Slinky Dog Rope Drop is a Living Hell

[Jetta8300]

As to the “why rope drop” question, several reasons: !

I was one of the people asking "why rope drop SDD"... I just meant that i actually knew why you did it. It's just more of a hypothetical question as to why should any of us do it going forward... Like is it really worth it for all of the other people reading this thread, if this is the typical experience. It seems as though you had an experience similar to what we had when we did this for the Frozen Ride, and we kind of learned our lesson. The heat factor does make sense though and I hadn't thought of that. So it gives people planning something to think about for sure.

 

[cakebaker]

Not all of us - some of us go hang at the pool for a few hours and come back at night - best of both worlds!

That's what we do! We open one park and close another. Afternoon naps after a swim are the best and we get to an evening park rested and ready to go.

 

[David Jewell]

I look at the $600 I’ve put up for emm at HS and MK but I know the looks on their faces will be mostly worth it

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It’s not your imagination. Those guests will tire out and leave early, resulting in even shorter lines in the evening hours.

I guess that depends on how early people get there. We did a 14hr day in Sep 2017 EMH in the morning and in the evening- no breaks either

 

[ScubaCat]

Not all of us - some of us go hang at the pool for a few hours and come back at night - best of both worlds!

I am surprised how well this works for DHS. MK seems to stay fairly busy but SDD does have a massively shorter line in the evening, which happens to be the best time to ride it. Go figure.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I am surprised how well this works for DHS. MK seems to stay fairly busy but SDD does have a massively shorter line in the evening, which happens to be the best time to ride it. Go figure.

This is true for any headliner in all parks. MK is no exception.

 

[Randomsoulshine]

Our visit last summer we rope dropped every park and I must say it seemed controlled. A cast member walked a rope or something into different lands and you followed them. Is this not always the case? You couldn’t run or you would end up in front of the cast members and their rope. I believe it was two cast members with a rope stretched between them. Perhaps they don’t always staff well enough to do this method. I’m so so sorry to the family who just experienced a nightmare of a rope drop.

 

[OB1]

I really liked the system when they would use the turnstiles to control the crowds. Only open the turnstiles when the park is ready. That slow trickle will keep the masses from trampling everyone. Of course, that means there are not over 30 minutes to let everyone shop and buy Starbucks. $$$$ win out over guest experience.

 

[momof2n2]

When I go through these mobs I can't help but think about how much worse it would be if the paper FP system with distribution at the ride was still in place. At least with FP+ there are several thousand people who have no need or desire to join the mob.

I disagree.
Back in the day I could send my family off to do other rides and I could walk to the kiosk and grab FP for sometime later. One person vs 8. Then I’d meet them again and we’d start jamming out our TP.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I am surprised how well this works for DHS. MK seems to stay fairly busy but SDD does have a massively shorter line in the evening, which happens to be the best time to ride it. Go figure.

And I prefer the ride at night too with all of the lights.

 

[nkereina]

Sorry if this has been discussed, but remember the days when they let people in at park opening and didn't hold them at any point in the park? It was a mad dash back to TSMM (at the time), and it was every man for themselves. I feel like that worked better and was safer. It's easier to police people running when they're trickling in from the gates rather than a massive hoard of people. What is the point of letting people in early, holding them inside, and then releasing them as a large group anyway?

 

[ScubaCat]

Sorry if this has been discussed, but remember the days when they let people in at park opening and didn't hold them at any point in the park? It was a mad dash back to TSMM (at the time), and it was every man for themselves. I feel like that worked better and was safer. It's easier to police people running when they're trickling in from the gates rather than a massive hoard of people. What is the point of letting people in early, holding them inside, and then releasing them as a large group anyway?

I remember the days when my mom figured out that if we went back after dinner the park was almost completely empty and we could walk on everything! Granted that was 1985, but hey... good times

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I remember the days when my mom figured out that if we went back after dinner the park was almost completely empty and we could walk on everything! Granted that was 1985, but hey... good times

It still works that way if you know the crowd patterns. Here’s an example from a recent 4 hour visit starting at 8 pm on a early summer evening with no FPs:

Big Thunder 3x
Splash Mtn 2x
Space Mtn 2x
Mine Train
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Peter Pan
Speedway
Barnstormer 2x

We also watched the fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

That's what we do! We open one park and close another. Afternoon naps after a swim are the best and we get to an evening park rested and ready to go.

