ROTR, rope drop?

[charminnie]

Who has successfully done ROTR at rope drop? Yes, I have early entry. What was your plan and timing? TIA

 

[lentesta]

If it helps with your decision (and if I've counted correctly), ROTR did not open for rope drop for 7 of the 31 days in October. Based on that, there's a 20-25% chance that it won't be open for rope drop the day of your visit either.

That is not a great number to make plans on. The concern is that you won't be told the ride is down until rope drop. And at that point, going somewhere else would put you at the back of the line, pretty much wiping out any advantage you have from getting to the park at rope drop.

ROTR is one of the least-reliable rides in WDW, averaging just under 2 hours of downtime per day over the last couple of years. If it's in your budget, the best way to avoid the risk of waiting in line without riding is to purchase ILL.

 

[john7994]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...op-ror-or-slinky.3931283/page-2#post-65156219

https://www.disboards.com/threads/rope-drop-strategies.3932351/

 

[ars0525]

We did yesterday (11-19). We are AP holders so got there after 8am to wait outside the gate. Watched people walking in. The ride (I believe) was running at 8:30 cause it had a wait time listed, but must of went down shortly after that cause then the app said it was temp closed until about 8:55 when it showed a wait time again (we were checking getting ready to plan B). We were let in at 9am & walked over there where it said it had a 20 minute standby. Which was pretty right on except when we got to the front it was not running ALL of it. We were walked outside & then back into the building down a hallway to resume the ride skipping what I would call the 1st 2 parts (I don't want to spoiler if you haven't ridden it).

Having ridden it before I upset not seeing it "all" but my BF was his 1st time & he was still pretty excited. Without the entire story line though & the CMs doing some improv lines along the way I wasn't sure how understandable it was being thrown in the middle, but he's a big fan so he was able to catch on. He said it was still enjoyable & he looks forward to riding it when it is all working.

So yeah it was running at RD but not fully & I don't know when/if it did cause we moved on to other rides.

In the past I have successfully done RD (again regular opening time) when it's running fully. I aim to get to the gate about an hour ahead & wait in the front of that group entering. It's then been a 15-20 minute stand by wait when I have done that.

 

[ArielDreams]

These are my notes from our trip last summer (I hope I’m not the only one who takes aggressive notes of what we do lol!)

• Early opening - 8:00, on boat to HS from Swan 7:25
• Rise of Resistance - in first room at 7:59, off by 8:20 (then it went down!)

 

[kwdw]

I’ve done it twice now and it was awesome. I typically leave my resort room to walk to the bus stop about 75 minutes before EE starts. Gets me on the first or second bus from my resort to EE. Puts me pretty close to the tap stiles, but not first. I realize I’ve been lucky that it was working both times, but I was thrilled.

 

[samsteele]

I tried in September and it was down. Not told until power walked to the ride and then waved away by a CM at the entrance. Like the herd around me, I rushed to Smugglers Run and did that as a substitute. Then back to ROTR and luckily it was up by then. I hadn't been to Galaxy's Edge before so I alternated between the 2 rides for the next hour and a half. It worked out in the end for me. ROTR is great. But I would never count on executing any precision touring plan with ROTR in the mix.

 

[CMNJ]

We’ve done it at least 3 times but one of those times it went down once they opened the line and we wound up leaving since we had no idea when it would open. The other 2 times we got to Hollywood about 15-20 min before early park opening time and were in the line before the ride started running. This last trip was the best as we entered the preshow 13 minutes after entering the que (we set a timer just for fun to see how long it would take).

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

If you want an alternate strategy, we hit Rise 80 minutes before closing time on our most recent visit and were able to ride 3 times before the park closed. The posted wait was 90 minutes.

We found that to be a pretty efficient use of time and probably something you couldn’t do in the morning.

 

[DisneyOma]

If you want an alternate strategy, we hit Rise 80 minutes before closing time on our most recent visit and were able to ride 3 times before the park closed. The posted wait was 90 minutes.

We found that to be a pretty efficient use of time and probably something you couldn’t do in the morning.

Plus, that area is so amazing at night! The lighting and "set details" are so well done!

 

[jimim]

I’m in the ride before close for this one. 2 trips it has worked multiple nights with least wait being 20 mins and worse being 45.

 

[CynBeth]

If it helps with your decision (and if I've counted correctly), ROTR did not open for rope drop for 7 of the 31 days in October. Based on that, there's a 20-25% chance that it won't be open for rope drop the day of your visit either.

That is not a great number to make plans on. The concern is that you won't be told the ride is down until rope drop. And at that point, going somewhere else would put you at the back of the line, pretty much wiping out any advantage you have from getting to the park at rope drop.

ROTR is one of the least-reliable rides in WDW, averaging just under 2 hours of downtime per day over the last couple of years. If it's in your budget, the best way to avoid the risk of waiting in line without riding is to purchase ILL.

I agree about just purchasing the ILL.