Riding Soarin’ Before Rope Drop

[Christin82]

Is it usually possible to get in line for Soarin’ before rope drop if you don’t have EMH? Many sources say yes, but I’d like to confirm.

We’ll be at DLR for 5 days in early March, and my extended family will be there for only one of the days. On that day, we’d like to do as many of the major attractions at both DL and CA as possible in one day. Being able to get in line for Soarin’ prior to RD would be very helpful, but I don’t want to plan on it if it isn’t possible.

Also, can you pull a FP for RSR before RD?

Thanks!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Yes, we have ridden Soarin’ before rope drop on EMH days a handful of times (I think the last time we did it personally was last summer, but I’ve seen people mention it since then).

As for pulling a FP, if you have Maxpass, then yes, you can pull a FP as soon as you scan in. You wouldn’t be able to get to the machines before rope drop, though.

If you’re trying to do as many attractions as possible in a single day, though, and DCA has EMH, I’d 100% start the day at Disneyland...

 

[DLgal]

You cannot pull fastpasses for a start time before official park opening. However, I believe you can do so during the EMH (the return time will be after official park open time).

I do not believe you can get into any attraction lines before rope drop at any park. You can shop and grab food from Starbucks, but that's about it.

Don't over think this. You will have no problem riding everything in DCA in a matter of a few hours with good use of MP and single rider lines.

 

[Christin82]

Yes, we have ridden Soarin’ before rope drop on EMH days a handful of times (I think the last time we did it personally was last summer, but I’ve seen people mention it since then).

As for pulling a FP, if you have Maxpass, then yes, you can pull a FP as soon as you scan in. You wouldn’t be able to get to the machines before rope drop, though.

If you’re trying to do as many attractions as possible in a single day, though, and DCA has EMH, I’d 100% start the day at Disneyland...

We considered starting at DL, and maybe we still will, but since RSR runs out of FP so early, we were afraid that if we started pulling FP for DL attractions and were waiting around for our window to open for the next one, RSR might run out in the meantime, and we might miss the chance for it. My dad has never been to CA. Also, we have a dinner reservation at BB, and with my elderly grandma, don’t want to hop too much. We will take your advice into consideration, though.

 

[Christin82]

You cannot pull fastpasses for a start time before official park opening. However, I believe you can do so during the EMH (the return time will be after official park open time).

I do not believe you can get into any attraction lines before rope drop at any park. You can shop and grab food from Starbucks, but that's about it.

Don't over think this. You will have no problem riding everything in DCA in a matter of a few hours with good use of MP and single rider lines.

I’m totally an over thinker, in every sense of the word. Thanks for the advice!

 

[pblack]

We were able to do it back in November. Downside was that Soarin went down while we were in line, so we ended up getting a multi-experience fastpass.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

We considered starting at DL, and maybe we still will, but since RSR runs out of FP so early, we were afraid that if we started pulling FP for DL attractions and were waiting around for our window to open for the next one, RSR might run out in the meantime, and we might miss the chance for it. My dad has never been to CA. Also, we have a dinner reservation at BB, and with my elderly grandma, don’t want to hop too much. We will take your advice into consideration, though.

Personally, I'd start at DL and hit a bunch there first thing (especially anything you want to do in Fantasyland), keep an eye on RSR and pull one for mid-afternoon (you can always cancel an existing FP if you see RSR running later than you'd like), and then hop to DCA for the middle of the day. Head back to DL for dinner and stay for Mickey's Mix show thing.

 

[ironband74]

My family and I successfully rode Soarin' prior to RD last week on December 27, 2018, pulling a fast pass for Incredicoaster enroute. (note that last week EVERY DAY was EMH/MM)

That said, for a single day approach and assuming that your extended family would like to do fantasyland rides in DL, I agree with the advice to start in DL and go hard all morning to do as much stuff as possible at DL, using MaxPass to pull fast passes for DCA as appropriate. It is highly unlikely that you would be able to get in at DCA, ride Soarin', then get back in good position for rope drop at DL.

