With all of the "afternoon-breaks" advice given, why...

[DisneyZigs]

...aren't the parks less crowded in the afternoons??

It seems like everyone agrees that going back to the resort/hotel for a break in the afternoon is a great tip (and this newbie is inclined to agree)....but doesn't that mean that there would be a decrease in crowds mid-day???

 

[slp87]

I think there are still lots of people who sleep in and don't arrive until later in the morning. I also think that there are people who are staying offsite that don't want to mess with leaving for the afternoon. It amazes me how many people are arriving at the parks when we are leaving at 1:00.

 

[CleveRocks]

Well, I think it goes something like this. MOST people who go to WDW don't really think about it, plan for it, or educate themselves about it. So to most people, the idea of an afternoon break might seem alien.

There's about 100,000 registered users on this site. WDW gets about 35 million guests a year. So even if every DISer, with a family of 4, went to WDW once a year, the 400,000 of us would still only be just over ONE PERCENT of all WDW guests. So even if we all acted in unison, we'd have little effect on the overall picture.

Let me give you a little example. Last May in a VERY crowded MK I ended up with 3 extra FastPasses for Splash Mountain. Splash had a 70 or 75 minute standby line on that very hot day, and ou extra FastPasses had their time window right at that time. I went to the end of the line looking for a party of 3 to spread some pixie dust on them. I found two women in their 20s or 30s with a little boy. I offered them my FastPasses and they asked me what they were and why would they want them?! I can't imagine walking into a WDW park and not knowing what a Fastpass is, but I guess that's why I hang out here in the first place.

Another example ... my mother-in-law insisted we use her friend the travel agent for our trip last May. She was clueless. I had to teach the TA about Disney's Magical Express. I saw her at a party about two months ago, and she asked me some more questions about DME -- she works as a TA and prides herself on selling a lot of Disney travel yet she still didn't understand DME! So even people who are supposed to be "in the know" aren't always.

DISboards is a great place ... I'm so glad I found it, and I hope you are, too!

 

[jeankeri]

For people staying off-site, or locals driving 1+ hours to WDW, leaving for the day might not seem logical since the turn around time to go to a park later in the day. For my troop, we stay on-site (usually at an Epcot or MK resort) so the turn around time is very managable. We can leave the parks and be in the pool in 30 minutes. After this past weekend it was a lifesaver.

 

[grinningghost]

I don't know about all year, but our last trip was the final week of August, which is technically, the off-season. The parks closed early, so we really couldn't take the time to do the afternoon break. Seemed to me that alot of people were doing the same thing. Sticking around despite the heat, rain and crowds - just to get maximum park time in.

During the peak season we always take the afternoon break, so I can't say if the crowds go down or not - I'm not there.

 

[dixiedizfan]

Just wondering how crowded the resort pools get during those summer afternoon breaks. I can imagine they're shoulder-to-shoulder in the pool!

 

[chanty]

I agree to the fact that not everyone plans as much as we disers do.
My family is amazed at how much time we spend planning our trip!

Last year, we tried it differently this time. We slept in and went to parks after our late breakfast (around 11-noon). And LOTS of people on the buses, LOTS of people at the gates... lots of people everywhere! lol
We had 11 days so, we weren't in no rush and it was our honeymoon as well.

This year, we're going for 6 days so we'll have a different strategy. Go early, relax in the afternoon and stay at night.

 

[phisigprincess]

Never discount the amount of people who stay all day to get "more for their money." That accounts for a lot of the crowd. We stayed off site once - it wasn't really a Disney trip, but i made us drive in for 3 days - and it was the most awful thing EVER not being able to get that afternoon off. I swore I would never do that again.

 

[AStamm]

Just wondering how crowded the resort pools get during those summer afternoon breaks. I can imagine they're shoulder-to-shoulder in the pool!

Last July we spent a few days at AKL, and yes, this pool was shoulder-to-shoulder and hot as anything. Like swimming in a bathtub. The water is way too shallow at that pool, IMHO.

 

[chanty]

I agree to the fact that not everyone plans as much as we disers do.
My family is amazed at how much time we spend planning our trip!

Last year, we tried it differently this time. We slept in and went to parks after our late breakfast (around 11-noon). And LOTS of people on the buses, LOTS of people at the gates... lots of people everywhere! lol
We had 11 days so, we weren't in no rush and it was our honeymoon as well.

