Rope Drop is most important at which Parks?

[aliceismad]

So my family are not early morning people. Last year we rope dropped DL and DCA, but the time change worked in our favor. We have 5 days at WDW coming up (in March, when it's busy), and I'm guessing I'll be able to get them to rope drop maybe twice. Which parks do you think rope drop is most important for? If it makes a difference, we're staying in the Epcot area, so easier access to Epcot's International Gate and HS. My kiddo is not into the more intense rides, so we tend to prioritize the Ratatouille/Slinky/Mine Train rides vs. RNRC/Space Mountain/Everest. (Although she enjoys both SW:GE rides.)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Are you buying Genie+?

 

[aliceismad]

Are you buying Genie+?

While I don't love the idea of paying for it, yes. I did build the cost into our budget. I could also potentially pay for an after hours event - I'm thinking perhaps HS because HS sounds like such a pain.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

While I don't love the idea of paying for it, yes. I did build the cost into our budget. I could also potentially pay for an after hours event - I'm thinking perhaps HS because HS sounds like such a pain.

If you're buying Genie+, the rides to "worry about" are the ILL rides:

- Mine Train
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Rise of the Resistance
- Flight of Passage

Guardians is virtual queue, so you can get that from your phone without rope dropping.

I personally hate Mine Train, so I'd be rope dropping Flight of Passage (followed immediately by Kilimanjaro Safaris) on one day, and Rise of the Resistance.

 

[LeighM]

When we were there last, Hollywood Studios was one of the best parks to rope drop because of Rise of the Resistance. There are two different ride tracks and we got in line for rope drop first thing in the morning and unhappily paid for the Individual Lightning Lane, which we got later in the day. By doing that, we were able to ride both sides of RotR. And Magic Kingdom is always a good one for rope drop because of the crowds and amount of rides. But there's a technique to maximizing Genie+ at MK with stacking etc. If you're unfamiliar, I would suggest watching Molly's Genie+ review on her YouTube channel, Mammoth Club. She does a really good job of explaining how to make it work for you.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When we were there last, Hollywood Studios was one of the best parks to rope drop because of Rise of the Resistance. There are two different ride tracks and we got in line for rope drop first thing in the morning and unhappily paid for the Individual Lightning Lane, which we got later in the day. By doing that, we were able to ride both sides of RotR. And Magic Kingdom is always a good one for rope drop because of the crowds and amount of rides. But there's a technique to maximizing Genie+ at MK with stacking etc. If you're unfamiliar, I would suggest watching Molly's Genie+ review on her YouTube channel, Mammoth Club. She does a really good job of explaining how to make it work for you.

Stacking is horribly inefficient unless you absolutely need to sleep until noon for some reason.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I think it's pretty important at Animal Kingdom. Everyone is going to want to hit Flight of Passage and the hours tend to be shortest at that park. You can miss Rise in the morning and still hop on if you are there near closing.

 

[JIMINYCR]

As mentioned above, those most popular attractions in parks draw the biggest crowds early on and lines build to extend far out into the walkways. Rope drops importance will be determined by what you find most important to do and what times you can save not waiting in lines. Another value of rope dropping is getting on attractions early in the day before they happen to go down from maintenance issues. Theres nothing worse than waiting in line for an extended period of time and being told that the attraction is now down and you walk away without experiencing it.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think it's pretty important at Animal Kingdom. Everyone is going to want to hit Flight of Passage and the hours tend to be shortest at that park. You can miss Rise in the morning and still hop on if you are there near closing.

If it works in your schedule, park hopping to Animal Kingdom can be a great way to ride some things with minimal waits. Lots of people get there early and then hop to the other three parks (or go home) mid-afternoon, but if you hit it in reverse you can get really lucky.

 

[nickys]

Stacking is horribly inefficient unless you absolutely need to sleep until noon for some reason.

Or you want a midday break and stack for the evening.
Or you want to park hop.
Or you hit all the “tier 2” rides at RD whilst everyone else heads for the “tier 1” attractions.
Or
Or

There are more ways than just one to tour the parks. Stacking can be a godsend if it gets 3 big rides ready for the afternoon / evening.

 

[HoustonHorn]

Or you want a midday break and stack for the evening.
Or you want to park hop.
Or you hit all the “tier 2” rides at RD whilst everyone else heads for the “tier 1” attractions.
Or
Or

There are more ways than just one to tour the parks. Stacking can be a godsend if it gets 3 big rides ready for the afternoon / evening.

I have had great success stacking on arrival day (plane landing around 12:30). 6:00 Central time - start trying to grab Jungle Cruise for a time about 2.5 hours after you land in Orlando. Then grab another 2 hours after the park opens from the airplane. Usually can get a 3rd right after landing. Then a 4th just about the time you're getting to MK. Adding in the ILL I get for 7DMT (I can't wait until my daughter stops wanting to ride that), and I have 5 LLs ready to go on the first day.

For RD, here are my recommendations:

MGM - RD Rise, then head to MF:SR an use the first G+ on Slinky; alternatively, RD Slinky, buy the ILL for Rise, use the first G+ for MMRR or MF:SR

AK - Use your first G+ for the Safari; RD Flight of Passage then do NRJ; without Everest, you can then use your G+ at a second park

Have fun!

 

[SteveAZee]

Stacking is horribly inefficient unless you absolutely need to sleep until noon for some reason.

