MK Visit Today (3/12) w/ 8:00 a.m. Rope Drop

[mousehouse23]

I know people are interested in crowd size with regards to Spring Break, so I thought I'd offer a quick trip report. Yesterday was our first park day (Epcot) and we'll be here through Friday, 3/16.

We parked at MK at ~ 7:20. The Express monorail wasn't open, so we took a bus up to the entrance. I didn't realize that on 8:00 a.m. opening mornings, they hold crowds at the old location: before the train station at the front of the park. At ~7:45, they released everyone, and we made our way up Main Street until they held us again at The Hub.

Josh at easywdw says that the castle route is the shortest path to PPF, so that's where we lined up. After the opening show, the cast member walked us (slowly) through the castle. Our crowd met up with the group coming from Liberty Square, so it really was a toss-up as far as which path was quickest.

We boarded PPF immediately and were off by 8:10. Then we did:

Winnie-the-Pooh
Little Mermaid
It's A Small World
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+)
Buzz Lightyear
Tea Cups

After all that, it was 9:40. We managed to get an incredible amount accomplished in a short time period. I wonder if the rain thinned the crowds a little, or if it's just the benefit of rope dropping on a 8:00 opening day.

HM had a 45 minute wait, so I thought we'd see about booking a rolling FP later on. At that point, because we were waiting to knock out two FP+s at once (BTMR and Splash), we decided to do Country Bear Jamboree. (We'd never done it before! It was cute!)

Then we did:

BTMR (FP+)
Splash Mountain (FP+)

I kept refreshing the app, and eventually nabbed a HM FP+ for 12:05. So we went and did Mickey's Philharmagic--which continues to impress me as being an underrated attraction. I love to see kids' reactions to the 3D effects, and to Donald at the end.

We used Mobile Ordering at Pecos Bill. It took a little longer than expected, but worked fine.

At 12:00, we watched the Muppet show in Liberty Square, which was so funny! We all loved it!!

At that point, it was time for our HM FP+. But when we walked over, the attraction had just been closed. So we decided to cross over to Tomorrowland and do Carousel of Progress. Then we waited about 10 minutes for the People Mover. At that point, I checked MDE and HM was still closed. Because we wanted to leave the park soon, we decided to use our FP+ for Space Mountain instead! (I didn't realize we could do this, but the email Disney sent to me explained the process.)

After riding Space, we decided to leave, because we're hopping to HS tonight, and wanted to take a break.

Overall, crowds didn't bother us at all. While rolling FP+ availability was pretty poor by noon, getting so much done at Rope Drop meant we were pretty much in the clear by early afternoon. We'll aim to do the attractions we didn't get to on Thursday, in addition to some repeats.

I really expected things to be worse than they were. Obviously, it was busy by the time we left, but that just goes to show (again!) how important Rope Drop is to a touring plan.

And keep refreshing that app for FP+.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Sounds like a well executed 8AM rope drop morning. Love 8AM openings. Thanks for the detailed write-up, especially the specific times. Very helpful for others.

 

[Elle :)]

Thanks for the details. I love reading this kind of stuff. It really shows what rope drop is capable of (and why I can comfortably leave the parks by 1pm).

ETA. We go for almost 10 days per trip so plenty of time to catch things we may have missed or want to repeat.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Whenever a ride goes down and you had a FP+ for it, they give you an anytime FP. That's why you could use it for Space.

 

[MainMom]

Thanks for the report! We are headed down next week and will be rope dropping. I’m hoping kind of hoping our MK Monday will change to 8am instead of 9am. I just don’t want 7am.

 

[mousehouse23]

Sounds like a well executed 8AM rope drop morning. Love 8AM openings. Thanks for the detailed write-up, especially the specific times. Very helpful for others.

My pleasure!

Thanks for the details. I love reading this kind of stuff. It really shows what rope drop is capable of (and why I can comfortably leave the parks by 1pm).

ETA. We go for almost 10 days per trip so plenty of time to catch things we may have missed or want to repeat.

10 days sounds amazing! Our longest trip has been 8, but we threw a couple Universal days in there.

Whenever a ride goes down and you had a FP+ for it, they give you an anytime FP. That's why you could use it for Space.

Not a bad deal to switch HM for Space in this instance. Our daughter was super excited because she thought we'd have to wait until Thursday for Space.

Thanks for the report! We are headed down next week and will be rope dropping. I’m hoping kind of hoping our MK Monday will change to 8am instead of 9am. I just don’t want 7am.

Yeah, I don't think I could pull 7am. It was tough enough getting everyone up before 6:30 on vacation.

 

[MainMom]

Yeah, I don't think I could pull 7am. It was tough enough getting everyone up before 6:30 on vacation.

We have a couple of 7am RD at the end of our trip. Our plan is to do more semi-commando towards the beginning and then do 2 7am mornings with long afternoon into evening breaks. These are our first 7am RD’s so we will see how the family responds. I just don’t want a 7am after being up at 4am to catch a flight the day before!

 

[cassie58]

Love Philharmagic - totally agree! Some of my favorite Disney music - sing a long to all of it to the annoyance of my DD! We never miss it, and always recommend it to 1st timers!

