What TIME do you go "home?" (hotel) after a day in WDW???

[AdventurerKat]

If its an adults trip, I usually try to be up and out of the room around 9:00 or so (I'm from the west coast so that is 6:00 a.m. for me) and then I try to make it back by 5:00 or 6:00 so I can get ready to go to the Adventurers Club.

If my oldest son is with me, we usually leave a bit later and come back a later, more towards park closing.

 

[fairytinkerbell]

b u m p do uu feel safe in parking lots @ nite?????

 

[PlutoPony]

Yes! There are so many people coming and going that you're rarely by yourself (if nothing else, safety in numbers). I did some running between parks by myself at night (DS and DH went back to room exhausted) and I was quite comfortable.... Just take usual precautions.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by fairytinkerbell
b u m p do uu feel safe in parking lots @ nite?????

I always used resort transportation. There was a problem at Downtown Disney last year where people were getting mugged in the parking lot. I would be extra careful there.

 

[Mamu]

We usually hang-out in the park at least an hour after closing.

I hate the mass exits. Only to stand in a huge line and wait for your bus or monorail, then to be packed in like a sardine.

It's actually lots of fun checking the nooks and crannies as you slowly exit the park. Even better, when you close the park you get to sit instead of standing on your way back to your hotel.

 

[kdibattista]

It's DH (36) and I (27) and we normally leave the room by 7:30 for breakfast, head to the parks and come back to the room by 2:00 for a break. Depending on how late the parks are open (we go off season), we would go back out around 5:00 for dinner and be back at the room by 9:00.

 

[goofydad621]

We usually get to the early park 1/2 hour before opening, if ii is a crowded time of year AKA school vaca or holiday we stay at park unitl 11:30- 12:00 then head to the resort, swim have lunch rest (my wife is a napper) then back to the park that is the late park of the day. When my wife naps my and the older child last time went exploring I am not much of a person to sit and relax that's why WDW vacations are so perfect for me.

I'll get all the rest I need once I dead !

 

[Jon16195701]

It depends on the age of your kids.

Kids under 7 will usually fall asleep on the bus or in the car on the way home, so I'd go home like an hour before park closing.

For kids 8 and up, usually it will be OK to leave at park closing.

My family stays until park closing, and then comes back to the hotel and swims late, because the pools are open late.

TIP: In summertime, I suggest you break up a day at the park to go swimming at lunchtime in your resorts pool, and have a quick lunch, and change your clothes before returning to that park for the evening.

 

[hokiefan33]

We leave the parks when the men in the suits drag us kicking and screaming every night as we try for just one more ride!

I mean, we only go down once, maybe twice a year, if that, so I don't want to spend my time in our hotel room. My kids (DS8 and DD5) would be extremely upset with me if we left anytime before 10 PM. Heck, this past July, we usually left by around 10 or so, came back to the hotel, and swam for an hour or so before we went to bed. Back up at 8 again the next morning to do it all over again.

Is there any other way to do it?

 

[fitzkerry]

I've always been the commando touring type of gal. Up at dawn and go till the troops drop (sometimes I kept going after they were down ) This time I have promised my husband, who is a reluctant traveler, that we will take time to smell the roses, I even booked us in the BWV Concierge to encourage me to relax and enjoy the trip rather than reenacting the Battan Death March as I have been accused of doing in the past. We'll see if I can reform. So much to do so little time!

 

[Mickey76]

I usually stay at whatever park I'm at until it closes. I usually go back to the resort I'm staying at mid to late afternoon, shower, go to a park for dinner and stay there until late as possible. If I'm at Pleasure Island, I'll stay until 12 or 1 A.M. most of the time.

I usually get up between 6:30 and 7 A.M. no matter how late I went to bed. I want to get as much done as possible when I'm in WDW.


Mickey76

 

[clutter]

If there's a park, or DTD, still open we're still there. We meaning me and my 7yo dd. This past summer, the first trip with e-ride nights, we did two of three of them!

We're like hokiefan, but then, I'm an (old) hokie myself. There is simply no other way to do it!

 

[MomofKatie]

In the past, we've always made it to the parks at around 10:00 or so, then toured until dinnertime.

BUT... this time, since this is our first full family vacation, and I am planning the whole thing, and we have a limited amount of time to be at WDW, we plan to get out of bed at 7:00 each morning. We will get to the parks at opening and tour all day.

MGM day, we will leave in the early afternoon and head over to DTD for shopping, and checking out DQ. Then back to POFQ to swim and stroll by the river. DH and I may leave DD with Grammy and head back to PI in the evening.

Epcot day, we plan on closing the place down- no midday break other than lunch at Garden Grill with Mickey. We figure we will spend at least an hour there, relaxing and hanging out with the characters.

MK day, the park is open til 10:00 pm. We will get there at opening, then hop to AK for a few hours in the mid-afternoon. Then it's back to MK for Wishes and the "Kiss goodnight"!

We figure we'll rest after we get back from the trip!

 

[jann1033]

Originally posted by Mamu
We usually hang-out in the park at least an hour after closing.

have you ever had a problem not getting a bus leaving that late...say you are the only one for a resort,,will they call one for you ? plus do the cms try to hurry you along or do they not care.

 

[B'rer Karen]

They will not strand you. This happened to my friends and I once. We were literally the very last people out of the MK. We have a picture of Main Street completely empty except for a lone security guard (if you ever see Sk8er Mom post, she's got it in her sig). We actually had to claim our belongings from city hall because the locker had been cleared out. By the time we got to the bus stop there weren't any buses, but there was a CM. He joked with us that we had to walk home. But they called us our own bus and we got back to the hotel no problem.

By the way, this was after an e-night that probably ended at 10. I think by the time we got out of there it was about 11:30.