Rope dropping is becoming a worse experience

[HM]

We didn't wait around for rope drop on our Dec trip. We arrived at each park just after they'd opened. We had no problems with long lines at that time. It seemed pretty much like it always did in all the parks. (We did not go to TSSM right away since we had a FP set for later when we went to DHS, so can't comment on that particular ride).

 

[mom2rtk]

Surely you have figured out by now that people sitting home at their computers know more about what you are experiencing than you do?

It could be a lot of things:

1) higher crowds
2) people no longer diverting to FP machines at RD
3) more people showing up for RD to compensate for the lack of FP+ when hopping

Also know that it is entirely possible for an experienced rope dropper to find it busier than normal, while a RD newbie thinks its awesome because they don't know how good it really USED to be.

Just rest assured you are in a better place this week. We had 10 inches of snow on Tuesday and are on our 4th snow day. If you have kids, they probably didn't miss as much school as they expected to!

 

[crazymomof4]

Crowds have been much higher this week than usual. Both TP and Easywdw underestimated by quite a bit.

Guess it depends what park you are in on which day. This is cut and pasted from my friend's emailed trip report last night (sent to me from her room at the Contemporary):
"Yesterday [Wed the 5th] was Magic Kingdom. We had fast passes for Peter Pan, Under the Sea w/Ariel, and Space Mountain. Not only did we get on those but we pretty much got through everything we wanted to do by 5. That was with taking our time & having lunch. This is what we were able to do:
Peter Pan - twice
Winnie the Pooh
Philharmagic
Cinderella Carousel
Under the Sea
it's a small world
Haunted Mansion - twice
Big Thunder Mountain
Pirates - twice
Tiki Room
Magic Carpets
Swiss Family Treehouse
Space Mountain - twice
Carousel Of Progress
Buzz Lightyear - twice
Stitch's Great Escape

I can't remember the last time the lines were that low. It was great! We didn't feel rushed at all. The fast passes definitely helped but so did knowing the park and knowing when to hit certain rides. And the new mobile app is great!"

My other friend (who goes to WDW about 3-4x/yr) also reported no disappointments-- lower than usual wait times, FP+ and app working well, even switching FP+ reservations *the morning of* and getting one for TSMM.
So each person's experience can be different even during the same week, I guess.

 

[Silock]

So, if crowds are higher than usual for this time of the year, maybe THAT accounts for longer lines, not FP+.

Maybe the incompetent Disney company is doing a better job of getting more people to visit the parks at times of the year that used to be less crowded.

Second part is probably true.

First part is not so much. I don't usually go at this time of year. I have always been when crowd levels were similar to now. I just picked this week because it was supposed to be level 1 and 2.

 

[redrosesix]

Surely you have figured out by now that people sitting home at their computers know more about what you are experiencing than you do?

It could be a lot of things:

1) higher crowds
2) people no longer diverting to FP machines at RD
3) more people showing up for RD to compensate for the lack of FP+ when hopping

Also know that it is entirely possible for an experienced rope dropper to find it busier than normal, while a RD newbie thinks its awesome because they don't know how good it really USED to be.

Just rest assured you are in a better place this week. We had 10 inches of snow on Tuesday and are on our 4th snow day. If you have kids, they probably didn't miss as much school as they expected to!

Yes exactly!!

If somebody says it happened, it happened.

I'm just going to ask a question, because I'll be there next week and I would like to know... do they have any separate area/path at RD for off-site guests, similar to people who have tickets/no tickets being separated? Seems to me that would help lots at RD.

 

[FLchick415]

Side note: I wasn't trying to discount the OP's experience by saying mine was different. There's no way for me to know what they saw without actually having been there with them. All I know is what happened when *I* was there.

 

[crazymomof4]

Really? I have two sets of friends there right now, and they are loving the crowds. Both said that they haven't even used their FP+s because there was no reason to.

Ditto me! Actually had 3 families/couples there with overlapping trips, but only 2 were actually reporting to me during their trips. I had asked them to specifically report their experiences with FP+ bc they are not newbies to WDW so they know what they are talking about and have a comparison of many pre-FP+ trips under their belts. They know I've been curious as to how FP+ will change our Sept trip. I'm gratefull for their reports and happy about the positive visits they both had.

 

[Silock]

OP, when I first saw this thread I checked the MDE app wait times. It showed TSMM with a temporary closure; 5 min at RnR, and 10 min. at ToT. This was at approximately 9:45 a.m. I also checked the other parks, and except for Soarin', which was 40 min., everything else was showing minimal wait times. So the data overall doesn't seem to support your conclusion.

