What is your SDL rope drop plan?

disney144

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Hello all. We are trying to figure out our plan for rope drop for our April visit.

- I've heard you should cross the park. How close is the fast pass distribution to the hub? Would it make sense to get a fast pass for one land then do a ride in another land?

- Which rides is fastpass most important for? Which should you do standby? Which have single rider?

For reference, we will be there two days. Our top priority is pirates and tron, which we would like to do in the first day in case of closures. Next priority is mine train.

We are undecided on roaring rapids (concerned about spending the day soaked) and plan to skip soaring.
 
I'm also going in April 2017!

In terms of Fast Pass distribution, I *think* each land has a central Fast Pass hub where you have to line up for ALL Fast Passes in that land (i.e. there is a single line for Fast Passes for Soaring AND Roaring Rapids). It sounds ridiculous to have one long line for ALL Fast Passes available in each land, but I think that's how it works.

The park is meant to be huge, so crossing the park multiple times during the day could be exhausting, especially if it's hot as I don't think there is much shade coverage. But, it's probably a way to try to beat the crowds if they all head for a certain area (i.e. Adventure Isle) upon opening.

I think Fast Passes are most important for Soaring, Roaring Rapids and Tron.

Pirates doesn't offer a Fast Pass, so I guess that is best for standby?

Single rider is Tron, Pirates, Roaring Rapids and Mine Ride. But, it sounds as though the cast members are still really confused about how single riders are meant to be handled and aren't putting them on the rides when there are single spaces left (i.e. the single rider line can be just as long as the regular line because they just don't prioritise single riders even when there are spaces available).

I'll be checking the Wait Times app in the lead up to the visit to get a better idea of what rides are the most popular, but my "rough" plan for rope drop, subject to ride closures, is:

- grab Fast Passes for Soaring as it seems to consistently have the longest wait times (apparently because they rarely open the "second" theatre, but I'm not sure how true that is);
- get in line for Roaring Rapids;
- grab Fast Passes for Tron (which may be for when it is already dark, depending upon how quickly they all go);
- get in line for Buzz Lightyear;
- grab Fast Passes for the Mine Ride (if any are left), otherwise get in line;
- get in line for Pirates (or otherwise try to do it when it isn't busy (e.g. during parades or close to when the park is due to close)).

I still need to double check what rides require lockers as I've heard that finding a locker is half the trouble for those rides. I think it's only Tron?

Also on the short list are Camp Discovery (walk-through), Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, Peter Pan's Flight, Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo. But, they're all secondary to the above mentioned rides.

If they're walk on and we have time, then I'd add Jet Packs, Hunny Pot Spin, Carousel and the Canoes to the list.

We hope to have time for the Tarzan and Pirates shows and to walk through the Wonderland Maze as well, but who knows how busy it will be.
 
Wow looks great! Thanks for the help.

We still haven't decided about roaring rapids. I don't want to be soaked! Maybe we'll wear shorts and hit it first and change into our jeans after riding it.

How many days will you be there? Is there anywhere to find which rides close early? What about the fast pass machines? Where are they located? (At the entrance to the lands?)
 
I'll be there for two days also.

I'm not sure what you mean by which rides close early? If they decide to close a ride on the day (e.g. due to a fault, passengers misbehaving, etc), they won't advertise it in advance. In terms of scheduled closures, they should be posted on the official website:

https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/attractions/

But, I'm not sure how up to date the website is. The app might have more up to date information about scheduled ride closures.

The official calendar should also list any scheduled closures, but it only seems to offer information for dates up to two weeks in advance:

https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/calendars/day/

To my understanding, the Fast Pass machines are generally located near the entrance to each land. They're marked on the map on the official website:

https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/theme-park/maps/

Just keep hovering over everything until you see "Disney Fast Pass at Adventure Isle", etc.
 


I also have two days, I don't have a real plan of attack yet.

Based on the reviews we will most likely divide the park in two as they advise against crossing the park.
Day one start on the right side, with Roaring Rapids FP and will try to get an evening FP for Tron. According to most reviews Tron is better at night. For Roaring Rapids, as we will go in August it'll be 90 degrees, so sundresses, t-shirts and other quick-drying clothes shouldn't be a problem.

Day two start on the left side with a day FP for Tron.

I hope by August they have figured out Single Rider for Pirates & Mine ride. It really depends on the crowds if we will do Soaring, I want to as I haven't seen the new movie yet.

I also hope that by then they are also done with popular rides closing early. I really can't wrap my head around it. Sometimes the park is open till 7 or 8 and then some rides close at 5.

We are show/parade people, so we do have to devote time to wait to get good seats.
I'm curious about the Tarzan & Pirates show and the Golden Fairytale Fanfare. But we will skip the Frozen Singalong.

