Latest / Mom Street USA / 120. Magical Mornings: 5 Tips for Disney Rope Drop

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120. Magical Mornings: 5 Tips for Disney Rope Drop · Mom Street USA

0:05
Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
0:07
My name is Jackie AKA Wishes Mama and on today's episode of
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mom St. USA we are tackling something
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that I think all parents to some degree deal with when going to
0:18
the Disney parks and that is trying to get your group up and
0:23
going in the morning. So the goal for today is 5 tips
0:26
for Disney rope drop and hopefully I'll give you some
0:29
good things to think about or some insight or maybe just
0:33
confirm some of the things that you may already be doing to help
0:36
get your group up and going in the morning.
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So here's the thing, rope drop can be a crucial part to the
0:45
success of any Disney World vacation.
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But when you are travelling with kids or with a wide age range or
0:52
a larger group, larger family group, friend group, it can be
0:57
really hard to get everybody up and moving in the mornings to be
1:01
at the parks in time. If you are somebody that wants
1:04
to utilize the morning hours for your for all of your rides that
1:08
you want to get on. So this episode is aimed at
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giving 5 simple but hopefully helpful tips for getting your
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family out the door for rope drop during your Disney
1:17
vacation. And I will say that I would
1:18
think that these could apply pretty much to either coast,
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right? I, I have experience obviously
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with Disney World, but I think all of these can also apply to
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Disneyland and also any other theme park that you're going to.
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If it's universal, if it's, you know, any of the other, if it's
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SeaWorld, if it's Busch Gardens, if it's Six Flags, if it's any
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of those places that you may go on a theme park trip, right?
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So before we get to our Disney kind of specific tips, I want to
1:49
make sure that everybody is on the same page about what rope
1:52
drop is. So let's answer that question.
1:56
Rope drop is really just getting to the park prior to the
2:00
official park open. So that way you are ready to go
2:03
to your first ride immediately when the park opens.
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So this term came from previously for years and years
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and years and years at the Disney parks, the cast members
2:14
would legitimately have these big, long, thick ropes that they
2:19
would hold to keep the crowds where they wanted to keep them.
2:23
Because there were certain things about, you know, we'll
2:26
talk about early park entry here in just a moment or there used
2:28
to be early morning magic hours. So they they had to use these
2:33
ropes to kind of keep the correct people in the correct
2:36
space in the morning hours during the park.
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And then whenever it was ready for, you know, the time was
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ready for the park to open, they would literally drop the rope
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or, you know, wind it up, that type of thing.
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So that's where kind of the rope drop term came from.
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So most people will use rope drop term.
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The rope drop term, however, to also refer to early park entry.
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So they are different. Rope drop is the time that the
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park officially opens to all guests.
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Early park entry is the time that the park opens to resort
3:15
guests. So early park entry is the extra
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30 minutes prior to the official park open that Disney Resort
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guests get. So again, despite them being
3:26
technically different, often times people will use that term
3:29
rope drop interchangeably just because that's the term that's
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always been used in the mornings.
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So for this episode we are basically talking about both
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situations as these tips will apply to your group no matter
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what time you are able to gain access for the ride.
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So if you are staying on property, pretty think about
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this rope drop being your early park entry time.
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If you are staying off property, rope drop is truly rope drop for
3:58
you because it is park open time.
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So again, we're kind of referring to both at the same
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time with these tips that I'm going to give you for today.
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Now that that has been handled, let's get to the actual tips
4:11
that we have to hopefully give you some things to think about
4:15
when you're prepping either before your trip or like the
4:18
night before you want to get up for a rope drop.
4:21
So the first tip that I have is you really have to know your
4:26
group and plan accordingly. So if your group gets up easily
4:31
and is ready in time, no problem, great.
4:34
You are probably in the minority because I know I speak for
4:38
myself in a lot of our Mom St. community here where it is
4:41
really, really, really tricky to get everybody up and moving in
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the morning, especially the further you get in your trip,
4:48
right. Day one may be super easy
4:51
because everybody's you know up and ready to go and wants to get
4:54
into the parks for the first time during your trip.
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But you get to day three or four or longer if you're lucky to
5:01
have a longer vacation and it gets infinitely harder to get
5:06
everybody up and moving. So you really have to know your
5:09
group OK, and with that can determine your transportation.
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So this is kind of where I'm going with the the know your
5:19
party has to do with what kind of transportation options are
5:23
you going to be utilizing in the morning.
