I find this interesting

[MissouriPrincess]

We still have a four-year-old who does much better with a real nap in a dark, cool room, but I can't say I don't enjoy a break in the room myself.

We've only been twice as a family, and things may change as our youngest gets older, but I can't imagine going to parks without the break! In fact, if we could, we would come in at dark and stay until 3:00 am at every park.

Yes, we are heat weenies. So we get in as close to rope drop as we can without being too militant about it, and we are out of there by 2:00. We take a break, have dinner between 5:00 and 6:00 somewhere, and then we are enjoying the parks again.

We did do a sleep in/pool day, and it was nice, too. I can see why people do that. It was nice to enter a park for the first time that day at around 6:30 pm and have 3 fastpasses waiting for us.

 

[sapdaddy2]

One of the few advantages of being from Atlantic Canada is that we are an hour time zone east of Orlando. So even though the parks open at 9:00 am it is really 10:00 am our time! For the vast majority of people I suspect the opposite is true.

We always take advantage of this! The problem for us of course is it is really hard to keep the kids up for fireworks.

That is a good point. For rope drop at 9:00am for somebody who traveled from the west coast it would be 6:00am for them.

Another way of looking at it is for those who stay, the ones leaving for break have at least thinned the herd.

 

[gericoronado]

We did do a sleep in/pool day, and it was nice, too. I can see why people do that. It was nice to enter a park for the first time that day at around 6:30 pm and have 3 fastpasses waiting for us.

So true. Not every day need be a Rope Drop day. I like to mix it up during my 10+ stay.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

we are there for RD everyday - we do not sleep late at Disney. However we also don't take a 'break' in the afternoon.... we're done at the parks somewhere between 5 - 7 pm and then we head back to the resort - swim/ relax and have an early-ish night.

 

[LadyRayado]

On our trips when I was a kid, we RD'ed every single day and never took a break. I can't remember a night we left before park closing, either. On my last trip with my DH and ILs, I RD'ed with my DS and they joined me around 10-11 every morning once they woke up. DS doesn't sleep past 6am, I wanted to RD, and the others wanted to sleep in. It worked out well for everyone.

 

[lustergirl]

In all my trips I have never experienced Rope Drop. I would like to on this upcoming trip as I hear the Opening Ceremony at MK is pretty awesome.

We are the types to hit a park mid morning, stay until mid afternoon, go back to our resort for a rest or nap, and then head back out to catch the fireworks somewhere.

I see for the park hours for my upcoming trip in November have shortened some days. So now I have to do more research.

 

[MissStitch626]

DH and I were just discussing this same questions a few days ago.

We have never really been mid-day break people, but we normally go for 14 days and one day I felt awful in DHS because all the early mornings and long park days seemed to catch up on me at once. We took a break at the resort and went back to the park at night and I still feel like it was one of the best days because I had so much more energy at night.

I'm really torn on the mid-day break because I feel like I'm losing out on valuable park time but then when I'm leaving the resort I feel like I should have spent more time there!

There just aren't enough hours in the day for Disney

 

[mag73]

We actually do sleep in late most if the time. And by late i mean 8-9 am. At home we are up at 5:30 every day so when we are on vacation it is nice to take it easy. We usually make it to the parks by 10:30 depending if we have a qs vs sit down breakfast. Stay at the park maybe till 1:30 than head back to our hotel for lunch and swimming at the pool ( sometimes a nap for my dh). We eat diner around 5:30-6:00 at our hotel and then go back to the parks. We are able to do that only because we stay at a monorail resort. If we were staying at any of the other hotels or offsite I don't think we would be able to do that. We have done this for the past 15 years and my children enjoy our hotel time just as much as the parks.

 

[jco_direwolf]

I always make RD. Its funny when touring with other families. Night before "Oh yea we will be at the parks at 7a we have to make the most of our tickets". Me "okay see ya there." Me at 7a in phone "so you guys aren't up yet? You'll meat me at the park. Okay." Noon my cell rings. "Okay you've had breakfast and heading to the park?"

By now I'm ready for lunch and a break having done 8+ attraction most the head liners and they are ready for the 45 minute wait for space.

 

[Monykalyn]

We generally do RD, plan a sit down meal at odd time to cool off (3-5ish) then go til closing or whenever we are done. Since we stay off site it just doesn't make sense to leave and come back. That being said-this last trip 1st day was few hours at DTD and 5:15 dinner-then back to resort to swim and relax, 2nd day HS (RD to F!-1st show); 3rd AK-which closes earlier anyway (Rd-~45 min to close-AK also had EMH in am and there weren't many who took advantage, and most peeps gone by about 6:30 or so and EE was a walkon!) 3rd day water park day (sleep in a bit) and late night MK (6-12); 4th day-off day-sleep in, drive to beach lazy day) and last 2 days RD to close at Epcot and MK. Alternating long days with shorter/easier/sleep later days really worked well. And all I see in GB is "take a break". My kiddos are old enough to not need naps or breaks and that helped as well
FWIW-I liked the new FP+(got everything I wanted) and ADR planning. I am sure we wouldn't have had such a smooth trip without all the planning!

 

[si-am]

I am NOT a morning person, at all. But at Disney, I'm always at the parks for rope drop. I do think it's important to schedule "off days" in between park days if you want to be able to sleep in a bit. It requires a longer vacation, though.

