"reverse" summer strategy: late afternoon- close?

[MermaidMommy]

As you have noted, evening EMH's have been cut back. AK dosen't have any, and the other parks only have one. Plus, they're now down to 2 hours instead of three. Additionally, even in the busy summer season, MK's park hours are shorter than in the past, so the EMH's there aren't as late as in the past. (For example, you used to be able to stay in MK until 3:00am with EMH, but now the latest, even in summer, is usually 1:00am.) Disney and I wouldn't expect to see any EMH additions for your November trip.

Also, you'll need to take the shortened park hours into consideration at that time of year. AK will usually close at 5, HS around 8, and MK at 9. Add 2 hours to that for EMH. However, at MK, you'll have many 7:00 closings because of MVMCP, which makes the non-MVMCP nights quite crowded.

 

[phillymummer]

We go in August all the time and we are from Jersey. It is hot but you are in Disney! It may rain but you are in Disney! we do the rope drop-swim-shower-back to the parks. works great.

Oh and Jersey week may not be the same as both DH and I are teachers and he does not have "jersey week off at all and I only have two days. Since Sandy schools are rethinking breaks.

The bolded part may work for some people, but not my hubby. He does not..... feel the magic like most people here. He needs some

I did not think about "Jersey Week" post- Sandy. I from SW Jersey, where we were not hit badly from the Hurricane. But if anything changes with the convention, then going in November might not be possible at all.

 

[juliebug1997]

While it says 2014, the opening for the expansion does not have a concrete date. What if they fall behind? If it's that important to you, why not wait until the next year and save a few more $$$ for an even longer trip?

 

[phillymummer]

Does anyone have any insight as to why they cut back so dramatically on the number of late EMHs? It seems everyday there are early EMHs at one of the parks, but only 3-4 late ones. It doesn't seem fair for the night owls.

I am considering making this a mommy/daughter trip. If he really wants he can join us in Universal. I don't think he would want to be left out of seeing the new HP expansion.

Again, thank you for the advice. While it might be wonderful to walk on rides in the early hours of the day, I fully know the consequences of doing a park without enough sleep. We have been "that family" having a meltdown in Fantasyland (it wasn't just my daughter). We may be able to do that RD/Resort/Park plan for the first day, but definitely would not be able to swing it the following days.

So much to consider.

 

[phillymummer]

While it says 2014, the opening for the expansion does not have a concrete date. What if they fall behind? If it's that important to you, why not wait until the next year and save a few more $$$ for an even longer trip?

At this point, that is what I may do. Maybe August of 2015. That was my original plan, but I am wanting a Disney fix and as soon as I read that the HP expansion would open in summer of 2014, I jumped on the idea of going a year earlier. I know you DISers know what I mean!

 

[pattibehan]

As a mom to two teenage boys, they will get up early ..but NOT every day..AK is a late day..we go around the time of the parade, and stay until closing..We always go the last two weeks of August..it is hot and it rains..I pack the misting fans and the ponchos every day. some of our best days have been rainy ones !


Posted from DISboards.com App for Android

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I gotta say, I'm actually looking forward to FP+ for this reason. My DH hates getting up early on vacation and I end up feeling like we are burning the candle at both ends. If we have the ability to book fast passes on our phone then we will probably not get to the parks until 11 and then stay all night. I'll do one MK rope drop but that will be it. We are night owls anyway and I love the parks at night especially in the summer.

 

[visegrip72]

We love this plan, and usually did it all the time. Now that the kids are older and don't need as much rest, we may just pick certain attractions that you just sit in and relax a bit. Like others mentioned, EMH used to be till 3am and most all the strollers and pushy parents that have to hit every ride are gone and the positive energy was huge. Just so much fun. Being they've cut back a ton on EMH, not sure how great it is now compared to the past. When the economy was really not great, we went to the park and you could tell. Maybe the extended EMH were cut because they just were not getting the people/extra sales, and may return later. We do know there was one day last month, I think, that they had signs in HS saying "tonight's park hours have been extended to 12am" or something like that. All the documentation still had either 10 or 11 closing. So maybe the EMH are for everyone and depends on crowd levels. Also gotta wonder about workers and pay and stuff.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I am NOT a morning person EXCEPT at Disney. However, I can't wake up early AND stay up late.

