How important is Rope Drop with these morning plans?

[marcar12]

I know that doing Rope Drop is highly recommended, but I just don't know if we can quite make it there that early, since we want our kids to feel rested. However, if it is going to make a huge difference in our waiting times, then I want to do our best to do it.

In your opinion, if we plan to spend the first few hours of our day doing the following:
Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, Small World, meeting Merida/Alice/Gaston, and using scheduled FP+ at 7DMT and FP+ at Enchanted Tales with Belle....

...will being there at Rope Drop make a huge difference in how long we will wait in line to accomplish that list of plans compared to if we arrive at 9:30 (on a 9:00 opening day)? Also, the morning we plan to be doing this at MK will be a day that a Halloween party is held that evening, if that makes a difference. Thanks for your input!

 

[Ninja Mom]

DEFINITELY do Rope Drop. Less people in the parks early on mean less time in line with tons of other people. Also as the day wears on there is more of a chance that poorly maintained rides will break down.

Rope Drop.
Rope Drop.
Rope Drop.

~NM
PS. Rope Drop.

 

[CAS239]

You don't have to get there super early, but I would recommend getting there about 8:45 for a 9am opening

Those rides will be easy to knock out but being there slightly before opening will be a big benefit vs getting there 30 min after opening

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I can’t stress how great it is to RD. This will be the best time of day to get on rides with short waits, you’ll be able to accomplish so much. But if you think getting up that early will make your kids miserable, don’t do it. Getting there at 9:30 is better then 11:00, so do what you can, but RD is the best way to see what you want with little wait.

 

[Ensusieasm]

I know that doing Rope Drop is highly recommended, but I just don't know if we can quite make it there that early, since we want our kids to feel rested. However, if it is going to make a huge difference in our waiting times, then I want to do our best to do it.

In your opinion, if we plan to spend the first few hours of our day doing the following:
Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, Small World, meeting Merida/Alice/Gaston, and using scheduled FP+ at 7DMT and FP+ at Enchanted Tales with Belle....

...will being there at Rope Drop make a huge difference in how long we will wait in line to accomplish that list of plans compared to if we arrive at 9:30 (on a 9:00 opening day)? Also, the morning we plan to be doing this at MK will be a day that a Halloween party is held that evening, if that makes a difference. Thanks for your input!

Rope Drop makes a significant difference in how your whole day goes. Early to bed after doing as much preparation for the morning as possible the night before so you can get out to the bus stop on time.

 

[sharonabe]

I just don't know if we can quite make it there that early, since we want our kids to feel rested.

This is WHY rope drop works as well as it does. Even though here on the boards you see the majority doing rope drop, reality is the majority of guests are just like you and either can't or don't want to get up early on vacation.

Even the 30 min you're thinking of will make a difference. I do agree that you don't need to be there an hour before park opening, but getting there 15 min before will suffice to do what you want to do with a minimum wait.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If you can't make rope drop, an alternative is to get in line for 7DMT or another headliner shortly before the park closes for the Party. You'll have a shorter wait then.

 

[JJ2017]

My kids like their sleep but boy do they wake up easily and raring to go at Disney. Fave experience thus far was a 7 am opening and our castle pic was still in the “dark” and still lit up by Elsa. Best experience walking on to sooooo many of the rides you mentioned. First Family of the day on three of them and we will never forget that!

 

[lovethesun12]

In your opinion, if we plan to spend the first few hours of our day doing the following:
Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, Small World, meeting Merida/Alice/Gaston, and using scheduled FP+ at 7DMT and FP+ at Enchanted Tales with Belle....will being there at rope drop make a huge difference

While I do think Rope Drop is always the best way, if that is all you plan to do I think it would work and I guess I'm in the minority of thinking not a huge difference. I'd schedule the 3rd FP+ for Haunted Mansion, but if you don't have one I'd do that first. Then do the rest of the rides. I'm really not sure how long the wait is for that meet and greet, but do it right after HM if it gets long. At 10/11am you should be able to do Barnstormer and It's a small world with pretty short waits. If the wait time is more than 20min you could probably do them pretty easily as a 4th FP+ later.

