What to do about late risers?

[SleeplessInTO]

One thing that works for my family is assigning everyone in the family a special day, where we go at their preferred pace, prioritize their favorite parks, rides, foods etc. With five in our family, there is no pleasing everyone all the time. On "mom" day we go to Epcot, ride Soarin and Frozen, and wander around world showcase exploring every corner, and see fireworks. For my twins, it's HS thrill rides/coasters allll day rope drop to park close. My youngest gets character meals and lots of tame spinner/boat/dark rides. On "dad" day it's a sit down breakfast, a few hours at some point during the day at AK for pandora, with the rest of the day at the resort pool and a signature restaurant for dinner with an early bed time.

Not everyone gets everything they want every day. But at least everyone get's one "perfect" day.

I'd recommend something for your family. You should do a rotation, you get a rope drop day; your DH and DD should each get a sleep in day, and repeat the pattern.

I love this.

 

[gharter]

My wife is often that way. I go to the parks early and she texts me when she gets to the park and we meet up and plan the rest of the day. It works out, and doesn't stress anyone.

 

[teachmedis]

My rope drop anecdote is we were at MK for Early Entry waiting with the masses for rope to drop and the rush to SDMT. The family next to us was discussing the current situation. Dad and daughter were of the opinion that this is all madness, why had they gotten up early for this! Mom was trying to explain the glory of rope drop, but Dad and daughter were not having it. Comments like, if we come later the lines will be really long were met with retorts that, we're waiting really long NOW. What's the difference? I kind of felt bad for the mom, since we were rope drop proponents too. But Kid and Dad had good points. There were tons of people at MK for early entry and the benefits of rope drop were not nearly as good as they used to be.

The kicker? SDMT was down at rope drop. A bunch of rides were down at rope drop or went down shortly after opening. It was a bad morning at MK.
I feel so bad for that mom.

I say this because you know your family best. If they aren't going to accept rope drop (and the risks!), then you might be better off skipping rope drop. Rope drop isn't as shiny as it used to be.

BTW, after that MK rope drop fiasco (and our attempt at Epcot when Remy was down at EE opening) we, who were avid rope drop proponets, stopped rope dropping for the rest our vacation. So maybe try it once, and be willing to skip future mornings if it isn't great?

I agree with all of this, we were huge rope drop advocates and it worked out great twice on our 6 park day trip. The 4 other times the ride we wanted was down or went down while we were on it. That's a major buzz kill when you've been up for hours--if anyone in my family was majorly against rope drops--they'd have won that argument on this trip. Ratatouille, Rise, and SDMT (twice) were down after we'd done everything right. I did contact guest services about that issue because it does suck the magic out of your day first thing. We said we won't rope drop Epcot again, Magic Kingdom has enough back up options, and Hollywood Studios right now, you really just are making a gamble--unless you want to spend money on both genie and ILL.
If you can manage nights, hoping in headliner lines right at the end can be a good strategy. We did that for FOP and SDMT, the wait is never what is posted.

 

[tinkerjo]

I would get up and rope drop what I wanted to ride, stack some Genie + and LL picks for later in the day and have DD and DH meet you at the park when they get up and ready. We have the opposite problem in my family. My DH is a very early bird and done by 3 kinda person. We go eat supper and me and DS go back to the park for the evening.

 

[DCLMP]

I just tell my teens they have to get up early or we don’t go. They always oblige, They like WDW. When they start paying for their own trips they can sleep to noon. If husband wanted to sleep until 10 am I’d just go without him.

 

[boogienights]

I used to be an early bird in my younger days and would naturally get up between five and six every morning. As I get older, I've been getting up later and later. I think that's because my children have left the nest and I no longer need those precious quiet morning hours for some alone time with the love of my life - coffee!!!

If I were in your shoes I would either head off to the parks alone for a few hours or... even better...go for a leisurely breakfast and then grab a coffee and a good book and head down to the pool for some blissful quiet before you and your family head out into the hot sweaty maw of the parks. If you have been chilling for a few hours by yourself and not walking around the parks you may have enough energy to stay late and close out the parks. With a later start, I would skip an afternoon break at your resort and schedule a table service meal at 3 or 4 to refuel and refresh in some nice a/c.

