No more rope drop at epcot!!

[sunburnin]

This will be interesting.

If this goes into effect, we'll be dealing with the same dilemma I have every time I go grocery shopping: which line looks best? The pokey register worker, the lady with her check book out, the guy with 500 coupons, etc.

In this case trying to avoid the clueless CM or, worse, the family that "can't find all their tickets, but they must be here somewhere, just a minute." In the new scenario, that poor luck in a turnstile line can cost you 15-30 minutes of your day waiting for a ride or FP.

 

[summerskye]

This could get interesting. I still have no email response. I will post as soon as I get one. This has the potential to overtake the FP debates...

All kidding aside, I hope that the information is not true. With or without the staging area, cast members need to escort people when the park opens to stop the stampede. There are so many times my kids have been pushed in the name of (Soarin, TT, Space/Splash, TSM, etc.) rides.

 

[summerskye]

This will be interesting.

If this goes into effect, we'll be dealing with the same dilemma I have every time I go grocery shopping: which line looks best? The pokey register worker, the lady with her check book out, the guy with 500 coupons, etc.
In this case trying to avoid the clueless CM or, worse, the family that "can't find all their tickets, but they must be here somewhere, just a minute." In the new scenario, that poor luck in a turnstile line can cost you 15-30 minutes of your day waiting for a ride or FP.

Don't forget the "I know it was 5 cents cheaper on the sign---PRICE CHECK".

 

[mcd2745]

And what about the people who have a very early ADR at Akershus? If they're done by 8:30 or 8:40, will they be allowed to basically walk right up to the Land pavilion for Soarin' or right up to the entrance to Test Track?

 

[Traveliz]

This could get interesting. I still have no email response. I will post as soon as I get one. This has the potential to overtake the FP debates...

All kidding aside, I hope that the information is not true. With or without the staging area, cast members need to escort people when the park opens to stop the stampede. There are so many times my kids have been pushed in the name of (Soarin, TT, Space/Splash, TSM, etc.) rides.

Actually the FP rumor thread started in August is when I first mentioned I had a really good rumor and now it has come to fruition. I had asked my daughter if she had heard anything about the FPs again and she said no but this is what we are hearing now....no rope drop!

Liz

 

[sunburnin]

And what about the people who have a very early ADR at Akershus? If they're done by 8:30 or 8:40, will they be allowed to basically walk right up to the Land pavilion for Soarin' or right up to the entrance to Test Track?

Holy smokes... didn't think of that. Those ADRs will be priceless!

 

[JimmyV]

Given the significantly lower crowds at the IG, this would seem to favor the IG since I'd imagine the Future World turnstiles will slow things pretty significantly. We've never done rope drop at Epcot, and from the sounds of this we won't try except when we're staying at BWV!

Not sure about that. First of all, there isn't really much room for crowds to gather at IG, and there are far fewer turnstiles. So a backup at the turnstiles could result in 2 single file lines that extend way past the boat dock. You could be the 100th person to arrive, but be 50th in line at your turnstile. At the FW entrance, you could be the 200th person to arrive and be the 10th person at your turnstile. If that math is even close to being correct, the 1000th person at FW would get through the turnstile at the same time as the 100th person at IG.

The single best thing about the 8:45 opening of the turnstiles and funneling people to a collection area is that is somewhat relieves the burn of getting caught behind a person who can't get their finger to read in the scanner or the person who, for whatever reason, just can't get their passes to work. If you get caught behind such a person, you still have the ability to make up for lost time. But if the turnstiles open at 9:00, then getting caught behind the "stuck" family could really be frustrating. My prediction (and it is only that), is that they will still open up the turnstiles earlier than 9:00 and will have a roped off collection area, but there will be no "ceremony" to speak of. Whether this results in having CMs walk you to Soarin', or just leaves guests to run at will, I have no guess on that one.

 

[Senator Tressel]

This is never going to happen. And if they do plan on doing this, it's never going to last. It's just not logistically possible to hold everyone outside of the gates until 9AM. There isn't enough room in front of the Epcot gates.

 

[scrapquitler]

At least the RD procedure eliminated people from all out running from the rope to the attraction, as you couldn't run ahead of the cast members walking you to Sorin/TT.

Now I'm envisioning people doing an all out sprint after they get through the turnstiles

Will also be interesting to see if the RD process is eliminated at other parks - specifically HS and how that impacts TSM

I've never gone to the parks for RD.... Do people really run to get FP once they get in like that? For real? Is it really that big of a deal to get to the FP machine two minutes faster? I just don't get that....

 

[JimmyV]

I've never gone to the parks for RD.... Do people really run to get FP once they get in like that? For real? Is it really that big of a deal to get to the FP machine two minutes faster? I just don't get that....

