Rope Drop with young children

[TwistGrl101]

I know that most DISers like to get to the parks before rope drop, and be finished with the park by the time it gets crowded. This is obviously ideal.

However, there are 6 of us (DD6, DD4, DS2, DH, and MIL) and not only does it take us forever to all get ready and out of the house (hotel, for this matter), but I feel like if I wake my kids up early they'll be cranky.

On a non-school day, my kids wake up around 8am. Then to get the adults showered, and everyone dressed, hair done, etc., etc., etc., I can't see us getting to the parks until at least 10am.

In the past, we have taken our time, eaten breakfast, maybe even swam first in the mornings...

But I am really trying to figure out if we can swing rope drop a few days.

So what does your family of young children do? Do you rush to make it to rope drop to avoid lines, or do you take your time? We go the last week in August so crowds aren't terrible, but it is hot.

 

[tanyaandallie]

We generally just do not miss rope drop unless we have had a late night the evening before. It's just not worth fighting the crowds, even if the off season. We can see and do more in the first 2 hours the park is open than in twice that time later in the day.

We do have to wake ourselves and the kids up early but we have a pretty good system. My kids are now 7 and 8 and we have been doing this since the youngest was 20 mos. Generally, dh and I put the kids to bed and then get everything ready for the next day. We lay out everyone's clothes, pack our backpack, etc. Both kids take a shower the night before. DH and I wake up, shower, start to get ready then wake up the kids. We eat a quick breakfast in the hotel and then head out. The kids may be tired but they are excited to get to the parks so wake up quickly! Getting the kids ready really doesn't take much time as all they really have to do is brush teeth, eat and put their clothes on.

Rope drop is not for every family. I know my sister's family is a bunch of night owls so waking up early would not work for her family. We would not do it any other way.

 

[clairemolly]

This is what we do...my kids range in age from 20 months to almost 9, and I have taken them at ages including 14 weeks, 10 months, 3, 5, 7 and 8.

We bathe them when we get back to the room, then DH and I put them to bed, re-pack the park bag, find everyone's clothes for the next day, etc. DH and I get up early, DH showers and then usually does to get 1 or 2 breakfast combos for us all to split, I wake the kids and get them going on eating while I shower, they change their clothes and then we leave. We are almost always at the park before rope drop in preparation.

At home they get up around 7:15 and leave the house by 8, so they are pretty quick at getting through our morning routine.

 

[TwistGrl101]

Great tips, but DH loves a sit-down breakfast. Do you rarely do sit-down breakfasts? Or do you get up super early on those days?

 

[tanyaandallie]

We do one early am ADR each trip. We usually go to Crystal Palace at 8:05. That makes for an even earlier morning.

Generally we eat in our room. Honestly, your family has to decide what is most important to your family. For our family, getting to the parks early and having no lines is far more important than having a sit down breakfast. It's just almost impossible to eat a sit down breakfast every morning AND make it to rope drop without waking up FAR too early for us. We would rather eat something super quick and get to the parks.

You have to decide what is most important to your family, short lines or sleeping in and a big breakfast.

 

[RMulieri]

We generally keep to our schedule at home, which is we are insanely early risers.So we always make rope drops.BUT on the flip side we rarely stay till fireworks or closing.If we want to see a nighttime firework show we simply try to sleep in a little the next morning or we are a cranky bunch

 

[TwistGrl101]

One more question:

Do you have a personal order of which parks are more important to get to at rope drop? Or do you find them all equally important to get there early?

Is there any park you think wouldn't be as bad to get to in the late afternoon and stay until evening? This is what we did last August: after a day of swimming, we took our time to get to the parks. But wee went right after the hurricane hit, so the parks were pretty empty. I think we were spoiled last trip, and don't want to make the mistake of swimming all day and have us waiting on lines all trip this time.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

It helps that I only have one child to worry about. She used to be a super-early riser, but starting a couple years ago, she's been sleeping in more (getting up at 8am instead of 6:30am on a regular day). I asked her before our last trip in 2010 and when planning our May trip if she wanted me to plan for getting to the parks at rope drop or staying up later at night and getting to the parks a little later in the morning. She chose rope drop both times. I think it helps that I have her "buy in" on this. She doesn't grumble when I tell her it's time to get up because she knows we'll be having a fun day.