 

[AirForce Wife]

We used Mobile Ordering at Pecos Bill. It took a little longer than expected, but worked fine.

[/QUOTE]

Do you pay with your app? Or do you pay at the counter?

 

[hiroMYhero]

We used Mobile Ordering at Pecos Bill. It took a little longer than expected, but worked fine.

Do you pay with your app? Or do you pay at the counter?[/QUOTE]
Mobile ordering entails ordering and paying through the app to confirm your order. You pick up your food when notified.

 

[TeacherDL]

Sounds like a great day!

 

[mamamelody2]

Sounds like a great day! Thanks for sharing!

 

[mousehouse23]

Do you pay with your app? Or do you pay at the counter?

Mobile ordering entails ordering and paying through the app to confirm your order. You pick up your food when notified.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is correct.

We used Mobile Ordering several times on this trip, and it was always a great idea. The counter-service lines were insane!

 

[adelaster]

I know people are interested in crowd size with regards to Spring Break, so I thought I'd offer a quick trip report. Yesterday was our first park day (Epcot) and we'll be here through Friday, 3/16.

We parked at MK at ~ 7:20. The Express monorail wasn't open, so we took a bus up to the entrance. I didn't realize that on 8:00 a.m. opening mornings, they hold crowds at the old location: before the train station at the front of the park. At ~7:45, they released everyone, and we made our way up Main Street until they held us again at The Hub.

Josh at easywdw says that the castle route is the shortest path to PPF, so that's where we lined up. After the opening show, the cast member walked us (slowly) through the castle. Our crowd met up with the group coming from Liberty Square, so it really was a toss-up as far as which path was quickest.

We boarded PPF immediately and were off by 8:10. Then we did:

Winnie-the-Pooh
Little Mermaid
It's A Small World
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+)
Buzz Lightyear
Tea Cups

After all that, it was 9:40. We managed to get an incredible amount accomplished in a short time period. I wonder if the rain thinned the crowds a little, or if it's just the benefit of rope dropping on a 8:00 opening day.

HM had a 45 minute wait, so I thought we'd see about booking a rolling FP later on. At that point, because we were waiting to knock out two FP+s at once (BTMR and Splash), we decided to do Country Bear Jamboree. (We'd never done it before! It was cute!)

Then we did:

BTMR (FP+)
Splash Mountain (FP+)

I kept refreshing the app, and eventually nabbed a HM FP+ for 12:05. So we went and did Mickey's Philharmagic--which continues to impress me as being an underrated attraction. I love to see kids' reactions to the 3D effects, and to Donald at the end.

We used Mobile Ordering at Pecos Bill. It took a little longer than expected, but worked fine.

At 12:00, we watched the Muppet show in Liberty Square, which was so funny! We all loved it!!

At that point, it was time for our HM FP+. But when we walked over, the attraction had just been closed. So we decided to cross over to Tomorrowland and do Carousel of Progress. Then we waited about 10 minutes for the People Mover. At that point, I checked MDE and HM was still closed. Because we wanted to leave the park soon, we decided to use our FP+ for Space Mountain instead! (I didn't realize we could do this, but the email Disney sent to me explained the process.)

After riding Space, we decided to leave, because we're hopping to HS tonight, and wanted to take a break.

Overall, crowds didn't bother us at all. While rolling FP+ availability was pretty poor by noon, getting so much done at Rope Drop meant we were pretty much in the clear by early afternoon. We'll aim to do the attractions we didn't get to on Thursday, in addition to some repeats.

I really expected things to be worse than they were. Obviously, it was busy by the time we left, but that just goes to show (again!) how important Rope Drop is to a touring plan.

And keep refreshing that app for FP+.

Thanks for sharing!

Can I ask if you think walking through the PPF queue was dramatically different than using a fastpass? Were you able to see much of it as you were speed walking through?

 

[mousehouse23]

Thanks for sharing!

Can I ask if you think walking through the PPF queue was dramatically different than using a fastpass? Were you able to see much of it as you were speed walking through?

You can see it, but you certainly can't linger over the details. There's a lovely effect with shadow butterflies on the wall that you have to kind of race through.

Still better than the FP+ experience, though.

 

[AirForce Wife]

Mobile ordering entails ordering and paying through the app to confirm your order. You pick up your food when notified.

Yes, this is correct.

We used Mobile Ordering several times on this trip, and it was always a great idea. The counter-service lines were insane![/QUOTE]
Awesome that is what I was hoping/thinking! Thanks.

 

[nyy]

Thanks for the report! Hope the rest of your trip went just as well!
We usually like it when it rains (not the downpours) bc the parks seem less crowded.

 

[jhoannam]

Yes, this is correct.

We used Mobile Ordering several times on this trip, and it was always a great idea. The counter-service lines were insane!

Awesome that is what I was hoping/thinking! Thanks.[/QUOTE]
Can you charge it to your magic band or do you have enter a credit card?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Can you charge it to your magic band or do you have enter a credit card?

You order through the MDX app and the credit card that is associated with your app gets charged at the time the order is confirmed by you.