I don't get rope dropping a high demand attraction

[Delirium]

Things change over time. We used to have the most success rope dropping Magic Kingdom by starting in Adventureland and moving to Frontierland. Over time, that did not work as well. In our most recent couple of visits (pre-pandemic), We had great success with a Tomorrowland rope drop.

Buzz Lightyear is the absolute best attraction to rope drop. It is an attraction where the lines build later, but it is such a quick ride you can move on quickly to something else, For a 9 o'clock rope drop, we were able to do Buzz, The Speedway, and Tea Cups by 9:30 and were on our way to our Space Mountain FP by 9:30.

 

[Jonfw2]

Important rope drop observation:

No matter which park you go to, when you’re speed walking to your ride of choice, there’s always one dude just sitting there drinking a cup of coffee.

You stood in line outside the gates for this?!?!

 

[BrotherCraig]

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.

Probably not but we did see it was busy in the morning and afternoon. So much, that we didn't even attempt it during the day. Same for Space Mountain. We rode that one at night an hour before closing a couple of times with zero wait. During the day, it was a 40 minute wait without FastPass.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

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.

What about the people who value their sleep by going to bed early?

 

[MainMom]

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.

Exactly! When I travel with my family of 11-13 people we rope drop almost every day. We all love it and know it’s how WE get the most out of our park time. Then we head back to the hotel after lunch and swim or relax. Evenings are much more casual. Dinner, fireworks, a ride or 2. It works for us.

 

[BrotherCraig]

My question is - how do people with small kids rope drop successfully? I just don't see it being possible with so many people running to the same top rides before the lines get long. What about those that get in early due to staying on property? Are they ahead of the rope drop folks? Trying to think how it would go in parks like HS. Anyone?

Just don't want my kids to be a victim of a stampede because I know most adults who rope drop don't care about the elderly or small kids. lol I have seen videos of them being pushed out of the way.

 

[Brian Noble]

As mentioned, the reason many folks are willing to get there super-early is that there isn't "anything else to do" then. And, that's true if the only thing you want to do on vacation is ride rides. I also like sleeping, enjoying a nice breakfast, or being able to stay out a little later the night before because I don't have to get up quite so early the next day.

I used to be a rope-drop-the-big-thing person, but that changed many years ago based on one really awful experience. We were belly-to-the-rope at Epcot, and headed to Soarin'. This was back in its first few years of operation, when it was the Hot Ticket in the park. The plan was: stay at the front of the pack, pull a set of FPs for later, then ride Standby. I'd done this before and knew what to expect.

For some reason, though, I was incredibly stressed and annoyed by the experience. I'm not sure what was different that day. Maybe I was running on too-little sleep, or maybe something else was on my mind. I'm not sure. But, I remember thinking as I was walking up to The Land that I was never going to do this again. Why was I putting myself through this stressful experience, dragging my family through it as well, to get a second ride on Soarin' when there were plenty of things in the Park we rarely got the chance to do, because we were too busy re-riding Soarin'.

I realized I was doing this because Soarin' was hard to ride without a wait, and we were doing it twice, so this must mean we were having more fun, right?

From then on, I almost never tried to rope drop The Big Thing in parks that had something like that. Every once in a while I might, but usually only once every two or three trips, certainly not every trip and definintely not more than once per trip.

History has shown we were not having more fun. We were just riding Soarin' twice. We enjoyed our trips just as much, and in some ways even more, by not stressing out first thing in the morning and doing something else instead. We still get there before the park opens, but we are not worried about being at the front, and our first destination is one that we don't need to be hustling to to have a shortish wait.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

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.

That'sbeen us on Jungle Cruise a couple of times.

At Disney, I'm up at 5 a.m. wide awake, itching to go. .

Yup. I'm like a little kid at Christmas.

I get not wanting to get up early on a vacation though for some people. I just don't really view Disney trips as a relaxing type vacation. I go to different types of resorts for that. With a beach and a lounge chair and a guy named Hamantro who brings me cocktails all day. We rarely do longer than 3 or 4 days though as we are Florida residents.

No, for me I'm generally over caffeinated up at 5:30 (my kids won't sleep past that in a hotel anyways) and itching to go.

