Will my trip be useless if I don't rope drop?

[KimK2006]

As PP's have said, you don't HAVE to do RD to have a good experience, but in my opinion, you have a much more productive day if you make it by RD. The headliners are walk on for an hour or more. They have very short lines for at least a couple of hours. We take the time to "smell the roses" once the lines start getting jammed with everyone else who has slept in. Will you still enjoy the parks if you sleep in. Of course! But, you get more bang for your buck if you arrive by opening.

As others have stated, you don't have to arrive 45 minutes before the parks open. We never arrive more than 15 minutes ahead of time. Sometimes we arrive right at opening. Last week we found some of the parks started letting people in around 10 minutes before official opening.

We, too, don't do RD every morning. We sleep in about every 3rd day. We also head out of the parks in the afternoon for a few hours to enjoy our resort, rest, shop, etc. That is relaxing after getting there early.

 

[JimmyV]

Sorry, but once again I wildly disagree.

I've done Rope drop a number of times, and I have to say - LATER beats EARLEIR every time!

Evenings are far better. As the evening progresses, one can comfortably assume that the crowds are going to thin. Also, the temps are dropping. Usually, this time of year- rain storms happen in the late afternoon- though not always. After a rain storm passes, the air is much more comfortable, especially after the sun sets.

The problem with this approach is that the OP is planning to go at a time when the parks are open the fewest hours. There may not be many "evenings" to enjoy. If the MK closes at 7:00 or 8:00, then the "last couple hours of the day" are not uncrowded and people haven't pooped out by then. What you suggest can work when the park closes at 11:00. Or midnight. Or 1:00 a.m. But I have never seen a huge thinning out between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. If I had my choice of arriving at 8:30 for rope drop at 9:00 and touring the first 90 minutes in relative quiet versus staying until 7:00 p.m., I'd take the former every time. But to be honest, with shortened hours, we would be there from RD until street sweeping every day. So we would get the best of Robo's world and yours.

Also, in my experience, February rains are not typically "afternoon showers". When it rains in February, you usually get a persistent rain that lasts most of the day.

 

[Robo]

Wow you have all given me alot more to think about!

For one, I did sort of have a negative attitude about it already, but I guess I did not factor in the "anticipation" to see it all the first time!

And, as I should have said earlier...

to posting on the DISboards, Sharpdisney!

 

[Robo]

Is it useless? No

Will it help with shorter lines? Yes

And a DISboards to you too, Foltzyboy!

 

[Redmic]

I am here right now and have done rope drop and evenings. Evenings have been much better! No huge crowds entering the parks, much better flow of people and short lines. Many walk ons at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood studios, including 15 minutes for Toy Story Mania Monday night at about 10:45.

 

[kay1864]

I am having a hard time getting ready to tell my DH and MIL that we need to wake up at 6:30 a.m. on vacation, and then wait 45 minutes outside a gate, and then walk 10 minute directly to a particular attraction, no passing go, etc.

Depends on how long it takes you to get ready. Me, I wake at 7, the kids at 730, and we're out the door by 8. So we're at the turnstiles (or at the train station in the case of MK) by 830. Yes, a 30 minute wait before RD, but you get so much more done in those first two hours. Makes the afternoons much more pleasant.

 

[nkereina]

IMO, FP+ makes it much easier to miss rope drop and be ok. In year's past, we would make rope drop, break around lunch and nap/swim, and then go back out at night. Next trip in November, we are going to sleep in a little with FP+ reservations being for the afternoon. I realize this likely means one ride per headlining attraction and fewer choices for the 4th FP, but I'm ok with that. Sounds like you've been doing your research so even if you miss rope drop, you know more than a lot of people do so you should be ok

 

[jeswel]

I think you should tour how you want to tour. Make it easy on yourself. If you're an early riser do rope drop. If you like to sleep in stay till the last minute. Rope drop is nice but it isn't essential.

 

[Ebiten]

I've done rope drop at Califorinia, Florida, and Tokyo. Tokyo involves lots of running to hit up the most popular rides for a FP and a ride so I consider California's and Florida's rope drop to be quite tame .