If you wanted to do more rides than you have listed, then I would consider rope drop a stronger priority.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

My thinking on your exact scenario is if you can get there for 930 will 45 minutes earlier really make or break the kiddos?
Just a thought.

Rope drop will give you a significant advantage IMO.

 

[Cinderella94]

My thinking on your exact scenario is if you can get there for 930 will 45 minutes earlier really make or break the kiddos?
Just a thought.

Rope drop will give you a significant advantage IMO.

I was going to type this too. Is an extra 30 or 45 minutes of sleep that huge? That same amount of time is that huge in the parks at rope drop, though.

 

[NickC]

We do RD ever day regardless of our itinerary. We get so much done before lunch time that we have the option of slowing down the rest of the day. If you get everything done on your ‘must-do’ list early, then you can be more spontaneous during the rest of the day.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

It can't be stressed enough that rope drop will let you get so much done before the crowds get too big. You can always rest in the afternoon if your kids get tired. We rope drop, get so much done, then take a break and hit our FP+ in the afternoon. Cheers!!!!!!!!!

 

[ChristineOH]

For MK, rope drop is very beneficial. We do the other parks primarily using FP in the mornings and lower crowds in the evenings to avoid the lines. But, the great thing about MK RD, if you're not doing 7DMT, is that you can be getting off the bus at 8:45 and be just fine for hitting the rides with low waits.

What's your third FP for? Given that list, I'd get a third FP for HM. That could easily be a half hour wait at 9:30. You can easily get a 4th FP for Barnstormer and iasw. The meets are going to be your longest waits-- no FP for those particular meets. I don't know about Alice, but I'd hit Merida at park open, and then find out when Gaston's first meet is. Be there 15 minutes before he starts. Otherwise, you'll be waiting at least a half hour for him anytime the rest of the day. And, unlike Merida, it's not a fun wait and it's in the sun.

Going on a party day is good for lower crowds, but I still think you'll appreciate the benefits of getting there at 9:00.

 

[marcar12]

Thank you all for replying with awesome advice! I do think I might be convinced to make Rope Drop happen at least once while we are there!

My kids like their sleep but boy do they wake up easily and raring to go at Disney. Fave experience thus far was a 7 am opening and our castle pic was still in the “dark” and still lit up by Elsa. Best experience walking on to sooooo many of the rides you mentioned. First Family of the day on three of them and we will never forget that!

This is an excellent point. I think at the starting end of our trip our kids will be like this, too. Closer to the end I think they will be so pooped they will want to sleep and sleep in the morning. But we DO have a day built in where they will be able to sleep in as long as they want and we won't go to the parks until 4pm (if at all). So hopefully that will help them have more energy to get up on the rest of the days.

My thinking on your exact scenario is if you can get there for 930 will 45 minutes earlier really make or break the kiddos?
Just a thought.

Rope drop will give you a significant advantage IMO.

We will have a 2.5-year-old, which is the kiddo I feel most concerned about getting enough sleep. I would prefer for her to get a full-night's rest than have to stress about fitting in a nap while we are at the parks. So for her I do think that 45 minutes more sleep in the morning would make the difference on whether or not she would be happy without a nap. I would rather not rope drop than have an exhausted melting-down toddler when dinner time rolls around. BUT, maybe I can somehow figure out a way for her to get to bed a little earlier the night before we want to do rope drops. I am definitely trying to consider all options.

For MK, rope drop is very beneficial. We do the other parks primarily using FP in the mornings and lower crowds in the evenings to avoid the lines. But, the great thing about MK RD, if you're not doing 7DMT, is that you can be getting off the bus at 8:45 and be just fine for hitting the rides with low waits.