If you force your family to get up and out they will probably be cranky and miserable which will wreck the whole day. Better, I think, to keep the peace even if you don't get to ride everything. It sounds like this isn't your first trip (hopefully won't be your last) so you prob aren't going to miss your only chance ever to ride Peter Pan or Soarin, etc. As someone else recommended, stack G+ and ILL for later in the day and prioritize favourite rides and those you haven't done before.

There is no one "right way" to do the parks. There are so many good suggestions here from other posters as well. Before your vacation, sit down with your family over a favorite dinner (no harm in buttering them up a bit) and talk about the various options and come up with a loose game plan. It may be that all your plans fly out the window. If the forecast calls for rain all afternoon, for instance, your family may agree to get up early. In that case, alone time with you sweetheart Monsieur Cafe will have to wait.

 

[hmansionlover]

And that is why we have cell phones. First time we went, 1999, it would have been difficult to have one party find the other party wherever they are. Last time in Orlando our kids went to Volcano Bay early and we knew we could catch up to them at any time no matter where they were.

 

[DisneyFive]

Just back a few days ago from 8 nights and didn't rope drop once. We still had an amazing time and did SO MUCH . We did have G+ though, and that was essential if getting to the parks later in the morning. We did not pay for $ILL. Here's a link to our trip summary, which also includes links to each day, play by play. Hope this helps:

Our fantastic 8 night WDW trip

Dan

 

[sky13]

Joining in this thread as I think I'll have to do Disney a bit differently on my upcoming trip from my usual solo trips. Mainly as am going with family for their first visit, and I suspect that they will have issues doing both rope drop AND late night (we'll have EEH if it remains on Mon/Wed so will be trying to do two late nights). Plus on our first day we arrive at MCO around midnight so realistically no one is going to be up for rope drop on our first morning, which will probably have a knock on effect for the rest of the days.

My current plan is to just buy Genie+ and start stacking from 7am for later in the day, so hopefully we can hit the parks later in the day and get some rides done using LL. Also probably ILL for a couple of rides (ROTR, GOTG, maybe FOP).

And then if I'm up at 7am I might just head off to the parks on my own first for rope drop and they can join me later...?

 

[FreemanFam]

Leverage the pool!
If you have a kiddo who loves the pool, use it as leverage. The earlier you get the parks in, the more time you'll have for the pool. It's also a great refresher in the afternoon for a Dad or Mom who would had rather slept in. They can relax with a cocktail to reward their early start, or let the pool reverse the effects of gravity for a while. POTENTIALLY they may be able to even catch a cat nap back at the room while everyone else is chillaxin at the pool.
Leverage the pool!

 

[bas71873]

The posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated in the evening to discourage late riders. We learned about this technique, called Line Stacking, in the 1998 Unofficial Guide so it’s nothing new. Posted waits are often 4x the actual wait time during the last hour or two of operation.

We’ve been using this to our advantage for years and can probably do twice as much in the evening as most guests can do in the morning.

On the example above, we arrived at Rise around 7:40 pm. The posted wait was 85 minutes but it was easy to tell that there were nowhere near that many guests milling around. We waiting 15 minutes for the first ride then 5 minutes for the 2nd.

We could have done a 3rd trip but opted for Tower instead. The posted wait over there was 80 minutes with an actual wait of 10.

That’s how you close a park.

You may have just convinced me NOT to do park hoppers and to just come back to the same park later in the afternoon. We are BTDT with all the parks, characters, etc., so this is a more go with the flow kind of trip and, we are early risers, so we'll be there for rope drop, but now we may just skip hopping and come back to the same park later in the evening!

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

Glad to know I’m not alone!

We all go through this with families. If the other people are kids and not old enough to use the Disney Transportation by themselves, you should set rules before you go. "We are going to Disney and we are leaving at this time each morning or we are not going at all." If DD is older, you should go off on and enjoy your vacation. Once you are gone, the DD may speed it up and catch up to you in the parks. Enjoy your vacation as the late risers enjoy theirs, unless they are too young. If they are young, you are giving them too much control over the situation.

