Rope Drop Every Day vs Afternoon Start

[Klayfish]

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.

It's not a "problem" at all, but the thing is that FP+ makes it unnecessary to do any waiting...before the park opens or after.

 

[KrisM]

It's not a "problem" at all, but the thing is that FP+ makes it unnecessary to do any waiting...before the park opens or after.

Can you give more detail on how you do it? I'd love to not rope drop! We are going for 3 days. One day is just evening at AK, one is morning Epcot and then MK. Last day is AK and then HS. My kids would love to sleep in a bit and also be able to ride their favorites a few times each. Our Epcot/MK day, for example, I made FP+ for MK and figured we'd rope drop Epcot. If we instead come at 10, would we able to ride things there and still at MK later? I was worried FP+ would be gone for the thing they want at MK. Thank you!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

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!

100% agree. We RD everyday when we go in August. My kids understand the issue with beating the heat. Then we would do pool time midday and back to the park in the PM.

Next trip is November so we are mixing it up with RD days and starting late and closing down the park days. I figured with the weather we can do this.

 

[Klayfish]

Can you give more detail on how you do it? I'd love to not rope drop! We are going for 3 days. One day is just evening at AK, one is morning Epcot and then MK. Last day is AK and then HS. My kids would love to sleep in a bit and also be able to ride their favorites a few times each. Our Epcot/MK day, for example, I made FP+ for MK and figured we'd rope drop Epcot. If we instead come at 10, would we able to ride things there and still at MK later? I was worried FP+ would be gone for the thing they want at MK. Thank you!

Sure, it's easy. Let's just say we designate a day as a "morning" park day. For us, that means we would get to the park around 9:30am-10:00am. So we'll set our FP+ for 9:30am-10:30am, 10:30am-11:30am, 11:30am-12:30pm. If we show up at 10:00am, we're already 30 minutes into the window for the 1st FP+. So we go right to the ride and get right on. By time we get off, it's pretty much time for FP+ #2. Let's say it's 10:30am when we tap into #2. I'll jump on MDE and modify #3 and move it to 10:45am-11:45am. That way, when we get off, it's time to hop right on FP+ #3. When I tap into #3, jump onto MDE and find FP+ #4 for a very short time ahead. Depending on the time of year, this may be very easy, or it make take a lot of refreshing...but even during the busiest week of the year, we have good success. Worst case scenario, if after tapping into FP+ #2, I can't move FP+ #3 up, we only have maybe 45 minutes to kill, at which point we'll just hop on a less crowded ride. So regardless, we hit back to back to back to back rides as soon as we get there. I don't keep actual count, but if we're in the parks for 6 hours, we can easily go through 7-10 FP+...including a ton of "A list" rides.

 

[KrisM]

Sure, it's easy. Let's just say we designate a day as a "morning" park day. For us, that means we would get to the park around 9:30am-10:00am. So we'll set our FP+ for 9:30am-10:30am, 10:30am-11:30am, 11:30am-12:30pm. If we show up at 10:00am, we're already 30 minutes into the window for the 1st FP+. So we go right to the ride and get right on. By time we get off, it's pretty much time for FP+ #2. Let's say it's 10:30am when we tap into #2. I'll jump on MDE and modify #3 and move it to 10:45am-11:45am. That way, when we get off, it's time to hop right on FP+ #3. When I tap into #3, jump onto MDE and find FP+ #4 for a very short time ahead. Depending on the time of year, this may be very easy, or it make take a lot of refreshing...but even during the busiest week of the year, we have good success. Worst case scenario, if after tapping into FP+ #2, I can't move FP+ #3 up, we only have maybe 45 minutes to kill, at which point we'll just hop on a less crowded ride. So regardless, we hit back to back to back to back rides as soon as we get there. I don't keep actual count, but if we're in the parks for 6 hours, we can easily go through 7-10 FP+...including a ton of "A list" rides.

Thank you. Sounds like it works quite well. Maybe I'll change to the morning FP for Epcot instead and then just add for MK. I always hear that things like 7 Dwarfs and Space Mtn can be hard to get later on, but maybe day of isn't too bad.

 

[Roxyfire]

It's not a "problem" at all, but the thing is that FP+ makes it unnecessary to do any waiting...before the park opens or after.

I know you're one who can easily find extra FP later on, as can we. But one of the biggest reasons I like getting out early is because it's a little cooler outside in the morning. I enjoy being at park opening so we can ride something two or three times in a row. Then later we can hit it again. Wait times are often inflated not only at night but also (for some rides) early in the morning as well. So in a day at HS not only are we there early to get 1 or 2 rides on a headliner straight away, we can get started on FP when lines pick up.