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So if your group can get up and moving no problem, you are
5:33
probably fine to just take your Disney transportation that is
5:38
offered to you because Disney transportation takes longer,
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right? It just does.
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You have to wait in lines, you have to wait for buses to come,
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those types of things. You know, the buses, the sky
5:52
liner, if you're on a sky liner resort, those can take a while.
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You definitely want to be at your bus stop a minimum of 60
6:01
minutes, if not early or closer to probably 90 minutes before
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you want to be at the park, especially if it's busy times,
6:10
if it's a holiday weekend, if it's, you know, Halloween time
6:14
is really, really busy. The holidays are really, really
6:16
busy. You're looking at at least
6:18
probably 90 minutes before you want to actually be in the park.
6:24
OK. The sky liner line kind of
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alongside of that bus conversation, it does move
6:30
quick, but it can get very, very long, very, very fast.
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So you want to be there again an hour before you want to be at
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the park because you want to make sure that you give yourself
6:40
enough time because you also are going to have to switch lines
6:45
potentially depending on where on the sky liner route you are.
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If you're somebody that is already at that central hub at
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Caribbean Beach, you've got it made because that's one less
6:55
trip that you have to plan for. But those lines can be long at
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the hub too, because you've got people coming from all, all
7:05
directions on that sky liner ride trying to crisscross,
7:09
right? So you really have to be aware
7:12
of that. But do remember that it's
7:13
continuous. So don't get too alarmed if the
7:16
line seems really, really, really astronomically long for
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the sky liner because it does move fairly continuously because
7:22
guests that need help getting in and out of the gondolas are
7:25
pulled off to a different line so that way they can continue
7:28
loading other guests and things like that.
7:30
So just keep that in mind and also remember that the sky liner
7:34
drops you at international Gateway if you're going to
7:36
Epcot. So plan accordingly for that
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drops you at the front of Hollywood Studios and the
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International Gateway kind of back entrance to Epcot if you
7:46
are taking it to Epcot. So that's kind of if your group
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is able to get up and moving no problem.
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You have no, you know, you're not overly concerned about time
7:55
because you know that your your group is good to go with that.
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Now, if your group happens to be one of those that really
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struggles to get up in the morning, you might want to
8:10
really consider what type of transportation you're going to
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be utilizing in the mornings to get to the parks.
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Having a car or renting a car is a great way to save a few extra
8:20
minutes or to give yourself a few extra minutes in the room if
8:24
you need them. The other thing that you can
8:29
consider is if it's within your budget and it works for your
8:32
travel party. Booking something like an Uber
8:35
or a Lyft to get to the parks is another option that you do have.
8:38
Again, if it's in your budget, if it's something that you want
8:41
to utilize for your trip, those are things to keep in mind.
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You know, if I am staying somewhere and I want to get to
8:50
Magic Kingdom, I also then have to plan on, OK, where do I get
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dropped off? If I'm ride sharing, I get
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dropped off at the TTC from parking.
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I park at the TTC. So that is either a monorail or
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a ferry boat to get over there, right?
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So things to consider with that, unless you are using the Lift
9:11
app and purchasing A minivan, which is the specialty Disney
9:15
transportation service for Lyft, those minivans do drop you at
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the bus loop. So if you want to splurge or
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it's well within your budget, a minivan is your best bet from
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getting to get from your resort to whatever park you're going to
9:31
because they are going to have a better drop off and pick up
9:35
location. So again, all things to consider
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depending on what you think your group is going to be able to do
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in the mornings, if you think they're going to be easy to get
9:44
up dizzy, transportation is fine.
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If not, you may want to reconsider that.
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Just a thought to have as you are planning your transportation
9:53
options from your resort. And that also might be something
9:56
that you look into considering what resort you're staying at.
10:00
Because if you know that you're somebody who like, oh, we don't
10:03
get up super early, we definitely need a resort that is
10:07
within close proximity to our favorite park.
10:10
Maybe Epcot's your favorite park.
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Well, then somewhere like the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach are
10:15
a great option if that's within your budget.
10:18
If you are someone that Magic Kingdom is your favorite park,
10:22
you're going to look at those Magic Kingdom resorts that are
10:24
on the monorail or have a quick boat ride to get to and from the
10:28
park. So just lots of things to
10:29
consider. And it may sound a little silly
10:32
to like think about rope drop affecting your resort, but
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transportation is a huge aspect of what resort we stay at any
10:39
time that we go, regardless of that.
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So just little things to think about in addition to what you're
10:45
already thinking about when you're planning your trip.
