Magic Kingdom Rope Drop Procedure: Provide Updates Here Please (since June 2014)

[BridgetBordeaux]

Thursday May 29th was an a.m. emh day!

 

[Jennasis]

Simple answer...get rid of Anna & Elsa. Stick 'em in a restaurant (CRT?) or something and make that the only way to meet them.

 

[Shrimp332]

uggg.. Maybe it will be better by the middle of Sept.

 

[Minniedap]

We were at the back of the rope drop crowd on June 9th. At the back we had no issues. Went to 7DMT first, the line took 15 minutes. Then we went to Race Cars, Space Mountain, Buzz, Stitch, and the Comedy Show. We were done with all that before we used our first FP at 11 AM for Space Mountain (2nd time for SM that day).

 

[bcinohio]

Can you branch off and go to the other lands or does everyone have to go through the Castle? If you want to go straight to Tomorrowland can you?

 

[PEC]

I'm not sure what the answer is, but they started the rope escort after many complaints about how the mass of people wanting to get in line for A & E' would literally run at full speed down Main Street. This put people, especially kids, in danger of getting knocked down and/or trampled. When we were there the end of May, I also thought it was very difficult to get across those tracks! Hope they can get it straitened out soon.

I remember that. Josh had a video and everybody was writing how dangerous it was with the people running. My job had this situation where we did it one way and people complained and then did it another way and people complained. Sometimes life gives you a choices that none are ideal.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Can you branch off and go to the other lands or does everyone have to go through the Castle? If you want to go straight to Tomorrowland can you?

Yes you can.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Simple answer...get rid of Anna & Elsa. Stick 'em in a restaurant (CRT?) or something and make that the only way to meet them.

Have them be the hostesses at Akershus and have Belle replace Cinderella as a princess who goes around to the tables. Makes sense to me. In fact, Disney could even up the cost to signature dining and still have a huge demand. I don't like the idea of upping the cost, but they could easily do that and it would help them to make even more money. And having Anna and Elsa in Norway does make a lot of sense.

 

[DaisyNY]

Was planning on RD for the first time this vacation...now maybe not...arrive fifteen minutes after opening to avoid the madness!

 

[AmyB2006]

Have them be the hostesses at Akershus and have Belle replace Cinderella as a princess who goes around to the tables. Makes sense to me. In fact, Disney could even up the cost to signature dining and still have a huge demand. I don't like the idea of upping the cost, but they could easily do that and it would help them to make even more money. And having Anna and Elsa in Norway does make a lot of sense.

I love this idea, but then we'd hear all the people complaining that the only way to see them is to pay extra money for the ADR.

 

[BlueFairy]

This is just a rehash of the old TSM and Soarin' stampede.

There definitely was some close quarters (we did this last week). But my family was able to stay together. We just held hands.

If you want to do 7DMT, you need to follow the path that ends at the Tea Cups and dont go through the castle.

I agree that this would be better if MK had an opening like DHS and Ep, but that would be difficult with the opening show. The crowd would easily envelope the bag check if they couldnt get through the "turnstiles" thus making the bag check hard to enforce.

What might work (thinking out loud) is the first 200 or so people to arrive at the gates have the option of skipping the show and proceeding to 7DMT where they would stand in the standby line until official opening. People might not be so mercenary to 7DMT if they know they will already be waiting 45+ minutes.

Can we somehow avoid going through the castle if we want to go to Ariel's Grotto at rope drop?

So we can go toward the teacups and swim against the grain to access other Fantasyland attractions? I'm still working on my touring plan but this sounds way better than going through the castle. However, I'm not familiar with the layout of New Fantasyland and the 7DMT queue.

 

[PrincessesX3]

What time do they lead the guests in? We have a 8:05 boutique reservation. Will I encounter problems getting up main street?

 

[4under4]

Have them be the hostesses at Akershus and have Belle replace Cinderella as a princess who goes around to the tables. Makes sense to me. In fact, Disney could even up the cost to signature dining and still have a huge demand. I don't like the idea of upping the cost, but they could easily do that and it would help them to make even more money. And having Anna and Elsa in Norway does make a lot of sense.

