This is a difficult time for us to plan day trips to all but Epcot. Got our APs last week. We’re about 45 minutes away now. Looking at times, MK, AK and HS have morning EMH. Can’t rope drop those parks. We have to rely on drops for the headliners. I feel a little guilty complaining living so close but it really does restrict our options
Take this with a bit of mirth / good nature… I don’t have any pity for you! 
4 Likes
I would say this is false. You can do headliners any time of day. RD is ideal, but you can do them other times as well. Waiting until evenings, for example, you also tend to see a drop in wait times. Sure, sure…wouldn’t we all love to get on FoP within 30 minutes of park opening? But you can do FoP at 6:50 pm as well.
For example, when I evaluate wait times for FoP and Na’vi on our Animal Kingdom day, if I go first thing in the morning the wait time is actually longer than if I go at 7:00 pm.
2 Likes
Morning EMH at multiple parks won’t last forever. They were put in place due to the large crowds Disney expected for the SWGE opening.
Congrats on your APs!
My goal is to wait very little if at all 
We’ve always been rope drop people. Same day drops do work but it’s not guaranteed. Evening standby lines are somewhat shorter than earlier in the day I admit
At MK you can definitely RD, considering that all the left part of the park (and some other attractions here and there) are not open during Extra Magic Hours. You can RD BTMRR, Splash, JC, Pirates, HM and pretty much do most of them between 8 and 9 
Keep an eye out for same day FPPs as well! We got SDD, TSM and ToT yesterday, its really only MFSR that needs RD to avoid a wait. And even then the standby was posted at 45 mins (so probably less in reality) when we left around 7pm. Can’t speak for the other parks as we are yet to visit them on our current trip, but the same principle doubtless applies.