How is Rope Dropping Seven Dwarfs These Days??

[pitpat]

What's the best route to Mine Train? It's in Fantasyland, correct? Through the castle and straight on through morning, or to the left or right of the caste? I haven't been there since they redid Fantasyland.

bridge to the right of the castle toward the teacups

 

[gorkt]

I really don't get the continued long waits for this ride. I mean, it is fun, but not really worth waiting that much time for.

 

[pitpat]

I really don't get the continued long waits for this ride. I mean, it is fun, but not really worth waiting that much time for.

I believe it has to do with name/reputation more than just the ride itself, similar to Peter Pan. They are known as the most popular rides, so everyone feels the need to do them or they're missing out/ruining their kids' lives. Even I look at is as kind of a challenge to get FPs for it for almost every MK park day, even though I like BTM and Splash better.

 

[wilbret]

The rider thruput is very low for a popular ride. It's a short track, so they can't fit many trains on it at once, and the cars don't hold many people - It's less than 1500/hr. It's a very smooth coaster that small kids can ride on and enjoy, and it's IN YOUR FACE as opposed to others crammed inside buildings or at far ends of the park.

That being said, I won't bother with it if the wait is >30 minutes. It is such a short ride. The kids love it, and it's fun... but not 1 hour stand in line fun. If you can't get a FP, check the wait times during the day and aim for going during fireworks or at closing. Rope drop is a free for all. I like to go left to Jungle Cruise while people are elbowing and shoving to get to 7DMT.

 

[wilbret]

Peter Pan suffers from popularity due to...it's popularity. The wait time is how long?? I gotta ride that!
Small World is iconic and they move people thru at 2500+ per hour. Peter Pan is just across the street and gets a ton of volume due to location... but the capacity is one of the lowest in the park at 720/hour. I'd say it goes slower quite often.

 

[gharter]

I get why both, 7DMT and PP still have long lines. They are fun rides, done well. They are good for younger children, but adults enjoy them as well.
I don't think the lines will decrease a whole lot when Tron opens as Tron, for the most part, will be geared to a different group.
Unlike in AK. EE used to have huge waits all day. The line isn't short, but once Pandora opened, the line at EE is a fraction of what it used to be.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Yes, you’re still waiting, but you’re not using park time to do it. All a matter of preference.

Even though you’re not using park hours, time isn’t free and those that arrive too early in the morning are less likely to stil be around late at night which is a prime factor as to why the lines get shorter.

7D is a good example. Why arrive an hour early just to ride once when you can wait until the last half hour of the day and probably ride twice.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Even though you’re not using park hours, time isn’t free and those that arrive too early in the morning are less likely to stil be around late at night which is a prime factor as to why the lines get shorter.

7D is a good example. Why arrive an hour early just to ride once when you can wait until the last half hour of the day and probably ride twice.

I don't necessarily disagree. I was simply responding to the post asking whether waiting was still waiting. As I said, all a matter of preference.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I don't necessarily disagree. I was simply responding to the post asking whether waiting was still waiting. As I said, all a matter of preference.

I just like to point out that there are more efficient uses of time than waiting outside of the locked gates.

 

[FFstreetDoc]

It hasn't died down. It's a mass of people heading there first thing. I'd arrive about 60 min prior to opening and head straight there

Seems pointless to waste 60 minutes waiting to rush to a ride that may already have a 20 - 30 minute wait. That is 90 minutes spent to ride SDMT. I rarely see lines that long during the day, except on crowded days. I would rather sleep in and just wait 60 - 80 minutes in line. Just my thought.

 

[CAS239]

Seems pointless to waste 60 minutes waiting to rush to a ride that may already have a 20 - 30 minute wait. That is 90 minutes spent to ride SDMT. I rarely see lines that long during the day, except on crowded days. I would rather sleep in and just wait 60 - 80 minutes in line. Just my thought.

You should be on in under 20 min by getting there that early. I never rope drop 7dmt, but if I did, I would rather wait 60 min at the gate while the park is closed vs waiting 60+ min using park time.

