Magic Kingdom Rope Drop Planning

[Napandnat]

One week from today we are flying to Orlando for our WDW trip, and we plan to rope drop the Magic Kingdom on Thursday morning (May 30th). The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?). Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?

Also, we are staying at the Dolphin, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the bus transportation will get us there that early, so we are thinking of splurging and going with a Minnie Van (there are six of us) to ensure we get there quickly and without hassle.

Does this seem like logical planning, or am I missing something?

 

[Robo]

we plan to rope drop the Magic Kingdom on Thursday morning (May 30th). The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but
1. I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?).
2. Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?
3. Also, we are staying at the Dolphin, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the bus transportation will get us there that early, so we are thinking of splurging and going with a Minnie Van (there are six of us) to ensure we get there quickly and without hassle.

Does this seem like logical planning, or am I missing something?

1. Correct.
2. Since it is virtually impossible to accurately determine exactly when you would arrive at the MK gates, arriving at 7:30 would be a good plan.
3. While that's not necessary as tens of thousands of guests get from the Dolphin to MK and back year after year, you can take another method if you prefer.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

One week from today we are flying to Orlando for our WDW trip, and we plan to rope drop the Magic Kingdom on Thursday morning (May 30th). The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?). Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?

Also, we are staying at the Dolphin, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the bus transportation will get us there that early, so we are thinking of splurging and going with a Minnie Van (there are six of us) to ensure we get there quickly and without hassle.

Does this seem like logical planning, or am I missing something?

Your first paragraph is correct. On days where the MK opens at 9am they open Main Street at 8am. I do recommend arriving at around 7:30am.

 

[mshanson3121]

One week from today we are flying to Orlando for our WDW trip, and we plan to rope drop the Magic Kingdom on Thursday morning (May 30th). The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?). Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?

Also, we are staying at the Dolphin, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the bus transportation will get us there that early, so we are thinking of splurging and going with a Minnie Van (there are six of us) to ensure we get there quickly and without hassle.

Does this seem like logical planning, or am I missing something?

It depends. If you really want to shop, maybe. But I really don't see the need. We normally got on the bus about 7:50-7:55 and got to the park about 8:10, and were plenty early. We strolled down Main Street, checked out a shop or two, entered the holding areas around 8:30 and were only 2 or 3 rows back.

 

[Napandnat]

Thanks for the advice. We are not planning to rush the "super" popular attractions, like 7DMT. Our plan is to rope drop Fantasyland and ride Barnstormer, Dumbo, and maybe Pooh before heading over to Jungle Cruise for our 10am Fastpass. Sounds like we can afford to wait until 8:00-8:15 to show up (more sleep!)

 

[pens4821]

Thanks for the advice. We are not planning to rush the "super" popular attractions, like 7DMT. Our plan is to rope drop Fantasyland and ride Barnstormer, Dumbo, and maybe Pooh before heading over to Jungle Cruise for our 10am Fastpass. Sounds like we can afford to wait until 8:00-8:15 to show up (more sleep!)

I don't think with the rides you want to accomplish its really necessary to arrive that early. If you want to explore Main Street a bit for sure do it, but if you are doing it to beat the rush for those rides I wouldn't. I'd do Pooh first though, but I don't think the other two really would have much of a line from 9-10.

 

[mshanson3121]

Thanks for the advice. We are not planning to rush the "super" popular attractions, like 7DMT. Our plan is to rope drop Fantasyland and ride Barnstormer, Dumbo, and maybe Pooh before heading over to Jungle Cruise for our 10am Fastpass. Sounds like we can afford to wait until 8:00-8:15 to show up (more sleep!)

Definitely!

 

[Upatnoon]

One week from today we are flying to Orlando for our WDW trip, and we plan to rope drop the Magic Kingdom on Thursday morning (May 30th). The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?). Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?

Also, we are staying at the Dolphin, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the bus transportation will get us there that early, so we are thinking of splurging and going with a Minnie Van (there are six of us) to ensure we get there quickly and without hassle.

Does this seem like logical planning, or am I missing something?

The Dolphin uses the same Disney bus system as all the resorts, so I will be running plenty early to get you there on time.

While you can enter MK at 8 a.m., you can only hang out on Main Street. Many of the shops and Starbucks will be open.

 

[GPC0321]

Disney bus system (from Kidani) got us to MK early enough last summer that we were the very first people to arrive at the bus security check line. I think it was 7:00am. We were going for 7DMT, so being near the head of the pack was kind of important for us. For your rides, I wouldn't even sweat it. Get there early enough to check out Main St, watch the welcome show at the castle, then let the herd of people stampede to the headliners while you make your way to your rides.

Have fun!

 

[Beachmom0317]

We got there at 8am on our last trip and like you, did fantasyland, but not the popular rides. We loved rope drop! We leisurely watched singers on Main Street, grabbed Starbucks, had photopass picture with castle in background...watched welcome show at castle. Since the rides weren’t open yet it made us slow down and enjoy scenery which was nice.

I should note our kids are early risers, so RD is easy for us. If you are more night owls I would consider how important sleeping in may be for your family. I know we heavily weigh pros and cons if we have nighttime touring and it affects their sleep.

 

[kimmie316]

Thanks for the advice. We are not planning to rush the "super" popular attractions, like 7DMT. Our plan is to rope drop Fantasyland and ride Barnstormer, Dumbo, and maybe Pooh before heading over to Jungle Cruise for our 10am Fastpass. Sounds like we can afford to wait until 8:00-8:15 to show up (more sleep!)

This is our plan as well. We want to rope drop Fantasy Land. We have our first FP at 11:40 for Splash. I'm hoping to to get Dumbo, Barnstormer, Pooh and MAYBE SM in before then. fingers crossed

 

[kimmie316]

We got there at 8am on our last trip and like you, did fantasyland, but not the popular rides. We loved rope drop! We leisurely watched singers on Main Street, grabbed Starbucks, had photopass picture with castle in background...watched welcome show at castle. Since the rides weren’t open yet it made us slow down and enjoy scenery which was nice.

I should note our kids are early risers, so RD is easy for us. If you are more night owls I would consider how important sleeping in may be for your family. I know we heavily weigh pros and cons if we have nighttime touring and it affects their sleep.

Were you able to get a lot of rides in by rope dropping?

 

[kniquy]

The park hours are listed as 9am to 10pm, but I have seen many people mention that they let people onto Main Street about an hour earlier (8am?). Since I want us to take advantage of that "extra" time before rope drop, should we plan to arrive around 7:30am?

Totally not necessary to arrive by 7:30. When we rope dropped MK we typically were getting through security by 8:40 and were in the hub area by 8:50. You can show up earlier if you want to take time to look through shops but if your only intention is to RD for attractions then being in the hub by 8:50 would be fine -- so this would mean being out at the bus stop by 8:10 at the latest.

Our plan of attack, which worked very well was to go over the liberty square bridge -- for PPF we went right by columbia harbor house and then the other day we headed toward BTM -- adventure and frontier land is usually much quieter than towards fantasy land.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Were you able to get a lot of rides in by rope dropping?

Yes! I think our first fast passes were around 11