Rope dropping worth it?

[patm95]

Hi all. We are at DW right now and rope dropped MK Sunday and Epcot monday. Each day got there about 8:15. Both days, there were so many people that by the time we got to the rides 7 Dwarfs and the Remy and frozen line was longer than I’d ever seen it.

How early do you have to get there to make it worth it?? Or is it worth it at all??

 

[AnnaS]

I think about an hour before it opens. Might be worth it for two rides if you are staying on-site.

 

[LoveDaisy]

You will want to be at the turnstiles about an hour before the gates open if you want to be near the front. We usually try to be there an hour and 15 minutes before the park opens if we want to rope drop.

 

[scrappinginontario]

You will want to be at your resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE begins to be towards the front of the crowds.

For Remy you need to use the entrance at International Gateway (arrive via Skyliner).

There is a thread dedicated to Everything ETPE here. Post 1 contains a lot of helpful info.

 

[Figment Mom]

Worth it for us, but you need a strategy. If you're going for those ultra popular rides you need to be there earlier, as others have said.

We rope drop Peter Pan so we line up early then make sure we're to the left in the crowd gathered to head into Fantasyland. The Mine Train group goes off to the right.

We stay at a Skyliner resort, so we're in a good position for Remy.

Another option is picking a ride that everyone doesn't beeline to. At DHS we rope dropped TSMM instead of Slinky or Rise and rode it 3 or 4 times in a row with no wait.

 

[slo]

My DD20 and I don’t rope drop rides we rope drop for other reasons…

MK - we love getting a coffee at Joffrey’s in Tomorrowland and then rope drop the gift shops that are completely empty first thing in the morning. We take pictures of what we want to buy, and then go back for it later and hope that it’s still there. We leisurely walk around and take our pictures. We love doing this.

EPCOT - we love entering through The International Gateway, get a coffee at Joffrey’s by The American Adventure, and leisurely walk around the WS (especially during F&G) until our Remy LL time. The gift shops aren’t open yet, but that’s ok, we get to take our pictures before it gets crowded.

HS and AK we don’t rope drop. We get there a few minutes after the park opens, after all the rope drop people enter the front gate so we don’t have to wait to get in.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Many people are passionate about it, however we aren’t one of those people .
We found that it wasn’t worth getting up super early, lining up for transportation, lining up for security and gate entrance, then rushing to the same rides as everyone else only to save a few minutes. In fact when we rope dropped remy, we lined up over an hour. The rest of the day the wait time averaged 60 minutes. Plus the kids (mainly us) were ko’d by 4pm.
We much prefer easing into the parks mid to late morning and staying to close.

I should add that if you plan it perfectly are up very early and are at the front of the lines, you’ll likely have a better experience with less wait times

 

[patm95]

Thank you to all for this info. I wouldn’t mind getting there even earlier but it’d be hard to get our kids there that early without them being grumpy. We might have to try it in a few years when they are older. Well make the best of it!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thank you to all for this info. I wouldn’t mind getting there even earlier but it’d be hard to get our kids there that early without them being grumpy. We might have to try it in a few years when they are older. Well make the best of it!

We use ETPE early in our trip then less as the trip progresses.

You may wish to check out the Theme Parks and Strategies portion of DISboards as you will find a lot of helpful information about planning your trip there.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

OP are you staying onsite or offsite?

If you are staying offsite then rope drop is less worth it these days since onsite guests are able to start riding attractions 30 minutes prior to official park opening for the general public.

If staying onsite yes I feel its well worth it.

I generally arrive at the parks about 20 minutes prior to early park entry in order to go through the tapstiles and be ready to walk tot he attraction I want to go on when the time comes.

If you have young kids that you feel would be grumpy then its probably a much more productive day if you allow them to get the amount of sleep they need.

 

[weather_lady]

It's all a matter of balance. I assume you're talking about the early entry rope drop, and not the one for the general public. Now that early entry is only 30 minutes, there's very little advantage if your aim is to do a highly popular attraction like 7DMT, Slinky, Frozen, or Flight of Passage, unless you are willing to be among the first to arrive. Either you have to be at the front of the pre-rope drop line for early entry (that is, arrive at least 60 minutes prior to the beginning of early entry). If you opt to show up later in the morning after the park is open to all guests, you'll probably have to wait an extra 45-70 minutes in the queue for the same attraction, and will be getting a later start in the day -- BUT you'll be "saving" the extra 60 minutes you'd have been waiting to rope drop in the first place, and the stress of trying to speed-walk to the desired attraction without getting passed by too many people. (*If you're an off-site guest, you're going to have that longer line no matter when you show up.)

So it really comes down to, would you rather wait an extra hour early in the morning (and check an extra headliner or two off of your list during early entry), or later in the day? There's no wrong answer: they're just different approaches.