I set an alarm for myself for 7:00. I jump in the shower quick. Get dressed, teeth brushed, and pull my hair back into a ponytail. Then I get DD up. I always have her shower at night before bed so we don't have to mess with that in the morning. She gets dressed and teeth brushed. I get our park bag mostly ready to go the night before so I just have to toss in some cold drinks in the morning. If we don't have a breakfast ADR, we both eat something quick in the room, usually granola bars, Poptarts, or cereal. We're generally out the door by 7:45 and at the park by 8:30 for a 9:00 opening.

We usually only stay late for fireworks the last night of our trip. All other nights I get us back to the hotel around 8:00 and DD is in bed asleep by 9:00.

 

[WDSearcher]

Honestly? It all depends on your priorities and how YOU want to do your vacation.

It is certainly possible to miss rope drop every day and still have a wonderful vacation. But again ... it depends on what you all want out of your vacation. If you think everyone will complain if you get to Fantasyland and the lines are long, then you may need to ask your husband to forego a sit-down breakfast one morning and make it to RD at MK. If you all want to ride TSMM early in the day with a minimum wait time, then you'll need to go do that first and maybe have breakfast a bit later. Planning a trip to a destination like WDW is all about choosing what is important to YOU and making the compromises you need to make to work it all out.

There is nothing wrong with sleeping in, having sit-down breakfasts and getting to the parks late. But if your group is going to then spend the rest of the day complaining about lines or heat or how you're not getting on enough rides to make the ticket price worth it, then getting up early, having some muffins, and hitting RD is probably worth it for you. If your group is perfectly happy with whatever you do and are just planning a "whatever strikes our fancy" kind of trip, then rising early is less of a "must".

But truly -- it's all up to you.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree with PP, it is all about what works for you. But a full sit down breakfast and rope drop aren't going to work on the same morning. In our family, if DH wanted a sit down breakfast, I would tell him he was on his own and he could meet up with us later in the day.
We are up early, eat a quick breakfast in the room, and out pretty quick to the bus. The difference in your day is almost indescribeable. You can get so much done in those first few hours, then leave for an afternoon break and a swim, while the late arrivers are standing in LONG lines.
But it is as others have said, it is up to what you want to do.
Have a Great Trip

 

[tanyaandallie]

For our family rope drop is critical at all parks. Crowds at all 4 parks are lowest first thing in the am and continue to grow after that. Are there times we go in the afternoon after sleeping in? Of course but we go with the expectation that we will not be zipping on and off rides like we do in the am.

 

[Sandy Mouse]

Why not try pp's advice to get everyone going for an early morning, go to the parks for rope drop or close to it, then leave in the afternoon for a nap or a swim. Everyone can go back to the park for the late afternoon and evening. Maybe your DH would settle for a sit down lunch or dinner.

 

[ssleblanc]

I asked a similar question not too long ago because I just could NOT get us to rope drop once last time. My kids are slow movers. I think I'll have an easier time this time - the older two are now old enough to get themselves moving - and they are used to earlier mornings now, as well.

One tip I just remembered from our last trip.

When I packed our suitcase, each outfit (shirt/shorts/socks) went in a gallon ziplock bag. When I unpacked our suitcase, the bags went into the dresser. In the morning, each child was given a ziplock back to get dressed. It essentially laid out clothes, instead of the night before, it was done before leaving. I'll do the same thing this trip.

Everyone will get a shower at night before bed, and I'll just re-wet my hair in the morning when I wake up to get ready (if I don't throw it in a ponytail).

I'm determined to make rope drop this time. In fact, so much so that I am planning two first thing breakfast ADR's (one CP, and one Tusker House). Other than that, we usually eat cereal/cereal bars/poptarts/fruit in the room before we leave.

