Agreed. Or when traveling with small children who are awake early anyway
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Would agree with this, even as my inclination to rope drop these days is low
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Which means not wasting any of the open hours outside of the park!
The reality of it is, I have less discretionary spending than a lot of liners AND I have a larger family than a lot of liners (not you 
) and I won’t buy LMNOP so I have to make the most of operating hours. Maybe someday I won’t.
And I love mornings. And Mondays. And people.
And I also love PM entertainment. And long vacations with non-park days sprinkled in.
If we all did it the same way we wouldn’t have anything to talk about.
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As a broader answer to this question (rope dropping in general, and why or why not) I would say that it kind of depends on your goals. So here are some of those that come to mind.
- If there for ETPE, then getting on one or two rides before the park opens can get you ahead of the pack so you can get more done in the day.
- Even if not there for ETPE, getting on rides earlier when there are fewer people and therefore generally with lower waits (aside from the “major” attractions, perhaps)
- Although, if avoiding “waiting in line” is your goal, you are probably ultimately waiting as long or longer by rope-dropping since you now have to get there early, in a “hurry up and wait” scenario,
- Getting there about 10 minutes after rope drop give you many of the advantages of the rope drop crowd as long as you don’t want to hit the “major” attractions first, but without the additional waiting (see step 3)
- There can be something exciting about being there at the gates in a sea of people before park opening.
- There can be something annoying about being there at the gates in a sea of people before park opening.
- To misquote the song, “Waking up is hard to do.”
- Getting an early start to the morning during the “hot months” (all but, like, December and January?!?) means you can stay cool(er) initially and perhaps take a break later in the afternoon when it feels like the surface of the sun.
- Also, getting that early start means you can leave in the afternoon for a break from when the largest number of folks are in the crowd!
- The things you most find enjoyment in doesn’t necessitate getting there early, such as the shopping, the meandering, the shows, PeopleMover, the food (well, not as much that at MK).
- Avoiding large crowds of people zaps more joy out of you than riding the rides.
I’m sure there are more.
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Explain why this was a bad thing. Was it the flavors together or just missing out something you liked better?
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I really do get that, and we are more likely to rope drop than not. But at the same time, there is joy in the journey. Particularly when staying on property. When we stay off property, I think just getting there becomes higher priority. Stopping at McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin on the way there, for example, just doesn’t give Disney vibes! But filling a drink mug, or grabbing a coffee, sitting on the bus stop or riding the skyliner or monorail is all part of that experience.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with how you do things. Each family has their priorities. And those priorities change. As we’ve gotten older, and more and more it is just my wife and I going, the things that give us the most joy at Disney has shifted. When we were young with the kids, it was all about the rides. Today, the rides are just something we happen to do at Disney, but it isn’t a focus.
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I have no idea what vacationing might look like once I don’t have kids available to travel with. DH tolerates Disney parks, though he sincerely loves resort stays.
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Perhaps this is why your family loves cruising so much. It is more like being at a floating resort! 
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very true. It may be DCL is our compromise for Disney fun and resort amenities
Oh - I see - I wasn’t really computing. Yes - that is a lot of sugar for the start of the day. Was it at least yummy? I have had way worse theme-park moments, though. You’re safe in this company! 
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Wait. Wasn’t the old commercial, “Sugar…the breakfast of champions”?
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Another thing I wanted to mention: always rope drop MK when it opens at 8 AM (7:30 early entry). Stroll into the park at 10:30 on every other day if you want. The earlier it opens, the better the rope drop experience is.
I will personally call you to wake you up for 8 AM MK openings.
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I concur.
I’ll be lined up at the taps as soon as the TTC lets me park and get over there.
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Not MK, but we rope-dropped for EE AK in August. But we made a rookie mistake, and went straight to KS…only to find out KS doesn’t actually open until 8 am. So we burned through our EE time standing in a line outside the queue. Although, it wasn’t a total loss, because we were like on the second ride vehicle once the ride opened, and we saw more animal activity than we had ever seen before.
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I used to rope drop before LLPP but now that exists I prefer a late morning/lunch start and a start in Tomorrowland with space and tron.
But if I wasn’t using LLPP I would still attempt rope drop and then I’d start with Pan which is what I used to do.
But I hate early mornings and I prefer parks after dark so if it’s an option I’m gonna pay the big bucks for that ability.
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we are similar… plus DH wants a BIG breakfast. As I’ve aged, I prefer to dilly dally in the morning. I HATE setting an alarm for anything anymore I refuse to have early flights/trains etc. but if we must I know that I will not sleep for fear of missing my alarm 
ruining my sleep and the travel day.
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The only park I have stopped rope dropping is Epcot.
We are not so interested in doing all the popular rides at each visit. So we prebook one of either Frozen or Remy, try for TT during a drop and buy GotG SP.
but even so, arriving early is beneficial. Entering the park just before normal park opening works for us to get to our first LL easily.
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Yeah want to add arriving late morning is really nice. Less line for transportation, less lines to get in the park. It’s just so much more chill.
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I don’t know this don’t rope drop concept. I am all about rope drop, whether on property or off.
I was off property this week, so we just aimed to get to the parks for about 5-10 mins before they opened rides to everyone. Epcot a little earlier because of guardians.
For MK we did Buzz (and then Buzz) when it was 9 am open on Tuesday, then 7D when it was 8 am open on Friday.
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Early flights are my weakness. They sound good in theory. But the closer the get, the more I kick myself!
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