MK - Late Morning Arrivals

I always find it interesting to see how many people are coming IN the parks between 11-12 as we are leaving. It makes no sense to not take advantage of EMH if staying on property or even going to a NON EMH park at rope drop when off property. We generally stay on property or at springs and use the morning EMH, get a ton done, and then when lines have gotten ridiculous and the heat starts to really hit, be leaving the park betwen 11 and 12, have the afternoon to relax and then use FPs at another park in the evening after a good meal. Its all in how you plan the vacay. You HAVE to plan WDW and if you do the planning on the front end, your trip is a lot more fun. Minimal to zero waits in lines for the top attractions, relaxing out of the heat, using extra time for smaller stuff and just walking around, Nice meals, and FPs saved for the evenings. And when there are extended evenings it makes it even easier. We have done AK from 7-11AM, chilled the majority of the day, had a great dinner around 630 and then went to a park like MK that is open till 11 or 12. Late nights and early mornings are great to get stuff done.
 
We rarely get to the parks before noon, we're much more night owls. We still do everything we want without any issues. I view it as a vacation so I don't want to get up early, plus having 2 teenagers they would rather sleep in and stay up late. We had FP to Mine Train and then would get into stand by right before close - total wait less than 30 min. Once the park closes and there are no more FP's the lines go much faster. Same holds true for FOP. It's just a different strategy than rope drop, I think the results are comparable. We're usually going during peak times so the parks are open later - I do think that makes a difference.
Peak times? Well the week of xmas is as "peak times" as it gets lol. (Our next visit!) I wonder how the late EMH would stack against early mornings during the holiday madness? I cannot do both as I do need 8 hrs of sleep & my family is not really into napping. MK is rumored to open at 7 all week & that will NOT be happening with my sweet teens (who are not sweet in the morning.) LOL.
 
I am always intrigued by those who skip mornings completely. I think My teens would love a trip where they slept in every day & used the evening EMH. Always wonder how the crowds & wait times are after 10 pm. We're usually heading out then due to morning goals lol. I really need 8 hours of sleep & I don't wake up/get ready fast. How long do you usually wait for rides during evening EMH? No FP then, right?

I’ve never once been to a rope drop. It just seems too crowded and stressful to me.

We combine FP refresh with short lines at night to ride pretty much everything we want multiple times.

One key is knowing how the crowds ebb and flow and what to ride when. The other is knowing that the posted waits are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

A good example was last Thursday at DHS. About an hour before closing, the posted wait at TSM was 70 minutes which sent most guests in the other direction. We could tell there was no line and our actual wait was 3 minutes.

When we got off, they had lowered the posted wait to 35.
 


The best rope drop ever was Magic Kingdom New Year’s Day... we literally had the park to ourselves until 10 or 11.

This time not too many rope drops . We’ll be there 9 days and my family will skip being run over at rope drop. The stress of being elbowed and people running will be a welcome change!

I promised I would stay cool and chill this time . Grin
 
Peak times? Well the week of xmas is as "peak times" as it gets lol. (Our next visit!) I wonder how the late EMH would stack against early mornings during the holiday madness? I cannot do both as I do need 8 hrs of sleep & my family is not really into napping. MK is rumored to open at 7 all week & that will NOT be happening with my sweet teens (who are not sweet in the morning.) LOL.

You're brave - we go the week after Easter almost every year. It's a bit crazy, not as crazy as the week of Xmas. I was there just once the week of xmas in 1987/88. It's was insane but a lot of fun. I'd do evening XMH every time. My kids miss the park being open until 1:00 am like it was a few years ago - that was always the best. One year we stayed until 1 am and had a 6 am flight the next morning. They were tired but loved it - they still talk about it and it was 10 years ago.
 
On many trips we have headed to the park right after arriving at our resort. We do not include that day on our tickets until we arrive and see how everyone feels.

We usually arrive at the resort before noon and decide what we feel like doing/if our room is ready etc. Then depending on the resort we either wait at GS to upgrade our tickets or do it at the MK ticket window. MK ticket window is sometimes my preferred option depending on which resort we are at because people can get into pretty long conversations at the resorts about various topics whereas at the park, most people just want to get in.