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So let's talk now about our second tip for rope drop at
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Disney, and that is to be sure to prep or re prep your park bag
10:59
before bedtime. So I know it's hard when you get
11:02
back to your resort room after a long park day.
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You just want to, you know, do your shower and get in bed and
11:10
go to sleep. But taking five extra minutes to
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repack your park bag will be so much easier for you at night
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than it will be in the hustle bustle craziness of the morning
11:23
after you get up. So things to consider
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replenishing any snacks that you carry in there.
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And these are snacks for every age.
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Because regardless of what your food plan is, maybe you're
11:34
planning to eat fully in the parks and you're not worried
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about doing extra snacks and things in your bag.
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I still highly suggest you have some sort of little snack bag in
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your parks bag, even if you do plan to eat in the parks because
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you never know when the hanger is going to hit.
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And that can be anywhere from infants and babies all the way
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up to grandparents that that travel with you, right?
12:00
You never know when someone might just need a little bit of
12:03
something to get them through this, you know, line that you're
12:06
waiting in or get them through until the parade comings because
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it's coming because you're just hanging out on Main Street
12:12
waiting for the parade to come or fireworks or whatever, or on
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the way back to the room. That's where I find it to be the
12:19
most helpful is at the end of the night.
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I will sometimes realize like, oh, I didn't eat enough
12:24
throughout the day. I am so hungry.
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And sometimes by the time you get back to your resort room,
12:29
you're the food court or the grab and go or wherever you are,
12:34
it may not be open. So just thinking about those
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things and doing that the night before because otherwise in the
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craziness of the morning, something's going to get
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forgotten, right? So repacking the snacks,
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repacking your bag, refilling your water for the next day and
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then putting it in the fridge. If you're somebody that likes
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really cold water or you know, just prepping and and laying out
12:58
your water bottles the night before, it can be a big help as
13:01
well. Replacing sunscreen in your bag.
13:05
We are we are known to travel with two different sets of
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sunscreen. One stays in the room and one
13:10
goes in our park bag. So double check that you're 1 in
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your park bag isn't running low. Make sure you've got that hand
13:16
sanitizer, all of those kind of consumable things you may be
13:19
using throughout your park day. Make sure that you're restocked
13:22
on that and also be sure if you're kiddos have their own
13:27
bags that either you're checking them or you're walking them
13:31
through checking them too, right, Because maybe they're
13:33
carrying their own snacks and you need to make sure that they
13:36
replenish what they're going to want for the next day.
13:38
Those types of things. And also the stroller that is
13:41
one that I feel like gets forgotten because we, we are
13:44
even known to like, we get back to the room with our stroller,
13:47
we just push it over into the corner and we leave it for the
13:50
next day. And then we get up the next
13:52
morning. We're like, oh, we got to get
13:54
all this stuff out of the bottom of the stroller.
13:55
And then it just gets thrown around the room and, and lost
13:58
into the abyss of, of our Disney Resort room.
14:01
So unpacking that at the end of the night, putting things back
14:04
kind of where they belong or close to or even just like
14:08
resetting things out on your dresser or the table in your
14:10
room to be re put into the stroller in the morning can be
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really, really helpful as well. So second tip, re packing your
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bags and then some before bedtime to save yourself a few
14:24
minutes in the morning so you have some extra hands to help
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get kiddos ready. Our third tip for getting ready
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for rope drop at Disney is to have everyone's outfits
14:37
organized and ready to go. We use the zip lock bag packing
14:43
method for our kids where they have in their suitcase everyday
14:47
is in a gallon Ziploc bag because my kids are still little
14:50
enough. Although my son is getting to
14:52
the point where his clothes almost don't fit in a gallon
14:55
Ziploc bag. But we will put them all in a
14:58
Ziploc bag that has the date on it and that is what they know
15:02
that they are to wear that day. Packing cubes work the same way,
15:05
especially if you can label them somehow, even if it's just like
15:08
a piece of masking tape or painters tape and just put the
15:11
day on it. This makes them getting up and
15:14
dressed so self-sufficient in the morning.
15:17
Now if you've got little littles that can't do it themselves,
15:20
totally makes sense, but that makes your parents brain much
15:25
quicker in the morning to go OK today's Tuesday, here's their
15:28
Tuesday outfit, let me throw it out and get it ready.
15:31
When my kids were little, little and like infants and even early
15:34
toddlers, I would also pack an extra set of clothes in every
15:39
day just in case we needed them and that was something else that
15:42
I could replenish into my bag. Now that would happen the the
15:46
morning of as they were getting dressed.
