Experiences with Rope Drop Staying Offsite

[becks59]

I’m curious what people do for rope dropping as a non resort guest. We are staying offsite this June and wondering how important rope dropping is versus just getting there at park opening and not worrying about getting there way early. I figure MK I can still rope drop adventure land or liberty square, but what about HS, AK, and EPCOT?

I’ve also heard they’ve changed some aspects of rope drop. (Like where guests are held) Does this only apply to early entry or is it for offsite guests too?

We will have LLMP for our MK and HS days. Most likely going to get LLSP for Guardians too.

 

[nursejackie]

New rules apply to on-site guests. At MK, instead of us being held at the entrances to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, we can now wait in line at the attractions in those lands, then when early entry official starts, we're ready to ride. Off-site guests will be held as usual until official park hours commence.

 

[kathy884]

Given that Disney has around 40,000 onsite hotel rooms, etc. the difference is noticeable for sure. IMHO there is no longer a rope drop advantage for the offsite visitor (no short morning lines really, especially for major attractions). I can't bring myself to pay onsite lodging prices with so many great offsite bargains on great condos, etc. But boy do I miss being able to do rope drop and I notice that I am no longer vacationing at WDW as much as I used to.

Offsite visitors can't buy the fastpasses as soon as onsite visitors can too, so those while adding the cost of a visit don't really help all that much either. I have never for example been able to purchase the single super popular attraction single lightening lanes (all sold out when offsite can first buy when I have tried). And for the multipass lightening lane, it has usually only saved me significant time on one or two attractions (onsite get to pick their attractions before the offsite visitor) (not a great bang for the buck, but I have bought it on each visit I have done to maximize my theme park experience, given how expensive the tickets are and how infrequently we come now.)

I still enjoy the parks, but without the rope drop advantage it's not as fun for me as it used to be. But like I said, I still haven't been willing to fork over the monies for the onsite lodging.