Yes - totally agree!7 am is better than 8 am for this... less people typically
I understand completely! That might be us in a day or two!We always stay at the GCH, and for a 7am EMH, we usually leave the room at 6:45. I guess we are just not that hardcore any more!! We “walk with purpose” through DTD and usually still are through the turnstile before rope drop or close to it. We aren’t at the rope but we are good and don’t encounter much in the way of lines at all. With older kids now, they just don’t wake up as early as they used to.
The Unofficial Guide says to be out there 40 minutes before rope drop which seems to work perfectly, so 6:10-6:15 sounds right to me (I said right, not fun ).
If it’s any consolation, on our first trip in the modern era we walked for a 7am rope drop from the Sheraton Anaheim Park and got there around 6:15am. The problem was rope drop wasn’t until 8! That debacle pretty much directly led me to spend a lot of money on VGC DVC points. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made, the walk is much more pleasant now.
We saw that happen at DCA on our trip this summer to a couple. I felt so bad for them, because they were one of the first there. It felt like something I would do., like getting to Epcot before security had even arrived in the morning The CM was really confused and just parked us with employees.