Well I'm at dhs now. TSMM was down at rope drop today. It opened quickly and wait times were 60 minutes before 945. This post was just a general observation though and not specific to today. It's raining and the ride was down, so it's not a normal occurrence.

 

[2Tiggies]

We used to do the rope drop FP collect mission in the morning but even with legacy FP you had to wait until your window opened for the one collected before you could get another. We always just grabbed one and got straight into the adjacent standby line to ride immediately. Personally, I don't see our habits changing in that regard so I don't think (hopefully) that this will be an issue.

 

[summermac]

That sucks the ride was down at RD. I would have went and did other rides standby, trying to change my FP+ for TSMM later and enjoyed the other rides w/ shorter lines since it sounds like a LOT of ppl opted to remain in the SB line waiting for it to open.

 

[wordwitt]

Well I'm at dhs now. TSMM was down at rope drop today. It opened quickly and wait times were 60 minutes before 945. This post was just a general observation though and not specific to today. It's raining and the ride was down, so it's not a normal occurrence.

Yeah, I checked because I was curious. I'm sure if it was closed the lines built very quickly when it opened. All I'm saying is that the posted wait times at most parks right after opening appear pretty normal to me.

 

[notfrostyjosh]

The removal of legacy FASTPASSes should not have an appreciable impact on wait times first thing in the morning. If anything, the FP+ kiosks are pulling more people away than legacy FASTPASS and the process for off-site guests to schedule their three FP+ experiences takes much longer than putting their ticket in a legacy FASTPASS machine, keeping them away from the standby entrances even longer.

This should be the 5th least crowded week of the year this year. At 10:45am on February 7th. Verify on My Disney Experience:

DINOSAUR
DinoLand U.S.A.
10 Min
Expedition Everest
Asia
45 Min
It's Tough to be a Bug!
Discovery Island
15 Min
Kali River Rapids
Asia
10 Min
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Africa
10 Min
Primeval Whirl
DinoLand U.S.A.
10 Min
TriceraTop Spin
DinoLand U.S.A.
0 Min

Captain EO
5 Min

Ellen's Energy Adventure
10 Min

Journey Into Imagination With Figment
5 Min

Living with the Land
0 Min

Mission: SPACE
10 Min

Soarin'
40 Min

Spaceship Earth
10 Min

Test Track Presented by Chevrolet
40 Min

The Seas with Nemo & Friends
10 Min

Turtle Talk With Crush
5 Min

Muppet*Vision 3D
5 Min

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
40 Min

Star Tours - The Adventures Continue
10 Min

The Great Movie Ride
10 Min

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
20 Min

Toy Story Midway Mania!
70 Min

Astro Orbiter
10 Min

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
20 Min

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
15 Min

Dumbo the Flying Elephant
15 Min

Enchanted Tales with Belle
80 Min

Haunted Mansion
10 Min

It's a small world
15 Min

Jungle Cruise
10 Min

Mad Tea Party
5 Min

Mickey's PhilharMagic
10 Min

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
20 Min

Peter Pan's Flight
45 Min

Pirates of the Caribbean
5 Min

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
0 Min

Space Mountain
25 Min

Stitch's Great Escape!
10 Min

The Barnstormer
20 Min

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
10 Min

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
20 Min

Tomorrowland Speedway
30 Min

Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
20 Min

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
5 Min

 

[redrosesix]

Ditto me! Actually had 3 families/couples there with overlapping trips, but only 2 were actually reporting to me during their trips. I had asked them to specifically report their experiences with FP+ bc they are not newbies to WDW so they know what they are talking about and have a comparison of many pre-FP+ trips under their belts. They know I've been curious as to how FP+ will change our Sept trip. I'm gratefull for their reports and happy about the positive visits they both had.

Thank you for proving my point. The OP was about RD. You basically didn't listen to them at all and used this thread to discount everything they were saying and make the case for FP+. Well done... not.

 

[wordwitt]

Yes exactly!! To all you low-count (and some not so low-count, i'm really disappointed in you) posters who have used up this thread basically saying OP is lying -- go get a frickin life!! nobody needs your nastiness this early in the morning. If you haven't noticed it, you are being really rude and mean to other members. Nobody died and made you judge of everything.

If somebody says it happened, it happened. Unless you (or your friends that are there right now, who may never have been there at that time before) are exactly right next to the OP... YOU DON'T KNOW. Please, please just go away and insult somebody else.

I'm just going to ask a question, because I'll be there next week and I would like to know... do they have any separate area/path at RD for off-site guests, similar to people who have tickets/no tickets being separated? Seems to me that would help lots at RD.

Oh the irony--chastising others for being "rude" so very rudely.

