EMH Rope Drop coming from Fort Wilderness

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

Hi All

I've been trying to cobble together info from various related threads, but figured I'd see if anyone has experience with my specific query.

We are staying in the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Our Magic Kingdom day is an Extra Magic Hour day, so it opens at 8am. Our goal is to do both Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan during this time (FP+ are for the 3 mountains).

SO. Has anyone done this? I'm really wondering how early you think I should get to the FW boat dock, and how early it is recommended to be at MK for rope drop on a EMH day. I had a bad experience with boat wait times (waited so long we missed a breakfast reservation) from the Lodge on a previous trip so I'm nervous about how much time to plan in the morning.

Any tips and feedback is much appreciated. I haven't rope dropped since I was a kid!

 

[Brett Wyman]

This came up before and Im PRETTY sure one the FW experts said Disney will make sure a boat is running for EMH. Hopefully a FW expert will pop in and verify. I believe it runs "30 minutes before park opening".

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

Thanks for your reply Brett.

Bumping this just in case others have advice. From what I’ve gathered in order to be earlier (and get into the park to be at the front of the pack, I’d have to take the resort boat loop which begins running at 6:45, and walk from Contemporary. Which is sort of disappointing as I really wanted to do the boat arrival to MK and make it special for the first timers in my group.

 

[LSUfan4444]

When dealing with time specific departures I'd always recommend an Uber, Lyft or Taxi to Contemporary over Disney transportation. It's well worth the $8 in my opinion. I understand wanting to make the arrival special but when you're talking about monorail or boat transportation there are so many variables that can throw it off and I'd chose which was my priority, the special boat arrival or making sure I was at MK early enough.

I don't think you will have any issue doing Peter Pan and SDMT within that hour and for an 8am EMH I would be through security no later than 7:30.

 

[Beachmom0317]

We RD MK no problem from FW by hopping on the boat to the Contemporary and then walking over. We caught the first boat which I believe was at 645. Were early risers so it was easy for us.

 

[Beachmom0317]

FYI the Camping board has really helpful people that answered a lot of my questions the first time we stayed at FW

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

Thank you all. I think we are just going to take the earlier boat and walk from the Contemporary. I'll just have to transform myself into an early rise for that one day! haha.

 

[lynzi2004]

I’ve rope dropped from FW before and I would definitely take the Contemporary boat or Uber/Lyft/drive yourself. The main boat is fine if you want to be there prior to opening, BUT if SDMT is your first priority, then there is no way you will make it early enough by taking the main boat to be at the front of the pack for rope drop. We did find it a bummer as we were wanting the quintessential arrival as well.

 

[Sjm9911]

Post on your experience after your trip please. I will be , most likely, in the same boat, so to speak.

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

Will do @Sjm9911 !

I'm disappointed that they don't just start the MK boat an hour before park opens. Its a little aggravating to add more steps into the transportation process when I'm staying at a resort with a direct transportation line to the park. I plan on asking the cast members at the resort upon my arrival just in case of any change to boat schedules, like if by some miracle they adjust the operating hours into something that works for me. But I will plan on taking the resort boat loop to Contemporary and walking.

I personally am not super invested in SDMT (its very cute, but also such a short experience). But my boyfriend and another friend in our party have never done it and I cant help but want to give them the perfect magical experience! haha.

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

@Sjm9911

Just thought I would pop back in to share my experience!

We successfully roped dropped from Fort Wilderness! Our crew took our golf cart to the FW marina and parked it at about 7am. Surprisingly, there were hardly any golf carts in the parking lot at that time. A resort loop boat arrived roughly 5-7 minutes later. We had a smooth trip to the Contemporary, cut through the hotel and walked to the MK entrance. The great thing about this route is the security checkpoint along the Contemporary walkway. We had no wait for security and breezed right through! And we're New Yorkers so we're fast walkers

There were a healthy amount of people clustered around the MK entrances. I think we got through the tapstiles around 7:30 or 7:35am. On this particular day, cast members had (unbeknownst to us) gathered folks w/ pre-opening dining reservations around the right entrance. So while we initially saw large clusters of people at both left and right entrances, by the time we tapped in, they let people at the right entrance through into main street. So we hurried over to the right and were held back from main street but found ourselves at the very front of the pack! (some cheaters who entered with the dining/special reservation folks but didnt have said reservations, were escorted back out of main street and to our cluster by the gate. ha!). When they finally let us in at roughly 7:45, we walked briskly down main street (so cool to see it in the morning with hardly a soul there) and got to the hub. Some people who had been let in early were already gathered at the Mine Train entrance, but we were still in a great position. We made some friends in line and after a while were escorted down the path to Fantasyland. Forming the line against the fence for Mine Train was honestly a bit chaotic as people tried to jockey for space, but it honestly didnt matter. We walked all the way through the queue and onto the ride! It was amazing!

