Rope Drop or sleep in?

[Jimmy Mouse]

Looking for some advice. We are night owls and love to sleep in on vacation. Not really late, like 8:00 - 9:00 but I was talking to my better half and I threw out the idea of getting up really early most morning and doing RD. Of course if we do that, we would not stay out as late with our kids. We will be going in September which isn't really the slow time anymore but if we can do more in the morning and relax in the evenings, it may end up being a better vacation. The only drawback is I absolutely LOVE F&W. So Dissers, which to you prefer? RD or Closing the park? I know at least 2 nights we will stay out late. Once for F&W and at least once for MNSSHP. I have done the early ADR once but I have never did RD. Ever.

 

[disneylover102]

Do RD definitely. There is SO much more that you can do in just the first 2 hours of the day than you could do in the rest of the day. By night, the crowds die down but there are still long lines. Something that works with us is doing RD, leaving about noon and going to the hotel to take a nap, and then coming back a few hours later and staying until the park closes.

 

[Taylor Vu]

I agree! Everywhere I have looked, people strongly suggest RD. It’s a great time to do the things that will be so packed later on.

 

[sam_rogers]

I agree with the same tactics, I drag dh out of bed for rope drop, have an afternoon break then go back later.

 

[iona]

How long are you going for? For trips of more than a week we tend to do RD for the first half and then sleep in for the second half - the best of both worlds!

 

[Surgie2]

On our upcoming multi-gen family trip we plan doing both. If we have something planned at night, like Pirates and Pals cruise, we won't plan to RD the next morning and will plan FP accordingly. If by some miracle everyone is up and ready to go, we'll go ahead and go to the park but we won't have the pressure to "need" to RD. Other mornings we are planning for RD but with 4 kids under 6, we have to be prepared for the unexpected so if it doesn't happen, our park plans don't depend on it. We have the luxury of this approach with 8 park days (4 at MK).

If our trip was all adults as the past couple have been, it's RD all the way! But we are morning people so it's easy for us

 

[Wannabealocal]

On our last trip I was determined to see the welcome show at the castle so we made the effort to get up early for rope drop. We were amazed how much we achieved in the first hour. We let the children lead the way and in that first hour were able to ride the speedway (twice), Buzz, Dumbo, Astro orbiters and Barnstormer (twice). This might not be the “perfect touring plan” for ir the first hour but as I said the kids were in charge ! We got so much done that morning that I really wished we’d tried rope drop earlier in our trip, we’ll definitely be doing it on future trips.

I would say try it once, you might be surprised!

 

[JessicaW1234]

We like RD - we get to ride so many with little to no line!

 

[stace1214]

With it being so hot that time of year, I would RD for sure. When we go at the end of August we RD every day, take a mid-day break (kids always take a 30-40 min nap) and go back at night. We're still out till 9:00 or 10:00, depending on how our kids are doing. We always get everything we want to do done doing it this way. Most rides are basically walk on for the first few hours.

 

[ChristineOH]

I like to RD at MK. You can get a lot done there. It’s really fun to watch the opening show and get going.
The other parks we make FP starting mid-morning and wing it. If we’re up early, we go, but if we catch that first FP at the end of its window, that’s fine too. We can ride what we want at the other parks with FP.
Everything tier two in FW is a nearly walk on at night, and so is everything in AK that’s not Pandora. At least when we have gone in June.

 

[Lovetherodent]

How old are the kids? We have always done both (that means listening to the h whine about "early"!) with an afternoon break for swimming to get out of the heat and a short nap.

 

[gatormom2tots]

We have always done RD...until this year. Maybe because we have been so many times the rides are not quite as important to us as just spending time together and enjoying the experience. At Christmas we were just exhausted from daily life with 4 kids and both working 60+ hours a week. We decided to NOT do rope drop and I think the whole family was happier for it. We have a couple more trips planned this year and I think we will do the sleep-in plan.

If you do not get to go that often, RD is definitely the way to go to get the most rides in. But I don't know if we could ever go back to those days...it was so nice to have our Christmas trip actually feel like a vacation!

 

[AFwifelife]

We always RD but we are also morning people. Haven’t been yet this year but we’ve always been able to get a ton done in the morning, especially if that’s coupled with a morning EMH. Even going over the 4th of July, we never thought of crowds as unmanageable because we would RD and do our FPs in one park, take an afternoon break, then look for FPs that sparked our interest in a different park for the evening.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We are rope droppers, especially AM EMH - and then we’re Park Hoppers, Afternoon Nappers and Evening Park Goers.

That’s what works best for us.

My suggestion, give it a try. If the new touring strategy doesn’t feel right or work best for your fam, throw it out the window and go with what you know.

Your definition of sleeping in is 8 or 9 so it’s likely not to be a huge change to your routine to get a wake up call and hour or two earlier. Now if you were sleeping in until 11 or noon, my advice would be different.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We usually do a combo. We like to RD the first part of the trip and then sleep in the 2nd half of the trip. We are also going in September and I am concerned about the heat, so we are thinking of doing RD more this time, pool break and then back to a park in the evenings.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

When I was growing up, we’d rope drop MK once per trip to see the train station welcome show (we liked to stay at the park late and wake up around when you do.) Then I had kids who are early risers (they get this from DH) and we now basically rope drop every day since they’re up at 5:30 - plus they can’t really do the late nights yet. We’ll pick one night show to see per trip.

I learned that I really love the mornings in the parks! Aside from the lower lines ... there’s another big reason why. Almost everyone in the crowd around us is HAPPY and there’s an exciting energy. People haven’t been there all day, they’re not burned out yet, etc. The overall tone of the park is so so happy during those first few hours when everyone is starting off their day. The mornings are magical!

 

[Elle :)]

I vote RD all the way. We always go first thing in the morning and that first hour or two really make a difference in what we can accomplish. On our last trip to MK, we rope dropped 7DMT and still waited 45 minutes. I won't do that again because it felt like a huge waste of time. As a matter of fact, we walked by an hour later and there was almost no line. For the most part, we can ride our favorite tier 1s multiple times in the first two hours.

One thing worth mentioning, rope drop does seem to get earlier and earlier. If you show up right at a 9am RD, you're probably going to notice that people are already in and visiting the attractions. If you want to make the most of RD, show up a bit earlier.

 

[KenHutch]

I may not be of much help here because we always do Rope Drop and about 75% of the time we close the park as well. I can sleep anytime but I am only at WDW for a finite time each trip.

 

[shocker]

Please don't do RD, it keeps crowds down for the rest of us.

 

[Klayfish]

I guess I'd put it this way. If you're awake anyway at 6am because that's what you like and want, then sure, why not rope drop. But if you want to sleep in on vacation or are a night owl, IMO rope drop is an absolute waste of time. We used to do it, and I think it helped in the old paper FP+ days. But with the current MDE system, it's totally unnecessary. We get up a 4am during weekdays at home, so on vacation we have no desire to get up early. None. We sleep until 7am or even 8am, or sometimes later. We stay offsite, so we'll leave the condo somewhere between 8:30am and 9:30am, getting to the parks between 9am and 10am. If you know how to use the FP+ system, I'd be willing to bet that I can get just as much done in the same amount of time that a rope drop person does. So to me, it serves no purpose whatsoever...except to make you wake up early for no good reason. Again, for a person who's awake anyway, then sure. But it doesn't sound like you are or want to be. So I say don't rope drop, not worth it at all. You can get just as much done as a rope dropper, easily, with use of FP+. You will not lose productivity over a rope dropper, especially if you stay for park close.