To rope drop or not to rope drop

[Burgermom]

We have a 4 and a half day grip to WDW planned the first week of February.
Originally I planned to rope drop all 4 of our full days but now I'm wondering if we should sleep in a little bit on one of the days. Otherwise I think that we will crash.
Other than being faced with longer lines at attractions are there any other drawbacks to missing rope drop? We have FPPs for the rides that tend to form big lines (including FOP) so I don't have any RD targets.

If we get to the parks around 9:30 will we be faced with huge lineups to get into AK and huge security lines? Will transportation to the parks from Wilderness Lodge be chaotic? We are visiting on a Wednesday.

I just know that everyone always really pushes the importance of rope dropping so I'm just trying to prepare myself for the consequences of sleeping in....

 

[randumb0]

It really depends on you. The security lines are manageable at 9:30. I would never rope drop as I'd rather sleep in, but others would

 

[srwarden1928]

I am the furthest away from being a morning person here. I usually go to bed around 3 am CENTRAL time; 4 to 4:30 is not uncommon. In fact, the last time I had to "get up early" for ADR or FP+, I just stayed up, made my reservations, and went to bed later.
I ALWAYS rope drop at WDW. That is how important those early hours are to me in getting more rides in. I remember one year arriving at MK one day and Epcot the next at 10 am to face OPPRESSIVE crowds just to get into the park.
I am not saying this happens every day, or that it will necessarily happen to you, but it happened to me. Getting up early is a sacrifice for me, but one I feel is worth it in WDW.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Really just depends on you, your style, and what you want to accomplish. I do like to RD, but I don't think it's absolutely critical to do it every single day. AK, for example, is one that I don't feel a crushing need to get there right away so long as I have a FP plan I'm happy with.

At 9:30, you will not have any sort of material security lines getting into AK, nothing to worry about there.

WL bus transportation is typically the same as any resort - no reason to be too concerned there either, from my perspective.

Reading too much DIS will have you thinking that 'everyone' rope drops, but that's not the case at all.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Another option is doing the RD, but taking a mid-day break for naps/resting. You can time it so that you miss the heaviest crowds of the day and by the time you come back in the afternoon, security shouldn't be too rough.

 

[Skippyboo]

You don’t really need to rope drop Epcot or HS if you have Fast Passes for the rides you want there. MK you want to be there relatively early. AK most everyone will be heading to Pandora so if you go close to park open the rest of park will be not crowded. Is there evening extra magic hours during your stay? Those are probably less crowded than the morning ones. I like closing out the parks at night instead getting up super early. The family with the kids in strollers are going to be burned out by 5

 

[Micca]

Are you dealing with small children? If they're up & at 'em in time for RD then I'd go for it. OTOH forcing kids to get out of bed seldom ends well. It also depends on how much night time touring you plan to do. If you're going to do RD you'll want to have gone to bed relatively early the night prior. Otherwise you can burn out pretty quickly. The walking/waiting/and heat can wear just about anyone down, you need to be well rested to make the most of it.

 

[caliope]

We typically do a mix of RD and “getting there when we get there”. We are morning people, so it’s not hard for us to get up and get ready early. But sometimes we prefer to just take our time, linger at breakfast, and/or hit the pool first thing. On the days we RD, we have specific goals of what we want to see and do before our FPs. On the other days, we usually have afternoon FPs and we don’t care if we don’t see or do much beyond those.

I should also note that we don’t rely on bus transportation at all (DH refuses to take buses). When we stay at a monorail resort, we focus our energies on MK. When we stay at an Epcot resort, we focus on Epcot and HS. This helps us get to the parks fairly efficiently. We’re not big fans of AK but went there on our last trip via Minnie Van (arrived around 9:45am; there was a decent crowd at the entrance but we were bagless and honestly breezed right in). We also use Minnie Vans to get to MK from the Epcot resorts.

We have been lucky to make multiple trips over the last few years, so we FP our musts and take the rest in stride. If we traveled to WDW less often, perhaps our strategy would change.

 

[Klayfish]

I just know that everyone always really pushes the importance of rope dropping so I'm just trying to prepare myself for the consequences of sleeping in....

