My family revolted! Need tips and reassurance about no rope drops

Hi All,
We just moved our next trip up to May 2020 (290 days!). When discussing the upcoming trip, my family had an all out revolt about rope drop.

Our first trip was this past March and I was obviously too ambitious and we went for rope drop every day for 5 days. We had all agreed that we thought we could handle it, and we were wrong!

This trip my family really does not want to do rope drop, they want to arrive around 10, have fast passes around 11, 12, 1 and “take it easy”.
Even though they want to “go with the flow” I need to make some sort of plan so we aren’t just wandering around aimlessly.

I’ve read the UG front to back, and I relax by reading this forum, so I know rope drop is the preference for most.
Please send me your best tips and hopefully success stories on getting to the parks later in the morning.

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Can you rope drop solo and then the rest of your crew can meet you at the park?

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YOU rope drop. They can meet up with you at 10 on that first or second day. Once they see the error of their ways, they should fall into line pdq. :slight_smile:

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I will add that I have done trips where I arrived at the parks around 10 am. They are very different trips and need a different mentality. If the plan is truly to arrive mid to late morning, then I think you need to have the attitude of “we will see what we see” and “do what we do” and be happy with it. Yes, you will do a lot less than those who rope drop, but there are no rules to having a fun WDW vacation.

When I went with a then-girlfriend a number of yeas ago, we decided to sleep in, go to the park for a few hours, take a break to workout at the resort, and then go back to the parks at night for a few hours. We missed a lot, but we knew what we were signing up for and had a great trip.

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Here’s how you do it:

You get up and go have all the fun at rope drop. They catch up
To you “when it’s convenient” for them. Their FPP are scheduled for that time frame. Meanwhile you are on fourth and beyond.

Everyone is happy

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Randall, we are twin minds

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There really is only one way to do WDW.

And that way is the way you and the people you’re making memories with want to do Disney this particular trip.

We were the rope drop family that revolted. We had a very unusual trip. It was both the most number of days - 9 - and the trip we saw the least amount in the parks - absolutely torrential rain most afternoon-evenings. We have some great memories. Really silly unique memories. Wouldn’t change a thing.

But, the next trip we were back to being that rope drop family. For a few trips. Until we re-iterated to a different trip type.

Go with the flow of your family. Cherish the memories.

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As @davej said - it’s a different mindset. You’ll be doing what you do that trip. It’s what y’all signed on for. You make the most of it. You explore what else there is.

If you went to WDW spur of the moment, off site, Thanksgiving week, would you look for the most fun, or fret about what you’re NOT doing?

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I went this past May for days in the parks. My DD19 and I experienced every attraction we wanted and multiple times for our favs. NO RDs, No TPs, No entry before 11:30am.
It can be done.

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Fellow May 2020 tripper here! I had a mini revolt internally yesterday and made some alternate TPs to see about later starts for some park days and how much we could get done. I have low expectations for doing tons of rides anyway, and the rides we will try to do with small kids will exclude pretty much all rollercoasters and simulators anyways. But the plans produced some fun looking days! Yes crowds will change between now and then but maybe plug a sample late start plan in and see if your family likes the results. (Or is you’re me, 4 versions of each day with slightly different start times… they will see what gets cut in each plan and see where their threshold is for the trade off.)

How many days do you have?

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It sounds like the priority will be different for this trip. What an opportunity for your family! Did you do most of the attractions last time? I am planning a trip for someone that will most likely never make rope drop. Her plan includes a list, by park, of attractions that have little or no wait. I am actually not sure she will manage to get to her slinky FP, but I am sure she will have a great time.

I have planned the everyday rope drop, and the never rope drop trips. Both ways can be magical.

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Ummm get another family? Jk I will be in that same boat probably day 3 of our trip. If they don’t change their minds you will just have a different, magical trip, still magical though.

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Yes, this! I would love to RD and do all the rides, but the best part of our last trip was being together in Disney. I love the memories we have that are together, so I’m looking for ways to arrive late and still enjoy as much as possible.

I think the plan will be to have everyone agree on 3 must do’s per day, get those FP’s and then anything else we accomplish in the day is icing on the cake.

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This is a great idea! This takes pressure off of me to fit everything in, and then they can decide what time they want to arrive based on their “must do’s”.
We have a short trip this time, only 3 park days so we are planning, MK, HS and Epcot.

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I read your trip reports! It looked like you guys had an amazing time!

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Can you talk them into a compromise and do some rope drops at the beginning of the trip when everyone is fresh and excited and then sleep in on the later days before the rope drop becomes a chore?

Are your kids old enough to do park closings? There’s a lot of good touring to do at the end of the day if you chose that route.

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We never rope drop. Actually, we did it once and sorta hated it. We get to the parks around 10:30 and we always do everything we want. We do follow good touring plans everyday though, we just start a little later. With good FP+ management (including aggressive day-of FP+ acquisition LOL), our family does not see the need to inflict rope drop pain upon ourselves (we are not morning people)… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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And all the anti-RD crowd folks are why RD works so well for those who love it.

I’ve arrived at 12noon during a 9-10 spring break day at MK and had a blast.

Simply adjust your touring plans to reflect the time you want to arrive and let the computer sort the order for you. TP has never steered us wrong.

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We’ve never rope dropped. Well, maybe once in 1999 when my boys were little and it wasn’t a “thing”. With three teenagers it is simply a battle I am not willing to engage in. We arrive around 10-11am, take our time and stay until close. It’s still 10 hours+ of park time.

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We only rope drop a day or two. My kids are 16 and 10. We can stay out late but don’t like to get up early. I use a personalized TP and we’ve never not gotten to do everything we needed to do.

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