What's your third FP for? Given that list, I'd get a third FP for HM. That could easily be a half hour wait at 9:30. You can easily get a 4th FP for Barnstormer and iasw. The meets are going to be your longest waits-- no FP for those particular meets. I don't know about Alice, but I'd hit Merida at park open, and then find out when Gaston's first meet is. Be there 15 minutes before he starts. Otherwise, you'll be waiting at least a half hour for him anytime the rest of the day. And, unlike Merida, it's not a fun wait and it's in the sun.

Going on a party day is good for lower crowds, but I still think you'll appreciate the benefits of getting there at 9:00.

So our plans for this particular day include us doing everything I mentioned in the original post before lunch. If we have to skip one of the meets, that will be okay. But our ideal for that day would be to meet all of those characters. We will see how we feel in the moment, though.

Plans for the rest of the day include a FP+ at Splash Mountain, watching the parade in Frontierland, a 4th FP at either Jungle Cruise or Pirates, and then doing some "anytime" attractions since party guests will start arriving (like Philharmagic, Tea Cups, Laugh Floor, and any additional FPs we can acquire.)

 

[Shanti]

We alternate rope drop and non-rope drop days. One of the nice things about FP+ is being able to schedule afternoon rides, so that you don't always have to be there first thing.

This is for a relatively relaxed trip in which you don't need to see or do everything in a small number of days.

If I did feel the need to do a lot in a short trip, I would do rope drop every day, and Extra Magic Hours, as well.

 

[lovethesun12]

We will have a 2.5-year-old, which is the kiddo I feel most concerned about getting enough sleep. I would prefer for her to get a full-night's rest than have to stress about fitting in a nap while we are at the parks. So for her I do think that 45 minutes more sleep in the morning would make the difference on whether or not she would be happy without a nap. I would rather not rope drop than have an exhausted melting-down toddler when dinner time rolls around. BUT, maybe I can somehow figure out a way for her to get to bed a little earlier the night before we want to do rope drops. I am definitely trying to consider all options.

I have a 2.5 year old for this trip (so last year she was 1.5 year old). I usually wake up planning to do rope drop (I don't need an alarm at Disney and DH has finally bought into this idea as well, lol). We dress very lightly in Florida so I sometimes put her to bed in the sundress she is wearing the next day and literally just scoop her out of bed right before we leave (always have her favourite breakfast snacks on the way like muffins, bananas, apples, yogurt, etc, and we usually eat breakfast or an early lunch at the park). We also do resort days in between park days and make sure they are asleep early. We usually try for EMH and rope drop and it does truly work best when we make it but we often arrive 15min - 30min behind our plan and it never really makes a huge difference (although we don't struggle to fit everything in either and often skip rides with height requirements over 40").

 

[Winky65]

As others have correctly stated, there is no better time to do the most attractions at the park tean the first couple hours. We always try to get to the parks at least 30 minutes before they open, and in august okan in getting to AK at least an hour to do the Pandora stuff with minimal waits. If you want your kids to get adequate rest, get there early and leave the park around 2 when it is packed. Rest and then go back or to another park in the early evening. Ending your day early enough to get to bed at a reasonable time.

 

[claven123]

Look at the videos, pictures of the rope drops across time in the AM. It REALLY makes a difference. I think Josh has a bunch on his site easywdw.com...... I'm assuming you'll have a stroller, built in nap machine BTW....

Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, Small World, meeting Merida/Alice/Gaston, and using scheduled FP+ at 7DMT and FP+ at Enchanted Tales with Belle....

These rides/attractions can have vast different wait times depending on the time of day, lower in the AM and sometimes lower in the evening (without special ticketed events). With the exception of 7DMT, that will stay the same, long. Do you have options of another day at MK, for the park close? Sometimes, those items are easy to get on at night, we rode barnstormer back to back one night, nearly walked on enchanted tales with belle (best meet and greet EVER). Small world can be a walk on a times. If you skip the fireworks, some things are walk on like haunted mansion.

Rope drop does make a difference.

D