ROPE DROP: YAY! OR NO WAY! ??

[TinkSassy]

Rope Drop can be a blast! We stay away from the "must do" ride or rides due to the mad dash (unless it is a FP we needed and didn't get PLUS can't live without doing that ride for some reason). Showing up at RD behind the crowd and going to the "other" rides we will walk onto rides for about 2 hours before everyone else gets off the headliners and makes their way there. Then we FP the headliners later and grab and early lunch with most of the park done! Worth the morning wake up to have the relaxing morning for us.

 

[TJA]

We tried RP once a couple years ago and had a massive fail. We were staying at Poly and RPing Epcot to do the Tier 1 rides. It all started with the insanely long security line at TTC. After we finally got through that, I remember having to wait for monorail. Finally made it to Epcot and then had to wait in another insanely long security line there too! Needless to say, we didn't make it on any Tier 1 rides that morning.

Just this past weekend, we tried the EMH at HS. It was from 8-9am. We were staying at GF, so we took a bus over and we timed it perfectly and pulled into HS bus area at 7:46. Problem is where the bus lets us off and walking all the way to entrance we lost some time, but we still made it into the park by 7:59 after security line. We practically ran back to SDD and saw it was a posted 120 minute wait. We got in the line that snaked around 3 times before the ramp right at the 120 minute sign. I timed it from that point until we were getting on ride and it took 62 minutes. Would we do it again?? No way.

We just can't seem to time mornings right.

I think we'll stick to what works best for us, and that is starting our FP's right around 11am. Gives us time to sleep in a bit, grab some breakfast at the resort, and casually get to our park.

 

[TJA]

Rope Drop can be a blast! We stay away from the "must do" ride or rides due to the mad dash (unless it is a FP we needed and didn't get PLUS can't live without doing that ride for some reason). Showing up at RD behind the crowd and going to the "other" rides we will walk onto rides for about 2 hours before everyone else gets off the headliners and makes their way there. Then we FP the headliners later and grab and early lunch with most of the park done! Worth the morning wake up to have the relaxing morning for us.

That's a good idea to go to the non-must-do rides at RP. So like for MK, I'd have my FP's for our 3 must-do rides starting at our normal 11am time, but we could RP things like speedway, Buzz, Pirates, HM... Thanks for the idea!!

 

[nkereina]

Getting up early on vacation is way easier than getting up early for work! We rope drop sometimes because we just like to maximize our time. I don't want to waste the best part of the day by sleeping in or lounging around. I want to see and do as much as we can, particularly on short trips. In addition, this gives us the opportunity to take a break after lunch and come back to the resort to swim, relax, re-charge. We will often shower and change clothes during our break so that's less time we spend getting ready in the morning. And its less stuff we have to haul to the park with us because we can be without something for a few hours.

So, I guess one set of people like to relax and take their time in the morning and then (I assume) spend the rest of the day at the park. And then another set of people like to relax and take their time in the afternoon, breaking up the park day. We're the latter group.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We tried RP once a couple years ago and had a massive fail. We were staying at Poly and RPing Epcot to do the Tier 1 rides. It all started with the insanely long security line at TTC. After we finally got through that, I remember having to wait for monorail. Finally made it to Epcot and then had to wait in another insanely long security line there too! Needless to say, we didn't make it on any Tier 1 rides that morning.

Just this past weekend, we tried the EMH at HS. It was from 8-9am. We were staying at GF, so we took a bus over and we timed it perfectly and pulled into HS bus area at 7:46. Problem is where the bus lets us off and walking all the way to entrance we lost some time, but we still made it into the park by 7:59 after security line. We practically ran back to SDD and saw it was a posted 120 minute wait. We got in the line that snaked around 3 times before the ramp right at the 120 minute sign. I timed it from that point until we were getting on ride and it took 62 minutes. Would we do it again?? No way.

We just can't seem to time mornings right.

I think we'll stick to what works best for us, and that is starting our FP's right around 11am. Gives us time to sleep in a bit, grab some breakfast at the resort, and casually get to our park.

I hate RD at Epcot. It's not the best time at all. Did it once from each entrance and said NEVER again.

