Rope Dropping or Closing the parks down?

[DISNEY1975]

Agree with above. We do both. Usually a PPO breakfast and stay until around 2 - 3pm. Back to resort, quick swim and shower then a mandatory 2 hour nap!! We head to dinner around 6 and finish the day in the parks. Will have to say I plan our parks according to evening EMHs, so it gives us more time. Not sure only being there 7 - 9 would help any and I would have to re-strategize!! 7 - 11 or midnight is great. Most with small kids are sleeping

 

[Donald Duck Family]

Both. Mornings and evening in the park have their own uniqueness that should be experienced. I love being in the parks in the morning before crowds build and seeing everything begin to open, but as others have mentioned Tomorrowland at night rocks. We love the astro orbiter after dark.

 

[Gehrig1B]

question for people who have traveled recently: has anyone done a grocery delivery recently to their resort? If so, which service did you use? and did you have alcohol included in your order?

I say both...BUT, here's the kicker: We go from rope drop til around noon. Then we head back to the room, chill for a few hours (maybe a pool break) and then head back around 5 PM and go til closing (talking MK here, mostly, but Epcot and DHS sometimes, too). You get low wait times on both ends that way!

This is our style as well... This works best when staying on property, of course.

Can't imagine enjoying a full day rope drop to fireworks...

People underestimate how significant rope dropping is. You not only get a jump on one or two E-rides but minimize standby times... Park analysts suggest rope dropping is equivalent to 2 hours less in standby lines on a full day at the park.

 

[luv2cheer92]

This is our style as well... This works best when staying on property, of course.

Can't imagine enjoying a full day rope drop to fireworks...

People underestimate how significant rope dropping is. You not only get a jump on one or two E-rides but minimize standby times... Park analysts suggest rope dropping is equivalent to 2 hours less in standby lines on a full day at the park.

Thats really the only way I do the parks. But I don't have kids, so that probably makes a difference. I go to WDW for the parks, so I spend as much time as I can there.

 

[Dig]

Definitely both, although we always take a break at the pool in the afternoon. Plus, we’re usually park hoppers, so that puts us in MK or Epcot on the AK or HS morning days.

 

[ArtistLost]

I used to be local so I didn't rope drop often but I prefer it now to get a head start on rides. But I also go with friends so we tend to spend the morning, leave for lunch or something and then go back for fireworks if we're feeling up to it.

 

[NavyDad]

I see so much talk on here about rope dropping. Personally, I hate rope dropping! haha

I understand the benefits, but getting everyone up super early and then making sure we get there well in advance of park opening, just to maybe get a jump on 2/3 rides, isn't my thing. I would always schedule my FP+ to start a little later in the day. Now with Genie, I know that plan will have to change some.

I would much rather close the parks down. IMO they are just more fun at night, especially when everything is all lit up.

We do both..... we just take a break in the middle of the day when it's hot and/or crowded. The first two hours and the last two hours at the parks are the best times to be at WDW.

 

[NavyDad]

I will say this about rope drop: it doesn't JUST give you a head start on 2-3 rides. If you do it right you can stay ahead of the crowds for 2-3 hours, especially at MK and AK. Those parks have a distinct patter as to when different attractions get busy and if you can get to them just before they get busy you can kind of ride the rope drop wave. I'll give an example for AK:

We ALWAYS rope drop this park. We are usually one of the first groups there and line up as close to the far left tapstyles as possible. When they let us in we go straight to the bride to Pandora and usually held there very close to the front. Go straight to FoP and walk on. People only 100 feet behind us may have to wait 30-45 minutes. After waling on FoP go straight to Navi River thing and walk on or sometimes skip it. Then go straight to Safari and usually walk on or minimal wait. By the time we get off and take a few minutes to check out the exhibits the Safari wait time is usually listed as 45-60 minutes. Go to Everest and walk on (usually a few times) where an hour later it will be 60 minute wait. If it's hot we may do the rapids ride but it's usually not our thing because wife and daughters hate walking around in wet clothes. Then we go walk on the Dinosaur ride and sometimes my daughters ride that Wild Mouse type ride back there a couple times but I skip it. At this point we are usually just in time for one of the first shows of either Lion King or Nemo. Then grab lunch and head back to the resort of rest/relax/sleep/chill time for a few hours and then go back out at dinner time. Generally we are able to do everything we want to do in the park by lunch time and we are walking out just as it is getting crazy hot and crowded.

This strategy also works for MK which we usually split into 2 days anyway. We usually go straight to Mine Train and then pick a mountain and do everything on that side of the park. We are usually able to do everything we want on that side by lunch and do it again. That way we can either hop to a different park in the evening or when we come back to same park in the evening we have already knockout out our entire to-do list and we can just go with the flo and see where the night takes us. So far it has worked beautifully for us at both MK and AK.

Epcot and HS we have not quite figured out as good of a flow partially because Epcot has too few rides and HS just has been such a work in progress the last 5 years or so...