Best advice for avoiding rope drop madness at Hollywood Studios?

[jenhelgren]

We only have one day to spend at HS during our upcoming trip in May and since we haven't been to the parks in a few years I want to spend the majority of the day there. We experienced a crazy rope drop at HS when TSMM opened and my DH has never been the same since...lol
He really hates the "running of the bulls" feel and I can only imagine that the rush back to TSL is equal or worse to what we experienced years ago with TSMM!!
I hope to get a FP for SDD and had heard that TSMM is dead in the morning while everyone is at SDD. Is there a good time frame to arrive at the end of the pack and head back to Rock n Roller coaster or TSMM without being trampled? I always plan on arriving at least 30 minutes prior to park opening when we do mornings because I have seen an hour wait at the gates at MK that would make me want to cry and would be an awful start to the day so I'm sure how to handle the morning entry without chaos and would love any advice I can get since it has been awhile since we visited parks!! Thanks a bunch!!

 

[Ds4angels]

Josh at Easywdw just posted about this. Basically if you get there 30 minutes before park open you're at the back of the pack. But by 9:15 TSM posts a 30 minute wait.
Reports are that TSM is the easiest of the 3 rides to get a 4th FP for

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Best advice to avoid the rope drop madness is bite the bullet and do the early morning magic.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

You can avoid the crazy of rope drop by being there at lest an hour before the park opens. This way the crazy is behind you. Once you enter you can go wherever you want without a crowd ahead of you. Easy.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We only have one day to spend at HS during our upcoming trip in May and since we haven't been to the parks in a few years I want to spend the majority of the day there. We experienced a crazy rope drop at HS when TSMM opened and my DH has never been the same since...lol
He really hates the "running of the bulls" feel and I can only imagine that the rush back to TSL is equal or worse to what we experienced years ago with TSMM!!
I hope to get a FP for SDD and had heard that TSMM is dead in the morning while everyone is at SDD. Is there a good time frame to arrive at the end of the pack and head back to Rock n Roller coaster or TSMM without being trampled? I always plan on arriving at least 30 minutes prior to park opening when we do mornings because I have seen an hour wait at the gates at MK that would make me want to cry and would be an awful start to the day so I'm sure how to handle the morning entry without chaos and would love any advice I can get since it has been awhile since we visited parks!! Thanks a bunch!!

The best way to beat the rope drop madness at DHS is to wait until later in the day when the lines die down.

You mentioned TSM which is a perfect example. When that ride was new, the mornings were an absolute madhouse.

We would wait until an hour before closing time and could usually ride 4 times before the park closed and didn’t have to deal with the crowds.

 

[Upatnoon]

We only have one day to spend at HS during our upcoming trip in May and since we haven't been to the parks in a few years I want to spend the majority of the day there. We experienced a crazy rope drop at HS when TSMM opened and my DH has never been the same since...lol
He really hates the "running of the bulls" feel and I can only imagine that the rush back to TSL is equal or worse to what we experienced years ago with TSMM!!
I hope to get a FP for SDD and had heard that TSMM is dead in the morning while everyone is at SDD. Is there a good time frame to arrive at the end of the pack and head back to Rock n Roller coaster or TSMM without being trampled? I always plan on arriving at least 30 minutes prior to park opening when we do mornings because I have seen an hour wait at the gates at MK that would make me want to cry and would be an awful start to the day so I'm sure how to handle the morning entry without chaos and would love any advice I can get since it has been awhile since we visited parks!! Thanks a bunch!!

The rope drop madness is for one attraction, Slinky Dog. Just go on everything else. If you must go on SDD, I would go last thing at night if you can't get a FP.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

You can avoid the crazy of rope drop by being there at lest an hour before the park opens. This way the crazy is behind you. Once you enter you can go wherever you want without a crowd ahead of you. Easy.

Waiting outside the gate for an hour doesn’t seem like a good use of time. During the last hour of the day, you could ride Slinky, TSM at least twice and Swirling Saucers as many times as you can stand.

You also wouldn’t have to worry about being trampled by the crowd building behind you.

 

[jenhelgren]

Waiting outside the gate for an hour doesn’t seem like a good use of time. During the last hour of the day, you could ride Slinky, TSM at least twice and Swirling Saucers as many times as you can stand.

You also wouldn’t have to worry about being trampled by the crowd building behind you.

That sounds amazing! Have you been successful in the last hour recently during moderate crowds? I have our HS day planned for Monday, May 6. The current closing time is listed at 9 with Fantasmic at 9 and fireworks at 9:30. We do have an interest in seeing Fantasmic but are prepared to skip it if it means being able to skip the morning madness of rope drop trampling and still get to experience Toy Story Land!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

That sounds amazing! Have you been successful in the last hour recently during moderate crowds? I have our HS day planned for Monday, May 6. The current closing time is listed at 9 with Fantasmic at 9 and fireworks at 9:30. We do have an interest in seeing Fantasmic but are prepared to skip it if it means being able to skip the morning madness of rope drop trampling and still get to experience Toy Story Land!

We like to go in June when DHS is generally open until 10 with Fantasmic at 9 and 10:30. The late night plan works best when Fantasmic is in progress. We still have plenty of time after the last ride to make it to the late show.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The best way to avoid rope drop madness is to not rope drop at all. Go late, stay late.

 

[LSUfan4444]

If you're not going to do early morning magic just get there very early and line up as close to the front as possible. The crowd is walked behind a wall of CMs. Its not the running of the bulls in Pamplona that people are making it out to be.

If you're at the tapstyles by 7:30 and used your FP+ in this park you could be out of HS by noon and have done everything in this park at least once.