I was thinking the same thing! It would be an excellent solution! Cindy has 2 restaurants, Belle has 1, give A&E one! They could still have a M&G at MK, but at least there would be an option that allowed people to avoid the stampede.

 

[Drusilla]

We want to see the RD show at MK so where is the best place to watch from and what time should we get to MK for a 9am opening?

 

[tpettie]

This madness makes me sad. I didn't mind it at DHS kind of liked the rush....

But for MK i like the walking in with my family seeing the castle strolling main street, seeing the look the faces of the guest who haven't been before.

Feeling herded like chattel and mushed together trying not to miss step on the walk way is going to take away all that.

I like RD I like the opening show I'm crossing my fingers for change as we plan our Oct trip with grandma who has had knew replacement surgery and moves more cautiously now.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We were there on Memorial Day and our experience was the same as OP's. I've been to a lot of RDs and experienced the "running of the bulls" at the "It" attraction over the years--M:S (yes, Mission:Space--see below*), Soarin, TSM, you name it. I've never been in a more crowded, dangerous situation than the new MK RD.

Putting that throng into the tight space of the castle walk-through is like a Play-Doh Fun Factory of humanity. Lots of jostling, pushing, tripping (and cursing--definitely less than magical). And that's after navigating the trolley tracks down Main Street, curbs and other objects that can cause you to turn an ankle or worse.

I'm a big guy and was genuinely worried about being trampled. I'll never do that again. We were there later in the week for RD and hung back a couple of minutes so we avoided that mess, then went to Tomorrowland. If you're going to new Fantasyland at RD and want to be at the front--well, "Good luck, bro," as they say on the WDW Today podcast.




*--I still remember going to EP in 04 when M:S was still new and they didn't have Soarin yet. The throng was surging toward M:S and, to a lesser degree, TT. Before the stampede began, I still remember a CM saying, "OK, everybody walk--everybody will get to ride Mission: Space today!" How times have changed.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I was thinking the same thing! It would be an excellent solution! Cindy has 2 restaurants, Belle has 1, give A&E one! They could still have a M&G at MK, but at least there would be an option that allowed people to avoid the stampede.

That's exactly right. They need more than one place to meet them. And you can't tell me that Disney didn't realize this was going to be a problem when they moved them to MK. I was at Epcot during the Anna and Elsa in Norway mess. I saw the lines of people waiting 5+ hours for those princesses. They had to know that the line was going to follow them to the other park. Why not have them at both parks? And, even better, when they decide that Animal Kingdom desperately needs an Arctic/Antarctica area, put them there for a regular meet and greet, as well, if the demand is still up there. I just don't understand it. Let's face it. If people are standing in line, they aren't buying food or souvenirs. They aren't going on new rides and falling in love with various attractions. Standing in line for 5 hours to meet 2 princesses isn't going to be enough to get return guests. Have the guests wait less time, leaving more time for rides, attractions, dining, and shopping.

But that's just my idea. I'm sure there's a reason that they haven't done these things and there's a reason I don't have a multi-million dollar a year salary to help plan these things.

 

[Minnie824]

Can you cut through the emporium at all? We're planning to do Frontierland on park opening and thought maybe we can cut through the store and venture off past Crystal Palace. Will that work?

 

[BrianL]

We want to see the RD show at MK so where is the best place to watch from and what time should we get to MK for a 9am opening?

Anywhere in the area between the tap points and the gates is good for Welcome Show, but the middle area will be better (but further from the gates). I love this show so I like to see it from front and center, forgetting the stampede to rush to the first attraction.

The show is now about 20 minutes before the opening time, so if the park is opening at 9 am, be there by at least 8:30 to see the show, though probably more like 8:00 for a prime viewing spot. MAke sure to give yourself time to get through bag check and the tap points.

 

[Kallie724]

Why don't they have A&E at both their location in MK and the one they previously had in Norway? You can see a lot of the characters in multiple locations so why now these? To me it would make more sense that way the crowd would be spread out.