"Inverted" Rope Drop Approach

[Thomasboys]

Has anyone who has been recently found it to be a better RD approach to go to some of the tier 2/3 rides and do tier 1 rides later in the day? Normally we'd RD SDMT, SDD, FOP, etc., but I've been tracking times today and I'm rethinking this approach. For example here are the times for each of the rides for 9:30a/10a/11:15a/2:30p

FOP: 40m/40m/35m/25m
SDD: 65m/65m/80m/50m
TOT: 50m/65m/60m/50m
SDMT: 60m/55m/80m/50m

By these numbers, all of these rides had the best times at 2:30p. It kind of makes me wonder if we should head to some of our other favorite rides and save these for the afternoon? Granted I missed the earlier window for AK (opened at 8a) and MK/HS (opened at 9a). Of course, if we are ahead of the crowds, we will probably hit these rides first. I need to test this theory the next few days with the posted wait times at PPO and opening.

 

[MDIME]

Has anyone who has been recently found it to be a better RD approach to go to some of the tier 2/3 rides and do tier 1 rides later in the day? Normally we'd RD SDMT, SDD, FOP, etc., but I've been tracking times today and I'm rethinking this approach. For example here are the times for each of the rides for 9:30a/10a/11:15a/2:30p

FOP: 40m/40m/35m/25m
SDD: 65m/65m/80m/50m
TOT: 50m/65m/60m/50m
SDMT: 60m/55m/80m/50m

By these numbers, all of these rides had the best times at 2:30p. It kind of makes me wonder if we should head to some of our other favorite rides and save these for the afternoon? Granted I missed the earlier window for AK (opened at 8a) and MK/HS (opened at 9a). Of course, if we are ahead of the crowds, we will probably hit these rides first. I need to test this theory the next few days with the posted wait times at PPO and opening.

Interesting! Maybe there’s a drop in wait times around 2:00 bc hopping crowds are in transit?

 

[scrappinginontario]

If I were in a park before opening, I'd head to the headliners as people are reporting getting 1-4 of those done in short order. If arriving even after rope drop it might be better to look at the option you suggest.

Rope drop seems to be more important now than it was in the past, especially without FPs.

 

[sarahonmainst]

I could definitely see this working! I feel like a lot of people are still sticking with the one park a day strategy even though they have brought park-hopping back (myself included), which means you could potentially see parks less crowded in the afternoons. And then by afternoon the first wave of "rope droppers" are through those in-demand rides, making the waits less afterward.

 

[JennyDrake]

If I were in a park before opening, I'd head to the headliners as people are reporting getting 1-4 of those done in short order. If arriving even after rope drop it might be better to look at the option you suggest.

Rope drop seems to be more important now than it was in the past, especially without FPs.

Hi! I've been in November and February and I can say that you can still get a lot done with rope drop. Whether the crowds drop seems more random. It was noticeable for me at HS, less so at AK and MK. Seemed all over the place at Epcot. Also, *for now* the parks are still operating with shorter hours. I didn't see any mass exodus of crowds after 2pm anywhere. YMMV

 

[jolinda]

This is basically what we plan to do. My 19yo son and I are coming from the west coast, so getting up early for rope drop just isn't going to happen. We understand we might not hit the shortest lines, and we're fine with that. It does look like most rides hit an early peak then slowly decline through the day.

 

[WhitneyMB]

The parks all open 30-45 minutes before published opening times. During this early time, you definitely want to head to the headliners because 1) the lines are shorter than most of the rest of the day, and 2) these are often the only rides in the park open! By an hour after posted open (when my family had been in the park 90-105 minutes), the lines started getting very long.

We did find that some lines for headliners we shorter at 2pm-5pm than at 9:30/10am (depending on park hours). We found this a reason to eat an earlier lunch and go on smaller rides starting at that time.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[gharter]

From the threads I've read, it seems you either want to be there before RD and then hit the main attractions or if you get there after RD do the non main attractions first and do the main ones later in the afternoon. On a busier day, the afternoon approach may still lead to long waits.

 

[Sunshine2U]

When I used the "enhance" feature on TouringPlans the recommended order was unexpected, to say the least. For example, AK at normal opening listed Bugs to Dino to Everest to Safari. When I changed time for rope drop/early entry it gave a warning on the time but did list FOP first but then went to Bugs-Dino-Everest-Safari. hmmm I think I'll check times and still head to Safari after FOP if the times look good.

 

[Thomasboys]

When I used the "enhance" feature on TouringPlans the recommended order was unexpected, to say the least. For example, AK at normal opening listed Bugs to Dino to Everest to Safari. When I changed time for rope drop/early entry it gave a warning on the time but did list FOP first but then went to Bugs-Dino-Everest-Safari. hmmm I think I'll check times and still head to Safari after FOP if the times look good.

Oh wow, that’s kind of a wild approach from TP!

