@DizFinder Funny how going to school results in MOANS and GROANS and delays in every single item necessary to get out the door. Yet, one mention of rope drop for a favorite ride has everyone up and ready within minutes!
Oh sure, if all the kids had to do was get up and get on a ride, 8 am wouldnāt be an issue. But when you factor in getting kids dressed, fed and down to the bus, ride the bus for 20 minutes, go through security, etcā¦ you are talking about getting up anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours before that.
And itās the same kids who stayed up late the night before to watch fireworks, I might add. Which, of course, defeats the whole āearly to bedā idea.
Weāll see if it happens. My bet is that itās notā¦and Iām certainly not going to put that in my plan. I think Iām being a little aggressive in getting the kids to AK for a 9 am opening. If we get there earlier, so much the better. But Iām definitely not forcing that issue. This is a vacation, not an Army boot camp.
What kind of Liner are you, maggot? Drop and give me twenty!
What movie is that from??
@mikeandkelli on our last trip, we split the time in half. the first half, woke up early and made it to rope drop, left the parks around dinner time. the second half, slept in and stayed up for fireworks. it worked well to remind the family every day that this was the plan so that we could avoid crowds but still see and do all the stuff we planned to do.
one way to significantly cut your time down is to eat on the go - trail mix, cereal bars/protein bars. things that travel well and will fill you up. then grab a light morning snack a few hours after rope drop but early enough to not spoil your lunch.
other creative ways to cut down time in the morning is for some of the group to shower before bed - this is our biggest time sucker.
my family is not a mid-day break kind of family. but some use this strategy as well to encourage their groups up and out early. for some the promise of a mid-day nap is effective.
Full Metal Jacket - Gunnery Sgt. Hartman was fond of using maggot as an āaffectionateā termā¦
Pretty much any movie that has a boot camp scene in it.