Share Your Recent Rope Drop Experiences

[oliviaik]

Hello! I was wondering if you could share your recent rope drop experiences with me. How many rides did you ride and what were the waits for those rides? I am mostly looking at the first two hours in the park. I know a lot has changed lately so I am not really sure what to expect. I will be starting in Fantasyland at MK one day and BTMRR/Splash the other day. In DHS, I will start with TSMM. In AK we will start at the Safari. We may not rope drop Epcot, but feel free to share your experiences there, too. (Feel free to share your experiences even if you started somewhere other than where we are starting).

Here's what I would like to know:

1. What time were you able to make it to the first ride.
2. What crowd level was your park that day?
3. Which ride did you start at and what was your wait?
4. What other rides were you able to ride the first two hours and what were the approximate waits?

 

[Mrs Green]

I'm interested in these responses too! Good question! My trip is fast approaching and I can not wait!

 

[daisy87]

Also interested in everyone's answers for this! We will be rope dropping in August and it will be or first time offsite so no magic hours mornings! Very interested in what peoples normal rope drop experience is!

 

[Mrs Green]

Hey daisy...we are staying offsite in august too (for most of our trip). One thing I am not sure about is how long will it take to get from hotel to gate at Mk (which is our first day). Do you know anything about that?

 

[daisy87]

Hey, we were there last October and had a car even though we were onsite so I do have experience parking at the magic kingdom. It took us maybe 30 mins to get parked and hop on the ferry to the magic kingdom gate,however we only went to magic kingdom in the evenings so I don't know what the crowds are like at rope drop so not sure if it may take longer if the ferry gets filled up!

We are thinking of setting off from our villa about 745 (which Google maps tells me is a 15 min drive away from magic kingdom) then that should give us plenty of time to get parked,get the ferry boat over and hopefully see the opening show!

 

[sb682]

We have been here since Sunday, crowd levels of 8 and 9. Made it to first ride between 9:05 and 9:15 each day.
MK: one day did BTMRR and Splash first, other day rode Buzz twice. 5 mins for all rides. CMs walked us through Frontierland to the mountains and we couldn't cut through Tomorrowland Terrace. Rode 5 rides by 11 including 40 mins at Tom Sawyer Island, rode 6 by 10:45 on the other day.
HS: 15 minutes for TSMM at RD. Walked on Star Tours x 2.
Epcot: Had FPs for Soarin and don't care about TT, so rope drop was a breeze. Walked onto Figment, Living with the Land and Nemo.

Definitely go with EasyWDW's recommended parks. We have been having a great time despite the high crowd levels.

 

[itchin2go]

We have been here since Sunday, crowd levels of 8 and 9. Made it to first ride between 9:05 and 9:15 each day.
MK: one day did BTMRR and Splash first, other day rode Buzz twice. 5 mins for all rides. CMs walked us through Frontierland to the mountains and we couldn't cut through Tomorrowland Terrace. Rode 5 rides by 11 including 40 mins at Tom Sawyer Island, rode 6 by 10:45 on the other day.
HS: 15 minutes for TSMM at RD. Walked on Star Tours x 2.
Epcot: Had FPs for Soarin and don't care about TT, so rope drop was a breeze. Walked onto Figment, Living with the Land and Nemo.

Definitely go with EasyWDW's recommended parks. We have been having a great time despite the high crowd levels.

This sounds great! I had heard rope drop experiences were different now with FP+, but yours sounds just like it used to be.

 

[oliviaik]

Thank you! Would love to hear some other experiences.

 

[bweagle]

We were in MK on three mornings in the past couple of weeks, but had early ADR's 2 of the mornings, so only one was a true "rope drop" from the gate. On that day, we let the crazy crowd do its thing and when we got to the hub we turned left and headed toward Adventureland. (This was at 9 am). We were able to ride Aladdin, Jungle Cruise & Pirates with no wait. We then headed to Liberty Square and walked on Haunted Mansion, headed over to Frontierland and used FP+ for BTMRR and SM, headed to Tom Sawyer's Island for a bit and rode the train over to FL to make BoG for an 11:30 lunch. It was a leisurely morning, never rushed.....stopped to have ice cream in there too. One of our most productive mornings.

On our 2nd MK day we were in the castle for a pre-park opening ADR. We got out slightly after 9, but when we got out the CM's were still by the carousel routing traffic around......we didn't take advantage of this day like we could have, because DD wanted to meet Rapunzel, so we hopped in that line that was already 20 minutes. After that we headed over to meet Alice and Rabbit and then went over to Space Mountain where wait time was 20 minutes.

On our 3rd MK day we were in Crystal Palace for pre-park opening. We got out right at 9 and headed over to Adventureland again, but decided to walk through it and head into Frontierland. We walked right on BTMRR and then the kids went through the line again with a minimal wait. After that we headed over to Splash Mountain and walked on it stand-by as well. We were done with those three rides about 15 minutes till 10 and decided to hang out outside of splash and wait for Woody & Jesse, because their line gets longer in the day. They were running late......didn't show up until about 10:15, but we met them with only 2 families in front of us.

