Non rope drop ppl - what’s it like??

[MilitaryMouse]

Does anyone sleep in and head to the parks in the late morning/noon? I’m so curious what your strategy/plan is like.

DH and I are headed to WDW in late Oct/early Nov with our almost 2 year old. We were always RD/EMH people but having a toddler changed that

Our plan is to make FP+ for the attractions we know DD will like (iasw, princess meet and greet) and spend the afternoon walking around, snacking, finding street entertainers, and ducks, and wait until later in the night to ride more rides or meet more characters. She’s been to Disneyland several times so we generally know what she likes. DH and I won’t be trying for the big ticket rides as we’ve done them pre-baby.

So, does anyone else tour this way? Do you like it? The parks don’t seem to be open as late as I remember or maybe there just used to be more nighttime EMH, so is my expectation of lower crowds/shorter lines (for 35” and under rides, and meet and greets) the hour or two before closing unrealistic? Would love to hear advice from anyone who doesn’t rope drop as we’ve never toured this way before!

 

[sponica]

The sticky point is that you're going at a time when they're still running the EEMH, so nobody knows how things will shake out as far as crowd levels mid morning. You'll also have early closes at MK for halloween parties that throw things off. I would definitely do MK on those days (if you have hoppers) as single park admission holders won't want to "waste" an admission to MK on a day it closes at 6.

 

[WIll C]

My wife is not a morning person. We don't get in the parks until almost lunchtime. We count on FPs and ADRs to manage our days. Granted, my wife tends to get us extra FPs so we've yet to wait in line for anything. We've done a few of the evening magic hours and parties to lessen the crowds. She can't has to take frequent breaks so we're not rushing from place to place anyways.

 

[Brett Wyman]

My wife is not a morning person. We don't get in the parks until almost lunchtime.

That's a bit beyond "not a morning person".

Our young kids are slow risers so we try not to rush them but we will if we have something booked. More than anything we want them to poop IN the room before we leave. But we never stress over rope drop times because, in my opinion, rope dropping popular rides is actually a really bad idea.

 

[yorkieteacher]

If you fast pass your 3 must do attractions, there are always things that hardly ever have a huge wait any time of the day-Small World , Mikey's Philharmagic, People Mover, Carousel, Tea Cups, Tiki Room and Country Bears in MK, most of the shows at some point in HS, the animal trails at AK. If you can get a few good character meals kids love these. ANd I agree MK on a party day is a great time for lower waits.

 

[jeepwreck]

last time we took our son to WDW he was 22months old we did not do any EMH but we still got up early and eat breakfast and the resort and got to the parks close to regular opening hours. and he seem to be very fine with it. we were also traveling with a large group of family with a lot of other older kids so I am not sure if that made him get a bit more motivated in the mornings

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Does anyone sleep in and head to the parks in the late morning/noon? I’m so curious what your strategy/plan is like.

DH and I are headed to WDW in late Oct/early Nov with our almost 2 year old. We were always RD/EMH people but having a toddler changed that

Our plan is to make FP+ for the attractions we know DD will like (iasw, princess meet and greet) and spend the afternoon walking around, snacking, finding street entertainers, and ducks, and wait until later in the night to ride more rides or meet more characters. She’s been to Disneyland several times so we generally know what she likes. DH and I won’t be trying for the big ticket rides as we’ve done them pre-baby.

So, does anyone else tour this way? Do you like it? The parks don’t seem to be open as late as I remember or maybe there just used to be more nighttime EMH, so is my expectation of lower crowds/shorter lines (for 35” and under rides, and meet and greets) the hour or two before closing unrealistic? Would love to hear advice from anyone who doesn’t rope drop as we’ve never toured this way before!

We have night owl youngins. Fantasyland has shorter lines in the later hours than rope drop, because so many of the young kids are early risers.

I don’t know about wait times for the bigger rides, but you don’t seem as interested in those.

You want to check the times on the characters. I’ve seen the circus sideshow characters close before park close.

 

[vinotinto]

I think you'll be just fine. Most of the rides that have a really long wait would have a height limit and would not be the ones you are looking to do with your 2-year old (Toy Story Mania, Frozen, and Navi being the exceptions. If you are ging to those parks get an FP for those!). I have found that it is easy throughout the day to get fastpasses for the rides without height requirements and meets. And those lines never seem long.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

The sticky point is that you're going at a time when they're still running the EEMH, so nobody knows how things will shake out as far as crowd levels mid morning. You'll also have early closes at MK for halloween parties that throw things off. I would definitely do MK on those days (if you have hoppers) as single park admission holders won't want to "waste" an admission to MK on a day it closes at 6.

Thank you! Definitely stalking this forum to see how EEMH impacts things. We’re on west coast time so we don’t anticipate getting into the parks until noon at the earliest. Love the tip about MK on party days - we’ll have park hoppers so we’ll definitely do that!

