Epcot Rope Drop

[TeacherDL]

. Thanks! I love Brian’s videos and we used this one to plan our Epcot day in October. It worked out really well!

It worked out well? What was the crowd level? Great to know!

 

[SwanVT2]

We love TT, but it definitely can be tricky. It seems to go down for random things, plus it doesn't run in the rain. And some times of year it rains. A lot.

Your plan will likely work just fine, but I would suggest making a change and pre-booking your tier one for Test Track and look for Soarin' as a 4th.

If you have a FP for Test Track when it goes down, you can use your TT FP any time that day if it comes back up. If you have a FP for Soarin' and Test Track goes down, it'll be harder to get a 4th for TT. It's just better insurance that you will get to ride TT.

Plus, Soarin' is easier to get as a 4th FP, and it often has reasonable waits in the evening. In fact, last June I went there around 7:40 pm with my 4th FP, and there literally was no standby line. The point where standby people and FP people were being merged was where the "line" started.

We are staying at dolphin so enter off the boardwalk. You can go on rides at the countries but stores and such are not open yet.

 

[JessicaW1234]

We have had success RD Soarin, Then Test track & FP Frozen for after lunch once we are over there

 

[neverlandsky]

We walked on to FEA from International Gateway @ RD.
Then waited 30 minutes for Test Track.
Then had a FP Test Track 9:25 am -10:25 am. We wanted to ride TT twice.
Then off to Soarin'. By then it was snack time and Sunshine Seasons was a perfect stop.

 

[DrFacilier]

It worked out well? What was the crowd level? Great to know!

It was a Saturday during F&W in Mid October and I think the crowd ended up being 8 or 9 even though TPs had predicted it to be a to be 6 or 7 (I checked back later in the day). I can’t tell you we followed Brian’s plan completely but we took his advice on RDing TT because of it breaking down a lot (we walked right through the queue but we’re held up in the design area for a while because it apparently broke down immediately) and because it may close due to rain ( it ended up raining that afternoon). We planned a FP (as the video had mentioned) for FEA after our Akershus ADR and easily scored a Soarin 4th FP that afternoon. We FPd SSE and ECS and skipped M2M because of the ages of DD6 and DD8 but other than that we thought Brian’s plan had a lot of good ideas and we plan on repeating the same TP in August.

 

[Haley R]

We are going next week and are planning on RDing FEA. Then I have a FP for TT from 9:05-10:05 and a FP for Mission Space at 10:10. Then I'm hoping we can walk over to Soarin and get in line without it being too long of a wait. We'll see how it goes!

 

[bluejasmine]

We always FP frozen and at rope drop head straight to Soarin and then Test Track and Mission Space

 

[nkereina]

So tell me about FEA at rope drop? It opens at the same time as future world? Other countries are closed and you have the options of walking in for FEA and then right back out because everything else is (could) still be closed when you walk out?

Yes, FEA opens at 9am. Anyone can walk through the World Showcase that time of morning, but none of the stores or attractions open until 11am. But there is no one there that kicks you out of the World Showcase or only permits you to head straight to FEA.

We did FEA at rope drop and walked briskly back to it right at opening. I mentioned up-thread that we had about a 25-30 minute wait in the stand-by line, mostly because those who have pre-park opening Akershus breakfast ADRs are ahead of you in line. Maybe some that have Garden Grill pre-park opening breakfasts as well. So that coupled with the long walk back there doesn't exactly leave it as a walk-on ride in the morning. BUT it was the shortest stand-by possible given that we were unable to use our FP for it the day prior, since it was down most of the afternoon and evening. I will say that a 25 minute wait isn't terrible and I do think it was worth it - its a cool ride!

 

[Gentry2004]

Yes, FEA opens at 9am. Anyone can walk through the World Showcase that time of morning, but none of the stores or attractions open until 11am. But there is no one there that kicks you out of the World Showcase or only permits you to head straight to FEA.

We did FEA at rope drop and walked briskly back to it right at opening. I mentioned up-thread that we had about a 25-30 minute wait in the stand-by line, mostly because those who have pre-park opening Akershus breakfast ADRs are ahead of you in line. Maybe some that have Garden Grill pre-park opening breakfasts as well. So that coupled with the long walk back there doesn't exactly leave it as a walk-on ride in the morning. BUT it was the shortest stand-by possible given that we were unable to use our FP for it the day prior, since it was down most of the afternoon and evening. I will say that a 25 minute wait isn't terrible and I do think it was worth it - its a cool ride!

