When a park is open late when do crowds start to die down?

[AngieInOH]

We'll be flying in Saturday January 16, Martin Luther King Day. If schedules are like 2015 MK will be open until 1:00 am. At what time will the crowds start to die down? I'm thinking about heading to MK in the evening to catch Spectro, Fireworks, and hopefully ride a few rides. With the busy weekend we might not get to MK until Wed, trying to avoid the crowds. This might give my girls a little taste of the MK magic before then.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Usually, the crowds start to disperse after the night time activities. (Wishes, MSEP, etc.)

 

[lugnut33]

I have been there at 1 a.m. (2 a.m. close) and you would be surprised at how busy it was. Peter Pan was still 40 minutes and there were tons of kids asleep in strollers being pushed around by parents. Also been there during Christmas time when midnight rolls around and the park really empties out. Peter Pan will drop down to 20 minutes. A lot of it depends on how nice the weather is.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We were in MK last Monday night (June 1), arriving at about 8:30 pm. Here's what we were able to accomplish (in order) between 8:30 and midnight with no FP+

Jungle Cruise
Pirates
Splash Mtn
Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion
7 Dwarfs (5 minute wait right after Wishes). Posted wait was 65 minutes.
Pooh
Teacups
Speedway
Space Mtn 4x in just over 30 minutes.

I believe that our longest wait was for Pirates at about 15 minutes.

I find that the attraction lines start to decrease when the crowd starts to line up for the early parade.

 

[angierae]

I agree with earlier posters who said after the parades/fireworks end. People stream out, and then it's fun for a few more hours!

 

[caroline1851]

Last night. ..wait times were still kids of long after 10p including 30-40 min for splash, 30 min for btmrr, 45-60 space mountain, 40 min for peter pan. I expected less crowds

 

[BrianL]

^Often the wait times later at night are posted on the high side, but actually don't take nearly that long.

 

[scrapquitler]

after the fireworks and second parade

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Last night. ..wait times were still kids of long after 10p including 30-40 min for splash, 30 min for btmrr, 45-60 space mountain, 40 min for peter pan. I expected less crowds

Posted wait or actual wait?

When we visited, the posted wait on Splash was 60 but the actual wait was 10 at about 9 pm.

Peter Pan posted 40 minutes at 10 pm but looked much shorter. We didn't ride that night though.

7 Dwarfs posted 65 but the actual wait was 5 minutes right after Wishes.

At Space Mtn at 11:30, the posted wait was 20 but there was literally no one in line. It's a long walk in and out of that one.

 

[ParrotBill]

AS you can see here, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes it remains crowded, sometimes it clears out. I remember going late two nights in a row in May. One night, jammed. The next night, empty. I even asked a castmember about the difference. She said they are never sure how it will play out late night.

 

[mercydisney]

AS you can see here, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes it remains crowded, sometimes it clears out. I remember going late two nights in a row in May. One night, jammed. The next night, empty. I even asked a castmember about the difference. She said they are never sure how it will play out late night.

I agree, we have been numerous times and each time is different

 

[AngieInOH]

It seems like it really could go either way.... I think we'll end up trying it and see how it goes!!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

It may seem counter intuitive, but I've found days that are busier in the morning/afternoon are less busy in the evening.

We visited MK twice last week. On Monday, the park opened at 8 am and was packed throughout the day. However, it wasn't crowded at all in the evening.

On Wednesday, the park opened at 9 am and was moderately busy throughout the day and still fairly busy well into the evening.

My theory is that the early morning crowd wIll tire out sooner on extremely busy days and head back to the resorts earlier, leaving the park wide open for late night touring.

 

[OKW Lover]

In general people start to leave after the fireworks, with more leaving after the 2nd parade (if there is one). Of course that doesn't mean that rides are then a walk-on.

 

[ParrotBill]

Weather can be a big factor too. Afternoon storms can send people back to the hotels only to return in force for the the evening, whereas an early evening storm will chase people out leaving the park empty for late night (especially with cancellation of the parade.)

 

[aleksandr]

If you don't mind skipping Wishes, or the fireworks, you can see a TON of stuff in very little time starting around 8PM-ish. We were in MK a couple weeks ago and saw the electric parade from right outside the firehouse, made our way to adventure land and went on the Jungle Cruise and Pirates with zero waits, headed to Frontierland, found Splash closed, but zero wait for Big Thunder mountain. It was actually pretty cool because fireworks were going off overhead while riding Big Thunder Mountain. From there, we made our way to the Haunted Mansion, again with zero wait. Then, off to Fantasyland to see Enchanted Tales with Belle and the Little Mermaid with no wait. We could have done much, much more, but had already done many of the attractions earlier in the day, and were pretty exhausted at that point.