Thinking about trying a late day strategy at WDW

[Kickstart]

Last time we were in WDW was 2019 - and we did our typical early morning strategy (with FP+ booked ahead of time) - trying to get to the parks before opening each morning.
We'd usually follow a custom Touring Plans plan which had us wrapping up early afternoon, and then we'd head back to the hotel to recharge... then with park hopers we'd go somewhere for dinner and maybe catch a few more rides.

We've got a trip coming up for the first seven days of April - and I'm wondering if we might be better off with a late day touring strategy instead. Especially with the way LL and G+ work, I'm wondering if we should try a stacking approach.
We'll be staying at BLT, so assuming they're still doing the extend evening hours for MK and EPCOT, we could take advantage of those on Monday and Wednesday.
We're not really early morning people anyway, so maybe play to our "strengths"?

I'm thinking maybe I'd wake up at 7am, start grabbing LL/LL+, maybe go back to bed for an hour, have a leisurely breakfast with the fam, then we'd all head out to the parks late morning / early afternoon. I also like the thought of having brunch at a TS restaurant... actually do a WDW trip that feels like a vacation for once
But, Touring Plans is estimating the average crowd level will between 7's and 8's while we're there (with HS being in the 9's) and my gut is telling me we'd probably be better off getting to the parks first thing in the morning.

I would love to hear thoughts/suggestions/advice on this.
Thanks

 

[coasternut22]

Stacking doesn’t give you more rides in a day, it gives you more rides within a certain period of time, generally late in the day. To maximize the number of rides in day, you need to be in the park all day so that when you refresh, and get a return time fifteen minutes out, you are actually in the park to scan in, and rebook right away. Rinse and repeat. The advantage stacking has is that it eliminates wait times while you are there, say from 3pm to 9pm. But you don’t necessarily get on more rides.

If you dont care about the number of attractions you go on, but prioritize simply not standing in line during the time you are there, then your late arrival/stacking plan will work just fine. But if you want to go on most things while also seeing shows, etc., then you are looking at full or 3/4 full park days.

There are two YouTube videos you should see. First is the Mammoth Club channel, “2023 G+ Guide.” There she does a MK stack with a 3pm arrival. She gets on a good number of rides, but clearly not everything. Next is the Ear Scouts channel. He has the best G+ tutorials out there. Look for the “G+ Tips for the Busy Time of Year.” He gets a LL for every ride at HS on Christmas Eve. But he had to be in the park all day to do so. These two videos will show you realistically what you can do for each situation.

 

[Kickstart]

Thanks for the advice @coasternut22 ! I'll check out those videos.

For this trip, we're thinking we're not going to try and do everything. We were exhausted at the end of our trip in 2019. That said, we want to hit all the new rides since 2019 (so Remy's, GoG, Tron, MRR, RoTR) and hit our favorites as well... so that can become a long list.

The other variable is my parents will be joining us for the first half of the trip (both approaching 80), so we'll need to plan some time to meet-up for lunch/dinner (and maybe breakfast/brunch), but for the most part they're not going to "tour" with us. I'm thinking about meeting-up with them at Tusker house for lunch so they have an excuse to check out Animal kingdom (which I don't believe they've seen before).

IDK, maybe we still do early morning but just take a longer afternoon break. It's just such a pain to plan this stuff not knowing when your LL returns times are going to be. The concern with doing both early mornings and staying late (i.e. for extended hours), is it's hard to keep that up more than a few days in a row.

 

[_19disnA]

We were also last at Disney in 2019 and used FastPass to get on many of the most popular rides. Even with the free FastPass, we had limited success getting additonial ones after we used up the 3 you could schedule ahead of time. We always scheduled them comprehending where in the park rides were located. It made NO sense to us to zig/zag from one end of the park to the other just to get to your next ride reservation.

Can't say if that new Genie thing is any better/worse but clearly it isn't free. Always seemed to me that later in the day the parks tended to be less busy since the early crowds have run out of steam and likely back at the hotels resting. We were never the go-go-go types either, so were never ones to get up at the crack of dawn to race off to some park just as it opened. I would think doing non-park things during the day would leave the afternoon/evenings open for your park time. Also makes sense if you go during a time of year when it is HOT during the day. Being a bit cooler in the evening makes walking around the parks more enjoyable.

Always seems like the most popular rides draw the most people. Whether you go later in the day when fewer people might be around or try to use one of the paid Genie things might yield similar results. We have no current plans to return to Disney, but I doubt we would pay anything extra for Genie since it just seems like a money grab to me.

 

[DL1WDW2]

You’re at Disney
You can sleep at home!

 

[NJlauren]

It all depends on your goals.

