Rope drop [Wednesday 2/20/19] was terrible

[pigletto]

If you are going to be there for a 9 am rope drop and it’s a heavy crowd week like President’s Day week, then you want to be at the front of the rope drop pack. Just being there for opening isn’t enough becuase tons of people were there for opening and the vast majority were headed to the same place. Being in the middle or the back of that pack all going to the same place provides no advantage.
Rope drop can still work during heavy crowds but zig when they zag. Get a fastpass for later in the day for things like SDMT and head in the other direction at rope drop.

 

[Patience]

The ‘best’ route is a source of discussion for many threads and blogger coverage, but you picked arguably the best one. Were you towards the front of the crowd gathered there when they dropped the ropes? Or further back? Could you see the castle stage/opening show from where you were standing?

We were about midway in the pack. We could not see the stage show in front of the castle. I will say that we fast walked to the minetrain and did not run like we were on fire or drag our child by the arm, all of which we observed- lol.

Thanks, everyone! I like to come to these boards for advice. We were in Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, February 20, which was two days after President's Day itself so I thought the crowds would have subsided a bit. I knew the week would be busy but I really didn't expect it to be as busy as it was. I realize now that we should have headed to Splash instead of the minetrain at rope drop. Ah well. Live and learn! The next time we go to WDW, we will avoid President's week and head in the opposite direction of Fantasyland at rope drop. We ended up being able to ride all of the rides we really wanted at Magic Kingdom so there's that. And we also were able to ride all of the rides we wanted at the other parks so, all in all, not a bad trip at all.

 

[monkyby87]

Beating a dead horse here, but a 9 AM Rope Drop is a rope drop only in name; the benefits of it just aren't there as much as they would be with an 8 AM opening. At 9 AM, even people that sleep in late are making their way to Magic Kingdom. To still try and take advantage of what little rope drop there is, you want to go to the lesser rides; so basically not 7DMT. There were just a lot of things working against the OP on this particular day, unfortunately.

 

[monkyby87]

We were about midway in the pack. We could not see the stage show in front of the castle. I will say that we fast walked to the minetrain and did not run like we were on fire or drag our child by the arm, all of which we observed- lol.

Thanks, everyone! I like to come to these boards for advice. We were in Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, February 20, which was two days after President's Day itself so I thought the crowds would have subsided a bit. I knew the week would be busy but I really didn't expect it to be as busy as it was. I realize now that we should have headed to Splash instead of the minetrain at rope drop. Ah well. Live and learn! The next time we go to WDW, we will avoid President's week and head in the opposite direction of Fantasyland at rope drop. We ended up being able to ride all of the rides we really wanted at Magic Kingdom so there's that. And we also were able to ride all of the rides we wanted at the other parks so, all in all, not a bad trip at all.

I'm very happy to hear that you still were able to enjoy yourselves I've seen a lot of people come on these boards with similar issues and end up hating their time. It's a great community we have here, and while things can get heated at times, it's only because we're so passionate about Disney. If you head the opposite direction of Fantasyland next time, you'll probably be surprised with how low the crowds are. It's really quite nice

 

[HydroGuy]

I feel your pain OP. We were there last week as well and the parks were very crowded. Our rope drop plan is to head to "fastpass worthy" rides, but try to avoid the rides were the majority of people are going. We had two MK days last week (Tue and Fri). Tuesday was very crowded and since it was an EMM morning there we decided to rope drop Adventureland and get Jungle Cruise, Pirates, then Splash before our first Fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain. I figured the EMM crowd would move to Tomorrowland after finishing up with Fanstasyland. Our other fastpasses were Mine Train and Space Mountain.

Friday was less crowded and we rope-dropped Space Mountain and were able to ride it a few times before the line got to over 20 minutes long.

