Offsite MK ropedrop

[Juventus]

On busier days at MK (say March Break), if I'm offsite, is it fair to say that ropedropping left to adventure/frontierland feels the same as before onsite guests were let in 30 minutes early? Onsite guests don't get any advantage to offsite going this way? I used to ropedrop this way and knock off BTRR, SPASH, and PotC no problem (usually in that order).

Would this be the strategy to use for offsite guests, or perhaps are onsite guests already done with the other areas they had early access to and heading to the left side of the park themselves and offsites guests should try Peter Pan then haunted mansion first or space mountain/buzz a better option.


Thanks!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

On busier days at MK (say March Break), if I'm offsite, is it fair to say that ropedropping left to adventure/frontierland feels the same as before onsite guests were let in 30 minutes early? Onsite guests don't get any advantage to offsite going this way? I used to ropedrop this way and knock off BTRR, SPASH, and PotC no problem (usually in that order).

Would this be the strategy to use for offsite guests, or perhaps are onsite guests already done with the other areas they had early access to and heading to the left side of the park themselves and offsites guests should try Peter Pan then haunted mansion first or space mountain/buzz a better option.


Thanks!!

Guests who are eligible for early entry at MK tend to line up at the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland entrances because those are the only entrances that open early. I'm not sure if that means that the line for Adventureland is shorter for offsite guests than it used to be before they started to offer early entry, but I think that is a good option. The early entry guests who are in Fantasyland tend to enter the park near Haunted Mansion when the park officially opens. Peter Pan is open for early morning guests, but Haunted Mansion doesn't open until regular park opening. I would head to Adventureland first if I was an offsite guest.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I think the option you mentioned to head to BTMRR is a good one. ETPE guests cannot go beyond Fantasyland during the early entry period so I believe it’s as you say and many will still be in line or on attractions in the ETPE areas of the park when it opens to all.

 

[kathy884]

It sounds like this is going left is going to be the best strategy for offsite guests. That's our plan at this time. (I'm sad to no longer have rope drop possibilities as an offsite visitor). We are going in March too and crowd predictions for our Magic Kingdom day are a 10 out of 10 for the one day we are going to visit that park - darn. Are you going to do Genie+ pay stuff? We are. I've also subscribed to tourinplans.com (will be interested in any updates they have as they study the most recent crowds and crowd patterns) and will probably follow some of their traffic flow recommendations. I like customizing the plans and playing around with them to plan our day. If we can get the paid lightening lanes we'll probably do those for 7DMT and Space Mountain. Otherwise it looks like the best bet is to do those as late in the day as possible. Lines for attractions like the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan with the left strategy are such that they will be pretty long by the time we get over there, and we'll probably try the $15 or so online version of the old paper fastpass system (I loved that one way back when by the way) to maybe get the faster queues line for those. Those are ones I just don't even do if the line is too long.

I love the weather in March, but gosh with the high prices of flights and high crowds this might be my last March visit. I'm really looking forward to doing Epcot Flower and Garden, though -- we've never been to that before and March should be glorious weather for that. I think March is going to be be really really busy though -- too bad.

 

[Ikaikalani]

It sounds like this is going left is going to be the best strategy for offsite guests. That's our plan at this time. (I'm sad to no longer have rope drop possibilities as an offsite visitor). We are going in March too and crowd predictions for our Magic Kingdom day are a 10 out of 10 for the one day we are going to visit that park - darn. Are you going to do Genie+ pay stuff? We are. I've also subscribed to tourinplans.com (will be interested in any updates they have as they study the most recent crowds and crowd patterns) and will probably follow some of their traffic flow recommendations. I like customizing the plans and playing around with them to plan our day. If we can get the paid lightening lanes we'll probably do those for 7DMT and Space Mountain. Otherwise it looks like the best bet is to do those as late in the day as possible. Lines for attractions like the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan with the left strategy are such that they will be pretty long by the time we get over there, and we'll probably try the $15 or so online version of the old paper fastpass system (I loved that one way back when by the way) to maybe get the faster queues line for those. Those are ones I just don't even do if the line is too long.

I love the weather in March, but gosh with the high prices of flights and high crowds this might be my last March visit. I'm really looking forward to doing Epcot and Gaden, though -- we've never been to that before and March should be glorious weather for that. I think March is going to be be really really busy though -- too bad.

There's a small magical window of low crowds from the last week of feb and during the first week of march that falls after the feb holidays and just before spring break begins. This what we aim for.

 

[CanadaSCM]

I think you’re on the right track but I think you should plan your original strategy AND the Peter Pan strategy and base which one you use on what the wait times look like as you enter the park. Just like normal rope drop you can only get so much done before wait times have crept up everywhere.

