early rope drop?

[yhz123]

On days that they anticipate a high volume of visitors, such as July 4th for example, does the rope drop ever happen earlier than the posted time?
I'm specifically wondering about non-early entry days.

 

[LKing]

On days that they anticipate a high volume of visitors, such as July 4th for example, does the rope drop ever happen earlier than the posted time?

July 4 doesn't get busy until the afternoon/evening when local pass holders start arriving for fireworks.

 

[Brandonius]

On days that they anticipate a high volume of visitors, such as July 4th for example, does the rope drop ever happen earlier than the posted time?
I'm specifically wondering about non-early entry days.

They always always always drop +- 90 seconds of opening time. The only variance may happen wayyy back at bag check where lines would cause disruption to bus or pedestrian traffic off property, but I'm aware of like 1-2 instances of that ever.

Also historically July 3-4 is not actually very busy if u look at wait time data. Staffing costs 2x normal, so they don't allow as many reservations in. The "feels like" crowds were high in the past because of locals coming in with their APs, but it looks like they've seriously throttled rez availability this year.

 

[LKing]

Staffing costs 2x normal, so they don't allow as many reservations in.

Do you have a source for this?

The "feels like" crowds were high in the past because of locals coming in with their APs, but it looks like they've seriously throttled rez availability this year.

MK reservations are open for both parks on July 4

 

[Brandonius]

Anecdotal employee stories from when I worked at Universal Hollywood - former Disney cast members who switched parks.

At USH we would get paid 2x if we signed up to work on July 4th, and management had to stagger ticket sales so that the amount of people who bought for the day never outstripped the amount of available staff. They also didn't sell tickets day of. Similar for other holidays. It was a huge operation by HR.

 

[Jawwdoc]

I’ve seen plenty of variability with regards to what time they open the gates from harbor to the pre-security tent, the release to the actual security screening and when they open the main gates and allow guests to scan in but I do not recall ever experiencing a true rope drop that wasn’t at the precise time (typically 8:00 for non early entry). I have also experienced EE where there is no rope drop you just scan your hotel room key or show your reservation in the app and keep on trucking to the first attraction but typically there is a 7:30 rope drop for EE.

 

[wench]

I was there for 4th of July last year. It was crazy busy at night. They turned almost the whole park into 1 way walkways that made you go extremely out of your way to get wherever you wanted. But as others have said, it wasn’t bad in the day.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I was there for 4th of July last year. It was crazy busy at night. They turned almost the whole park into 1 way walkways that made you go extremely out of your way to get wherever you wanted. But as others have said, it wasn’t bad in the day.

That’s pretty much every weekend right now especially with the fireworks blocking off access to most of Fantasyland. Always fun watching people (who shouldn’t be) riding ECVs come to a dead stop while they look at their map, blocking hundreds of people…