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What do I mean by Disney Vacation Speed? Are you at the parks 2 hours before the sunrises or do you take your time and get into the park whenever?

The reason I ask is that we are the type of family that we don't miss a rope drop and we are always trying to be at the front of the pack. We have traveled with other family members to WDW and we will leave you at the resort if you aren't up and at it for rope drop.

This is a good question! I think after going a few times now we didn't feel the need to get to the park super early.
However, since we haven't been in a while I think our next trip will have at least one rope drop type of day because we miss it so much.

We stay at Pop Century for 3 or 4 days, then go to The Villages to relax. At Disney World, we move fast. We have 1 theme park day, 1 water park day (during the summer) and 1 day to resort hop and go to Disney Springs. We eat breakfast in our hotel room. We get to the theme park before rope drop and stay until close. We like rides so we try to go on as many as we can. We don't make restaurant reservations because we want to maximize our ride time. We carry our lunch in our backpacks, along with snacks and water. We eat dinner at Columbia Harbor House or Pinocchio's Village Haus. We use a Touring Plans subscription to make a ride schedule in advance. It has been successful so far.

I’ve always been a rope drop to the kiss goodnight type, walking on only stumps where feet once were on the way out the parks. Growing up we were generally that way, staying in the parks all day and not leaving for breaks or anything. I can sit and relax at home, WDW is for FUN! In general, I prefer an active vacation over a lower key one.

I now have a 6 month old that I’ll be taking in a couple years, and already feeling the anxiety of not being able to go full throttle anymore, lol.

I absolutely can appreciate why people do go at a leisurely pace, though, but that’s just not for me.

nittanylions wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:37 pm We use a Touring Plans subscription to make a ride schedule in advance. It has been successful so far.

I have a love/hate with Touring Plans. I’ve used it for 4-5 trips, and a couple trips they must’ve been way off on crowd predictions because I only got to about 50-60% of the attractions that I had planned. Other times it was spot on. I’m curious now how they’re doing these days with everything being different from the before times. I do like the aspect of not trying to figure out what to do next...just roll me back and let me go in a direction.

ChrisC wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:15 pm

nittanylions wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:37 pm We use a Touring Plans subscription to make a ride schedule in advance. It has been successful so far.

I have a love/hate with Touring Plans. I’ve used it for 4-5 trips, and a couple trips they must’ve been way off on crowd predictions because I only got to about 50-60% of the attractions that I had planned. Other times it was spot on. I’m curious now how they’re doing these days with everything being different from the before times. I do like the aspect of not trying to figure out what to do next...just roll me back and let me go in a direction.

All true. But even if we don't get to all of the rides, it still gives a good game plan. I think we would have done worse without it.

Definitely getting slower as we get older, we plan a half day in the parks or do a water park and then go in the evening. Plan I say, we do stay a bit longer. If we do a half day in the morning then we rope drop.

Rope Drop all the way! Now my kids drag me out early so I can't seem to get out of it ....LOL

ChrisC wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:15 pm

nittanylions wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:37 pm We use a Touring Plans subscription to make a ride schedule in advance. It has been successful so far.

I have a love/hate with Touring Plans. I’ve used it for 4-5 trips, and a couple trips they must’ve been way off on crowd predictions because I only got to about 50-60% of the attractions that I had planned. Other times it was spot on. I’m curious now how they’re doing these days with everything being different from the before times. I do like the aspect of not trying to figure out what to do next...just roll me back and let me go in a direction.

Me too-this past trip it was useless.

CH-GenX wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 9:24 am What do I mean by Disney Vacation Speed? Are you at the parks 2 hours before the sunrises or do you take your time and get into the park whenever?

The reason I ask is that we are the type of family that we don't miss a rope drop and we are always trying to be at the front of the pack. We have traveled with other family members to WDW and we will leave you at the resort if you aren't up and at it for rope drop.

I’m a rope drop kind of gall too! My husband however is not. I remember we took a trip for our anniversary once, and I was so excited to spend the entire day at EPCOT. He wanted to sleep in, so I let him and took off to the park on my own! He met up with me for lunch rested and refreshed, and I was happy to explore the park and get a few attractions in ahead of time.

I’m a bit nervous about my next trip though. I have a son under 2, so I don’t expect I’ll be able to ‘go, go, go’ like I have been in the past. I’m sure it will be even more special though... even if it is a more relaxed trip.

Never try to do rope drop to close. Terrible way to spend the day at Disney. The best part of Disney compared to other parks is the easy at which you can move around. So take advantage of that. I show up at opening and get 3 or 4 things done. Then return to your room. Rest, swim at the pool or whatever. The head out to shop at Disney springs and have lunch or whatever. Then return to the room and take your time. Then go back out hit a few more rides before deciding which night time show to view. No reason to beat yourself up. Or your family. Spending 12 hours circling clockwise is not an enjoyable way to visit Disney in my opinion. Do not believe under any circumstance that if you push it you'll get more done because you won't. At the end of the day it's a vacation so treat it like one and take your time. I return to my room 3 times per day and I still put up 25k to 35k steps per day. If I tried to go non stop for the entire week I would have blisters on my feet the size of softballs.

