Yep, we've never rope dropped....

[escriven75]

So, I'll admit, after going to Disney with my kids for years and years and years we've still never rope dropped!!! It's not that we are NOT morning people, we've just always been the type to stay until the parks close at night so we have a tendency to start our morning on a relaxed vibe and somehow never get in the bus line as early as we intend to. But the late night EMH are becoming rare and being replaced with more morning time EMHs. So, we're finally going to get on board during our Mar 2020 trip with all the other early risers who get themselves to the parks before they open. I think the earliest EMH we will have is 8am-9am, and might be for each of the parks during our stay.
So I'm looking for ANY advice, tips, complaints, etc from experienced rope droppers for each of the parks!!

 

[Klayfish]

You're not missing anything. It's highly overrated and doesn't do much for being "productive" if you're good with using MDE. We stopped doing it years ago and don't miss it one bit.

 

[Spencer Wright]

I am a massive fan of rope drop. The main thing I would recommend is making sure you have an extremely specific plan in terms of where you want to go, and when your FP start.

So for example, I recently had a plan to go back to Splash Mountain first, then Thunder, and into the Adventureland/Liberty Square area. It matched well with a 10:50 FP for Haunted Mansion, and lunch at Columbia Harbour House.

Each park will have its own quirks, and there are a lot of threads on different strategies. Admittedly what I mention above does flirt with 'over-planning territory' but if done well, can result in doing a half dozen attractions or more with minimal waits.

 

[Delirium]

For MK, rope drop either Adventureland/Fronteirland or Tomorrowland. We usually do two mornings in MK each trip and will rope drop each of those lands once. Stay away from the Fantasyland chaos.

For an Adentureland/Frontierland rope drop, the order you do things in is extremely important. Do the 'quick' rides first, and go in a logical order to limit walking so that there is less time for lines to build. You will need a FP for either Jungle Cruise or Splash, but not both. Here was our plan for Adventureland/Frontierland last year during Thanksgiving week. It worked beautifully, even during a busy week.

• Skipped Jungle Cruise at rope drop because of the amount of time it takes to ride. Used FP later.
• Magic Carpets. Up and down in less than 5 minutes.
• Pirates. No wait at all. Line had not built in the time it took to ride Magic Carpets.
• Big Thunder. Waited maybe 3 minutes. Rode before Splash because Thunder is a quicker ride.
• Splash. Arrived about 9:45. Waited maybe 5-7 minutes. A lot of people don't like to get wet that early in the morning.

By skipping Jungle Cruise, we saved 20 minutes, and it limited the amount of line we experienced for Big Thunder, which was our greatest concern. We continued our day touring that side of the park and used FPs in the afternoon at Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan, in addition to Jungle Cruise. On this day, in the afternoon, we also do anytime attraction such as Country Bears, Tiki Room, Riverboat, Hall of Presidents, Mickey's Philharmagic and look to grab a 4th FP or short wait time for Small World.

On a Tomorrowland rope drop we still get a Space Mountain FP. Since it takes so long to walk the queue to board the ride and exit after riding, it eats too much into the critical first hour. We hit Buzz Lightyear at rope drop, move to the Speedway, the Teacups, and then check the wait on Astro Orbiter (which is not a must do if the line is long). We use our Space FP at about 10:30, and then hit some anytime attractions such as Carousel of Progress, PeopleMover, and Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Mine Train would be a second FP for a Tomorrowland rope drop day. The third FP for that day would depend on how the schedule for the week worked out.

New Fantasyland (Dumbo, Mermaid, Barnstormer) as well as Pooh are all ALWAYS done at the end of the night, the later the better. We have never failed to wait less than 5 minutes (walk-on most of the time) in the last 45 minutes of operation for any of those rides.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Once FP+ became a thing, we haven't done it like we used to. We prefer the opposite approach of doing late nights, especially in the hot summer. On our June trip we only did it 2 of our 6 days and it was great. We slept in, hit the pools and then did afternoons and night time in the parks. Do what your family enjoys and don't worry so much about the "rules."

 

[chris benton]

We are early risers so getting to a park before opening is no big deal for us. We always get to EMH / regular RD early. I look at it like this:
We'll get to do a nice handful of rides with very short waits before starting the fastpass barrage, and generally, we're done with most of we want to do, including multiple rides on things we like, in time to depart during the hottest part of the day to go enjoy the pool that we're paying for. The downside is that we are generally toast by 10pm, but we don't mind it at all.
I think the longest we've ever waited for anything was:
Splash - 30 minutes (tech difficulties with a FP - I was hoping to get an anytime in MDE so we stuck it out)
FOP - 25 minutes (I would wait 25 min again for FOP, and that's saying something.)
Speedway -20 minutes (early am when they were still bringing cars out. Grrrr - posted time was 10 min)

My best advice to you would be to get to EMH EARLY. If you get there 30 minutes into emh, I wouldn't bother.
Also, have a plan of attack for emh. Example: If you get to MK emh, but not early, some of the high demand stuff might already have lines not worth waiting in, but other lesser demand attractions might allow you to do them with NO waits, because people clamor to other things (like 7d?) AK is a good example as well. FOP might be a zoo, but you might be able to walk on EE 4x in a row if you'd like. BUT, if you get to AK an hour before EMH RD, you might be rewarded with a walk on fop + a Safari, (if it's open) + 3 EE's in a row, and then head down to Dinosaur after opening, and do multiple walk ons in a row before starting your fastpasses.

