Arriving at RD most important at which parks?

[BradyBrenMom]

Are there certain parks where it's more important that others to do RD? I can't decide when we should get there at RD versus take advantage of later FP+ times and sleep in a bit--or go to RD and then save FP+ for a second park in the evening. We will be staying on site in mid-October for just a few days, so I want to plan our time carefully We tend to care more about visiting a variety of rides (including but not exclusively headliners) than we do about riding headliners multiple times, if that makes a difference as well. Thanks for any suggestions you can share!

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Are there certain parks where it's more important that others to do RD? I can't decide when we should get there at RD versus take advantage of later FP+ times and sleep in a bit--or go to RD and then save FP+ for a second park in the evening. We will be staying on site in mid-October for just a few days, so I want to plan our time carefully We tend to care more about visiting a variety of rides (including but not exclusively headliners) than we do about riding headliners multiple times, if that makes a difference as well. Thanks for any suggestions you can share!

I think RD is important at all parks. Especially if you don't want to wait in lines.

Get a good touring plan, hit RD and save your FP+ for a different park that day if you are hopping.

My best advice is be flexible!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I would say MK is probably most important for RD. Peter Pan and SDMT get packed SO fast, and we were there in mid-April after spring break and Easter had passed. AK you can probably get away with going in after rope drop. We walked on or nearly walked on EE multiple times in our trip at different times during the day. We got to Epcot about 45 minutes late and did the single rider line for TT with a 5 minute wait. Soarin' is always backed up though.

 

[LisaCM614]

Are there certain parks where it's more important that others to do RD? I can't decide when we should get there at RD versus take advantage of later FP+ times and sleep in a bit--or go to RD and then save FP+ for a second park in the evening. We will be staying on site in mid-October for just a few days, so I want to plan our time carefully We tend to care more about visiting a variety of rides (including but not exclusively headliners) than we do about riding headliners multiple times, if that makes a difference as well. Thanks for any suggestions you can share!

We don't tend to experience attractions multiple times in the same day either. We are RD people and save FP+ for later in the day or another park. We don't sleep in at Disney, if we want to sleep we go to the beach! But that also means we don't stay out late - if we want to ride rides we don't go to late fireworks shows. I think if you follow the advice from the Unofficial Guide or easywdw you will find the perfect plan that fits your family. We have experienced Soarin, TT, Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Figment, The Land, Mission Space all before lunch when using a touring plan with a smart FP+ plan and arriving at RD.
AK is probably the only park where you can arrive later in the day and still experience all the major attractions.

 

[Disfan1968]

Magic Kingdom is an important rope drop park, but really they all are in their own way. I use FP+ for all high demand rides, regardless. This way, at rope drop, I can head for medium to medium-high demand rides and walk on with almost no wait. Painful fact is, even if you head for some of these high demand rides (7DMT, for instance) right off the bat you can still wait 30-40 minutes sometimes. A waste of that golden first hour in my mind. Mind you, I stay on site and can book FP at 60+. So, if securing a FP+ was not an option for you (offsite guests, etc), then heading straight for high demand rides might be the right option for you, regardless.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'd say it's most important at the parks with the odious tiering, because your option to ride non-FP+ Tier A attractions w/o a long wait are largely dependent on RD.

The only park I'd say RD *isn't* important is AK. The last couple of times we've gone we didn't get there until early afternoon and still did everything we wanted to do with little to no wait.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

My gang likes to hit the headliners multiple times so we skip the rope drop, roll in about 11am and stay until close, which is the very best time of the day for multiple rerides with little to no wait.

If I had to pick a park to rope drop, it would probably be Epcot but only because we could leave earlier.

 

[soniam]

Determine what rides are priorities and if they have FP+ tiering. We like RD at MK, because there are just so many rides to fit in. Do RD at Epcot if you want to ride both Soarin and TT in the same day. Do RD at DHS if you want to ride TSMM and RNRC in the same day.

AK isn't too bad. We don't do shows or water rides, so the 3rd FP goes to PW or Dinosaur, which isn't really necessary for either. We don't usually do RD at AK.

 

[BradyBrenMom]

If you arrive at RD and plan to stay at that park for the day, how early in the day do you start scheduling FP+?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

MK- important since there is so much to do and it's nice to get a jump start.

Epcot- it's tiered and if you want to do both Soarin and TT it's best to get their early.

HS- also tiered so it's important to get their at RD.