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If they had two outfits in their bag, I would put one out for
15:51
them to wear. Then I would put one into our
15:54
diaper bag or park bag for the day.
15:56
But that makes it so much easier now.
15:58
We are not a family that does like truly matching outfits, but
16:04
we like to theme our outfits to the park.
16:07
So we're all kind of coordinated.
16:08
So like when we go somewhere like Hollywood Studios, we're
16:12
going to do Toy Story or we're going to do Star Wars, that type
16:17
of thing. When we go somewhere like Magic
16:21
Kingdom, we might do like my husband and I might do a Haunted
16:24
Mansion, or we might do like my daughter and I might do a like a
16:28
matching Princess outfit, or we might all do like Mickey and
16:31
Minnie stuff. So we like to kind of coordinate
16:34
our characters. We don't necessarily do like
16:36
true matching outfits, but that also saves us when we've got
16:40
them in the packing cubes or some black bags.
16:42
It saves us a ton of time trying to remember what day is what and
16:46
figuring out who's supposed to wear what on which day, right It
16:49
that work, that legwork has already been done for us by the
16:52
time we get to the unpacking. So it makes it so much easier to
16:56
just grab out the one that we know we need for the day and
17:01
then we are good to go when it comes to that.
17:03
It also alleviates some of the clothes being kind of thrown
17:08
around the room, especially if you're someone who has mouse
17:11
keeping come in every day. It keeps everything really
17:15
organized. And so my kids stuff we usually
17:18
leave in their suitcases because it is zip locked and it's
17:21
already just ready to go nice and and organized and kind of
17:24
filed, which will surprise no one that that's how I pack my
17:27
kids because that's just how my brain works.
17:29
And then my husband and I will utilize the dresser drawers.
17:32
So that's typically what we end up doing with that.
17:35
The other thing to consider is also laying out shoes, making
17:39
sure like if your shoes got wet, making sure you have dry shoes
17:43
for the next day because overnight may not be enough time
17:46
for your shoes to dry, depending on how wet they got.
17:49
If you got caught in a rainstorm, if you know you went
17:53
on Tiana's or Kali River Rapids and your shoes got soaked.
17:57
So we will usually like by the by the door, but like not in the
18:01
way of the door. Obviously we will like layout
18:03
shoes and also thinking about laying out kids stuff.
18:10
So magic bands. My kids each have two different
18:13
magic bands so the night before I always ask them which one they
18:16
want to wear and I make sure I throw that on the charger.
18:18
My kids like to use the little slap bracelet cutie cuffs on
18:22
their bags. So when we repack their bags,
18:24
we'll also include whatever guy they want, whatever little
18:28
stuffy they have, ears or hats. My son likes to wear hats.
18:33
My daughter has a bunch of ears. So we we lay those out as well.
18:37
All of that prep work we do the night before.
18:40
And I know it sounds like a lot, but if you've prepped the prep
18:44
work right, if you pack them in the packing cubes or in the zip
18:48
lock bags, then that makes that process super fast.
18:51
So I repack my park bag and I lay out all of our clothes.
18:55
It takes me probably less than 10 minutes to do that and I can
18:58
start to do that or my husband can start to do that while we're
19:02
getting the kids showered and ready for bed.
19:05
So it really doesn't take more time than what our our routine
19:09
would already take in the evening because we are kind of
19:11
dividing and conquering. Now.
19:13
If you are a solo parent traveling with kiddos or solo
19:16
adult traveling with kiddos makes it a little bit tricky or
19:19
you might have to unfortunately give up, you know, 10 minutes of
19:23
sleep at that point. But I think those 10 minutes are
19:26
worth it to avoid the confusion and chaos in the morning when it
19:31
comes to that. So having everyone's outfits,
19:33
accessories, all of that organized and ready to go laid
19:36
out, however makes sense in your room, in the space that you
19:39
have, I think is a huge win for prepping for your rope drop
19:45
morning. Right #4 on our list of five
19:49
tips for Disney rope drop is kind of in line with the other
19:53
tips that I've already given and that is to preload your in room
19:58
coffee maker or. And or plan out your breakfast
20:03
plan in the morning. Again, this is something with
20:06
your breakfast plan that you've probably likely already thought
20:08
about and already planned it accordingly for.
20:10
But getting the coffee ready in the morning, especially if you
20:15
are someone that was like, I cannot function until I have my
20:18
coffee perfect. It's already preloaded, ready to
20:20
go. The first thing you do in the
20:22
morning, literally you get out of bed, you walk over, you hit
20:26
the button to start your coffee maker.