When the kids were younger, we did everything at RD and was back at the resort before 3-4pm, most times before the thunderstorms. Afternoons were for pool, relaxing, ADRs, etc. No one wanted to go back to the parks, except maybe Epcot for dinner or to walk around WS.

We slept pretty early. We missed many fireworks and parades. Lol.

My girls are older now and we WANT to stay out late. So, we will be trying your stategy at least for a few days.

 

[Simba's Girl]

I am fairly certain we will be attempting this strategy or something close to it on our next trip in Mid-August.

My kiddos (13,10,6) are getting older and the two oldest are sleepers. I am fairly certain I can get the youngest to sleep later if she is out later, even if I can't I know that our group will most likely split up. I may leave DH in the resort to supervise the two older ones, or I will, and the other will take the younger one to a park. Once they get up we will meet up, either at the pool or a park.

I know for certain that one morning we will have to get to DHS early for TSM, but other than that I am not concerned. We have been to WDW plenty of times and feel no need for a RD/Commando strategy. It is our vacation and we want to have the freedom to do whatever and be free from a touring plan. That said, we will tour smart-pay attention to wait times and "best parks". We know that Disney is not going anywhere and we *will* have the opportunity to go back in the future.

It also helps that we will be there for 10 days. Our family likes to go to WDW about every 3 years and stay longer, as opposed to every year or so and stay shorter.

As far as the heat and humidity, I can't specify how August is, but I do know having been in November before that I have a hard time with November's heat. By that time I am used to the cooler, drier air.

 

[yellen97]

We are leaving in one week and I know it will be HOT HOT HOT! but we went on vacation last year to Ohio and it was HOT HOT HOT too. It is hot at home as well, so that's my justification for not minding the heat. When we went other places there were not even air conditioned theaters to walk into, beautiful hotel swimming pools etc. So, I feel doing Disney is still a better option than many other things to do in the heat.

That being said, I hate the morning rush and this time we seem to have planned alternating late nights with late mornings so we don't have to rush out every day- but will not be quite sleeping in either. Schlepping back to the hotel in the middle of the day isn't exactly easy so I never felt much of a "rest" in doing so anyway.

August shouldn't be too bad, go for it. Just keep an open mind and as long as you don't go commando and push too much you will manage fine- even when people get over-heated and grumpy!

 

[kam1011]

It gets better around 6pm. One year, the weather was so bad (105^ everyday) that we would stay out late, sleep in late, get up swim at the resort, and head to the parks in the late afternoon. It was so much cooler, it made the crowds more tolerable. The crowds would taper off as the night went on. However, we had park hoppers so we stayed away from the EMH park and hopped when it was close to closing time. We adjusted to this schedule midweek and did it for about three days in a row after dreading how hot and miserable it was.

(We always travel in the summer. This was the worst week I can remember of the past 30 trips there)

 

[hakepb]

Last I checked Weather.com, Orlando's all time high was only 103.(we have a real 113 up here in the Midwest ).you might be thinking heat index.

Back to topic... My trip at the beginning of the month..we did our normal, sleep in, eat a late breakfast (near 11:00) then go into the parks. For the first time ever, it didn't work that well before our afternoon break. (About 1 attraction an hour..but half our troubles were all the water/snack/bathroom stops, but still) When we got back in after 6 or 7pm we were back to our good few rides an hour.

The late strategy was helped by getting 1 or 2 FP to use that evening, and those FP are needed for TSM , Soarin and TT.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Why can't a teacher take a week off whenever they want? There are substitutes aren't there?? My boy's 2nd grade teacher took a few days off to visit Disneyland ~ good for her I say.

I will never visit FL in the summer months, early Oct 2009 was miserable enough weather wise, I'm hoping our later Oct visit this year is better.

 

[delgrec]

Why can't a teacher take a week off whenever they want? There are substitutes aren't there?? My boy's 2nd grade teacher took a few days off to visit Disneyland ~ good for her I say.

I will never visit FL in the summer months, early Oct 2009 was miserable enough weather wise, I'm hoping our later Oct visit this year is better.