The person I was quoting mentioned it was her coworker did this so it's possible this person believed the wait time rather than eyeballing where the line is like most of us do. Depending on the day, it's not unheard of to get at least three rides in on Midway Mania but by the time we make it through that many rounds, I'm willing to accept my defeat and move on.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

The person I was quoting mentioned it was her coworker did this so it's possible this person believed the wait time rather than eyeballing where the line is like most of us do. Depending on the day, it's not unheard of to get at least three rides in on Midway Mania but by the time we make it through that many rounds, I'm willing to accept my defeat and move on.

The point was that there are more efficient ways than rope drop to get short waits and/or multiple rerides on the headliners.

One person waited outside the locked gate for an hour just to ride once. The other waited until later in the evening and rode 4 consecutive times in an hour.

I prefer the latter option.

 

[Klayfish]

I know you're one who can easily find extra FP later on, as can we. But one of the biggest reasons I like getting out early is because it's a little cooler outside in the morning. I enjoy being at park opening so we can ride something two or three times in a row. Then later we can hit it again. Wait times are often inflated not only at night but also (for some rides) early in the morning as well. So in a day at HS not only are we there early to get 1 or 2 rides on a headliner straight away, we can get started on FP when lines pick up.

The person I was quoting mentioned it was her coworker did this so it's possible this person believed the wait time rather than eyeballing where the line is like most of us do. Depending on the day, it's not unheard of to get at least three rides in on Midway Mania but by the time we make it through that many rounds, I'm willing to accept my defeat and move on.

Sure, very valid points. If you want to "beat the heat", or are an early bird anyway, etc...nothing wrong at all with doing rope drop. Just from a sheer ride productivity standpoint, I think it's completely unnecessary, thanks to FP+. I remember the days of the old paper FP+ where rope drop really was necessary to get on a lot of headliners, and I never want to go back to that Ugh. Yes, it's cooler at 8:30am, but even the rising sun in July can be pretty steamy...We stood in that HS mob of people before the park opened, and it wasn't pleasant. We did rope drop fairly often, and still loved WDW, but once they switched to the current system it made it an entirely new and even more wonderful experience.

Totally agree on TSMM...but we do it at the opposite time. Instead of park open, we do it at park close. If you show up at 8:45pm, you can ride it back to back with zero wait...in fact the CMs may even let you stay on the car if there's nobody else in line. Don't know how the current TSMM situation will effect that, but I'm guessing it won't be good. That's a shame too, because it's DWs' favorite ride.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Our problems are kind of opposite, but also the same.

We go for Christmas every year. Going in December means that it can either be 90 and sunny, or high 40s and bone chillingly cold—all within the same week. Coming from the northeast and staying at Beach Club, we value our pool time.

This past trip, we booked FP+s for the afternoon, figuring we'd sleep in or do as many rides in the morning as possible, then go to our FP+ selections. Of course, it wound up being cold most days, then on the day we had our first ever FP+ for FoP, it was BEAUTIFUL out. We were obviously conflicted, as we wanted to get a pool day in (and knew it'd be getting cold again), but also had to go on FoP.

Long story short, moving forward we plan on doing rope drop and/or going in the morning and leaving by noon. We tried it during our Easter trip and it went swimmingly (no pun intended)

Here's my way of thinking:

1) I get that it's vacation and you're supposed to relax, but this is Disney. Being in Disney is a lot like eating a sandwich. Starting out you don't think much about it. It's a sandwich and you're happy to have it. Midway through, you start realizing that only half your sandwich is remaining. You wish you chewed a little slower and enjoyed that first half. Then the sandwich is gone. You're satiated, but you really wish you had some more of that sandwich. Don't let it happen to your tip. Wake up early, get out to the parks, and enjoy that sandwich, err, trip... before it's too late.

2) This may be a little different, as you're traveling during July (so it'll be hot in most places), but ... It got really hot at Disney on Easter Day. I would have loved to ride Thunder Mountain for the umpteenth time, but I've been on it hundreds of time and would be on a hundred times more. Of course I had the internal debate of "what if I never come back again"... but I knew at that point I just wanted to be back at the resort, relaxing and hanging out by the pool.

3) The beauty of vacation is that you can sleep at any time. I get that waking up early stinks... but nothing is stopping you from grabbing a nap at 1pm... or going to bed early that night

4) Let the weather guide you. July in Orlando—there's bound to be a thunderstorm. Get in as much as possible, then leave once the storm clouds roll in.

 

[Roxyfire]

Sure, very valid points. If you want to "beat the heat", or are an early bird anyway, etc...nothing wrong at all with doing rope drop. Just from a sheer ride productivity standpoint, I think it's completely unnecessary thanks to FP+. I remember the days of the old paper FP+ where rope drop really was necessary to get on a lot of headliners, and I never want to go back. Yes, it's cooler, but even the rising sun in July can be pretty steamy...standing in that mob of people before the park opened wasn't pleasant.

