I've never done a park open to close - question (s)

[ktlm]

DH and I have always been open to close people. DD's first trip was when she was 2 years 10 months, and we figured she would need an afternoon break--- we were wrong. It did not go well. She was mad we left the parks and stood behind a curtain and pouted for approximately 3 hours until we gave up and went back. After that, we went back to open to close and she just took stroller naps. She is 13 now and we have been to WDW or DL or usually both every year for the last 10 years and most days we are open to close (and open to close at DL in the summer is 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.--- actually one day this year with a Star Wars Galaxy's edge reservation it was 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 am. but DH gave up at about 10:00 that day and I made DD leave at 11:30).

The way we do it is that we don't try for the very front of the rope drop crowd unless there is a special reason (i.e. Galaxy's edge--- a few years ago Anna and Elsa-- and had we not gotten an FOP FP Pandora would have warranted it). We get to the park right around rope drop, or even 10 minutes after. We don't do a pre park sit down breakfast- we might grab something at the resort on the way out, or just grab a snack in the park. We do a TS lunch at WDW-- that gets us inside to sit a while and recharge. If the afternoon is hot an crowded, we do things that are sit and rest or in air conditioning or shade such as Philharmagic; Peoplemover; Tiki room; World showcase movies rides shows shops; Hollywood studios shows; Festival of the Lion King. Those type things are good not only to cool off, but to recharge. Some people aren't cut out for open to close-- my in-laws could never do it. It is what works best for us. When we are there during MNSSHP, we go back to the resort during the day to put costumes on, and we always feel like we lose so much of the day by taking a break.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Oh, man, you guys, all of your POVs are cracking me up and I agree with all of them, even when they contradict.
Since becoming a parent, I've always had 1-2 kids in a stroller at the parks, i.e. someone who still needs a nap. We RD every day, and half the time close a park, but we've never stayed open to close without ducking out.
At DLR, it's so much cheaper to eat outside the park, and it's all really close and easy, so we ate most dinners outside. At WDW, between PPO ADRs, EMH, and EMMs, I needed to be up at 5:30-6am every morning to get people out the door. If we'd already seen the fireworks at the park of the day, we wouldn't stay until close so that kids could get to bed. If we wanted to watch the late entertainment, we would take a break so people could rest and be in good spirits for the evening fun.
This January will be my first trip without a stroller. (I already miss the stroller's basket and cup holders!!!!) Now that two of the kids are in double digits (and the eldest has a cell phone so we can all stay in contact), I can see us splitting up, where I stay in the park with bigger folks and may do Open to Close, while DH and the Littles go back to the resort.

Everyone does Disney World differently and enjoys the parks at their own pace. However, my family always rope drop when the park opens and doesn’t leave until park closing. Simply because we cannot justify spending crazy money on a Disney vacation and not spending the entire day at the park, we save up for a long time to even be able to go to Disney World. We have to get our money’s worth and not be sitting at the hotel. We do not have an AP and cannot vacation to Disney World often, only every few years if we are fortunate enough. So we have to make the most of our time and actually be in the parks.
...
Being at the parks isn’t exactly my definition of relaxing, but it’s always a great time.

NODS

We typically do open to close at MK and Epcot, and just half days at HS/AK. We like to go go go on vacation. We can sleep at home

We find that is just takes sooo long for transportation that the breaks usually aren't worth it for us. We will be there for 8 nights and have 2 sleep in lazy days where we can catch up.

THIS. This is how I drive myself out of bed every morning. We only can go every few years, so we have to go big. And the transportation really can eat up the day. We're doing a couple days at BWI just to try to have a WDW experience that's a little closer to the walkability factor at DLR (its big, hands-down win over WDW).

I get hangry; I could easily be the star player in a “mean guest lunch story”.

Good ideas. I just started intermittent fasting six weeks ago, and the "hanger" is real just before I break my fast. I think I better keep an appropriate snack on hand!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

(I already miss the stroller's basket and cup holders!!!!)

Oh trust me, you won't miss having to hunt for the stroller, or taking it on the bus/boat/monorail, pushing it through crowded areas, or the dirty looks from people who walk right into it because THEY weren't looking where they were going.

 

[DisLiss]

On our next trip we only have one really long day at a single park, and that's magic Kingdom on a party night. (MNSSHP) We may go back to the resort at some point, but we don't know yet. I'd rather not bother that day, but it will depend on what the kids decide to wear tot he party and if we can just stow it in a locker or if they can wear it all day.

We'll be sure to hit all of the sit down and relax attractions, like Tiki Birds and Country Bears and such. And we'll take more leisurely meals & breaks. We won't do TS, though, as we prefer QS in general.

