To all my fellow non rope droppers...

[quandrea]

I used to rope drop every day. Now we have long trips and I just dabble in a park when I go. No need to do it all. We are morning people—7am is a sleep in, but we enjoy a slow morning of coffee, the news, breakfast. Kids watch cartoons. We get dressed, head to the park. Usually arrive 9:30-10 am. Tick off the fastpasses, grab lunch, head home.

I’ve also come to enjoy the late afternoon/early evening at the parks. We take it easy at the resort all day and finish off the day with some Park time.

We’ve started going in August. On those trips we either get a very early start or we go after dark. On the after dark days, we enjoy a slow breakfast and head to the pool. Ironically, we don’t like the pools in the afternoons during the summer. The sun is too hot and the pool is more like human soup. Instead, we like the pool first thing, when the water is crystal clear and we have the pool all to ourselves.

I used to be a die hard rope dropper, but it isn’t necessary in every scenario.

 

[Mome Rath]

I do think it depends on when one "naturally" wakes up and that can change depending on a person's home schedule. I'm naturally a late sleeper, but when I got a dog all that changed, now when I'm on Disney vacay I wake up when I do at home, which is way before the food court is even open at most hotels. I'm one of those weirdos who is up, dressed, and walking around the hotel grounds saying good morning to all the maintenance crew and watching them powerwash the pool area. So, for me, rope drop is a necessity or I get bored to death. lol Now, when I was younger and dog free rope drop wasn't fun but a chore, and I used to want to get up late, get the latest breakfast time possible, and then mosey to a park around 12.

 

[ellbell]

I can't imagine being there at rope drop, especially for an 8am park open. Why would you want to get up at the crack of dawn on vacation? Simply makes no sense to us, especially with the current FP+ system. In our opinion, a rope drop person really won't get much...if any...more done than we will...but we'll get a little extra relaxation and not have to rush around at 6am.

We sleep until we're ready to get up. Usually not that late, probably around 8am or so. Get a shower, have breakfast, a little coffee and head out. We'll get to the parks around 9:30am, maybe 10:00am. Why rush it??

I would want to get up early because I enjoy not having huge crowds in the parks in the mornings. The first hour or two at the parks are a lot less crowded. I also enjoy getting up because when the parks get the busiest or the tempurature rises to it's peak or the rain threatens in the afternoons I can go back to my resort for a nap or a swim and then head back for an evening in the parks. I think everyone does it their own way and for different reasons. But that's why I want to get up at the crack of dawn on vacation.

 

[Shellyb84]

We rope drop most days, we like the lower crowds in the morning and we would rather spend the afternoon at the pool instead of in the sweltering heat at a park.

We do have a few days in our trip when we don't though, those days we just sleep in a bit and usually go to the pool for a few hours.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Sleeping.

If I am not getting up for rope drop, it is because I am sleeping.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Oh wow, now I see why we do RD-it's because of all you sleepy heads! We like to get to the parks early to enjoy less crowds and cooler temps. We still get plenty of rest and pool time since we return to the resort mid-day. I love my Disney naps-getting to chill out in a nice cool room is so refreshing to me. Then we head back to the parks for the night time fun.

Good thing we have both rope droppers and non rope droppers-it works out great for everyone!

 

[Sparkly]

Sleeping.

If I am not getting up for rope drop, it is because I am sleeping.

This, you don't even want to see me if I haven't had my 8 hours sleep. Getting up before 8am on holiday is too early, with the exception of the first few mornings where I get jetlag and wake up at like 5am.

 

[sponica]

I'm not typically there AT rope drop, but shortly after. The crowds are lower, while I don't have a ton of experience with the "new" fast pass, in the old system you could get a LOT done between 9 and 11.

