Rope drop expectations

[planningjollyholiday]

Parks will open at 9am when we are there, and crowds will likely be somewhere between moderate to high. Realistically the earliest I can get my family to ropedrop would be 30-45 minutes before park open. What can i expect for wait times if i try to hit up FOP first? My fastpasses are all for before 1pm is getting a fourth FP for dinosaur likely?

 

[Anal Annie]

Parks will open at 9am when we are there, and crowds will likely be somewhere between moderate to high. Realistically the earliest I can get my family to ropedrop would be 30-45 minutes before park open. What can i expect for wait times if i try to hit up FOP first? My fastpasses are all for before 1pm is getting a fourth FP for dinosaur likely?

We were there over July 4th week and did rope drop a couple of times. The first time was a 7:00 am EMH opening. We were IN the park on the bridge leading to the Tree of Life (where they stopped the crowd) by 6:30. We were on & off within about 40 minutes. The 2nd time we went we missed the bus we needed and arrived 5 minutes before rope drop on a regular park opening morning. Waited about 90 minutes. The earlier you can drag everyone out the shorter your wait in the line will be.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

An alternate strategy is to wait until later in the evening when the line gets short. We find this option to be a more efficient use of our time than trying to fight through the masses in the morning or waiting outside of a locked gate for an extended period of time.

Here's an example from FoP last week:

At 9:30 am, the posted wait was 210 minutes with an actual wait of 240.

At 9:30 pm, the posted wait was 60 minutes with an actual wait of 30.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

An alternate strategy is to wait until later in the evening when the line gets short. We find this option to be a more efficient use of our time than trying to fight through the masses in the morning or waiting outside of a locked gate for an extended period of time.

Here's an example from FoP last week:

At 9:30 am, the posted wait was 210 minutes with an actual wait of 240.

At 9:30 pm, the posted wait was 60 minutes with an actual wait of 30.

Thanks for the tip, I would way rather go later at night rather than fight the crowd in the morning. Park closes at 8pm for us. If i get in line at 7:59 will they let us on or do they cut the line early?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Thanks for the tip, I would way rather go later at night rather than fight the crowd in the morning. Park closes at 8pm for us. If i get in line at 7:59 will they let us on or do they cut the line early?

You can get in line until 7:59 and will be allowed to ride. The posted wait time will probably be greatly exaggerated to scare you off. Don't fall for it.