Once we were off, we made our way over to Peter Pan's Flight. The posted wait time said 35 minutes, but we got in anyway. And it was definitely inaccurate as the wait turned out to be about 18-20 minutes. The first portion of the queue in the hallways moved quickly and things lagged a tiny bit in the nursery. But all in all it was a breeze and went by quick.

We had an 8:55 am breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest and were hungry so didnt want to be late. So without a ton of time left before the reservation, we just hopped on the Caroussel for a peaceful ride =)

And regarding my desire to have the "special" arrival by pulling up to MK in the boat: my friend told me it 100% didnt matter. haha. He said he understood why I wanted to do that, but all told, he absolutely wouldnt have given up the fun morning we had rope dropping and the rides we got to do during that hour just to get dropped off by boat. And we rode the boat so much that trip that we had plenty of relaxing rides, so it really didnt make a difference. So if you're questioning whether to skip rope dropping, dont! Using the resort boat and walking was perfect and very doable. And got us onto Mine Train with zero wait and plenty of smiles.

 

[Sjm9911]

Thank you! Good info to know. It helps a ton!

 

[shocker]

Would you mind please explaining where you tapped in the second time to prove EMH entrance? I've always done it on the right side at the hub, then you could choose the Fantasyland or Tomorrowland direction to line up & anyone with or without a ressie or resort stay could enjoy main street. You made it sound like it was closer to the main entrance & RR station & that they weren't allowing just anyone to access Main Street??

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

Maybe I left out a step.

For EMH, they have an extra checkpoint before the regular tapstiles. Here, you tap your magic band on a tablet held by a cast member. This verifies your ability to get in for EMH. Also, these cast members had slips giving directions to Cinderella's Royal Table and Be Our Guest. Anyone with emh reservations for those restaurants got one of those (once inside the hub, the slips could be presented to a designated cast member to get your through to the restaurant before the lands opened up for attractions).

After you tap the EMH tablets, you then proceed to the standard tapstiles to get in.

The only way you could access Main Street was with a resort stay since it was morning EMH (MK opened at 8am). I did not tap in anywhere in the hub. Once they let us into main street, everyone just lined up on whatever spoke of the hub they wanted (Fantasyland/Tomorrowland).

 

[shocker]

Maybe I left out a step.

For EMH, they have an extra checkpoint before the regular tapstiles. Here, you tap your magic band on a tablet held by a cast member. This verifies your ability to get in for EMH. Also, these cast members had slips giving directions to Cinderella's Royal Table and Be Our Guest. Anyone with emh reservations for those restaurants got one of those (once inside the hub, the slips could be presented to a designated cast member to get your through to the restaurant before the lands opened up for attractions).

After you tap the EMH tablets, you then proceed to the standard tapstiles to get in.

The only way you could access Main Street was with a resort stay since it was morning EMH (MK opened at 8am). I did not tap in anywhere in the hub. Once they let us into main street, everyone just lined up on whatever spoke of the hub they wanted (Fantasyland/Tomorrowland).

Thank you for clarifying. I've literally never seen this as the AM EMH method.

Really just a reminder that what happens to us may not be the way it happens to another guest on another day.

I've ALWAYS done a second tap at the hub, prior to entering a land.

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

That's interesting to note @shocker !
This was my first time rope dropping since I was a kid, so I don't have a recent experience to compare it to. But I didn't have to tap in at the hub. They did have people with clip boards and tablets at a spot between the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland spokes/entrances. They were the ones taking the slips I mentioned for early dining reservations. It's possible those with reservations tapped in here a second time to be allowed past to the restaurants (I couldnt really see/wasnt paying attention b/c I was focused on getting a place in the mine train crowd haha. But it looked like they had the same tablets as the people outside the main gate where I first tapped in to confirm my EMH eligibility).

 

[TheBigErn]

There's security on the path from the CR to MK? Where is that exactly and how busy was it? We're staying at the Fort in November and might do that exact same plan.

 

[shocker]

There's security on the path from the CR to MK? Where is that exactly and how busy was it? We're staying at the Fort in November and might do that exact same plan.

Yes there is, its a small set up on the sidewalk connecting MK to CR. You can't get lost, there's only one way to MK from CR. When you take the boat & dock from FW at CR, you'll be on the back/marina side of CR. Walk thru the resort lobby & out the front door, past the bus stop & across the parking lot to the cross walk for the street intersection. There are path signs to get you to MK. No one can tell you how busy or backed up security will be when you are there, but anecdotally there are no reports of major waits here.

 

[shocker]

I'm feeling like I should clarify too, for all my posts above, mentioning a 'second' tap in. I mean once for your ticket & once to prove you're EMH eligible. As you've read @Luxurious_Lumiere, had 2 taps at the main entrance & I've only had one tap at main ticket entrance & one tap near the hub. As I look back over posts it was starting to sound like we're discussing 2 EMH proving taps...we're not.