Rope Dropping From the West Coast

[nutshell]

We are DLR vets who always rope drop. Me, DW, DD 18, and DS 15. We live in California. Heading to WDW in late July.

I confess I'm a bit intimidated by rope dropping at WDW because of the time difference. For example, if MK opens at 9am our bodies will think it's 6am. That means getting to the park by 5am (body time) and waking up super early. We'll be in the parks for three days before going on a relaxing Disney Cruise.

Any tips for coming from the West Coast and successfully rope dropping, or so I need to change our plans?

 

[shanew21]

Get to bed early on arrival day is the biggest thing I can recommend.

 

[natfrac]

Also coming from the West coast, we do not rope drop any more. We're just too tired the rest of the day. Back when the kids were younger and we used to rope drop, it helped to take an early flight the day before. That way the kids would be tired and go to bed early, so we could readjust for the time difference.

 

[StageTek]

That's what we try to do - but we usually fail because we're too excited. We don't even notice the time difference.

But you know you and your kids and wife; if you will be too tired to get up put off rope drop until the next day. For example: you arrive on a Tuesday - don't go to the MK on Wednesday, go on Thursday. That way you have a full day to acclimate to the time change. Relax on you travel day, get a full nights sleep and head off to Epcot at 12PM local time (9am body time).

 

[bumbershoot]

Rope drop isn’t something we can do until much later in a long trip.

 

[Lesley Wake]

We are also from CA and did a WDW trip this past September. In the week leading up to the trip I set my alarm a bit earlier every day to try getting my body used to it. Even though I wasn’t fully over the time change, it was easier to get up because we were so excited!

My advice would be to keep track of park hours. If they close earlier (like they did in the fall), then rope drop is key, but at least you won’t be staying up super late. If they stay open late you can always forgo rope drop for being more active late in the evening.

 

[Karebear]

Another west coaster here. As others have said, booking an early flight helps as you will be so tired that you will want to go to bed early. We don't usually rope drop the first morning, but try to rope drop starting the second morning.

 

[nutshell]

Thanks for the feedback. We have a 5:45am flight out so that should help us start adjusting. I'll also try getting up earlier the previous week too. If we can't rope drop so be it. I suppose that's one of the benefits of FP+.

 

[gillep]

We always do a red eye flight from SFO and land early in the morning the next day, we hit the parks for the day then crash early that night. It is easier to fall asleep early when we are exhausted from traveling/parks, which in turn helps us to wake up early the next morning. The couple times we have napped upon arrival have been pretty disastrous for getting up early the next morning. We used to love rope drop when we lived on the East Coast, and even when we lived in Central time, but I have to admit it is much more difficult to get up for rope drop coming from the West Coast. Thankfully it isn't as necessary with FP+. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[Donalyn]

This is definitely harder going east than west. Maybe don't do rope drop every day, but still try to get to the parks as early as possible.

(I'm a central time zoner - even with the one hour, it can be hard on us. Thank goodness the excitement usually wins out. This is one major benefits of heading to DLR for us. The time zone is in our favor. Good luck!)

 

[Mopedmom1]

OLD West Coaster here. We always stay on Pacific Time and rarely leave our resort before 10 am. At home we are not early risers and we have no desire to do it on vacation. But again, we are old now!

 

[disneycountrygirl]

West coasties here too. We used to just ignore any time difference and rope drop every day. Hubby would say back then, "It's not every day we are in Disney. We can sleep when we get home!" I, on the contrary, felt like it was no fun to be tired all day at Disney. Usually once or twice during the trip, I'd sleep in and meet hubby and kids in the parks later. It did help that on all our previous trips, we had to be up by about 3 am for the flight to Orlando, so we were exhausted and dropped into bed early-ish that first night!

This time we crafted our trip so that we leave ourselves the option to sleep in if we need it. We have no breakfast ADRs, no 9:00 hour FPs, and this time around, we are going to try to get to sleep earlier a few days before we leave.

 

[Meriweather]

25 or so trips and we always do rope drop.

Early to bed arrival day and our body clocks are fine.

 

[Pakey]

Also from CA and just returned from 34th WDW visit. On this visit, we rope dropped first 2 days and then didn't for the next 7. If we get up early, that's fine but I don't plan the days around rope drops anymore. No meals or fast passes booked before noon and that leaves the flexibility to be up early or not.

 

[ashnicole]

I’m from the West Coast and was really worried about this on my first trip. I had a really early flight so I went to bed early the night before and then went to bed fairly early after arriving. We rope dropped and closed the park the first day and did RD most mornings. Surprisingly, we adjusted to the times pretty quickly since there’s a set schedule of park opening and closing. There was no reason for me to stay up until 2 or 3am (11 or 12 my time) because the parks weren’t open, so I think that helped me. I was also tired after a whole day in the parks.

 

[KPeterso]

Another person from CA. Like most others, I take an early flight out and am usually exhausted at the end of the travel day and fall right to sleep. I am a terrible sleeper though and am up and down all night, so I seem to always be a bit tired. I think it helps me to get up early for the parks since I work an east coast schedule while living in CA. So I start work at 6 AM, meaning I am up around 5ish everyday, so getting up 7ish in FL is no big deal to me since it is barely an hour earlier than normal. I can make rope drop when I travel alone, but not with others. If I am in the parks between 9:30-10 AM, I am happy now when I am with others.