My question is - how do people with small kids rope drop successfully? I just don't see it being possible with so many people running to the same top rides before the lines get long. What about those that get in early due to staying on property? Are they ahead of the rope drop folks? Trying to think how it would go in parks like HS. Anyone?

Just don't want my kids to be a victim of a stampede because I know most adults who rope drop don't care about the elderly or small kids. lol I have seen videos of them being pushed out of the way.

I couldn't imagine trying to drag my 2 and 4 years old in the running of the bulls that is high demand rope dropping. That's why we stroll to where there is quiet. If everyone is going left, we go right. I did the rope drop thing for 7DMT when it first opened and no, we won't do that again.

 

[ZellyB]

My question is - how do people with small kids rope drop successfully? I just don't see it being possible with so many people running to the same top rides before the lines get long. What about those that get in early due to staying on property? Are they ahead of the rope drop folks? Trying to think how it would go in parks like HS. Anyone?

Just don't want my kids to be a victim of a stampede because I know most adults who rope drop don't care about the elderly or small kids. lol I have seen videos of them being pushed out of the way.

It's been awhile since I had little ones, but we did do rope drop with them. We did our best to get there extra early to be at the front of the crowd and then didn't worry if some people moved past us. As long as we were near the front even with getting passed up we were still getting to the attraction with not that many people in front of us. I would never try to get in a pushing match with people to stay ahead whether I had little ones with me or not. Having kids added to the stress somewhat but wasn't terrible. I never had anyone push or shove me or my kids out of the way. They might speed walk past me, but never physically try to move me.

What's great about this thread is seeing that people value different things at the parks and there is a strategy that works for everyone to get the most out of their time. For us, we've always enjoyed the rush and excitement of rope drop and being some of the first in the park and given we are very early risers and early to bed folks at home we just translate that to Disney. But for those who enjoy sleeping in and staying up late, that works great as well.

 

[jimmymc]

Rope-dropping used to not be as big of a deal as it is now. You could show up 15 minutes before, walk right over to a big attraction at opening, and wait another 15 minutes for a total of 30, as opposed to an hour or more later in the day. As word got out, more and more people became obsessed with it and now you're correct, you have to get there very early. I do also think that Animal Kingdom is the worst for everyone heading to one spot because Flight of Passage stands out as the top attraction. Here are my rope-drop strategies:

Magic Kingdom - head to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder while most crowds go to 7 Dwarfs. Basically any ride except 7 Dwarfs is a good choice here

Epcot - One park where rope drop pretty much works like it used to. I'll usually go to Test Track if it's open, Frozen if it's not

Studios - The other park where I think rope drop still works like it used to and you should hit the bigger rides first. If I'm with a group and we want to do Smuggler's run together, we'll go there. If not, I'll do Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster first, then do single rider line on Smuggler's Run later. Mickey and Minnie's is the only ride I see the line build up early in the day, anything else is worth the rope drop

Animal Kingdom - Straight to Everest if it's early hours, or the safari if it's normal opening time

 

[ZeeWP]

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.

The same could be said for early risers and late nights. I don't even know if I will be able to keep my kids awake for fireworks, much less late night times. But they will be up an hour or two before park time "naturally" so early morning is better for us.

 

[ZeeWP]

Important rope drop observation:

No matter which park you go to, when you’re speed walking to your ride of choice, there’s always one dude just sitting there drinking a cup of coffee.

You stood in line outside the gates for this?!?!

It's the dad of the family who says 7DMT was a lame ride but secretly is scared ****less of roller coasters.

 

[BrotherCraig]

What about the Early Entry (30 minutes)? Doesn't that make Rope Drop a non-issue?

 

[Pohra]

Rope-dropping used to not be as big of a deal as it is now. You could show up 15 minutes before, walk right over to a big attraction at opening, and wait another 15 minutes for a total of 30, as opposed to an hour or more later in the day.

Very true. I remember my first visit to WDW decades ago when my mother and I managed to ride Space Mountain something like four times in the first hour before the crowds hit. Good times. Of course, then we were on the people mover and my mom saw Space Mountain with the lights on because it was down for service, and realized what she'd actually been riding. She never rode Space Mountain again...