 

[TJA]

Getting up early on vacation is way easier than getting up early for work! We rope drop sometimes because we just like to maximize our time. I don't want to waste the best part of the day by sleeping in or lounging around. I want to see and do as much as we can, particularly on short trips. In addition, this gives us the opportunity to take a break after lunch and come back to the resort to swim, relax, re-charge. We will often shower and change clothes during our break so that's less time we spend getting ready in the morning. And its less stuff we have to haul to the park with us because we can be without something for a few hours.

So, I guess one set of people like to relax and take their time in the morning and then (I assume) spend the rest of the day at the park. And then another set of people like to relax and take their time in the afternoon, breaking up the park day. We're the latter group.

I love your strategy! And I want to get better at planning our mornings. I think because it's such a huge rush every morning here at home that it feels good to not rush in mornings at Disney?? We actually usually just do our 3 FPs 11-12, 12-1, 1-2 and any rides in between that have short waits. We then head back to our resort for swimming/downtime and also make FP for later at night at whatever park has availability. We do tend to stay at the parks until closing because we like the parks at night! We usually have good luck getting on rides at night either by one FP at a time or shorter standby lines as it nears closing.

 

[TJA]

I hate RD at Epcot. It's not the best time at all. Did it once from each entrance and said NEVER again.

Totally agree. We won't ever try it again.

 

[nkereina]

I love your strategy! And I want to get better at planning our mornings. I think because it's such a huge rush every morning here at home that it feels good to not rush in mornings at Disney?? We actually usually just do our 3 FPs 11-12, 12-1, 1-2 and any rides in between that have short waits. We then head back to our resort for swimming/downtime and also make FP for later at night at whatever park has availability. We do tend to stay at the parks until closing because we like the parks at night! We usually have good luck getting on rides at night either by one FP at a time or shorter standby lines as it nears closing.

I'm so anxious to get to the parks that I can't relax in the morning! lol! For us, we will arrive at the park around 9ish - so not necessarily the rope drop crowd, but still around opening. We don't get there early enough to line up outside before opening. I'll book our FPs for 9-10, 10-11, 11-12 and do rides with short waits in between. When we come back in the evening, I'll book 4th/5th/6th, etc. FPs because we usually have success with the refresh strategy.

 

[saraheliz]

We do a mix. So for a week long trip, we may do 3 true rope-drops (where we are at the park significantly early and waiting at the ropes for the rush to whatever ride), 2 days of arriving at park opening time and be walking in right as the park is opening up, and then 2 days of sleeping in and arriving a little later in the day (maybe between 10-12).

 

[kiramay]

It’s not Disney without rope drop at MK! We can get a ton done the first few hours, and relax later. I’d much rather lose sleep than stand in long lines. We also hop a ton, sometime 3 parks in one day.
We don’t really RD Epcot anymore since we can FP everything.
AK is another one we can FP everything we want.
We’ll probably RD HS next trip due to assumptions that we’ll have to deal with fp tiers with SWL and TSL.

Edit to charify- I’m talking getting to MK early to be right in front of the rope vs arriving at opening. I never really sleep in.

 

[Klayfish]

As has been discussed, there are two different definitions of "rope drop". One is showing up 45, 60 minutes before park open. The other is showing up right when the park opens. For me, I just can't rationalize the former over the latter...even if I'm an early riser. Let's say the park opens at 8am. Person A shows up at 7:00am sharp, and person B shows up at 7:59am. When the park opens, person A will be in the park at 8:00am sharp. Person B will get in just a handful of minutes later. So by 8:10am, both people are standing inside the park and able to go do the same things. Therefore, person A waited outside of the park an hour longer than person B and gained 10 minutes of park time, or less. If you're making a mad dash to FoP because you don't have a FP+ and you really want to get on the ride, I can sort of see it. But if not, at least to me, I just couldn't rationalize it. I'd just show up right at opening time and maybe get on one less attraction than the person who stood outside a long time.

 

[Tbiafore]

We rope drop...Disney is not a "relaxing" vacation...at least for our family. We like the rides, entertainment, etc...If I wanted to sleep in and "relax" I would take a cruise, a resort on the beach, hawaii, etc.. Not Disneyworld. I dont pay crazy expensive disney prices to sleep in and go on three fast pass rides, then wait in line the rest of my trip. We go to experience all that disney has to offer (that we can cover in our time there).

 

[TinkSassy]

That's a good idea to go to the non-must-do rides at RP. So like for MK, I'd have my FP's for our 3 must-do rides starting at our normal 11am time, but we could RP things like speedway, Buzz, Pirates, HM... Thanks for the idea!!