OP's conclusion was that rope drop was "worse" because of FP+. No one is suggesting that OP is lying about the wait time for TSMM; rather, the general conclusion/suggestion that rope drop is no longer an effective touring strategy is being disputed.

And clearly, one's perception of crowds/crowding is somewhat subjective and dependent on the park one is in at the time.

 

[crazymomof4]

Yes exactly!! To all you low-count (and some not so low-count, i'm really disappointed in you) posters who have used up this thread basically saying OP is lying -- go get a frickin life!! nobody needs your nastiness this early in the morning. If you haven't noticed it, you are being really rude and mean to other members. Nobody died and made you judge of everything.

If somebody says it happened, it happened. Unless you (or your friends that are there right now, who may never have been there at that time before) are exactly right next to the OP... YOU DON'T KNOW. Please, please just go away and insult somebody else.

I'm just going to ask a question, because I'll be there next week and I would like to know... do they have any separate area/path at RD for off-site guests, similar to people who have tickets/no tickets being separated? Seems to me that would help lots at RD.

I may have skipped reading some posts but I didn't see any nastiness. (To be honest, your's was actually the stongest language of the posts I've read here on this thread) I purposely put "So each person's experience can be different even during the same week, I guess." at the end of my post to be clear I wasn't discounting the OP's experience. I think it's a good thing when there is a mix of positive and negatives on a subject. The negatives serve a warning or heads up that you MAY experiences difficulties and the positives leave a window of hope that it may not be all that bad for YOUR INDIVIDUAL wdw experience.

 

[redrosesix]

That sucks the ride was down at RD. I would have went and did other rides standby, trying to change my FP+ for TSMM later and enjoyed the other rides w/ shorter lines since it sounds like a LOT of ppl opted to remain in the SB line waiting for it to open.

yup, interesting. I would have left too, since I've seen a shut down turn into an all day closure (usually on Splash but sometimes other rides).

 

[minie_meese]

We were at rope drop for Animal Kingdom on Wednesday and EPCOT on Thursday. I thought the crowd level was really low. We could have walked on to the Safari. At one point yesterday morning both Mission Space and Test Track were down so that probably impacted some times. We used Fast Pass for Test Track about 2 and there were very few people around. I didn't notice the standby time but the queues were empty till you got near the design studio.

 

[crazymomof4]

Thank you for proving my point. The OP was about RD. You basically didn't listen to them at all and used this thread to discount everything they were saying and make the case for FP+. Well done... not.

I actually thought this thread was going along nicely. I usually click out of threads that get, as you say, "Nasty".... don't like get involved in the drama, much less contribute to it. The OP was responding and he/she didn't express any feelings of being called a "liar" or otherwise taking offense. Not sure why you felt the need to jump in and I don't see anything wrong with swapping experiences both positive and negative. We can all learn from that. The drama entered with your first post. Apparently you have an agenda to trash FP+ 100% of the time and the positive experiences here went against that. I guess those of us who hear about or experience postive wdw trips since the introduction of FP+ should all just keep quiet? Like I said, I have NO REASON to "make a case for FP+". I have not experienced it myself. I may end up hating it when I do! I am currently just taking in the + and - experiences that I read of from persons who have been there as a means of educating myself.

 

[crazymomof4]

Oh the irony--chastising others for being "rude" so very rudely.

OP's conclusion was that rope drop was "worse" because of FP+. No one is suggesting that OP is lying about the wait time for TSMM; rather, the general conclusion/suggestion that rope drop is no longer an effective touring strategy is being disputed.

And clearly, one's perception of crowds/crowding is somewhat subjective and dependent on the park one is in at the time.

EXACTLY!!

 

[wisblue]

Yes exactly!! To all you low-count (and some not so low-count, i'm really disappointed in you) posters who have used up this thread basically saying OP is lying -- go get a frickin life!! nobody needs your nastiness this early in the morning. If you haven't noticed it, you are being really rude and mean to other members. Nobody died and made you judge of everything.

If somebody says it happened, it happened. Unless you (or your friends that are there right now, who may never have been there at that time before) are exactly right next to the OP... YOU DON'T KNOW. Please, please just go away and insult somebody else.

Nobody is saying the OP is lying. But, it is fair to try to get some details to put the reported experience into perspective. When you are talking about lines at TSMM, more than any other attraction at WDW, it is important to know when someone arrived at the park and when the gates opened. It would also help to know how far back from the tapstiles they were when they arrived.

In addition to the reported facts, the title of this thread is stating a broad opinion about the rope drop experience which may or may be valid based on one person's observation.

If you are looking for rudeness, your post is by far the rudest in this thread.