Help me understand rope drop advantage

[over50visits]

Over the years I've read posts of using the "rope drop" to get to a popular ride before the line gets long. For example, a recent post that someone arrived at 7:45 for a 9:00 opening. They were at the front and walked (quickly I assume?) to their ride and got on without waiting. Then they went on to a few more rides before the lines built up to their daytime lengths.

Isn't this the equivalent of standing in line for an hour and fifteen minutes? You arrive at 7:45 for a ride at 9, and you just stand and wait. Hmmm...

And arriving early doesn't help you with any ride except the very first. If the rope drops at 9, and I arrive at 9, I still have my choice of all the rides with shorter early morning lines. And I'm actually a bit ahead of the early arriver, because they do get their first ride right away, but for all the rest of the rides I actually am about even with them, just a bit ahead while they are riding that first ride.

Really, didn't you stand in a "line" for an hour or more for that first ride?

So, what's your opinion? Is getting on one single ride quickly worth the potentially long wait? I know many people love rope drop, so I'm hoping to hear what I'm missing.

 

[amylevan]

You’re waiting at rope drop, but you’re doing it while the park is still closed as opposed to wasting time that you could be riding other rides while waiting while the park is open.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We rope drop quite a bit and never get there an hour before. If you arrive 15-20 mins before park opening (assuming it's not the first day of a new attraction or something) you will still be farther ahead than guests who arrive an hour after opening. It's a personal decision. If you want to arrive 15 minutes after opening that's still better than later (but you will be in a line for clicking into the park etc). As the morning moves on, standby lines get longer generally speaking. Some guests love the anticipation of being the first in the park and standing at rope drop isn't a chore for them. To each their own. At the highest level, getting there earlier is better than getting there later if you plan to do any lines standby. It's something that is as true today as it was 50 years ago when we first started visiting (back when there actually was a rope that dropped).

 

[supersnoop]

Lines stay pretty low in the early hours. I think it was New Years Eve when my kid and I hit Magic Kingdom at rope drop and experienced 13 attractions in the first two hours.

 

[over50visits]

...It's something that is as true today as it was 50 years ago when we first started visiting (back when there actually was a rope that dropped).

I remember walking down Main Street behind the rope, felt like an invisible parade in front of us!

We've done it, but for fun in the good old (OLD!) days when long lines were unknown. It took the FastPass system to create lines at a number of the attractions.

 

[nicksinger8]

The key here is your view that you accrue a benefit only for the first ride - that is not correct if armed with a good touring plan from the unofficial guide. This guide essentially keeps you ahead of the crowd. One user described it as a tornado - they would get off a ride and would notice the tornado of people behind them.

Also, by completing the first ride with no line means you get to the next ride earlier which still will not have built up lines and the saving becomes cumulative (again with a good touring plan). If you are first in line you queue 5, then 20, then 30, then 40. But start even at 9.15 (because you are way back behind earlier rope droppers) you might have 30, 45, 60, 80 etc - so I don't think you would get ahead of the person at rope drop - they are probably done with their first ride and you are still queuing for your first - in fact they may have 2 under the belt while you are on the first ride and it just gets worse. Assuming you tour the park from 9-2 you would save way more than the waiting for rope drop. And you would experience 6-7 attractions rather than 3-4 in the same time.

I don't think you ever needed to get there at 7.45. But it was important to get ahead of even the rival early risers. If you arrived at 8/8.15 then you were possibly first on the ride. Follow a touring plan and you are basically line free all morning - that was what I experienced even around 4th July! With early entry for Disney guests this is less useful. But you still want to be as close to the front of possible.

 

[nursejackie]

We have always done rope drop, but I haven't been since it was open a full hour before and only at one park at a time. Even in December leading up to Christmas we didn't arrive over an hour before magic hour started. Maximum for us was 20-25 minutes and that was to make sure we clear security in time. We'll probably aim for 30 minutes before early morning opening, as now it's spread evenly over 4 parks instead of all squashed into one and hope for the best.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Over the years I've read posts of using the "rope drop" to get to a popular ride before the line gets long. For example, a recent post that someone arrived at 7:45 for a 9:00 opening. They were at the front and walked (quickly I assume?) to their ride and got on without waiting. Then they went on to a few more rides before the lines built up to their daytime lengths.

Isn't this the equivalent of standing in line for an hour and fifteen minutes? You arrive at 7:45 for a ride at 9, and you just stand and wait. Hmmm...

And arriving early doesn't help you with any ride except the very first. If the rope drops at 9, and I arrive at 9, I still have my choice of all the rides with shorter early morning lines. And I'm actually a bit ahead of the early arriver, because they do get their first ride right away, but for all the rest of the rides I actually am about even with them, just a bit ahead while they are riding that first ride.

Really, didn't you stand in a "line" for an hour or more for that first ride?

So, what's your opinion? Is getting on one single ride quickly worth the potentially long wait? I know many people love rope drop, so I'm hoping to hear what I'm missing.

