Slinky Dog Rope Drop is a Living Hell

[robinb]

Didn't they have CMs with ropes? That's how they do it for 7DMT at the MK.

 

[StarSeven7]

Didn't they have CMs with ropes? That's how they do it for 7DMT at the MK.

They do, but the problem is that you're walking such a long distance, going from a narrow space to a wider space. Once you get to that wider space, the people behind run to cut in front of the people right behind the CM walking. Then you have to funnel through 2 archways which really messes with the line as people scramble around trying to get through an archway.

 

[cakebaker]

I can't imagine a bigger mess that handing our fp's at park opening.

Please go back a read everything I've written on this. There would be a limited number of these RD FP handed out. I threw out 100 but I'm not sure what the right number would be, maybe 50. After that, you would have to head to the standby line.

So, the OP and fam would be, at worst, 100th in line at the ride. That's not 90 minutes on top of the 90 minutes she's already waited. They wouldn't be behind everyone else.

And, yes, it would be pretty easy to calculate how long it would take someone with mobility issues or a stroller to get to the ride. You can't cover every scenario but I think 15 minutes would be the absolute max.

It's just an idea to help alleviate a real problem that comes up time and time again on this forum.

Please go back a read everything I've written on this. There would be a limited number of these RD FP handed out. I threw out 100 but I'm not sure what the right number would be, maybe 50. After that, you would have to head to the standby line.

So, the OP and fam would be, at worst, 100th in line at the ride. That's not 90 minutes on top of the 90 minutes she's already waited. They wouldn't be behind everyone else.

And, yes, it would be pretty easy to calculate how long it would take someone with mobility issues or a stroller to get to the ride. You can't cover every scenario but I think 15 minutes would be the absolute max.

It's just an idea to help alleviate a real problem that comes up time and time again on this forum.

I have no idea how many people on average are at rope drop, it feels like thousands, but what I know for sure is 50 or 100 is a drop in the bucket. So if you aren’t in the first group, wouldn’t all those people still be acting like fools to get to the standby line? And once word got out they were doing this,people would be camping out all night.

 

[robinb]

They do, but the problem is that you're walking such a long distance, going from a narrow space to a wider space. Once you get to that wider space, the people behind run to cut in front of the people right behind the CM walking. Then you have to funnel through 2 archways which really messes with the line as people scramble around trying to get through an archway.

There has to be a way to keep the space narrowed so people can't run up from the side. I went to DHS in January right after rope drop and one of the arches was closed so there was only one way through. We were going to TSM so we didn't bother with the Slinky line.

 

[StarSeven7]

There has to be a way to keep the space narrowed so people can't run up from the side. I went to DHS in January right after rope drop and one of the arches was closed so there was only one way through. We were going to TSM so we didn't bother with the Slinky line.

Yeah, I think a narrower space would help a lot! And people are able to go down a side road along Hollywood Blvd., around the spot where they hold you, and essentially they hold another rope there to keep people back. It was when we met up with that huge mass of people that it started getting really crazy. I am guessing that all of those people arrived quite a bit later than the people at the front of the line. If they could block off that area, I think that would also help.

 

[Jetta8300]

I apologize if this has been asked before, but what is the purpose of rope dropping SDD? If you waited a total of 3 hours to ride, counting having to arrive that early, wouldn't it have been less of a wait to just show up and get in line? As of about 7:45pm the app said SDD had a 25 minute wait. Checking the app throughout the last few months I've seen waits of around 120 minutes typically, which seems less than the amount of time people would spend lining up to get into the park and time spent in the actual line put together. I've seen waits in the 90min-190 minute range, but usually on the lower end.

 

[StarSeven7]

I apologize if this has been asked before, but what is the purpose of rope dropping SDD? If you waited a total of 3 hours to ride, counting having to arrive that early, wouldn't it have been less of a wait to just show up and get in line? As of about 7:45 the app said SDD had a 25 minute wait. Checking the app throughout the last few months I've seen waits of around 120 minutes typically, which seems less than the amount of time people would spend lining up to get into the park and time spent in the actual line put together.

Because usually if you get to the park that early and you're among the first in line, the ride is a walk-on. Also, not everyone can go at the end of the night, especially if they want to watch a night time show. Sometimes rope drop is the best option for someone to get on a popular ride with the shortest amount of wait time.

 

[StageTek]

Sorry I haven't read thru all 5 pages, but it sounds like they don't do any sort of rope/walking people towards the ride? I know they have done something similar in the past.

On the day we were there this is exactly what they did. Five CM's walking with a rope. I counted another 20 trying to keep order along the route to the ride. The total chaos I saw wasn't at the front where the CM's where, it was 100 or so people back where adults were pushing and shoving children to get, not to the front of the line, but to get five or eight people in front of where they were. Where parents with strollers where using them as battering rams to gain an advantage.

The people who were pushing and shoving where loudly complaining that "Disney" wasn't doing enough to keep people from pushing and shoving.

I apologize if this has been asked before, but what is the purpose of rope dropping SDD? If you waited a total of 3 hours to ride, counting having to arrive that early, wouldn't it have been less of a wait to just show up and get in line?

I'm with you on that. You're still waiting over an hour - we did. But my nieces explained that the 60 minutes we were waiting before the park opened wasn't taking 60 minutes out of the day. It's tortured logic but I kind of get it. For some reason waiting for 60 minutes before the park opens and then being in the actual line for only 10 minutes was a big victory. And much better (to them) than waiting 70 minutes in line.