I do rope drop for the first two days just to get the more popular rides out of the way at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Though I would say you don't have to be there 45 minutes ahead of time, even 20 minutes was good enough to just get in. I don't want you to have a bad time by making you DH and MIL grumpy due to a early morning wake up. After I do those then I go to the parks after rope drop, maybe an hour or so, and still have lots to do and the FP+ lets me ride the more popular rides again at a later time.

I never found a need to be at rope drop at Animal Kingdom or Epcot as the standby lines are pretty manageable and the FP+ helps.

 

[BlueFairy]

Sorry, but once again I wildly disagree.

I've done Rope drop a number of times, and I have to say - LATER beats EARLEIR every time!

No, you don't have to do RD. The early hours are useful, though probably less useful with new FP+. I have some experience to back that up, but don't have quite enough data points to say how much FP+ has devalued RD.

That said, the peak crowd is from about 11am to about 3PM - depending on time of year- then there are more drop offs as the afternoon parade, evening parade, and evening show/parade finish. AK seems to thin out in the afternoon almost as a given, except those days when AK is open unusually late. (say 9pm)

What we find, is that the first hour is a little bit frantic. Whatever you pick (assuming no FP), you know that the crowds are building. This time of year, heat and humidity are also building, and tempers get shorter as the heat/crowds peak.

Evenings are far better. As the evening progresses, one can comfortably assume that the crowds are going to thin. Also, the temps are dropping. Usually, this time of year- rain storms happen in the late afternoon- though not always. After a rain storm passes, the air is much more comfortable, especially after the sun sets.

Lots of days we managed either RD or near RD - then maybe a break - then returned to hit the evening/late night hours.

Shh!! Almost Universally, the LAST two hours of the day we cover three times what we can cover in the first hour. Also, by evening- you can play the game differently. You already know what you've covered. So -at least the way we tour (try to hit almost everything at least once) if we see that a headliner attraction has no wait- we ride it multiple times. We don't have to worry that in so doing we're missing anything. We've already done them. If we try double rides in the am- then you might miss a headliner later.

You mention lots of summer patterns. Have you experienced this evening dropoff during times of the year with shorter hours? We traveled after President's Day one year. It is much cooler, though still very warm. However, watch the park hours. If AK is closing at 5pm, and MK at 8pm, many will stay until closing, and I find this advice less valuable. We used to travel in off times and felt the need to use that afternoon time because the parks closed early.

 

[BlueFairy]

The problem with this approach is that the OP is planning to go at a time when the parks are open the fewest hours. There may not be many "evenings" to enjoy. If the MK closes at 7:00 or 8:00, then the "last couple hours of the day" are not uncrowded and people haven't pooped out by then. What you suggest can work when the park closes at 11:00. Or midnight. Or 1:00 a.m. But I have never seen a huge thinning out between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. If I had my choice of arriving at 8:30 for rope drop at 9:00 and touring the first 90 minutes in relative quiet versus staying until 7:00 p.m., I'd take the former every time. But to be honest, with shortened hours, we would be there from RD until street sweeping every day. So we would get the best of Robo's world and yours.

Also, in my experience, February rains are not typically "afternoon showers". When it rains in February, you usually get a persistent rain that lasts most of the day.

YES! We had 50 degrees and rain all day in Feb at least once.

And, watch the nighttime show schedule. If you hit MK on a night that MSEP is early, Wishes is at 8, and there are only 1 or 2 days that week that both are showing, all bets are off and it WILL be a zoo at night. All those level 3 and 4 crowds will suddenly feel like the evening is an 8.

 

[Beer Me]

My family sleeps in on vacation. I wake up early, go for a run come home and shower and go out for coffee. That's about when they start waking up. In over a dozen trips to MK in the height of summer I've made to the opening ceremony once. It was nice but not necessary for having a good day.

 

[gschon]

We usually arrive about 30 minutes after rope drop, stay for 3 hours, and see all the late sleepers just arriving as we head to the pool.

 

[worm761]

It definitely won't ruin your trip. It may cause you to ride less rides. It all depends on how you tour.

