Is it REALLY that important to get to the parks early?

[cm8]

I keep hearing about how vital it is to get to the parks at rope drop. But I'm thinking that my family would be better off to sleep in a bit. We're not super late sleepers - we're a high energy bunch, and we're always up by 7 or 8 no matter what, but this trip will be a much needed vacation for DH and I don't want to rush him in the mornings. Also, we have some late ADRs (Chef Mickeys and CP at 9:00 PM) , and it seems like the evening EMHs and MVMCP are worth sleeping in the next day.

I know we could go early and take a nap break in the afternoons, but we're staying at POP and I'm not looking forward to riding the bus back to our hotel more than once every day (my kids are good at napping in the stroller! .

So do I really need to get everybody up and at 'em in the mornings?

no, we slept in and got to the parks in the afternoon/evenings and still did all we wanted to!

 

[TisBit]

We're going the week before Thanksgiving. I'll try Ridemax! Thanks!

If you are there over the Thanksgiving holiday, starting about Wednesday it will be crowded and being there early is good, if it is the full week before, you probably wont' see a ton of difference in ride times, but it is still going to be shorter with early arrival.

 

[winterman]

I haven't read every post but I have to say:

Thank you to all the people who won't/don't get to the parks at rope drop. You make it possible for me to avoid many of the long lines later in the day.

If everybody arrived when the park opened, there would be no advantage to arriving early.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

This is a situation where there is no right answer, just what's right for you. Me, I prefer to get there at rope drop to get on as many rides as possible before the crowds get there and hopefully finish up at the park by mid-afternoon so I have time to go back to the room for a swim before going out to dinner. But if getting on all the rides or finishing earlier in the day isn't your priority then getting there early isn't a must.

 

[nytimez]

Am I the only one who finds the phrase "rope drop" annoying?

I don't know why...I just do, like nails on a chalk board.

Not nearly as annoying as "ressie" and "Cindy" and such!

 

[d1gitman]

Not nearly as annoying as "ressie" and "Cindy" and such!

but knowwhere near as annoying as "troll" and "snarky"

 

[Rememberingthe70s]

Not nearly as annoying as "ressie" and "Cindy" and such!

Ditto that. The cutsey-poo stuff drives me nuts.

 

[C.Ann]

In all the trips I/we have made there, I/we have never done the rope-drop thing or rushed to get to the parks early.. We have never had issues where fast passes were needed nor did we ever wait in long lines for anything..

Maybe it had something to do with the times of year that we scheduled our trips, but it just never became an issue for us..

 

[nytimez]

but knowwhere near as annoying as "troll" and "snarky"

Right, I forgot -- anyone who disagrees with you is a troll.

 

[Kris74]

We were at WDW the week before Thanksgiving last year. It was a great week - both weather wise and crowds

We did a mix of both - hit some rope drops and had some sleep in days.

We never hit hit rope drop at Animal Kingdom, no problem getting on the Safari. We actually got FP's first, didn't need them so passed the FP's to another family coming up the path for the ride.

We didn't hit rope drop at EPCOT. Actually both evenings we were there it was suppertime and we were there for a couple of hours in the evening. No problem with Soarin' - we rode twice one night!

We DID hit rope drop twice at MK. Once by myself (don't ask) and once with the family. We all liked the preshow there. It was AMAZING how much stuff we got done in just a couple of hours when we were there at rope drop vs when we were there earlier in the week, but later in the day!!

We also hit one rope drop at DHS. The rush for Toy Story Mania was INSANE!! And the line even for FP's was crazy. But we did it once and the next time we went to DHS we were there in the evening for Fantasmic and Osborne Lights so we weren't focusing on the rides as much.

I will say the buses for the POP resorts were plentiful no matter which park we were at. We always saw at least 2 while we were waiting for our bus. The longest I think we waited for a bus was MAYBE 15 minutes.

If you have park hoppers I'd say just plan for some rope drops for the "must do's" on your list. Go back for a break and then plan for something completely different in the evening, different park or whatever.

Have fun planning!!

 

[mom2rtk]

We were at WDW the week before Thanksgiving last year. It was a great week - both weather wise and crowds

The week before Thanksgiving is actually one of the slowest weeks of the year at Disney. Whether Rope Drop is necessary or not really depends on what time of year the OP is there.

 

[cm8]

I haven't read every post but I have to say:

Thank you to all the people who won't/don't get to the parks at rope drop. You make it possible for me to avoid many of the long lines later in the day.

If everybody arrived when the park opened, there would be no advantage to arriving early.

, well now that you've made mention of that, I might just start going at rope drop (never in a million chance)

 

[kikiq]

So do I really need to get everybody up and at 'em in the mornings?

Well, maybe not rope drop every morning, but I think the rope drop at MK is important. And maybe DHS IF you HAVE to ride TSMM. What time of year are you going?

We go in the summer (teacher here) and have found that getting to any park except MK within 30 minutes of opening is soon enough. We've been able to do most of the popular attractions by lunch and return to our resort to cool off/nap. Then leave the resort around 5/6 pm for dinner and another park. We still talk about the day we left DHS at noon during the heat of the day and there were hordes of people coming into the park with hot crying children, starting their day.