Even though the parks were very crowded I think the "refresh" strategy for fastpasses after the first three worked very well at Magic Kingdom. After lunch when wait times were peaking everywhere we would just choose what ever had the next closest time and used them for rides like Small World, Tea Cups, Under the Sea (rides that are not worth waiting a long time to ride), modifying them if necessary to keep moving up the times. We waited to late afternoon to look for fastpasses for more popular rides like Haunted Mansion and Buzz because the times were already several hours out, but could get those if you kept modifying. On our Friday MK day we were pleasantly surprised to see a Mine Train fastpass show up for 8-9pm (for 5 people no less).

I will say that during our week we saw so many rides close for issues each day which caused already long wait times go up. Test Track was closed for 8 hours on Presidents Day and closed again when we rope dropped the EMH hour on Thursday. I very nicely explained to Guest Relations that we were not having any luck with Test Track and they added a fastpass for us which was very nice. The ride closures definitely made plans change, but sometimes it actually worked out better where our fastpasses were replaced with the any experience ones. Living with the Land and Frozen were also closed for extended periods on Presidents Day. Big Thunder Mountain was closed for extended periods on Wednesday. A Bug's Life stopped working when we where waiting on Saturday. Primeval Whirl broke down when we had a fastpass (we used the replacement for Everest). Buzz broke down when we had a fast pass (we used the replacement for Space Mountain). Tower of Terror broke down when we were in line - we just had to move to a different elevator. Star Tours broke down while we were in line. There were just so many issues which seemed to make waits even longer during the week.

Thanks for posting. I think we all know that TT is notorious for breaking down a lot - just not for 8 hours usually. There are frequent posts on the DLR forum from WDW vets with the basic sentiment that rides break down frequently at DLR but at WDW that just does not happen very often. Frankly I think there is something valid about that sentiment but your experience here is worth noting as it shows WDW is not as perfect as some folks suggest.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

You pretty much summed up why we are night owls. After the fireworks, so many people leave! The park is all lit up and it becomes a magical place with relatively short lines and easy to navigate walk ways. I’ve never been a fan of the idea of trying to beat everyone to the most popular rides at rope drop. Or how there used to be a mad dash to the fastpass distribution kiosks before fastpass+.

 

[kniquy]

From many reports it seemed like an unusually busy time. We have never attempted RD for MT because I fear that is where the masses of people head to. We have used it for PPF with great success heading over the Liberty Bridge the over to PPF. I think RD at MK is best for adventure/frontier land. I think because the masses of people head towards PPF and MT it makes the other side of the park pretty quiet at RD.

You live and learn and may plan differently on your next trip.

 

[ELLH]

From many reports it seemed like an unusually busy time.

This has really become the norm, now. I just wonder how long it will be before the norm is recognized as busy and we no longer compare it to crowds of yore.

 

[dreiwhit]

Is rope drop still working for you? What should we have done differently? I was convinced rope drop was the ticket when going during busy times but I no longer think so. Thoughts?

We RD and it still works for us. But, there are some attractions that are going to be tough to RD, and 7DMT is probably at the top of the list. I've seen a 45 minute wait at 7DMT 15 minutes after RD. Since my roller coaster days are over, we skip 7DMT and hit PP at RD.

 

[michelepa]

We have done RD twice- never again.

The first time I just thought it was because we were headed to test track. It was a mob scene~ people literally trying to cut us off with strollers that contained their beloved children, pushing and cursing as DH tried to keep up with us because he didn't know where he was going and we weren't running just walking but he didn't expect people to be throwing themselves and their children in his way to be one person ahead.

Then on another day I RD Space Mountain with DD when she was 13 and again really THE worst experiences ever. She was so unnerved after riding Space once she just wanted to go back to the hotel. People weren't saying anything to us but groups were jostling and arguing with each other and cursing on the way in and as we waited near the circle to be let back to Space.

Indeed, rope drop people are some of the nastiest people I have ever met!

No ride could outweigh those awful rope drop experiences.

That's why I'm now staying in a non Disney property so I can afford to pay for the extra hours events!