20:28
So it's already ready to go. I think that is a little tiny
20:31
thing that can make a big difference for people in the
20:33
morning. So they don't have to like open
20:35
the package and put it in and get the water and all that.
20:38
Just Just do it ahead of time, right?
20:40
Just do it ahead of time. And the other thing is
20:43
breakfast. So a couple options that I would
20:45
suggest for rope drop breakfast. This really depends on what park
20:50
you're going to and what your transportation method is.
20:54
If you are someone who is ubering, lifting, minivanning,
20:57
or driving, you likely have just enough time that you could
21:02
mobile order at your food court. Like for these, they usually
21:07
open at 7:00 AM for the 7:00 AM window and then just grab it and
21:13
kind of eat it on your way. Now, you don't want to eat in an
21:16
Uber. You don't want to be unkind to
21:18
the driver. So if you're taking an Uber, a
21:20
Lyft, A minivan, you might want to eat it quick in the food
21:22
court before you head out, you know, grab a quick sandwich or
21:25
or something like that. But if you are someone who is
21:28
driving, take it in your car with you.
21:30
So think about what you're ordering, right?
21:32
Like Mickey waffles don't travel nearly as well as something like
21:37
a quick breakfast sandwich or something like that.
21:39
But just something to consider when it comes to that or making
21:44
sure that you have breakfast options in the room.
21:47
And this is what we typically do just because it's so much easier
21:50
to coordinate, especially because we typically do have a
21:53
car when we go down to Florida. So it's just easier to have the
21:58
kids have cereal or some granola bars or Pop Tarts or whatever is
22:03
quick that you know your kids will like that will fill their
22:06
bellies up at least for the morning.
22:08
And then we usually plan an early lunch anyway and we have
22:11
snacks. So like if they don't eat a ton
22:13
in the morning, not the end of the world when it comes to that,
22:17
but just kind of planning ahead or planning enough time.
22:21
Like Magic Kingdom, you can technically get to Starbucks
22:26
before even early entry starts. The line in there is always
22:30
insane. So again, planning enough time
22:33
to make sure that you have the time you need to get to where
22:37
you want to go, but just planning accordingly and making
22:41
sure everybody knows what the plan is for breakfast,
22:43
especially if it's like you and your significant other, a
22:47
partner, a friend, whoever you're traveling with, like make
22:50
sure all of the grown-ups know the plan for breakfast.
22:53
So that way as you guys are kind of whirling around the room in
22:57
the morning, everybody knows. And like, what we will do is
23:00
again, we will divide and conquer.
23:01
So like if I'm like monitoring the kids getting up and ready
23:04
that my husband will, he knows the plan for breakfast and he'll
23:07
prep it all and get it ready at the table for the kiddos to, to
23:10
eat once they're kind of dressed and, and everything for the day.
23:13
So just having a plan, making sure that everybody knows what
23:18
your plan is is always a really good idea when it comes to
23:21
breakfast in your rooms. So #5 now on our tips for Disney
23:28
rope drop is, and this is a really big one that people maybe
23:32
don't always think about. I have found that it's really
23:36
helpful to give yourself an extra 15 minute buffer for the
23:40
time you want to leave the room. So for example, if you're trying
23:45
to leave the room at 7 and you know that it takes your group an
23:49
hour to get ready, let's say you need to bump that up to an hour
23:54
and 15. Because I feel like no matter
23:56
what with kids at any age, and maybe it's just me, maybe this
24:01
is a me problem. But now I'm just putting it on
24:04
your radar in case it's not just a me problem.
24:06
But you want to give yourself an extra 15 minutes because it's
24:11
getting all of your shoes on, getting your bags packing, you
24:15
know, repacking the stroller if you forgot something or getting
24:18
sunscreen on or whatever it is that may get forgotten in your
24:24
normal getting ready routine. You want to give yourself an
24:28
extra 15 minutes because I feel like every time we get up for
24:32
rope drop, we always leave about 10 to 15 minutes later than what
24:37
I wanted. So again, might be a me problem,
24:41
might be a universal problem. Either way, I'm putting it on
24:44
your radar because also you want to make sure you plan your time
24:50
to leave. Plenty of time for
24:52
transportation, which we talked about already, but also walking
24:56
from transportation, depending on what park you're going to,
25:00
going through security. Those lines move but they can be
25:04
slow. Also getting to be able to tap
25:08
in at the top style and actually getting that to function with
25:11
your kids. I always remind people I know
25:15
that the kids will want to tap in, use your fingerprint, let
25:17
them do the Mickey part and you use your finger goes a lot
25:20
quicker that way. And then also getting yourself
25:25
into position to go to your first ride.
