Rope drop at UO/IoA

[1GoldenSun]

Is rope drop at UO/IoA not the same crazy mess it is at Disney?

I was there two weeks ago on Saturday with DD's field trip. We met the group outside the gate at IoA. By the time everyone in our group had arrived, it was probably 30 minutes past opening time, but DD and I were there about 15 minutes before the park opened. It didn't seem like there were many people there at all. We watched them open the park gates and it wasn't anything like the throngs at Disney. Even by the time we went in around 9:30, the parks were not crowded at all and wait times were very short.

Is this a typical rope drop?

 

[leiaorgana]

From my own personal experiences, rope drop at UO/IOA has always been pretty chill except for when the new Potter attractions opened. That was beyond insane and I'd never want to put myself through that again.

We always go June/July, so peak summer, and we usually show up at the parking garages around an hour before regular opening, grab some breakfast at Citywalk and then stroll over to parks where there's normally a minimal wait to get in. The thing that takes the most time to get in is when people have the paper tickets that you print at home because for some reason they never seem to scan properly so if I see people with them we normally jump to another queue.

Again, from my own experiences, whichever park has Early Entry normally lets non hotel people in as well. You just can't go past the barriers where they're checking for room keys so that helps alleviate some of the rope drop crowds at the gates.

 

[Disxuni]

As someone who's experienced both many times, I have to definitely say Universal is definitely more relaxed than Disney rope drops. Not as many people and the park takes a couple of hours for it to start getting busy. The only exception as @leiaorgana stated is when WWoHP was opening (both ends), or a new attraction just opened. Even then, when Kong for example, was in it's soft openings / once it was officially opened, it wasn't as crazy as Disney the rope drop experiences.

With Disney, a rope drop is useless as you can be first in line and when you get in, if everyone else runs, or ramming through people to get first you're going to be SOL. People can be pretty rough. However, on the other hand, at Universal you should be able to achieve a lot within the first few of hours and if you attempt to try to go onto the most popular ride, or a ride just opened, you may wait a little bit (due to EE being a factor), but not nearly as much as a wait as something at Disney.

 

[Spike101]

My top tip for anyone with EE is that when you get to the gates, if theres a turnstyle that has no line just go straight to that one, the same thing with the temporary stations they set up right in front of the main gates at USO.

Dont join an already existing line.

I wonder how crazy early, people are going to be there for the first few weeks of Hagrids coaster?

 

[leiaorgana]

I wonder how crazy early, people are going to be there for the first few weeks of Hagrids coaster?

Opening week of Diagon Alley we were at the gates at 5:30am. We weren't let into the park until 6:00am though and then we had to wait in a holding area for a while until EE was over.

 

[Vicki Rickerd]

With Disney, a rope drop is useless as you can be first in line and when you get in, if everyone else runs, or ramming through people to get first you're going to be SOL. .

We had that experience with Pandora. First people in line that morning. We ended up like 10 minutes behind everyone, cause old people cant run. The kids were ahead of us and my mom who was 71 at the time ended up just opening a chain to get to them. The CM yelled at her. I started to go off on him cuz we had been run over since they let us in, but was too out of breath to bother.

Hoping for a better experience on Sunday with UO

 

[Disxuni]

We had that experience with Pandora. First people in line that morning. We ended up like 10 minutes behind everyone, cause old people cant run. The kids were ahead of us and my mom who was 71 at the time ended up just opening a chain to get to them. The CM yelled at her. I started to go off on him cuz we had been run over since they let us in, but was too out of breath to bother.

Hoping for a better experience on Sunday with UO

Yes, AK is especially bad with this. Which is why the only times I've gone on FoP (other than the first time having a FP) I've always waited until the last showing of Rivers of Light, as by then, most of the people will either be out of the park, or watching the last show. You just have to make sure to get in prior to it being officially closing time.

It still can be a wait, but is much less than normal and moves faster since there is no more FP for the evening. The first time I did this I did FoP within 45 minutes, second time between an hour and 15 minutes (pre-shows included).