Rope drop crowds at Hollywood Studios this week?

[Cherry Limeade]

We did RD at HS on Tuesday.

Took the bus from GF at 7am. Arrived HS at 7:14. Even though we usually share buses with Poly our bus is empty - clearly they expected a large crowd.

We decided to ride TSMM at RD after securing our BG. It was a walk on. The lines were really long for everything until about dinner time. Then they really started to drop. We rode MFSR twice in a row. In line at 7pm and again at 7:40. It was fabulous to walk off the ride after 9. SWGE was EMPTY and we got some AMAZING pictures that look like we were alone in the park (cause there were only a handful of people around).

 

[juxtapose]

With MMRR opening...March 4th through till the end of Spring Break/Easter peak season HS will likely be even worse!!!

This is cementing my desire for 2 days at HS with LONG afternoon breaks for both of those days.

Yes we wanted to leave but our boarding group got called at 2 and then it took 2 hours in line to finally ride it due to breakdowns!

 

[Mango7100]

Maybe grab your ROTR boarding pass, rope drop one ride, and then park hop to Epcot?

Yes, I thought of doing that since it will be Flower and Garden and we love that festival. That’s probably the way we will go...

 

[eeyoreland]

So the whole HS rope drop situation finally dawned on me yesterday. We aren’t interested in SWGE, but it hit me that all of those people waiting to get in will affect others waiting to get in even if they don’t want to go to SWGE. We have fastpasses, but I was hoping to rope drop and get on SDD. It sounds like from everything I’m reading that it’s pretty much a zoo in the morning. Is that correct? It’s just my husband and me, and we’ve been to WDW many times and even though I still haven’t rode SDD and would love to ride MMRR, I’m wondering if I just say the heck with it and not bother. We’re staying club level at Beach Club so I was hoping to grab breakfast there and then head over to HS, but between the crowds and now opening at 8 AM, but I’m debating if it’s worth it to just get there and find out we won’t get on anything any way. We aren’t much for standing in line lol. Thoughts???

 

[yulilin3]

So the whole HS rope drop situation finally dawned on me yesterday. We aren’t interested in SWGE, but it hit me that all of those people waiting to get in will affect others waiting to get in even if they don’t want to go to SWGE. We have fastpasses, but I was hoping to rope drop and get on SDD. It sounds like from everything I’m reading that it’s pretty much a zoo in the morning. Is that correct? It’s just my husband and me, and we’ve been to WDW many times and even though I still haven’t rode SDD and would love to ride MMRR, I’m wondering if I just say the heck with it and not bother. We’re staying club level at Beach Club so I was hoping to grab breakfast there and then head over to HS, but between the crowds and now opening at 8 AM, but I’m debating if it’s worth it to just get there and find out we won’t get on anything any way. We aren’t much for standing in line lol. Thoughts???

everything that you described IS what's happening. Not necessarily a zoo, but there are about 10k at rope drop, many rope dropping TSLand. So it's up to you to decide what you want to do.
Once MMRR it will help spread the crowds a bit but it will still be very busy for rope drop

 

[scrappinginontario]

I know its close to president day weekend but wow these crowds are nuts.

Really hoping for EMM to be brought back at HS, even if it does not include RotR.

I believe that until RoR is more reliable and they can switch it to a FP+ rather than Boarding Groups, we will not see any EMM at DHS. Cannot imagine how difficult that would be to manage.

 

[Moms]

We're going in April ... week before Easter and expect that it will be as crowded as ever. We are taking one shot at getting into a boarding group for RofTR and have some fast passes for the morning. Had considered RD'ing something prior to our first FP but maybe we will just bet some breakfast and wander around Galaxy's Edge for awhile. We will be walking from BWI so no transportation issues should impede our progress ... and if it happens, it happens. If not, we're Chicago Cubs fans so we're used to "Wait till next year!".

 

[MBR2010]

We are just back from our trip, our HS day was Monday and the crowds were very heavy all morning long. Did not even enter SWGE, had a FP for SDD at 8:40, so walked back to TSL at 8:25 and all rides and character meet and greets were at nearly an hour wait. TSM was down until after we left, so we didn't do that. Luckily we had some pixie dust from Gran Destino-club level, 3 extra FP's, so we used 2 of them on RnRC, tried ToT, but it was having trouble. This was the first time we have ever been in early Feb, so nothing to compare the crowds to, but it felt like XMas time or Spring Break at HS, super crowded and long waits.

 

[keishashadow]

I know its close to president day weekend but wow these crowds are nuts.

Really hoping for EMM to be brought back at HS, even if it does not include RotR.

Trying to put a positive spin on it...hoping the weekend’s usual MK gridlock will be lessened with more people visiting MGM instead...well, only if we get a RoTR BG on Sunday lol

 

[Isabelle12345]

We are just back from our trip, our HS day was Monday and the crowds were very heavy all morning long. Did not even enter SWGE, had a FP for SDD at 8:40, so walked back to TSL at 8:25 and all rides and character meet and greets were at nearly an hour wait. TSM was down until after we left, so we didn't do that. Luckily we had some pixie dust from Gran Destino-club level, 3 extra FP's, so we used 2 of them on RnRC, tried ToT, but it was having trouble. This was the first time we have ever been in early Feb, so nothing to compare the crowds to, but it felt like XMas time or Spring Break at HS, super crowded and long waits.

