Best way to rope drop?

[becks59]

I’ve been to DL many times and all I do there is walk to the theme parks. But, WDW is such a different beast!

My husband and I are staying at POP (without a car) and plan to rope drop each day to take advantage of shorter lines. I’m used to arriving about 30-45min before opening, but I just looked up the busses from POP and it takes about 25min to get to MK. Then, I read that busses don’t start running until 45min before park opening! Is this correct???

So how do I effectively rope drop? How important is it to get to the turnstiles well in advance? What about EMH days? We would be getting park hopper tickets and hop to another park after the first couple hours on those days.

 

[gharter]

Lots of different strategies. When we rope drop, we want to be there about 45 minutes before park opening as some parks will open certain areas early. On EMH days, if its evening EMH, we will often stay at a park until late morning. If it really gets crowded, we will hop to a different park. If its not too bad, we will stay there. Often, if you use FP+ well, you can get alot done even if the park is busy.
If its and early EMH, we get there early and stay all day or will skip that park and rope drop a different park.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

No that information is not correct, the buses start much earlier than that. We usually rope drop and for MK I like to be on the bus by 7:30. They open the MK turnstiles to get in around 8 now, but they hold the guests from going into the various lines where the rides are. It’s a good time to stroll along Main Street and get pictures in from of the castle. Last few times We did rope drop everyone made a bee line for 7DMT when they actually dropped the ropes at 9 am.

We also rope dropped Epcot this year but we drove to this park, but same timing. At Epcot Everyone hustles over to either Soarin or Test Track at opening. Perhaps someone can comment on AK and DHS.

 

[BrianL]

To reiterate, The buses will start running much earlier than that. I don't know why they continue to say that, but the buses should start around 6 AM. It also doesn't quite take 25 minutes to reach MK from POP, especially not that early in the morning. I think if you are at the parks about 60 to 45 minutes early, then you are all set. Have fun!

 

[Mome Rath]

I’ve been to DL many times and all I do there is walk to the theme parks. But, WDW is such a different beast!

It is a lot different! We went to DL for the first time last summer, and that was one of the things that blew us away; we went early for "rope-drop" and were the first in line with no one else there. That was quite a culture shock! lol

My husband and I are staying at POP (without a car) and plan to rope drop each day to take advantage of shorter lines. I’m used to arriving about 30-45min before opening, but I just looked up the busses from POP and it takes about 25min to get to MK. Then, I read that busses don’t start running until 45min before park opening! Is this correct???

As others have said, this is not right. They run much sooner.

So how do I effectively rope drop? How important is it to get to the turnstiles well in advance? What about EMH days? We would be getting park hopper tickets and hop to another park after the first couple hours on those days.

I like EMH days with park hoppers because the overall crowd is lower during EMH, but more later after regular park open, so yes, use EMH to get in early and then hop later on if the crowd gets too much. Also, when you "need" to get to rope drop depends largely what your aim is for going early and what you want to ride. So, for example I'd say if you are wanting to do Flight of Passage (FoP) at AK, that it's really important to get there as early as you feel comfortable (around an hour early) if you want to be on and off it quickly. But, if I use MK as an example, the largest crowd will head to SDMT, so I don't bother getting there much before rope drop because I want PP, and then to do what else I want in Fantasyland, which is easy to do as the herd is over by SDMT. Right now most of the herds want; FoP in AK, SDD in HS, and SDMT in MK. At EPCOT, it's kind of a slower toss up between TT, Soarin (less for Soarin now that the new theaters are there), and still some for FEA (last I was aware, anyway).

 

[LA Poolboy]

Bus signs state that they begin 45 minutes prior to park opening but my experience has been that they do start earlier. I timed the route from Pop to MK twice since we have been here and it is 20 minutes. It is shorter to the other parks as we are close. The EPCOT bus drop is a loooong way from the entrance so be prepared to walk a lot that day. And my experience has been that bus pickup to take you back to Pop from EPCOT is not every 20 minutes. Rope drop is a much bigger thing at WDW than at DL. It is still the best way to get a lot done before others even get out of bed. Our record is 9 rides in the first hour, but that was a long time ago. Parks seem more crowded now than ever...even at these prices.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I arrive to the park 10 minutes or so before opening when I do rope drop. I don't see the benefit in waiting for 45 minutes. Not my thing. The people in the front may have the advantage of one ride over me. I'm ok with that.

The only way I can see a 45 minute wait before rope drop would be if you couldn't get a FP+ for 7DMT or FOP and you absolutely must ride it that day. We go for longer trips so we ride everything we want eventually, with or without FP+. For our first AK day we may not get a FOP FP but we will when we go back on day 5 so no need to rope drop FOP. On the day we don't have FOP FP we will arrive 5-10 minutes before RD and go over to EE.

 

[Spencer Wright]

I generally avoid EMH in the morning due to high crowds, and find arriving about 15-20 minutes before opening is perfectly sufficient.

I have done earlier (i.e. 45 minutes to one hour), and find that unneccesary.

