Rope Drop Every Day vs Afternoon Start

[ari23]

I don’t think ripe drop is necessary. We didn’t go to the parks until about 10- 10:30 everyday our last trip and we were able to do everything we wanted and more. The only thing we missed was frozen ever after and test track, but that’s because test track was down all day and frozen was down we were about to go on it.

 

[saraheliz]

We tend to mix it up every day bit but a lot of rope drops. Our last trip we did:
Arrival evening in MK (5:30-8:30, just enough for dinner, castle, and 4-5 rides)
Rope Drop 9am at Epcot until 7pm-ish (early dinner break at Beach Club)
Rope Drop 8am at MK, long break in the middle of the day, back around 6 for dinner and the evening (planning to stay late but DD had a tummy ache so we left before 9)
Sleep in day (kids were up by 8:30 but we lounged in bed until 9/9:30), arrival at AK at 11am and stayed until just after 9
Rope Drop 9am at HS (but not as hardcore/early as the first two days, we woke up at 7:50 and went strolling it around 8:55) until 1pm
Rope Drop 9am at MK 9am-1:30, then back to resort for swimming and rest, back to MK 5:30/6- closing
Last day we had a pick up for DME at 6:30 so we packed up, did Epcot 10-2, then swam for a bit and had dinner

I find mixing it up between starting early and going straight to early evening, starting early with a midday break, and and one or two later mornings/lunchtime-ish arrivals helps keep everyone happy and somewhat rested. The only pre-7am day we had was MK, and we got up at 6:40 and were in MK at the Fantasyland entrance by 7:45 or so- the other RD days the alarm went off at 7:40 and that was plenty of time. We didn't feel the need to be at the front of the RD crew- just enough to be ready to go as soon as they let people in. On the early mornings we just grabbed food at the food court the night before and ate muffins and juice in the room.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I know our opinion is different than most here, but we think that from a "ride productivity" standpoint doing rope drop is a waste of time and unnecessary.

Klayfish is becoming my favorite poster. We also find Rope Drop to be too crowded and a very inefficient use of time. With a good plan and some knowledge on how things work, there are much better ways to minimize wait times and get multiple rerides on all of the headliners.

It still baffles me to see the crowds line up an hour or more before a park opens when the attractions that they will be running to will have 10-20 minute waits later in the day.

 

[disneylover102]

The morning is so much better than the afternoon. You’ll get do much more done and it won’t be so hot.

 

[slpeters]

We did rope drop (and EMH for that matter) every day with a mid-day break and couldn't imagine doing it another way. On the other hand we didn't ever do the 40 minutes before park open rope drop--we just didn't find it necessary. We generally arrived somewhere between 10 minutes early to 10 minutes late each day. Those morning hours were positively golden--and we love a good nap.

 

[KenHutch]

Well me and the girls are serious commando's we do rope drop to park close every night and our stays are 8-12 days a trip. We do sort of break up the day. When it gets crazy crowded we do the shopping thing and hit rides/attractions like Tiki Birds and CoP or shows in Hollywood and AK. And I have seen a lot of napping little ones in CoP especially.

 

[Roxyfire]

It all depends on your goal really. For those with smaller children wanting the least wait time on Seven Dwarves or Peter Pan and don't have a FP for either, they will probably want to get there pretty early to do their waiting while rides are closed. Their ability to keep the kids up late will be really variable.

At Magic Kingdom in particular, I'll usually try to get there up to 45 minutes early on our first day. Mainly so I can go in the Emporium without a huge crowd, browse around and see if there's anything I can't live without or want to get as a souvenir. Then we usually wander over toward the bridge to Tomorrowland 15 minutes before. I try to get 2 rides on space and then 2 rides on buzz. After that point we'll see what time it is and check the Lines app to see if there's anything with a fairly short wait time before getting some lunch. Our FPs are usually scheduled for 10 11, and 12 so if it's busier than I expected we can go toward the first one and get a snack on the way. My goal is to get as much done before 12:30 so we can go chill for a bit before we hop to another park for the evening.

 

[mindeola]

We did one late start this last trip and I was going stir crazy!

 

[piratepride]

We are rope drop people. We find that we can knock off a lot of attractions that way with little or no wait.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We are rope drop people. We find that we can knock off a lot of attractions that way with little or no wait.

Here's my favorite Rope Drop story:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

 

[princesspiglet]

We are all early risers IRL due to school and work, so we really enjoy sleeping in on vacation. We are all night owls also, so we love closing down the park. We usually do PM EMH and won't get to sleep until close to 3am, so we sleep in until noon or so, take our leisurely time and get to the parks around 2. I book our FP for 3pm-5pm and have always gotten a 4/5/6 FP for whatever we wanted and we have never left a park thinking we missed out on doing anything. There is something so special about being at the parks at night- especially at MK when you are there at 2am with a handful of other crazy night owls!

