Do you HAVE to Rope Drop?

[jaiminee krikit]

Rarely do we RD. I did for AK when I couldn't get a FP for FoP, and we typically do at HS just to ride TSM as many times as possible before the crowds arrive. We typically leave our room at park opening. Buses are less crazy, same with bag check, by the time we arrive.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We mix it up. The first hour is magical at every park if you can get up for it. I could never do it EVERY day of a trip, though. The only park we don't RD is Epcot. We prefer to get a pre park open breakfast instead.

 

[Rach3975]

We always RD (said with one entire trip worth of experience, LOL) but that's because my kids can't handle the late hours to close the parks. (Sadly, I'm including 9 pm as "late hours.") If the choice is between getting up early to RD vs. only being in the parks during the busiest part of the day, we're going to RD. Not sure we'd do it if we could stay late instead.

 

[Tomh]

I am not a morning person... 9 am is extremely early for me but I can do it for Disney, however, I am wondering if there are any of you out there that are similar and never do RD or RD for select days? If you only do select days, what park is your priority RD?

While I always do Rope Drop (well, almost always) I would say that with the advent of FP+, it may not be absolutely essential. With good FP+ planning, and use of the refresh strategy for gaining extra FP+ after your first 3, you can still get quite a few rides in without being in the park first thing in the morning.

 

[Spunky946]

We don’t rope drop. We did all the evening extra magic hours our last trip,

 

[mrsap]

We haven't rope dropped in years. Did a few times just so the kids could see the opening shows, but honestly, I'd rather them get their sleep and just enjoy the FP's.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We’ve never done rope drop and feel that we can do more in the evening when the lines get short.

Here’s an example of a recent 4 hour visit to MK from 8 pm to midnight. We did all of this without any Fast Passes.

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

 

[bryanb]

Coming from the west coast, the very idea of rope dropping on vacation is horrible. I've done it after arriving on a red-eye, and it was wonderful. Got so much done before lunchtime. But if I had to wake up early, it's not my idea of relaxation.

Of course, I've been to WDW quite a few times already and feel no pressure to check everything off my list. Maybe if my trips were rare, I would feel like I needed to get my vacation's worth.

 

[SG131]

I’m not a rope drop person, never have been. When I went last year with my 2 foster daughters it took the strength of god to get us to am EMH at HS and we didn’t get there until at least 8:30. But even the 4 yr old made it till midnight on party night. I made sure to do a lot of advanced planing and put the hard to get FP at the end of our trip and we were able to do everything we wanted. It just didn’t work for us.

Even as a kid we were always the family that stuck around late, but I don’t recall ever once seeing the old MK opening show at the train station and doubt I’ll end up seeing the current welcome show either. I know I’ll enjoy the day more if I’m well rested so that’s what works best for me.

 

[Klayfish]

This is purely a personal thing. We think rope drop is a waste of time, so we don't do it. If you happen to be an early riser anyway and want to be there, great. Otherwise, it's completely unnecessary. The current FP+ system allows for this. I'm confident I can be just as productive from 10am to 4pm as the person who shows up at 7am for an 8am park open and then stays until 2pm.

 

[Lasersgo]

When I lived in Orlando I would only rope drop if there was merchandise I wanted or something like that.

Now that I live in Australia, my partner and I plan on doing RD each of our 3 days during our April/May Disneyland trip. I think it just depends on what you want to get out of your trip. If you want to cram EVERYTHING in, RD is probably the way to go.

 

[randumb0]

No that sounds like torture

 

[lovewdwdvc]

You are on vacation. Relax. Have fun.

 

[kniquy]

RD depends on what you want to accomplish. Is this a once in a lifetime or every few years trip and you have to ride everything? -- then RD is a must. But if you go often and don't have to ride everything I still feel an occasional RD is just a nice way to start the morning, but not a necessity.

