Rope Drop convert

[TheDailyMoo]

In almost 15 years of going to WDW I had never rope dropped once. Not exactly the early riser type. My style is closing down MK at 1 am and taking my time getting back to the hotel. I used to laugh at the idea of rope dropping. Who would want to get up that early just for an extra ride without a wait? Well! This last trip I left the family sleeping and RD Hollywood Studios. Grabbed my coffee and walked from BW and getting in with EE couldn't have been easier. They let us in 15 minutes before and I went straight to Slinky and 10 minutes later I was on my way to Galaxy's Edge, then to ToT then RnR etc etc. The best feeling was leaving HS around 9:30 as a sea of people were shoving their way in. I felt so accomplished and the day had barely started. I can see how adding G+ and staying longer can really get you to complete a park. Needless to say rope dropping, with or without the family (tbh way more fun just doing it by myself!) will be something I do as often as possible from here on out. Can't believe it took me this long to realize how amazing it is!

 

[mort1331]

In almost 15 years of going to WDW I had never rope dropped once. Not exactly the early riser type. My style is closing down MK at 1 am and taking my time getting back to the hotel. I used to laugh at the idea of rope dropping. Who would want to get up that early just for an extra ride without a wait? Well! This last trip I left the family sleeping and RD Hollywood Studios. Grabbed my coffee and walked from BW and getting in with EE couldn't have been easier. They let us in 15 minutes before and I went straight to Slinky and 10 minutes later I was on my way to Galaxy's Edge, then to ToT then RnR etc etc. The best feeling was leaving HS around 9:30 as a sea of people were shoving their way in. I felt so accomplished and the day had barely started. I can see how adding G+ and staying longer can really get you to complete a park. Needless to say rope dropping, with or without the family (tbh way more fun just doing it by myself!) will be something I do as often as possible from here on out. Can't believe it took me this long to realize how amazing it is!

SHHHHH it's our little secret.

Add on that only going to parks every other day, so RD in am ,,,head back to resort before lunch, swim, nap, goto park after dinner and stay till close.

 

[PalmettoPath]

This is the one piece of WDW travel advice that has remained relevant for 50+ years, since day 1.

 

[ohdewer33]

In almost 15 years of going to WDW I had never rope dropped once. Not exactly the early riser type. My style is closing down MK at 1 am and taking my time getting back to the hotel. I used to laugh at the idea of rope dropping. Who would want to get up that early just for an extra ride without a wait? Well! This last trip I left the family sleeping and RD Hollywood Studios. Grabbed my coffee and walked from BW and getting in with EE couldn't have been easier. They let us in 15 minutes before and I went straight to Slinky and 10 minutes later I was on my way to Galaxy's Edge, then to ToT then RnR etc etc. The best feeling was leaving HS around 9:30 as a sea of people were shoving their way in. I felt so accomplished and the day had barely started. I can see how adding G+ and staying longer can really get you to complete a park. Needless to say rope dropping, with or without the family (tbh way more fun just doing it by myself!) will be something I do as often as possible from here on out. Can't believe it took me this long to realize how amazing it is!

Sounds like the way we start our days at Hollywood Studios. You couple that with extended evening hours and you can go back and relax and then hit the Magic Kingdom for some late night fun!

 

[NavyDad]

In almost 15 years of going to WDW I had never rope dropped once. Not exactly the early riser type. My style is closing down MK at 1 am and taking my time getting back to the hotel. I used to laugh at the idea of rope dropping. Who would want to get up that early just for an extra ride without a wait? Well! This last trip I left the family sleeping and RD Hollywood Studios. Grabbed my coffee and walked from BW and getting in with EE couldn't have been easier. They let us in 15 minutes before and I went straight to Slinky and 10 minutes later I was on my way to Galaxy's Edge, then to ToT then RnR etc etc. The best feeling was leaving HS around 9:30 as a sea of people were shoving their way in. I felt so accomplished and the day had barely started. I can see how adding G+ and staying longer can really get you to complete a park. Needless to say rope dropping, with or without the family (tbh way more fun just doing it by myself!) will be something I do as often as possible from here on out. Can't believe it took me this long to realize how amazing it is!

I have always been a huge fan of Rope Drop but the wife is not so we generally alternate.

In the summer months I think RD in the morning, return to resort from about Noon to 5 for nap/swim, and then back to the parks until closing time is the best strategy, IMO.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Sounds like the way we start our days at Hollywood Studios. You couple that with extended evening hours and you can go back and relax and then hit the Magic Kingdom for some late night fun!

In the summer months I think RD in the morning, return to resort from about Noon to 5 for nap/swim, and then back to the parks until closing time is the best strategy, IMO.

Exactly what we did that day...although again I was the only one RD. Which I didn't mind!

 

[Orsino]

We're the opposite. We used to rope drop all the time to take advantage of that golden hour at the beginning of the day. I remember getting 5 rides in that first hour (Space, Pooh, SnowWhite, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion), but those days are long gone. Can you imagine trying to do Peter Pan FOURTH on your rope drop tour?!!
A few years ago we had really bad rope drop experiences. At MK, multiple rides were down during EE, and at park open, even more rides were down. It was not great and didn't seem worth getting up early for and waiting for EE to start. A family next to us was complaining to the mom for making them get up early to have to then wait. I was on team rope drop with the mom, but I could see their point too. Then at Epcot, we waited for Remy, and that was down at open too. I feel rope drop can work well, but there is significant risk of rides being down at open.

Now we might rope drop if it fits our plans, but we don't feel the strong draw to it as we did before. We haven't rope dropped DHS since the days of RotR VQ madness, so maybe we should try there sometime.