(Btw, I see now in the app, today is at capacity, but also that they had several events for Chinese New Year, Dragon Dance Celebration and Morning Drum Ceremony, parade is running twice today)
 
Yes the last few days have been crazy due to the Chinese New Year. I was able to find the locations for the fast pass machines. Tomorrowland is near tron, fantasyland near seven dwarves mine train, and the last is near roaring rapids.

I've read that adventure isle is busier in the morning. We might hit tomorrowland first, then head to the other side. We'll see! I'm a bit nervous for the running of the bulls at rope drop!
 
I also have two days, I don't have a real plan of attack yet.

Based on the reviews we will most likely divide the park in two as they advise against crossing the park.
Day one start on the right side, with Roaring Rapids FP and will try to get an evening FP for Tron. According to most reviews Tron is better at night. For Roaring Rapids, as we will go in August it'll be 90 degrees, so sundresses, t-shirts and other quick-drying clothes shouldn't be a problem.

Day two start on the left side with a day FP for Tron.

I hope by August they have figured out Single Rider for Pirates & Mine ride. It really depends on the crowds if we will do Soaring, I want to as I haven't seen the new movie yet.

I also hope that by then they are also done with popular rides closing early. I really can't wrap my head around it. Sometimes the park is open till 7 or 8 and then some rides close at 5.

We are show/parade people, so we do have to devote time to wait to get good seats.
I'm curious about the Tarzan & Pirates show and the Golden Fairytale Fanfare. But we will skip the Frozen Singalong.

(Btw, I see now in the app, today is at capacity, but also that they had several events for Chinese New Year, Dragon Dance Celebration and Morning Drum Ceremony, parade is running twice today)

We went last month and there is a single rider line for Pirates.
Tron has fast pass machines, same as Disneyland, so we did that instead of waiting in line for the hub. We arrived at noon to get the passes and I think our time was for 5:30. No rides closed early the day we went. We did pirates and challenge trail in the evening around 7pm, no lines at all since everyoneeee runs to go see the fireworks at closing.

We saw Tarzan and loved the show. Our friends had seen the pirates show and really liked it.
 


Tron has fast pass machines, same as Disneyland, so we did that instead of waiting in line for the hub.

Could you expand on this comment? Does Tron have dedicated Fast Pass machines, as opposed to going to the central "Fast Pass" hub for Tomorrowland and lining up for Fast Passes for ALL rides in Tomorrowland?
 
We did 3 days in the parks and planned them like this:
Day 1: Straight to Adventure Isle fp location(this was a mess, we took around 20 mins to get fp's for Soaring and it was super crowds & pushing) We then went straight to Pirates and basically walked right on.
-We stuck to that side of the park, and a bit of Fantasyland

Day2: straight to Tron & rode standby, checked fp times for later and potentially grabbed one if the time was far enough away.
-Stick to that side fo the park & the other part of Fantasyland

Because the park is SO freaking big, criss crossing over it isn't the best idea, it seriously takes ages & will wipe you out!
 
Yes, the park is big. Best to avoid criss-crossing if possible.

If you decide that you want to ride Roaring Rapids, I recommend prioritising that for your FP one day. Soaring is really the only other ride that I would bother prioritising for FP so if you don't want to do that, then maybe get one for Tron or the Mine Train.

There are single riders in place for Tron, Mine Train and Pirates. The single rider line for Pirates is hardly ever going, but I have been able to use it for Tron before, and for the Mine Train it is well worth using. Tron is definitely worth doing at night, as is the Mine Train and Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. The Alice maze is great right on sunset when the lanterns light up.

Fortunately for us on our recent visit practically everything was a walk on for much of the time (even Pirates and Tron). Pirates is worth trying early as it does seem to go down a lot. You can check the app though rather than trudging all the way back over there to see if it has re-opened. Even when it's busy, quite a lot of rides seems to have very short wait times later at night, and you can tick off most of Fantasyland then. Soaring, Roaring Rapids and Mine Train are consistently long waits.
 
All of this info is great, thanks for sharing! I'm going in a few weeks during a Chinese holiday, so I know it will be super crowded and will need a good game plan.

What is the name of the wait time app that you recommend? I see there are a couple.
 
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All of this info is great, thanks for sharing! I'm going in a few weeks during a Chinese holiday, so I know it will be super crowded and will need a good game plan.

What is the name of the wait time app that you recommend? I see there are a couple.

Oh good luck with that!

FWIW Pirates is actually quite a good one when it's busy as it's such a fast moving queue (assuming it's open). Even when the park was super busy on my previous trip, I never saw wait times over about 40 minutes.

I used the official Disney one. It's just called Shanghai Disney Resort.
 
We're going in April as well! Good info here...I haven't made a detailed plan yet. Going to do the things we want most and then play it by ear.
 

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