 

[JayMass]

What about the Early Entry (30 minutes)? Doesn't that make Rope Drop a non-issue?

Yeah, I'd imagine so. Well, maybe there will be rope dropping for those eligible for early entry?

 

[Anthony1971]

We rope drop High demand attractions. We do not show up 30 minutes before the park opens.... We get to the park around opening time maybe 10 minutes early maybe 5 minutes late. Wait on the line which is usually very short do on the remainder of the rides we want and do to a different park. (yes this year was different) Example we would to go to AK go on FOP, Safari head over to Everest, Dino, prime evil whirl (now closed) back to Everest and be on the bus to another park by 11AM (including waiting for the bus). We would have FP+ at another park. (I know it is paid going forward) AK is just way to hot by midday however this year we ate at Flame tree for lunch which i will say i miss eating at.. We were however able to go to AK later in years in past when they were open until 9 for flame tree and Everest.
side note if it were cool I could and have spent a lot of time at AK as there is a lot to see and do and even now sometimes i will do the walking trains and river rapids which takes an extra few minutes.

 

[Brian Noble]

What about the Early Entry (30 minutes)? Doesn't that make Rope Drop a non-issue?

There are more than 36,000 hotel rooms eligible for Early Entry. Granted, not all of those rooms will be rope-droppers, and they will spread out across all four parks. But, that's still likely to be a sizeable chunk of people.

But for anyone not eligible, there is definitely no reason to try to get to one of these super-headliners first thing, because there will already be a sizeable line.

 

[snikki]

We’ve never rope dropped a headliner. I can’t deal with that chaos. I’ve seen reports and videos of fights breaking out, kids being run over, people falling, etc. Luckily we’ve always had a FP+ and in the legacy FP days the kids were small so it would kinda suck to RD a coaster when not everyone could ride it. Everyone is full of excitement and it’s “sorry kid. You have to wait it out.”

When we rope drop we arrive about 20-30 minutes early (never an hour or more) and do other rides. In MK we go to Frontierland (fantasyland back in the day). Last trip we went to Space one morning, they held us in front of the land until actual RD and were one of the first ones on. In AK we go to safari or EE. Epcot we go to soarin. DHS we go to RnRC and ToT.

We take 8-9 night trips. I like to RD each park once and the other days we mix it up with late starts or evening starts. I love the morning vibe in the parks so some early days are a must and I love night atmospheres in the parks so some closing down the parks days are a must.

I don’t know what our strategy will be with IAS and the headliners. I know for sure I will be paying for ROTR and probably FOP. For the rest I’m not completely sure. I don’t think early entry RD will be insane for things like safari and space so I would be willing to RD those but for the rest of them I’m unsure on our strategy. I will see once it all launches and I see others strategies.

 

[DisneyOma]

Probably not but we did see it was busy in the morning and afternoon. So much, that we didn't even attempt it during the day. Same for Space Mountain. We rode that one at night an hour before closing a couple of times with zero wait. During the day, it was a 40 minute wait without FastPass.

We had the same happen at Galaxy's Edge last month - the place cleared out after all the BGs were gone from the second release. Evenings there were my favorite. 15 minute waits for MFSR, SDD, walk on for TSM, etc.

My question is - how do people with small kids rope drop successfully? I just don't see it being possible with so many people running to the same top rides before the lines get long. What about those that get in early due to staying on property? Are they ahead of the rope drop folks? Trying to think how it would go in parks like HS. Anyone?

Just don't want my kids to be a victim of a stampede because I know most adults who rope drop don't care about the elderly or small kids. lol I have seen videos of them being pushed out of the way.

I've been going to WDW for decades, and my kids and I have never been victims of a stampede. We've been rope drop people because my kids were used to going to bed early for school, etc, and so we put them to bed early most nights and they woke up early with plenty of energy. We stayed out late once or twice, and let them sleep until they woke up themselves the next morning.

 

[luv2cheer92]

For me, 6AM is sleeping in. I'm up, so of course I'm gonna go to a park. But I'm also one that maximizes every bit of my park time. Rope drop to close every single day. I'm not a relaxing vacation kind of person anyway, but especially not at WDW.