Now for my family, this is what works: We generally go to the parks for 7 days. 2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 DHS, and 2 AK. DHS is always in the middle of our trip and is used as our down day. Very little rides, lots of stopping to watch the Streetmosphere shows, shows, characters, animation class. Just a relaxing day all around. I play 2 8am character meals. 1 at AK and 1 at MK. These are family tradition and even on my quick 3 day trip this summer I am doing them. Those are the ONLY two days we set an alarm on vacation. Other than that, we wake up when we wake up, get showered/dressed, go get breakfast and then head to a park. We are usually at a park between 9-10am. Since I have 2 days at the 3 parks we like best, I don't stress riding everything in one day. Also, my DH refuses to stand in a line longer than 20 minutes. We usually go in May or October. He will shocked to see July waits.

We are laid back vacationers. We stop and smell the roses (literally as DD likes to smell flowers everywhere), chat with cast members, see the street entertainment. There is a lot at Disney that has nothing to do with rides.

You say this is your first trip. It sounds to me like you are already planning return trips. Take it slow and have a good time. Even if you don't ride everything. Follow your DS lead. Don't be so dead set on getting the next ride that you miss the experience. When I took my DS to Disney the first time he was 5 too. He tried to pick up the stones in the ground in Andventureland and I let him give it a good shot. LOL... He wanted to sit on every single bench he could fine in MK. We did. He met his hero, Buzz Lightyear. We rode the same ride over and over. We had a blast. We didn't ride everything. But we had fun. We even had ice cream for lunch one day. Just relax. It will be fun no matter what you do.

 

[mistysue]

I don't think this was said- but rope drop does NOT mean you have to be there 45 minutes early.
We generally always hit rope drop and at slower times we arrive 5-10 minutes before opening. We often see a little piece of the opening show as we are entering gates, then go in to the park within a minute of the people who have been there an hour.
It really hasn't gotten in our way at all.

The only thing to watch for is the unofficial rope drop- like how last year HS was opening 30 minutes early. (it might still, I don't know)
Getting there at 9 when the crowd went in at 8:30 we did feel the difference.

 

[Robo]

The only thing to watch for is the unofficial rope drop- like how last year HS was opening 30 minutes early. (it might still, I don't know)
Getting there at 9 when the crowd went in at 8:30 we did feel the difference.

Yup.

Still happens, and it's not predictable as to HOW EARLY they will open the gates.

This goes for Epcot, DHS and DAK.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Rope drop is great for some people, not so great for others.

We never do rope drop-we are night people. I enjoy sleeping in on vacation and we have been to WDW enough times that I don't feel the need to cram things into our day. We tend to go at slower times though.

You should vacation the way you want to. We can all have an opinion, but no one opinion trumps any other one. Do what works for you.

 

[PeterPanic]

Well, let's see. I have been going to WDW regularly since 1983. I went to my first rope drop about 10 years ago. That means that I went to WDW for 30+ years without ever seeing rope drop.

Obviously, it didn't cause me to not get anything out of the place. My reason for not going was because up until 10 years ago, my traveling companion did not want to get started that early.

Now that I have been, actually only twice, I'm glad I saw it but I could have gone a lifetime without it.

Now that is just for the entertainment part of it, which only happens at MK anyway. As far as getting there early(er), yes it does give the opportunity to ride a couple more rides, but, if you aren't really concerned about that much, which I am not, then it doesn't really matter. Otherwise, rope drop really is a fancy phrase for "we'll let you in now".

 

[asmit4]

We usually arrive about 30 minutes after rope drop, stay for 3 hours, and see all the late sleepers just arriving as we head to the pool.

YEP! Exactly! I love it when I see all the sleepy head people standing in line for Peter Pan for 80 minutes when I rode it 3 hours earlier in 5 minutes

 

[TravelandLeisure]

Shh!! Almost Universally, the LAST two hours of the day we cover three times what we can cover in the first hour. Also, by evening- you can play the game differently. You already know what you've covered. So -at least the way we tour (try to hit almost everything at least once) if we see that a headliner attraction has no wait- we ride it multiple times. We don't have to worry that in so doing we're missing anything. We've already done them. If we try double rides in the am- then you might miss a headliner later.

I definitely agree with you about the last 2 hours before closing. Last Thursday at MK there was a mass exodus of people out of the park after Wishes, and we stayed until the 12:00 a.m. closing time. Pretty much the only attraction with a major wait was SDMT; I do remember Space Mountain being around 30 mins. We virtually walked on Peter Pan, Barnstormer, Big Thunder, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Tea Cups, etc.