I would only ride that right at rope drop, or try for low waits at park closing. No chance I'd ride in the middle of the day

 

[Tiggerlover91]

You should be on in under 20 min by getting there that early. I never rope drop 7dmt, but if I did, I would rather wait 60 min at the gate while the park is closed vs waiting 60+ min using park time.

I would only ride that right at rope drop, or try for low waits at park closing. No chance I'd ride in the middle of the day

I'm with you on this one. I would much rather spend the 60 minutes before park opening than while I'm in the park and could be doing MANY other things. Son and I are early risers anyway....so getting there that early to ride 7DMT just in case I can't get a FP works for me! Park closing doesn't work for my family, so it's always RD for us.

 

[Retroecho]

Rope drop til I die. Hahaha

I’d much rather do the excitement and crazy rope drop experience than wait an hour during the day. We tend to be all dayers. Rope drop to goodnight kiss.

 

[conandrob240]

If you're interested in an alternate strategy, the lines are much shorter late at night. The longest we've ever waited close to closing time was 20 minutes during opening week in 2014. Since then, we've found several 10 minute waits right after the fireworks show. There's never been a need to wait an hour in the morning for this one.

Interesting because I have not once found this to be the case.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Interesting because I have not once found this to be the case.

Are you going by the posted wait or the actual wait? The posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

We’ve often found the posted wait to be 4x the actual wait during the last hour or so of operation for the headliners.

For 7D,the time we had to wait 20 minutes the posted wait was 110 which scared off most would be riders.

We read about the posted wait time shenanigans in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so it’s nothing new.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Seems pointless to waste 60 minutes waiting to rush to a ride that may already have a 20 - 30 minute wait. That is 90 minutes spent to ride SDMT. I rarely see lines that long during the day, except on crowded days. I would rather sleep in and just wait 60 - 80 minutes in line. Just my thought.

But it's not a waste if you're an early riser to begin with and prefer to be at the parks super early anyway. My family doesn't do evenings in the parks, so RD is the way to go for us. For me, waiting in line beyond 30 minutes is a waste. That's of my time, I'm not speaking on others. If I spend an hour to an hour and a half in line, I'm thinking of other things my family could have done.
I don't consider the hour I'm there before park opening as time waited for 7DMT, I consider it time waiting for the park to open. Just my humble thoughts.

 

[gharter]

If I don't have a FP for the popular rides, I would rather be at the park before RD and wait. Once you get in the park, you can ride the more popular rides with short lines. This has allowed us to ride a lot of rides in a short time.
So while I may have waited 60 minutes by the gates. 30 minutes into the park opening, I have ridden 3-4 rides that would have been a 2 hour plus wait. Ultimately, saving time and doing more.
While not quite as true at MK, this is very true for HS and TSL and AK and Pandora.

 

[Distisso]

We love rope drop and we're NOT normally morning people. We're all so excited in the morning so we have no issue jumping out of bed and catching a nice quiet bus to the park. We pack our breakfast and eat it in line while plotting our day and chatting with other families. We love getting a few extra rides in first thing, and we'll either stay until close, or leave earlier feeling good about our day.

Rope drop 4 evah.

 

[DizFan13]

6:30. The "hour before the park opens" is misinformation some CMs seem hell bent on giving out.

I have two questions: is this a change from a few years ago, when I truly thought buses began running an hour before the park opened?; how often do buses run earlier for 7 am openings?

We'll be there during Christmas week, so lots of 7 am openings, and our main reason for staying onsite is we love the ease of the transportation. I don't want to rent a car (especially now that the resorts charge for parking) or pay for Ubers every morning.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Rope drop til I die. Hahaha

I’d much rather do the excitement and crazy rope drop experience than wait an hour during the day. We tend to be all dayers. Rope drop to goodnight kiss.

Yup each to their own. We aren't early risers and I don't like the mad rush to the "IT" ride after rope drop. I prefer to find other strategies. A pre-9am BOG ADR on a non-EMH/EMM day is the BEST way to ride 7DMT multiple times with no wait (wont apply to OP as its an EMH morning).