We'll see what we do on this trip. In my head I'm planning for us to be there earlyish because my kid refuses to admit that people wake up later than 630 (and in the spring/summer 630 is late for her)

 

[1st*toright]

I am generally a rope dropper (early riser, just like being out and about early in the day, plus the low crowds). When we did our family trip, we mostly turned in early (except one night when my teen and I stayed at AK late - which was super fun - first car of Everest just at sunset - the view was amazing!) Even if we didn't rope drop my younger kid would never last long enough to enjoy a long evening in the park!
I was recently in town for work, and went to MK for the evening with a friend who NEVER rope drops - his family sleeps in, goes to the pool, relaxes until like 4 and then goes to close down the park. MK at night is really really fun! So I'm looking forward to a trip with my teen where we are going to prioritize Disney After Hours and other evening activities.

 

[disneyseniors]

Just a question? What in the world is "the vampire attack"???? I am imagining all sorts of weird things! LOL.
I'll have to check out allears, but I've never seen it mentioned on there or heard about it.
thanks

 

[nutshell]

I can't imagine being there at rope drop, especially for an 8am park open. Why would you want to get up at the crack of dawn on vacation? Simply makes no sense to us, especially with the current FP+ system. In our opinion, a rope drop person really won't get much...if any...more done than we will...but we'll get a little extra relaxation and not have to rush around at 6am.

We sleep until we're ready to get up. Usually not that late, probably around 8am or so. Get a shower, have breakfast, a little coffee and head out. We'll get to the parks around 9:30am, maybe 10:00am. Why rush it??

Rope dropping means shorter lines, less crowds, get more done. That is more valuable than sleep. I can sleep when I’m dead.

But to each his/her own. There’s no wrong way to do Disney as long as one is having fun and capturing the wonder and magic of that special place!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Rope dropping means shorter lines, less crowds, get more done.

I've found the parks to be much less crowded closer to closing time than they are early in the morning. It seems that more and more guests are arriving well before park opening and can't make it until the end of the day. Here's my favorite Rope Drop story:


I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

 

[JARNJ3]

I can't imagine being there at rope drop, especially for an 8am park open. Why would you want to get up at the crack of dawn on vacation? Simply makes no sense to us, especially with the current FP+ system. In our opinion, a rope drop person really won't get much...if any...more done than we will...but we'll get a little extra relaxation and not have to rush around at 6am.

I am so not a morning person & kind of hate getting up for rope drop. That said - especially in the Magic Kingdom - the lines are significantly shorter first thing in the morning. Especially in Fantasyland. Who wants to fast pass Peter Pan\Small World - or actually wait on lines there? Which is why I'd get up early for rope drop!

Its just been my experience that there are shorter lines in the morning. And I HATE lines

Now - at Epcot or "MGM"? We can easily sleep in - there's like 4 "rides" in each park. Though, its tempting to go at rope drop just for Toy Story Mania.

And forget AK - I tried to do rope drop last year there for FoP - and apparently a million or so of my friends had the same idea. We ended up waiting 45 minutes for the Navi attraction (never, never again) & having breakfast thereafter - literally getting one ride done by 11 am. Maybe if we had just headed over to Everest, we could have ridden that a couple of times instead.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I can't imagine being there at rope drop, especially for an 8am park open. Why would you want to get up at the crack of dawn on vacation? Simply makes no sense to us, especially with the current FP+ system.

Both my kids wake up by 6 am naturally, often earlier. Vacation does not change this We eat breakfast in the villa, get ready and and go (and for 9am open days, we’re usually even killing time at the villa - we are usually at an MK DVC resort so travel time is short to get there.) Then stay until they tucker out. It wouldn’t make sense for us not to take advantage of their awake time to go to the parks early. And my kids are total morning people (they get that from DH!) We don’t even rush to get there by rope drop with how early they get up

Before kids we rope dropped one day a trip to see the old MK welcome show. Otherwise we moved slow in the morning. Growing up we didn’t rope drop because my sister and I slept later in the morning. We would do the pool then head over to the parks in the afternoon through the evening.

