Rope dropping is becoming a worse experience

[redrosesix]

I think I'm not quite understanding what you're getting at here. When I look at wait times on MDE in the first hour or so after opening at any park I am seeing very reasonable times. And the times I'm seeing aren't that much different on average than what we've seen before FP+. I'm not sure why it will take a "long time" to see the effects of FP+. When it comes to RD, which was the question here, it hasn't seemed to impact wait times much. Maybe Josh can verify this as he tracks the data more closely than I, but I'm not seeing cause for doom and gloom with respect to the RD touring strategy. Now I say this realizing it is entirely possible that on any given day any given individual (like Silock or Lugnut) may experience longer wait times at RD than they are used to or were expecting.

Well it's pretty easy to evaluate the Christmas season, since it happens on the same day every year, and the weather is typically the same year to year. Spring Break may or may not have Mardi Gras, great weather, free dining. Like you said, aberrations, but I think some seasons have more of them.

And whether or not somebody feels a place was crowded typically depends on where they are and where they were trying to go. But I would have expected most people to go right to the rides they least wanted to miss at RD -- it just makes sense to me because that's what we would do.

 

[Magpie]

Ok - yes -- I took it too far and I apologize...

It wasn't just this thread -- but all of the FP+ threads.

DD14 is also a member and she was watching this thread and others. She said what you were doing was like cyberbullying because you're "piling on". And I agreed. Your one individual post basically saying that OPs post had no credibility might not have been meant to do harm. But imagine starting a thread and having 10 posts in the first 2 pages basically saying that what you experienced wasn't true...

Just imagine that. I'm surprised they came back to post at all.

Going to pack. Chill pills work.

Ah, something I often have to address with my kids and the kids I work with, is that there is a HUGE difference between disagreement (even strong disagreement!) and bullying. Disagreeing with a person is not the same as bullying them.

Everyone who posted their own experience, did so respectfully. And they all used "I statements", as is proper.

Yes, it's hard to have a minority opinion sometimes. But standing there and saying, "I experienced A!" and having ten people come back and say, "Well, I experienced B!" does not mean you're being bullied. It means that your experience (or your interpretation of a shared experience) is not what they experienced. They are each just as entitled to their interpretation of what happened as the OP is.

Cyberbullying is much crueler. It does not involve saying "this was my experience which was different from yours". It does not even involve saying, "Are you sure you actually experienced what you experienced? Maybe you were mistaken!" It would involve demeaning language, attacks on the OP's credibility, stalking, referencing old posts in a negative light, calling into question the OP's character, judgement and/or intelligence and accusing the OP of pervertedly amorous acts with armadillos (for example).

In other words, pretty much what bullying looks like in real life minus the punching.

It's awesome that kids are aware of the importance of combating bullying, and it's wonderful to be empathic to the original poster, but it's important to clarify what bullying actually is, and what it isn't.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Actually OP said they arrived at TSMM at 9:10 which is not ideal. It doesn't really matter in this case, the ride was down. I was at HS two weeks ago, 5th family behind the turnstile. We got off TSMM at 8:58 at were on our way to RNR and waited about 10 minutes to ride it.

Yes, the OP stated they arrived at TSMM at 9:10 - see the bolded

Front of the pack works if you can get through. Lots of turnstile glitches in front of us and we didn't get to TSMM until 9:10. And there are always people running or walking so fast they might as well be running. Waited 35 minutes. That's insane for a RD time. We used to get in line at 9:10 and wait maybe 5 minutes.

The OP *also* said, as I said, that the turnstiles did not open until 9am.

Not for us. And they didn't open the turnstiles until 9 both times I was there this week.

So the combination of the turnstiles not letting people through until 9am, coupled with turnstile glitches in front of them delaying their entrance to HS, would jive with not arriving at TSMM until 9:10 even heading directly there, as the OP said.

This is a different scenario than the one you were referring to where people don't show up to the turnstiles until 9:10 and say "i was there for RD."

The OP *was* there for rope drop, the rope drop/turnstile itself was delayed (9, instead of 845), and there were technical glitches beyond the OPs control further delaying his entrance. That's not the same thing as "not arriving at RD."

 

[wisblue]

Reality is the exact opposite. Operations deemed the traditional "rope drop" dangerous because 1,000+ people were running, bumping, and trampling each other on their way to the major attractions. The lack of rope drop provides a much more comfortable, casual walk with plenty of space to the attraction of your choice with the tapstiles limiting the number of people that enter the park.