AK- IMO important to get their at rope drop since it gets hot so fast. I can't take the afternoon heat at that park.

 

[DisneyFive]

For us, it's the parks with tiered FP+ systems, Epcot and HS. Epcot because you can't FP+ both Soarin and Test Track. FP+ one, and get the other at rope drop. Same goes for Toy Story and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at HS.

Those are the only two where it is kind of essential if you want to easily go on the headliners. For MK and AK it is always a benefit to RD, but not like EP and HS in my opinion.

Dan

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If you arrive at RD and plan to stay at that park for the day, how early in the day do you start scheduling FP+?

If I were to stay RD-close I would start my FP late morning.

We do RD, midday break and then do our FP for our PM park.

 

[itchin2go]

Yeah - there's two issues:

(1) Magic Kingdom - Rope drop can enable you to get more attractions in. Because there are SO many attractions, the additional wait times later in the day get multiplied by however many rides you're riding then. So, say, if you're doing 10 rides, and they're all 30 minutes longer later in the day, that's adding on a lot of minutes (obviously not scientific, but you can see the issue).
(2) Epcot and DHS - These parks have tiering - meaning you likely can't book FPs for 3 headliners. If you want to do all headliners, you will have to ride at least some of them stand-by. Now, there are fewer attractions, so in the end, it's not *that* big of a deal, as long as you have a good idea what wait times will be and are willing to handle them. The question becomes, would you rather sleep in, and wait 60 minutes standby, or get up early and wait 20? There's no right answer.

I have not been to Animal Kingdom in years, but from what I gather, FPs are less important in this park. Others - please correct me if this is wrong!

One other consideration is that wait times get lower late at night too. Some people do better with late nights. We're up early anyway, so rope drop works for us.

 

[DisneyFive]

If you arrive at RD and plan to stay at that park for the day, how early in the day do you start scheduling FP+?

10am-11am (ride towards the end of the window) then
11am-12pm (ride towards the early to mid part of the window) then
lunch, then
12:30 -1:30
Then come the 4th or more FP+

Dan

 

[jtowntoflorida]

AK is one park we've never made a RD at. I like to close that one instead, for two reasons: (1) people bail in droves around 3:00; and (2) it's such a pretty park at night.

 

[GWhitten98]

For a short trip where parks are not going to be hit on multiple days RD is more important IMO. Of the four if I was going to sleep in for one it would be Animal Kingdom.

 

[wareagle57]

It really just depends. They are all important. I would say Epcot and DHS are the "most" important because they have fewer headlines and attractions overall. If you don't make RD at those parks then you might as well just FP Soarin/TSMM and show up whenever you want and ride TT/RnR single rider or right at the end of the day. This is assuming you don't care about re-riding things.

But I would say you can gain much more of an advantage by arriving at MK early because there is so much to do. By getting there before RD you can systematically knock out 3-5 D-E ticket attractions in the first hour easily and constantly stay ahead of the crowds all day.

 

[BradyBrenMom]

Don't know what I'd do without all the great advice on the boards--I wouldn't have as good of a vacation for sure! We've always been rope drop people and so I guess we'll stay that way--I can sleep when I get home!! I do like the idea of riding several of the not as popular attractions during RD so we can accomplish more during that time. And I wasn't sure we'd make it to AK--visiting for the last few hours is a great idea!

 

[MrKnight]

Are there certain parks where it's more important that others to do RD? I can't decide when we should get there at RD versus take advantage of later FP+ times and sleep in a bit--or go to RD and then save FP+ for a second park in the evening. We will be staying on site in mid-October for just a few days, so I want to plan our time carefully We tend to care more about visiting a variety of rides (including but not exclusively headliners) than we do about riding headliners multiple times, if that makes a difference as well. Thanks for any suggestions you can share!

I would say the following in this order for RD:

1. MK (Most Important)
2. DHS
3. Epcot
4. AK (Least Important)

In general, MK offers the most benefit for being there at RD, while both Epcot and AK can be easily enjoyed without having to be there at RD as long as you plan your touring accordingly and book a FP+ for your top e-ticket attraction.

OR IMHO, you can do what I do and never do RD, IMHO I prefer the parks in the afternoon and evening, I strategically go the parks on days with the latest closing time and/or Evening EMH if I am staying on property.

 

[aj23]

I've never done a RD before but I'm planning to this trip. I know MK has a little show prior to. Do all the parks?