Rope Drop vs Closing the Park

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I used to rope drop. I won’t for my next trip. For several reasons but one of them is that RD actually involves waiting. A lot. Not in the attraction waiting lines but at the park turnstiles before opening or at the ropes before the park “really” opens. It really defeats the purpose of “no wait” of the RD strategy. If I have to be at the park 1 hour before early entry, that is too much wait for me.

Yes, it doesn’t seem like a very efficient use of time.

 

[DLRExpert]

Early Entry HS and complete the park by 2pm. Mostly because park has a small amount of attractions and LLs stacking can be difficult later in the day.

Everything else show up after noon.
If park opens at 730am get to park by 12pm-1230pm.
Park opens at 830am show up by 1230pm-1pm.
Park opens at 9am show up by 130pm-2pm.

No matter what day, one person will need to be up at 7am to book ILL, First LL, and VQ.

 

[farfaraway]

It's easier to close the park at MK than HS. Around 9:00 at MK the wait times dropped quite a bit. Lines were still long at HS. I will say we did ride ROTR twice around 8:20 to park close. Then we had Galaxy Edge to ourselves, it was great!

 

[TheBigErn]

We did both! Rope drop (or at least really close to opening), then back to condo around 1pm for a swim/nap, and back to the parks around 430. We left during hottest and busiest times and felt the lines were best first thing in the morning and then after 6pm, so this was perfect for us.

ETA: we had 2 kids with us, if no kids I would have stayed right through lol

What did you do when you arrived at 430pm? Parks are crowded then. Did you have Genie+ lined up?

 

[Aug2020distrip]

What did you do when you arrived at 430pm? Parks are crowded then. Did you have Genie+ lined up?

We only did genie+ 1 day for MK. We found the lines weren’t too bad, but I also think we lucked out and went during a good week (last week of April into May). I just remember us walking back in around 4/430 and tons of ppl leaving the parks then and barely anyone entering. But yeah, I suppose we also just lucked out! No waits were more than 60 mins and that was Rise when we were half an hour late for rope drop.

 

[Have3Kids&aHusband]

For our family, this is a question of economics. It costs upwards of $1000 a day for our park tickets, so we rope drop to close to maximize what we spent. I just can't justify only being in the parks for 6-8 hours at that price. Instead, we work in full "rest days" where we don't go to any parks at all. This way we are spending less days at the parks, thus less $$$ on tickets . . . but still getting days to sleep in, swim and relax.

By doing rope drop to close, we almost never have to do multiple days at a park, so can do everything with a 4 day ticket, and mix in 3 or 4 "rest days" to enjoy other things.

We do a pool day after four days in parks and then do three more park days. We definitely like the midweek break to rest and regroup for the rest of the trip. I like your plan too. Park day and then rest park day and then rest. I'll have to tell my husband about that one.

 

[Aug2020distrip]

We do a pool day after four days in parks and then do three more park days. We definitely like the midweek break to rest and regroup for the rest of the trip. I like your plan too. Park day and then rest park day and then rest. I'll have to tell my husband about that one.

I wish we could have done this, I hate how now dates tickets are only good for a few days. I would have loved to spread our 5 Disney days across our 2 weeks in FL but had to use em all in 7. So can you pay more then to not have such a short time to use them I guess? This was our first time at the park since the dated tickets came into play, we were used to non-expiry tickets, and I think those 5 days were good for 14 days so we could spread it out more.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Just curious, how early do you have to arrive to be on the first 7DMT ride of the day.

We usually wait until later in the evening to ride, and our longest wait ever was 20 minutes in opening week back in 2014.

The wait is usually about 10 minutes, but we did wait 15 just a few weeks ago.

What time did you get in line with that 15 minute wait time? And what time was park close?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

What time did you get in line with that 15 minute wait time? And what time was park close?

For 7D, we got in line about 10:40 with a 11 pm close. The posted wait was 40 minutes.

We watched the fireworks at 9 from in front of the castle then had time for Pooh (with G+), Big Thunder, Splash, Carousel, Princess Hall and 7D before closing. Not a bad hour and a half.

 

[RLGNC]

Around 9:00 at MK the wait times dropped quite a bit.

September hours aren't yet posted, but my understanding is that the parks won't be open as late as they are in summer. As in MK closing at 9:00. Will closing down the park then have the same benefit as it does during the summer (e.g., lower crowds, shorter waits)?

 

[mamaofsix]

I wish we could have done this, I hate how now dates tickets are only good for a few days. I would have loved to spread our 5 Disney days across our 2 weeks in FL but had to use em all in 7. So can you pay more then to not have such a short time to use them I guess? This was our first time at the park since the dated tickets came into play, we were used to non-expiry tickets, and I think those 5 days were good for 14 days so we could spread it out more.

• 1-day – The ticket expires on the selected start date.
• 2-day – The ticket expires 4 days after the selected start date.
• 3-day – The ticket expires 5 days after the selected start date.
• 4-day – The ticket expires 7 days after the selected start date.
• 5-day – The ticket expires 8 days after the selected start date.
• 6-day – The ticket expires 9 days after the selected start date.
• 7-day – The ticket expires 10 days after the selected start date.
• 8-day – The ticket expires 12 days after the selected start date.
• 9-day – The ticket expires 13 days after the selected start date.
• 10-day – The ticket expires 14 days after the selected start date.