Oh we will definitely be at rope drop everyday . Anyone not ready ....bye bye

ChrisC wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:50 pm I’ve always been a rope drop to the kiss goodnight type, walking on only stumps where feet once were on the way out the parks. Growing up we were generally that way, staying in the parks all day and not leaving for breaks or anything. I can sit and relax at home, WDW is for FUN! In general, I prefer an active vacation over a lower key one.

I now have a 6 month old that I’ll be taking in a couple years, and already feeling the anxiety of not being able to go full throttle anymore, lol.

I absolutely can appreciate why people do go at a leisurely pace, though, but that’s just not for me.

Yes all of this I grew up the same way lol

my speed would be at explorer, i do want to ride certain rides, but im not in a rush, and now it is about discovery things i havent experienced before

My husband and I try to be there for rope drop and stay for park closing. We want to spend as much time as possible in the parks while we're there. My husband also loves taking pictures after the park closes.

Sleep in, swim in the pool, eat lunch, go to the parks for the afternoon then grab some dinner.

We've done rope drop "ceremony" once or twice but we're pretty seasoned so it doesn't matter to us on that part. Aside from that ceremony, we're generally open to close + people and we like to go hard all day long. We try to get rides first and save everything else for later. We aren't big on breakfast, most times coffee or a granola bar will do but depending on who we're with we may book Ohana's for one day.
For us it really depends on what we want to do for the day and who we're with. Our last trip we hopped all 4 parks and made it to MK for the castle dream lights show- it was a crazy fast day but it was amazing.
We have a trip booked for Oct with our niece and nephew (their first trip they were 3 & 1- so they don't remember anything) so we'll likely do a lot of the "firsts" with them for the first few days then break off and do our own thing for the rest of the trip.

We seldom do rope drop. We did when we had to get a boarding pass for ROTR. Glad they have changed that for now. Also when we were going to AK and didn't have a FP+ for FOP. Most times we will relax and enjoy things unhurried. It may be different for our trip coming up since there are no FP though. We also have a couple of friends joining us for their first trip to WDW.

I feel like I'm fast forward so much, I forget to look around me. I wish I lived closer. I would love to just walk around a look at everything. I'm always running from one ride to another trying to ride everything. We are up in the dark, and to bed late.... well not to late now that hours are down . I always tell myself I will slow down, then when I get there, I just want to get my money's worth.

DisneyUpBoilerUp wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:08 pm I feel like I'm fast forward so much, I forget to look around me. I wish I lived closer. I would love to just walk around a look at everything. I'm always running from one ride to another trying to ride everything. We are up in the dark, and to bed late.... well not to late now that hours are down . I always tell myself I will slow down, then when I get there, I just want to get my money's worth.

I want to live someplace where I only have to shovel sunshine....

CH-GenX wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:45 am

DisneyUpBoilerUp wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:08 pm I feel like I'm fast forward so much, I forget to look around me. I wish I lived closer. I would love to just walk around a look at everything. I'm always running from one ride to another trying to ride everything. We are up in the dark, and to bed late.... well not to late now that hours are down . I always tell myself I will slow down, then when I get there, I just want to get my money's worth.

I want to live someplace where I only have to shovel sunshine....

Ya, I'm shoveling snow right now, lol

DisneyUpBoilerUp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:12 am

CH-GenX wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:45 am

DisneyUpBoilerUp wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:08 pm I feel like I'm fast forward so much, I forget to look around me. I wish I lived closer. I would love to just walk around a look at everything. I'm always running from one ride to another trying to ride everything. We are up in the dark, and to bed late.... well not to late now that hours are down . I always tell myself I will slow down, then when I get there, I just want to get my money's worth.

I want to live someplace where I only have to shovel sunshine....

Ya, I'm shoveling snow right now, lol

Hoosiers that what we do

Lot's of variables in this equation...age/endurance, how many people in your party and willingness to get up and get going, and what your priorities are: shows, attractions, eating, shopping.

As someone who takes lots of pictures...I like to get to the parks early to catch the rising sun light, low crowds to get pictures (without the crowds). Same at sunset, dusk, night.

There is Disney fan podcast and website where the mantra is "Do Less...Enjoy More". There's a lot to that. It helps if you know that you will be visiting more than once...because you can focus on this trip's "must dos" rather than trying to do it all.

If you're traveling with little(r) ones...then definitely consider spending mid-day back at the resort, pool...maybe a nap (you or them), in then come back for more time in the park...especially if you are visiting during the 'hot' temperature time of the year. Helps to avoid those meltdowns from exhaustion and overload.

Those that split up...early goers, meet up with late-risers...is a winning formula...

LOL the first thing that came to mind when i read the post title was Spaceballs



but seriously, we like to get to the parks maybe 15-20 min before the rope drop

as much as we like to sleep in while on vacation, when it comes to Disney parks there's just something about being one of the first guests to enter a particular land that day that appeals to me & my wife

I love this topic! My husband and I are early risers and never miss a rope drop! We typically hit the parks super hard and are exhausted by the end of vacation - but hey, at least we got our moneys worth, right!? We always say on our next trip we will take it slow and make it more relaxing, but goodness it is difficult!