This year, we're going for 6 days so we'll have a different strategy. Go early, relax in the afternoon and stay at night.

 

[DebIreland]

Well, I think it goes something like this. MOST people who go to WDW don't really think about it, plan for it, or educate themselves about it. So to most people, the idea of an afternoon break might seem alien.

There's about 100,000 registered users on this site. WDW gets about 35 million guests a year. So even if every DISer, with a family of 4, went to WDW once a year, the 400,000 of us would still only be just over ONE PERCENT of all WDW guests. So even if we all acted in unison, we'd have little effect on the overall picture.

Let me give you a little example. Last May in a VERY crowded MK I ended up with 3 extra FastPasses for Splash Mountain. Splash had a 70 or 75 minute standby line on that very hot day, and ou extra FastPasses had their time window right at that time. I went to the end of the line looking for a party of 3 to spread some pixie dust on them. I found two women in their 20s or 30s with a little boy. I offered them my FastPasses and they asked me what they were and why would they want them?! I can't imagine walking into a WDW park and not knowing what a Fastpass is, but I guess that's why I hang out here in the first place.

Another example ... my mother-in-law insisted we use her friend the travel agent for our trip last May. She was clueless. I had to teach the TA about Disney's Magical Express. I saw her at a party about two months ago, and she asked me some more questions about DME -- she works as a TA and prides herself on selling a lot of Disney travel yet she still didn't understand DME! So even people who are supposed to be "in the know" aren't always.

DISboards is a great place ... I'm so glad I found it, and I hope you are, too!

Excellent post!! This really explains the situation very well.

I had the FastPass situation last year too. A beautiful family of 4 came up to us as we came out of The Land in Epcot and asked if we had been on Soarin' yet so I said no (we were running late that day, the FPs return time for Soarin was 3 hours away so we couldn't get any!!) so they handed us four fastpasses. I was so grateful. Disney magic Anyway, because we did the baby swap I realised we had one FP too many so I saw a man looking at the standby time looking aghast and disappointed so I went up to him and said "would you like this FastPass?". He was like "huh?" I had to explain it to him and he looked really sceptical and said "yeah, riiiiiiiiight, I can just go through a separate line and get on Soarin' in a few minutes!! Okey dokey!!". He clearly thought I was a weirdo I really hope he used it though!!!

But back on-topic, you're so right. The vast majority of people do not plan their theme park touring at all. They plan their hotel (maybe) and their beach trips (maybe) but they don't research the parks!

 

[princesspiglet]

We don't take afternoon breaks, whether we are staying on-site or off. We always goin the off-season, so the parks close early, we have a pool in our backyard, so we don't really care to swim while we are there, and my daughter does not nap anymore. We plan on taking a stroller for DD4 and she can "rest" if she gets tired. It just seems like it takes too much work/time/effort to leave the park and come back.

 

[myprinceandprincess]

I think the previous posts were right....Because your here it seems like everyone visiting Disney is going to take afternoon breaks....but we are a small percentage of all the visitors. Everyone thinks I'm crazy because how I plan all my vacations. But when I have some of the best suggestions, they don't think I'm so crazy anymore!

 

[robinb]

I wouldn't have any clue if the afternoons are busy. We always take a break!

 

[TikiGoddess]

We don't take afternoon breaks, whether we are staying on-site or off. We always goin the off-season, so the parks close early, we have a pool in our backyard, so we don't really care to swim while we are there, and my daughter does not nap anymore. We plan on taking a stroller for DD4 and she can "rest" if she gets tired. It just seems like it takes too much
work/time/effort to leave the park and come back.

I think this is the other answer to the question. Although there is a big contigency pushing the afternoon break, lots of people don't do it. We tried it once and for us it was a nightmare. It took about a 3 hr. chunk out of our day for our kids to not want to nap when we got there. The entire time they were asking "when can we go back?" Totally not worth it in our case. I tried to plan our day where we have mini breaks built in at the park- sometimes that means Hall of Presidents, which the adults enjoy, but the kids use as quiet rest time. Also sit down meals help. We stagger our early park days to sleep in on the days after we stay for a late parade or show. It works out great for us. So part of the answer is not everyone is leaving the park for breaks.