If your goal is to do as much as possible rope drop is your friend. If your goal is to hit 4/5 specific rides and have some meals and relax your plan works.

Honestly I hate mid day breaks, and for the most part they aren’t great for my family. I know this a plan accordingly. Some days we rise early do our things and head out and call it a day. Some days a later start, and some days we push through with early start till close. It’s really a personal preference and what your goals are. Both work for different people for different trips.

 

[loves to dive]

How many and what age are "we". A lot might depend on that. Personally, I've been twice since Genie+, one busy time and one time with everything a walk on. I didn't buy Genie+ either time. Other than Tron obviously, I rode all the rides you mentioned and many more each time. I even got sick on a Wens night of a trip I was leaving on Sat. so most of the day Thurs. and 1/2 of the day Friday, I was in bed at my resort. Even that trip I rode everything I wanted to ride. I stay at the Epcot resorts, most of the time Dolphin. While I might sort of do EE, I rarely get to the parks at the beginning of it. I didn't do late nights at all, even though Dolphin qualifies for it, I'm old and most of the time too tired. I always go back to the resort for at least a hour or two mid-day.

Easter is April 9 this year so you will most likely be there during someone's spring break, so yes, crowds. What works for me - doing whatever I want or can until around 1 or so, that includes shopping, rides and shows. Back to the resort and hot tub/pool/nap until around 3:30 or so. Hop to a different park, usually the one I have a reservation for the next day. That way I can knock out a ride or two that evening. Yes, on the busier trip I did stand in some long lines, maybe a hour. Did it bother me? No, I never used FP+ that much and have been going for many years before FP so standing in line isn't new. I do eat at a couple of TS restaurants through out a trip, but I don't make ADRs in advance. I just book whatever looks good day of and since I have PHs, the booths at the festivals make up at least one meal a day. No planning, seat of the pants, go with flow is possible as long as you know you will stand in some lines.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Crowds are always bad over spring break and your week is also the local area schools' spring break so I'd anticipate you'd have shoulder to shoulder crowds. If I were you and your goal is not to try to do it all, the late day arrival is where it's at. We visit every spring break and our visit last year was a combination of a few early days but mostly later. I'd wake up for G+ an iLL$ and go back to sleep. Even with pretty crazy crowds, we were able to get most of what we wanted done with a few small concessions. I felt like it was worth it for us not to RD every day and I do feel like not being an early bird is so much more relaxing. We also did a few midday breaks too which was needed at DHS when waits were really long and we didn't have any G+ rides coming up.

Our DHS and MK days were mid AM arrivals, both days we took midday breaks staying at the dolphin. On our DHS day we were able to secure 4 G+ rides and 1 iLL$, 5 other attractions standby. It doesn't sound like much but on packed days, I think that's a pretty good run. MK day we got 6 G+, 7 standby and we did not purchase iLL$. We also had EEH at MK so we were able to ride SM and 7DMT twice during EEH along with a few other non headliners.

G+ has changed our park touring plans. Now because we are at the mercy of the Genie, we don't make ADRs on days we have G+. And keep in mind on what rides you get at 7am for G+ could be earlier than what you anticipated so you may have to roll with the punches if you don't modify it. We also don't mess with buying G+ at Epcot or AK, just use iLL$ there. Not enough bang for our buck for our family. Could be worth it for families with small kids for FEA, etc but my kids are teenagers and we can kill a lot of time buying cute food at the booths during festivals and window shopping.

Overall, so long as you have a solid park plan of what you want to accomplish and you/your family understand that the G+ rules, you will be fine given the crowds. We always have great spring break trips even with the heavy crowds.

 

[mslhb]

I have this same exact question so please let me know how your trip goes. Our last trip was in 2018 when we rope dropped and had perfected our fast pass + strategy. My daughter is now a teenager and neither she nor my husband are interested in early mornings. We have been to Disney several times and I know will go again so I’m trying to go into this next trip in more of a “relaxed“ mode!

 

[Kickstart]

I'll let you know... but I still haven't decided how to tackle the parks. I've got three weeks to come up with our strategy

My parents will be joining us for the first half of the trip. They won't be doing any rides and most likely won't spend much time in the parks with us, but we have ADR's planned (as well as cirque de soleil one night) - so our evenings won't be as flexible.... but we'll figure something out.

We're not planning to fit everything in, so there's not a lot of pressure either. Me, DW, DD25, DS23, DD14, and my brother will be the group "hitting the parks" and we'll just focus on the new rides and some of our favorites. I'm trying to decide if there's another show in the parks worth having my parents put the effort in to come into the park for part of the day. Maybe a dessert fireworks party, IDK.

Thanks everyone for all the advice!