I have no idea what you mean when you say the current setup is chaotic.

I absolutely agree with this.

As much as I love WDW, I always hated rope drop at DHS because, if you wanted to go directly to TSMM, you knew you were going to be caught in a mass of people moving at different speeds passing and cutting each other off.

Now that that has been eliminated, we know that we can walk at a normal brisk pace without having others stepping on our ankles and vice versa. if 100 people who enter after us run past us, I don't really care because that is only going to affect our wait time at TSMM by about 5 minutes, if that.

When they open 15 minutes before the posted time (as they have the last 5 or 6 times we have been there) we can get on and off before the first FP return time starts and move on to the short lines at TOT and RNRC

 

[dsw13]

Thanks for the updates Silock. I have a feeling you are having an experience much like I had back in November, where you can still have a good time but you know it's changed and won't ever be the same. In the back of your mind you're thinking, "Is this how my vacation dollars are going to be best spent in the future?"

It's like I've been saying for months, getting there earlier and earlier before rope drop will become more of a priority. Eventually one will want to be in line at least an hour before park open and if you're there during the holidays it will be 2 hours before. That's just what FP+ is going to force people to do if they want to ride a main attraction more than once.

Doesn't there come a time when you're getting to rope drop so early that you're essentially just shifting in the day when exactly you are waiting in line (i.e., waiting before park opening as opposed to at a particular attraction)?

 

[Silock]

I disagree. A similar number of people head to the FastPass+ kiosks to book their reservations and it takes much longer to do that than it did to pull legacy FASTPASSes.

Similar? I don't know about that, since before, everyone had to do legacy FP and now, most resort guests have done it ahead of time. The kiosks have been pretty empty that I've seen.

 

[Silock]

And even if that weren't true (it is), collecting legacy paper FASTPASSes took all of a minute at most, even at Toy Story Mania, Soarin, or Test Track with how they open the parks. That one minute delay that's now gone is not going to put more than a handful of people in front of you that wouldn't have been there before.

That TSMM FP line could get quite long in the mornings.

 

[Silock]

Actually OP said they arrived at TSMM at 9:10 which is not ideal. It doesn't really matter in this case, the ride was down. I was at HS two weeks ago, 5th family behind the turnstile. We got off TSMM at 8:58 at were on our way to RNR and waited about 10 minutes to ride it.

10 minutes that you can't control shouldn't make or break your RD. And I also wasn't referring to just today.

 

[Silock]

The title of this thread should probably be "If Toy Story Mania is down at rope drop or you don't arrive until 9:10am, you're going to have a bad time."
.

I think maybe you missed where I said that today was an anomaly and I was referring to a more generalized situation.

 

[stormtracker]

Yes, the OP stated they arrived at TSMM at 9:10 - see the bolded The OP *also* said, as I said, that the turnstiles did not open until 9am. So the combination of the turnstiles not letting people through until 9am, coupled with turnstile glitches in front of them delaying their entrance to HS, would jive with not arriving at TSMM until 9:10 even heading directly there, as the OP said. This is a different scenario than the one you were referring to where people don't show up to the turnstiles until 9:10 and say "i was there for RD." The OP *was* there for rope drop, the rope drop/turnstile itself was delayed (9, instead of 845), and there were technical glitches beyond the OPs control further delaying his entrance. That's not the same thing as "not arriving at RD."

If you show up by 8:15 I promise you will have very few glitches in front of you to slow you down. It doesn't matter if the park opened at 8:45 or 9, there are still a lot of people ahead of you unless you are in the front.

 

[Silock]

I think there's a not too much focus on TSMM and maybe that's my fault for bringing it up. But the larger point is that we were previously able to do much more by RD'ing than we could this trip. Maybe it's not FP+, maybe it's weirdly higher crowds. Whatever the reason, it doesn't change the reality of our experience.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If you show up by 8:15 I promise you will have very few glitches in front of you to slow you down. It doesn't matter if the park opened at 8:45 or 9, there are still a lot of people ahead of you unless you are in the front.

Neither you nor I were there to know when exactly the op arrived at the gates. Nor do we know what glitches occured. I've been at epcot rd when the tapstiles went down. None were working, and they has to rubber stamp the back of our tickets for entry. The whole situation delayed our entry by 30 mins.

I think its a bit ridiculous to basically say the op is lying about when he got there, that's all.