So I think RD has its advantages for sure, however, they've somewhat diminished for off-site guests given resort guests now get into the parks earlier....as they used to before, but just not everyday. And as a resort guest, it's a dwindling perk now that it's only 30 min early so not much of a big chunk of time to have resort only guests in the parks. However, you don't have to be there at 7:45am, you can be in the first group that arrives when the park opens and still manage to ride a very popular ride with little to no wait. Some times of year based on crowd level and which attraction you're trying to RD will dictate arriving earlier, but the general idea is that you've started your day ahead of the crowds who sleep in, eat a leisurely breakfast, etc thus setting you up to ride another one or two rides post RD ride with little to no waits. It's not always the case but in our experience, it's been more positive than negative.

Just really depends on how you want to do your day. Over the last few years, post covid, we now do very little RD given that it is only 30 min and manage to stay until close or if available, we'll do EEH. If we do an early day, it's only one day of the trip. We just don't have the willpower to get our kids out of bed early on vacation.

 

[_19disnA]

And to get to be in line that early you also have to get up, ready and eat 1-2 hrs earlier then normal. We are on vacation and not in a race to get to the Disney park each day. I would imagine regardless of the math you consider accurate, those getting up @ 6am or so also run out of steam earlier then others. Late in the day when the parks are generally less crowded works way better for us. The most popular rides will tend to have the longest lines. No amount of route planning is going to change that. My vote would be to get up when you feel like it and then spend more park time later in the day and you will probably accomplish just as much with less stress !!!

 

[emonade8]

Disney also often starts letting people into the parks and even onto the rides before official opening time, which gives an additional advantage. I've rope dropped AK for Early Entry, been on and off FoP before the park officially opened, ridden NRJ with almost no wait, then been on my way to KS to beat the crowds from regular opening. DINOSAUR and EE don't build lines quickly, so hit those next and I'm basically just doing shows, food, drink, and repeats after that.

 

[katyjeka]

I think I the biggest advantage is the opportunity to be pretty deep in the park when it opens. While people are walking down main street we are to finishing our 3rd ride. I understand we are waiting before it opens but never an hour,usually 20 minutes. It's kind of fun watching the park come to life in the morning and the cast members are usually pretty chatty and the occasional one will start singing and getting the crowd involved. Fun!!!

 

[mwmom]

And to get to be in line that early you also have to get up, ready and eat 1-2 hrs earlier then normal. We are on vacation and not in a race to get to the Disney park each day. I would imagine regardless of the math you consider accurate, those getting up @ 6am or so also run out of steam earlier then others. Late in the day when the parks are generally less crowded works way better for us. The most popular rides will tend to have the longest lines. No amount of route planning is going to change that. My vote would be to get up when you feel like it and then spend more park time later in the day and you will probably accomplish just as much with less stress !!!

Curious if you have done rope drop and can provide a comparison of crowds. We have always rope dropped, but this year (our first in 4 years), I want to do all late nights and sleep in since my daughter is now 17. We are doing MVMCP one night and EEH 2 nights. Do you think we would ride the same number of rides as if we rope dropped? We will there the first week of December. Nervous to give up rope drop, but would love to take advantage of the deluxe perk.

 

[WALTSAGOD]

Ha, I prefer to both Open and Close the parks,……rest once we get beck home!

 

[lukemorenus]

In your example, you are technically also "rope dropping"

 

[Upatnoon]

My experience is the early advantage lasts longer than just one ride.

You will likely have finished your first ride while the 9 a.m. visitor is just making it through the gates.

Getting more done in the morning means you can go back to your room and take an afternoon nap, they close the park by getting in your last line 1 minute before park close.

There's always going to be a battle between knocking out rides and just enjoying your vacation by waking up late and just strolling around, looking at gift shops and enjoying snacks.

If you want to go on lots of attractions, the early the better.

 

[Lumpy1106]

If you have to ask, you might as well sleep in.

 

[PalmettoPath]

I remember walking down Main Street behind the rope, felt like an invisible parade in front of us!

We've done it, but for fun in the good old (OLD!) days when long lines were unknown. It took the FastPass system to create lines at a number of the attractions.

Well, not fully unknown. 20,000 Leagues was a regular 180 minutes and that was pretty much from day one

 

[DisneyFive]

Last summer the rope drop advantage was DRASTICALLY reduced versus prior years. By the time we got done with ONE headliner the advantage was almost over. However, that was when (last summer) everything was standby only and there was no fastpass or G+. People knew they had to get there early to have any chance at beating the crowds, the the word was out.

I’m hoping things are better this year. It used to be that the first hour, maybe even two hours after official opening were golden.

I’m hoping that many guests can now book their first attraction at 7am with G+ and then perhaps sleep in a little allowing for at least a little longer grace period in the morning. Plus this year at least they also have the 30 minute early entry for resort guests.

We’ll see when we get there next week. FP+ was awesome for this because so many guests already had three rides pre booked, so they didn’t feel the need to be there right at park open. It made it great for those that did show up early

Dan

 

[gharter]

You’re waiting at rope drop, but you’re doing it while the park is still closed as opposed to wasting time that you could be riding other rides while waiting while the park is open.

This is our reason.
also, getting there early and being toward the front of the line, the wait time for a major ride can be short. We can usually hit one major and a second major or minor ride before (or shortly after) the park opens to all.

 

[IluvMGM]

I think there's definitely a benefit to rope drop. If we can get right on a ride or 2 we know will have crazy wait times later in the day, it's beneficial to us.