25:29
So all of that time, transportation time, walking
25:33
time, security time, tapping in time, positioning time, all of
25:38
that needs to be included in your time that you're planning
25:44
for in the morning. So an extra 15 minutes, I
25:48
promise you is worth it because it will give you just that extra
25:52
little buffer in case the buses are running further behind, in
25:55
case it takes an extra 20 minutes for your Uber to come.
25:59
Who knows what might be the problem, right?
26:02
So just an extra 15 minutes can be really helpful.
26:06
Now the last thing that I just said was talking about oh, I
26:11
almost forgot. The other thing you also want to
26:13
plan for is when you get to the park.
26:16
And again, this is maybe somewhere some of that extra 15
26:18
will come into handy too. If you need to plan for photo
26:22
time, We talked a few episodes with our good friend Sarah and
26:25
Ty about taking photos early, right?
26:28
Taking photos early in the morning to make sure that you
26:31
get them before everybody is sweaty or there's Mickey ice
26:35
cream bar on your kiddo shirt. Take your pictures early.
26:38
So planning time for that. If you know you're going to need
26:41
a bathroom break when you you get in or you're just going to
26:43
want to preemptively take one before you start running to a
26:46
ride, whatever else your group may need, again, that is going
26:49
to be the time that you, you, you use in the morning.
26:54
So that extra 15 minutes will allow you to to have some extra
26:58
time to do that and not feel quite so rushed and hectic
27:01
trying to get to your first ride.
27:03
Now here's the last thing. Well, not the last thing.
27:08
Here's another thing I want to mention.
27:09
And this is kind of like my bonus tip, my number six, if you
27:13
will, for my tips for rope drop is have a plan.
27:18
And this will surprise no one that this is on my list because
27:22
having a plan when you go to the Disney parks is so important,
27:26
especially in the morning. So I always suggest to anybody
27:31
that I talked to about a Disney trip that they have at least
27:35
three to five rides at each park that they know they want to go
27:42
to and that are their top priority.
27:44
Because if you are utilizing rope drop, whether that be early
27:47
entry rope drop or standard rope drop, you want to make sure you
27:52
know where you're going because you will waste precious seconds
27:58
if you have to stop in the middle of a walkway and go,
28:00
where do you want to go? I don't know.
28:02
Where do you want to go? Maybe we should go here.
28:04
Oh, maybe we could go here. You don't want to do that with
28:07
your early morning time that those hours are so key to
28:13
getting on a ton of attractions. So have a plan, be sure you know
28:18
exactly where you want to go for each park.
28:20
And again, it doesn't have to be an hourly plan for the entire
28:24
day, but at least have three to five rides at every park that
28:29
are your top priority. So that way you can just work
28:32
your way down and then you have to just keep going through.
28:35
Yes, Jules in our live chat here just said, and please don't stop
28:38
in the walkway exactly. Pull off to the side, but
28:41
hopefully you won't even have to because you'll know your plan.
28:44
You'll know what rides you're going to and you'll be able to
28:46
knock out hopefully at least three rides early in the morning
28:50
before you start your lightning lanes or before you stop for an
28:54
extra snack or before you can like take a break and and do
28:58
other things that you want to do.
28:59
Meet a character, go to a show, whatever it is.
29:03
Just you have to have a plan. You have to have a plan.
29:05
So I cannot stress that enough that you need to have a plan.
29:09
Now just briefly, let's talk about my suggestions for rope
29:14
drop. Now we have done several park
29:17
day itinerary episodes. We have gone over recently again
29:22
here, all of the Disney parks. We've also gone over the three
29:24
universal parks in Orlando as well and kind of giving you our
29:28
suggestions for rope drop and for like where to go 1st and 2nd
29:31
and all of that. But just briefly, so if you want
29:36
more information, go to those episodes, hop back a couple, a
29:38
couple months and you'll find them in our archives that are
29:42
available everywhere you are watching or listening to us,
29:44
whether it's YouTube, Spotify, Apple, all those places, they're
29:47
there. But let's talk about where I do
29:51
suggest you go. So if you are doing rope drop at
29:54
Epcot, tons of good options at Epcot, again, just based on what
29:58
your top priority is, Guardians of the Galaxy, if you have early
30:02
entry, Guardians of the Galaxy is a great choice.
30:04
And Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, both of those for
30:07
early entry are a great, great option.