 

[Paul Rodgers]

We have a later start half way into our trip. Probably won't book Fastpasses until 11-12 on that day.

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

We have usually been rope drop so this last trip in March I tried the later start. I found it more exhausting with the later start and certainly felt like we didn't get as much done. We have decided to go back to rope drop more next visit. I was very surprised but I think it was also busier than we expected. The only saving grace was the Fast Passes but then we were never able to get anything good for a 4th FP that late in the day.

 

[Roxyfire]

Here's my favorite Rope Drop story:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

I don't really see the problem though? If someone wants to see Fantasmic or the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular, they're making a conscious choice not to go stand in line for the rides. Granted for repeat viewings it may be a little stale and riding top tier rides is a better alternative for that group. But for others it's not always feasible to do that for various reasons. If she wanted to get up early and do the waiting while the park was closed, why would it matter? It makes plenty of sense.

 

[DisneyFive]

We have never done a strictly afternoon start, but what we do instead now are water parks every few days. They don’t open till 10 AM anyway so we go there in the morning until after lunch around 1 PM. Then head back to the resort and then to the parks. We start our fast passes later in the afternoon.

Dan

 

[randumb0]

You lost me at rope drop

 

[gatormom2tots]

Did years of rope drop....great way to get in a great deal of rides with minimal wait. As the years have gone on (and paper fps are no more) we have finally learned to sleep in (like a real vacation) and relax a little more.

We have pretty much seen and done everything at Disney, so we use our fp+ made later in the day and spend more time just enjoying the park and other activities at the park and around the resorts. Though I will admit, we never could actually make ourselves do this until we had APs.

 

[Disneymom1126]

Let me begin by saying that we usually do rope drop every day of our trip. Obviously that means getting up at around 5-6 every morning. Do any of you do just afternoon park visits on any days of your trip. I am wondering if we should. We are going July 2-9th and know it will be swamped. If you do any late visits what time do you go akd which park? We will have no young kids this trip. Kids are 15,12, and 7

A few things to consider:

1. Time of year - because you are going in July, the decision to rope drop isn't just a decision about crowds, it's also the cooler part of the day. Now...if the hours are extended late enough (e.g. after sunset, which is probably around 9:30 p.m. at that time of year), you may be able to still get that benefit by staying late vs. getting up early.

2. The things you want to accomplish - you may, for example, want to Rope Drop Hollywood Studios/Toy Story Land depending on what you want to see there. It's likely to be super busy and you are only going to be able to get FP+ for one of the rides (at least an initial FP)

3. Number of days you plan to spend in each park. If you have more than one day in any of the parks, you can spread out your FP and also do some things one day and other things on the 2nd day.

4. Are you and your family morning people? If you're already going to be up...may as well head to the parks. If you're going to be dragging people out of bed (and they are then going to be grumpy), it's not worth it...it's vacation!

5. How many "must-dos" do you have? I've found that as we have been going more frequently (1-2 times a year), we have less of a sense of urgency to do and see everything on every trip. It makes me feel less like we need to rope drop all of the time and less disappointed if there is something we don't get to.

Typically, what I do when planning our trips is to plan to rope drop one day at MK. Then we may rope drop another day in one of the other parks depending on the things I've listed above. We don't rope drop anymore if we stay late for fireworks/shows, but some of that is due to some health concerns that act up if my daughter gets sleep-deprived. I hope this helps!

 

[AMB1]

We are here right now. Yesterday was an early start at the MK and we got lots done. Today was different, but just as enjoyable.

DH had a reservation for the new Star Wars VR experience at Disney Springs (which he and DD12 loved). We all went there this morning. I grabbed my Starbucks and did some leisurely shopping with DD9 until they were done. We came back to the resort for a quick lunch, then went swimming in an almost empty Stormalong Bay.

We arrived at AK around 3:00pm. We rode Everest, the Safari and Tough to be a Bug before having dinner at Yak and Yeti. We then rode Flights of Passage (Amazing!!!!) and Navi River Journey. We wandered around Pandaora after dark looking at the bioluminescent foliage. We saw the light show at the tree and then left.

The kids are in bed. I’m typing this on the balcony feeling like we had a good day. Tomorrow we will be up for a PPO breakfast and will be maximizing our fast passes and trying for great 4th and 5th ones. Different day, different approach.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We normally like to mix it up, but this trip will be more early mornings to tour before the heat gets unbearable. We also have more ADRs than we usually do. Just trying different things this time. We go to bed pretty early these days, so it’s not too much of a stretch anyway. We only have one late start planned at this point, but we will see how it goes when we get there.