PFTH after rope drop

[PARichards]

What's the scoop on Princess M&G wait times after rope drop? I'm traveling w/4 LOs who will be dying to meet them some princesses, but I don't want to "waste" (I know, I know: it's all relative) our FP+ on M&Gs. We have all our ADRs planned, so Cinderella we shall meet at 1900 on our last evening; but I'll have young 'uns asking about Rapunzel, for sure, as well as Anna & Elsa. I think there might not be a way around using a FP+ on ETw/Belle, because, duh- she's the best ... so I just want to get a feel for what kind of time we should expect to invest in line at PFTH, pleaseandthankyou? We will be there 9/8/14, at rope drop til naptime, and then back in the evening for a late-ish BOG dinner- since we will be there AFTER a lot of the fams w/LOs return to their rooms for bedtime, I wasn't sure if it'd be better to do the M&G's early or late?Thanks!

 

[Weather_Lady]

I don't think anybody really knows what the post-rope drop line for Anna/Elsa will be like at this point.

I do know that if I run the PFTH M&Gs through touringplans on a day where the crowd is rated "6" out of 10 (average/moderate), it tells me that with a rope drop arrival and an average walking speed, I can expect to wait 3 minutes for Rapunzel or 18 minutes for Anna/Elsa. (Everything hinges on rope drop!!! Arrive to the park 20 minutes late, and the estimated wait times jump to 15 minutes for Rapunzel and 48 minutes for Anna/Elsa!!!)

Just as "some people are worth melting for," if you have any question at all about your ability to arrive well before rope drop, I might consider Anna/Elsa to be "people worth using a FP+ for."

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Personally, I would get a FP+ for Anna and Elsa (which I did!) I'm thinking a lot of people with little princesses who JUST HAVE to meet the duo will run there at rope drop. I mean, EPCOT opened the M&G at 9 am and there was already an hour+ wait! Rapunzel, you can probably get to with no problem around opening time but,IMO, bite the bullet and use the FP+.

 

[PARichards]

If I tell DH we can have the girls meet A & E with only a 18 minute wait if AND ONLY IF we get there at the drop, AND it wouldn't involve using a FP+, he will make it happen! We plan on using the buses from AoA to MK, but... let's say we ran a little behind, and instead take the car- how much time should we allow for the drive/finding parking/walking to entrance? I just want to have all my bases covered.

 

[PARichards]

Personally, I would get a FP+ for Anna and Elsa (which I did!) I'm thinking a lot of people with little princesses who JUST HAVE to meet the duo will run there at rope drop. I mean, EPCOT opened the M&G at 9 am and there was already an hour+ wait! Rapunzel, you can probably get to with no problem around opening time but,IMO, bite the bullet and use the FP+.

We won't need FP+ for thrill rides, so we may very well, do one for A&E, just like I said, was curious if I could get away with NOT doing it. If go to PFTH and meet Rapunzel, etc. then what time should we sched our A&E FP+ for? Or can I stand in 1 line holding a place while the DH takes the girls to meet everyone else?

 

[Cendure]

... let's say we ran a little behind, and instead take the car- how much time should we allow for the drive/finding parking/walking to entrance? I just want to have all my bases covered.

Don't know about drive/parking time, we always bus it to MK, but don't forget to factor in getting from the parking lot to MK entrance either by Ferry or Monorail from the Ticket and Transportation Center and then walking to the main gate.

 

[PARichards]

So I need to have everyone ready to leave our rooms at say, 7:30am?

 

[Weather_Lady]

We won't need FP+ for thrill rides, so we may very well, do one for A&E, just like I said, was curious if I could get away with NOT doing it. If go to PFTH and meet Rapunzel, etc. then what time should we sched our A&E FP+ for? Or can I stand in 1 line holding a place while the DH takes the girls to meet everyone else?

If you meet Rapunzel first, you could schedule your A/E FP for as early as 9:00 or 9:30 with a 9:00am park opening. (Waiting/meeting on the Rapunzel side shouldn't take more than 25 minutes.)

As far as having one person stand in line for A/E, I can't see other guests taking kindly to it when that person is suddenly joined by several others in the line (and the way it's set up, you'd have to push your way past everyone else in line to get to the rest of your party), and a CM may tell you that you have to go to the back of the line. Unlike having one person reserve a parade spot or save a restaurant table, having a person "hold your spot" in a line you haven't joined yet is technically line-cutting and is against the rules. I wouldn't do it.

If you want to do both at rope drop, do A/E first (since the line will build much faster) and then Rapunzel. That way, you're looking at about 30 minutes of wait/meet time with A/E followed by 25 minutes of wait/meet time with Rapunzel (instead of 15 with Rapunzel and then 60 with A/E, if you did Rapunzel first).

 

[PARichards]

If you meet Rapunzel first, you could schedule your A/E FP for as early as 9:00 or 9:30 with a 9:00am park opening. (Waiting/meeting on the Rapunzel side shouldn't take more than 25 minutes.)

As far as having one person stand in line for A/E, I can't see other guests taking kindly to it when that person is suddenly joined by 3 others in the line (and the way it's set up, you'd have to push your way past everyone else in line), and it's possible that a CM will tell you that you have to go to the back of the line. Unlike having one person reserve a parade spot or save a restaurant table, having a person "hold your spot" in a line you haven't joined yet is technically line-cutting. I wouldn't do it.

Thanks for clarifying the whole spot-saving etiquette thing. I had just read about holding spots for something else, and I can understand how not cool that would be for all involved. If I do a 9:30am FP+ do you think we'd have enough left of our morning to check out Pirates and the Jungle Cruise sans FP without rushing through?

 

[PARichards]

Or, option 10 thousand: are A&E still also going to be available at Epcot, and if so, should we just see them there?

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Or, option 10 thousand: are A&E still also going to be available at Epcot, and if so, should we just see them there?

As of April 20th, they will be moving to PFH and the EPCOT M&G area will be empty. It would be much easier to just have two so the crowd can be spread out but, from what I have heard, the EPCOT area was not big enough to begin with.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Thanks for clarifying the whole spot-saving etiquette thing. I had just read about holding spots for something else, and I can understand how not cool that would be for all involved. If I do a 9:30am FP+ do you think we'd have enough left of our morning to check out Pirates and the Jungle Cruise sans FP without rushing through?

Yes. While Pirates and Jungle Cruise do build bigger waits later in the day, getting to them in the first 2 hours after rope drop should allow you to get through fairly quickly. (Many other guests will be focusing solely on headliners like the Magic Kingdom mountains and Fantasyland attractions during that time.)

 

[PARichards]

As of April 20th, they will be moving to PFH and the EPCOT M&G area will be empty. It would be much easier to just have two so the crowd can be spread out but, from what I have heard, the EPCOT area was not big enough to begin with.

So much boo hiss!

 

[PARichards]

Yes. While Pirates and Jungle Cruise do build bigger waits later in the day, getting to them in the first 2 hours after rope drop should allow you to get through fairly quickly. (Many other guests will be focusing solely on headliners like the Magic Kingdom mountains and Fantasyland attractions during that time.)

That sounds great!