Night Commando

[blondietink]

I believe we have officially become park night commandos instead of just plain park commandos. It seems so much hotter this year than it has in past August's that we have come for the past 10 years. So, our strategy has become: pool time in the morning, lunch, rest/nap, hit the parks about 4 pm until close. We have been able to walk right on many rides using this strategy this trip, including a 5 minute wait for Mission Space, no wait for Peter Pan's flight, 5 minute wait for BTMRR, etc.. Buses also seem less crowded going in the late afternoon.

 

[Janell]

Sounds like the plan worked out great for you. That is wonderful. Glad to hear it. We may try it next week on the few night the parks are open really late.

 

[Stinger5]

Ah, the notorious Nighttime commando! The bravest of all commando stock!

It takes a special breed-I believe I was listed as a commando on another thread but this has to be new ground. Unless someone has found another claim, you may be the charter member of the night commando group!!!

 

[stormer]

How are the waits for Test Track and Soarin ant that time. I have always wanted to sleep late and then stay late but I worry about FP being gone for those two rides and then them having crazy waits.

 

[of the seas]

We do that too. The only ride we found a line over 20 minutes was Space Mountain. On the oter end of the park, we usually can ride Spalsh, Thunder, Carpets, and Pirates over and over! But, be prepared to stay up to 2am!

 

[blondietink]

I believe that Soarin was a 30 min wait and Test Track 25 minutes. We didn't do those as we had a dinner reservation in Norway. I will say that the meal we had in Norway was the best character meal we have ever had. No rushing, we were in a quiet part of the restaurant, the food was delicious, and the Princesses just loved my Princes. Tonight we went back to MK for dinner at Crystal Palace, stayed for the parade and fireworks and were back at Caribbean Beach via bus by 11:10 (we are in Aruba, the 2nd to last stop). Loading/unloading an ECV took some extra time. Tomorrow evening will be an Epcot day with dinner in England, drinks in France and Illuminations. Night commandos unite!

 

[Janell]

Sounds like a fun day. Hows the weather at night? I hear during the day you can sweat buckets. But Im not sure about night time.

Have a great day tomorrow at Epcot. Dinner in England sounds yummy.

 

[2BEKs]

this is AWESOME news!!!

I was seriously thinking about doing this - but as this is my kids' first trip - I was too scared to even ATTEMPT a night plan.

maybe I'll plug in some NIGHTS only into RideMax and see what pops out!

YAY!

PS - we leave today!!

 

[blondietink]

Update: Today the wait for Soarin at 5 pm was 95 minutes. No Fastpass availability. Got in to see the characters at the greeting place in Epcot with minimal 20 minute wait at the most. No last minute reservations available in Epcot .... good thing we had a ressie at Rose & Crown. Went to the 2nd showing of Fantasmic at 10:30 in HOllywood Studios. Took the boat from Epcot to the studios at 8:15 pm and was at the studios in 25 minutes. No wait to get on the Great Movie Ride. 2nd showing of Fantasmic was only at about 75% capacity. A CM we talked to said that the 2nd showing is never full. Had to be in line by 10 pm or they would not let you in. Easy out to the bus back to Caribbean Beach after stopping to shop and there were only about 8 people waiting for the bus. The night commando thing is still working for us. Weather for the rest of the week is 95 every day with a heat index of 105 and 40% chance of rain. We have not seen rain since last Friday,but it sure is HOT!

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I traveled alone with my 3 kids (10, 8 & 5) in July. We used the night commando technique. We'd sleep until 10-11 then hit the pool and head to the park about 4. We did 3 days at MK and 2 at Epcot, all nights were EMH except 1. The EMH were until 12 at Epcot and 2 and 3 at MK. My kids loved going so late and the method worked great for us! Walked on all rides at MK except for Peter Pan which we got a FP for. Also was able to get FP for SM, BTMRR. At Epcot the FP for TT & Soarin were gone both days but we got a 30 minute wait at Soarin right as Illuminations started one night and went to TT right before midnight and the wait was only about 10 minutes so we were still able to ride everything.

The heat was much more bearable at night. It is really humid though so if you are walking quickly across the park you'll be sweating! But better than doing it in the sun!

 

[cjb71870]

From the first post, that was so exciting to think they were the "Night Commando's".... Which sounded like what we do after a morning at a park and a nap in the afternoon and then head back at @ 4:00!!!!

 

[blondietink]

We would have been the early EMH commando through evening EMh commando except for the brutal heat. Has made my DH sick, have seen the EMT's in the parks, at resorts & everywhere else because people cannot handle the heat. It has never been this bad at this time of year and we have been coming at the end of August for the last 10 years. So, night commandos to get as much in as possible when the temps are something we northerners can tolerate. Later this week MK will be open until 3 am!