Rank the parks based on RD

[cdurham1]

Under current park conditions, what are the most successful parks to RD? I am a huge believer in RD, but if my family insists on sleeping in, what would be the right day?

From trip reports I have been reading, to me, it sounds Ike the current order, from best to worse success would be -

1. Animal Kingdom - i think this may be due to it being the earliest morning park and the number of people willing to be up that early is just smaller. Seems like people are getting almost all the key attractions done by 11 when they RD.

2. Magic Kingdom - to me, RD here is just necessary because you just can't everything done in a reasonable amount of time if you don't. But also, trip reports sound really successful lately with RD.

3. Hollywood Studios - I think it is better now that you can get a boarding group for RotR from off site. That probably keeps the crowd level down (i understand it is still busy in the morning, but I think it would be even crazier under the old rules). Trip reports sound pretty successful lately.

4. Epcot - I think the late park open is bad for any advantage in RD. You can sleep in and still RD with little inconvenience. So the crowd differential between RD and a couple of hours after open is not as big as it used to be.

Also, anyone else put their family on a "training for RD" schedule a couple of weeks before their trips? I make everyone goes to bed early and gets up early.

 

[Golfjbc89]

I would vote Epcot due to the late opening as you mentioned. Plus there are not as many attractions there. You can have a great day just walking around the world showcase!

Second for me would be Animal Kingdom. If you are willing to forgo a key attraction (FOP) you should be able to do the rest of the park in the remainder of the day. That being said, animals on safari are best early and late, so keep that in mind.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Under current park conditions, what are the most successful parks to RD? I am a huge believer in RD, but if my family insists on sleeping in, what would be the right day?

From trip reports I have been reading, to me, it sounds Ike the current order, from best to worse success would be -

1. Animal Kingdom - i think this may be due to it being the earliest morning park and the number of people willing to be up that early is just smaller. Seems like people are getting almost all the key attractions done by 11 when they RD.

2. Magic Kingdom - to me, RD here is just necessary because you just can't everything done in a reasonable amount of time if you don't. But also, trip reports sound really successful lately with RD.

3. Hollywood Studios - I think it is better now that you can get a boarding group for RotR from off site. That probably keeps the crowd level down (i understand it is still busy in the morning, but I think it would be even crazier under the old rules). Trip reports sound pretty successful lately.

4. Epcot - I think the late park open is bad for any advantage in RD. You can sleep in and still RD with little inconvenience. So the crowd differential between RD and a couple of hours after open is not as big as it used to be.

Also, anyone else put their family on a "training for RD" schedule a couple of weeks before their trips? I make everyone goes to bed early and gets up early.

Hollywood Studios - 5-6 solid options for rope drop priorities in a park with probably less solid options overall
Magic Kingdom - so many options and touring strategies so even if plan A doesnt work, you're still in good shape
Animal Kingdom - rope drop here can get you out of the park shortly after lunch and not have missed anything
Epcot - get done with future world and still make it to the world showcase for your late lunch ADR

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Under current park conditions, what are the most successful parks to RD? I am a huge believer in RD, but if my family insists on sleeping in, what would be the right day?

From trip reports I have been reading, to me, it sounds Ike the current order, from best to worse success would be -

1. Animal Kingdom - i think this may be due to it being the earliest morning park and the number of people willing to be up that early is just smaller. Seems like people are getting almost all the key attractions done by 11 when they RD.

2. Magic Kingdom - to me, RD here is just necessary because you just can't everything done in a reasonable amount of time if you don't. But also, trip reports sound really successful lately with RD.

3. Hollywood Studios - I think it is better now that you can get a boarding group for RotR from off site. That probably keeps the crowd level down (i understand it is still busy in the morning, but I think it would be even crazier under the old rules). Trip reports sound pretty successful lately.

4. Epcot - I think the late park open is bad for any advantage in RD. You can sleep in and still RD with little inconvenience. So the crowd differential between RD and a couple of hours after open is not as big as it used to be.

Also, anyone else put their family on a "training for RD" schedule a couple of weeks before their trips? I make everyone goes to bed early and gets up early.

So for me, my choices are based on number of attractions done in the first hour after arrival

1 AK
2 MK
3 DHS
4 EP

We have RD all the park and multiple occasions and almost always have fairly good success at all of them but for me there is just more bang for your buck in this order. However, since the parks reopened last year, RD has not really been needed but it's slowly coming back. We've found no real need to RD but as crowds are coming back and traditional RD procedures are too, it's likely back to the old ways. For the last year, our tactic has been arrive late, stay late unless it's a one day only trip then we try to RD.

 

[jimmymc]

1. Studios - The key for me is to rope drop Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. I can usually get two rides on each before the crowds build up.

2. Magic - There are so many rides that the ropedrop crowds are spread out. I usually do Splash and Big Thunder first.

3. Animal Kingdom - Like the others, get the Safari and Everest done first, unless you are literally at the front of the rope. The animals are most active early on and Everest takes a while to build up a line, so you can marathon it.

4. Epcot - Might be worth it to ride Frozen first, but every Future World ride will have a reasonable wait by late afternoon or dinner time.