Rope Dropping Epcot

[SJSloan]

Does anyone have any recent experience with rope dropping Epcot, or even getting there about an hour before park opening?

We are traveling next week to Disney and staying at a Skyliner resort. However, I have read that the Skliner line to Epcot does not open until 30 minutes because Epcot opens. Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

For others that have arrived at the parks either via bus or driving (or walking from Boardwalk, etc). you were allowed in the park more than 30 minutes before park opening? I would like to use the convenience of the Skyliner, but if the line opens at 10:30 and we don't get to the park until 10:45 while others who arrived via bus or car are getting in a lot earlier, then I think driving is our better choice.

Any recent experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sydnerella]

At Thanksgiving we stayed at the Riviera and on Epcot Days to take an Uber to the boardwalk to be closer to front of the line at the IG entrance in time to enter the park.

Others took Skyliner to HS since that’s operating earlier and walked to Epcot, since Skyliner does not open early enough to be there for early entry lineup. I think it is ridiculous that park transportation is not getting people to the parks for the queues for early opens!

 

[MIndy S]

We rope dropped Epcot this past Wednesday. With an 11am opening, they started letting people through the tapstiles at exactly 10:15. We drove, and the parking lot opened a couple minutes after 10am. We had enough time to park and get in line at the tapstiles before they started letting people in.

 

[bc7ate9]

We went yesterday. We stayed off site and drove. They let cars in just before 10. We were inside the gates by 10:15. We did Frozen multiple times before 11.

 

[SJSloan]

At Thanksgiving we stayed at the Riviera and on Epcot Days to take an Uber to the boardwalk to be closer to front of the line at the IG entrance in time to enter the park.

Others took Skyliner to HS since that’s operating earlier and walked to Epcot, since Skyliner does not open early enough to be there for early entry lineup. I think it is ridiculous that park transportation is not getting people to the parks for the queues for early opens!

I never thought about taking the Skyliner to HS and then walking over. That is a good option if we don’t want to drive. Do you have any idea how long the walk is from HS to Epcot?

Also, did you rope drop HS using the Skyliner from the Riviera? We are staying there as well. Do you have to get off the Skyliner at the CBR station and go back to the end of the line?

 

[bc7ate9]

Do you have any idea how long the walk is from HS to Epcot?

The walk takes about 30 min.

 

[jeforman]

You can take the boats from HS to the Epcot resorts if you can't do the walk.

 

[Jonfw2]

We rope dropped Epcot this past Wednesday. With an 11am opening, they started letting people through the tapstiles at exactly 10:15. We drove, and the parking lot opened a couple minutes after 10am. We had enough time to park and get in line at the tapstiles before they started letting people in.

So they're not just opening the gates early, the RIDES are actually operating early as well?

 

[Heather07438]

I never thought about taking the Skyliner to HS and then walking over. That is a good option if we don’t want to drive. Do you have any idea how long the walk is from HS to Epcot?

Also, did you rope drop HS using the Skyliner from the Riviera? We are staying there as well. Do you have to get off the Skyliner at the CBR station and go back to the end of the line?

You can take the boats from HS to the Epcot resorts if you can't do the walk.

This is what I was going to say.

Take the Skyliner over to HS, then take the boat over to Epcot. It's really a nice trip

 

[MIndy S]

So they're not just opening the gates early, the RIDES are actually operating early as well?

Yes, we rode Test Track before the official park open. They were running test runs when we arrived at the queue, started letting guests ride about 30 minutes before open. We went to Soarin' right after and the wait was already about 30 minutes.

 

[CalSea12]

At Thanksgiving we stayed at the Riviera and on Epcot Days to take an Uber to the boardwalk to be closer to front of the line at the IG entrance in time to enter the park.

Others took Skyliner to HS since that’s operating earlier and walked to Epcot, since Skyliner does not open early enough to be there for early entry lineup. I think it is ridiculous that park transportation is not getting people to the parks for the queues for early opens!

I guess I am confused by this. From what I understand with what you are saying park busses are not getting people to the parks early enough to get into the early park openings? So if I take a bus from SSR to Epcot I will not be there by the 10am or whenever the park opens?

 

[SJSloan]

I guess I am confused by this. From what I understand with what you are saying park busses are not getting people to the parks early enough to get into the early park openings? So if I take a bus from SSR to Epcot I will not be there by the 10am or whenever the park opens?