 

[MomOTwins]

Has anyone who has been recently found it to be a better RD approach to go to some of the tier 2/3 rides and do tier 1 rides later in the day? Normally we'd RD SDMT, SDD, FOP, etc., but I've been tracking times today and I'm rethinking this approach. For example here are the times for each of the rides for 9:30a/10a/11:15a/2:30p

FOP: 40m/40m/35m/25m
SDD: 65m/65m/80m/50m
TOT: 50m/65m/60m/50m
SDMT: 60m/55m/80m/50m

By these numbers, all of these rides had the best times at 2:30p. It kind of makes me wonder if we should head to some of our other favorite rides and save these for the afternoon? Granted I missed the earlier window for AK (opened at 8a) and MK/HS (opened at 9a). Of course, if we are ahead of the crowds, we will probably hit these rides first. I need to test this theory the next few days with the posted wait times at PPO and opening.

30 mins after open is not rope drop—30 minutes before opening is, and wait times then are often walk on or close to it. If you won’t be arriving until after par official open time, afternoon is better (unless it is summer, when afternoon rain shuts everything down)

 

[Thomasboys]

30 mins after open is not rope drop—30 minutes before opening is, and wait times then are often walk on or close to it. If you won’t be arriving until after par official open time, afternoon is better (unless it is summer, when afternoon rain shuts everything down)

That’s why I said, “granted I missed the earlier window”...

 

[MomOTwins]

That’s why I said, “granted I missed the earlier window”...

I guess I just don’t understand the question then. The question seemed to be is it better to rope drop the tier 1 stuff or do them later in the day. It is better to rope drop them.

 

[SummersMom]

When I used the "enhance" feature on TouringPlans the recommended order was unexpected, to say the least. For example, AK at normal opening listed Bugs to Dino to Everest to Safari. When I changed time for rope drop/early entry it gave a warning on the time but did list FOP first but then went to Bugs-Dino-Everest-Safari. hmmm I think I'll check times and still head to Safari after FOP if the times look good.

Last February TP told me to go to Dino, Everest, then Safari, which is backwards from what I always do. I gave it a shot and they were right! We totally avoided crowds that day. We rope dropped FOP, then headed to Dino and found a nearly empty park. It was great.

 

[mamamelody2]

If you can get there BEFORE opening, then go to the headliners. If you arrive close to actual opening time, you missed the window for short morning waits on the headliners. Head to middle-tier rides, then do the headliners later.

For instance in January, we were front of the pack at Hollywood Studios. Like 3rd in line at the temperature check. When they started letting people in, we booked it for Slinky Dog. It was just me and my 14 year old son so we could move at a good pace. We walked on to the second train of the day, then got back in line and waited just a few minutes. After that, the line was starting to back up, so we moved on to other things.

 

[SmallWorld71]

My experience over President’s week was no, that approach is not better. Rope drop (which isn’t actually a thing right now) aka getting to the parks 30-45 min. early and picking a couple headliners is your best bet. If you don’t get to the park until opening or after, then definitely change it up. Don’t wait for the headliners in the morning if you are not there before the park opens. On our MK day, 7DMT was having technical difficulties at park opening, so we quickly had to change it up. We did Peter Pan, Small World, and Haunted Mansion before the park was open. At AK we were off FoP before park opening, and at Epcot we were off of Frozen before park opening. Loved not having a rope drop! So much calmer!

 

[Leigh L]

I agree with @SmallWorld71 to plan to get to parks as early as possible and go for the headliners (unless arriving later then I'd probably let wait times dictate my day). The only one personally we've avoided at MK in the morning is 7DMT because it's been iffy lately and it seems everyone goes there. Instead, we head to Frontierland (combined with Pirates if Splash isn't running yet which we then double back - Pirates also isn't always open before 9. Big Thunder always has in our experience). Or we start in Tomorrowland with Space/Buzz and then either PP or IASW before hitting some of the 2/3 tier rides in Fantasyland or HM (that one seems to always open at 9).

At DHS, ToT wait times only seem to go up in our experience. (And the park has maybe cleared out a little but not enough to make a huge difference until very late in the day.) We do ToT at pre-park opening as soon as we tap in, then RnR. ToT only seems to go up during the day/night while MMRR, Slinky, and Smuggler's eventually go down but not walk on. During the day for Slinky, our rule of thumb is that if the end of the line ends near the beginning of the land it'll be about 30-60 minutes wait depending on how many trains are running. If it goes out of the land, we won't get on line. We've seen it stretch back by the Mermaid show more than a few occasions.

I could see the Tier 2/3 ride strategy working at MK although you risk many of those rides don't start until 9. So if arriving at 9 or later, you'll have longer lines but might be a better strategy (we are get there as early as possible people lol)

 

[LSUfan4444]

The biggest benefit of rope dropping (at least in terms of wait times) is for at least E ticket attraction at its lowest wait point.