 

[prudence64]

I've never done rope drop but it sounds a lot like trying to grab a cabbage patch doll off the shelves in the 80s. Am I off base?

 

[wisblue]

If you show up by 8:15 I promise you will have very few glitches in front of you to slow you down. It doesn't matter if the park opened at 8:45 or 9, there are still a lot of people ahead of you unless you are in the front.

The OP must be like me. I am always able to find the line with the people in front of me who have trouble getting through.

Maybe it's just perception, but it always seems like the line I'm in is moving slower than all the others.

 

[stormtracker]

Neither you nor I were there to know when exactly the op arrived at the gates. Nor do we know what glitches occured. I've been at epcot rd when the tapstiles went down. None were working, and they has to rubber stamp the back of our tickets for entry. The whole situation delayed our entry by 30 mins. I think its a bit ridiculous to basically say the op is lying about when he got there, that's all.

Who said anyone was lying?? ALL I am saying is if you want to really get the full benefit of RD you need to get there 45 minutes before opening.

 

[Silock]

Who said anyone was lying?? ALL I am saying is if you want to really get the full benefit of RD you need to get there 45 minutes before opening.

Which we were. Unfortunately, life happens sometimes and the best laid plans just don't work out.

 

[lugnut33]

Again this isn't exactly the issue. The issue is that before, many went straight to a FP machine. Now everyone goes straight to attractions.

And that's the reason why getting there earlier and earlier will be important going forward.

 

[summermac]

OP:
Did you wait in the SB line for TSMM?

My DHS plan for next week is RNR and RD with TSMM, ToT and Star Tours FP+ for later. I hope a lot of ppl are trying for two rides on TSMM and as such try SB at RD with the FP+ later. Personally I don't like TSMM enough to ride it twice, especially now. I chose it for our FP+ choice over RNR because two people in our party can't/won't ride RNR.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

It's weird how people have such vastly different experiences.

I am headed back to my resort. Got to mk around 9:05. After rope drop... Bus was late getting to resort. Wife got stopped for about 30 seconds due to a small mb glitch.

We than proceeded to walk onto jungle cruise. As in zero line.
Walked into tiki room. No line.
Walked into pirates. No line.
Stopped for bathroom and shopping.
Did thunder mountain. Said 20 minutes, but in actual was under 4.
Did thunder again actual wait 3 minutes
Did haunted mansion. Walked on no wait
Did little mermaid. No wait.
Teacups followed. 2 minute wait.
Keep in mind for all those where I say no wait, I don't mean. 5 minutes. Or 3 minutes. I mean we walked up and into the shell or buggy or whatever.
It was now 10:30 and we stopped to shop and eat.

By maybe noon to 1pm lines were building to 30 to 40 minutes and 50 for headliners, but by then we had ridden almost 3/4 of the rides in the park including headliners.

How are you at rd and having these crowds???!?

 

[redrosesix]

Yes, the OP stated they arrived at TSMM at 9:10 - see the bolded




The OP *also* said, as I said, that the turnstiles did not open until 9am.



So the combination of the turnstiles not letting people through until 9am, coupled with turnstile glitches in front of them delaying their entrance to HS, would jive with not arriving at TSMM until 9:10 even heading directly there, as the OP said.

This is a different scenario than the one you were referring to where people don't show up to the turnstiles until 9:10 and say "i was there for RD."

The OP *was* there for rope drop, the rope drop/turnstile itself was delayed (9, instead of 845), and there were technical glitches beyond the OPs control further delaying his entrance. That's not the same thing as "not arriving at RD."

Thanks for sorting out the argument -- it makes more sense this way.

I absolutely agree with this.

As much as I love WDW, I always hated rope drop at DHS because, if you wanted to go directly to TSMM, you knew you were going to be caught in a mass of people moving at different speeds passing and cutting each other off.

Now that that has been eliminated, we know that we can walk at a normal brisk pace without having others stepping on our ankles and vice versa. if 100 people who enter after us run past us, I don't really care because that is only going to affect our wait time at TSMM by about 5 minutes, if that.

When they open 15 minutes before the posted time (as they have the last 5 or 6 times we have been there) we can get on and off before the first FP return time starts and move on to the short lines at TOT and RNRC

same -- but also because I'm not very tall and unless we were right at the front I was just standing in a crowd where I couldn't see anything.

but here's the thing... did they maybe bring RD back, at least this week, at DHS. Because that would make a big difference for a lot of people. Or maybe it's just that the new turnstiles weren't working properly.