Which parks are best for early entry/rope drop?

[Lesverts]

RD and EE are great at all of the parks.

One thing that's different about MK though is that since there are so many rides, as long as you aren't heading for one of the headliners (Mine Train, PP), you can do a lot of rides in the first hour or so with almost zero wait.

That is somewhat my strategy in MK because I'll use G+/ILL for those two and then be in the front when they open the left-hand side of the park and knock out Adventureland/Frontierland and Liberty Square with little wait.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I would say DAK is he best rope drop but here are some tips;
If you are in the initial rush - DO go directly to FoP. If not, skip it. You will be stuck in a long-ish line and you'll waste the rope-drop advantage. Instead, do EVERYTHING outside of Pandora, and yes, you will be able to ride it all within 2 hours. After that, do the shows and resolve yourself to the 2 long lines in Pandora.

NOTE:
The rule-of-thumb used to be that you could get in a shorter line at FoP near the end of the day as everyone is leaving. That was before LL/G+. We tried that strategy on our trip in June and even caught the line after a shut-down so it was listed at 60 minutes when we got in line. Yeah, that was a solid 2 hour line and it CRAWLED! I blame LL. I think an awful lot of people buy it late in the day either because they are saving it for their last ride or they relent and buy it just to get on. Either way, stand-by late in the day is no longer a strategy.

YMMV...

 

[Lumpy1106]

That is somewhat my strategy in MK because I'll use G+/ILL for those two and then be in the front when they open the left-hand side of the park and knock out Adventureland/Frontierland and Liberty Square with little wait.

Yup - JC to Pirates to BTMRR is usually our route. From there come back to HM and Fantasyland, but it's usually filled in by then.

 

[Lumpy1106]

EPCOT strategy, really just one note; the only long lines you need to worry about are Frozen and Rat. Don't waste your RD on TT2 - it has a single-rider line.

 

[snikki]

RD and EE are great at all of the parks.

One thing that's different about MK though is that since there are so many rides, as long as you aren't heading for one of the headliners (Mine Train, PP), you can do a lot of rides in the first hour or so with almost zero wait.

When we do RD we have never done a headliner and we get so much done. I can’t handle the crazy mad dash/crowd issue that comes with that. We did FP+ for headliners and now G+\ILL. We also don’t arrive 60 minutes before park open so we will never be in the front of the pack so it doesn’t make sense for us to head to FOP or Rise.

At MK we usually do Space, AK we do EE, Epcot we do TT and DHS we do ToT. We do get a lot done in that first hour.

 

[pens4821]

We feel like HS is the best, but it probably also feels that way because they have a lot of rides we love and it’s our favorite park. I feel like things are closer there too than the other parks. We usually do tot/rnrc/mmrr (usually make mmrr before or right at regular park open)tsm, then sdd. Either that or do it backwards. Either way we do end up with a long wait at sdd or tot (depending on which way we go first) but the other four are walk on or short wait.

We’ve done MK rope drop, but it just doesn’t have the same fun for us. We don’t like the rush to 7d, and we are not fans of space mountain. So we usually just stroll to buzz and do an other things like Pooh and iasw and maybe pp if it’s not long. It just feels like we don’t get as much done there.

Epcot I don’t think we’ve ever dropped. I read sometimes about how test track is down alot early, and everything there just seems so spread out.

AK we have done, but we don’t head there too often anymore. We usually just dropped Everest and Dinosaur or safari. But once again it seems like such a long walk from dinosaur over to the safari.

 

[LRdismom]

I have rope dropped MK a few times now hoping that it'll be less stressful, but it's not very fun. Everyone runs once cast members let everyone in and people can be hostile. The worst is trying to rope drop 7 Dwarfs. I saw someone ram another guest purposely with a baby stroller. He did it so hard that the wheel broke on the stroller. I prefer to rope drop HS or AK.

 

[Davey Jones II]

When we do RD we have never done a headliner and we get so much done. I can’t handle the crazy mad dash/crowd issue that comes with that. We did FP+ for headliners and now G+\ILL. We also don’t arrive 60 minutes before park open so we will never be in the front of the pack so it doesn’t make sense for us to head to FOP or Rise.

At MK we usually do Space, AK we do EE, Epcot we do TT and DHS we do ToT. We do get a lot done in that first hour.

So, for example, what time do you arrive for a 9 a.m. park opening?

 

[DizneyFamof4]

A recent Pic of MK RD, walking towards (Starlite Cafe on the right). For our family, it no longer is a benefit, especially if you have to wait at the entrance over an hour before the park even opens. Maybe if you take midday breaks it works,but for our family that does not take midday breaks, we much rather grab a couple of G+ rides while at our resort and then arrive at the park around 10ish and stay till after closing. We have always got all the rides we want in during the day and we get to sleep in The rude RD crowd rushing to get by us, just starts the day on the wrong note

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

A recent Pic of MK RD, walking towards (Starlite Cafe on the right). For our family, it no longer is a benefit, especially if you have to wait at the entrance over an hour before the park even opens. Maybe if you take midday breaks it works,but for our family that does not take midday breaks, we much rather grab a couple of G+ rides while at our resort and then arrive at the park around 10ish and stay till after closing. We have always got all the rides we want in during the day and we get to sleep in The rude RD crowd rushing to get by us, just starts the day on the wrong note

That’s a lot of people and I’d bet that most are heading to 7D.

On a recent visit, we hit 7D 30 minutes before closing time. We rode twice and could have done a 3rd trip but opted for the carousel instead. That may have been a more efficient use of time than braving the morning crowd.

