DHS Rope Drop Strategy: Slinky Dog, then Rise?

[Didi8367]

I'm working on our rope drop strategy for our trip in July and I can't seem to find any info on this particular scenario. I don't want to purchase any ILLs (but I AM going to purchase Genie+). We've done Rise before (at Disneyland), so we'd like to prioritize Slinky Dog (which we've never done.) and don't want to risk getting a late LL return time, because we're hoping to park hop on this day around 3pm. I was thinking of going to SDD first, then from there to Rise. Has anyone done it in that order? If so, what was your wait time at Rise? Would it make more sense to go somewhere else (Like ToT or Mickey & Minnies?) after SDD and wait for the standby line for Rise to be shorter later in the day?

 

[JackosinDIS]

It’s an either/or situation with rope dropping those 2 rides. I would try to get an early return time on SDD at 7am, and then make your mind up what to do. If you get a good time for Slinky, then rope drop ROTR. Keep in mind that Rise often doesn’t get up and running until later so it can also result in a water rope drop (seems to happen to me 50% of the time!)

 

[kylenne]

The reason everyone starts at Rise and only then pivots to SDD is: 1) Rise sometimes starts running earlier than official EE if it’s ready 2) Rise is often not ready and better to find out and then be able to quickly pivot to SDD as plan B since the two rides are really not far from each other, and if you’re at or near the front of the pack you won’t lose too much time at SDD.

Personally, if the budget allows for it I would avoid both scenarios, do both those rides via G+/ILL and just start down Sunset instead. That’s what I always do and it’s a far more pleasant morning. Starting at Tower, and assuming RNRR is not down for maintenance, I work my way back and can often knock out both attractions and possibly MMRR during EE.

 

[Mouse Tracker]

The problem I find trying to RD SSD is that you'll burn most, if not all of the EE advantage at SSD.

 

[palavra]

I would prioritize Slinky Dog Dash.

 

[CarpeDisney]

Here is the HS morning plan we’ve done a few times (with Genie+) during summer months:
7:00 am: Book ILL for Rise (Late morning time) and grab an early morning SDD Genie + reservation.
At Rope drop: pick either ToT or Runaway railway (stand-by line). After this first ride, we head to Toy Story Mania, which is usually still a walk on.
After Toy Story Mania, if SDD reservation is early enough, go ride immediately, and book the next LL for either ToT or Railway (whichever we didn’t wait for).
Then head into Galaxy’s Edge for smugglers run (stand-by), and our ILL for Rise. After that, use the LL for ToT or Runaway.

Back to hotel, in the pool by 1:00, and back to the park again in the evening.

Good luck!!

 

[kylenne]

Here is the HS morning plan we’ve done a few times (with Genie+) during summer months:
7:00 am: Book ILL for Rise (Late morning time) and grab an early morning SDD Genie + reservation.
At Rope drop: pick either ToT or Runaway railway (stand-by line). After this first ride, we head to Toy Story Mania, which is usually still a walk on.
After Toy Story Mania, if SDD reservation is early enough, go ride immediately, and book the next LL for either ToT or Railway (whichever we didn’t wait for).
Then head into Galaxy’s Edge for smugglers run (stand-by), and our ILL for Rise. After that, use the LL for ToT or Runaway.

Back to hotel, in the pool by 1:00, and back to the park again in the evening.

Good luck!!

This is basically what we do, except we always do ToT -> RNRR -> MMRR, in that order, barring ride closures. From experience doing HS rope drops, standby waits tend to build much faster at MMRR than Toy Story Mania because the Chinese Theater is the first thing many people see when they get into the park, but even hitting it third I have never waited more than 20 minutes in standby for it with this strategy. I think people going to SDD first are more likely to pivot to Rise for their second ride than TSM, so it’s not exactly a bad choice, but I find there’s not as much time savings and hitting MMRR third on a Sunset start avoids backtracking later on. You have to pass it to get to TSL anyway.

I understand that G+ and ILL can get very pricey for larger groups, but I never ever want to join the running of the bulls to the most popular headliners, and I only ever go with 1 other person tops (2 next summer) so it’s not terrible. It just makes for a far more pleasant start to the day. After MMRR is when our SDD LL is typically, so we go do that and then we head over to Galaxy’s Edge and have a leisurely breakfast. Check the waits for Smuggler’s Run (they usually aren’t bad yet, after a Ronto wrap break), do that and our Rise ILL, then start rolling LLs. I’ve been doing rope drop mornings at HS like this for years and the only time it ever goes badly is if a ride is down, but it’s easy enough to pivot.

 

[MickeyMice]

The problem I find trying to RD SSD is that you'll burn most, if not all of the EE advantage at SSD.

disagree - i've been off SDD really early on days when they start running it before EE official open time. and it's a quick ride.

when rise is running and it's not a super heavy day, you may be able to get a reasonable wait time if you get on line *just before* the park opens to everyone. most people will book it to rise at early open if they're trying to rope drop it, but i don't think too many people will try to hit it at 7:59 or whatever. i've waited like ~25 minutes doing this.

 

[123SA]

I'm working on our rope drop strategy for our trip in July and I can't seem to find any info on this particular scenario. I don't want to purchase any ILLs (but I AM going to purchase Genie+). We've done Rise before (at Disneyland), so we'd like to prioritize Slinky Dog (which we've never done.) and don't want to risk getting a late LL return time, because we're hoping to park hop on this day around 3pm. I was thinking of going to SDD first, then from there to Rise. Has anyone done it in that order? If so, what was your wait time at Rise? Would it make more sense to go somewhere else (Like ToT or Mickey & Minnies?) after SDD and wait for the standby line for Rise to be shorter later in the day?