Early bird generally gets a worm. Other birds get worms as well. Decide which worm you'd like.
I'd be pretty confident in getting to do most of what I want without being an early bird, because I'm confident in my MDE-fu for fp hunting. The thing is, though, we're up early anyway, so getting to a park is not a big deal at all. And we LOVE the idea of chillin in the pool in the hottest parts of the day instead of crowd battling. For as much as we are paying for the hotel amenities, we're gonna try to get our money's worth.

 

[NickC]

We've ALWAYS RD since our first trip. In fact, we "RD" everything from the zoo to the aquarium to the crabbing pier at the shore. We are just early risers. Our kids are up at dawn. I wake up at 5 every morning to hit the gym before work. We eat lunch at 11 and dinner at 4 (which also helps beat the crowds).
My one big tip for RD would be; don't run to the mega headliners unless you have to. (That's what FP+ is for, and since we are early risers, we are already awake when it comes time to book them). We do several of our favorite rides and make our first FP+ for after lunch time.
Of course, if SDD is on the top of your list, and you can't get a FP+, then you might have to just go for it.

 

[lorenae]

I like RD at MK. First ride is Peter Pan (assuming FP for SDMT), and then Pooh, because those lines get crazy within 30 minutes of opening. Then I ride things that we enjoy in Adventureland.

 

[escriven75]

Once FP+ became a thing, we haven't done it like we used to. We prefer the opposite approach of doing late nights, especially in the hot summer. On our June trip we only did it 2 of our 6 days and it was great. We slept in, hit the pools and then did afternoons and night time in the parks. Do what your family enjoys and don't worry so much about the "rules."

Oh for sure we're more 'nightowls' than rope droppers but no worries about rules. I was more just looking to hear other rope droppers experiences and advice to hype myself up for our trip!

 

[escriven75]

We are early risers so getting to a park before opening is no big deal for us. We always get to EMH / regular RD early. I look at it like this:
We'll get to do a nice handful of rides with very short waits before starting the fastpass barrage, and generally, we're done with most of we want to do, including multiple rides on things we like, in time to depart during the hottest part of the day to go enjoy the pool that we're paying for. The downside is that we are generally toast by 10pm, but we don't mind it at all.
I think the longest we've ever waited for anything was:
Splash - 30 minutes (tech difficulties with a FP - I was hoping to get an anytime in MDE so we stuck it out)
FOP - 25 minutes (I would wait 25 min again for FOP, and that's saying something.)
Speedway -20 minutes (early am when they were still bringing cars out. Grrrr - posted time was 10 min)

My best advice to you would be to get to EMH EARLY. If you get there 30 minutes into emh, I wouldn't bother.
Also, have a plan of attack for emh. Example: If you get to MK emh, but not early, some of the high demand stuff might already have lines not worth waiting in, but other lesser demand attractions might allow you to do them with NO waits, because people clamor to other things (like 7d?) AK is a good example as well. FOP might be a zoo, but you might be able to walk on EE 4x in a row if you'd like. BUT, if you get to AK an hour before EMH RD, you might be rewarded with a walk on fop + a Safari, (if it's open) + 3 EE's in a row, and then head down to Dinosaur after opening, and do multiple walk ons in a row before starting your fastpasses.

Early bird generally gets a worm. Other birds get worms as well. Decide which worm you'd like.
I'd be pretty confident in getting to do most of what I want without being an early bird, because I'm confident in my MDE-fu for fp hunting. The thing is, though, we're up early anyway, so getting to a park is not a big deal at all. And we LOVE the idea of chillin in the pool in the hottest parts of the day instead of crowd battling. For as much as we are paying for the hotel amenities, we're gonna try to get our money's worth.

I like to hear this. Although we rarely leave the parks during the day, the time you're describing as going back to swim time is when we would happily slow down and rest somewhere scenic...the kids with an ice cream, me with a beer...and just relax, people watch, plan our next move...without feeling like we're missing out on valuable ride time. I like the idea of getting even just 2 or 3 rides in before the crowds really start to build. The thing is we're usually up fairly early as well so I just don't know why we never get to the parks early. But if my 14 and 12 year are volunteering to get up and out the door early then I'm in!! With earlier park closing times than in the past.....less nights of leaving the park at 11 or midnight or even 1am it will make it easier too!

