Rope Drop Every Day vs Afternoon Start

[Carolrita]

Does anyone know when talking Mickey will end? My 4 year old niece met him 2 years ago. It was her favorite memory. We’re taking her back in July. Any chance he’ll still be there?

 

[lovewdwfun]

We love rope drop - but what are you doing that would require you to get up at 5?! If you are staying onsite (maybe you aren’t) and leave your resort at 8, that would be three hours of getting ready. I don’t think we have ever gotten up prior to 6:30 and we have four kids to get ready. I throw my hair up in a ponytail and we eat quickly. Rather than a 5:00 AM wake up for rope drop or going in the afternoon, I would try at least one day of getting ready quickly in the morning for rope drop. Have some family members shower the night before, have a quick breakfast in the room, lay out clothing the night before, and try getting up at 7 and getting to the parks at 9.

 

[JETSDAD]

Does anyone know when talking Mickey will end? My 4 year old niece met him 2 years ago. It was her favorite memory. We’re taking her back in July. Any chance he’ll still be there?

May 12th.

 

[Carolrita]

May 12th.

Thanks.

 

[Megsie1000]

We are traditionally rope drop people, but for our upcoming trip (end of June, beginning of July) I am definitely mixing it up this time. I have kids around the same age (15, 12, 10) and they prefer night hours for sure. That won't work for everything we want to do, but it will for some days. I get burned out on rope drop quickly - not only because it is early, but also because it is stressful. Some of those people are nuts. I hate the anxiety of wondering if the bus timing will work out, etc. So we are definitely doing it less than half the time on this trip. Anxious to see how it turns out. Stay tuned!

 

[tinkerbella16]

It is always rope drop mornings, midday break and then back to the parks in the evenings for us, especially in the hotter months. We take midday breaks each day on a our trips now since having time to relax, swim and nap and enjoy the resort is more important to us than years ago. We like being at the resort during the afternoons when the parks are at their most crowded and hottest. Evenings are so much nicer... the temps go down a bit and it is just more enjoyable.

 

[disneynanacat]

Other than the day we are switching resorts, I have our FP+ scheduled for late afternoon or early evening. If we're up and any/all of us want to RD or hit an EMH morning park we'll do it. If not, we'll be relaxing at the pool during the morning/afternoon and at the FP+ park until closing. I'm over the stress and rushing around of RD too.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We are traditionally rope drop people, but for our upcoming trip (end of June, beginning of July) I am definitely mixing it up this time. I have kids around the same age (15, 12, 10) and they prefer night hours for sure. That won't work for everything we want to do, but it will for some days. I get burned out on rope drop quickly - not only because it is early, but also because it is stressful. Some of those people are nuts. I hate the anxiety of wondering if the bus timing will work out, etc. So we are definitely doing it less than half the time on this trip. Anxious to see how it turns out. Stay tuned!

I agree. The first time I really experienced a true RD was when DD had an 8 am BBB appointment. As we were leaving everyone was coming up Main Street. The running, pushing, shoving and people DRAGGING their kids blew my mind. Other than that time, I arrive to the parks about 10 minutes before park opening if we do "RD" and I stay away from the crazies.

 

[Megsie1000]

I agree. The first time I really experienced a true RD was when DD had an 8 am BBB appointment. As we were leaving everyone was coming up Main Street. The running, pushing, shoving and people DRAGGING their kids blew my mind. Other than that time, I arrive to the parks about 10 minutes before park opening if we do "RD" and I stay away from the crazies.

I saw a man (a father?) literally try and dump his daughter out of a stroller near RnRC so he could shove the stroller to the side and get into the queue more quickly. Don't even get me started about FOP and the lengths people go to in order to shove in front of me when I was pushing my mother in a wheelchair. I clipped one of them in the ankle (totally their fault as they jumped in front of me) and did not feel the least bit badly about it. I can handle that craziness a few times a trip, but every morning gets to be too much.

 

[slpeters]

All this talk of RD craziness makes me glad we do it the way we do. We have FPs for that ride that everyone runs to at RD so we leisurely make our way to the next tier of attractions at RD. We did RD every day for a week (as well as one EMH a day) last November and never arrived more than 5 minutes before park opening, never ran anywhere, was never jostled by a crowd, never waited for the first ride of the day--or usually the next 5 or 6 for that matter.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

All this talk of RD craziness makes me glad we do it the way we do. We have FPs for that ride that everyone runs to at RD so we leisurely make our way to the next tier of attractions at RD. We did RD every day for a week (as well as one EMH a day) last November and never arrived more than 5 minutes before park opening, never ran anywhere, was never jostled by a crowd, never waited for the first ride of the day--or usually the next 5 or 6 for that matter.

This is how we do it. I always leave our room one hour to 45 minutes before park opening. We usually get to the park within 20-5 minutes of opening. If we are 20 minutes early we just hang to the side. And we always go the opposite way of everyone else. On AK day we are not going to Pandora at RD and instead are heading to EE. On MK day we will head to Frontierland. At DHS we will head towards RnRC and ToT (while everyone runs to TSL) and on Epcot day we will be entering through IG and leisurely walk to FEA. The other 5 days we enter the park later since I have them as sleep in days after really late nights so no RD there. This works for us.