Some of us flying in from the west coast don't adjust to the time difference as easily as others.

 

[NelleBelle]

Some of us flying in from the west coast don't adjust to the time difference as easily as others.

Boy if that isn’t a true statement! We just moved to Hawaii and I am totally dreading the 5-hr time difference (I think, day light savings confuses me because HI doesn’t change)! I usually try to fly in on a red-eye so I can crash early and “reset”. I think we’ve rope-dropped once or twice back in the day when our kids were toddlers and up super “early” anyway. So glad there are extra hours in the evenings

 

[SteveAZee]

Boy if that isn’t a true statement! We just moved to Hawaii and I am totally dreading the 5-hr time difference (I think, day light savings confuses me because HI doesn’t change)! I usually try to fly in on a red-eye so I can crash early and “reset”. I think we’ve rope-dropped once or twice back in the day when our kids were toddlers and up super “early” anyway. So glad there are extra hours in the evenings

When we visited Hawaii in September the time difference was 3 hours... and then 3 hours the other way for Orlando. That's a LOT of time shifting to adjust for. I did the redeye from here to Orlando once... once. I hope it works for you.

Our most recent trip (Oct 2019) also involved getting into HS when it opened at 6am for resort guests (on our second park day) to see the brand new Millennium Falcon ride... definitely a rough waking up.

 

[LeighM]

As mentioned above, those most popular attractions in parks draw the biggest crowds early on and lines build to extend far out into the walkways. Rope drops importance will be determined by what you find most important to do and what times you can save not waiting in lines. Another value of rope dropping is getting on attractions early in the day before they happen to go down from maintenance issues. Theres nothing worse than waiting in line for an extended period of time and being told that the attraction is now down and you walk away without experiencing it.

Especially true with Rise of the Resistance because that ride always seems to be going down! The earlier in the day is definitely better with that one. During our trip, it kept going down while we were waiting in line but we eventually got thru it. Then a couple hours later it was down for hours and they weren't letting anyone in the queue. The line for the Lightning Lane was backed up when it was our return time at 6:30pm because of honoring all of the ILLs for the hours it was down. And then it went down again about an hour before closing and I don't think it ever came back up. Those people who had purchased ILL for those times had to go to the special CMs set up in the park to help with refunds. And those lines were also crazy long. We heard a lot of complaining that day!

 

[Weather_Lady]

Where are you staying? If you're at an onsite deluxe resort and eligible for/able to do Extra Evening Hours at EPCOT and MK, then I'd take advantage of those to hit the biggies in those two parks, and use rope drop arrivals at HS and AK.

 

[aliceismad]

Where are you staying? If you're at an onsite deluxe resort and eligible for/able to do Extra Evening Hours at EPCOT and MK, then I'd take advantage of those to hit the biggies in those two parks, and use rope drop arrivals at HS and AK.

I have a reservation at CBR, but thinking of changing at least some of the days to Swan because I saw availability. (CBR is a bit cheaper, but we would get evening hours at Swan.) I wanted Boardwalk, but we booked too late to rent DVC points and for the extra cost, we could buy G+/ILLs/After Hours.

Some of us flying in from the west coast don't adjust to the time difference as easily as others.

Extra magic time starting at 7 am (5 am our time) at AK seems rough once you factor in bus time. I'm happy to go to parks from open to close, but my family want to relax on vacation or some such silliness.

 

[aliceismad]

Stacking is horribly inefficient unless you absolutely need to sleep until noon for some reason.

There seems to be a lot of debate around stacking. I could see it being a potential strategy if we rope drop and then have a mid-day break, but it also seems like a pain to watch my phone for the right return times. I've been checking the Touring Plans data and not really sure how to approach each day yet.

 

[ElvisMickey]

I think it's pretty important at Animal Kingdom. Everyone is going to want to hit Flight of Passage and the hours tend to be shortest at that park. You can miss Rise in the morning and still hop on if you are there near closing.

Respectfully disagree. FOP is pretty much the only ride at Animal Kingdom that gets a hefty wait in a park that doesn’t have many attractions. If you have to wait for one ride, fine. Plus, as a local, I’ve hopped on numerous times at night with waits less than an hour. Magic Kingdom is the park you want to rope drop due to the number of attractions.

 

[LeighM]

There seems to be a lot of debate around stacking. I could see it being a potential strategy if we rope drop and then have a mid-day break, but it also seems like a pain to watch my phone for the right return times. I've been checking the Touring Plans data and not really sure how to approach each day yet.

The problem I've seen with Genie+ at Magic Kingdom is really the time of the year that you're going. It's not unheard of for a lot of the good rides to not have any more return times until very late in the day, if they have any remaining at all. It's always good to have rides already booked when you wake up at 7am (which is the time you need to do the popular Individual Lightning Lane if you're going during a busy time). When I went last December, I woke up at 7am for Rise of the Resistance and less than 15 minutes later my return time was already at 6:30pm. They sold out like 10 minutes later. Not every ILL sells out that quickly though. Since you're going during the busy Spring Break period at WDW, I can imagine ILL and Genie+ being an issue at Hollywood Studios and especially Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, the way that Disney has made the system at WDW, you'll be looking at your phone quite a lot while in the parks. You can do the next Genie+ while waiting in lines. But you'll be looking at your phone to see wait times for attractions that you don't have a reservation for, mobile ordering at the quick service places, etc. I hated how much I was forced to use my phone while in the parks!