30:09
If you're someone that is using regular rope drop for park open
30:14
frozen is not a terrible idea and test track is not a terrible
30:16
idea. You'll still probably have 30
30:19
minute lines at rope drop, but that's better than 90 minute
30:24
lines, right? So those are some options at
30:26
Epcot. At Animal Kingdom, I always
30:30
suggest heading to Avatar. If you've got early entry, you
30:33
want to do a flight of passage followed by Navi River.
30:37
Those would be my two options during early entry.
30:40
Now, if you've got, if you don't have early entry in Animal
30:43
Kingdom, unfortunately those are going to be a lot harder to get
30:47
on, especially flight of Passage.
30:49
Navi River might not be terrible at rope drop time if you go
30:52
there immediately, but I would suggest your best option if you
30:57
are doing park open rope job at Animal Kingdom to be the safari.
31:01
It usually opens either right at park open or about 15 minutes
31:05
later, but they'll start loading the queue.
31:07
So if you go there immediately, you're looking at probably a 15
31:10
to maybe 20 minute Max. Most of the time it's just
31:14
walking through the queue. By the time you get there,
31:16
they're ready to load because that queue takes a little while
31:19
to kind of walk back to the loading station for that one.
31:22
But those would be my suggestions for Animal Kingdom
31:26
at Hollywood Studios. If you've got early entry, it's
31:29
got to be Slinky Dog. I really don't suggest you rope
31:34
drop Rise of the Resistance unless you are willing to wait
31:38
if it goes down because it doesn't like to open in the
31:41
mornings. So if you're willing to risk
31:43
that, you can go to Rise of the Resistance, but I highly suggest
31:48
doing Slinky Dog. If you don't have early entry at
31:52
Hollywood Studios, I would suggest rope dropping Sunset
31:56
Blvd. So Tower of Terror and Rock and
32:00
Roller Coaster. Do keep in mind Rock and Roller
32:02
Coaster does have some downtime starting here very soon as we're
32:06
recording this. By the time this airs actually I
32:09
think Rock and Roller Coaster will have closed for its refurb,
32:12
but something like Tower of Terror is a great option if you
32:15
are just utilizing regular park entry.
32:19
And then for Magic Kingdom, this one is a little tricky also
32:24
because you have so many options.
32:26
If you're doing early park entry rope drop, I would do Peter Pan
32:30
or 7 Dwarfs. Unfortunately, that's where
32:32
everybody is going to head back in Fantasyland, but that just is
32:35
what it is. If you are doing regular park,
32:38
rope drop, anything over an adventure land.
32:41
So that could be Jungle Cruise, that could be Tianas, that could
32:44
be Big Thunder Mountain when it opens, hopefully soon.
32:47
Those are all really great options for that.
32:51
Tiana sometimes has an issue waking up in the morning, so
32:55
keep that in mind as well, but anything over on that side is a
32:58
great option or Tron is an option because Tron does not
33:02
open during early entry. Now there is likely to be a line
33:06
already formed at Tron by the time you get there for a regular
33:09
park rope drop, so keep that in mind.
33:12
But again, a 30 minute line is better than a 90 minute line.
33:16
So it just depends on how your group wants to spend their
33:21
morning. Some of that also depends on
33:23
like if you've got lightning lanes or you know, multi pass,
33:26
single pass, all of that. You just you got to plan
33:29
accordingly and kind of decide what makes sense and what you
33:32
want to do based on your list that you have.
33:35
So those are my generic quick answer suggestions for when it
33:41
comes to rope drop with that. And again, if you want more
33:44
information about like itineraries and where to go when
33:47
and what to, what to focus on and things like that, those one
33:50
day park strategy episodes that we did a few months back are
33:54
your guide for every park. I'm also finalizing, I'm a
33:58
little behind. I promised you guys I'd get you
34:00
these by the end of 2025 and it just didn't happen.
34:03
But I am finalizing the rest of the graphics that go with those.
34:07
So here shortly I will have the universal ones up and ready.
34:10
The Disney ones are up on our Patreon account and also on our
34:14
Discord channel over on the Walrus Carp Pocket fam Discord.
34:19
So those are up there for Disney.
34:21
And shout out to Vinnie who realized that I missed test
34:23
track on ours that I posted. So that has been remedied and
34:27
posted again there for you. But the the universal ones I'll
34:31
have up here very shortly. So keep an eye out for those if
34:35
you are a visual person and you'd like to see it as we kind
34:38
of chat about it in those episodes.
34:39
Those are coming very, very soon for you.