We do feel like this will get us on a lot of rides. We'll have more time there to keep trying for more fastpasses, plus we figure a party day will be quieter since many folks not attending the party won't want to go to a park on a day it will close early for them. Plus, we'll have the party time to hit some rides as well.

Our plan is to take it easy the day before and build a few extra rest periods into that day so that we won't be as exhausted the day we're at MK all day long. We also plan on having this day be quite early in our trip.

 

[momof2n2]

We open to close almost every time we go because we like to feel like we're getting our money's worth, lol! We never left the park to go back to rest. We typically visit in February, so the heat is never a huge issue so it's much easier to do all day with no breaks. We schedule maybe one sit down a day or every other day. We almost always schedule a dinner just because it feels more "date night" to us. I wouldn't do more than one in a day because they do eat up a lot of park time.

We can ride basically every ride in every park, some multiple times. We still get bored waiting in line so we won't wait in a line over 30 minutes. It's still fairly easy to get 4th, 5th, 6th FPs so there really isn't a need to wait that long anyway. If we're in HS, we'll watch the shows because there isn't much else for us to do. In all the other parks, we typically don't. We just stroll around or ride the rides.

I could have written this.

OP - we do like a nice meal for dinner.
We opt for early lunch 11:30ish and earlier dinner 4:30 or 5.
Lunch is quick service and dinner TS.
This works well for us.

 

[Breakaway73]

I can't remember because it's been so long--if you finish breakfast at MK, let's say at the castle before the park opens, are there any rides going? If not, do they allow you to line up early? The last time I rope dropped, it seemed like there was no one in line before they let us in. I never go without rope dropping, but I haven't been able to close in a while. I always have something to get to the next day.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Funny thing is, for us, sometimes our 'breaks' end up being one of the most rushed/stressful parts of our day! We regularly joke about our less-than-relaxing WDW breaks.


Trying to arrive for ADR's is one of the more stressful things we do at WDW.

Yeah if you have two hours to take a break at the resort before hauling back for an FP or ADR it may not be worth it. We rope drop, cram in as much as we can, do lunch then take it from there. Sometimes going back to the resort and swimming turns into an all evening thing and we don’t make it back to the parks. Shocking I know!

Getting our money’s worth doesn’t mean 100 rides it means spending the day however we want to

 

[scionchigirl]

I never "took a break" or "nap time" on 5 trips to WDW, until 2016 when my dh and I went on our 25th anniversary trip sans kids. That was during Hurricane Hermine, so we'd be soaked and needed a dry off time.

We got to MK EVERY morning of all our trips (we ALWAYS have park hoppers) because we love Main Street early in the day. We tend to do a TS lunch and QS dinner later in the day, but we bop all over depending on how we feel.

Our next trip is November and our kids are young adults,we havent been to WDW as a group in 5 years...this will be our shortest trip,just 5 nights. We are tightly packed on this one, MCMCP and my 51st birthday during it. But we go,go, go. We get a LOT done at RD. To each his own, its all fun!!!

 

[Saxsoon]

My family usually gets what they want to get done before 2, go back to the resort and sleep for a bit or go to the pool and then go to our dining that evening, usually at another park. I usually stay in the parks while they rest (60 yr old parents to 29 yr old me)

 

[DisneyFlowerBoy]

Our version of open to close (or close to that) is go to one park towards opening or close to it and then hop to another park and stay til close. I think that keeps our interest level up. I have done in the past only 1 park in a whole day but prefer to hop around.

For long park days like that we take meals, and normally we just do quick style, to get off our feet and recharge a bit. Shows can also help just to get a break. People watching is a fun thing for us and gives us kinda a relaxing break from the mentality of go go go. Sometimes all it really takes is 15-30mins sitting down and thinking about something else other than what next to do to help us recharge

 

[dreiwhit]

All my trips we've never done a park from open to close. That's weird, right?
We always have hoppers, so we do one in the morning and one at night. Now with fast pass plus sometimes we hang at resort and make fast passes in afternoon and stay until close.

We've done from RD to close several times in the past. It really depends on what is going on, and how tired we are.

When you do open to close, do you mean you don't leave at all to go back to resort for a break? Do you just find a spot to relax in park?

Yes. Once we arrive, we don't leave to go back to our hotel (we stay off property.) We eat lunch in the park, and occasionally supper as well. Sometimes we stop by McDonalds on the way back to the hotel to grab a late supper.

We have toyed with going back to the car and eating lunch there, but that would only work at parks other than MK, since it can take a while to get to and back from your vehicle at MK.

Do you schedule sit down meals? More than one or does that take up too much time?