 

[bakerworld]

When we had kids making rope drop was not a problem. They were up so we were up being driven crazy in the hotel room. The kids hated rope drop - hanging around waiting for the park to open and it really only helped with 1 major ride but fairly well with 'runner up' rides.

Now that we are well past vacationing with kids, we don't rope drop at all. The shame of this is that I haven't enjoyed FOP for about 2 years. We have discovered that going during the evening extra hours has just as good a chance to ride a major ride as AM rope drop. Unfortunately, the extra evening hours are only EPCOT on Monday and MK on Wednesday. Obviously we go several times a year so rides aren't an issue. In fact we're taking a park break for 2025 so hopefully 2026 will bring different tips.

If you are into G+ I understand there's purchasable software called Skipper that auto schedules rides using the G+ software.

 

[patm95]

OP are you staying onsite or offsite?

If you are staying offsite then rope drop is less worth it these days since onsite guests are able to start riding attractions 30 minutes prior to official park opening for the general public.

If staying onsite yes I feel its well worth it.

I generally arrive at the parks about 20 minutes prior to early park entry in order to go through the tapstiles and be ready to walk tot he attraction I want to go on when the time comes.

If you have young kids that you feel would be grumpy then its probably a much more productive day if you allow them to get the amount of sleep they need.

Thank you. Yes we stay on site. Perhaps the crowds are more than usual this trip. We will likely try this strategy again when they are older. My daughter asked if they could sleep in tomorrow. lol.

 

[DeeBee3]

Also was Memorial Day weekend so I imagine more people there due to the long weekend

 

[Captain UP]

For me, the best rope drop strategy is to avoid the biggest demand rides. At MK, don't try to go straight for 7D or Space Mountain- try Peter Pan or Buzz Lightyear.

These are rides that will have longer waits within the first couple hours, but almost no one going to them at rope drop.

 

[StarCruzer]

I feel like rope dropped has definitely changed since FP+ was dropped. This is because the more experienced park-goers would simply get FP+ 60 days out for the more popular rides and then rope drop their secondary picks. The crowds going to each attraction were split up (even marginally). It also used to be considered an "advanced" WDW tip. Many parks used to have pre-opening breakfast. Early Morning Magic hours used to be longer and spread across the parks on different days (if I'm remembering correctly)--this would allow you, in the words of a known blogger, allow you to "zig" while others "zagged". i.e. if MK had 1 hour EMM, you could rope drop a different park with a normal opening hours and the crowd would be less intense.

Now every Disney planner explains to their clients how to rope drop (no shade, it's good to make sure your clients know their options!) so it seems more common. Early Entry is the same time at every park for on-site guests. Not everyone has three guaranteed "skip the line" rides so they want to get bang for their buck in terms of trying to get on as many attractions as possible while the parks are open.

For us, we go pretty frequently so we no longer rope drop because we don't feel the need. We prefer to have a more laid back experience and only do a few rides a day and just enjoy the stores, food, ambience, etc.

So the long answer to your question is, whether rope drop is worth it depends on your vacationing style and whether you want to maximize in park time.

 

[kwdw]

I do - but I am at the bus stop at my resort 90 minutes prior to the early entry time.

Yes - I do wait in that time - but it allows me to extend my day when I'm awake - which is morning (I struggle with times after 9pm). I can hit 3-5 rides first thing with little to no line.

You have to be at the front of the pack - or rope dropping isn't worth it unless you are going to secondary rides/attractions. The big name ones - if you are at the back of the rope drop pack - you are waiting an hour. That is not worth it.

 

[Upatnoon]

One advantage for rope-dropping and getting there early is that while you are still waiting ..... you are waiting when the park is closed and not eating park time in line.

A similar strategy is a park close when you get in line right before park close and wait and ride when the park is closed.

If you are rope-dropping "late", I would agree with the strategy of avoiding the most popular rides, like Mine Train. You will be waiting when many attractions are walk-ons.

If you need to wait in line for a popular attraction, you might as well do it when nearly all the rides have long waits.

 

[matt_in_nh]

When you hit it right it is worth it and fun But you have to be there earlier than you are going. I understand your frustration though also. You need to be on the first bus or be at skylines before it is going. This is another example of you have to research a lot to really know what you are doing.

And if you want remy’s you need to get to the international gateway. We ropedrooped at Epcot were the first to scan in at main gate but that day international gateway entrance opened early. We still did not wait long but when you feel like you put the effort in and find out you should have went to the other entrance it sucks.

 

[lankman]

Every trip we rope drop each park. For MK we always head toward BTM, POTC & HM. We don't go for the popular ones as every one heads to those first. We keep rides like 7D or SM for the night time & normally can get onto them without too much of a wait just before park closing.
We do similar for the other parks on certain rides.
We found in Nov 22 a few of the popular rides at the parks hhe wait times dropped significantly just before closing. We are hoping the same happens in September for us .