 

[MilitaryMouse]

My wife is not a morning person. We don't get in the parks until almost lunchtime. We count on FPs and ADRs to manage our days. Granted, my wife tends to get us extra FPs so we've yet to wait in line for anything. We've done a few of the evening magic hours and parties to lessen the crowds. She can't has to take frequent breaks so we're not rushing from place to place anyways.

That sounds perfect. We’re on west coast time and don’t want to wake our toddler up early so lunchtime is when we’re expecting to hit the parks. We’re pretty much just planning on FP+ and some ADRs for guaranteed characters (in case the m&g lines get lone).

 

[MilitaryMouse]

That's a bit beyond "not a morning person".

Our young kids are slow risers so we try not to rush them but we will if we have something booked. More than anything we want them to poop IN the room before we leave. But we never stress over rope drop times because, in my opinion, rope dropping popular rides is actually a really bad idea.

I had not thought about that but I’m definitely writing down to urge her to poop before going out!

 

[MilitaryMouse]

If you fast pass your 3 must do attractions, there are always things that hardly ever have a huge wait any time of the day-Small World , Mikey's Philharmagic, People Mover, Carousel, Tea Cups, Tiki Room and Country Bears in MK, most of the shows at some point in HS, the animal trails at AK. If you can get a few good character meals kids love these. ANd I agree MK on a party day is a great time for lower waits.

That’s perfect. Those are probably the attractions we’ll be wanting to do.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

last time we took our son to WDW he was 22months old we did not do any EMH but we still got up early and eat breakfast and the resort and got to the parks close to regular opening hours. and he seem to be very fine with it. we were also traveling with a large group of family with a lot of other older kids so I am not sure if that made him get a bit more motivated in the mornings

That sounds like such a fun trip. We’re from the west coast so not much of a chance of her waking before 10am EST. But we’ll be there for two weeks so she might start adjusting on her own?? I hope not... don’t need her waking up at 3am ready to go when we get home!

 

[teach22180]

I used to be first at rope drop but since FP+ started I have found I no longer need to stress it. I have several days on my next trip when I'm planning on noon til park close. It's nice to know I have that guarantee for a popular ride! I'm also there with EMH at 3 parks everyday so I think we don't really know what that will be like.

 

[Mike Mantis]

In a perfect world I would rope drop every day.

However I think the decision really comes down to how many how days in the park you have and how often you visit Disney.

If I knew this was my only trip for a few years and I only had a few days I would rope drop and try to get as much out of things as I could.

But on my upcoming trip I am buying the passes that get you in at noon knowing I will miss the three hours that really are the best to ride a lot of rides if you rope drop. Lets my family sleep in and lets us just get a more leisurely pace to the day.

We won’t be able to do everything but will plan to do what we love.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

We have night owl youngins. Fantasyland has shorter lines in the later hours than rope drop, because so many of the young kids are early risers.

I don’t know about wait times for the bigger rides, but you don’t seem as interested in those.

You want to check the times on the characters. I’ve seen the circus sideshow characters close before park close.

I hope that’s the case for our trip! We’re on west coast time so we plan on being out late and closing the parks. Hoping for shorter lines on the smaller rides.

Thank you for the tip on the character times - I hadn’t thought of when they close.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

I think you'll be just fine. Most of the rides that have a really long wait would have a height limit and would not be the ones you are looking to do with your 2-year old (Toy Story Mania, Frozen, and Navi being the exceptions. If you are ging to those parks get an FP for those!). I have found that it is easy throughout the day to get fastpasses for the rides without height requirements and meets. And those lines never seem long.

Awesome thank you! Any rides in addition to our FP+ would be a bonus, it would be amazing to be able to get a 4th or 5th FP+ for the small kiddo rides.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

I used to be first at rope drop but since FP+ started I have found I no longer need to stress it. I have several days on my next trip when I'm planning on noon til park close. It's nice to know I have that guarantee for a popular ride! I'm also there with EMH at 3 parks everyday so I think we don't really know what that will be like.

I’m kind of excited to tour this way! Also nervous because I’m an over the top planner and not really a go with the flow kind of person I think this will be a lot more relaxing for everyone else in my family though - haha! And ultimately me too

 

[MilitaryMouse]

In a perfect world I would rope drop every day.

However I think the decision really comes down to how many how days in the park you have and how often you visit Disney.

If I knew this was my only trip for a few years and I only had a few days I would rope drop and try to get as much out of things as I could.

But on my upcoming trip I am buying the passes that get you in at noon knowing I will miss the three hours that really are the best to ride a lot of rides if you rope drop. Lets my family sleep in and lets us just get a more leisurely pace to the day.

We won’t be able to do everything but will plan to do what we love.

I love that. I think that’s the mentality I need - just plan to do what we love and everything else is bonus.

I didn’t know about the tickets that start at noon. I’ll have to look into those!

 

[epcotty]

We arrive at the parking lot at opening time or just after (we used to arrive 1 hour after opening or just after before more recent years), and it's not as bad as rope drop reports by any means