 

[Greg K.]

I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who saunter in to the parks around noon, or later -- right around the time we're leaving for our break! As Ursula would say, "Poor unfortunate souls..." They haven't a clue.

Some people, I know, are adamant about NOT getting to the parks early. "We're on vacation," they sniff. They don't want to be rushed, they don't want to get up early, they want to relax.

You snooze, you lose, pal.

Now, outa my way...

 

[Todd&Copper]

When we visited back in the 80's, DMom, DSis and I never took a break, but DDad did. He'd leave by himself and agree to meet up with us in about 3 hours or so. We were pre-teens, so the idea of taking a break wasn't so great to us. We had a pool in our backyard and could swim all year round, so we didn't care about that. We also usually went during the off-season and the park closed earlier, so taking a 3 hour break would have meant missing out on a big portion of the day.

ETA: We lived in Broward County, FL when I was a pre-teen, so we went about 3 or 4 times a year (long weekends) for 5 years in a row.

 

[Karnak]

This is one of the most interesting threads I've seen on here to date. Some people like to take an afternoon break, some people like to sleep in and enter the park in the early afternoon, and others like to leave early and do something else in the evening hours.

Actually, I think they are all correct. To each his own. lol

Personally, I like to enter the park at opening, and spend the entire day in that park. I always have a plan for the day that includes plenty of "break" things to do (there are many of those restfull spots in each of the four parks), leave extra time between most attractions I plan to enjoy, and make advance meal reservations that fit into my plan for the day. My personal plan is also made so that I avoid "backtracking" all over the park.

Leaving a park, and then coming back later in the day takes too much time in my humble opinion. (I'd say it would eat up at least three hours, by the time you travel back and forth, and take a brief break at a pool or taking a nap.)

For example: If I think I'm gonna need a break, a rest, in the middle of the day at, say the Magic Kingdom, I'll plan to see a show, or relax by riding the Transit Authority (People Mover to me), more than one time around, and follow that, perhaps, with the Carousel of Progress.

The parks are tiring, no doubt, but to me traveling back and forth to a resort in the middle of the day would be even more tiring.

Enjoy.

 

[the john]

Well, I think it goes something like this. MOST people who go to WDW don't really think about it, plan for it, or educate themselves about it. So to most people, the idea of an afternoon break might seem alien.

There's about 100,000 registered users on this site. WDW gets about 35 million guests a year. So even if every DISer, with a family of 4, went to WDW once a year, the 400,000 of us would still only be just over ONE PERCENT of all WDW guests. So even if we all acted in unison, we'd have little effect on the overall picture.

Let me give you a little example. Last May in a VERY crowded MK I ended up with 3 extra FastPasses for Splash Mountain. Splash had a 70 or 75 minute standby line on that very hot day, and ou extra FastPasses had their time window right at that time. I went to the end of the line looking for a party of 3 to spread some pixie dust on them. I found two women in their 20s or 30s with a little boy. I offered them my FastPasses and they asked me what they were and why would they want them?! I can't imagine walking into a WDW park and not knowing what a Fastpass is, but I guess that's why I hang out here in the first place.

Another example ... my mother-in-law insisted we use her friend the travel agent for our trip last May. She was clueless. I had to teach the TA about Disney's Magical Express. I saw her at a party about two months ago, and she asked me some more questions about DME -- she works as a TA and prides herself on selling a lot of Disney travel yet she still didn't understand DME! So even people who are supposed to be "in the know" aren't always.

DISboards is a great place ... I'm so glad I found it, and I hope you are, too!

exactly

 

[traviesojmt]

I may say that we take an afternoon break for the kids, but it really is for me. I love the afternoon break. It is a chance for all of us to get refreshed. We never feel overly tired during the evening either. I know that some like to spend the entire day at the parks, but that is not for me. That is one of the reasons that we try to stay 10 nights. We have plenty of time to see everything and still take our afternoon break.
Last summer we visited Disney for 12 nights. My FIL met us there for just a few days. We never saw him. We were at the parks at opening and heading back to the resort after lunch. We met him coming to parks as we were leaving for the afternoon. When we were ready to head back to the parks for dinner, he was wiped out from the crowds and heat.
I personally am grateful for each and every person that likes to sleep in during their vacation. More room for me.