Non-Rope Dropping Strategies

[KeriBlujeans]

I'm a life-long rope dropper, whose family is all rope-droppers. I'm doing my first adults only Disney trip Jan 27-Feb 3, and I have two folks in the group who are Not Morning People. They've also never done Disney before. I know that there are folks who do not rope-drop, some of who close out the parks. My question is to all of you: what are your tips, tricks, and strategies for a successful park day visit without rope-dropping?

 

[kilik64]

If you are staying deluxe, make sure to plan around the extended evening hours for your dates.

Other tip is to save big headline ride for your last ride. Long as you are in line prior to closing time you get to ride. You then will also have a nice walk out of park that’s nearly empty. Also don’t let wait time deter you, they intentionally inflate late at night to discourage people from getting in line.

If doing g+, you can be the one to get up early to start booking to stack up some rides for later in the day. Book first one at 7am (think that is still first time you can book) and get whatever time you get and modify it to later if you need to. Then book next after 2 hour cooldown and so on. Can have a good night where you have 3 or more maybe g+ rides stacked up.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Get up,
Go to breakfast
Go to park
Spend a few hours, do a few rides
Go to the pool,
Go to dinner
Go to the park do a few more rides

it help if you have extra magic hours in your favor

And coming back every few months helps too

 

[Brian Noble]

We've grown to love later-start days. The easiest way to think about it: you are going to do what you normally do as a "rope drop" day, but in reverse. Start with shows/anytime attractions, then from lower-wait to higher-wait attractions, finishing with a headliner.

One significant advantage of late start days is that you can stack G+ return times, and that can make for a very nice evening. See the beginning of the G+ thread for how to do this.

Another advantage of late start days is that brunch at the various resorts is an option! We've always enjoyed a late breakfast seating at Boma, followed by a little time at the savanna overlook. I'm also partial to brunch at Olivia's--always a relaxing, low-key spot.

It can be harder to plan in advance. With a rope drop day, you have an idea of how long things will take, but if they take a little longer, you can stay a little later or decide to cut an anytime attraction or two. With a late-start/close day, the end is the end, and you are saving the "big" things for the end, so if you run out of time, you miss a "big" thing. This is when it might be helpful to have a subscription to Touring Plans or use a similar tool that can give you a sense for how wait times are likely change as the evening wears on. You still have to roll with the punches, but you'll at least have a sense.

 

[Selket]

Genie+ stacking could be your friend. The parks may not be open too late that time of year, but if the people want to ride things, doing so while everyone is waiting for fireworks/Fantasmic/etc. can shorten the wait times for rides in the evening. It's also good to go in with everyone picking a "must do" and the rest is gravy...and the expectation you won't get to everything.

Also the rope droppers could do their thing - and meet up with the others later. No reason you have to all stick together like glue is there?

 

[loves to dive]

Define successful. Do you mean riding as many rides as you can? My idea of successful is most likely very different than others. We never buy Genie+, we also never try to ride as many rides as we can. On any given trip a successful day for me might actually be different then it was on another day.

But, a good day for me might be:
I never rope drop unless I just so happen to be up and ready just because I woke up early and thought why not. Even if I'm up early, I'm not a fan of crowds so I tend to wait a bit. Let's say I'm up, had my coffee, gotten dressed and I'm at a WDW resort so have early entry. I might get there at the end of early entry and find a place to grab something to eat and sit and eat and just watch the crowds. I do basically the same if I've slept in, I never get there at rope drop, I don't need the running of the bulls. I might look at wait times on MDE and walk over to a ride that has a lowish wait, maybe 30 min. Rinse and repeat. I'm a big fan of breaks at the resort and park hoppers. Now that we will be able to hop any time, if a park is too crowded I'll just hop out and go somewhere else. I usually go back to my resort a little after lunch or around lunch, eat at the resort or another resort, go to the pool for some quality hot tub time or to the room for some quality rest time. Then around 3 or so, head off to some other park. Rinse and repeat. If I have longer than a 4 day trip, I can ride every ride I want to just by park hopping. I also love to watch shows so I scatter them in throughout my day and scatter in some time to just enjoy the parks. I like to go slow and take in all the details. I never make ADRs in advance, maybe a day in advance if there is somewhere I really want to eat, otherwise it's just day of while walking around. Park Hoppers come in handy there because I can eat in any park I find an ADR I want for. I can also eat at any time I want since I don't usually have kids with me. I have never not been able to find a same day ADR somewhere and I like finding new places to eat. For me, it's all about not having to be anywhere at any specific time, thus no Genie+ or advance ADRs, it's all seat of the pants go with the flow. I also rarely stay until park close, again, don't need those crowds. I will watch a fireworks show every once in a while but if I'm at MK, I'll find some out of the way place to watch it instead of right in front of the castle in the crowd. Unless you are behind a pole at HS, you can see that show from anywhere in the theater. Epcot is mostly in the sky, with a little bit of water projections so again, anywhere. Since I'm not usually right in the middle of things, I can just sit and wait until most people are out of the way to make my way out of the park.

