Best advice for avoiding rope drop madness at Hollywood Studios?

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.
Depends on show and closing times, this strategy often won't work for those wishing to see HEA/F!/Illuminations etc.
 
Depends on show and closing times, this strategy often won't work for those wishing to see HEA/F!/Illuminations etc.

I still disagree. Using Epcot as an example, on a recent visit we found actual waits after 8 pm of 10 minutes on Test Track, 5 minutes on Soarin and 20 minutes on Frozen. We had plenty of time to do all 3 and still watch Illimuninations.
 
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 :)

We don't rope drop, so this is more of a question than statement...does the actual wait time go right to 2 hours as soon as the park opens, or is that the posted wait time? So if AK opens at 9am and I show up at 9am instead of 8am, would I really wait 2 hours for FoP? Last time I did something like that was for TT several years back. We showed up right at 9am, so we were near the back of the rope drop line. Our wait time was maybe 15-20 minutes.
 
Well you could try what we do. For every park there is that mad dash run at opening ie Pandora for AK,Test Track for Epcot. Where ever the mob goes we do in the opposite direction. While the mob runs to SDD go to RnR and ToT. And use your fast passes. We got same day TSMM past passes easily. Now we are park commandoes we get prior to opening and stay until close. Like a good Marine I have taught the girls well.
 


Where ever the mob goes we do in the opposite direction. While the mob runs to SDD go to RnR and ToT. And use your fast passes.

This is our approach as well. Between RD with strategic use of FP+, there is little need to rush to beat the crowd....although we walk a little faster than usual. :)
 
We're heading down in April and staying offsite. This is our first trip with our 14 month old so our preference is to avoid too many rope drop mornings. With no chance for a FP for Slinky Dog, we're trying the afternoon arrival strategy for our single planned day at Hollywood Studios. This was mostly inspired by Josh's recent post on EasyWDW. Our plan is to make fast passes beginning at 3pm for two of ToT, RnR, and Star Tours. Followed by a FP for TSM or Swirling Saucers. Whichever way our FPs fall, the plan is to do SDD just before close via standby. The downside is we'll likely miss Fantasmic, which is a family favorite, unless we decide to come back on another night.
 
We don't rope drop, so this is more of a question than statement...does the actual wait time go right to 2 hours as soon as the park opens, or is that the posted wait time? So if AK opens at 9am and I show up at 9am instead of 8am, would I really wait 2 hours for FoP? Last time I did something like that was for TT several years back. We showed up right at 9am, so we were near the back of the rope drop line. Our wait time was maybe 15-20 minutes.

I can only speak for our own trip last November, but right at 9:00a.m. the posted wait time for FOP was 210 minutes. According to the TP wait times app, that 210 min. was more like 120 actual.

Getting there 30 minutes before opening, our wait was exactly 60 minutes actual, 120 min. posted. If we had gotten there an hour early, it would have been a walk on... Hope that helps!
 


Well you could try what we do. For every park there is that mad dash run at opening ie Pandora for AK,Test Track for Epcot. Where ever the mob goes we do in the opposite direction. While the mob runs to SDD go to RnR and ToT. And use your fast passes. We got same day TSMM past passes easily. Now we are park commandoes we get prior to opening and stay until close. Like a good Marine I have taught the girls well.

Is this possible at HS? Can we head straight to RnR or ToT without being in the mad push to TSL? What time would we want to arrive? We only have one day set aside for HS so I really want to make the most of it with shorter hours still in early May (9-9) unless they get extended...
 
Is this possible at HS? Can we head straight to RnR or ToT without being in the mad push to TSL? What time would we want to arrive? We only have one day set aside for HS so I really want to make the most of it with shorter hours still in early May (9-9) unless they get extended...
Yes, very possible. The turn off for RNR and TOT are very close to the front of the park so you'd be splitting off from the pack early in the treck
 
I just came back from my trip last week, and did 1 day in HS. It wasn't a bad crowd day, which helped, but I was able to "rope drop" TSL by showing up inside the park (past security and entry area) around 8:30 right as they let the crowds into TSL and basically walked to the land without waiting, and rode TSMM with a 5 minute wait, then Alien Saucers with a 20 minute wait afterwards. I went and did other things after that but returned to TSL in the evening (had a 6:45 FP for SDD), and rode slinky, then was able to ride both TSMM and Aliens again after 7 pm with 15 minute waits each.
 