At EC we were first family at our turnstile both days. We had FP for Soarin' both days, so we headed straight for TT both days and got in the first cycle of designers. After TT we headed to Sum of all Thrills where the line was about 10 minutes. Kids did that a few times.

At DHS we did rope drop one day.....were close to turnstile, but Donald & Daisy came out so we ditched the line to meet them with minimal waits and when we got back in line we were about 10 families or so back. We headed straight to TSM when we got through and were able to walk right on the ride, by the time we got off Standby was 80 minutes. After we did TSM we headed over to meet Buzz & Woody with a minimal wait.

On our 2nd day at DHS we had pre-park ADR at Hollywood & Vine and got out of the restaurant about 9:15, so we just made our way more casually around the hat, meeting characters with very short lines. We then walked on GMR.

At AK first day we headed straight for Safari and were able to walk on. 2nd day we had pre-park opening Tusker House, but headed right to Safari again after breakfast was done and had minimal wait.

Using FP+, we really waited in line no more than 10-15 minutes for anything (except at the FP kiosk to get our 4, 5, 6 and so on FP)

 

[jpessa]

Using FP+, we really waited in line no more than 10-15 minutes for anything (except at the FP kiosk to get our 4, 5, 6 and so on FP)

How many additional FP+ were you able to get in each park, and at what time were you booking them? Thanks!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

We were in MK on three mornings in the past couple of weeks, but had early ADR's 2 of the mornings, so only one was a true "rope drop" from the gate. On that day, we let the crazy crowd do its thing and when we got to the hub we turned left and headed toward Adventureland. (This was at 9 am). We were able to ride Aladdin, Jungle Cruise & Pirates with no wait. We then headed to Liberty Square and walked on Haunted Mansion, headed over to Frontierland and used FP+ for BTMRR and SM, headed to Tom Sawyer's Island for a bit and rode the train over to FL to make BoG for an 11:30 lunch. It was a leisurely morning, never rushed.....stopped to have ice cream in there too. One of our most productive mornings.

On our 2nd MK day we were in the castle for a pre-park opening ADR. We got out slightly after 9, but when we got out the CM's were still by the carousel routing traffic around......we didn't take advantage of this day like we could have, because DD wanted to meet Rapunzel, so we hopped in that line that was already 20 minutes. After that we headed over to meet Alice and Rabbit and then went over to Space Mountain where wait time was 20 minutes.

On our 3rd MK day we were in Crystal Palace for pre-park opening. We got out right at 9 and headed over to Adventureland again, but decided to walk through it and head into Frontierland. We walked right on BTMRR and then the kids went through the line again with a minimal wait. After that we headed over to Splash Mountain and walked on it stand-by as well. We were done with those three rides about 15 minutes till 10 and decided to hang out outside of splash and wait for Woody & Jesse, because their line gets longer in the day. They were running late......didn't show up until about 10:15, but we met them with only 2 families in front of us.

At EC we were first family at our turnstile both days. We had FP for Soarin' both days, so we headed straight for TT both days and got in the first cycle of designers. After TT we headed to Sum of all Thrills where the line was about 10 minutes. Kids did that a few times.

At DHS we did rope drop one day.....were close to turnstile, but Donald & Daisy came out so we ditched the line to meet them with minimal waits and when we got back in line we were about 10 families or so back. We headed straight to TSM when we got through and were able to walk right on the ride, by the time we got off Standby was 80 minutes. After we did TSM we headed over to meet Buzz & Woody with a minimal wait.

On our 2nd day at DHS we had pre-park ADR at Hollywood & Vine and got out of the restaurant about 9:15, so we just made our way more casually around the hat, meeting characters with very short lines. We then walked on GMR.

At AK first day we headed straight for Safari and were able to walk on. 2nd day we had pre-park opening Tusker House, but headed right to Safari again after breakfast was done and had minimal wait.

Using FP+, we really waited in line no more than 10-15 minutes for anything (except at the FP kiosk to get our 4, 5, 6 and so on FP)

Great recap! Curious about that 2nd DHS day because we have an ADR that will likely get us out around 9:15. DO you know if TSMM was insanely long at that time on your second day like it was on your first.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Awesome information!! We will be heading to WDW to do some "rope dropping" two weeks from today! Yay!

 

[cg1200]

We were there 6/22-2/28. We had OK luck at rope drop but not great. As long as you aren't trying to do the 7DMT or Frozen stand-by you can still get a lot done. In fact, those two attractions help divert a large portion of the crowd which makes most of the other rides walk-ons til 11am or 12pm. The Mine Train was down the entire day we were there so we lost our fast pass which really stunk. The second time we went to MK, we did rope drop and went directly there. By the time we got there the line was stretched all the way back to the Tea Cups! 85 minutes at 9:05am. Crazy. We came back a bit later when it said 75 minutes and waited. It only turned out to be about 45 minutes.