 

[DisLee]

I always feel like I'm caught in a stampede at rope drop. Not too sure I'd try it with 3 kids as young as yours.

 

[scootch]

We shower at night and then just have a quick snack in the morning(fruit, granola bar, bowl of cereal, just buy quart milk at hotel store). Works great as noone else in the park is eating lunch at 11am except you. I also put the clothes in ziplock bags for each day, so they just pull them out and wear them.

 

[kohlby]

We always make rope drop. We've never gone in August, but the heat alone would be enough to motivate us even more to make rope drop. We bring breakfast with us to eat in the room. We drive, so it's easy. But some use a grocery delivery system if they don't have a car. Baths/showers are at night. I make sure my kids are awake 15 minutes before we need to head out the door - and they're all ready! Only my hubby needs to wake up early since he showers in the morning. Sleep is too important to me to shower in the morning. If the kids aren't in an eating mood, then I can throw the juice boxes and cereal bars and fruit into my backpack for later that morning.

Last year, we were a bit sneaky. It was a surprise trip and my kids had got in the habit of waking up at 8/8:30. (I homeschool so they never had to get up early). Our trip was in Nov, one week after daylight savings time changed over. So, I didn't tell my kids about daylight savings changing and kept everything on the same schedule. Their bodies were then on the schedule of waking up at 7/7:30, though they were waking up earlier at Disney out of excitement. For our next trip, daylight savings won't be close enough to do this. So I'm going to slowly adjust bedtimes and even meal times until it's an hour different to get them on the earlier waking schedule.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I always feel like I'm caught in a stampede at rope drop. Not too sure I'd try it with 3 kids as young as yours.

With HS and Epcot both having done away with an actual rope drop and letting guests filter through the turnstiles and head directly to the attractions, the "stampede" issue at these parks is lessened. And those were the two parks that where you really did feel you were in a stampede.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We get our showers at night and then my kids actually wear the outfit that they are planning to wear the next day to bed! Makes it much easier in the morning.

 

[KimK2006]

We do have to wake ourselves and the kids up early but we have a pretty good system. My kids are now 7 and 8 and we have been doing this since the youngest was 20 mos. Generally, dh and I put the kids to bed and then get everything ready for the next day. We lay out everyone's clothes, pack our backpack, etc. Both kids take a shower the night before. DH and I wake up, shower, start to get ready then wake up the kids. We eat a quick breakfast in the hotel and then head out. The kids may be tired but they are excited to get to the parks so wake up quickly! Getting the kids ready really doesn't take much time as all they really have to do is brush teeth, eat and put their clothes on.

This is how we have always done it since my kids were young. If you make rope drop, you can get SO much done. It is worth it. We do "sleep in" every three days or so. That helps!

 

[kohlby]

I've never had issues with the stampede. Sure, we were in crowds sometimes, but it wasn't a big deal. I'd have one kid in the stroller and one in the sling. That left only one to hold a hand - or I had him hold onto the stroller. That senario is if hubby is going off to get fast passes while the rest of us go to a ride. Otherwise, it's quite simple with two adults for three kids. And even simpler with three adults, I'd imagine!

As for your husband wanting a sit down breakfast, does he fully understand what a sit-down meal with three young kids can entail and that this is supposed to be a vacation? It's MUCH more relaxing for us to eat in our room. If my husband really wanted a sit-down breakfast, I'd likely tell him to wake up early and go eat at the resort and meet us when he's done.

As for not arriving at rope drop, we've only done that on days we park hop, since you can't make two rope drops! Epcot is fine to get there later in the day. I've always had a non-napper young child in the group, aged 2 or 3, so that made for another challenge. We also need to get there at rope drop since we don't know how long until the 2/3 year old was done. We often left around dinner time. However, we don't go in the hot season. We did have one unusually hot/humid day in Nov this last trip and did have to go back to the resort for a swim. It meant that we could play it by ear with the 2 year old. He surprised us with a nap, so he could go back out that evening. Otherwise, he would have never made it. Our kids never slept in strollers and we can't count on naps so staying late in the parks isn't realistic for us.