Rope Drop vs Park Close

[Trinity88]

So we usually travel with our kids and do rope drop. I've almost never stayed at a park until close because the kids can't handle it. But DH and I are thinking about an adult only trip next year and I'm starting to think about adjusting our strategy for it. I love to sleep in, but also hate waiting in line. I make myself get up at Disney because that's what worked for our family. But the idea that I could sleep in, stay late at the parks, and not wait in crazy lines is very appealing!

So, what's your preference if you aren't restricted by kids' bedtime schedules?

ETA - We are looking at late Jan/early Feb. So I know the closing times for the parks will be a bit earlier than busier times.

 

[sharonabe]

I think you certainly need to try it, but in my experience, the earlier the closing time the less wait times go down. So you're not going to see short lines at the headliners. BUT, if you can forego some of the nighttime fireworks and ride things during them (assuming parks are still open), you can see shorter lines at that time.

 

[cakebaker]

We do both but we take an afternoon break trying to get out of the morning park by noon, get to the evening park by 5. If I was only doing 1, I’d do mornings. Evenings just don’t seem to thin out for us unless the park is open past midnight.

 

[Klayfish]

It'll be personal preference. We used to rope drop and leave the parks by 4pm every day when the kids were young. Partly because the kids woke up at 6am anyway and partly because the old paper FP+ system made it so that you almost had to. Now that our kids are older and sleep longer and FP+ system is dramatically better, the only rope drop we do is the water parks, which open at 10am. Even then, we show up at 9:55am. We will never go back. I am SO happy to be done with rope dropping. We get up at 4am at home, I have zero desire to wake up early on vacation. Sleeping until 8am is blissful for us.

We still get plenty done. It's a combination of using FP+ and taking advantage of short lines at the end of the night (if we're still there). Many popular rides can be done at night with minimal to no wait. Splash and BTMRR are walk on rides during fireworks. TSMM, Soarin', FEA, have no lines shortly before park close. I agree with sharonabe that later park close may help that more than an early park close, but even with an 8 or 9pm park close we've had success.

But this truly is a YMMV. For people who want to get up early, rope drop is great. But for us, it's for the birds.

 

[MousetersInc]

I can't speak from personal experience, but the impression I'm gathering from touringplans as well as a number of blogs of ropedrop experiences is actually that park close is often (maybe always?) a shorter wait than rope drop. My impression is that for rope drop, to get a short wait for the ride you have to wait a long time at the gate, and if you're anything other than in the first 10% of the ropedrop crowd you'll still have a pretty long line for the ride. I'm also put off by the overall experience. Say you arrive an hour early for ropedrop and are able to walk straight onto a ride: you just waited an hour total, in a packed mob, with no entertaining queue experience, and have to survive the uneasy tension between peacekeeping CMs and a red-in-tooth-and-claw, survival-of-the-fittest herd of humanity. Say you show up half an hour early and have a half hour wait at the ride: You endure even more intense ropedrop crowds and waited 1.25 hrs. Say you jump in queue for a ride with 45' wait at park close: you waited less overall, had an entertaining queue, and didn't have to knock over any strollers to be first.

Oh, and add to that the fact that everyone says SDD is actually better at night, and Pandora at night is a phenomenon.

 

[KenHutch]

If I had to chose I would choose Opening but it my case I wake up at 04:30 every morning without an alarm clock (that bein a Marine thing) but me and the girls to Rope Drop to Closing. In the middle of the day they will sometimes go back for a nap (especially when the lines get really long).

 

[FallsChurchDad]

Rope drop at WDW 12-15 years ago was clearly the best strategy. At that time, rope drop meant you showed up 10 minutes before the park opened, waltzed right in, and could ride 4-5 headliners with no wait to start your day.

These days, rope drop can still be useful, and if the kids are up early anyway, you might as well do it, but a lot of the touring advice was formulated 12-15 years ago, when the only hard part of rope drop was actually getting up early enough for it.

Currently at WDW, every park is a herded crunch at rope drop. Going to TSL, Mine Train/Peter Pan, and Pandora at rope drop are all pretty awful experiences. Even Epcot is rough - you've got a thousand people behind you, and people get restless and unpleasant when the CMs still haven't dropped the rope at 9:01. And in each case, the benefit is often just 1-2 extra rides if you show up at 8 am vs. 9:30 am for a 9 am opening.