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.

End of day works too, albeit differently.
Personally though, I’ve never had a problem waiting an hour outside the park. Not sure what else you would do during that hour that has so much value - unless you really need the sleep.
What’s good is that there are Morning people and Night people, allowing each to work as long as they are committed to being there early or late.
 
I just came back from my trip last week, and did 1 day in HS. It wasn't a bad crowd day, which helped, but I was able to "rope drop" TSL by showing up inside the park (past security and entry area) around 8:30 right as they let the crowds into TSL and basically walked to the land without waiting, and rode TSMM with a 5 minute wait, then Alien Saucers with a 20 minute wait afterwards. I went and did other things after that but returned to TSL in the evening (had a 6:45 FP for SDD), and rode slinky, then was able to ride both TSMM and Aliens again after 7 pm with 15 minute waits each.

That's exactly what I was wanting to do!! What day of the week did you visit and what were park hours that day? I am planning for a Monday and Touring Plans has the crowds set at 3 that day with park hours 9-9 so far.
We will be staying at Beach Club so I think the water taxi will be our best transportation. Anyone have advice on what time we should be waiting for the boat at?
 
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.

that was our plan and it worked well. Yes, we stil spent an hour "in line", but it wasn't during park hours. What we gained by doing all 3 TSL land rides in under 20 minutes was worth it.
 
Personally though, I’ve never had a problem waiting an hour outside the park. Not sure what else you would do during that hour that has so much value - unless you really need the sleep.

Sleep. Relax. When I think "vacation", I think relaxed pace, enjoying the moment, taking our time. Not setting an alarm to wake up extra early, rush to get somewhere so I can stand there for an hour, then run, run, run. Sure, there are times when we do hustle in the parks, so I'm not saying we always just wander around aimlessly. But for us, the getting up before dawn and hurrying so we can go stand around outside the gates isn't worth it. Sleep is far more valuable.
 
I've personally had better luck riding multiple times at rope drop than the last hour. We were there MLK week, and this held true for us again. We show up at the entrance about 20-30 minutes before opening.

The rope drop at MK, AK, HS was walking behind CM's, so no mass running. Didn't rope drop EP, but I'm sure it was the same.
 
Well you could try what we do. For every park there is that mad dash run at opening ie Pandora for AK,Test Track for Epcot. Where ever the mob goes we do in the opposite direction. While the mob runs to SDD go to RnR and ToT. And use your fast passes. We got same day TSMM past passes easily. Now we are park commandoes we get prior to opening and stay until close. Like a good Marine I have taught the girls well.
This is our plan. I’ll try to get FP for SDD, but we’ll head straight to RnR and we’re usually able to ride multiple times. We’ll either try to hit TSM later and hope the line is short or save it until evening. If we don’t get a FP for SDD, we’ll wait until near closing and hope for the best.
 
Do you have to go to the TS area at all that morning? Because if you're willing to go in a different direction at HS, you won't have many crowds.

In September, DS wanted to sign up for Jedi Training. So, we went opposite the crowd. That section of the park was empty. Then, we went over to hit up ToT with little wait.

We saved the Toy Story section until the evening and it was a much better experience!
 
@jenhelgren it was a Thursday with regular park hours. I don't trust touring plans predictions at all though- they said my day was supposed to be an 8 and it felt like maybe a 4-5.
 
Sleep. Relax. When I think "vacation", I think relaxed pace, enjoying the moment, taking our time. Not setting an alarm to wake up extra early, rush to get somewhere so I can stand there for an hour, then run, run, run. Sure, there are times when we do hustle in the parks, so I'm not saying we always just wander around aimlessly. But for us, the getting up before dawn and hurrying so we can go stand around outside the gates isn't worth it. Sleep is far more valuable.
That all makes sense. Remember, I’m talking about arriving 60 minutes before Rope Drop rather than 30 minutes or 5 minutes. If your group finds that an extra 30-60 minutes in your room makes your trip relaxing than I agree that Rope Drop isn’t for you.
For me, I find my day more relaxing once I’ve hit the ‘must-do’ attractions on our list. From that point on it’s all bonus- crowds, lines, weather, MDE, ride closures, transportation delays, are all easier to deal with.
Again, different strategies for different people.
 
I'm so glad I started this thread for advice! It is helping me decide what to do and I love being able to hear individuals opinions and real time experience at Disney to give me some "food for thought"!!
 

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