To all my fellow non rope droppers...

[BarbieGal457]

I am in no way a rope dropper but I also don't tend to wake up very late by my nature. I usually shower the night before, and then when I wake up I tend not to take too long to get ready. I am usually out the door by say, 8:30-9:00? so not super early but not too late. I try to make my FPs for early in the day but leave enough time that I don't need to rush for the parks. Overall I have very relaxed touring style. It might also help that I tend not to eat breakfast either, but on the days I do, I still don't get to the parks much later than maybe 9:30-10:00. I wake up with an alarm 5 days a week so it's nice not to need one on vacation unless it's for an awesome early breakfast reservation!

 

[duketennisgal]

Unfortunately my stupid internal clock won't let me sleep much past 6 anymore, and that's if I'm lucky... So I'm a rope dropper just because I'm up that early, even if I stay out really late! I envy those of you that can sleep in and wish I could! Maybe I could take a Benadryl around 3 am and see if that helps!

 

[Moliphino]

Sleep until 8, then shower, get ready, and head to the parks. We don't hang around the room/resort, we just aren't morning people. Sometimes 8 even feels rough.

 

[GeneralTso]

I don't go on vacation to suffer and hate the morning.
We sleep in, order room service breakfast and enjoy our coffee. We get it together and out of the room by around 10. We've missed the crush of people lined up for early entry and opening.
I think we go often enough that it's just not that important to us. We use FP effectively and have a chill attitude about the parks.
If it was a once a year/2 year/lifetime trip, I think I would be more intense about things.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I'm a rope drop to close with no breaks every day kind of person for most trips. I love it! I don't do Disney to do a relaxing vacation, I'm there for the parks so I take advantage of it. I'll go somewhere else if I want to relax. But I understand that everyone is different and there's no right or wrong way.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

When I'm not doing rope drop, I'll be sleeping. Or driving to Clearwater Beach for a day at the beach.

 

[Donalyn]

I am NOT a morning person. My kids are NOT morning people. My DH is NOT a morning person, but has to get up at 5:00 on work days.

But we are rope droppers at Disney. Even though the time zone works against us.

Might be fun to try it the non-RD way, some time. But given my dislike of crowds, I can't imagine getting to the parks when it is already packed.

But to each their own. And all you non-RD'rs out there make the wait times better in the morning.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

But to each their own. And all you non-RD'rs out there make the wait times better in the morning.

I've always felt the opposite. All of the rope droppers make the wait times shorter in the evening.

That, plus the Disney practice of intentionally inflating the wait times, makes the lines for the headliners the very shortest at night.

 

[nutshell]

So when do you do what I consider "afternoon" type stuff like CoP, Philharmagic, Laugh Floor, Hall of Presidents, etc.? I wouldn't want to waste prime evening hours on these types of attractions.

I don’t always do those. Sometimes late morning or before I leave for my afternoon nap.

 

[flav]

Last time we went, the kids asked to go longer to Disney and be more chill. So we listened and had a great time. It is all about not trying to do everything and using Fastpasses efficiently. One thing that bought us a lot of time on that trip is booking only dinner as Table Service.

To answer the original question, we sometime take time to read our books while having a breakfast in the room, we sometime go to the pool (it is so quiet at 10AM) and I sometime go for walk, a run or a coffee if everyone else is still sleeping in the room. When the kids were really small, I would bring the young (and awake) one to the lobby where she could watch TV while I was sipping on a coffee.

 

[mamamelody2]

I definitely dream of a Disney vacation where I can sleep until noon and hang in the parks until 2 am.

That would be AMAZING!!

 

[mamamelody2]

We usually go in September, so although the "go after dark, stay until closing" sounds great in theory, that would give us like two hours of park time. LOL.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

I totally get rope droppers. But, after years of trips and the luxury of being local-ish, we have become waaaaaaay more chill in our touring style.
We book a villa (sitting in the living room of OKW right now) sleep until everyone is up, have coffee and sometimes breakfast in the room (this morning we have Olivia’s breakfast at 10:15) then either go to a park, or like today, we have pool time, late afternoon FP’s at Epcot, and we’ll be there till close.
It’s all still planned, just a very chill plan, haha.

 

[JFox]

We usually have commando trips when we travel to Disney. This is the same for Adult only and family trips. We have a job to do, see as much as we can.