 

[mab2012]

Sleeping. I wish I could say I was naturally an early riser, but I'm just not, and never will be. Before we had our D, my H and I would set alarms and get there at rope drop and struggle through the foggy brain and crankiness. But when we started taking our D to WDW at around age 2, we started working around her schedule (she's not an early riser either), and we found we could still get to do everything we wanted...we just had to plan/strategize differently (we often adopt the "vampire strategy" from Allears.net in the hot summer months). Once we made this discovery, there was no going back to being rope-droppers for us...H and I have to get up early most of the rest of the year, so we really enjoy not having to on vacation.

But I totally envy the people like my sister who are up at 5 am with a smile on their face every day, weekend or not, raring to go!

I feel your pain. I am SO not a morning person. I wish I was, but I'm not, and I never will be. Left to my natural devices, we would not get to the parks until after lunchtime, and then I'd feel like we wasted the day. So I make some exceptions to my "no early mornings" policy:

• Flights, especially if we're going somewhere fun (although I'll usually schedule a later flight if I can)
• Rope drop at Disney
• Skiing
• Port excursions on a cruise

We don't rope drop every morning, but we also don't much like crowds and lines, so sometimes it's a sacrifice I just have to make. Luckily I don't have to get up particularly early for work most mornings (by most people's standards, anyway), so I'm not completely desperate to sleep late on vacation.

You are so lucky that your child is also a late riser! I tried that for awhile with my oldest, but it just didn't work.

 

[anniemae]

Just a question? What in the world is "the vampire attack"???? I am imagining all sorts of weird things! LOL.
I'll have to check out allears, but I've never seen it mentioned on there or heard about it.
thanks

I think the vampire attack is just a way of saying that they do disney like a vampire would. Sleep in the daylight hours and head out at night, staying out well into the night. Like a vampire. Just a silly saying, not a formal thing. At least that is my take on it.

 

[anniemae]

Rope dropping means shorter lines, less crowds, get more done. That is more valuable than sleep. I can sleep when I’m dead.

But to each his/her own. There’s no wrong way to do Disney as long as one is having fun and capturing the wonder and magic of that special place!

I find crowds lighter at night. It's also cooler, no sun beating on you, no need for hats/sunscreen/sunglasses etc. and there are less little kids (nothing against the little ones, just easier not dodging strollers and toddlers!). We are up early all year, so we like to sleep in on vacation. It works for us. Different strokes.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I am so not a morning person & kind of hate getting up for rope drop. That said - especially in the Magic Kingdom - the lines are significantly shorter first thing in the morning. Especially in Fantasyland. Who wants to fast pass Peter Pan\Small World - or actually wait on lines there? Which is why I'd get up early for rope drop!

During our last visit, we hit Peter Pan shortly after the fireworks show. The posted wait was 40 minutes but there were actually only about 10 people in line and we were on in less than a minute. I still don't think you can have that result in the morning, no matter what time you arrive.

 

[Pmlocke]

My wife and I travel down every year, usually at the end of February (back there in 27 days). We are both in our mid 60's. We go to WDW for the magic and the rest. No alarm clocks for this kid. We wake up in the morning when we wake up. I always get up first, shower, dress and then head to the restaurant for a cup of coffee (we stay at ASMu). I walk around the the resort, talking to people and enjoying my coffee. By the time I am done with the first cup I am back at the room and we go for breakfast. Again at the ASMu restaurant. It is there we decide where we want to go for the day. No Fast Passes will ever rule our vacation. We then get on a bus and head to the park of choice and walk around for several hours. Then it's back to the hotel for about 5 hours of pool time. Then we dry off and catch a bus to a new destination. No plans, no FP's, no worries. Just in case you think this is an impossible way to see the parks, we don't have children in tow, we have already been on every ride multiple times so if we can't get right onto a ride without waiting more than 10 minutes, it won't ruin our vacation. I have always said, WDW was made for us older guys. We really know how to enjoy it.

 

[cgattis]

People ask "why would you want to get up so early??" I answer "how can you sleep knowing Disney World is outside your door??!?!"

I'm also a naturally early waker, which definitely contributes to which end of the day a person enjoys more. I love seeing the parks come to life, but I also love the magic of nighttime. But the latest I've ever slept at Disney was 10--after going to bed at 4 after closing down the first ToT 10-miler party!