Rope drop is still the way to do DL/DCA. The rope drop process itself at Disneyland is even less pleasant, because security on Harbor Blvd is awful, which leads people to show up even earlier. But once the rope actually drops, it is well worth it -- you can get a ton done if you stay ahead of the crowds and use their FP system (even without having MaxPass, you can save $15 per person per day, just pull the free paper FPs). Lines are short for the first 1-2 hours because few people bother to use FPs at that time. You can easily do 10 great rides in DCA from 9-11:30, with a Radiator Springs FP ready for right after lunch, by starting at Incredicoaster and pulling FPs as you go. Then crowds at DL/DCA actually grow at night, because annual passholders show up. DCA is so pretty at night, but you're just not going to get a lot done beyond FPs that you stacked earlier - unless a few drops of rain fall, in which case the parks clear out entirely.

 

[sbbobe]

It has been our experience that rope drop has worked out much better than getting in line right before closing.

 

[Carolynleanne]

We've always found rope drop to be the best. And when I say rope drop, I mean you're there half an hour before you're even allowed in.

 

[Justplainchy]

We've done both and maybe it's because we went when the evening hours didn't stretch past 8 or 9, but we found the parks didn't "clear out" like I've read they do for other people. I definitely could see that with an 11 or 12 closing though, because the EMH that push it that late have definitely made things walk on for us! On our most recent trip, we arrived 45 minutes early for FoP rope drop and were let into the park 20 mintues early, and had a 37 minute experience time, which meant we were off the headliner at 9:17 and had the rest of the park almost empty to do all the other rides as people were just getting to Pandora. At EPCOT we got there 30 minutes before RD and were able to do FEA, Test Track, Mission: Space and Soarin all in the first hour and a half the park was open. HS we got there 30 min early, were let in 15 minutes before "opening" and did Swirling Saucers, TMM, RnR and Star Tours twice in the first hour. I'm a big fan of RD, getting a ton done and then having a lazy, leisurely day because you've done everything you wanted to. But other people here have good experiences with evening time: so I guess it's to each their own!

 

[LizGirl]

We are big fans of late nights in the parks. I hate waking up early and being in a rush out the door. We never miss fireworks so it is better for us to skew our days later. We were at WDW last January during a chilly holiday week and had World Showcase to ourselves during EMH. It was fantastic. Those are my favorite times to make memories with the kids because we can slow down and goof off together.

Our regular lives are hectic so a hectic vacation is no bueno.

 

[richmo]

I have to agree with what @Klayfish said: personal preference. I get some of the advantages of rope drop, but the alarm wakes me up 50 weeks a year. Its nice to not do that or be in that mindset when I'm away, Disney or otherwise. I've made some rope drops by accident and I've been at park closings on occasion, not always planned. If you feel like getting up early and hitting that rope drop, great. Same with staying up to close a park...

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

So we usually travel with our kids and do rope drop. I've almost never stayed at a park until close because the kids can't handle it. But DH and I are thinking about an adult only trip next year and I'm starting to think about adjusting our strategy for it. I love to sleep in, but also hate waiting in line. I make myself get up at Disney because that's what worked for our family. But the idea that I could sleep in, stay late at the parks, and not wait in crazy lines is very appealing!

So, what's your preference if you aren't restricted by kids' bedtime schedules?

ETA - We are looking at late Jan/early Feb. So I know the closing times for the parks will be a bit earlier than busier times.

How old are the kids? My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mountain moments before midnight with her screaming One More Time Daddy all the way.

We find rope drop much too crowded and stressful. Late nights are much more relaxing and often provide the shortest waits of the day. Just keep in mind that the posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

Here's an example of a recent visit to MK from 8 pm to midnight. We did all of this without any FPs:

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

 

[Magical2017]

I am a night owl and love the parks at night. There is something special about the Disney parks all lit up. I completely understand the importance of rope drop and have tried it but it makes me cranky. We have also tried going back to the room for a midday nap and then going back to the parks in the evening, and this works for us. My "best" park days are arriving midday with FP, using refresh, and closing the park down. It really depends on the people in your party.