Most districts only give a small amount of personal days ( mine gives three) and many do not allow you to take them consecutively and/or tacked onto a school break. I am in a position that doesn't require a sub (social worker) and even I have a hard time getting approval to use two consecutive days.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't read all the replies so I apologize if I am repeating. But isn't it rule of thumb to avoid parks with PM EMH unless you are going during EMH? I think generally, they say parks with PM EMH are more crowded at the time you are proposing to go because the people who don't read the DIS (read: the majority of people who visit WDW) will hop to that park in late afternoon or even sleep in and go late afternoon so they can stay at that park late.

If you want to sleep in, I would probably start around 2pm and go to a park that doesn't have PM EMH. The heat and humidity will still be killer but frankly, I didn't notice it tail off too much into the evening. Around 2pm, people who have been there since the morning will filter out for the mid-afternoon breaks so you may even catch a break on crowds.

 

[phillymummer]

Why can't a teacher take a week off whenever they want? There are substitutes aren't there?? My boy's 2nd grade teacher took a few days off to visit Disneyland ~ good for her I say.

I will never visit FL in the summer months, early Oct 2009 was miserable enough weather wise, I'm hoping our later Oct visit this year is better.

1. Yes, there are substitutes, however....a substitute, no matter how good, can not "replace" the teacher. Not as much will get accomplished for various reasons which I won't go into here.

2. Teachers do not get "vacation days". We get sick days and personal days. In my district we can only take two personal days in a row without a reason. More than that and you have to explain why you need three in a row. When I took my daughter to Disney for her 5th birthday, I did request 3 days off. I made it a very big deal (lots of extended family members included). I managed to get it approved. You also cannot take personal days around a holiday without explanation. I know teachers that have been denied or given a very hard time when asking to use a personal day around holidays.

Personally, I do not like to miss days even if it is for vacation. I would never take 3 days again for a vacation (unless there were unforeseen circumstances). This past October, I took two days for a quick trip 4-day trip to Disney and didn't even like doing that.

I do like your attitude, though! Most of the time teachers get grief bc we "have off the whole summer". But that is a topic for another day.....

 

[phillymummer]

Didn't read all the replies so I apologize if I am repeating. But isn't it rule of thumb to avoid parks with PM EMH unless you are going during EMH? I think generally, they say parks with PM EMH are more crowded at the time you are proposing to go because the people who don't read the DIS (read: the majority of people who visit WDW) will hop to that park in late afternoon or even sleep in and go late afternoon so they can stay at that park late.

If you want to sleep in, I would probably start around 2pm and go to a park that doesn't have PM EMH. The heat and humidity will still be killer but frankly, I didn't notice it tail off too much into the evening. Around 2pm, people who have been there since the morning will filter out for the mid-afternoon breaks so you may even catch a break on crowds.

I was actually thinking about that strategy. I was wondering if I should get PH passes, start out at a recommended park and then later in the evening hop over to the park with the late EMS. But do the lower crowds in the afternoon/ early evening outweigh the travel time between parks (especially if I am leaving with the masses- don't people start leaving about one-two hours before park close? I did PH one time and I did not like traveling between parks. It seemed like such a waste of time. But then again, I am still a newbie when it comes to touring the parks so any thoughts here would be appreciated.

 

[CarrieR]

One potential wrinkle in your plan is that there may not even BE EMH by next fall. They are slowly and systematically phasing them out. We have lost PM EMH at AK, an hour off of all PM EMHes, the second MK PM EMH...

We go over school vacations too and although you can get some done by going afternoon/evening, it wouldn't be enough to justify it for me. We definitely have to do the sandwich method. We love love LOVE late nights at the park but the EMHes are not emptying out like they used to (especially now that they are only two hours long.) If I were going to do evening only, I would probably choose the park with the latest non-EMH hours and go there.

 

[arielmomma]

As another person who does not scramble to get to rope drop, I am all about theme parking in the evenings.

When we went last August, we did the waterparks during the day and then arrived in the parks between 4-6 and stayed until close each night. It worked out great for us. The rain storms are usually earlier. In our experience, they are usually between 12-3. I think it rained once out of our week in the evening. The fast passes are gone when you go in the evenings, but we were able to get onto all the rides we wanted to hit, especially if it had rained earlier in the day.