 

[Klayfish]

Waiting outside the gate for an hour doesn’t seem like a good use of time. During the last hour of the day, you could ride Slinky, TSM at least twice and Swirling Saucers as many times as you can stand.

You also wouldn’t have to worry about being trampled by the crowd building behind you.

Yes, absolutely!! Unless you want to wake up early and stand around, there is no reason whatsoever to rope drop HS. Pick up a FP+ for SDD at your 60+ day mark. The rest of the rides are super simple to get on either via same day FP+ or standby. TSMM is a walk on ride for the last 30-45 minutes the park is open, last summer we literally rode it 3 times in a row with zero wait. FP+ for RnR are easy to get same day.

Best way to avoid the rope drop madness is to sleep through it.

 

[fbarker]

Just a question. How is waiting in line at RD for an hour or so saving you any time? Arn't you still waiting an hour for the ride, even though you walk right on after rope drop? If you show up after rope drop and walk in and go to SDD and wait an hour isn't that about the same thing?

 

[Rangers67]

Just a question. How is waiting in line at RD for an hour or so saving you any time? Arn't you still waiting an hour for the ride, even though you walk right on after rope drop? If you show up after rope drop and walk in and go to SDD and wait an hour isn't that about the same thing?

Your wait for SDD would be the same but you can then take advantage of shorter wait times for other rides in that first hour of park time.

 

[gap2368]

We only have one day to spend at HS during our upcoming trip in May and since we haven't been to the parks in a few years I want to spend the majority of the day there. We experienced a crazy rope drop at HS when TSMM opened and my DH has never been the same since...lol
He really hates the "running of the bulls" feel and I can only imagine that the rush back to TSL is equal or worse to what we experienced years ago with TSMM!!
I hope to get a FP for SDD and had heard that TSMM is dead in the morning while everyone is at SDD. Is there a good time frame to arrive at the end of the pack and head back to Rock n Roller coaster or TSMM without being trampled? I always plan on arriving at least 30 minutes prior to park opening when we do mornings because I have seen an hour wait at the gates at MK that would make me want to cry and would be an awful start to the day so I'm sure how to handle the morning entry without chaos and would love any advice I can get since it has been awhile since we visited parks!! Thanks a bunch!!

I hate the mad rush too I get to the parks. They let you in a few minutes early (15-30 minutes) I hang back go in one of the shops that are open then about 5’minutes before the park should open I go out and walk to where I am going as long as your close to the back it is not as bad crowded yes but you do not have people on top of you. If you want to do A2S I might do this one first as TSM is the only indoor ride/line there

 

[Justplainchy]

Just a question. How is waiting in line at RD for an hour or so saving you any time? Arn't you still waiting an hour for the ride, even though you walk right on after rope drop? If you show up after rope drop and walk in and go to SDD and wait an hour isn't that about the same thing?

It's less saving time for that specific ride and more saving time on everything else/redistributing your wait time. Since park hours are finite, doing an hour long wait outside of them frees up an hour during them that you can then use to do other things you would have missed. Also, like Rangers67 mentioned: if you wait that hour and are on and off SDD in the first 10 minutes parks are open, you then have the rest of the park at walk on lines and can get most of the rides done within the first hour or two you are there - the same hour you would have spent in SDD, which then bumps the rest of the waits through out the park as the morning goes on and more and more people arrive.

 

[TheJRock300]

If we want to go on a EMM day, and we do not have EMM, should we still be at tapsyles an hour early? or is it useless to ropedrop SDD on a EMM day?

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

If we want to go on a EMM day, and we do not have EMM, should we still be at tapsyles an hour early? or is it useless to ropedrop SDD on a EMM day?

EMM has no effect on rope drop folk. You won't notice a difference

 

[mamaofsix]

Just a question. How is waiting in line at RD for an hour or so saving you any time? Arn't you still waiting an hour for the ride, even though you walk right on after rope drop? If you show up after rope drop and walk in and go to SDD and wait an hour isn't that about the same thing?

Can't speak to the wait times at SDD this January, but our experience has been that getting to the gates 45min-hour ahead vs. right at opening actually saves MORE than 45min-hour of waiting time in line.

For example, if you arrive right at opening for FOP, your wait time will be 2hours+ in line, vs. walk on if you had gotten there an hour ahead. So, you would cut your wait time in half right there. 7DMT jumps to about 75 minutes+ right at park opening.

So, by getting there an hour earlier you are often saving a 2+ hour wait in line, not 1 hour. Yes, you could also have a shorter wait at the end of the night. It's really up to you whether you want an early morning or a late night. Totally depends on personal preference

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

It's less saving time for that specific ride and more saving time on everything else/redistributing your wait time. Since park hours are finite, doing an hour long wait outside of them frees up an hour during them that you can then use to do other things you would have missed. Also, like Rangers67 mentioned: if you wait that hour and are on and off SDD in the first 10 minutes parks are open, you then have the rest of the park at walk on lines and can get most of the rides done within the first hour or two you are there - the same hour you would have spent in SDD, which then bumps the rest of the waits through out the park as the morning goes on and more and more people arrive.

I'm still not buying it.

Here's a real life example from June 2014, less than a week after 7DMT opened. We strolled up to the ride about a half hour before the park closed. The posted wait was 110 minutes, but the actual wait was only 20. We got off the ride and back on with the 2nd wait being only 10 minutes (the posted wait had dropped to 90 by then).

We just rode the most popular ride in all of the parks twice in 30 minutes. That's twice the results in less than half the time of the person who waited outside the gates for an hour that morning just to ride it once.

The point is that there are more efficient uses of time than arriving too early.