I don't get rope dropping a high demand attraction

[JayMass]

I'm with you, I always used rope dropping for volume, not high demand rides. I always save high demand rides for the last hour or so before closing.

I did successfully rope drop Slinky Dog Dash. Once. Never again. Too much silliness and lines.

The last hour is my favorite time in the parks. This past August during the last hour at MK we walked onto SM, HM, BTMRR (2x in a row) and ended with Splash walk on.

 

[BrotherCraig]

It's much easier to get my family to the parks a 8am than keep them up past 9pm.

Yeah. Not a one size fits all thing that is for sure. I rather wait until late than hitting rope drop and waiting for an hour or two for a single ride. That seems much worse with kids than having them hit the ride late. Plus, we head back to the resort and let them take a nap on days like that.

 

[BrotherCraig]

The last hour is my favorite time in the parks. This past August during the last hour at MK we walked onto SM, HM, BTMRR (2x in a row) and ended with Splash walk on.

I agree. It is the best part of any Disney park day. Every ride - just pretty much walk on. Amazing.

 

[DLgal]

I don't get rope dropping, period. Those parks are usually open for at least 10 hours. Its plenty of time.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I like rope dropping but not for any strategic reason. I just love being in the park in the morning before it gets hot and the crowds get massive. Sipping my overpriced coffee while strolling down the still wet streets of MK is just something I love. That first hour or so I forget all the money I spent to be in here and just take it in.

It is nice to go to Adventureland and ride everything over there within an hour of being in the park though, but I long ago stopped going to Disney to meet some ride quota. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not my thing anymore.

All that being said, Rope Dropping for strategic purposes can certainly work if done right whether it be for big ticket rides or ride as much as possible with minimal wait. I have done both in the past.

 

[cgattis]

I like rope dropping but not for any strategic reason. I just love being in the park in the morning before it gets hot and the crowds get massive. Sipping my overpriced coffee while strolling down the still wet streets of MK is just something I love. That first hour or so I forget all the money I spent to be in here and just take it in.

I love that too! And at the resorts as well. But I also love the strategic advantages as well, so win-win.

The last hour is my favorite time in the parks.

I also love the lights and the way it feels as it empties out. And a bonus ride of a headliner or favorite ride is awesome. However, the “hop on at close” strategy can backfire if a ride goes down and it’s your last night, or last night in that park, or you just tire out and have to leave before you get to it. Gotten burned a couple of times so that’s never our main strategy.

 

[gharter]

As others said. IF I'm at the front of the line, then a popular attraction makes sense. If I'm further back, then I'll go for quantity and plan to ride the popular ones near park close.
Unless we are not staying for close, then I might do the popular one even with a slightly longer wait (knowing it most likely will only get worse).

 

[Jonfw2]

I don't get rope dropping, period. Those parks are usually open for at least 10 hours. Its plenty of time.

It’s fun and exciting.

Last trip, my daughter and I were the very first two people on Pirates. Literally the only two people in the first boat of the day. It was a super cool experience.

 

[DLgal]

It’s fun and exciting.

Last trip, my daughter and I were the very first two people on Pirates. Literally the only two people in the first boat of the day. It was a super cool experience.

You can also get that experience late at night. My favorite time in Disneyland used to be 11pm-midnught. We were often the only people on most rides.

I guess I value my sleep too much and cannot fathom waking up early on vacation.

 

[DisneyKidds]

When we were there in July the FoP line never dropped below 160 minutes. 65 at rope drop allowed us to ride what is the best attraction in all of WDW. An hour or so is my limit, I don’t do triple digit minutes! At AK going on at park close doesn’t work for us, we are usually out of Dodge long before that!

 

[VandVsmama]

You can also get that experience late at night. My favorite time in Disneyland used to be 11pm-midnught. We were often the only people on most rides.

I guess I value my sleep too much and cannot fathom waking up early on vacation.

About 6-7 yr ago, we went on POTC 3 times in a row with no wait while Fantasmic was going on. It was great. My kids still talk about that!

 

[chaoskids]

green.

This is why we rope drop FOP!