34:41
But that's the short and sweet version of where I suggest you
34:45
wrote rope drop when it comes to that.
34:47
So that kind of wraps up our official list.
34:51
But before we completely wrap up this episode, I do have just a
34:55
little bonus mention and bonus thought for you to consider.
35:01
If your travel party, your family, your friends, whoever
35:05
you are with are not rope drop people, you may have to find a
35:10
happy medium. So if you've got a group that is
35:12
just not morning people, you've got people that are more night
35:16
owls than early risers, you may have to find a happy medium.
35:20
Maybe you pick one day that you know you want a rope drop.
35:26
And I would suggest either Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios if
35:30
you are picking and choosing those two parks I feel like are
35:34
the most worth it to get up and rope drop the animal Kingdom.
35:39
The the lines kind of fluctuate throughout the day.
35:41
Animal Kingdom is a good one to go to for the last couple hours
35:44
at the park is open and Epcot the same way.
35:46
The evening hours or like mid afternoon hours, things do kind
35:50
of come down weight weight wise. I'm so that's a good option for
35:54
like not rope dropping or using lightning lanes or whatever your
35:58
kind of plan is for those, but you, you don't want to force
36:04
them. I should say, I'm not going to
36:07
tell you what to do, but I highly suggest you don't force
36:11
those people to rope drop every single morning.
36:14
And then you can kind of temper your expectations on what rides
36:17
you may or may not get on, depending on how many days and
36:21
what parks and if you're doing lightning lanes in what you
36:23
think your family can get up early for, right?
36:27
You just really have to kind of know your group.
36:29
This circles back to literally the first thing that we talked
36:32
about is just know your group, know what they're capable of and
36:36
just plan accordingly to make sure that you are still able to
36:40
experience everything that your group wants to experience.
36:44
But you're not going to have really, really grumpy people
36:48
around you by the time you get to day three because you're not
36:52
letting them live their best night owl life and you're
36:55
forcing them to be the early bird.
36:57
So just things to keep in mind when it comes to that.
37:01
It's just making sure that you're not pushing too hard.
37:04
You are kind of giving and taking a little bit, giving them
37:08
some afternoon time off. You know, all of those things
37:11
that we always talk about on Mom St. to make sure that you are
37:14
not burning them out by day three or four.
37:17
We have said from day one of Mom St. that your third day at
37:21
Disney is always the hardest. So planning a sleep in morning,
37:26
planning 1/2 day resort day, planning a a Disney Springs day
37:33
on that third day is so important, especially if you've
37:36
got a 5 or 6 day vacation planned.
37:39
Now, if your vacation's a little shorter, you may not have the
37:41
liberty to do that, but you just want to make sure that you are
37:44
still giving those people plenty of chances to get caught up on
37:49
sleep. So that way you don't have a
37:51
giant grump by the end of your Disney vacation because that's
37:55
not super magical. And we want you to have the most
37:57
magical time that you can. So that is kind of my rundown
38:03
and my thoughts on the five really 6 tips for making your
38:09
mornings more magical when it comes to Disney World rope drop.
38:13
Thank you guys all so much for joining me for this episode of
38:16
Mom St. USA.
38:18
If you've got questions or need help with
38:20
planningatriporhavecommentsyoucanalwaysfindmemomstusa@gmail.com, you can reach out to via our
38:28
Patreon account account. We are Mom St.
38:31
USA over there as well, as well as our social media.
38:34
So please reach out. We'd love to hear from you with
38:38
some of the episodes we have going forward.
38:40
Speaking of that, before we officially sign off for today,
38:43
let's talk just briefly about what is coming next.
38:47
So Next up on our list of topics, we are going to jump
38:52
into some IP specific topics and that we are going to be talking
38:57
about the perfect Star Wars day at the Disney parks.
39:01
So next episode we are going to be highlighting where you can
39:05
find all of the different Star Wars themed things at all of the
39:10
Disney parks. We are going to talk about
39:12
Disney World and Disneyland. So definitely join us for that.
39:16
If you are someone who is a Star Wars fan, we want to make sure
39:20
that you don't miss out on any of the Star Wars stuff that they
39:23
have in the park. So we'll be chatting about all
39:25
of the different options and what characters can be found
39:27
where and what timelines and all that kind of stuff.
39:30
So that is coming up next. But for today, that is the end
39:35
of our episode. Thank you again, all so much for
39:37
all of your support and for always showing up and being here
39:41
and being such wonderful members of our Mob St. community.
39:45
I will catch you all on the next episode.
39:47
Bye everyone.