We do have sit down meal, but we bring our own lunch most of the time (not always, though) and find a quiet spot to eat. We will buy a soft drink at a gift shop to go with our meal and to keep us from having to carry it with us.

That also means we each carry a backpack with our lunch in it. Typically, our lunch is a sandwich, chips and cookies. We have also thought of bringing in a small cooler with our lunch and storing it in a locker.

Do you find you get on most of rides in doing it this way? Do you take the time to wait in the longer lines since you are there all day?

Staying in the park from RD to close is only part of the strategy. Using FPs and a good touring plan definitely helps us accomplish everything we want to do. At MK and Epcot, we spend two days in each and split up the park into halves. We will spend one day in half of the park, and the next day in the other half. We also don't do roller coasters (back and neck issues) so that helps avoid the most popular rides, like 7DMT. To be honest, most of the time, we get done with everything around 4-5pm, and then go back and ride a few more rides again. Or, we'll cross over and do a ride we like, such as People Mover.

Do you watch all the shows, etc?

Some we go to every time, some we have done in the past and now skip, some have never interested us and we just skip them.

Thanks! Maybe we'll try this next trip to. Maybe DHS with Galaxy's Edge...I'm not sure I wouldn't start to get bored being in same park all day though.

It does make for a long day and you can get tired. If you give this a try, take breaks and rest. We also don't go during the summer, and the summer heat would probably wear you out quicker.

 

[PrincessVi]

Your post made me laugh. It sounds like you want to know how the other half lives. Welcome to the dark side Farro, where commandos reign supreme from ropedrop till fireworks. Yes, we're a little crazy but in a good way.

I get to Disney every 3 to 12 years, I'm lucky to get a week, and AKL was my only deluxe stay, so no walking to the hotel or monorail service. The bus ride back and forth for a break takes a fair bit of time out of the day.

I have to store up Disney memories like a camel. When I'm there I like to arrive 40 minutes before rope drop to be near the front of the pack and hit as many headliners as possible. We aren't in a frenzy, but we have a plan, know where we're going, and we move right along for the first couple of hours doing the more popular rides or rides best done in cooler AM temps.

Midday can be a drag if you expect too much and don't get some rest. In the PM we slow it way down. We often have a table service lunch in the summer and take our time in the AC. If it's nice out we like to eat alfresco at a counter service. Get off our feet and relax. The crowds are highest midday so we shop, take pics, hunt down a photo pass photographer, do an indoor character meet, people watch, and go to high capacity attractions, most of which are indoors. It's fun to chat with cast members or on occasion other guests that are also chilling out.

Sometimes my family goes back to the hotel. They often text to see if I'm okay. I send them a pic of some treat I've just eaten or an attraction photo usually one no one else wants to do. They generally hurry back, although I'm fine and love the "me" time. I'm not sure if they think I'm lonely or if they feel they are missing out. I have gone back for breaks on occasion, but usually at the end of the trip I regret not having had more park time. I just love being there. I appreciate every minute. It seems like a glorious dream that I never want to wake from.

I know there are many that swear by the fast pass refresh method but it hasn't worked well for me and I felt like my head was buried in my phone more than I'd like. I generally book my fast passes in the afternoon making sure to give myself ample time to get a spot for the night time show, then I have something to look forward to in the afternoon when it is more challenging to get on the more popular rides. I like to do counter service for dinner because it allows for more flexibility around fast pass times. I don't like to be late or rushed. I leave lots of room for flexibility, but whenever I have a ressie or FP I head to the vicinity well in advance. It's not so much about quantity as it is about quality and it still requires planning. Long lines aren't fun even if you have all day. Hope you enjoy your day. Think about what you like most in the park and optimize for that and all of the little things you run out of time to do normally will fill in those extra hours.

 

[intricatejewel]

I think everyone’s mileage may vary, but I usually rope drop a park and stay till close. Personally, I love to pack in as much as possible and get to see/experience all the major shows and attractions at least once. When we first started going, WDW was a different beast and didn’t require rope dropping and excessive planning to experience everything. That’s not the case anymore with higher crowds and rides not running at full capacity, so longer waits. I feel I get the most out of my vacation with the commando approach. I’m exhausted at the end of the trip, but so very satisfied. It’s like scratching an itch. I often cap a 6 or 7 day WDW trip with a short Bahamas cruise to unwind after all that running around. However, due to EEMH on my upcoming trip, Animal Kingdom (my favorite park) will be the only park day I plan to rope drop AND stay till close.

 

[bopper]

We are park ploppers, not park hoppers.
We plop in a park for the day.
I dont' want to waste time travelling around.

We sit down (counter service) for lunch and have a sit down dinner.

Note: You can only do two days like this before everyone gets cranky.
Schedule an "off" day on the third day