 

[Pohra]

How much will the return of Early Entry affect rope drop strategy at WDW? I haven't been since before HS and AK existed, so I wonder how large the crowd is that can get in 30 minutes early and if that will make it a bit easier to get far enough up front at rope drop to beat the wait.

 

[bdiddy]

I think rope dropping a ride is only worth it if you are literally at the front of the crowd and know that you will be one of the first on the ride. But how early do you have to get up and out for that? It’s just not worth it IMO. I much prefer to get there just after rope drop after the crowd has disbursed and hit up a bunch of mid level rides that will be pretty much walk-on while everyone else is waiting in a crazy line for the more popular rides.

 

[GoingSince1990]

But right after that first headliner ride, you’re in really good shape to zip around doing a bunch of other things before the lines have a chance to build up. I’m jealous of those morning people who can easily benefit from RD; I am not one of them.

 

[Ensusieasm]

To me there are two types of rope dropping:

1. Rope dropping to ride multiple lower demand rides with no wait. (Like at MK doing HM, BTMRR, PoC, SW, etc.)
2. Rope dropping to ride a high demand attraction (Like 7DMT, FoP, and now ROTR)

I get the first one. If you are in there super early you can get a bunch of attractions done with low wait times. What I don't get is the second one, the high demand attraction. Take FoP for example, you wait outside AK for 45 minutes for open. Then you wait 15 minutes at a hold point (like the bridge). You then wait another 5 minutes before you actually get to the pre-show. My math isn't great but that's 65 minutes of wait time. If I saw FoP with 65 min. stand-by wait I'm not riding it. So maybe there's an advantage here if FoP is like 100+ mins all day. However, you still waited a really, really long time for that ride. Also, when someone does this type of rope drop they say "I rope dropped FoP and it was a walk on!" That to me is not entirely accurate--they did wait, it just wasn't in line.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful here. I'm genuinely interested in having someone explain the advantage of it. Is there a piece that I'm missing?

Also, I'm talking about people who visit the parks somewhat regularly--not the once in a lifetime folks.

Used to be that you could get into AK 45 minutes early and be walking off FoP right at the scheduled park opening time, then accomplish everything else by noon. That worked great for me because I’m an early bird. I don’t think this will work once the parks open a half hour early for Disney hotel guests. But it was good while it lasted. It guaranteed me two FoP rides, because I would schedule my FoP fast pass for noon, then exit the park before it was too hot and too crowded.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’m not waking up early, period.

 

[teachmedis]

I don't know why I keep defending rope drop, when if I just kept quiet it'd be me and my 6 friends on this post at the front. First, some people are morning people. At Disney, I'm up at 5 a.m. wide awake, itching to go. For me, because I'm at the front, and when I say front I mean there are two rows-four rows of people in front of me, I do both quality and quantity. At Magic Kingdom Day 1 I will walk onto seven dwarfs, then walk on to Peter Pan, Pooh, Small World (less than 15 minute waits for each). On MK Day 2, I will rope drop seven dwarfs again (it's a family favorite) the btmrr, and then maybe pirates, haunted mansion etc. I just get on the first bus, and I'm within the first 8 people on the skyliner. It's not like I'm pacing outside the gates at 2 a.m.
Also as someone posted above. For those of us who rope drop, we aren't like omg I have to get up at what time?! Dreading it. It's fun for us, I love the race.

 

[DisneyOma]

No reason to rope drop for one popular ride. Hit the ride at the end of the park day. Rarely any wait time for most. We hit Everest 3 times in a row towards closing. Twice - we were the only ones on it.

Everest isn't really a rope drop attraction anymore, is it? When we were there last month, and also a few years ago, it's been a minimal wait for us. My daughter rides it 2-3 times in a row all the time.

 

[Jonfw2]

How much will the return of Early Entry affect rope drop strategy at WDW? I haven't been since before HS and AK existed, so I wonder how large the crowd is that can get in 30 minutes early and if that will make it a bit easier to get far enough up front at rope drop to beat the wait.

My experience has been that the resort-early crowds are very large.