Port Orleans French Quarter, Rope Drop and Popular Rides

[properverse]

I'm about to go on my first Disney trip in 20 years (Apr. 6-13) and I want to Do All The Things. It sounds like rope dropping each park at least once is a good way to help make that happen...but is it realistic to rope drop parks if you're traveling by bus from Port Orleans French Quarter (I won't have a car)?

I found a post "How are POR busses before rope drop?" about rope dropping MK which says:

On Thurs we arrived well before the opening show, and on Monday we arrived just as they shot off the fireworks and let people enter the train tunnel.

but I'm enough of a Disney newb that I can't translate that into knowing whether that's early enough to actually beat the lines for anything. Help?

Also, what about rope dropping Epcot for Test Track and/or Soarin' (my FPs are tied up with Frozen), HS for Slinky Dog Dash or AK for Flight of Passage? Does it help if you're rope dropping a park with morning EMH because there may be fewer people? Or is it worse because the early-breakfast times may now be during EMH hours instead of before the park opens?

Should I just bite the bullet and take a taxi/uber/minivan?

 

[winthropf]

I have stayed at POFQ and POR often. To make rope drop I usually shoot to be at the bus stop about an hour prior to park opening, usually 8AM. A little earlier for AK due to the drive distance. The good thing about POFQ is that there is only one bus stop.

 

[SwanVT2]

I'm about to go on my first Disney trip in 20 years (Apr. 6-13) and I want to Do All The Things. It sounds like rope dropping each park at least once is a good way to help make that happen...but is it realistic to rope drop parks if you're traveling by bus from Port Orleans French Quarter (I won't have a car)?

I found a post "How are POR busses before rope drop?" about rope dropping MK which says:



but I'm enough of a Disney newb that I can't translate that into knowing whether that's early enough to actually beat the lines for anything. Help?

Also, what about rope dropping Epcot for Test Track and/or Soarin' (my FPs are tied up with Frozen), HS for Slinky Dog Dash or AK for Flight of Passage? Does it help if you're rope dropping a park with morning EMH because there may be fewer people? Or is it worse because the early-breakfast times may now be during EMH hours instead of before the park opens?

Should I just bite the bullet and take a taxi/uber/minivan?

We are at SSR which is near POFQ. We left at 7 am for rope drop at MK. This way we missed the long lines that accrue for bag check and got right behind the rope at MK and were 2nd on haunted mansion. In the past we have left at 8 fpr MK and it is crazy. We left at 8 for Epcot and it wad fine.

 

[Haley R]

We always get to the bus stop at least an hour before park opening if not earlier and have never had trouble with buses at POFQ. I would actually say the buses at POFQ in the morning have been some of the best we've ever had at wdw. Have fun on your trip!

 

[properverse]

Thank you for your responses! I'll still continue to be anxious but it's nice to know other people have managed

 

[bigbabyblues]

As long as you don't expect to walk to the bus stop at 8:30 for a 9:00 opening, you should be fine. We were usually at the bus stop by 7:45 for park opening at 9:00 and have never been late. Early, yes.

 

[LilyWDW]

I have only stayed at POFQ, ride the buses, and I rope drop each park at least once. I have never had an issue.

 

[soccermom54]

As long as you don't expect to walk to the bus stop at 8:30 for a 9:00 opening, you should be fine. We were usually at the bus stop by 7:45 for park opening at 9:00 and have never been late. Early, yes.

Excellent advice. We are always at the bus stop at 7:45 a.m. when staying at FQ and make rope drop just fine.

 

[properverse]

Thank you to everyone who replied. We used the bus system to rope drop every park and
- rode Slinky Dog Dash with less than 10 minutes of wait
- rode Flight of Passage with ~30 minutes of wait and then went straight on to Expedition Everest with no wait
- were in the very first group for Soarin'
- just got on the teacups and carousel at Magic Kingdom and rode them over and over without getting off or waiting in line (we were more interested in nostalgia than thrills at MK).

One thing to note if anybody finds this thread in future, though: we stuck to EMH morning parks so I don't know what it's like rope dropping when the park opens for everyone.

