How to Convince Wife to Goto Rope Drop

[BalooFan]

My top reasons for doing rope drop are to (1) take advantage of what will likely be the coolest time of the day and (2) experience more attractions than we would in the same amount of time later in the day.

 

[larryz]

So i am looking for your help of how I can convince her to try it just once.

Withhold charging privileges on her MagicBand™ until she agrees to join you...

 

[JPKnapp]

OP, don't go alone. Like PP said - it's not as much fun as sharing the experience with someone. And THAT my friend is the key. Tell her that you want to share the experience with her, that it's not as much fun without her, and that you want her there because it's more fun with her than without her. Tell her it's not just to get more rides, but to be with her while doing something you love to do.

And while she may not like RD, she probably likes to see you happy. And would sacrifice a little bit to make that happen.

I did this with my DW and it worked like a charm. For me, it was trying to convince her to leave kids at GPs and have a date day. For weeks she wasn't having it. It wasn't until I explained to her why I wanted her there so bad that she agreed.

Good luck bud. You can do it.

 

[melliemelo]

We are RD people pretty much every day of our trip for every park. I didn't pay all that money for a vacation to sleep and lounge around!! I'd go to the beach if I wanted to do nothing. It's so empty in the morning and you can knock out so many rides. My kids love the 'good morning' people (opening show) at MK.

When I was in my 20s, I went to WDW with some friends for a weekend - I had 2 park days. We were in a timeshare, so I was at their mercy for transportation. It was 1:00 or later before they were out of bed and dressed. Half the day was gone by then and we missed out on so much.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Remember the old saying - "If Momma ain't happy, no one's happy."

With wives and kids alike, it's sometimes much easier to let them stay up late than to make them get up early.

 

[kiford]

Diamonds. Seriously, that's what it would take for DH to convince me. If she doesn't want to get up on vacation early and go to RD, you may simply not be able to convince her. Fortunately, DH isn't really that keen on RD himself and likes to sleep in on vacation too so he'd never ask me but "diamonds" would be my response if he ever did ask what it would take. Or I'd check to see if a pod creature had taken over his body.

Some people just don't see the benefit to going early. You may get to experience more but she just may not see that as something that outweighs the opportunity to sleep in.

 

[kdisser]

Totally worth it. Breakfast is a must to me as well I have fruit and a protein bar to get me going (not glamorous but does the trick and then some). Being there waiting for the park to open just makes you feel like a kid (more so than just being at the park itself). The Good Morning song is one of my favorites!! You get to feel as though you are opening the park with the cast members when you walk down main street and see it without the herds of people. And you get some really good pictures in front of the castle without everyone as your backdrop. It is a beautiful experience to partake in. It's a must-do at least once.

I'm assuming Magic Kingdom here....
I really hope you can convince her.

 

[a742246]

If I wanted to go to rope drop and my wife didn't, I would set an appointment for her at GF SPA for an early morning treatment. Now you can do two things 1) she can have a massage and you can go to rope drop. 2) You can convince her that if she goes to rope drop she can have a massage, sort of like that episode on "The Big Bang Theory" when Sheldon was training Penny with Chocolate.

 

[DVCcurious]

Ok, let's get serious.

You REALLY want her to go to rope drop with you and she refuses to get up early? There's only one thing to do: Set all the clocks 3 hours ahead. Then she'll go to bed 3 hours early and get up 3 hours earlier than normal.

 

[disBEAST]

I don't understand people who don't want to be at the park early. Not every day, but really you can do it once a trip. Its not that hard.

Sorry I've never had this issue so I'm not much help!

 

[bluezy]

I agree with the others who have said you should try to convince her to try it just once -- but that she needs to be "all in". If she gets up that morning and is dragging her feet and you end up getting there 30 minutes after rope drop, you've already lost a lot of precious time. If you don't think she'll go "all in", then politely tell her you still want to do it and you're fine doing it without her that day. You'll get up and get to the park early and she can sleep in and take her time. She'll text you when she gets to the park and she can meet up with you there. The key thing is, though, that you need to have a touring plan that you start immediately at rope drop. And you don't back track on that plan when your wife gets there. Whatever you accomplished while she was still sleeping, she will either have to miss for the day or she can experience later that night after you've finished your list. I suspect that after she sees how much you were able to get done in those first 2 hours, she'll be more intrigued and may be willing to try rope drop another day.

My husband really wasn't interested in getting up early on vacation but I convinced him to do rope drop on our first trip and he immediately saw the benefits and rewards of doing that. We also enjoy staying at the parks late at night. So we take afternoon breaks back at the resort most days and we schedule a few mornings to sleep in. A little bit of everything and everyone's happy.

