taking our trips to WDW in August for the past few years. We usually take our afternoon breaks around 1:00 or 2:00. We normally arrive at the parks early in the am, have an early lunch, do a few more attractions & go back to the resort to relax & cool off. Definitely have to take a break in August with the heat.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I forgot to add that you should look at the Annual Passholder Blackout dates that correspond with your trip. If it's a day that only paying guests and Premium AP holders are admitted, then the crowds are better.

Deluxe has Saturday blackout at times and not Siunday, so the crowd on Sunday will increase with the Deluxe folks and usually after church gets out.....

I love early Sunday mornings in the park.

 

[Eeee-va]

We took our breaks at different times each day, but when possible I preferred to take the break later in the day (leave at 2 or 3 PM) and then come back to the parks later. We could not do that every day, though, or we would have missed the Pixar Play Parade. I think it's just personal preference, and IF the crowds are already crazy-busy at noon, I think it would be considerably easier to leave for a break than if crowds were moderate as they were for our trip. If crowds are moderate I think a 3 PM break would be best to avoid crowds, but if it's packed, an earlier break--especially if a longer break means you will be able to stay until closing--might be the most effective strategy. Again, I WANTED to take a nice long afternoon nap and then stay at the parks until closing but it just wasn't easy while the park was still navigable and there was so much to do!

If I had it to plan again I might plan breaks EARLIER in the day, though, because when they are so late in the day, it's way too easy to keep edging them back until you only get about 90 minutes in the room before you have to go back for some entertainment offering.

Of course, the weather also wasn't bad when we went. If it's 90 degrees it might also be easier to go take a break.