@WonkaKid you might have some thoughts on this
Plenty! ;-) But where to begin?
Well, yes: running is against Disney rules. When CMs see it, they'll asks guests firmly not to run. But that's about all they'll do. Once --
once -- about six months ago I saw a security CM step out if front of a guest who was full-on sprinting at the rope drop for PP at DL. The guest simply ran around him and into the line for PP (he was first). This was the only time I've seen running have any consequences. The security dude pulled him out of line and demanded his AP. He scanned it and, I believe, the guest's name was entered into Disney's "Treasured Guests" database. Or at least I hope it was. He was not asked to leave the park but he had to go to the end of the line if he wanted to ride PP. That is, he was not allowed to profit from running. He lost his first-place spot.
There's tons more to say but I'll only make a few points:
• When guests run at rope drop, it often encourages other guests to run and soon there's a New York Marathon headed into Fantasyland at 8:00:07 on a Sunday morning. Regularly I'm with friends and we're the first into the park and at the front of the rope. I've always been a fast walker and as I/we approach PP and we hear another guest as he/she gallops up behind us, we'll either move to block said guest or, sometimes -- and I'm not proud of this -- we'll run ourselves to stop them from stealing our first-place spot in the last few seconds. We don't like doing it, but there are rarely consequences for runners so if we don't take steps (pun intended) to protect our spot, we'll often lose it to cheaters (i.e., runners). Guests who follow the no-running rule, in effect, are penalized.
• There's often a lone child who bolts from the rope to Peter Pan. People often cut them slack because, well, they're kids and they're excited and enthusiastic. In fact, some people think it's just darling. But when they arrive in first place at Peter Pan, their family of 16 then joins them. It's like they
all ran. Suddenly it's decidedly less darling.
• Yes: running at the park isn't cool. In fact, just this morning I spoke with two CMs at the rope. I asked them how often they see guests fall at rope drop. They both said that it's pretty common. The majority of those who fall are runners. There's a good reason for the rule. I wish everyone obeyed it. In fact, I'd say that it's unusual when no one runs at rope drop. We go nearly every Sunday and we only see it about once a month.
• Last observation: while it seems that Disney does nothing to combat running, my guess is that they've been in this business for more than sixty years and in that time, surely they've experimented with all manner of strategies to address the scourge of runners. It's my guess that, after all of this time, they've learned that there is no effective solution to the problem and asking guests not to run appears to be ineffective, it's possibly the most effective thing they've found that isn't also accompanied by
negative outcomes -- such as parents screaming that the rule has been applied unfairly to their child, children screaming that the rule has been applied unfairly to their parents and so forth. In the long run, while it may not really work, it also does little harm. They don't have any good choices and they have to make one. This appears to be it.
and the tortoise 
. 