For me, if I want a relaxing, sleep in, kind of vacation, I go to the beach, not Disney. It's just not that kind of place!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I am NOT a morning person, at all. But at Disney, I'm always at the parks for rope drop. I do think it's important to schedule "off days" in between park days if you want to be able to sleep in a bit. It requires a longer vacation, though.

For me, if I want a relaxing, sleep in, kind of vacation, I go to the beach, not Disney. It's just not that kind of place!

Exactly this! I may be the world's worst morning person ever, but I never miss a rope drop. We are commandos when it comes to Disney and oddly enjoy exhausting ourselves there as long as we know we have a beach vacation on the heels of our WDW trip (Aruba in November!)

 

[Aurora0427]

When we traveled before our daughter was born, my husband and I would open the parks on some days and some days hit them later- but we'd stay all day until we needed to freshen up for dinner. Or we'd leave one park and head to the next. Except on those 3am EMH MK nights- those were sleep in mornings! Now that we have a little one, we follow the advice, and it works great. We do RD, head back for nap around 1, then go out again late afternoon or early evening. It's great. I will even wake my daughter up at 8 just to make RD. It's also why we splurge and stay at the monorail hotels- makes getting to MK at rope drop even easier. We don't really need to be at any of the other parks at RD, given what she can ride. This will evolve as she gets older! A nap also enables us to keep her out for the nightly parades and fireworks.

 

[bumbershoot]

Every guide book, every blog, and every website dedicated to Disney says to be at a park for rope drop, leave and go back to your room for a nap or a swim then return for the evening.

My question is, doesn't anybody listen?

Why aren't the parks almost empty from 12:00 to 3:00?

I have done my touring as stated as well as staying all day and wondered why I am not almost alone in the afternoon.

Well, you say yourself that you have done it the other way...so you know that even those who know to do it don't do it.

If we swim, we're done for the day. Swimming really exhausts many people!

 

[Kellykins1218]

And a large percentage of travelers have heard this advice given, and have decided it is not good advice.

 

[itchin2go]

I feel like there are 3 parts to that advice:

Go early.
Take a midday break.
Return and stay late.

As others have said, it's hard to do all of that day-in and day-out. Go early and stay late are kind of incompatible, at least long term.

We go early, break after lunch, and then only return to a park or resort for dinner or fireworks. We got all our rides in before lunch because we were there at rope drop. We aren't the type to try to ride the same rides over and over (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I disagree that this is not doable when staying offsite. We stay offsite, but really close to WDW so driving back is not a big deal.

We pretty much go early every day, but we may not go back to the parks every night. Sometimes, it's just dinner at a resort, and then hit the sack.

Why people don't go early? They either can't get their act together that early, or they won't. Some people have a hard time wrangling their families and it's just too much trouble. Some people will not give up sleeping late because "it's their vacation". And you know, as long as they "stay late", I think it may even out.

Why people don't take breaks? I think there are lots of reasons for this: caught up in the parks, having fun, kids want to keep going, commando dad (or mom) want to keep going, too much of a hassle to come back later so it's all or nothing, short vacation so they have to fit it all in a day or 2 ...

Why people don't come back in the evening and stay late? Got to get up in the morning for rope drop, worn out from the parks this morning, need some downtime, not into the nighttime entertainment, saving money by eating offsite and/or in the room ....

Now, the people who JUST go in the heat of the day with the heaviest crowds and the longest lines, who neither go early nor stay late ... these are the people who confuse me.

 

[jade1]

Plus if everybody did do that-they would have to change the books to "visit from noon to 3".

 

[livinlife25]

I found what currently works best for my family is to do rope drop and then call it quits for the day around 2 or 3. My son gets a second wind and will not nap at all at the resorts so nighttime activities can be a struggle. Plus this way, we are able to get to bed early and make rope drop the next day.

 

[LaurenT]

I think there are two main reasons that many people don't listen.
1. - I think the vast majority of guests have not bothered to read a book or check a blog or message board.
2. - Even though I think it is sound advice, I rarely follow it myself. Once I'm in the park, I just seem to keep wanting to do one more thing and then I turn around and it's 5 pm and time for dinner... because of this, I often don't make it to the nighttime entertainment. But that means I get a good nights rest and am there for park open the next day.

 

[ziravan]

The average tourist that waits until 11-something to arrive is coming into peak crowds and peak waits. By coming early, leaving during midday and returning at night, you accomplish many things

1. RD means several rides at minimum park capacity (assuming you avoid A&E, 7DMT, TSMM, Soarin', etc., without a FP).

2. Combine RD with FP+, and you can do a ton of stuff before 11am, and grab a 4th pass for evening.

3. Leaving about 1 takes you out of the heat of the FL day.

4. Leaving about 1 takes you out of the longest lines.

5. Leaving about 1 allows you to take advantage of resort pools.

6. Leaving about 1 avoids shoulder to shoulder crowds.

7. Leaving about 1 lets you recoup rest lost from getting up at RD and gives you energy for night.

8. Coming back later in the day means you are arriving as the first waves are leaving.

You get the advantage of both the leading and trailing edge of crowd size, to avoid the heat of the day, and to rest. Simply put, you can do more by being gone from the parks from 1-5 than you can from arriving at noon and staying until closing.

The strategy works, and works well. Why doesn't everybody do it? It works BECAUSE it's a contrarian play. If everybody did RD till 1, then rest, then the contrarian play would be to hit the parks from 1-5.

This strategy is advised because, even armed with this advice, the majority will not take advantage. If they did, it wouldn't work.