If you are about the rides, just pick two or three must dos and anything other than that is extra. Also, find out what they think they want to do and don't over plan or just plan things that you think they might want to do.

 

[Donna3271]

Define successful. Do you mean riding as many rides as you can? My idea of successful is most likely very different than others. We never buy Genie+, we also never try to ride as many rides as we can. On any given trip a successful day for me might actually be different then it was on another day.

But, a good day for me might be:
I never rope drop unless I just so happen to be up and ready just because I woke up early and thought why not. Even if I'm up early, I'm not a fan of crowds so I tend to wait a bit. Let's say I'm up, had my coffee, gotten dressed and I'm at a WDW resort so have early entry. I might get there at the end of early entry and find a place to grab something to eat and sit and eat and just watch the crowds. I do basically the same if I've slept in, I never get there at rope drop, I don't need the running of the bulls. I might look at wait times on MDE and walk over to a ride that has a lowish wait, maybe 30 min. Rinse and repeat. I'm a big fan of breaks at the resort and park hoppers. Now that we will be able to hop any time, if a park is too crowded I'll just hop out and go somewhere else. I usually go back to my resort a little after lunch or around lunch, eat at the resort or another resort, go to the pool for some quality hot tub time or to the room for some quality rest time. Then around 3 or so, head off to some other park. Rinse and repeat. If I have longer than a 4 day trip, I can ride every ride I want to just by park hopping. I also love to watch shows so I scatter them in throughout my day and scatter in some time to just enjoy the parks. I like to go slow and take in all the details. I never make ADRs in advance, maybe a day in advance if there is somewhere I really want to eat, otherwise it's just day of while walking around. Park Hoppers come in handy there because I can eat in any park I find an ADR I want for. I can also eat at any time I want since I don't usually have kids with me. I have never not been able to find a same day ADR somewhere and I like finding new places to eat. For me, it's all about not having to be anywhere at any specific time, thus no Genie+ or advance ADRs, it's all seat of the pants go with the flow. I also rarely stay until park close, again, don't need those crowds. I will watch a fireworks show every once in a while but if I'm at MK, I'll find some out of the way place to watch it instead of right in front of the castle in the crowd. Unless you are behind a pole at HS, you can see that show from anywhere in the theater. Epcot is mostly in the sky, with a little bit of water projections so again, anywhere. Since I'm not usually right in the middle of things, I can just sit and wait until most people are out of the way to make my way out of the park.

If you are about the rides, just pick two or three must dos and anything other than that is extra. Also, find out what they think they want to do and don't over plan or just plan things that you think they might want to do.

I love this! GREAT ATTITUDE! I am going to follow this and stop stressing.

 

[dd316]

Just meet the two late risers in the park later in the day. Maybe after the first day of telling them everything you did while they were still asleep it might encourage them to set their alarm a little earlier.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Stack lightning lanes all the way! If you go to the parks after lunch you can have 3 or 4 rides stacked and ready to go and get the filler rides done in between. I used to be a rope dropper, but find it way more relaxing to have brunch and wonder over to the parks knowing I don’t have any lines to stand in until my stacked LLs have run out! Hopefully Genie+ won’t be $39 a pop when you visit!

 

[SDKMom]

We were just there from 12/26-12/30 to celebrate my daughter's 21st, and by 12/29 my 17 yo was done getting up at the crack of dawn! We were very successful stacking LL for that evening, even during the busiest week of the year. We purchased $ILL for 7DMT and Tron, and had BTMRR, SM, PP, and Buzz lined up starting around 5:15 through 10:45 with a late dinner at BOG at 8:45. Just remember you can book a ride and then modify the time to suit your schedule.

 

[CarolynFH]

We stopped trying to make rope drop on our first trip back in 1994, when we realized we’d have to get up earlier on vacation than we did at home for school and work. Nowadays we take advantage of ILL$ and Genie+, particularly the ability to stack and modify Genie+LLs, as well as DEEH and VQs. That said, we no longer have to do “everything,” we just aim for our favorites and anything that’s new to us.

 

[Jhp8]

Agreed on stacking. Honestly, we typically have more lightening lanes then we can handle by that time in the day. Also, jump in line for headliners at the end of the day or during fireworks at the MK.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Get up,
Go to breakfast…

The Not Morning folks I know do not wake up on vacay in time breakfast! (Thank goodness I don’t Disney with them because I would lose my mind)

 

[Boopuff]

Over the years we went from littles, to teens, young adults to full on couples. Our touring style has always been very relaxed. Extended hours are a blessing! We make the most of our late nights. We like to call ourselves the "slug family" move at the speed of snail. After all it is vaction!

 

[Robbie Cottam]

The Not Morning folks I know do not wake up on vacay in time breakfast! (Thank goodness I don’t Disney with them because I would lose my mind)

They serve breakfast until atleast 11
Trust me, I am not a morning person, but I can make it to brunch 90 percent of the time.