Above is the current amount of time you have to use dated tickets. So, you should have had 8 days to use your 5 days ticket.? Below is what we did on our last 12 day trip - 5 day ticket with 7 rest days sprinkled in. We did a similar routine with 4 parks days the trip before that.

Day One - Arrive, check in, swim and go out for supper
Day Two - Sleep in, Relax, explore resort
Day Three - MK
Day Four - EPCOT
Day Five - RELAX / REST / mini golf
Day Six - HS
Day Seven - REST / Disney Springs
Day Eight - Animal Kingdom
Day Nine - RELAX / SWIM
Day Ten - Magic Kingdom
Day Eleven - REST, Swim, Resort Hop, pack up
Day Twelve - Travel Home

 

[farfaraway]

September hours aren't yet posted, but my understanding is that the parks won't be open as late as they are in summer. As in MK closing at 9:00. Will closing down the park then have the same benefit as it does during the summer (e.g., lower crowds, shorter waits)?

I would expect so, since people will get on their last ride and head out the door. Also, if you're staying at a Deluxe resort, it will be a great benefit to stay later at MK.

 

[Have3Kids&aHusband]

I wish we could have done this, I hate how now dates tickets are only good for a few days. I would have loved to spread our 5 Disney days across our 2 weeks in FL but had to use em all in 7. So can you pay more then to not have such a short time to use them I guess? This was our first time at the park since the dated tickets came into play, we were used to non-expiry tickets, and I think those 5 days were good for 14 days so we could spread it out more.

We have 7 day tickets and it only goes a few extra days So we probably would have to do two park days and then a pool/rest day and repeat that way.

 

[pigletgirl]

We did a mix of both in May. It felt really nice to have the flexibility. I did do 2 loads of laundry one morning while DD slept in and we wandered into Epcot at around 130p and have a great afternoon. We got loads done. I recommend not RD each morning (unless that is your jam!)

 

[Shughart]

So this is a little known fact but all the parks are awful at night and actually haunted by the ghosts of the haunted mansion. Anyone considering switching their schedule and closing the parks absolutely shouldn't I'm just trying to keep you safe

 

[MrsHammer]

Is it difficult to get return times for 4 pm and after while you are stacking early in the day?

We had mixed results last week in stacking for afternoon return times in the morning. At Hollywood Studios, the most popular rides book very quickly, so you can typically get one at 7am for a later afternoon return, but by the 2nd booking window (2hrs after opening) some rides are gone already and by the 3rd window, choices were typically for the rides that you can get all day (Toy Story Mania, Alien Saucers, etc). So, you may only get to book one or two of the heavy hitters in advance there. At Magic Kingdom, it was the opposite problem. It takes a while for return times to get to that afternoon/evening window. So, you may actually have to hold off on booking the LL until the 2nd or 3rd window because return times are too early before that. So, that limits the number of LL that you have by the time you get there.

 

[DLRExpert]

We had mixed results last week in stacking for afternoon return times in the morning. At Hollywood Studios, the most popular rides book very quickly, so you can typically get one at 7am for a later afternoon return, but by the 2nd booking window (2hrs after opening) some rides are gone already and by the 3rd window, choices were typically for the rides that you can get all day (Toy Story Mania, Alien Saucers, etc). So, you may only get to book one or two of the heavy hitters in advance there. At Magic Kingdom, it was the opposite problem. It takes a while for return times to get to that afternoon/evening window. So, you may actually have to hold off on booking the LL until the 2nd or 3rd window because return times are too early before that. So, that limits the number of LL that you have by the time you get there.

At HS at 7am if you can get a late return for Slinky first and then 2 hours later Tower, you can pretty much fiddle faddle the remaining attractions even if they are showing as sold out.
Or the Stand-By for those attractions are not too bad later in the day.

 

[g-dad66]

This data collected from thrill-data.com might be helpful in determining what order works best for getting LLs at DHS:
https://www.genieplushelper.com/genie-plus-helper/hollywood-studios/

 

[Timandalicia]

We have always been rope droppers and did so each day during our visit a few weeks ago. However, under the new Genie+ system, I'm starting to wonder if getting up very early each day is worth it. A week of early rising and spending a full day in the park does wear us out.

Is it possible to cover nearly all rides without rope drop and instead sleeping in and getting to the park mid day and stating until close? I would still get up and start booking at 7am, but the rest of the group could sleep in and we could get breakfast without rushing around. I'm interested in hearing how you late arrivals are able to manage the parks under the new system. Please note, I'm not a fan of park hopping.

Oh how I wish I was a rope dropper. It’s better for getting on rides than staying late.
However, I always feel like I’ve got one up on the rope droppers because I slept in late and feel like I’ve got one up on the suckers that leave right after the fireworks. So there’s that.

 

[DaviVascaino]

At HS at 7am if you can get a late return for Slinky first and then 2 hours later Tower, you can pretty much fiddle faddle the remaining attractions even if they are showing as sold out.
Or the Stand-By for those attractions are not too bad later in the day.

when I went in February, I was able to get slinky 7AM and tower of terror was sold out the rest of hte day. My experience is you can only get either one with genie plus