Well, it depends. Your next FP is available to you as soon as the window on your existing FP opens up. If you are the first person to get a FP at Soarin', your return time might be 9:20 or so. If you then ride the ride, by the time you get off of it, you would then be eligible for another FP. Either there, or, perhaps at TT. If you miss RD and stroll in at 9:30, your FP return time might be 11:00 which shuts you out of another FP until 11:00. The early bird might have collected three FPs by then. A common strategy is to collect as many FPs as possible for the popular attractions by, say, 2:00 or 3:00 and then use them later in the day. On a crowded day, if you miss RD, you might get one FP at 9:30, another at 11:30, and another at 1:30 for a total of three. People who rush around at RD might be able to collect 5 or 6 in that time. It all depends on your priorities and how much it means for you to collect FPs. Will the 2 minutes that you refer to make a difference? Only at Soarin' (a little bit), and TSM (a lot). There is no such thing as missing RD at DHS by two minutes. People who arrive at the park at 8:50 start all the way back at the turnstiles. If you get to the turnstiles at 9:02, there are literally thousands of people ahead of you, you will have a 30 minute wait just to get a FP, and your return time will be more than 2 hours out, which will shut you out of more FPs for the full length of time.

 

[Cest_la_vie]

This is never going to happen. And if they do plan on doing this, it's never going to last. It's just not logistically possible to hold everyone outside of the gates until 9AM. There isn't enough room in front of the Epcot gates.

If need be they can always back everybody up to bag check, or off to the sides of the ticket windows. They can probably even set up queues.

Remember anywhere you see a metal plug in the ground means there's a stanchion for it, and a queue can be put there.

 

[Traveliz]

This is never going to happen. And if they do plan on doing this, it's never going to last. It's just not logistically possible to hold everyone outside of the gates until 9AM. There isn't enough room in front of the Epcot gates.

Well I think never started on Monday then. I agree there isn't enough room but for now this appears to be what they are doing.

Liz

 

[kswm30b]

There was definitely no rope drop at Epcot today. I follow someone on twitter (@DisneyMagicMan) that heard this would happen yesterday & then checked for sure today. He said CMs said something would be happening outside the front gates while waiting.

 

[si-am]

This will be interesting.

If this goes into effect, we'll be dealing with the same dilemma I have every time I go grocery shopping: which line looks best? The pokey register worker, the lady with her check book out, the guy with 500 coupons, etc.

In this case trying to avoid the clueless CM or, worse, the family that "can't find all their tickets, but they must be here somewhere, just a minute." In the new scenario, that poor luck in a turnstile line can cost you 15-30 minutes of your day waiting for a ride or FP.

This happened to us once at DHS. We were at the park about 45 minutes early.... first in line at the turnstile! Well, when it opened, the CM couldn't get the turnstile to work and just told us to merge into the line next to us... but didn't bother to actually help "direct traffic" so we looked like line cutters and people were really angry and rude! It was a terrible way to start the day.

 

[reelmom]

This sounds like a crazy idea. I hope somebody reports back how it went this morning.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I will be going on Friday, I will let you all know how it goes. I can also ask around. However, on last Sunday, we went to AK RD and there wasnt the same RD we were used to, after the Oasis, it was a free for all, usually this was at the Tree of Life.

 

[EpcotBill]

This is going to be a mess. Some people have a hard enough time figuring out how to put their ticket in the slot, then where to put their finger. With a hoard of angry, stampeding, screaming Fastpass hopefuls behind them they'll never get their ticket in the slot.

I'm sure they did a study that found most guests would prefer a longer run at 9:00am, and they feel safer being pressed together with a few thousand of their closest friends behind the turnstiles.

 

[ajlsjl]

The elimination of rope drop at Epcot has been going on for at least a month. When I was in WDW from 8/18-8/26, nobody was allowed in to the park before official opening time. I went to Epcot for the morning Extra Magic Hour, and turnstiles at International Gateway opened at 8AM sharp.

 

[Traveliz]

The elimination of rope drop at Epcot has been going on for at least a month. When I was in WDW from 8/18-8/26, nobody was allowed in to the park before official opening time. I went to Epcot for the morning Extra Magic Hour, and turnstiles at International Gateway opened at 8AM sharp.

My daughter works at Epcot and has been doing rope drop up to now EXCEPT she did say not on EMH mornings so if you were there for an EMH there would not have been a rope drop. On other mornings there has still been a rope drop...I know she told me about one interesting experience at rope drop just this past weekend.

Liz

 

[NewsiesGoil]

Well, this sucks if it's true but I guess we'll just have to deal with it. One thing, maybe if it's chaos during the relatively quiet season they'll see what a mistake they're making and switch it back to how it used to be.