Our rescheduled trip is in July. We took my parents for their first trip three years ago, and they absolutely loved it. Now they are coming along again. I was mentioning tonight that we needed to be prepared to rope drop every day, and my husband asked how I expected to manage rope dropping with my parents. They will have one scooter (they should have two but are stubborn) and move very slowly. My dad is handicapped. Yikes! How fast do you have to move to get to the headliners without fast passes at rope drop? Will I have to leave my awesome parents in the dust to get to FOP and Millennium Falcon? Thanks for any tips on how quickly those lines get out of control.
My Dad is stubborn, has mobility issues, and fell in love with going to WDW with my daughter! What worked for us was pre park opening dining reservations. This worked especially well at BOG in MK. Puts you in Fantasyland ahead of the crowds. I would ask which rides they want to do and the headliners they are not interested in you can move fast!!!
They want to do it all! Every last thing. We did that last time with breakfast. I wasn’t thinking that was going to work as well this time.
1 Like
Can’t the fast walkers go ahead, get in line and when the old & slow (like me) catch up they join you?
1 Like
that was my dad the first trip…didn’t know roller coasters could dislodge kidney stones…lesson learned and he went on the tame rides after that!
1 Like
So something like that happened one time last trip. My mom wanted to save a spot for my dad. I made a big fuss that we weren’t letting anyone else in line like that. We all ended up leaving the line. A sweet cast member was watching us argue.The cast member called my mom back and let us in the Fast Pass line. My mom insisted it was because the cast member felt bad because I was being “mean” to her! I said it was a reward for me following the rules. My mom still likes to tell that story. She knows I won’t be saving spots for them this time. We’ll just get there when we get there, but I might leave them in the dust for a few of them.
3 Likes
Oh geez! I had a kidney stone last year. I would hate to have been anywhere away from home.
For these specific rides…FOP probably. MF will likely be fine if you’re at the front of the pack. We’ve been struggling with this a bit currently. We are here with my dad now and he also has mobility issues, is stubborn and refuses to get an EVC. On mornings when he has felt better (his is a hip issue and sometimes it feels better and he can move faster) he has kept up. He RD Slinky with us the other day and did great. I have been tempering my expectations though. You could always pivot and make those end of the night targets instead of RD ones. Less stress fighting a ton of people.
ETA: We have a stroller for my youngest and pushing it actually helps my dad a lot. It acts almost like a crutch and helps him move a bit faster.
Thanks for the insight. I’ve been following your trip. It’s been a great report!
1 Like
We just bought DM a wheelchair for our trip. (She has a cane that she uses on occasion when her hip bothers her.) For a 2 week trip, it was cheaper to buy than rent!
We were going back and forth between that and a ECV, but she thinks she’ll want to walk some and that she could use the wheelchair almost like a walker. It’s encouraging that the stroller helped your dad!
And we can toss her in the wheelchair for RD. (If she was going to frequently need to go distances independently, we would have gone the ECV route, but we plan to travel as a pack.). It will also be nice to hang the backpack from too!
ETA: We bought a bicyclist rain cape that will cover both her and the wheelchair.
4 Likes
I’ve never rope dropped but have had three week long trips with a friend who is much older and doesn’t move as quickly as my family. It is 100% ok to split up. They may say now that they want to do everything as a group, but that could change when they get there. Just be prepared to go with the flow and change course as needed. I just can’t imagine doing any of it without FP.
1 Like
Yes. Ditch them. They’re dead weight.
Dump them like nuclear waste.
4 Likes
I do love them very much but maybe just for FOP!
She cries when she sees Tigger, so you can see the dilemma of leaving her behind very often.
6 Likes
This is not really directed at you (I would give older people a pass and if it’s just one or two people, like a parent and child that had to use a bathroom).
On my last trip we were cut in front of three rides in a row. Not just passing us but literally the group in front of us. The first time, I gave a pass but by the third time I was questioning humanity. And it was more than two people every time as well. I’m guessing I angered the line gods somehow…
At least it was high occupancy rides it happened on.
1 Like
I’m not sure they’ll be back unless as part of an upcharge event.
Or possibly only for those eligible for the resort Early Entry.
1 Like
My maternal grandparents did something similar, only with a wheelchair. They swapped out and it was like a walker for whoever was pushing.
Jennifer B, maybe that is an idea for you? Suggest that instead of your mom being in a scooter, she could be in a wheelchair and he could push. “Because wheelchairs go faster,”.
2 Likes
Without the CM’s walking the line back like they used to do, most people will be speed walking, and some people will be running! FOP and MF are both long walks from the entrance. In this situation I wonder if it would be better to have a non-stressful early rope drop start and hit some other rides first - for instance MMRR is closer to the entrance of HS while MF is all the way in the back. At AK you could do Dinosaur/EE and find a lull in wait times for FOP later, enjoy the queue without the stress of rope drop.
That could work. We do have 3 HS days. On our last trip, we had fast passes for FOP but also rode again by getting on before park closing.
Ugh I don’t like this.
Just a hunch.
They aren’t going to open the restaurants before that early entry starts. So maybe an offsite guest could book for the start of early entry. But realistically the chances of finishing breakfast and reaching a ride queue in 30 minutes are small.
And I’m sure BOG will return as a fixed price option for breakfast. Trying to think where else had PPO breakfast that wasn’t fixed price.
1 Like