From the IG to FEA, don’t you have to go through Canada and Mexico to get to Norway? I thought there was a rope stopping you after the French bakery, no? I didn’t think you could walk through the entire world showcase before 11am.

 

[nkereina]

From the IG to FEA, don’t you have to go through Canada and Mexico to get to Norway? I thought there was a rope stopping you after the French bakery, no? I didn’t think you could walk through the entire world showcase before 11am.

I was thinking in terms of entering through the main gate. But if you enter through IG, you could still go through Canada and Mexico to get to Norway. I don't know whether there is a rope in France, but I'm not sure why you'd want to go that way to get to FEA anyhow. That would be the long way around and would put you in the back of the crowd.

 

[LizzyS]

I'm planning on us doing Soarin' at rope drop on Sunday, so I hope that works out well. I have never waited longer for a ride than the Soarin' at Disneyland, tbh, though I think WDW has more theaters?

Yeah, going to Soarin' first thing worked out great. It was virtually a walk-on!

 

[Haley R]

We just did Epcot rope drop last week and thought it went pretty well. We did Frozen first and that was a walk on, we just had to walk through the que. We then had a FP for Test Track and a FP right after for Mission: Space. We didn't have enough time for Soarin' because we only stayed at Epcot until lunch time and the wait was too long. If we would have had a full day at Epcot, I would've done Frozen at rope drop, then test track, and then a FP for Soarin later in the day.

 

[dreiwhit]

One other bit of information: We always arrive at Epcot and get through security around 8:30am. Our past experience was that the CMs would let you in Epcot early. We would usually clear the tapstiles around 8:40am. You could then head to whichever Tier 1 ride you wanted and have a minimal wait.

But on our last trip (Feb 4-8), when we got through security at Epcot on Monday, Feb 5, the lines at the tapstiles were already touching the buildings directly opposite the tapstiles. And, they did not seem to be letting people in early like they have done in the past. By the time we got through and hoofed it over to Soarin, it already had a 45 minute wait.

Our second Epcot day (2/7), we got there at the same time, and were near the head of the queue at the tapstiles. They did let folks through, but held the crowd around Spaceship Earth. We had FPs for Soarin at 9am, so we didn't bother heading toward the crowd, but sat and waited.

The only difference was that our first visit to Epcot was on a Monday. The only thing I can think of is that a lot of folks follow the old rule to avoid MK on Mondays and go to Epcot instead.

 

[seus-mouse]

Thanks for so much great info!

 

[disneylover102]

Best is to do Single Rider for TT, FP+ either Frozen or Soarin’ and RD the other. If you can’t do TT Single Rider, you could try doing RD for one, FP+ another, and do the other one very last thing. I got a 4th FP+ for TT last time we went, but don’t rely on it.

 

[seacruise]

Definitely FP Frozen. It's a lame ride, but will have the longest line and be the hardest FP to get. I would do Soarin' first thing and then do single rider for TT.

If you can't do single rider I would skip Frozen and get FP for TT instead.

 

[fbarker]

We are going next week and are planning on RDing FEA. Then I have a FP for TT from 9:05-10:05 and a FP for Mission Space at 10:10. Then I'm hoping we can walk over to Soarin and get in line without it being too long of a wait. We'll see how it goes!

I would go over to Soaring after TT because you have an hour to use your Mission Space FP. Your chances of a shorter wait on Soarin would be much better

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

We will rope drop Epcot on June on June 8th (family of five). We love Test Track and we are anxious to ride the new Soarin...but we have also not done the new Frozen ride. What is the best way to ride all three of these with the tiered system?

So we were there on Monday. We had breakfast at Garden Grill and then headed over to Test Track. Everyone on Disboards told me NOT to go to TT, but our other plans were locked in. We were at TT by 8:50a and were waiting out from. My son was playing with 2 cast members and I asked at 8:53a, "so does the ride open at 9a?" They said, " you can ride it now if you want". I immediately ran through and was able to ride it by myself in my own car. My husband went after me in the single rider line and was done by 9:15a. Now TT does have a history of opening late, but this was our experience. My husband did say the rope drop crowd came in like a herd and by the time I got out at 9:03, the line was outside. But single rider was super fast.

 

[Haley R]

I would go over to Soaring after TT because you have an hour to use your Mission Space FP. Your chances of a shorter wait on Soarin would be much better

That would’ve been too much walking for the group that was with us. Dh and I could’ve tried that but it wouldn’t have worked out for our group this time. We tried to back track as little as possible.