I’m not sure about the time in May. I would guess 8:30 pm. When I was in WDW in May 2022, Fantasmic wasn’t back yet. We stacked HS twice that trip with lots of success getting LLs.
We saw Fantasmic on our October 2023 trip. We loved the show (and the updates worked well). I think the show time was 8:30 pm, but we arrived at the theater around 7:45 pm.
MK is a great park to RD.
Does anyone else feel frustrated with the HS rope drop options?
Riding RotR is very important to some of the members of our group. We are rope drop people and would happily be there early to ride it, but as has been mentioned above that is not a wise move due to it being down so often at rope drop. I know the most popular suggestion is to purchase an ILL to ride it instead, but we are a party of 6 and the reported average ILL cost is $22. Even if I have $132 to blow, that just seems like an absurd amount of money to spend for one single ride.
Am I the only one that feels like that’s crazy?
You’re not alone! Becky from TP mentioned in a HS rope drop article last year that if the main gates open 15 minutes or more before early entry, it’s likely that Rise is open. If main gates open 5-10 minutes before EE, Rise is likely down and best to go elsewhere.
If it’s a priority (which it is for me), and you’re willing to be early to rise (pun!), do it!
We (family of 4) think of the Rise ILL cost in terms of paying for time savings and the convenience of picking a time rather than the cost of 1 ride. Essentially, we think of how our entire day looks with the ILL compared to not having the ILL.
DW and I justify the ILL cost in our minds that way.
Because … yes, thinking of the ILL cost as being for 1 ride is crazy 
We were in the parks the week after Christmas, 2022 and successfully rope-dropped RotR twice without any issues. Didn’t even really occur to me that it could be down first thing in the morning.
We’ll be back this spring break and my current plan is to go straight to RotR, but quickly run over to MMRR or TSM if it’s down, then hurry to try and snag an ILL for it while in the other queue. Looking at ThrillData, there appears to be availability into the evening around rope drop time.
Anyone have any experience doing something similar? I’m not aware of a place to search for specific days when RotR is down first thing, so I can’t really compare TD times for the same days; there’s a solid change that the days that it’s down first thing, it also sells out quicker in ILL.
if you look on the TD ride data page for RotR, the wait time heat map kinda shows when it’s down (or at least something is wrong with the data feed). would have to cross-check with ETPE times, but you would be able to see when it’s down at the beginning and then cross-check THAT with the $LL info. Also, sometimes CMs know. and/or I have read on the internet (lol) that your plan to swing by Rise but then quickly head elsewhere if needed is typically fairly successful – not sure about spring break crowds though.
Just wanted to thank everyone on this tread for their advice. We were there last week and were about mid pack for the EE RD. We went to MMRR and were in the second group to go through the show, then went and had a less than 5 minute wait for TSM, and then rode Alien Saucers twice. At that point we went straight to our LL at 9:15 for Slinkey Dog which was already up to a 60 minute by the time we got to toy story land, and then went straight to our ILL at ROTR. It worked out perfect and gave the kids time to explore the different lands rather than feeling like we were racing.
I appreciate the advice, it definitely made for a better day for us.
That sounds like a great plan! We may try to do the same! What time did you get there and what time was EE starting?
We were through Security and in line at the gate at about 8 for a 8:30 EE. There were a good number of people in front of us.