Question about Rope Drop at Magic Kingdom!

[lollisfamily6]

We are at Disney now. We did Magic Kingdom on Monday, but did not get into the area until around lunch. Should we take advantage of Extra Magic Hour or do rope drop. I think my kids would enjoy the rope drop. MH is from 8am and the park opens at 9am. What time do you think we need to get there to be near the front of rope drop?
One other quick ?: How do you get picked to ride the train at rope drop with the characters?

 

[CarrieR]

They will do the park opening show at the start of EMH. The only tip I know of to participate or be the family of the day is to be there early.

 

[SleepingBeauty1]

The rope drop and the train ride at park opening is fun to see if you have kids with you but if you're really wanting to skip lines I would suggest staying for extra magic hour. You can get into the park 30 minutes before posted opening time so I would try to get there even earlier if you wanted to ride the train at the beginning. You should ask a cast member at your hotel the night before. I'm sure they could arrange this for you!

 

[SondraC]

The rope drop and the train ride at park opening is fun to see if you have kids with you but if you're really wanting to skip lines I would suggest staying for extra magic hour. You can get into the park 30 minutes before posted opening time so I would try to get there even earlier if you wanted to ride the train at the beginning. You should ask a cast member at your hotel the night before. I'm sure they could arrange this for you!

What do you mean you can get into the park 30 minutes before posted opening time?

 

[budafam]

We got there 90 minutes prior to rope drop and the family right next to us got picked.

 

[Robo]

The rope drop and the train ride at park opening is fun to see if you have kids with you but if you're really wanting to skip lines I would suggest staying for extra magic hour. You can get into the park 30 minutes before posted opening time so I would try to get there even earlier if you wanted to ride the train at the beginning. You should ask a cast member at your hotel the night before. I'm sure they could arrange this for you!

What do you mean you can get into the park 30 minutes before posted opening time?

I'm with Sondra.
SleepingBeauty1 seems to have a few things jumbled about opening procedures.

.

 

[dmccarty]

If you go to morning EMH you should be able to get on quite a few rides by 0900. Most people do not show up until 1000-1100 so with a 0800 opening you have a good 2-3 hour head start on the herd.

We head over to Tomorrow Land to ride Buzz, Astro, and SM. If Frontier Land is open I will go over there and get FP for either Splash Mountain or BTMRR. Usually we have done everything we wanted to do by lunch time and head back to the resort. The latest we have been at MK is 2:00PM and that was because the kids rode Splash Mountain two times by themselves with FPs.

We try to leave the resort an hour or so before RD. A bit earlier for MK since we have been staying at AKL/AKV and the trip takes a bit longer. You do not really need to be at the Rope. Even at Spring Break the crowd was not that bad at MK at RD.

Getting picked to be the family in the opening event is luck and you will have get there much earlier. Your family will have to have their best happy Disney face on. For some reason, my kids and even a nephew we took one trip, always were having issues at MK RD. I have pictures of them with the most unhappy scowl on their faces in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Later,
Dan

 

[budafam]

Getting picked to be the family in the opening event is luck and you will have get there much earlier. Your family will have to have their best happy Disney face on.

That's not true. The family they picked when we were there had a child maybe 4 years old and he was as grumpy as could be. I must say, our children would've been a lot happier to have been chosen... lol...