Hi everyone! Our “home resort” for decades has been the Pop Century. For there I know exactly how to handle rope drop, knowing what it takes to be on the first bus and while not always able to get the rest of the family to be the first 20 or so folk in the Skyliner line, we can get close.
We finally bought into DVC, so have some questions about rope drop from Contemporary/BLT. For HS and AK it should be the same bus plan, just knowing how much before the first bus to be in line. For MK and EPCOT, that is going to be different!
For MK walking there is going to be cool and pretty straight forward. How much before EMH start would you recommend getting in line at their dedicated security checkpoint to be the first 20 or so folk?
For EPCOT it is going to be a bit more complicated with the two monorails but pretty sure that is the preferred route. I assume there is a place to see posted opening times for the monorail and again, how much time to you suggest we get in line before that time to ensure we are on the first train. Is it even predictable? If memory serves, the hotel train runs clockwise so it may be a bit crowded as we will be the last stop before TTC. If we have a choice, I assume be near the middle of the train so that we are closest to the transfer walkway to the EPCOT loop. Are there stairs that might be faster? I believe the same for the EPCOT train with the ramp at the middle of the platform, are there stairs that may be faster like at MKs monorail station?
Hopefully the questions make sense, if there is a better way than my questions suggest, happy to hear them, thanks in advance. Really looking forward to the new digs. I will miss using the Skyliner as much, it is great. I suspect the monorail will be good consolation!
@PrincipalTinker : From the Pop busses, security has almost always been open by the time our first bus arrived at whichever park, so it wasn’t a factor. For BLT, we’re in control, so good to know, thanks.
For the Pop I recall generally the bus was there about 60 minutes before EE, so sounds like they are starting sooner now, cool. I’ll plan on earlier given your numbers for both busses and monorail. I’m OK trading transportation waiting time for being at the head of even the EE queue and maybe knocking out an extra headliner before general opening.
In 2020 a “liner spreadsheet” was started to track first bus times. At that time the parking lot for drivers changed to open 60 minutes before EE (TTC is 90). Although I think @QwertySC had a time when her car could enter a little early? Buses start to arrive at parks before cars can enter. In June I parked at AK at 6:34 . I was about 75 people back in one of the two lines.We used to say 75 minutes before EE (90 for multi stop resorts) but recent reports say if you want to be on the first bus, you should be at the stop 90 minutes. You may be early but you should not miss the first bus.