That's what we like to do too - love it!

I am surprised how well this works for DHS. MK seems to stay fairly busy but SDD does have a massively shorter line in the evening, which happens to be the best time to ride it. Go figure.

Fantasmic! absorbs a lot of people and it's a fairly long show - I'm sure that helps! MK definitely seems to have more people hanging around in the evening, but I still think there are short lines to be had!

Sorry if this has been discussed, but remember the days when they let people in at park opening and didn't hold them at any point in the park? It was a mad dash back to TSMM (at the time), and it was every man for themselves. I feel like that worked better and was safer. It's easier to police people running when they're trickling in from the gates rather than a massive hoard of people. What is the point of letting people in early, holding them inside, and then releasing them as a large group anyway?

I don't know? But you're right, it doesn't seem like the most logical plan in terms of safety, especially with the set up at HS. I feel like everything is about money and minimizing staffing whenever possible - does the herd method use less CMs or less CMs coming in earlier? I know the Starbucks is open but not sure what else is in terms of spending opportunities...

 

[cakebaker]

Sorry if this has been discussed, but remember the days when they let people in at park opening and didn't hold them at any point in the park? It was a mad dash back to TSMM (at the time), and it was every man for themselves. I feel like that worked better and was safer. It's easier to police people running when they're trickling in from the gates rather than a massive hoard of people. What is the point of letting people in early, holding them inside, and then releasing them as a large group anyway?

And I can guarantee you, if they went back to holding people at the gate, these boards would be flooded with complaints about how long it is after opening before you actually get in. As one who never goes to a headliner at rope drop, I don’t want to have to get to the park an hour before it opens so I don’t have to wait an hour to get in. I think the change in opening at the MK is a huge improvement, HS just doesn’t have the real estate to handle it as well.

There are thousands of people who want to ride 1 ride at park opening. I don’t think there is a good solution outside of people using common sense.

 

[wisblue]

I disagree.
Back in the day I could send my family off to do other rides and I could walk to the kiosk and grab FP for sometime later. One person vs 8. Then I’d meet them again and we’d start jamming out our TP.

The real chaos came from groups who would run to the attraction and have one member get FPs while the others got in the standby line. Then the person with the FPs would push their way through the line to catch up with the rest of the group.

With FP+ there are thousands of people who can ride a popular ride without having to even be in the park until well after opening.

 

[yulilin3]

I am a local who doesn't do rope drop at all.
Yesterday was the first day of a female sarge in the green army patrol so I was there for their first set at 9:30 to live stream.
Well I got to the park around 8:30 went inside and they had everyone already on hold on Hollywood Blvd. Grabbed my fuel rods, bought a minnie class of 2019 plush, and then headed into tsl, so about 15 after they had actually released everyone. What a mess by the woody statue. There's a wall of people, ONE CM trying to direct sdd to the right everyone else to the left but no one was moving, there was a dad with a stroller screaming into his phone "I'm not going in" another lady saying "this is insane"
I went up the far left to get through, zigged and sagged, once I reached the entrance to tsmm the was actual room to walk
They need more people to direct the crowds it can be done

 

[mom2rtk]

They need more people to direct the crowds it can be done

 

[mom2rtk]

Reminds me of the days when there was no FP+ and everyone was doing the same thing for Toy Story Mania at HS, and Soarin at Epcot. Ah, the good 'ol days.

Dan

Wait..... I thought FP+ was going to fix that!

 

[cakebaker]

There's a wall of people, ONE CM trying to direct sdd to the right everyone else to the left but no one was moving, there was a dad with a stroller screaming into his phone "I'm not going in" another lady saying "this is insane"

And yet, there they are. Rope dropping the single most popular ride at WDW is not required. In fact, SDD wait times are absolutely the longest 15 minutes after opening. You could ride it any other time of day and have less wait.

Yes, it could be improved but it’s never going to be calm and relaxed as long as it’s this popular. And until Disney decides to improve it, this is what it is. Seems simple to me, just don’t do it, there are better options.