My experience with Genie+ for SDD last summer was that it is easy to move it once you get it. One time we wanted a really early time and were able to modify it from the afternoon to 8:55am. The other time we modified it from 10:30am to after 8pm (I love Slinky when it's dark!) We were a party of 5.


I'm not a fan of the rope drop craziness. We also head down Sunset Blvd for early entry at DHS.

 

[Didi8367]

Thank you so much for the suggestions and ideas. I appreciate the insight. After talking to my (teenage) kids, we’re going to RD Rise and get a 7am LL for Slinky Dog that we’ll try to modify for a better time.

 

[slp87]

Another option is to ride ROTR during the last hour of park opening. You can usually get on in about 15 minutes.

 

[lentesta]

@Didi8367 The issue with rope-dropping Rise is downtime. In 2023, Rise was down around 40% of days at rope drop. Those are terrible odds, and it's the least-reliable ride in Walt Disney World.

If it's in your budget, you might consider purchasing ILL for Rise. That simplifies your rope-drop strategy and removes most of the risk around waiting in line for a ride (potentially multiple times) that isn't working.

Earlier this year I gave students at Wake Forest University the downtime data and average waits at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. And I asked them this question:

If you didn't know whether a ride was going to be running at rope drop, which two attractions would you choose to visit during Early Theme Park Entry in order to save the most time in line?​

​

I like the question because it deals with expected value: the amount of time you'd save if the ride is running, and the probabilty it's running.

Here's what the students came up with for Hollywood Studios:



The class was BEM 392: Seminar in Mathematical Business Analysis.

Not using Genie+, the most effective sequence of attractions in DHS seems to start with these attractions, in this order, according to our testing this year. It assumes you're at the very front of the rope-drop crowd for Slinky:

1. Slinky Dog Dash
2. Toy Story Mania
3. Runaway Railway
4. Tower of Terror
5. Star Tours
6. Smugglers Run (likely the longest wait in this set of attractions)
7. Alien Swirling Saucers

Slinky and Railway often open slighly earlier than the rest of the park as well, so that helps.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster hasn't been open during our testing. But if you're going in July, it may not be open during your trip anyway.

Let me know if none of this makes sense.

 

[georgina]

Some of the issues mentioned are why we no longer rope drop DHS. I have been more successful getting G+ and stacking them for later in the day.

 

[katyringo]

I agree with the posters who say:

Consider DHS being the park you hop to- and stack LL's for the evening time.
Or
Consider paying for the ILL for rise, genie+ SDD and rope drop tower and RR.

Rope dropping SDD and/or Rise will end 1 of 3 ways:

-if you aren't toward the very front of the SDD line you will waste your entire EE there.
-Rise will be down when you get there and then you are once again wasting your EE
-you will get on Rise and then you are too far away from SDD to have a short wait at SDD.

Doing both during EE, while I'm not going to say never happens, does not typically happen.

 

[Mardigras2025]

If I have kids who might want to ride SDD twice above everything else, would it be wasteful to try to rope drop and get the first LL?

If SDD is a rope drop success - best to finish up Toy Story Land while there, or go to the next top priority (MMRR), or down to smuggler’s run?

 

[Mouse Tracker]

If RD SSD is successful and there is time left during EE - do MMRR

 

[scrappinginontario]

If I have kids who might want to ride SDD twice above everything else, would it be wasteful to try to rope drop and get the first LL?

If SDD is a rope drop success - best to finish up Toy Story Land while there, or go to the next top priority (MMRR), or down to smuggler’s run?

This would be ideal (rope dropping and 'get the first LL') but, SDD LL fills for the day within minutes so I would take whatever time you can get.

How you tour from there (finishing TSL first or moving on) will partially be driven by your LL time for SDD. Our family tends to do as you suggest and enjoy the TSL attractions while we are already in the area.

 

[Mardigras2025]

This would be ideal (rope dropping and 'get the first LL') but, SDD LL fills for the day within minutes so I would take whatever time you can get.

How you tour from there (finishing TSL first or moving on) will partially be driven by your LL time for SDD. Our family tends to do as you suggest and enjoy the TSL attractions while we are already in the area.

Thanks! If we are rope dropping SDD, and the LL is a backup for a failed RD or a second ride, would be totally fine for it to be later in the day (maybe even pushed to when it’s dark). But it does probably make sense to do all of TSM at once first thing in the AM. Just wondered if TSM, MMRR, or MDSR was best second attraction after SDD during early entry if I have genie+.

 

[jimim]

Another option is to ride ROTR during the last hour of park opening. You can usually get on in about 15 minutes.

ssssssh. . . that's a power tip. . . lol kidding. . .

remember how we all had to find our own tips and tricks years and years ago. . .

 

[jimim]

If I have kids who might want to ride SDD twice above everything else, would it be wasteful to try to rope drop and get the first LL?

If SDD is a rope drop success - best to finish up Toy Story Land while there, or go to the next top priority (MMRR), or down to smuggler’s run?

all depends on slinky being up right at EE. been there any a time that it is struggling. . . if you go to rise first will that be in struggle mode? if everything is up and running as it should. . . how busy was the park EE opening? it's a gamble. we always drop slinky. then we go over to mania and do it 2 times and keep going on it until the line gets longer than 15 mins. we then hop over to the train and. then to tower. we are night time back into the park people after dinner and ride rise. . . for pot we do that for the rat.