And BTW: as we got off the ride the wait time was 140 minutes...

 

[StarSeven7]

Has the OP come back to give an update on how long they actually waited once they were in the queue for SDD? I know they said they were at the end of a 90 minute line, but curious to know if they actually waited 90 minutes.

 

[YawningDodo]

Has the OP come back to give an update on how long they actually waited once they were in the queue for SDD? I know they said they were at the end of a 90 minute line, but curious to know if they actually waited 90 minutes.

Wondering that as well. When I RD'd FoP, the app said it was a 70 minute wait by the time I reached the actual queue entrance, but I didn't wait 70 minutes past that point. It's an estimate, and it's meant to represent how long you'd wait if you got in the line right that minute.

 

[Jetta8300]

Because usually if you get to the park that early and you're among the first in line, the ride is a walk-on. Also, not everyone can go at the end of the night, especially if they want to watch a night time show. Sometimes rope drop is the best option for someone to get on a popular ride with the shortest amount of wait time.

I totally understand that, I just have read quite a few blogger's websites all discussing the wait times when rope dropping SDD, and it's still usually still pretty substantial. Like 45 minutes or more. So it doesn't sound like a time savings whatsoever.

We Did this with FEA in 2017, and rope dropping early and running to the line we still had a 50 minute wait. At that point we said never again for us, I'd rather take my time and just wait in the line without the stress. It seems like an even worse situation here.

We were not able to obtain FP for SDD at all for our trip this coming week, even constantly checking. So we are going to show up and just try the fastpass app refresh in small groups. Hopefully that strategy works for us like it did during our last trip with FOP. If not, we probably wont ride with 3 kids under 7.

 

[Mome Rath]

Has the OP come back to give an update on how long they actually waited once they were in the queue for SDD? I know they said they were at the end of a 90 minute line, but curious to know if they actually waited 90 minutes.

I wondered this too, as in AK and FoP, they may inflate the wait time to get people not to line up. At FoP they will immediately start posting like an hour wait when it is just around 10 or 15 min.

 

[Jetta8300]

I'm with you on that. You're still waiting over an hour - we did. But my nieces explained that the 60 minutes we were waiting before the park opened wasn't taking 60 minutes out of the day. It's tortured logic but I kind of get it. For some reason waiting for 60 minutes before the park opens and then being in the actual line for only 10 minutes was a big victory. And much better (to them) than waiting 70 minutes in line.

I would totally agree with you here, however my personal feeling about DHS is that there are so few rides anyway, we aren't in a terrible rush. If we were planning on leaving and park hopping, then maybe we would want to not waste park time. But if you're not park hopping it just seems like such an aggravation when there aren't all that many rides to get to there anyway.

 

[StageTek]

Yep, Jetta8300. I will never do it again. It was so uncomfortable waiting as people jockeyed for position, so many trying to gain that little advantage by pushing their stroller up against you and others getting their little kids to sneak in front of you and then with CM's yelling for everyone to walk so many people pushing and shoving.

 

[snappy]

Not very vacation like.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Just give it 9-10 months and rope dropping SDD is going to be an absolute BREEZE.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I'm with you on that. You're still waiting over an hour - we did. But my nieces explained that the 60 minutes we were waiting before the park opened wasn't taking 60 minutes out of the day. It's tortured logic but I kind of get it. For some reason waiting for 60 minutes before the park opens and then being in the actual line for only 10 minutes was a big victory. And much better (to them) than waiting 70 minutes in line.

And BTW: as we got off the ride the wait time was 140 minutes...

But time isn’t free, and those that lined up an hour before the park opened probably won’t still be around when the lines are even shorter at night.

 

[dlavender]

I’m still shocked at the RD for 7DMT October 2017. A ride that is what, 5 years old?!

We diverted straight to Frontierland..

Noped right out of that

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m still shocked at the RD for 7DMT October 2017. A ride that is what, 5 years old?!

We diverted straight to Frontierland..

Noped right of that

In October 2017 it had been open for approximately 3 yrs 3-4 months (depending on when in October as it opened at the very end of May 2014).

Your larger point is still there but given that it was the new ride in a while and nothing has come along since then I get the furor over it. Tron should take some of the edge off (though maybe not all given what type of ride Tron is compared to 7DMT).

 

[pens4821]

I'm with you on that. You're still waiting over an hour - we did. But my nieces explained that the 60 minutes we were waiting before the park opened wasn't taking 60 minutes out of the day. It's tortured logic but I kind of get it. For some reason waiting for 60 minutes before the park opens and then being in the actual line for only 10 minutes was a big victory. And much better (to them) than waiting 70 minutes in line.

And BTW: as we got off the ride the wait time was 140 minutes...

This is why I do rope drop, and get there early. Yeah, I stand in line for a half hour before opening, but that standing in line is when no one else is coming in the park making other lines longer. In my eyes, it helps me get more done. But, I also don't go to the longest wait rides (SDD, 7D/PP, FOP). If I were going to ride one of the newest or the really long wait rides, I'd get in line close to closing, I do think that's a better strategy. However, we've tried getting in lines for things like TOT, MS, TT, BTMRR about a half hour (give or take) before closing and thats all we could ride. I can get 2/3 rides done in the first half hour of posted opening, so I can accomplish more early rather than later (based on my experience, everyones will vary).