 

[disneydreamer781]

Yeah, I'm not an RD person and haven't done it since the 1970s but I am thinking about perhaps doing it for one day during our Christmas week trip and as a OP pointed out, coupling it with MK EEH park day. I'd be solo also of course because DH would have absolutely no interest. The benefit for me would be minimal because I'm not really interested in many rides but just want to do some shopping and drink in the holiday atmosphere.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

We're the opposite. We used to rope drop all the time to take advantage of that golden hour at the beginning of the day. I remember getting 5 rides in that first hour (Space, Pooh, SnowWhite, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion), but those days are long gone. Can you imagine trying to do Peter Pan FOURTH on your rope drop tour?!!
A few years ago we had really bad rope drop experiences. At MK, multiple rides were down during EE, and at park open, even more rides were down. It was not great and didn't seem worth getting up early for and waiting for EE to start. A family next to us was complaining to the mom for making them get up early to have to then wait. I was on team rope drop with the mom, but I could see their point too. Then at Epcot, we waited for Remy, and that was down at open too. I feel rope drop can work well, but there is significant risk of rides being down at open.

Now we might rope drop if it fits our plans, but we don't feel the strong draw to it as we did before. We haven't rope dropped DHS since the days of RotR VQ madness, so maybe we should try there sometime.

I might not have been as thrilled with it if it was MK from what you're saying. It might've been that I just happened to hit a great day at HS to rope drop. That park also has most of the rides I wouldn't mind doing solo so there's that too maybe.

 

[Justrose]

In the summer months I think RD in the morning, return to resort from about Noon to 5 for nap/swim, and then back to the parks until closing time is the best strategy, IMO.

Agree. We have done that before and will do it again next month.

 

[ilovebassets]

I feel like good use of genie plus and individual lightning lanes lets us get as much done as when we used to rope drop. Time is money and money is time--decide which one you want to spend!

 

[parasail_of_congress]

I guess I can understand that people want to sleep on their vacation, but there are a limited number of hours that parks are open. If you don't rope drop, you miss that time. If you do rope drop and do everything you want before the end of the day, you can always leave early. There's always a chance that rides could go down at any time during the day, but it's not possible to get back time in the park if you don't rope drop. There's always an opportunity to do more if you finish early though.

Of course, this is separate from people who have the money for G+ and ILL. I don't mind those people at all because the fewer people at rope drop, the better time we have!

 

[glamdring269]

I feel like good use of genie plus and individual lightning lanes lets us get as much done as when we used to rope drop. Time is money and money is time--decide which one you want to spend!

I like the idea of doing both but have not yet had a chance to put it into legit practice. And I guess the park might make a difference too. We will definitely RD every morning of our upcoming trip but the question will be whether we supplement RD with G+ or if we RD and use G+ to stack us up for our evening hopper park.

 

[MiketheGrate]

We got our kids so amped up for rope dropping that they started referring to it as "rope domination" instead. Not going to correct them.

 

[NavyDad]

We're the opposite. We used to rope drop all the time to take advantage of that golden hour at the beginning of the day. I remember getting 5 rides in that first hour (Space, Pooh, SnowWhite, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion), but those days are long gone. Can you imagine trying to do Peter Pan FOURTH on your rope drop tour?!!
A few years ago we had really bad rope drop experiences. At MK, multiple rides were down during EE, and at park open, even more rides were down. It was not great and didn't seem worth getting up early for and waiting for EE to start. A family next to us was complaining to the mom for making them get up early to have to then wait. I was on team rope drop with the mom, but I could see their point too. Then at Epcot, we waited for Remy, and that was down at open too. I feel rope drop can work well, but there is significant risk of rides being down at open.

Now we might rope drop if it fits our plans, but we don't feel the strong draw to it as we did before. We haven't rope dropped DHS since the days of RotR VQ madness, so maybe we should try there sometime.

Based on our last couple of trips (post COVID) I have seen less and less benefit of RD at MK specifically. The other 3 parks have been great for RD but MK not so much.

 

[brockash]

In almost 15 years of going to WDW I had never rope dropped once. Not exactly the early riser type. My style is closing down MK at 1 am and taking my time getting back to the hotel. I used to laugh at the idea of rope dropping. Who would want to get up that early just for an extra ride without a wait? Well! This last trip I left the family sleeping and RD Hollywood Studios. Grabbed my coffee and walked from BW and getting in with EE couldn't have been easier. They let us in 15 minutes before and I went straight to Slinky and 10 minutes later I was on my way to Galaxy's Edge, then to ToT then RnR etc etc. The best feeling was leaving HS around 9:30 as a sea of people were shoving their way in. I felt so accomplished and the day had barely started. I can see how adding G+ and staying longer can really get you to complete a park. Needless to say rope dropping, with or without the family (tbh way more fun just doing it by myself!) will be something I do as often as possible from here on out. Can't believe it me this long to realize how amazing it is!

We've always been rope droppers, however now we have started only rdropping DHS. The others, especially MK are just too stressful and unpleasant anymore.

 

[ghtx]

I feel like good use of genie plus and individual lightning lanes lets us get as much done as when we used to rope drop. Time is money and money is time--decide which one you want to spend!

Me I like to spend both - RD plus G+ and ILL.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

There’s no way we could make it all day, and we find the waits for the headliner attractions far shorter in the evenings. You just have to understand the crowd patterns and how Disney manages the intentionally inflated wait times.

We like to hit our first park around 10:30 or so in the morning then take a break when we hop to another in the afternoon. Even in the Florida heat, a well packed cooler will keep drinks and snacks cold in the vehicle.

 

[gharter]

we find we rope drop and get several rides done before the main crowds enter. WE usually also do a signature restaurant in the evening and rarely go back to the parks after, so getting there early in the morning works for us.

 

[robinb]

We used to be rope droppers, but my family threw a fit. So, now we trade off with rope drops and late nights.