My husband and I were at WDW in January for our wedding/honeymoon. I had worked on the schedule for months, planned every detail. 2 days before the trip we canceled all but one of the ADR's. We decided that we wanted a more relaxing trip. It was the best trip ever. We still saw everything we wanted to do and even experienced some new things we usually bypass.

Our next trips is Thanksgiving week with our kidlet entourage. Holiday crowd size will make planning a necessity but we will definately take it down a notch.

 

[rchampagne]

This August will be our 5th trip to Disney, and we've been rope droppers on all the previous trips. This time, we're going to try a new plan. Sleep late each morning. Have breakfast. Relax at the resort (GF) pool, and then head to a park (or skip the pool depending on how we're feeling). Stay at the park til 2 or 3 pm when crowds reach their peak and temps are unbearable, and then return to the resort to recharge. Then go back to a different park around 5 - 6 pm and enjoy the nighttime shows. I feel like I'm an expert when the vacation is geared around rope drop, but doing it this way is new to me. Any feedback/ advice would be appreciated.

 

[catfan98]

On our first trip, we rope dropped every park, tired out by the afternoon (it was June and HOT), and never saw a park at night. On our second trip (April - Spring Break), we rope dropped MK and AK only, spent an afternoon at HS, spent an afternoon and evening at Epcot and spent another evening at MK. We found out on this trip that we love nights in the parks - they are so beautiful when lit up at night! On our next trip (December 2018), we plan to rope drop MK one day - the day of a MVMCP - and then go back another night for the party. We'll meander into the other parks whenever we are up and going. Our kids are older, and they honestly like walking around and looking at the sights, shops, extras, etc. more than they like the rides. They have their handful of favorite "must" ride rides that we FP, and other than that, we just do what we can do, ride whatever else we can, and enjoy our surroundings. We don't necessarily sleep in...we are usually up and going by 8:30ish. But we like to take our time and we usually eat a TS breakfast most mornings as we are big breakfast eaters, plus we like to do the character ones as it gets our character time in without having to do it in parks. This seems to work really well for our family. It is just really all about what works best for you and yours.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

This August will be our 5th trip to Disney, and we've been rope droppers on all the previous trips. This time, we're going to try a new plan. Sleep late each morning. Have breakfast. Relax at the resort (GF) pool, and then head to a park (or skip the pool depending on how we're feeling). Stay at the park til 2 or 3 pm when crowds reach their peak and temps are unbearable, and then return to the resort to recharge. Then go back to a different park around 5 - 6 pm and enjoy the nighttime shows. I feel like I'm an expert when the vacation is geared around rope drop, but doing it this way is new to me. Any feedback/ advice would be appreciated.

Just keep in mind that the posted wait times on the attractions are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders. When in doubt, just ask the gate attendant. It's very likely that a posted wait of 50-60 minutes is really only 10-15.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

This August will be our 5th trip to Disney, and we've been rope droppers on all the previous trips. This time, we're going to try a new plan. Sleep late each morning. Have breakfast. Relax at the resort (GF) pool, and then head to a park (or skip the pool depending on how we're feeling). Stay at the park til 2 or 3 pm when crowds reach their peak and temps are unbearable, and then return to the resort to recharge. Then go back to a different park around 5 - 6 pm and enjoy the nighttime shows. I feel like I'm an expert when the vacation is geared around rope drop, but doing it this way is new to me. Any feedback/ advice would be appreciated.

Just make sure park hours are late enough to enjoy this strategy. Seems like park hours are getting shorter and shorter.

When we go in November, if the parks are open until midnight or later, I MAY adjust our plans and go to the parks later and stay until close. Thing is DD is fine sleeping in and doing this but I'll most likely be up early anyway. I will wait to decide when park hours are released.

 

[mom-2greatkids]

When the parks close early how do all of you non-rope droppers get enough park time each day? Granted we are commandos who are there from open to close every day (and visit 2-3 parks each day), but a lot of the time every park is closed by 10:00. During times of the year with earlier closing times the parks don't empty out that much at night so the waits aren't that short for the headliners.

 

[prprincess]

We are not rope droppers. We just enjoy sleeping in too much. This is our typical day: We sleep until we wake up, have a leisurely breakfast at food court while sipping coffee. Back to room to brush teeth, put on sunscreen etc. Head out to park. We don't like rushing and we get to the parks when we get to the parks, it's usually late morning. Gasp. The rope droppers just fell over. LOL!

We are the same way. I don't like to feel like I need a vacation from my vacation when I get home. We also visit so often that it's not really that urgent to see/do certain things anymore.