I am a rope drop fanatic. However I understand there are those who are not. I rope drop because my time is a priority. I can get more done in the first 90 minutes than any other three hour stretch throughout the day. I also like to get ahead of the crowds. I know that by rope dropping, there will be several hundred people behind me trying to do the same thing, but with significantly higher waits.
For example, on our last Animal Kingdom day, we rope dropped Navi River, then headed to Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Expedition Everest, and Kali River, along with looking at the tigers, in the first 90 minutes. Incredible. Realistic wait times for those rides in the middle of the day can be 60, 30, 30, 45, 30, or 3+ hours waiting. This was also before our first fast pass of Kilimanjaro Safari.
My family are not morning people. But my wife has reluctantly understood the importance of rope drop. We have kids 5 & 6. She would rather get up early and knock out Buzz Lightyear, Astro Orbiter, Speedway, Teacups, Dumbo, and Little Mermaid in the first 90 minutes than stand in line for those rides. Those are the rides my kids want to go on first. She also understands that it doesn’t make sense to burn our first or second fast passes on those rides early in the day. So for her, it’s become a reluctant agreement to rope drop because she at least understands what the alternative is.
Now, the most important thing we have implemented in our travel to counteract the need to rope drop is a longer trip. Make each park a two-day visit. This is the balance we’ve subconsciously gravitated towards. We don’t need to rope drop as we double the amount of pre-planned fast passes. This way we get to reserve both top tier and second tier attractions for the week, or we double rides like Flight of Passage. For MK, this especially helps as my plans for our next trip only having us going to literally half the park one day (fantasy, tomorrow), and half the other (adventure, frontier). It also gives us more resort time and makes for a more relaxing trip.
If your plan is to do as much as possible, or if you only have one day per park and want to do most things, I think rope drop is necessary. Otherwise, a good balance can and should be made.