 

[Robber Baron]

My wife said she doesn't like getting up early at Disney.

I told her my ex wife doesn't like it either.

She said I never told her I was married before.

I told her I wasn't married before.

 

[CanucksRock]

I just caught the title of this thread and was like…don’t travel with them Anyone that goes to WDW with me knows that they have to get up early because I’m a rope dropper. I can’t sleep in on vacation. Everyone knows the rules going in …or I leave them behind. (I am also the planner, booker, leader…so they don’t want to get left behind)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

DD and DH are not.

Uninvited.

 

[kathy884]

I drive the car over with the early risers and do rope drop (It's a big deal to us to get as much as possible out of our park days). I leave the late risers at the resort and let them come over whenever they want and meet up with us via cell phone if they want. I let them do their own planning and own decisions.

I'm a real stickler to people being ready when I tell them in advance that we are going to leave. I say when we are leaving, and if anyone is late, they get left behind and have to uber over. I usually travel with an extended family group of 10-14. We stay offsite and have multiple cars.

Sad -- no more real rope drop now for offsite visitors like us, so the advantage is not anything like it used to be. We still like to get there are early as we can for a full park day. And I still so far, mostly continue to stay offsite.

We use Genie + too and touringplans.com to try to get the most out of our expensive park days.

 

[kathy884]

We have a saying in my family; nothing motivates like abandonment. As soon as my kids were HS age, we told them when we were leaving the room to get on the bus in time for RD. If they chose to sleep in instead, they have an MB that gets them into the room and the park, and we all have cell phones so you know where we are and how to find us. I won't give my 8yo the option, but my HS age (and now college age) kids certainly navigate tougher streets than you will find at WDW on a daily basis. I'm not going to fight them if they'd really rather sleep, but I'm also not going to sit around for hours in the room as the lines build. Same goes for the end of the day; if you want to head back to the room early, go ahead.

Funny, they've always been ready to go when we are though and no one has ever taken me up on the offer to sleep in. DW and DD have headed back early though. That's OK, that's always been a big benefit of staying on property for us.

so so so true. My son and my nieces and nephews when they were teens who normally sleep in are all rope drop converts and go to the parks early with me too. And OMG, my mom who always is 15 minutes late and someone we usually have to wait for was ready and waiting in our car because she knew when I told her I was leaving at such and such at time and if anyone was even a minute late, that they could uber over on their own and meet us that I was totally serious. And she doesn't want to miss anything.

 

[kathy884]

Deleted dup post.

 

[disndatworld]

I honestly think the best way to overcome the long lines, crowds, desire to ride your favorites, see all the things you want to see, etc. is to stay longer, spend more time & money and give WDW what they want. I hate that that's the answer, but when we stay 8-10 days, we have our fill, and the feeling of "rushing" and trying to do everything is not really an issue. I am an early riser, most of my family are late sleepers. We compromise... the best we can. But it's really about our shared experiences together, so after numerous visits, and extended stays there's less stress to get it perfect.

WDW really is the perfect money machine... right?

 

[DisneyFive]

I honestly think the best way to overcome the long lines, crowds, desire to ride your favorites, see all the things you want to see, etc. is to stay longer, spend more time & money and give WDW what they want. I hate that that's the answer, but when we stay 8-10 days, we have our fill, and the feeling of "rushing" and trying to do everything is not really an issue. I am an early riser, most of my family are late sleepers. We compromise... the best we can. But it's really about our shared experiences together, so after numerous visits, and extended stays there's less stress to get it perfect.

WDW really is the perfect money machine... right?

That's how we do it too, longer stays. Our previous few trips (before this year) were 10 nights. With all the price increases (G+, lack of Magical Express, resort costs) we had to reduce our stay to 8 nights this year, and forgo park hoppers. Honestly, I'm not sure we could have done 10 nights. After 8 nights this year we were exhausted, in a very good way. We were content that we did it all. Another day at Disney didn't even sound appealing, as crazy as that sounds.

If we did 9 or 10 nights, I think I would plan one or two resort only days in the mix to give us proper recovery days. Regardless, or 8 night stay a couple of weeks ago was amazing.

Dan