Assuming you do get maxpass, don't underestimate the power of pulling other people's cancelled fast passes as the evening wears on. There are no guarantees...but we've had great luck doing that when the park was crowded and fastpasses were mostly gone for the day at both parks.

 

[Christin82]

My family and I successfully rode Soarin' prior to RD last week on December 27, 2018, pulling a fast pass for Incredicoaster enroute. (note that last week EVERY DAY was EMH/MM)

That said, for a single day approach and assuming that your extended family would like to do fantasyland rides in DL, I agree with the advice to start in DL and go hard all morning to do as much stuff as possible at DL, using MaxPass to pull fast passes for DCA as appropriate. It is highly unlikely that you would be able to get in at DCA, ride Soarin', then get back in good position for rope drop at DL.

Assuming you do get maxpass, don't underestimate the power of pulling other people's cancelled fast passes as the evening wears on. There are no guarantees...but we've had great luck doing that when the park was crowded and fastpasses were mostly gone for the day at both parks.

How do you pull canceled FastPasses? I’ve heard about it but never tried it. Any tips?

 

[ironband74]

How do you pull canceled FastPasses? I’ve heard about it but never tried it. Any tips?

Essentially, pull up the app, create a fast pass party, and select a theme park. Glance at availability, if nothing looks good, go 'back' and select the theme park again. Rinse and Repeat until something looks good, then jump on it quickly! Great fun while in line or eating.

When I was doing it, the only fastpass available in DL was Splash Mtn and the only one available in DCA was Grizzly Rapids. This made it easy to see when something opened up. Note that the attractions are sorted alphabetically in this view, at least they are on the android version of the app.

 

[Christin82]

Essentially, pull up the app, create a fast pass party, and select a theme park. Glance at availability, if nothing looks good, go 'back' and select the theme park again. Rinse and Repeat until something looks good, then jump on it quickly! Great fun while in line or eating.

When I was doing it, the only fastpass available in DL was Splash Mtn and the only one available in DCA was Grizzly Rapids. This made it easy to see when something opened up. Note that the attractions are sorted alphabetically in this view, at least they are on the android version of the app.

Thank you so much!

 

[ironband74]

Oh, and biggest tip - if you see a fast pass pop up, don't stop to ask the group if they want it. It will be gone. Just grab it and then ask. If they don't want it you can cancel.

Corollary to this: If you see a fast pass pop up and you select it and it is no longer available, prepare yourself since it may pop up again after whomever took it cancels it (happened a few times for us last week).

 

[Caumann]

My family and I successfully rode Soarin' prior to RD last week on December 27, 2018, pulling a fast pass for Incredicoaster enroute. (note that last week EVERY DAY was EMH/MM)

I'm super confused and intregued. How did you access the ride before rope drop?

 

[Sarahelizabeth]

We had this happen to us once. We were there for rope drop and were walking over that way and there was no rope blocking the walkway so we just kept walking over and Soarin was open. I kept thinking something must be wrong and someone would ask for proof we had EMH (we didn’t) but no one did and we road it.

 

[ironband74]

I'm super confused and intregued. How did you access the ride before rope drop?

I think of it as a Disney Easter Egg...They don't publicize it and it could, in theory, go away any time. But on mornings at DCA when there is EMH (typically Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun), they open an hour early for folks with EMH. But about half an hour before opening, they start letting normal ticket holders in. You'll find ropes preventing you from going to Cars Land, Hollywood Land, and Pixar Pier, but the area with Soarin' is not blocked off, and I've never had them ask me for any proof of EMH eligibility to ride.

I never count on it, but I have yet to be disappointed. Every time I've done this the wait has been super short to boot - last week we had time to wait for B1, ride, and still made it past Grizzly Peak to the rope drop by Ariel's Undersea Adventure before the rope fell.