Thanks again to everyone in this thread for helping to ease my anxiety

 

[AngiTN]

I'm glad it worked out well for you. And it never hurts to share your results. It's fun to see how it works out for folks
Unfortunately, it doesn't help much either. What you experienced will have little to no bearing on what the next guest experiences. Bus experiences are simply too individual. Every resort, and I mean EVERY single resort, has the same reports of good bus service and bad bus service. No resort is immune from bad and all resorts have someone who loves their buses and finds the service stellar. Because for their visit, it was. That guest (or guests) got lucky. They walked up to the stop right when a bus arrived for the park they wanted to go to each time. That guest was early for everywhere and everything because they never waited for a bus. But on the same exact day if the next guest walked up just 5 min later and had to wait for the next bus to the same exact park they have a report that the wait was awful. That they were late for everything and it was the fault of the bus because they had to wait so long for them. Same day, same parks, same resorts, two extremely different reports, 5 min is all it can take to make a HUGE difference.

The important thing for anyone to learn is you can't read reviews and or reports of buses from anyone's trip reports and glean anything from it. Disney buses run about every 20 min. There are a few exceptions here or there where some are later and some are even more frequent but they are exceptions and completely random, and happen at every resort and park. How good or bad you find the buses overall will depend on how good or bad you time your arrival with their arrival. And that is really out of anyone's control but luck

 

[properverse]

I think we're talking at cross-purposes, AngiTn For what it's worth, I come from a city with lots of buses so it's second nature to me that--of course--sometimes you get lucky with timing your arrival at a bus stop and you get on a bus right away; and sometimes you get unlucky and have to wait for the next bus for ~20 minutes and your trip takes twice as long.

That's not what my post was about though. My worry was that--even if I showed up to the bus stop crazy-early--the very first buses of the day would not be leaving the resort early enough to get me to the parks for rope drop.

Did I spend plenty of time waiting at the resort bus stops early in the morning? Yup, I did, because I definitely didn't want to miss that first bus. But once I was *on* that first bus, did I get to the parks with time to spare? Yes, and that was what I wanted!

 

[Hopefully]

I think we're talking at cross-purposes, AngiTn For what it's worth, I come from a city with lots of buses so it's second nature to me that--of course--sometimes you get lucky with timing your arrival at a bus stop and you get on a bus right away; and sometimes you get unlucky and have to wait for the next bus for ~20 minutes and your trip takes twice as long.

That's not what my post was about though. My worry was that--even if I showed up to the bus stop crazy-early--the very first buses of the day would not be leaving the resort early enough to get me to the parks for rope drop.

Did I spend plenty of time waiting at the resort bus stops early in the morning? Yup, I did, because I definitely didn't want to miss that first bus. But once I was *on* that first bus, did I get to the parks with time to spare? Yes, and that was what I wanted!

@properverse I NEVER read that as your concern in your prior posts. I too read that you were asking about the bus frequency, reliability etc. Never about whether the first bus made Rope Drop. That question is easy to answer.

 

[AngiTN]

I think we're talking at cross-purposes, AngiTn For what it's worth, I come from a city with lots of buses so it's second nature to me that--of course--sometimes you get lucky with timing your arrival at a bus stop and you get on a bus right away; and sometimes you get unlucky and have to wait for the next bus for ~20 minutes and your trip takes twice as long.

That's not what my post was about though. My worry was that--even if I showed up to the bus stop crazy-early--the very first buses of the day would not be leaving the resort early enough to get me to the parks for rope drop.

Did I spend plenty of time waiting at the resort bus stops early in the morning? Yup, I did, because I definitely didn't want to miss that first bus. But once I was *on* that first bus, did I get to the parks with time to spare? Yes, and that was what I wanted!

Oh, nope, that's not at all what your initial post indicated your concern was. Sorry. It's hard to get meaning sometimes.

If timing of the first bus was your initial concern then that isn't resort specific at all, just so you know. In case you return and stay elsewhere next time. That's the same all across property, essentially, too. They all roll out for that first route together. For folks reading along later (since folks will have questions about resorts/buses and search later on down the road)