 

[KenHutch]

Well we rope drop every day but to be fair we close the parks about 75% of the time. For Animal Kingdom 75%+ head for FoP. We head in the other direction. We do hit Frontierland early one. We have an issue in my family. Several of the girls relatives believe in sleeping in. So I set FP's for after 11:00 hours and we rope drop several rides early. We are talking about people who complain about an hour wait for Splash Mountain but wont get up early. Sign and early AM and late at night are the 2 best times to hit a lot of rides.

 

[YesterDark]

What rides do you want to do? If it's the mountains that you're looking to do, you'll get 1 ride in before it backs up. If you do an EMH day, you may be able to get in 2 or 3.

Otherwise, things like Pirates you can ride 5x before the line back sup.

 

[Bullseye]

Once FP+ became a thing, we haven't done it like we used to. We prefer the opposite approach of doing late nights, especially in the hot summer. On our June trip we only did it 2 of our 6 days and it was great. We slept in, hit the pools and then did afternoons and night time in the parks. Do what your family enjoys and don't worry so much about the "rules."

I've been tossing around this very idea for our May 2020 trip. For years we have been doing the RD, leave midday, come back later thing. We always go in June and the one factor that puts a damper on things is the darn heat . I'm starting to wonder if arriving in late afternoon, even though it's the hottest part of the day, might not be a good thing since most of our park time will be when the suns on the decline.

 

[TinkSassy]

I'm a rope dropper but I am NOT a night person. Get me to the fireworks and I am done. I find the parks are pretty empty for the first 2-3 hours and we get a ton accomplished.

I still get FP for the hardest attractions (7DMT, PP, SDD, FoP) as these will get long lines fast as soon as the rope goes down. We start at PP and Pooh as well and then Little Mermaid, HM, BTMRR, and that direction - circle the park once for mountains and short duration rides then circle again for the longer stuff (skip Pirate and IASW - for instance as ride times are longer at 15 minutes+). At AK, we get FP for FoP and RD Navi and then do Everest and Dinosaur - due to distance this is the hardest park to get traction in the morning. At Epcot, straight to FEA then TT with a FP for Soarin and SE - then over to Figment, Land, and Nemo. We usually finish all the rides at Epcot before lunch and then spend the afternoon in World Showcase. HS I cannot advise as it sounds like the touring pattern I use needs to be adjusted for the new land.

MK is the best bang for getting up in the morning - we can usually finish 10-12 rides in the morning with only 3 FPs down by lunch.

 

[disneycountrygirl]

I'm not a morning person at all but we chose to sleep in on the 4th day of our trip and got to Epcot at 10. Ugh!! Everyone in our party agreed we would be back to waking early for rope drop the next morning...such a huge difference those early hours without the overbearing heat and crowds. We are tired....and it's worth it! I can relate to that shirts I've seen people wearing that say I'm only a morning person at Disney!

 

[MomOTwins]

Use the "zig when others zag" trick. MK, go to any ride except 7DMT. AK, go to any ride except FOP. HS, go anywhere except Smugglers Run or SDD. Epcot; go pretty much anywhere--the rope drop splits up pretty evenly to Soarin, Test Track, and Frozen so none of the rope drop queues are too bad.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

You're not missing anything. It's highly overrated and doesn't do much for being "productive" if you're good with using MDE. We stopped doing it years ago and don't miss it one bit.

That's simply wrong. Rope drop may not be what it used to be because of the Internet (so everyone knows about the benefits of rope drop), but you accomplish way more in the first two hours of park open without fastpass than at any other time.

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

That's simply wrong. Rope drop may not be what it used to be because of the Internet (so everyone knows about the benefits of rope drop), but you accomplish way more in the first two hours of park open without fastpass than at any other time.

Agree! One of our MK days this past August we did Jungle Cruise, PotC, BTMRR, AND Splash by a little after 10:00am without FP. And none of those, except Thunder, are short rides!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

That's simply wrong. Rope drop may not be what it used to be because of the Internet (so everyone knows about the benefits of rope drop), but you accomplish way more in the first two hours of park open without fastpass than at any other time.

I'll have to disagree with you here. We find the early mornings to be way too crowded and stressful. Fortunately, the rope droppers will eventually tire and head out, leaving the parks wide open in the evenings.

Here's an example from a recent visit to MK from 8 pm to midnight. 16 rides in 4 hours without any FPs. I can give you several more examples from the other parks if you're interested.

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.

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[disneygirlsng]

I'll have to disagree with you here. We find the early mornings to be way too crowded and stressful. Fortunately, the rope droppers will eventually tire and head out, leaving the parks wide open in the evenings.

Here's an example from a recent visit to MK from 8 pm to midnight. 16 rides in 4 hours without any FPs. I can give you several more examples from the other parks if you're interested.

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.

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Unless you're like me and my family. Rope drop all the way through to the kiss goodnight, no mid-day breaks, every single day we're there. Wouldn't do Disney any other way. Though I find RD far, far from crowded or stressful and still prefer the early morning to the late night as far as what I'm able to get done.