 

[snikki]

So, for example, what time do you arrive for a 9 a.m. park opening?

I try to arrive 15-30 minutes before rope drop. Since we aren’t doing a headliner it works really well.

We do that for each park once during our 8-9 day trip. On RD days we do midday breaks and go back in the evening. The rest of the trip we sleep in, do pool time then head to a park in the afternoon. It works for us.

Last trip we never RD DHS. The day we had planned to hurricane Nicole hit and the parks closed late. By stacking LL and doing ILL we hit everything we wanted and multiple times without ever doing RD.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I would say DAK is he best rope drop but here are some tips;
If you are in the initial rush - DO go directly to FoP. If not, skip it. You will be stuck in a long-ish line and you'll waste the rope-drop advantage. Instead, do EVERYTHING outside of Pandora, and yes, you will be able to ride it all within 2 hours. After that, do the shows and resolve yourself to the 2 long lines in Pandora.

NOTE:
The rule-of-thumb used to be that you could get in a shorter line at FoP near the end of the day as everyone is leaving. That was before LL/G+. We tried that strategy on our trip in June and even caught the line after a shut-down so it was listed at 60 minutes when we got in line. Yeah, that was a solid 2 hour line and it CRAWLED! I blame LL. I think an awful lot of people buy it late in the day either because they are saving it for their last ride or they relent and buy it just to get on. Either way, stand-by late in the day is no longer a strategy.

YMMV...

What if you get in line for FOP five minutes or less before closing time? There are no more LLs after closing.

 

[Surgie2]

Here is one hint I will give you. If you plan on doing a Hollywood Studios / Epcot day, park at Hollywood Studios early and then walk to Epcot. The Skyliner gets really crowded and the walk between the two is a little over a mile. This will put you at the World Showcase entrance right by France so rope dropping Ratatouille is a piece of cake. Then you can Skyliner of to Hollywood Studios later.

Do you think this strategy would work well during Thanksgiving week? EP opens at 8:30 (tentative hours) on the day we are considering, Monday, Nov. 20. I'm not sure how we would handle HS Star Wars timing - I'm an old FP visitor and have no clue on LL etc. so I need to study up!

 

[Skywalker3]

What if you get in line for FOP five minutes or less before closing time? There are no more LLs after closing.

Depends on the night, crowds. Last Oct, my DS and I got in line for FoP 15 mins before closing, but it was an early closing night at AK, 7:00 PM. Posted wait for 85 mins, It took about 60 total to ride. This past June, got in line about 10 mins before closing, and it maybe took 40 mins total, based on my pictures. That night the park closed at 8"00, so better experience in June, but you never know. It was certainly not a walk on/5 min wait at closing, but if you don't get it at rope drop, it's a good option/good time, plus it was dark when we exited, so got some good nighttime pictures in Pandora and AK

 

[Lumpy1106]

What if you get in line for FOP five minutes or less before closing time? There are no more LLs after closing.

We got in line about an hour before close. At close, they held the standby line and drained the LL line. Once all the LL s were on the line moved at a pretty brisk pace. We ended up waiting a solid 2 hours and the line was well inside the cave when we got in line.

I don't know about you, but I've about had it with all the LL and G+ line cutting. I'm not willing to be stuck in an artificially long standby line or pay +$25 to skip one line. There has to be a better way.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We got in line about an hour before close. At close, they held the standby line and drained the LL line. Once all the LL s were on the line moved at a pretty brisk pace. We ended up waiting a solid 2 hours and the line was well inside the cave when we got in line.

I don't know about you, but I've about had it with all the LL and G+ line cutting. I'm not willing to be stuck in an artificially long standby line or pay +$25 to skip one line. There has to be a better way.

An hour before close is a little too soon to get in line for FoP if you’re looking for the short wait. We like to spend that last hour riding Everest 4 or 5 more times then head to Pandora shortly before close.

We generally find the posted wait time in the 80-100 minute range. The actual wait is usually less than 20.

 

[slo]

We like rope dropping every park, but not for rides - we rely on Genie+ and ILLs for that and never have a problem riding everything we want.

MK - rope drop is great to lollygag through the Main Street gift shops, take some pictures with the Disney photographers, get some Joffrey’s coffee in Tomorrlowland and just soak up the ambiance. Our first ride is usually PotC around 9:30am.

EPCOT - rope dropping from the Skyliner is the best. Get into the WS early, mosey around, get a Joffrey’s coffee and enjoy the ambiance. Our first ride is Ratatouille and we go from there.

AK - rope dropping here is awesome to see the bird show right in from of the Tree of Life - it’s with parrots. We saw it for the first time this year and it was amazing to see - a definite must. Our first ride is the safari.

HS - rope dropping here is nice for shopping first thing in the morning with a coffee from Starbucks - fun and relaxing. Our first ride here is whatever we can get from Genie+

 

[DizneyFamof4]

Depends on the night, crowds. Last Oct, my DS and I got in line for FoP 15 mins before closing, but it was an early closing night at AK, 7:00 PM. Posted wait for 85 mins, It took about 60 total to ride. This past June, got in line about 10 mins before closing, and it maybe took 40 mins total, based on my pictures. That night the park closed at 8"00, so better experience in June, but you never know. It was certainly not a walk on/5 min wait at closing, but if you don't get it at rope drop, it's a good option/good time, plus it was dark when we exited, so got some good nighttime pictures in Pandora and AK

That is what we do and this is why we rather close the parks then do RD. Plus we find the atmosphere at night to be so much better, not to mention cooler. And at AK we also got some great photos of Pandora at night and there were no people around.