Lots of bang for the buck in Fantasyland too - with the shorter distances from Speedway, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Teacups, IASW, Little Mermaid, Carousel, HM - save "show" rides for later like CoP, Tiki, Philharmagic, etc. these are great for the mid-afternoon when the lines and the heat are at their worst. I think our record is 11 rides from 8am - 11am

 

[marielynn724]

I personally LOVE rope drop because I feel like there's something exciting and fun about it. Everything is fresh and wonderful first thing in the morning, and the resorts always look so lovely and peaceful in the bright morning light when no one else is walking around yet. I love the short lines at the parks at rope drop too. But the best thing about Disney World is that there's something for everyone and you can have whatever type of vacation you want. Funny enough, I have a really hard time getting up in the morning in my real life, but on vacation I can just pop up awake with no effort. I suppose it's the excitement. I have more energy in the morning for doing the parks but I tend to get tired in the evening and need quiet time at the resort.

 

[marchingstar]

when we are an adult-only party (traveling as a couple or with in-laws) we rope drop. we take some days off to sleep in, explore the resort, visit DS, etc. but on park days, we’re usually at the front of the line waiting at the turnstiles.

this time around, we’re visiting with a baby. our rule at home is that baby’s schedule sets ours, and we’ll follow this at the parks too. waking him early would set us all up for a bad day and wouldn’t be worth the shorter lines.

 

[pens4821]

We like to rope drop for the AM EMH, then hop to another park for our FP's starting around 2. The other 2 days (we do 6 day tickets) we start our FP at 10/11 and sleep in. We go in the winter, and we don't get to the parks an hour before opening. I think the earliest was about a half hour. Usually we are about 10 minutes before. Its really hard planning the buses. Our plan is to head out the door of the room an hour before rope drop. We do big rides (RNRC, Everest, TT), but not the really big ones (FOP, 7D, PP, SDD) so we avoid some of the mad rush. We use FP for the others.

I get up early for work, and hate it. I actually don't even like getting up at Disney, but find we personally get so much more done doing it. So for us, it's worth it. Now that my nephew is getting a little older, we decided this January if he didn't want to get up and go he doesn't have to (my brother would love to sleep in so he would stay back with him). So it just depends on your family, and being willing to split up if you're able.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

My husband can't sleep past 5:30 a.m....ever . So we're up & out to rope drop then bail out back to the resort by mid afternoon. I'd love to sleep in a bit but it's not gonna happen & we are sooooo not night people, so it works out for us !

 

[gharter]

our last trip, we did RD a few times.
AK - RD under 5 minutes for FoP, then walk on for Navi.
HS - RD for SDD, then AS2 and TSM, off the rides by 9:10
MK - was a party day, so had to leave the park early and wanted to do as much as we could before leaving.
The other 3 days did not do RD.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

BTW my DH says I can plan our trip, as long as there's not a lot of waiting in line. To me, rope drop means waiting in line. Like, for an hour. So... since we'll be at EPCOT during IFOA, I imagine there's plenty to do between FP+ and the festival stuff. The other parks should be a bit lower in crowd levels, since we're not going on a weekend. Nope. No rope drop for us.

Your hubby should be prepared to wait in lines I'm afraid. Yes, I'm sure you'll find plenty of wonderful experiences between your fast passes & the festival! Not certain what you're thinking in terms of "a bit lower crowd levels," but personally I'd mentally prepare for high crowds & if they're lower than expected - hooray! If the levels do indeed seem high, no big disappointment!

 

[shakes]

We used to do RD but not anymore. We are NOT morning people. Before moving to Florida, we did about one trip a year, so I always felt that we had to get our "money's worth" and ride and see everything. Commando all the way, up at 7am, etc. We then moved to Florida for a couple of years and got APs. Took about 8 trips in those two years. It made a huge mental difference that if we didn't ride something, the next trip wasn't that far off. Really make us take a deep breath and relax more, enjoy the resort, etc. Since leaving Florida, we still have the same relaxed attitude. Sleep in until 10ish then slowly head to parks.

I'm sure I'm in the minority but at this point in our "Disney life" there are only a few must do attractions at HS/EP/AK and we can usually get FP for them. MK is the only park where there is more we want to ride. Doing DAH on the next trip to address that.