DCA Rope Drop in the Post EE Era

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

My crew will be visiting in April and I'm debating our DCA RD strategy.

For context, we have hoppers with LLMP, but were hoping to save the money on LLSP. We're going with friends who have never ridden RSR, so the kids want to ride it at least once all together. I'm also very good at using LLMP (I have my priorities, drop times, etc all laid out) so I'm confident I'll be able to grab all of those rides over the course of the visit.

Given all of that, what do you think about us RDing RSR on our DCA morning? I know it's always a jumbo line, but it's still going to be the least wait of the day to do it without paying or single ridering, right? If it's down at open, we can do the rest of Cars Land and keep our eyes on when RSR comes up. When I look at other RD options, they would allow us re-rides on LLMP, but I think riding RSR together is more important to the kids than getting a second shot at LLMP rides.

I'm also struggling to find info on the RSR RD in the post EE era. Presumably, the fact that hotel guests filled the line on EE mornings also meant that locals would actively target DCA on non-EE mornings, right? I'm wondering if the current RD is comparable to what a non-EE day was in the beforetimes or if it's slightly better, now that there aren't incentives to pick DLR or DCA on a given day of the week.

Thoughts?

 

[MonocularVision]

I think that main issue with rope dropping RSR is the tendency for it to be down at open. Post EE it definitely seems like a better option, but you are still gambling on it being open.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I have not done post EE rope drop but I did rope drop for for RSR while entering after EE had already begun so like half way between EE and opening time. We always had major success riding RSR doing this. No other ride is worth waking up early and running for IMO.

 

[NVDISFamily]

RSR is a great ride but there is way more value to have in other areas of the park in that time of the AM. My family also thinks RSR is better at night. We did it multiple nights in a row and and also in the late evening in multiple past trips. One time we got in line right as the first round of WOC was starting at 9pm and the wait was posted at 90 min and it was only a 25/30 min wait (this was in July 2025 as we were hosting family for the 70th). During our last trip in November we rode it 3 nights in a row, got in the line around 2 to 3 before park close. Each time the wait was posted as well over an hour and the average wait was 15 to 20 min.

I'm torn on where the best value is in the AM at DCA but it's either Tower/Guardians and work your way towards the Pier with Soarin/Monsters in the mix, or hit sky school and work around the whole Pier well before 10am. Usually we let the kids do 2 or 3 rides on Sky School if we start there as often in the AM there is no line and they will let the kids stay on and go another round if there is no people waiting to get on....

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Each time the wait was posted as well over an hour and the average wait was 15 to 20 min.

This is great to know! We also want to try for an evening ride but assumed we'd single rider it at that point because of the wait times. I think we'll plan to single rider while eyeballing the actual queue for the possibility of a re-ride.

I'm torn on where the best value is in the AM at DCA but it's either Tower/Guardians and work your way towards the Pier with Soarin/Monsters in the mix, or hit sky school and work around the whole Pier well before 10am. Usually we let the kids do 2 or 3 rides on Sky School if we start there as often in the AM there is no line and they will let the kids stay on and go another round if there is no people waiting to get on....

We have two DCA mornings, one with our friends and one without. We'll likely head to sky school on our family-only morning, but the kids have strong feelings about riding RSR with the friends and I'm worried that, if we push it for a night ride, it'll be down when we get over there. Our only other Cali trip, RSR was in refurb most of our trip and came back the last day. When it was running, it opened 90 minutes late and went down before sunset without ever coming back online. It's possible I'm convinced RSR only runs 5 hours a day based on that visit