Nope, not everyone. We NEVER rope drop. Just our own opinion, we think it's a waste of valuable sleep. We get up at 4am at home, no way on earth are we getting up at 6am on vacation. No way, no how. We usually show up at the parks around 9:30 or 10:00am, sometimes later. Using FP+, we get done everything we want to and don't feel like we miss anything at all. I'd bet we can get as much done in the same amount of time that a rope drop person can. It's all about using FP+

You will not face crazy crowds trying to get into the park at 10am...not even close. We were just there for the busiest week of the entire year, Christmas/New Years. We never spent more than 5 minutes in security line and 5 minutes at the tapstyle, usually it was significantly less.

So my opinion...if you want to sleep in, sleep in and don't feel the least bit bad about it. Rope drop is NOT absolutely necessary.

 

[RocketCityMama]

We do a combination for our long trips of 7 or more days. If I were only there for 4, I'd probably rope drop each day, take a mid afternoon break/nap and head back to the parks in the later afternoon. We still do that on some days for long trips, because it's nice to get out of the sun and away from people LOL

 

[ZoZo]

I think sleeping in one day is a good plan.

I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, but usually rope drop most days at WDW. But I think it's a good strategy to sleep in a little one day. As someone else suggested, Epcot and DHS are good parks to pick for your sleep-in day. There aren't a huge number of attractions, and if you can get FPs for your headliners, you won't have to arrive super early to get everything else done.

Plus, since you're going in February, it won't be hot. Lots of folks rope drop to take advantage of the cool mornings, but since you're going at a cooler time of year, and a not-so-crowded time of year, rope dropping isn't as crucial.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Just wanted to add that when I think of RD, I don't necessary mean standing at the gates 30 minute before opening. For us RD, means the first 2 hours after park opening. We generally arrive right about opening or up to 30 min minutes after. There is no crowd at security or tapstiles. The lines at most attractions remain short for 2 hours and we are armed with FPs for the headliners.

BUT, we would NEVER show up between 11a-3p without FPs and expect to ride any headliners without a significant wait.

 

[TwinkleKS]

We pretty much never rope drop. Even though my kids are early risers its hard to get everyone corralled and moving in the right direction first thing in the morning. We rope dropped in July to ride FOP and I think in December 2016 for Frozen ... Just got back from a pre-Christmas, Christmas, New Year's Eve trip and I don't think we arrived at the parks before 10:30 on any day we were there. It totally depends on your style, what you have FPs for, and what your MUST DO's are.

 

[KenHutch]

You can the man out of the Marine Corps but some things stick forever. I wake up at 04:30 every morning 7 days a week without an alarm clock, we (my daughter and god-daughter included) rope drop every day and several days of our trip we close the park. I can sleep at home.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We always FP 3 attractions back to back beginning 2 hours after opening. You cannot get many of the E-rides done without a wait at MK after 10 am and we do not get in standby lines over 30 minutes. We don't rope drop but do try to get to MK near opening to hit the mountains multiple times.

You can do the other parks pretty successfully without arriving at opening as long as you use FP correctly and get those extra FP throughout the day. We hop a lot and when staying at WL we almost always finish the evening at MK...it usually has the latest closing times also! You are a 10 minute boat ride from home... If you do not have hoppers I would definitely consider it!

I would Uber or Lyft to AK to save time. Costs under $10. A Minnie Van will cost about the same as UberXL if there are more than 4 in your party.

 

[GeneralTso]

We don't RD. It's insanity. The crowds are worse than if you just wait for the first wave to go through. We use FP+ and manage to get on all the big stuff just fine.
We aren't on vacation to do the Disney Death March.

 

[Marcus A. Jordan]

If you don't have FastPasses, I'd rope drop MK for 7DMT and AK for the two Pandora rides. The other days I'd sleep in.

It's a vacation, so make sure you take time to relax!

 

[dragonfly57005]

My family has never been at Rope Drop. We still have a great time.

 

[sdomino11]

Spent nearly three months of my life at WDW. Never, ever have I rope-dropped (my preference is to arrive at 11am and leave when they kick me out) and I doubt I ever will! Go with whatever feels best to you!

 

[kwdw]

I would rope drop AK and MK. We did morning EMH at AK this week and hit FOP, Navi, and the Safari before normal opening time. We could have done EE after that, but there was some line by then. If we had skipped Safari, we could have done EE. On that same day, Navi ride was 50 minutes or more all day. We hit both shows, the trails, the petting zoo, Dinosaur, had TS lunch, and saw ROL. We could have done EE single rider, but since only one of us wanted to ride, we didn't.

For EP and HS, as long as you the FP's you want, I think you can skip rope drop.