ROPE DROP: YAY! OR NO WAY! ??

[LaurenT]

I do rope drop almost every day.
I agree, I don’t want to be standing in a crowd first thing in the morning ... so I get there before everyone else. I sit myself down by the tapstile and chillax while the people slowly roll in.
I’m awake anyway, so why sit in my room while the line is building?
I’m off the headliner while most people are still in bed or just coming through the entrance. Then, while they’re all on line for the headliner, I’m walking on to three or four more rides.

 

[aml3679]

Maybe if we were 25 years younger. We now live only 90 minutes from the Magic and have Annual Silver Passes, so we do not feel like we miss anything. In fact, we are going in less than 2 weeks and have very few fast passes. We are going to take our time - the longest we will wait is 1 hour but that is pushing it.

 

[chelynnah]

I'm surprised how many rope droppers there are We definitely are not. If we have to be there early for a tour or something then we will be but my husband is not a morning person at all. My inlaws vacation with us and my MIL also likes to sleep in. I am a morning person but I have learned to go with the flow and we are usually in the parks for 8-9 hours per day, which seems reasonable to me. I never feel like I'm missing out and I want everyone to enjoy their vacation.

My head and heart want to be a rope dropper, but I’m not a morning person and my body wants to sleep in. So I’ve learned to compromise and plan some RD days, and some sleep in days. We can usually RD the first few days because were coming from the UK so the time change works with us, but about day 4 I hit the wall. But I wish everyday could be what DH and I call ‘dawn till dead’ days.

 

[Sparkly]

No, and I don't get up before 8am on holiday, either. I like the resorts just as much as the theme parks.

 

[LA Poolboy]

We do rope drop almost every day, but it is exhausting, especially if you shut down the parks the night before. I have gotten too old for that. If we shut down a park, I am not rope dropping the next day and vice versa. But you get so much done if you do rope drop. Get all the stuff checked off that you couldn't get FP for.

 

[kathy884]

I always rope drop, but I only do a three day trip/four night trip and rope drop full day 1 and full day 3, leaving a full day in between the rope drop days as a small attraction, relaxation, take my nephew who lives in Orlando out to dinner day.

 

[kathy884]

I always rope drop, but I only do a three day trip/four night trip and rope drop full day 1 and full day 3, leaving a full day in between the rope drop days as a small attraction, relaxation, take my nephew who lives in Orlando out to dinner day.

 

[singingpixie]

I'm a morning person, and have been since I was a toddler. I wake up by 6 even on weekends, and even if I didn't set an alarm I'd be awake by 7. I've realized that for me, sleeping in means messing up my sleep schedule for days or weeks of insomnia, it even messes up my mood. It's just not worth it for me to sleep in, even in real life. On vacation, I'm easily up before dawn and excited to start the day.

For me, rope drop is a no-brainer. If I'm taking a longer trip, I'll take a break mid-day and come back in the evening. On a shorter trip, I'll typically stay in the parks all day but pace myself. I like to move as quickly as I can in the morning with rides, and then shift my focus to entertainment, meals, hanging out over drinks in a fun location, etc by mid afternoon. After that I'll do an occasional FP, but with breaks in between. Seeing all my "musts" in the morning, which rope drop makes possible, makes the later half of my days a lot more relaxing.

 

[JFox]

Last trip we did AK rope drop for the "Running of the Fools". While we did get on FOP I don't want to do that again.

 

[disneycat321]

We prioritize the times we like to be in the parks the most. Our favorite is late nights. So, we start planning by filling in the night EMH at MK and Epcot. Also hoping for DAH our next trip. Second favorite is mornings right after opening. We're planning on a rope drop at every park when we go this July. The other mornings, we will not rope drop. Since we go in summer, and we're Californians who can do heat but do not understand the concept of humidity, we avoid the parks during the hottest and most crowded part of the day and go back to the resort for a break. We then head back for the evening. If it were possible to do late nights and early mornings every day for over a week, we'd totally do it. But it's not, especially in that heat and humidity, so we mix in both, prioritizing the nights that we love.

It's really all about what you want to prioritize and how often you go. We used to be local passholders at DLR, and I don't think we ever saw a rope drop in the 5 years we had passes. Now that we're not local and go using tickets, you'd better believe we're there for rope drop every day. Our trips to WDW are so infrequent that we're definitely going to make the most of the time we're there. You just can't beat the productivity and all the rides you can get done in those first morning hours!

When we went to WDW on our honeymoon in 2010, we didn't rope drop at all, mostly because we were total noobs who just didn't know to do it. We still had a fantastic trip. It doesn't have to make or break the trip either way.