On our last day this trip, we had a nice early character breakfast at 1900PH then headed back to Poly and packed up our villa before checkout. We entered MK at 11:30 and stayed through the afternoon, went back to the resort for dinner and got picked up for Magical Express. We had a great last day before flying home.

There are also many things we enjoy at the parks that don’t require much waiting at any time of day. And with a little refreshing, you can get some great last minute FP.

We are rope droppers on most days of our trips because my kids are early risers. We enjoy rope drop! But if we find ourselves entering the parks at different times we can still find plenty to do without waiting much.
 
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Even though my upcoming trip will be done in a more laid-back manner, we still plan to RD each park at least once. Given how much we can accomplish the first two hours after park opening, we just can't give it up. Plus, I LOVE the atmosphere of the parks first thing in the morning. I guess HS doesn't strike me as having a much different atmosphere, but the others, especially MK, are... well, "magical" in the morning. If the parks stayed open as late as they used to, we'd maybe consider changing our touring hours. The only time MK seems to be open very late now is during the parties or EMH.
 
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I love the atmosphere first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. Too bad I like to sleep, too!

My dd's and my tradition was to ride Space Mountain on our last night as the park closed. Sometimes we managed to squeeze in a second trip.

We did the 7am at Christmas when dd was maybe 13 or so. The mornings were so sweet, and we'd grab lunch around 11. After that, then she'd wake up. Have you ever seen an unresponsive teen on a roller coaster? I have. It was hilarious!
 
When I was a little kid my family did all the early morning openings and went hard all day at the park until close. Now as an adult, I'm more content with sleeping in, getting to the park a little later, and doing whatever I can with minimal stress. Not everybody needs to see and do everything.
 
My 14 yr old and I are night owls, while my 12 yr old and husband are not. So it becomes interesting.. we tend to do the evening EMH and stay till 1 am (used to be 2 am way back..when my kids were 6 and 8!!) at MK rather than get up early. We get to the parks around 9:30-10.. then go back around 3, nap, go back around 5. But we are not hard planners where we FP everything before we go. I FP the tough ones to get and then when we get there we pick up others. Never had an issue with that except for SDMT.
 
I am always intrigued by those who skip mornings completely. I think My teens would love a trip where they slept in every day & used the evening EMH. Always wonder how the crowds & wait times are after 10 pm. We're usually heading out then due to morning goals lol. I really need 8 hours of sleep & I don't wake up/get ready fast. How long do you usually wait for rides during evening EMH? No FP then, right?

WE always have a combination of RD days and later arrivals, depending on what we want to do that day. No way am I ever going home needing a vacation from my vacation, so if we plan to close a park we do not RD that day.

Our first trips were always a bit later arrival because my DSIL and my DGD were nightowls. Jeff worked nights, and Kady never fell asleep early, so she slept in as a little one. WE kept her schedule as close as possible, and had later dinners. We often went to a park just before close for the fireworks, or when there was an evening parade in MK, for that.

This trip is also a combination of early mornings and later afternoons. WE get done what we get done, and do not look back.
 
I think quite of a few of those people entering later in the day are park-hopping.

Since the parks with EMH tend to have larger crowds, my plan is to rope-drop EMH, ride as long as we reasonably can on standby, and then park hop late morning/early afternoon to the second park where I will have our FPs set up. So, I might be one of those people entering MK at 11:30, but it's because I was at AK at 8, and I've got FPs all set for my late arrival at the second park.
 
Moral of the story is: everyone tours differently. As much as I agree with you and my family are rope droppers...some might question seeing us leave around 5:00 in the afternoon or maybe even earlier! And yes, we are done for the day. But that's what works for us. Personally, those that love to sleep in or not get to a park until noon...more power to ya! I don't need anymore people at rope drop! Lol
 
Moral of the story is: everyone tours differently. As much as I agree with you and my family are rope droppers...some might question seeing us leave around 5:00 in the afternoon or maybe even earlier! And yes, we are done for the day. But that's what works for us. Personally, those that love to sleep in or not get to a park until noon...more power to ya! I don't need anymore people at rope drop! Lol
 

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