 

[snowybelle]

In January I took DH to WDW and Universal studios for his first time. He is NOT a morning person and usually he sleeps until around 10-11am when we're on vacation. For months before we left, I prepped him and told him how important it is for us to get up early to maximize our time in the parks. It took a while, but he eventually and begrudgingly got used to the idea that we were going to do RD at least once. With those expectations in place, we RD'd Magic Kingdom on our first full day there. He dutifully got himself up and ready, and we arrived in plenty of time for the Welcome Show. He's not really a "Disney" person (definitely not in the sense that we are here), but he wept!!! at the Welcome Show! We then marched into the MK and literally experienced ZERO waiting for about the first two hours. (I realize it's not always quite like that, but the planets aligned! And, to be fair, and had designed a very smart touring plan.) Well, after that experience he was SOLD. I was shocked when he was up and out of bed and ready for RD every morning for the remainder of the trip, including for 8am early entries at Harry Potter World. Once he saw the clear benefits of arriving before park open, he needed no further convincing from me. In fact, he is now advising his co-working who are planning their first visits to do the same! (I told him, Shhhh, keep it a secret...!)

Now of course your wife may not have the same reaction — but if she hates waiting in lines as much as my husband does, she might! I agree with the "just once" strategy as suggested by many posters in this thread, so long as you also have a really solid touring plan in place so she has a chance to really understand how awesome the benefits actually are.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I don't understand people who don't want to be at the park early. Not every day, but really you can do it once a trip. Its not that hard.

Sorry I've never had this issue so I'm not much help!

For many guests, being in the parks late is a much more efficient use of time than getting there early. Even visitors with the best laid plans will eventually tire out and have to leave if they got up too early. Let the nice lady sleep in. I think she knows what she's doing.

 

[disBEAST]

I like being at the parks both early and late

 

[JennyMP03]

I am not a morning person, at all. My circadian rhythm is aligned with the owls. I continuously sigh and groan for about an hour after waking up, to the annoyance of all who must endure my presence (usually my husband, who has learned to ignore it). I would never, EVER elect to wake early unless there were massive, astronomical benefits in doing so.

At Disney World, there are.

We didn't manage rope drop on my first two trips as an adult. On my last trip, we did it almost every morning. And it was the bomb dot com, no lie. We swaggered about Frontierland like we owned the place. No one else was around, so we basically did. We jumped on so many rides before 10 AM that it felt like we must be VIP. We missed rope drop one day out of five, and that day was a struggle in comparison.

Rope drop---> late morning FP+ ---> lunch ----> resort swim/nap ----> dinner/evening park/fireworks. I came to the swift realization that this strategy is every bit as glorious as the true believers around these forums have sworn over the years. They are RIGHT, and I gladly join in rope drop evangelism now. Beg her to try it at MK just once. Bribe her if you must. Chances are, that one time is all it will take to convince her.

 

[Lmans77]

I LOVE RD and I HATE mornings. Like I am a grown adult 38 year old woman, and will sleep to noon on weekends if the hubs lets me. But I am a responsible adult and get up during the week at 6am for work. If I can do that, I can do it for vacation because of the benefits. Riding ride after ride without waits for a couple hours makes it all worth it. Kids are fresh and the magic is in their eyes. The Welcome Show makes me cry too. I just love all the park and circumstance of a MK RD. But get there at least 30 minutes prior to park opening. 5 min past park opening is not really rope drop.
Beg her for just once. It's worth it.

 

[Texas Mickey]

In situations like this Ive always tried the comprise solution. If you do this with me hunny I'll do something you really like that I'm not the fond of. A little give and take usually works. Or bribe her with a Pandora bracelet lol.

 

[fla4fun]

Some people just don't see the benefit to going early. You may get to experience more but she just may not see that as something that outweighs the opportunity to sleep in.

Some people are early birds and some are night owls. It's really hard to convince either side that the yours is the better idea.

So for the OP, I would ask does she generally like to sleep in on days she's not working? If she has to get up early for some reason (say, an appointment of some sort) does it put her in a bad mood or is she typically OK with it? When the night owls in our friends/family group have to get up early, they are usually not in the best mood for most of the day even if the reason they had to get up was a good one and perhaps even their idea. By the same token, trying to keep the early birds out late also tends to lead to a lot of moodiness and crankiness.

I would just have the honest conversation with her about what you would like to do and why you would like her to be a part of it, and ask if she will. If she says no, ask her if she's OK with you going off on your own to experience RD since it's something you really want to do. I go solo to WDW a lot, and it's totally possible to have a great time on your own. I've been on family/friend trips where not everyone wanted to get up early or stay out late, and allowing everyone the freedom to do what worked best for them kept everyone happy. No one felt like they were being forced to do something against their will, and no one felt like they were being held back from doing something they really wanted to do.

 

[GaryDis]

The show always is enjoyable.

-The Mk rope drop show is super cute and magical

I was under the impression that if you were hitting rope drop for one of the headliners like 7DMT, then finding a position to watch the show defeated the purpose, since the mobs by the entrance tunnels would easily create a 30min wait before you could get to the ride. Or is that a misunderstanding?

 

[smellyia]

I was under the impression that if you were hitting rope drop for one of the headliners like 7DMT, then finding a position to watch the show defeated the purpose, since the mobs by the entrance tunnels would easily create a 30min wait before you could get to the ride. Or is that a misunderstanding?

We stand to the right on the inside of the entrance between the archway and plantar. We can see decently. As the show is ending we inch forward and get ready. Have always made great RD position keeping right without running or stressing. Granted to get that spot we get to the bus stop by 745 for the earlier bus.