It seems as though the buses are running early enough to get guests there early but for whatever reason the Skyliner Epcot line isn’t running until 30 minutes before official park opening which is later than we would like to be there. And buses aren’t offered to parks from you resort if the Skyliner is.

 

[CalSea12]

It seems as though the buses are running early enough to get guests there early but for whatever reason the Skyliner Epcot line isn’t running until 30 minutes before official park opening which is later than we would like to be there. And buses aren’t offered to parks from you resort if the Skyliner is.

Okay thank you! I am so confused by all of this early park opening thing.

 

[Ash1988]

We were there last week and did two Epcot mornings. We were at pop, so we took the skyliner both days. The park opened at eleven. We got on the skyliner at pop around 930 with no wait. When we got to the other station, they put us in a line for Epcot. The skyliner for Epcot started running a little before ten both days. We were in the park by 1020 or so. We went to soarin and rode it once before the official park opening. Then we ride it again with little wait around eleven. Epcot was our best day btw! The other parks were so crowded, but Epcot was much better. We only scheduled one day for Epcot, but we ended up changing and doing a second day there because it was so much nicer to us.

 

[SJSloan]

We were there last week and did two Epcot mornings. We were at pop, so we took the skyliner both days. The park opened at eleven. We got on the skyliner at pop around 930 with no wait. When we got to the other station, they put us in a line for Epcot. The skyliner for Epcot started running a little before ten both days. We were in the park by 1020 or so. We went to soarin and rode it once before the official park opening. Then we ride it again with little wait around eleven. Epcot was our best day btw! The other parks were so crowded, but Epcot was much better. We only scheduled one day for Epcot, but we ended up changing and doing a second day there because it was so much nicer to us.

Oh, this is good to know. The Disney site said the Epcot line will open 30 minutes before park open while the HS lines opens an hour before, which I didn’t understand. And I have been able to find recent experiences. This makes me feel better. Thank you!

 

[Ash1988]

Oh, this is good to know. The Disney site said the Epcot line will open 30 minutes before park open while the HS lines opens an hour before, which I didn’t understand. And I have been able to find recent experiences. This makes me feel better. Thank you!

They definitely advertised it an hour before for Epcot on the sign. Now whether it's like that all the time I'm not sure.

 

[Sydnerella]

I guess I am confused by this. From what I understand with what you are saying park busses are not getting people to the parks early enough to get into the early park openings? So if I take a bus from SSR to Epcot I will not be there by the 10am or whenever the park opens?

Hi,
Parks are opening up to 45 min before scheduled open. In many cases it has been reported, even recently since our trip, that buses, skyliner, etc are not arriving to parks until 30 min or less prior to open - Meaning the park has already been opened. Which is frustrating to me. The post below indicates that Skyliner was operating earlier than it was back during our Thanksgiving trip which is great. We ended up having to take Uber to walk from boardwalk to Epcot and Hollywood studios if we wanted to be first in line or shortly there after at rope drop. Similar for Magic Kingdom we took Uber to Contemporary with a mobile order to walk over to the park, Entering before any resort buses showed up.

We were there last week and did two Epcot mornings. We were at pop, so we took the skyliner both days. The park opened at eleven. We got on the skyliner at pop around 930 with no wait. When we got to the other station, they put us in a line for Epcot. The skyliner for Epcot started running a little before ten both days. We were in the park by 1020 or so. We went to soarin and rode it once before the official park opening. Then we ride it again with little wait around eleven. Epcot was our best day btw! The other parks were so crowded, but Epcot was much better. We only scheduled one day for Epcot, but we ended up changing and doing a second day there because it was so much nicer to us.

I sure hope this is the new operation of skyliner - an hour beforehand minimum is needed when the parks continue to open up to 45 minutes ahead of scheduled opening time. Being 15 minutes behind can be a huge deal for headliners without Fastpasses.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We take a rideshare to Swan/Dolphin and walk. We have also eaten an early breakfast at Ale and Compass (using a rideshare).

 

[Beamerball]

We didn’t use the skyliner, but did get to rope drop Epcot today. Took the bus from the Poly, came about 9:50. They were letting cars though the gates when we drove by. Dropped off, went to far right entrance. They opened the park around 10:15. We were the 2nd family in line for Soarin. So rope dropping Epcot can definitely be done by bus.