 

[Mome Rath]

Just to balance it out; yes, there are horror herd stories about various rope drops and I have zero doubt that happens... but also, there are productive, non-stressful rope drops. I've not ever experienced a mob-style rope drop, busy, yes, but no cussing or running over of others, and I rope drop every trip. My last trip I RD'd FoP over in AK and I don't run; it was productive and fun, the CM's were organized, etc... Now, having said that, I don't think littles in strollers should be in the main groups at RD, it is a bit too fast paced, but for all but the busiest headliners, you can walk to the side and let the herds pass.

I enjoy RD'ing and do it every day that I don't have a breakfast rezzie somewhere. For me, it does definitely increase my productivity as far as rides go, and as I've said in other posts, that's because I'm an early morning person, not a night owl, so I don't like closing down parks.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We have done RD twice- never again.

The first time I just thought it was because we were headed to test track. It was a mob scene~ people literally trying to cut us off with strollers that contained their beloved children, pushing and cursing as DH tried to keep up with us because he didn't know where he was going and we weren't running just walking but he didn't expect people to be throwing themselves and their children in his way to be one person ahead.

Then on another day I RD Space Mountain with DD when she was 13 and again really THE worst experiences ever. She was so unnerved after riding Space once she just wanted to go back to the hotel. People weren't saying anything to us but groups were jostling and arguing with each other and cursing on the way in and as we waited near the circle to be let back to Space.

Indeed, rope drop people are some of the nastiest people I have ever met!

No ride could outweigh those awful rope drop experiences.

That's why I'm now staying in a non Disney property so I can afford to pay for the extra hours events!

RD at Epcot was my worst experience. We did it twice, once from each entrance, and swore we would never do it again. I've never seen so many rude people in one place in my life.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

We rope dropped Epcot last weekend. It was fine. I think it’s better now that people split towards 3 main rides (we went for Soarin).

I remember the TSM rope drop back in paper FP day. That was brutal.

 

[monkyby87]

We rope dropped Epcot last weekend. It was fine. I think it’s better now that people split towards 3 main rides (we went for Soarin).

I remember the TSM rope drop back in paper FP day. That was brutal.

Oh boy I remember those days. That was back when TSM was THE ride. Nowadays there are several new rides to hog the attention.

 

[Cinderella94]

We still have great success with rope drop but we are early people anyway - usually at the front of the pack. However, lately we've been going during 4th of July week, so the EMHs are (if I remember correctly) often starting at 7:00, or at least 8:00. We get there even earlier than that and I'm sure that plays a big part too, as others have said. 9:00 AM opening makes rope drop nothing great by default.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We RDed 7DMT once with the kids and it turned out to be a 45 min wait since we didn't keep up so I learned my lesson on that too, OP. Live and learn as someone else said.

Other than that one time, we've stayed out of the masses by going to FP-worthy rides that aren't 'the one' everyone is going to. We RDed Space twice last year and didn't have a problem. We frequently RD Frontierland which is great. Navi is a piece of cake. RNR was awesome last year. We have RDed Dinoland in AK which is a virtual ghost town (they're extinct, you know). I know this isn't an option for everyone because not everyone is able to get FPs or stay late enough to do the headliners at closing but we find RD to be fun and a very calm. low crowd part of the day.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I remember the TSM rope drop back in paper FP day. That was brutal.

Even when TSM was brand new, you could wait until later in the day and ride 4 times in about an hour.

There has always been more efficient times to ride the headliners than rope drop.

 

[mamamelody2]

We rope dropped Epcot last weekend. It was fine. I think it’s better now that people split towards 3 main rides (we went for Soarin).

I remember the TSM rope drop back in paper FP day. That was brutal.

In 2010 I was our group's "runner" for TSM FP (there were 10 of us including young kids). We were there at RD and I booked it back there. The line to GET a FP was 20 minutes. LOL. I really love FP+!

 

[Lindaleeann]

How is PP at rope drop? Worth trying for or better off using a fp?

 

[Robo]

How is PP at rope drop? Worth trying for or better off using a fp?

If you only use FP for Peter Pan, you will miss experiencing the interactive standby QUEUE.
Many guests find it so entertaining that some consider it nearly equal to (or better than) the attraction, itself.

So, Peter Pan is one of the top two destinations at Rope Drop.