 

[srauseo]

When I do rope drop I usually aim to be walking out of my hotel room 90 minutes before the official park opening time (i.e., 7:30 for a 9am open). This allows plenty of time for the bus (and I almost always take the bus), walking, security, etc. This strategy usually gets me close to the front, if not the front, of the line. It's a much calmer experience for me personally, as there are usually fewer people on the bus and lines for security, etc., have not started to build yet, and if there are holdups for any reason, I'm not worried. Folks in my group take turns using the restroom and we play games until we are let in. As PPs have said, they start letting people in before the official opening time.

I usually do take advantage of AM EMH and I have a lot of success with it using the time frame above. The park often does end up more crowded, so we hop or go back to the pool for a break. Most people won't or can't get to the park early enough to really take advantage of morning EMH but they still go that park anyway because that was the plan.

All this said, I'm a morning person. I am up early anyway. If you are not it's hard to become one and trying to be one on vacation may lead to crankiness. There are other strategies you can use.

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

If you can actually be to the AM-EMH Park 30-45 minutes before that EMH time starts, then definitely do this, and then hop to another park when it starts getting too crowded. A lot of resort guests *think* they can do this, but in reality, end up showing up an hour or two after regular opening. So the AM-EMH days end up being crowded, but not until an hour or two after regular opening. If for some reason you get delayed and cannot make the AM-EMH time, just head straight to your originally planned "hop park" and skip the AM-EMH park.

 

[DaniMoon]

Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios have been opening before posted times. So that is something to keep in mind when thinking about rope drop. For the 7am EMH openings at DHS, I have seen consistent reports that they are letting people in at 6:30. Animal Kingdom 20-30 minutes before posted opening.

 

[MudQueen22]

We have been rope drop people in the past, and the plan is to continue that for all but one or two park days on our next trip. Like Srauseo said, we also leave the room 90 minutes before the park actually opens. We usually bring some sort of portable breakfast (granola bars, fruit, juice boxes, etc.) with us, since there is plenty of wait time in which to eat it. Rope drop, particularly on an early morning EMH day, allows us to ride several rides that would have long lines later in the day. We probably ride more in the first one or two hours at MK than we ride the rest of the day.

 

[wdw&sonny]

I arrive to the park 10 minutes or so before opening when I do rope drop. I don't see the benefit in waiting for 45 minutes. Not my thing. The people in the front may have the advantage of one ride over me. I'm ok with that.

The only way I can see a 45 minute wait before rope drop would be if you couldn't get a FP+ for 7DMT or FOP and you absolutely must ride it that day. We go for longer trips so we ride everything we want eventually, with or without FP+. For our first AK day we may not get a FOP FP but we will when we go back on day 5 so no need to rope drop FOP. On the day we don't have FOP FP we will arrive 5-10 minutes before RD and go over to EE.

THIS.

 

[Helvetica]

My favorite is to get an 8 am breakfast reservation inside the park. Tusker House for Animal Kingdom, Askerhaus for Epcot and Be Our Guest for Magic Kingdom (I try not to think about Hollywood & Vine). I get in early, I get to eat breakfast and I'm ready to go before the park opens with great positioning for when rope drop hits.

When I'm not that lucky, I like to be in the park 10-15 minutes before rope drop. I may not have the best position for the first ride, but I don't like sitting around for too long.

 

[NH-to-FL]

So how do I effectively rope drop? How important is it to get to the turnstiles well in advance? What about EMH days? We would be getting park hopper tickets and hop to another park after the first couple hours on those days.

I rope dropped AK this morning. I drove from off site and arrived at the parking lot at 7:30am for a 9am opening. As I was walking to the park I was joined by a number of people arriving on the resort buses.

How early you want to get to the park depends on what rides you are looking to catch at rope drop. This morning I was headed to FoP so I wanted to be near the front of the crowd. Even though I relaxed on a bench waiting for access to the tapstiles I was pretty near the front of the crowd that gathered at the rope to Pandora. Being a single rider jumped me couple of cycles ahead and I walked of the ride at 8:57a. I immediately headed to Navi River and walked right on. I was back out in Pandora at 9:08a and headed to my first FP of the day. In addition to Fop and Navi River I did the Safari, Tough to be a Bug, and Dinosaur by 10:45a Being early to rope drop really made a difference.

Yesterday I rope dropped MK and was through the tapstiles about 8:10a. I was in no particular hurry and found a ledge in the shade to sit on while waiting for the opening show and rope drop. When the rope dropped I joined the crowd headed to BTMRR. I was not near the front of the crowd so it was 9:18a by the time I exited the ride. If I had wanted to ride 7DMT with a lower wait I would have opted to stand with the crowd gathered at the rope on the right side of the Castle.

Since you are on site I would consider taking advantage of morning EMH. You can get a lot done in that first hour. When we stayed on site we would always do the morning EMH. Of course that was before on site 60 day FP+. You might be able to get FPs for the rides you are interested in and relax your rope drop schedule. But if you are planning on rope dropping one of the headliners then plan for a 60-90 minute early arrival.
Wishing you a visit to WDW!