WoW this makes me reconsider the strategy of rope drop for TSL meet and greets (we won’t be doing RotR but I thought it might be a good idea to get there early for TSL characters...)
Thanks for posting!

 

[MinnierellaMama]

We're going in April ... week before Easter and expect that it will be as crowded as ever. We are taking one shot at getting into a boarding group for RofTR and have some fast passes for the morning. Had considered RD'ing something prior to our first FP but maybe we will just bet some breakfast and wander around Galaxy's Edge for awhile. We will be walking from BWI so no transportation issues should impede our progress ... and if it happens, it happens. If not, we're Chicago Cubs fans so we're used to "Wait till next year!".

We have a similar plan for our crew — although last week of March instead. You can only plan so much and the rest is up to luck! We will take our one shot, hope for the best, and then just relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation (We are Indians and Browns fans from Cleveland, so we’re also used to “maybe next year” )

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Traditionally, the beauty of rope drop is that you can ride with low wait times for a couple of hours. This even worked for us during Christmas week! However, this all goes out the window with ROTR. Everyone who wants to ride that ride is forced to get there at opening. Most don't want to leave the park as they wait for their boarding groups. So HS is immediately packed from the moment they open the gates. I really hope they don't implement this boarding group nonsense for other parks because it would mess up rope drop forever.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We're going in April ... week before Easter and expect that it will be as crowded as ever. We are taking one shot at getting into a boarding group for RofTR and have some fast passes for the morning. Had considered RD'ing something prior to our first FP but maybe we will just bet some breakfast and wander around Galaxy's Edge for awhile. We will be walking from BWI so no transportation issues should impede our progress ... and if it happens, it happens. If not, we're Chicago Cubs fans so we're used to "Wait till next year!".

We are also going the week before Easter. The boarding group isn't really hard to get as long as your in the park at opening. We did it twice Christmas week and even made it through a total boarding group system meltdown when they let us in the park without the finger scan. When boarding groups opened everyone started freaking out because people in their party were not showing as "in the park". It was crazy! We were near the entrance so I had my wife and kids scan again and it added them. Even with Christmas crowds we managed just fine. I think the week before Easter will be cake compared to Christmas.

 

[alwayssmile]

Has anyone been to EMH now that it's evening hours? I'm hoping it's less crowded than rope drop with some hope of riding rides with less than 1-2 hours wait?

 

[Anna45]

We arrived and were through the turnstiles by 7:30 this morning. Already crowded and all turnstiles open. At 8:00 everyone in the crowd tried joining a boarding group. It seemed like everyone who got one got it within 2-3 seconds of opening. We had a FastPass for TSM so headed that way. The line to get into Toy Story Land was crazy long and after several minutes we gave up and headed to character meet with Chewbacca. Wait times long for all opened rides immediately. ROTR broke several times during the day. All shows except for little mermaid packed all day.

 

[jade1]

Similar Sunday for us, so some weekend guests.

650 at the gate, good size line already passed the ticket booths.

Opened at 8 but as suspected gates opened at 7.

Went to SDD with a crowd. Line was already from Woody to just about the arrival corner.

At 8 we got group 103. Waited about 40 or so for SDD and left.

Headed back at about group 85, about 4 if I remember. Ultimately got on at 650 after about an hour in line wait.

So exactly 12 hours after arrival.

 

[Moms]

Similar Sunday for us, so some weekend guests.

650 at the gate, good size line already passed the ticket booths.

Opened at 8 but as suspected gates opened at 7.

Went to SDD with a crowd. Line was already from Woody to just about the arrival corner.

At 8 we got group 103. Waited about 40 or so for SDD and left.

Headed back at about group 85, about 4 if I remember. Ultimately got on at 650 after about an hour in line wait.

So exactly 12 hours after arrival.

Wow! That's a long time! We have reservations at Wine Bar George that evening but if we get a later boarding group we might have to cancel. I'm thinking we may need to cancel the current ADR and re-book using Open Table ... at least with OT there is no $$$ penalty for late (less than 24 hours) cancellations.

 

[Robo]

Wow! That's a long time! We have reservations at Wine Bar George that evening but if we get a later boarding group we might have to cancel. I'm thinking we may need to cancel the current ADR and re-book using Open Table ... at least with OT there is no $$$ penalty for late (less than 24 hours) cancellations.

Take screen shots of your Boarding Group timing.
Unlikely that you would be penalized for your Boarding Group having a conflict with your ADR.
After all, it is a conflict created by Disney.

 

[HuskieJohn]

With the latest info above my RD plan is looking like this for my Summer trip..

Show up at least 67min before park open (a large number of RD people target to show up 60min before HS/AK park open)
RD MFSR (while signing up for a RotR BG & hopefully get an afternoon/evening slot)
AS2 (if I can make SDD FP+ time without issue)
FP+ SDD - late in the first hour
TSM (or AS2 if I didnt ride AND the wait is shorter than TSM)
FP+ RnRc - late in the second hour
FP+ TOT - early in the third hour
Get a FP+ for MMRR, ST or either TSL ride I missed (in that priority order not time order), have lunch optimize remaining Touring Plan, work around RotR BG and go from there.

 

[philly_mcphillyface]

We did the whole boarding group dance on a day that we had afternoon FastPasses. With two tired little ones in tow, we got our boarding group and then turned right around and took the Skyliner to Epcot where we grabbed breakfast at Beach Club and rope dropped Frozen and Soarin. The crowd at HS was bonkers.