 

[Mommy2Jameson]

I have not read through all the responses, but all I can say is 9:00 PM Adr's with two small children?? Really?? Not in a million years would I even consider it! No dining experience is worth that! And yes, it does make a world of difference getting to the parks early!

I just have to comment that I don't think that's necessarily crazy! Maybe her kids stay up late? My son is 4, and our last 2 trips(2008/2009) we were in the parks until 10:30-11 pm and even midnight the night of MNSSHP. It works for us. He's not an early riser, he usually sleeps in until at least 9 or 9:30 and he's always been a BIG napper. He still takes 2-3 hour naps on occasion. And I work night shift, so I'm not a big morning person either.

So we get up and go whenever he wakes up. Come back to the hotel after the 3:00 afternoon parades. Sleep until 6 or 6:30 pm, and then head back to the parks for more rides, and a late dinner! We book late ADRs often. We'll be dining at 1900 Park Fare at 8 pm our first night there!

So Evening EMH work WONDERFUL for us! We'll be the family sleeping in each morning during EMH and then we'll ride all the rides late at night after all you early risers go back to the hotel to sleep!

 

[smidgy]

The way I look at it is if you are going during a very busy season and want to get in as much as possible, yes... you need to get there early. If you are not wanting to get in as much as possible at the parks and want to take in more relaxing time, sleep in and enjoy the resort you are staying in too. It all depends on what you want out of your trip. If you go during a slow season, you can have the best of both types of trips.. .

It really, really is.

Morning is when the crowds are at their lowest.

Knock off the big attractions early, and tour at your own pace the rest of the day.

A good plan, is the difference between a great vacation, and a stressful one.

disney does need planning, but you can realx there to. depends how much you want to do.

I am a night person (note the time on my post. I got off work at 12. it's now 3:37. so to me, it is like 8:37 in the evening right now, for all you people who got off work at 5 pm) I am NOT a morning person!!!!

but, at disney, I bite the bullet and get up early becasue we can do SO much in the morning. in less time, and so much less wait time. it's worth it to me.
plus, we collect fast passes for the evening. then, go back to the resort. swim. maybe I take a nap (I LOVE naps..oh pillow!)while hubby is at the pool.
then, it's cocktail hour, then parks in the evening.

but, somedays, we choose to sleep in.and do the park later. or, have a resort only day!
to me, the biggest plus of rope drop is the collecting of fastpasses. "knock off" some of the headliners while collecting them, then relax in the afternoon.

 

[smidgy]

You guys are AWESOME! Thank you all so much for all the input. I think we'll probably do some rope drops and some sleeping in. Our first day is at DHS, so we'll for sure make that an early morning and try for TSM! I've got to see what all the buzz is about with that ride...

this is a good plan. I mentioned a resort day. not everyone has the time to do this, but we like a day in the middle to jus putz around the resort. sleep in, enjoy the pool, etc.

 

[kaligal]

For people on a first trip or a "once in a lifetime" kind of thing, I think it is a very, very good idea to be at the park when it is opening. That said, I would schedule a day or two to sleep in a little bit and I'd schedule them for the mornings after I watched the fireworks.

But if you go often and don't care if you don't ride Soarin this time...no, no real reason to kill yourself getting up and being there at 7:45 or 8:45.

 

[smidgy]

For people on a first trip or a "once in a lifetime" kind of thing, I think it is a very, very good idea to be at the park when it is opening. That said, I would schedule a day or two to sleep in a little bit and I'd schedule them for the mornings after I watched the fireworks.

But if you go often and don't care if you don't ride Soarin this time...no, no real reason to kill yourself getting up and being there at 7:45 or 8:45.

 

[Cin]

It depends on the time of year you visit and how much waiting in lines you wish to do. We went 9/25 to 10/02 and the parks didn't open until 0900. Some days we didn't arrive until 10 or so after sleeping in and there was a wait for everything with most waits 20 to 30 minutes in the morning and 40 to 60 minutes for the big attractions by the afternoon. A couple of days though, I was there at opening ceremonies and walked onto every ride I desired and obtained fast passes for the big headliners and by lunch I had 5 fastpasses in hand for some cool stuff to ride later. If you go off season like we did, you can sleep late and still see everything if you don't mind a short wait. I would recommend though being there at opening and grabbing those fastpasses and walking onto the other rides with no wait. At a busy time of year though, you would def need to be there at rope drop no question about it.

 

[mariepapa]

OP, think of this Disney vacation at the template for future Disney vacations. You will learn HOW you and your family like to vacation at WDW. That is the most important thing. Think about how you are at home. Do you like to sleep in? Do you run around getting things done? Have you been planning this vacation to every last detail? How about the rest of the family? Can the kids handle late nights? Do they rest in the afternoon? How much do you want to see and do you think you will be back soon? Take all of these things into account. YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL IN ONE VACATION! And that is okay

See, I was that person. And I had to learn the hard way that I have a husband that does not like RDs. So on our 2nd vacation I only insisted on one RD and that was HS so we could get to TSM early. And even then, we didn't. Did I freak out? No. But on that 2nd vacation we had made the nightime shows our priority.

Rope Drops are only important if you really need them to be.