Rope Droppers?

cmpeter

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 18, 2003
Big rope drop fans. We generally arrive an hour before opening. We’ll be there this Sun thru Wed. On a FB group someone suggested arriving 90-120 minutes before opening has rope drop gotten that crazy or are we still good with an hour before opening?
 
My kids and I were there over Easter and arrived an hour early every day. We were first in line every rope drop.
 
Haven't rope dropped since March. But an hour before at the gates should be good. I would get to the parking lot 90 minutes before opening though. Just start on the side that doesn't have early opening.
 
I think that’s pretty excessive. I think if you’re at security an hour before, you can pretty much be first in line or very close.
 


My friend and I got to Disney 30 minutes before rope drop when we went a few days ago and we were good. 90 minutes to 2 hours is a little overkill.
 
90-120 minutes early might have been for before the Harbor side bag check was refurbed. Now that it is bigger, things move much more quickly there. You should be fine being an hour early.
 
I recently joined a DL FB group, and the advice I see getting thrown around on it is just so...well, terrible:sad2:. Always (thankfully) so much better advice here! I agree with everyone else, 60 minutes prior is fine.
 


Big rope drop fans. We generally arrive an hour before opening. We’ll be there this Sun thru Wed.
I rope-drop nearly every Sunday. A hour should be ample time for you. As you know, this Sunday the park opens at 8:00. Typically, gates open forty minutes later (at 7:40(ish)) and you'll get to the rope a minute or so later. Curious: is there an attraction that you'd like to hit first? My estimation is that about 80% of rope-droppers want to do either PP or Space Mountain.

I'll be at the rope this Sunday to the right of the hub (as you look at the castle). If PP is your aim, that's the best place to go/be. By all means, please feel free to come and say hello. Many people from this board do :-).
 
I recently joined a DL FB group, and the advice I see getting thrown around on it is just so...well, terrible:sad2:.
I was on a FB DL group recently for about four days. Some people were rude/jerks so I left. I consider rudeness a form of stupidity. Advice from such people is worth exactly what it sounds like.
 
Touring Plans recommends being in line 40 minutes before rope drop. That worked well for us in February but I have no idea what's going to happen after Galaxy's Edge opens.
 
Touring Plans recommends being in line 40 minutes before rope drop.
I'd go with an hour. When you arrive at that time, you can easily be within the first ten people in line at the gate. The extra twenty minutes makes a huge difference. The line will likely be three to four times as long at 7:20 as it will be at 7:00. I've rope dropped at least 70 times and this has been my experience.
 
I'd go with an hour. When you arrive at that time, you can easily be within the first ten people in line at the gate. The extra twenty minutes makes a huge difference. The line will likely be three to four times as long at 7:20 as it will be at 7:00. I've rope dropped at least 70 times and this has been my experience.

Yeah, 40 minutes definitely is not up front but we weren't far back either. There were maybe 15 people ahead of us. Also if they do rope drop to the right of the Partners statute it didn't seem to matter when you got in line, there was a polite shoving match to get to the front by the rope. We stayed 15-20 feet back and it was fine. That was EMH though, so not sure if that applies when you drive in.

Also keep in mind that this was February, so it was a very off peak time. Being there an hour before definitely seems like a safer way to go.
 
Thanks. I go a couple times a year and have always done the 1 hour before. The FB comment just threw me for a loop. We come from the Harbor side and I know things were a little more nuts when the stroller check first went live. I was hoping that wasn’t the new norm.

We normally head towards Space first thing.
 
Hi Guys - Just to clarify, the "one hour before" rule is for ordinary rope drop, right? Not EMH?

How much before an EMH opening should you get there?
 
Hi Guys - Just to clarify, the "one hour before" rule is for ordinary rope drop, right? Not EMH?

How much before an EMH opening should you get there?

In my case I was talking about non-EMH days. I rarely go on days that they have EMH. In my opinion, 30 mins is enough for EMH days, unless you plan to rope drop and hit an attraction in Adventureland, etc. As you know, the drawback for us on those days is that even if you rope drop, there will still be something like 1,000 people ahead of you in FL/TL.
 
If you have EMH, do they do a rope drop at the start of EMH? Also, how early do you need to be there to line up to get in at the start of EMH? I’m assuming earlier for DL than DCA since DL also include MM and DCA EMH only has hotel guests?
 
See you all there on Sunday! DD and I are attempting Parkeology Challenge, wish us luck. We were planning an hour before with PP and Fantasyland up first using MaxPass to load up and SR to make our way through Tomorrow land immediately after. If you see a momma and teenager fast walking and taking lots of selfies to post, that’s probably us!
 
On a MM/EMH day at DL or DCA, I still get there an hour early. I think it’s more important for DL than DCA though.

I haven’t done EMH at DCA as a hotel guest. However, once when I arrived at DCA on an EMH day an hour before regular opening the CMs were passing out EMH tickets to non-hotel guests and we were allowed to enter with EMH. That was pretty cool and very unexpected.

Good luck with the Parklogy Challenge. That sounds fun.
 
I recently joined a DL FB group, and the advice I see getting thrown around on it is just so...well, terrible:sad2:. Always (thankfully) so much better advice here! I agree with everyone else, 60 minutes prior is fine.
Yeah, I was on there too for just a few days, but the advice was so awful... I kept wanting to link to the DISboards NEWBIE information sticky thread and say, "Read this, you guys! It's more helpful than anything being said here!"
 

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