What time do you get everyone to bed to make it to rope drop?

[JUJU814]

I'm wondering what others do the night before in order to prep the family for rope drop.

there are some *early* rope drops the week we're there. It's SO hard in doing my planning to try to avoid burning the candle at both ends but I need to be realistic. We are not generally morning people (except for dh).

Kids are 9 and 11.

How do you generally structure your days?

Getting there at rope drop or close to it the week we are there is crucial.

Thanks!

 

[DisneyFreaksx4]

Our girls are 2 & 4 and we don't do anything special the night before. They are usually up around 7 in the morning anyway.

 

[Karlzmom]

For us, its all about the shower or bath. DS gets his at night and enjoys the extra snooze time in the morning. DH and I need the kickstart in the morning, so we get at first thing. The beauty is that it doesn't make it extra early for everyone as there are only 2 to get done in the morning.

That said, I always start at the time I want to be at the park and work backward....how long is the drive from the hotel, how long from room to the car, how long to get us out the door [considering if we are eating in the room, just need coffee, showers, etc.] I pull the clothes for the next morning and have stacked on the table for everyone which helps too.... Good Luck!

Sorry, must have been tired last night and didn't catch you wanted to know what time to go to bed, not when to get up. I take my math from "get up" and back it up 9 hours [which is about what my family needs] to know when we need to be in bed. We don't do much in the way of the night time entertainment at the parks unless we have a break day or a "world showcase" day which doesn't start until 11 for us [we skip a RD at Epcot when we are just touring the WS and enjoy the sleep in/ lazy morning].

 

[g-dad66]

In order to make early rope drops, we usually stay at the park until the grandkids are ready to quit (usually happens by mid-afteroon). Then we head back to the resort, swim for an hour or so, have them shower, eat at the resort, let them unwind with their books and/or hand-held video games, and we have the lights out by 9pm. (I use a little reading light as I'm not usually quite ready to konk out that early.)

 

[Baliezer]

We have to drive two hours to get to the park, which calls for us getting out the door by 5:30am on early opening days.

I lay out everyone's clothes the night before. Have bars ready to go for breakfast in the car, and everything packed up. The next morning we change clothes and head out.

 

[pixarmom]

Our boys are ages 5, 12 and 13. We always get to rope drop, and lately, we've had an ADR for lunch, and then we head back to the resort for a mid-afternoon break. We swim, relax a bit and then head out for an ADR in the evening (usually at Epcot) and return to the resort around 9:30pm or so. Now, they aren't always asleep by then - shopping at the resort, malts at Beaches & Cream, etc. But we're starting to wind down, and we've already had a relatively relaxing afternoon. I think it works for us because we know the first few hours of the day will be the busiest and the rest is at a slower pace.

 

[hookedonears]

Typically, after we’re through with doing everything we want to do at the parks - dinner, parade, fireworks, etc. Bedtime is never a factor for us (even when our daughter was 2 1/2), she just napped when ever she wanted to in her stroller. We're doing Rope Drop no matter what time we go to bed. Now typically, we won't do Evening EMH and rope drop the next day as well. We use to when we were younger, but no longer. While at WDW, we're exhausted. When we get home, we need a vacation. That's why I always recommend that people return home on a Friday, so that they’ll have the whole weekend to recover.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

We do rope drop, but leave early, around 5:00. Then we go back to our rental house and relax. We'll have appetizers and DH will cook dinner. Only 1-2 nights do we go back for fire works. Otherwise there is no way I could make rope drop. Another thing that helped is to schedule a DisneyQuest Day in the middle of the trip. It opens later so we all got to sleep later. I think the water parks open later too? All of that helped.

If you are a fireworks every night family, it will be tough to also do rope drop.

 

[Axel]

We've never needed much sleep in my family. Even when I was younger (the age of your kids) we were doing full days in the park (open to close, no breaks in the afternoon, but a TS to get a "break") for the full 7 day trip.

Now that I'm older, it matters even less what time we go to bed--we just slip in a caffeine drip before heading out the door in the morning!

 

[figmentswife]

I'm wondering what others do the night before in order to prep the family for rope drop.

there are some *early* rope drops the week we're there. It's SO hard in doing my planning to try to avoid burning the candle at both ends but I need to be realistic. We are not generally morning people (except for dh).

Kids are 9 and 11.

How do you generally structure your days?

Getting there at rope drop or close to it the week we are there is crucial.

Thanks!

It all depends on what you call early?? I am guessing you are meaning 7 am openings???

For us, we would leave our resort 30 minutes before opening so 6:30am for a 7am opening. Back up from there who needs to do what in the morning to get ready.

For us - we do ALL rope drops (normally 8am for our trips) so I would get up at 6am shower and get ready, start my coffee, then wake up DH and DD, they get ready while I go smoke (yep, I am one of those horrible people who smokes) then we would meet for breakfast around 6:45, go back to the room to put up our refillable mugs, then head to the bus by 7:25am.

We take mid day breaks then go back in the evenings.

Have a great trip.

 

[LaurenT]

It's easy for us because we're morning people. We're in bed by 10 pm - except maybe one night for fireworks.
I get up at 5 and shower and get breakfast for everyone and then I drag the 9 year old out of bed, stand her up in the shower and turn the water on (well, not quite that harsh, but close to it).
We are out the door by 7:15 for a 9 am RD, or 6:45 for an 8 am RD (I find the earlier the rope drop, the closer to it people show up - so no reason to get there a full 45 mints before an 8 am RD...unless you want a shot at family of the day).

 

[nkereina]

That said, I always start at the time I want to be at the park and work backward....how long is the drive from the hotel, how long from room to the car, how long to get us out the door [considering if we are eating in the room, just need coffee, showers, etc.] I pull the clothes for the next morning and have stacked on the table for everyone which helps too.... Good Luck!

We do the same thing. We go when the crowds are low, so I don't feel the need for us to get there before rope drop, so we usually arrive right at rope drop or a few minutes after which is fine by me. If RD is at 9, I like to be at the bus stop by 8-8:15, which means we should be at the food court for breakfast by 7:20ish, which means I should get up about 6:30ish if I don't have to shower. It's about the same time I get up for work at home so I usually have no problems!