We have only ever felt the need to RD at MK. We find it especially enjoyable to be in an almost empty adventure/frontier land to hop on those rides ( because the masses head towards PPF or MT). Depending up on where you are staying you don't have to get up super early. For a 9am opening even if you are strolling down main street at 8:50 you will still be able to take advantage of the lower RD crowds. To make it worth RD you have to see the value in it -- we want to save MK FP for those typical longer wait rides so we get a lot of rides out of the way with very little waits - BTM, splash, Pirates with 5 minute waits.

RD actually allows you to take an afternoon break and then you can return to the park for the evening fireworks. If you typically arrive late morning or afternoon all you will be faced with is lots of people and longer lines and not being able to accomplish as much.

There is such a thing as Disney adrenaline -- so what you would normally think as impossible at home you are actually excited about at WDW. Like my 5 yo DD staying up until midnight for an AK moonlight magic event. Normally the tired monster in her comes out between 8-9am, but at WDW she was up early, going all day long, late into the night - and didn't complain much at all.

Maybe schedule one RD during your trip see how it goes for you.- schedule your first FP not until 11am. If you wake up and say hell no, you can still sleep in and make your first FP

 

[puffkin]

We are a rope drop family, but what I don't do is get to the park an hour before rope drop. If rope drop is at 8, we usually are getting to bag check about 7:45 and getting into the park right at 8. Still gives us a huge head start on the day and takes some of the craziness out of rushing in with a huge stampede of people which completely stresses me out. I usually book our fast passes at 10, 11, 12 so that we don't have to actually get to our first fast pass until close to 11 which usually gives us 2-3 hours of low crowds, plus maximizes our options for a 4+ FP either in this park or if we hop somewhere for the evening. We are big afternoon breaks at the resort, we typically open and close the parks!

One other benefit of rope drop I really didn't see mentioned was WEATHER! Definitely cooler in the AM, and less chance of thunderstorms/rain!

 

[mco65]

Obviously everyone has their preferred strategy and no doubt everyone has discovered the best way to use utilize their time. For me, its RD hands down. but then again, i am a morning person... rarely sleep past 6 or 7 even on weekends. I don't doubt you can get just as much done in the evenings especially during evening EMH but i simply prefer the parks during daylight hours vs night time... I think that would be seriously contested during the height of summer but we have yet to visit during July or Aug. We just got home a few weeks ago and even though it was hot during the day, it was nothing unbearable.

We use to RD to park close.. thank goodness those days are behind us. Our most recent visit was the first time my wife actually pooped out before me. Not sure how that happened but we returned from a park around 8ish one evening and my daughter and i hit the food court and then went to the pool for an hour.. the boys stayed in and watched TV or played on their phones and my wife was fast asleep...

 

[shh]

When I went last year with my 2 foster daughters it took the strength of god to get us to am EMH at HS

It would take a bona fide miracle to get me to RD - no ride is worth it to me. I HATE waking up early - and definitely not without a whole lot of this:

I have to do it for work...it's extra brutal for me to do it while on vacation, unless I have to catch a flight or have a booked cruise excursion or tour that leaves me no choice.

We have been going to WDW for 4 plus decades and I've never RDd or seen the MK welcome show!!

I truly wish I was more of a morning person - you guys get so much done. But I've realized I just gotta vacation my way...give me a 1am evening EMH and I'm as happy as a clam.

 

[Moliphino]

We don't rope drop. We set an alarm for 8 and it's hard enough getting up then, I can't make myself go any earlier on vacation. We also never go back to the resort until the parks close and have no trouble getting everything done.

 

[richmo]

Totally agree you don't have to do rope drop. I get up with an alarm 50 or so weeks a year; I'm not about to do it on vacation. There certainly are some advantages to rope drop and if I'm up anyway and make one, great. If not, there's still plenty of time left in the day...

 

[jerseygal]

We don’t RD. DH and I prefer to relax a bit in the morning. No need to start that early for us. We enjoy the FP, enjoy hanging at the resorts and relaxing a little.