Skip to main content

The term "rope-drop" has become a weirdly ubiquitous phrase in our family. I didn't realize how commonplace it was until this past summer when we were at a waterpark and Teddy suggested we rope-drop the lazy river ride. 

If you've never heard the phrase before, it's essentially a Disney thing where you arrive at the park before it opens so you can march directly to your ride of your choice once the staff drops the rope. You typically target the most popular ride, and by rope-dropping, you have a 15 minute wait for the ride instead of a 2 hour wait if you get there later in the day.

Sarah was a pro at this for our first Disney visit, and has perfected the art over subsequent trips. We've rope-dropped Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Radiator Springs Racers, Rise of the Resistance, Test Track, Web Slingers, Big Thunder Mountain - I won't attempt to do the math, but I can safely say she's saved us 25 hours of waiting with this skill (not counting subsequent park-planning mastery throughout the rest of the day).

It's not just a Disney thing. We've been there for the figurative rope drop at zoos, museums, carnivals, waterparks, buffets, and just the other day, we rope-dropped an apple orchard.

What's fairly remarkable about the whole thing is that, done well, it involves very early mornings and Sarah is not a morning person. But she's a strong believer in:

  • getting value of her money
  • maximizing fun
  • minimizing boredom
  • avoiding the sweaty, flatulent masses
What's nice for her is that everyone in the family finally gets it. Back when it was just the two of us, even I was a Grumpy Gus the first time she got me on a theme park shuttle bus at 6AM. But a) I mostly internalized it and b) I came around to her way of thinking pretty quickly. With the kids, it was a longer slog and all of their complaints were very clearly articulated. But now they're largely over it and they see her genius. I can see them carrying it forward, too. Some day in the future, we'll be getting a text from Veronica about meeting her family for apple picking. "Be there by 8:30," she'll write, "We're rope-dropping the Cortlands."

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discuss Amongst Yourselves - January 30th, 2006

In case you don’t read my comments (and if not, you’re nuts cause that’s where all the good stuff is), Courtney has just declared herself movie illiterate. So, if you had to recommend five essential movies that everyone should see, what would they be? Let me stress: only five. For those of you with break-the-rules tendencies (like--I dunno--just picking a name out of the air... Jorge ?), your comment gets chucked out. Give’r.
29 comments
Read more

A complex phrase, in which the various parts are enchained

“Barry,” my cousin Mike said, “I think it’s time.” It was clear that my brother didn’t feel the same way, but he only shrugged, which Mike took as agreement. “Dave,” he said, giving the words as much gravity as he could muster, “Go get the dictionary.” I was nine years old, and a tag-along. I’d walked in on my brother telling a story about how—during school that morning—a girl he knew got her period in the middle of French class. And I laughed like the dickens. And then they called me on it. After I’d lugged the dictionary down from the spare room, Mike told me to look up the word period and read out the definition. “The end of a cycle, a series of events, or a single action?” “Keep going,” he said. “The full pause with which a sentence closes?” “Not that.” “An interval of geologic—“ “Gimme that!” He yanked the book towards him, read down the page, and pointed me towards the definition he’d found. Menstruation: the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from pu...
19 comments
Read more