We stayed off site and were at MK on Nov 18. That’s not a busy time like you’re talking about but we showed up right at opening time and went straight to Pirates where we walked on with no wait. We had a 9:15 LL for JC and the standby line was already over an hour and never went under an hour. So if JC was a priority and you’re not using G+ you’d want to hit that first. Then we waited for 10 minutes at Magic Carpet before heading to BTMRR where we waited 10 minutes on a posted 35. Splash had a 10 minute posted wait time by then but we planned on doing it later so skipped it. If you adjust our experience for a busier day by showing up early enough to actually rope drop I’d think you could have a similar experience.

 

[Haley R]

We went this morning and Peter Pan was already at a 45 minute wait 10 minutes into early entry and then was 60 minutes by the time the park opened to everyone. It stayed high all morning long so we didn’t ride it

 

[kathy884]

There's a small magical window of low crowds from the last week of feb and during the first week of march that falls after the feb holidays and just before spring break begins. This what we aim for.

Thanks Ikaikalani, We already have condo, air, tickets, multiple extended family coordination for a later week in March in 2022, but that's the timeframe I think I'll try for the next time I go. That sounds like the perfect window!

 

[Juventus]

It sounds like this is going left is going to be the best strategy for offsite guests. That's our plan at this time. (I'm sad to no longer have rope drop possibilities as an offsite visitor). We are going in March too and crowd predictions for our Magic Kingdom day are a 10 out of 10 for the one day we are going to visit that park - darn. Are you going to do Genie+ pay stuff? We are. I've also subscribed to tourinplans.com (will be interested in any updates they have as they study the most recent crowds and crowd patterns) and will probably follow some of their traffic flow recommendations. I like customizing the plans and playing around with them to plan our day. If we can get the paid lightening lanes we'll probably do those for 7DMT and Space Mountain. Otherwise it looks like the best bet is to do those as late in the day as possible. Lines for attractions like the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan with the left strategy are such that they will be pretty long by the time we get over there, and we'll probably try the $15 or so online version of the old paper fastpass system (I loved that one way back when by the way) to maybe get the faster queues line for those. Those are ones I just don't even do if the line is too long.

I love the weather in March, but gosh with the high prices of flights and high crowds this might be my last March visit. I'm really looking forward to doing Epcot Flower and Garden, though -- we've never been to that before and March should be glorious weather for that. I think March is going to be be really really busy though -- too bad.

Ya...we will get G+. May try for Peter pan first but wondering if it's a late return time and we have to wait 2 hours if nothing good will be left after that.

Should be a ablee to get $ILL for Space, but 7DMR may be sold out.

 

[kathy884]

Ya...we will get G+. May try for Peter pan first but wondering if it's a late return time and we have to wait 2 hours if nothing good will be left after that.

Should be a ablee to get $ILL for Space, but 7DMR may be sold out.

Good point on $LL for 7DMT. We have never been able to get a fastpass for it, so during spring break it makes sense that the pay LL probably won't be available either only getting online at 9 instead of 7. If it were me, I'd just skip the ride and that's what we did on our last MK visit (yes - t's cute, but it's wild how many years it's been since it has opened and how popular it still is. It is a good one for kids and adults to enjoy together, though, so maybe that's probably the big appeal - reason I figure Peter Pan is so popular too). We will have a 20 something with us who has never been to Disney before and DS wants to take them on the 7DMT attraction. I think lol that I'll just let the 20 somethings wait and others in our party can skip it.

Remember too that even if your first lightening lane selection has a late return time that you can make another selection two hours after you did your first selection.

 

[isabellea]

There's a small magical window of low crowds from the last week of feb and during the first week of march that falls after the feb holidays and just before spring break begins. This what we aim for.

That’s our Spring break week every year and I always found the crowds to be very reasonable (just many French speakers at the parks since the whole province of QC is off). Weather can be cold early morning or evening but otherwise we had great sunny days. This year we were initially planning to be there Feb 25-March 5th but postponed to July in case the pandemic worsens and the kids have to quarantine at our return.

I considered offsite for the first time and Adventureland first was my plan. In fact, pre-Covid we always went quickly there after hitting Space Mountain at rope drop.

 

[Wildcard]

We just finished our trip and can confirm going left if offsite. Get there early and watch the standby times. One morning MK opened quite early (8am), and PP was listed at 15 mins, so we lined up to a very small crowd going to Liberty Square and hooked around for a fast queue.

The next visit was a later opening, and PP was at 45 mins. So we lined up at Adventureland and beat the EE crowds to JC, with enough time to hit BTMRT and SM before they backed up. Good luck!

 

[Juventus]

Glad to hear ropedropping is still viable for us at MK. We love ropedropping so at least we can do that there.

The family can't last all day so we usually ropedrop then take an afternoon break and return around 5-6:00.

I think this year at the non-MK parks we may try to stack some LLs and arrive around 1:00 and stay til close and get in line for ROTR and FoP at the end of the night as we won't be able to purchase $ILLS for them.

Big change in touring for us.