When to arrive for rope drop?

[KJay]

I've never been at a park for rope drop. If opening is at 9:00am, what time would you recommend getting there? Thanks!

 

[merrrydeath]

I usually get in line 30 minutes before the park opens, and it has always worked for me.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I usually get in line 30 minutes before the park opens, and it has always worked for me.

Have to go along with merrrydeath here. Last year when we went there was rope drop every day, this year no rope drop on the day we were there.

Jack

 

[KJay]

Hmm..I thought there was a rope drop everyday- isn't that the official opening of the park? What's the difference between a rope drop day and a non-rope drop day?

 

[blackjackdelta]

Hmm..I thought there was a rope drop everyday- isn't that the official opening of the park? What's the difference between a rope drop day and a non-rope drop day?

I can not tell you. Every year and everyday seems to be different. We have gone every year since 97 and there has never been consistancy. We did June one year and the rest have been August time. This last August none of the days were rope drop, we went from the gates straight in.

Jack

 

[merrrydeath]

Sometimes(MM days as an example) you will be allowed on to main street before the actual park opening time. There you will wait behind a rope until park opening when CMs will coil up the rope(it's not actually dropped) and you will be allowed in. If that doesn't happen then you will just wait in line at the main entrance until park opening when your ticket will be scanned and you will be let in. No rope of any kind in that scenario.

 

[skiingfast]

Hmm..I thought there was a rope drop everyday- isn't that the official opening of the park? What's the difference between a rope drop day and a non-rope drop day?

Rope Drop is a way to spread out guest before the park opens.

If it's a low traffic day or a morning magic day people just go in when the clock strikes 9am in your case.

If it is a busy day they will let people in about 10 minutes before (9 in your case) to the end of main street stopping people where the road opens up to the hub. At 9 they will let these people procede further into the park.

In either case the official opening is 9 though in the second you can shop and get food on main street early.

 

[HydroGuy]

Rope Drop is a way to spread out guest before the park opens.

If it's a low traffic day or a morning magic day people just go in when the clock strikes 9am in your case.

If it is a busy day they will let people in about 10 minutes before (9 in your case) to the end of main street stopping people where the road opens up to the hub. At 9 they will let these people procede further into the park.

In either case the official opening is 9 though in the second you can shop and get food on main street early.

Adding to this, the idea in "spreading out guests" is as follows...

When they allow guests onto Main Street before the park opens and then hold them back with a rope, they get all those guests through the turnstiles before the park opens. The turnstiles are the funnel point and they are what slows everyone down. If more guests are thru the funnel before the park opens it knocks down the line outside the turnstiles. So guests arriving at say right at 9AM will see a short line at the turnstiles and will be happy rather than a super long line (and be sad) - which is how it would appear had they did not allow guests in early and held them at the rope inside DL.

 

[JH87]

I've always wondered about rope drop....
everytime I have gone to DLR, I usually get there before the park opens, and have never seen the rope drop. not even on a MM day. i guess it just so happens that they didnt do it on the days i have been

 

[KJay]

Thank you all for the info- I'll see what happens on Friday!

 

[Shimmer]

It depends on how hard-core you are. If you want to amongst the very first few in, I'd go 30-45 minutes before the stated opening time. We did that a few times in May 2010 and felt it didn't really gain us much. If we really wanted to hurry in and get to be first in line for some popular rides, it would have helped us.

Our last trip (October of 2010) we arrived to the gates about 10-15 minutes before opening time. We got in very quickly and spent the morning walking on most of the Fantasyland rides, etc.

We figured out we travel with 3 kids & 1 stroller...people are always going to be able to out-pace us. That 20-30 minutes waiting in line at the gate is HARD for my kids and only gains us a few minutes in the park or 1 extra ride. Not worth it for my family.

If I was w/o kids and only had 1 or 2 days in the park, sure I'd line up early for the fun of being one of the very first in.