Rope drop

[manning]

why is this so important?

 

[sqpcsqpc]

Lower crowds at that time of day to allow you to get on more attractions in a shorter period of time.

 

[Alesia]

Because it can literally save you several hours of standing in line over the course of the day.

We can generally do 4 attractions in the first hour the park is open, 3 attractions in the second hour, and 2 per hour after that.

 

[NYCANC]

You get so much done!!!!!!

 

[DLBDS]

And if it's hot you can get most of it done before the heat really gets unbearable.

 

[Accident]

why is this so important?

Personally I don't do it, I don't like the idea of waking up hours earlier than I woudl if it was a work day. I'm on vacation.


Summer you may/should avoid the peak of heat so a full morning, rest and pool or whatever in the resort and then come back is a way to not be baked alive and soul sucked out as fast by the sun and steamed by the humidity. lunch to dinner is also when the parks have the largest lines so you duck out just as they form, enjoy your afternoon and come back for some more and night shows.

All the time, you can generally get minimum wait time (well less than what it'll be the rest of the day) on the popular rides and lots of other almost as popular rides before the masses even show up to join you. most people that don't get there for opening will eat breakfast and then head over for 10-11am which is when you'll notice there's lines everywhere. You can really pump out a lot of rides in a very short period of time.

 

[siskaren]

Personally I don't do it, I don't like the idea of waking up hours earlier than I would if it was a work day. I'm on vacation.

Which is exactly why rope drop is so beneficial - a lot of people feel the same way.

 

[Accident]

Which is exactly why rope drop is so beneficial - a lot of people feel the same way.

but most of you are out of the way when i'm ready to break out the rides so it works out.

EDIT: did yo know if crowds are really 1-4 that everyone roped dropped and I get the park to myself all affernoon I love those trips, people complaining it's so crowded but you all hit the resort at lunchtime and it's empty.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

My favorite rope drop story:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

 

[kiapepito]

In July, we rode 6 rides just in the first hour.. and that includes Peter Pan!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Space Mountain five times in an hour.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

but most of you are out of the way when i'm ready to break out the rides so it works out.

EDIT: did yo know if crowds are really 1-4 that everyone roped dropped and I get the park to myself all affernoon I love those trips, people complaining it's so crowded but you all hit the resort at lunchtime and it's empty.

Ha you don't get rid of my family.
We are RD to shop til ya drop after closing type of people lol

 

[BigredNole]

It's only important if you want to hammer out a lot of the big rides quickly. Done right and with the right FPs, you can hammer out a ton of rides while others sit in a 90 minute line for 7DMT.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Made my first two rope drops ever this month (DW and the boys weren't with me). One at EPCOT on Disney Marathon day and we rode Soarin', Test Track, my niece rode Mission Space, we rooted marathon runners on as we walked to Japan and then walked back to Norway to ride Frozen with a 15-20 minute wait and then caught a monorail over to the TTC and hit the Magic Kingdom before 11:30. The other was at Animal Kingdom on 10k day. We hit Dinosaur 2 times, Primeval Whirl, Everest 2 times both trails then the Safari and met DM at Flame tree for lunch at 12:15. I loved rope drop but there is still no chance I will ever make one with DW, DS14 and DS6.

 

[DopeyDame]

We've found it best not to do rope drop exactly, but to arrive a few minutes afterwards. I find the initial rope drop crown miserable. If you wait five minutes, you still get the benefit of the first hour or two in the park, without the stampede. (NB: If oyur only rope drop goal is 7DMT, TSMM, or Soarin, this won't work as well)

 

[Klayfish]

I guess it depends on the definition of "rope drop". Say we're talking about an 8:00am park open. If rope drop means being at the gate at 7:15am or 7:30am, I'm with Accident here. We don't do them anymore. I get up at 4am during my normal work week. I have no desire to get up at 6:00am on vacation. If "rope drop" means being at the gate by roughly 8:05 or 8:10am, we'll do it from time to time, but not often. We figure we may lose one ride compared to a rope drop person, and we're willing to make that sacrifice. However, more often than not, if park open is 8:00am and we have a park morning planned, we show up at roughly 8:15 to 8:30am.

Only exception is the water parks. They often open at 9:00 or 10:00am. So for those, we show up about 10 minutes early so we can get a good chair. Plus, they have no FP+ at all, so once the big slides get crowded, that's it, you have to live with it. If we are there at rope drop, we can hit the big slides literally over and over and over with no wait for roughly the first 45 minutes the park is open.

I'm not saying rope drop is a terrible thing and nobody should do it, so no flaming please. I understand it, and as I just said, we still do it for water parks. But the more we thought about it, the more we just didn't think it worth it for the 4 main parks. We'd prefer the extra sleep, have a little morning coffee at our own pace and miss one extra ride.

 

[Imagineer5]

I rope drop every day! (Actually, most days involve pre-park opening breakfasts an hour before rope drop lol). We aren't late-night people though, and are always up early, so it works out well. Early mornings in the park are the best with minimal crowds, no waits, etc. You can get SO much done, then have the afternoon to take a break or do things with no waits like the Treehouse or Tom Sawyer Island or use FP's.

 

[kiford]

We never do it (except once by accident at MK which opened at 8:00 and we had a breakfast ADR for BOG at 8:30). For me, the ability to do some attractions with short lines and without FP is outweighed by the opportunity to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast. The only time I get up early on vacation is on a cruise when we have excursion tickets that require an early meet-up time and we're only there for one day. I'd rather spend more days at WDW so that I can sleep in, take my time, spend time on non-headline attractions (street performances, people watching, shows, etc.) and get in the headline attractions over a longer period of time. Although we like our vacations to be active, we don't like to rush around or be too tired or sleepy to enjoy it.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I think it's useless at Epcot, but it can be very useful at the other 3 parks. We never thought about doing it at MK until now. If we were in early it was because of a breakfast.

 

[mya1k9]

1. My favorite rope drop story:

I had a co-worker recently telling me about her trip to Disney World. They seemed to be pretty good planners and tried to maximize their time the best they could.

She was very excited to tell me about her experience riding Midway Mania without a Fast Pass. The got up really early, got to the gates about 45 minutes before they opened and waited in a pretty large crowd. Then they hurried as fast as they could to the ride and the wait was *only* 15 minutes. By the time they got off the line was almost an hour long. There were people all over the place.

I rode the same ride 4 times in about an hour late at night and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

Did you point out to your friend that she also essentially waited an hour?!