 

[Nancyg56]

Well RD has it's pluses, and in DAK it matters, IMO. My family just returned and I did not want to herd my crew out the door when they were clearly enjoying their beginning of day. What a mistake!!! ENtry was forever! WE got to DAK for our first FP. Nice. Got a few attractions in, and BOOM! Those walkways got crowded! Like shoulder to shoulder. I can only manage a while of that and I am out, as was my family. Now you know I had to "I told you so" them.

We are still not a RD family every day, but I think that unless you temper your expectations, you need to include a few in parks like DAK or MK, that are designed with restricted travel paths. Even if the World has not joined you, it sure does seem so.

 

[lovethesun12]

There are always two sides to this topic and I think it really depends on whether or not you are a morning person or like to sleep in.

My kids and I are morning people. We are up at 6am anyway, so why not make an effort to go to the parks at this point when crowds are low? Actually during disney trips I am often up at 5am because that's who I am, lol.

On the other hand, my husband prefers to sleep in. We were into our second trip before we actually made a rope drop for this reason, and the funny thing is since then my husband became a hard core rope dropper. Maybe more so than me. He sets an alarm (I always am up before it goes off though, lol). He enjoys the low crowds way to much. But getting up so early one day means we often take a rest day the next day and we both just lounge around that day.

We are not open to close park people. We enjoy lower crowds so we go early mornings mostly. We go during Easter and crowds are great even then at that time.

It just really depends on the people. When our kids are older we will probably change. Right now I love rope dropping =)

 

[NickC]

We rope drop every park day. But, we are usually in bed before the fireworks.

 

[Mome Rath]

It's entirely subjective. I'm a morning person (exacerbated by a time difference when traveling to Florida), so am up before the hotel even comes to life. lol So, as others have said, might as well rope drop. I don't like staying out late unless its a really special reason (ex: watching my last Illuminations plus holiday tag at EPCOT), hence rope drop is my favorite time of day...

 

[disneycat321]

It's entirely subjective. I'm a morning person (exacerbated by a time difference when traveling to Florida), so am up before the hotel even comes to life. lol So, as others have said, might as well rope drop. I don't like staying out late unless its a really special reason (ex: watching my last Illuminations plus holiday tag at EPCOT), hence rope drop is my favorite time of day...

I forgot about the time difference factor. We're coming from CA, so early mornings are a little hard to deal with in Florida. 6am there is 3am at home - yikes! We're used to getting up early for work, but not 3am early! We do everything we can to adjust quickly, though. We'll get up very early on departure day even if our flight is not early.

 

[BethID]

I am here right now and rope drop has proved invaluable. We are from the west coast, but we are getting up and going. It has been totally worth it at MK. On Christmas day we were one of the first 50 people on space mountain at 6 am. We did 9 rides and left there by 8:30 to head to Hollywood Studios. Or course, we all crashed around 4 pm. Today we again did rope drop at 7 am and did 13 rides in the first 3 hours. It then let us enjoy some of the shows in the afternoon. We also love to do rope drop are Disneyland as well. A Disneu vacariov is not one we chose if we want to relax.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I did it one morning last visit and the rest slept in. I just felt like it that morning. I’m also a morning person... my fav part of the day. They are definitely Not, lol.

 

[tink2]

Each family is different and has their preferences~ so there is no right or wrong.

For my family, rope drop is the way to go. We rope drop every day~ we usually do 5 full days at the parks. We tend to be more hard core/ commando style touring. I have two teenagers aged 19 and 17~ they grew up doing rope drop and they definitely think it is a must too~ so while they may be 'grumpy' in the morning getting ready~ they totally want to be there at rope drop. We don't necessarily do extra magic hours in the mornings~ if they fit into our schedule~ fine~ if not~ it means we get an extra hour of sleep. We love to eat breakfast in the castle and both kids want to eat there before the park opens~ that is their request~ so we try to get the 8am resize (have it for our upcoming trip). They see the perks of eating before the park opens and being at the castle when the actual opening occurs~ plus they said we don't miss park time by eating~ lol. The worst week of rope drop that about did us in was Christmas week~ when they all open at 7am~ except maybe HS and AK which opened at 8 (a few years ago). We definitely found that rope drop was almost a must to get things done for that week~ crowds are insane by 10am. By the end of the week~ we were spent. But we always stay at the park all day and watch the fireworks~ then leave~ we go hard in the mornings, kind of slow the pace a bit lunch and mid afternoon~ and take things as they come in the evening~ our pace depends on our priorities.
We just find that we can do so much in those first few hours before the major crowds arrive. For us~ it is worth it. We try to make the most of our time at WDW~ and for my family~ rope drop is the way to do that. When we have big family trips (not just by family of 4)~ my parents are at the age that they can not do rope drop except maybe one or two mornings max~ so they just take their time and meet us at the park about mid morning. It works for them.

Whatever works for your family is best.

 

[MamaJessie]

I actually have nightmares about missing rope drop