Epcot was tough too. We got there at 8:25 (International Gateway). We got through turnstiles by 8:45a but it's such a long walk to TT that there were a lot of people already there. We did walk-on our first time but the wait was 55 min when we got off. Soarin was no better. I had hoped to ride TT twice but there was no chance.

DHS was the worst. We got there about 8:45a which turned out to be too late. By the time we got to TSM it was an 80 minute wait - and it wasn't even 9am.

AK was by far the best. Walk-on til almost noon.

Overall it was about what I expected, perhaps slightly worse. The weather was so disgustingly hot a lot of people were up early trying to get park time in before it hit 95 degrees.

 

[Luvscrappin]

We were there 6/29-7/2. We made rope drop 3/4 days. At AK we rode the safari, EE x2, Dinosaur, and Kali x2 and left the park before 12:30. (had Fp for Kali and EE x1)

At Epcot we got there by 8:30 am and rode TT, Soarin, Mission Space, Nemo, Livin w/ the Land all before 1pm.

At MK arrived by 8:30 am went straight to Space Mtn and rode x2, then Buzz, and Peter Pan by 11am (no fastpasses)

All days were 8 and 9 levels. We had no problems riding everything we wanted and most of our favorites more than once.

 

[bweagle]

How many additional FP+ were you able to get in each park, and at what time were you booking them? Thanks!

We got up to 9 FP at MK. Starting booking after first three (around 1 pm) & rolled them throughout the day. Probably stopped around 8pm. Headliners were gone earlier in the day, but those were my 1st 3.

Wasn't really a need to keep rolling at other parks, standby lines weren't long. Picked up a few extra at DHS on our first day.

 

[bweagle]

Great recap! Curious about that 2nd DHS day because we have an ADR that will likely get us out around 9:15. DO you know if TSMM was insanely long at that time on your second day like it was on your first.

We didn't even check on our day two, because we had a FP for it before 10 & on day one it was up to 80 min wait when we got off the ride, which was around 9:15

 

[bweagle]

We were there 6/22-2/28. We had OK luck at rope drop but not great. As long as you aren't trying to do the 7DMT or Frozen stand-by you can still get a lot done. In fact, those two attractions help divert a large portion of the crowd which makes most of the other rides walk-ons til 11am or 12pm. The Mine Train was down the entire day we were there so we lost our fast pass which really stunk. The second time we went to MK, we did rope drop and went directly there. By the time we got there the line was stretched all the way back to the Tea Cups! 85 minutes at 9:05am. Crazy. We came back a bit later when it said 75 minutes and waited. It only turned out to be about 45 minutes.

Epcot was tough too. We got there at 8:25 (International Gateway). We got through turnstiles by 8:45a but it's such a long walk to TT that there were a lot of people already there. We did walk-on our first time but the wait was 55 min when we got off. Soarin was no better. I had hoped to ride TT twice but there was no chance.

DHS was the worst. We got there about 8:45a which turned out to be too late. By the time we got to TSM it was an 80 minute wait - and it wasn't even 9am.

AK was by far the best. Walk-on til almost noon.

Overall it was about what I expected, perhaps slightly worse. The weather was so disgustingly hot a lot of people were up early trying to get park time in before it hit 95 degrees.

We were there the day mine train was down all day too during those days. We held on to that FP all day hoping it would come back up, but finally ended up using that FP on Splash that evening. I was glad I had booked more FP for mine train for our last day there, and so thankful it was working again then

 

[sb682]

I forgot to add in my post, we were able to get up to 5 FPs at MK before leaving for the day around 2. Prebooked Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise and Pirates, then got Aladdin and Buzz after noon. We even changed plans for yesterday (the 4th) and I was able to get FPs for Soarin at 11pm the night before. We got way more done this week than I ever expected to.

 

[lowcountrygamecock]

We were passing through and decided last minute to stop in orlando so we went to magic kingdom Wednesday, the 2nd. We booked the trip Sunday. We were there at rope drop and went straight to splash mountain because mine train was opening on a delay. We rode splash 5 times and thunder mountain 4 times(1 each was a fast pass) along with pirates and haunted mansion before stopping for a bite to eat at 11ish. We then finished our third prebooked fastpass on buzz at 12. We ended up using 10 fast passes. 1 for splash, 1 for thunder, 3 for buzz, 2 on the speedway, 1 for Peter Pan, 1 on little mermaid and 1 for small world. Great day for last minute trip. We were shocked by how much we were able to do and didn't think magic kingdom was anywhere near as busy as we expected.

 

[Mrs Green]

Hey, we were there last October and had a car even though we were onsite so I do have experience parking at the magic kingdom. It took us maybe 30 mins to get parked and hop on the ferry to the magic kingdom gate,however we only went to magic kingdom in the evenings so I don't know what the crowds are like at rope drop so not sure if it may take longer if the ferry gets filled up! We are thinking of setting off from our villa about 745 (which Google maps tells me is a 15 min drive away from magic kingdom) then that should give us plenty of time to get parked,get the ferry boat over and hopefully see the opening show!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who posted about their rope drop experiences. I hope I have as much success as most of you had!!!