Actually, rope drop is right at the edge of the France Pavilion, as I believe you can buy pastries and such inside France. It's then a clear walk around to the front of EPCOT.
On the other side of World Showcase, the rope is up just beyond Norway, allowing you to get to the Princess Breakfast there.
If you have a reservation for that breakfast, you can't go around the "short way" from the International Gateway to Norway, and the ferries aren't running either. On our last trip we saw more than one family that had breakfast reservations and cut it way too close because they thought they could walk around World Showcase.