Totally agree on TSMM...but we do it at the opposite time. Instead of park open, we do it at park close. If you show up at 8:45pm, you can ride it back to back with zero wait...in fact the CMs may even let you stay on the car if there's nobody else in line. Don't know how the current TSMM situation will effect that, but I'm guessing it won't be good. That's a shame too, because it's DWs' favorite ride.

Without fastpasses we won't be doing any back to back rides then either, definitely won't be a good situation. My kid really likes the star wars show and party so we tend to do that at night rather than get on rides. HS is really the only place that we don't do any rides during the nighttime shows. Mornings there just ends up being easier because we're awake anyway. In AK nighttime is the very best time to ride Everest. I'm sure it's a better time to line up for FoP too but I'd rather ride Everest over and over again in the dark.

.

 

[disney-inspired]

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

I would actually do rope drop and get the most popular stuff done until about lunch time (12/1pm) and then go back to the resort for a break when the latecomers are heading to the parks. Maybe schedule a late afternoon FP?

I found when I did that, I would go back to the hotel, eat, and go swim (or nap) then shower and get ready to go back out. I felt refreshed and enjoyed my late evening out without feeling dog tired.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We do a mix of rope drops and afternoon starts. I would dread vacation if I had to get up at 5-6 every morning. My family would revolt.

However we always go in slower times and realize in July you would need RDs.

In our upcoming late August trip with 4 days UA and 6 days WDW we will only be doing RD couple times.

 

[Stefani P.]

It gets so hot in afternoons that I like to get to parks early, take an afternoon break then head back 4 or 5pm and close the park down!

 

[Monimcmi]

Which areas of Magic Kingdom get busy immediately after Rope drop?

 

[Roxyfire]

Which areas of Magic Kingdom get busy immediately after Rope drop?

Based only on what I've seen (and easyWDW blog posts) I would say the largest portion go to Fantasyland first. Seven Dwarves train and Peter Pan are pretty popular so wait times can rise quickly even first thing in the morning. Then Tomorrowland gets a decent contingent of people as well, we're usually in that line. Space Mountain sees a good amount of people and they tend to go to Buzz or toward Fantasyland after that. Then another group going up toward Splash and Big Thunder. This one has been the smallest in my experience but I'm sure that varies based on the day/season too.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

It varies. For my Birthday trip, I had originally had 3 PPO Breakfasts (before rope drop) and EMM. Later, I switched some stuff around and moved Day 7's start back 2 hours as shifting park hours had rendered my PPO Breakfast no longer PPO.

Day 1 - Early Morning (EMM) - Half Day
Day 2 - Early Morning (PPO Breakfast)
Day 3 - No Parks
Day 4 - Late Afternoon
Day 5 - Afternoon
Day 6 - Afternoon (MNSSHP)
Day 7 - Late Morning

I think the new schedule is a lot more doable, especially once they released MNSSHP dates/tickets and Day 6 became a late night. For others, it really depends on if you're a morning person or not and how long you are staying each day. I am not a morning person and the last time I tried to push it 3 days in a row, I ended up so exhausted I left the park after less than 2 hours, went back to my room and slept until that evening.

 

[galaxygirl76]

I would be fine with it but the other two members of my family are not fans. My husband needs a steady sleep schedule(a messed up one triggers migraines) and my daughter is not a morning person. Since we're planning on staying at AKL on our next trip we're going to try a later start and close the park vs earlier start with a break for naps. I'm not interested in the traveling back and forth between resort and park lol.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

Based only on what I've seen (and easyWDW blog posts) I would say the largest portion go to Fantasyland first. Seven Dwarves train and Peter Pan are pretty popular so wait times can rise quickly even first thing in the morning. Then Tomorrowland gets a decent contingent of people as well, we're usually in that line. Space Mountain sees a good amount of people and they tend to go to Buzz or toward Fantasyland after that. Then another group going up toward Splash and Big Thunder. This one has been the smallest in my experience but I'm sure that varies based on the day/season too.

Talking Mickey has had early long waits recently also as it is going away and is right at the front of the park.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'd do early Fp for at least a few days to avoid heat and crowds. Then if I wanted a late start I'd do LATE afternoon into night FP days. mid afternoon is the pits in the heat. By early I mean when park opens, not crazy 5 am times to get there.

 

[Roxyfire]

Talking Mickey has had early long waits recently also as it is going away and is right at the front of the park.

Yeah that's kind of a flash in the pan too, just generally speaking a lot of people tend to hit the headliners early on but there's always exceptions to that of course.