Is rope drop still worth it?

Yeah, but how early did the first people in line get there? And for the people at the back of the line, what time did they get there and how long did they wait to get on the ride?
If the 1st people in line got to the park 90 minutes before they got on the ride, and the people at the back of the line got there at park opening but waited 90 minutes in line for the ride, isn’t it a wash?

No, because the first people were off the ride before the rest of the park opened, so didn’t waste any park time at all. While someone arriving at 9 would probably wait over 2 hours.

They probably arrived around 7.45.

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Yes, the secret’s out, but it’s still better to RD than not. You’ll still have those valuable couple of hours before the crowds really file in. Remember, you may be seeing more crowds at RD, but that just means by lunch the crowds will be even higher.

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I see your point. Speaking just for myself, it’s not about waiting 90 mins at the front gate = the same wait in a queue. It’s about getting to the park early to take advantage of as much “park time” available.

I’d rather wait at the tapstiles for an hour, before opening, in order to be able to do 2 - 3 rides within the first hour or so after the park opens. If I get to the gate 15 - 20 minutes before opening I’m only going to get to do 1 attraction in that same amount of “park time”.

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RD is still worth it, though the obvious payoff is probably less. It’s all relative to the increasing crowds at WDW. I would say, the increased size of RD crowds makes burning your first 3 FPs as soon as possible even more important. And it was always important, IMO.

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In short: yes. Even on a CL8 day at the MK in March, we did SO MUCH before the real crowds arrived. See link to trip report for the nitty-gritty of what we did:

It’s not like it’s ever been a secret. It’s really that most people on vacation aren’t willing to wake up that early and then go stand outside the park for that long (which I personally find silly because they are willing to stand in the queue for twice that long, but to each his/her own, I guess).

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We arrived 30 mins after rope drop in mid June last year and had only a 25 min wait for mine train.

Rope drop for life.

Re: investing time in a long initial wait…it’s that the waits compound over the course of the day. So yeah, you’re outside the park 45 minutes+…waiting…but that 45 minutes pays off bc you aren’t waiting 45 minutes multiple times during the day.

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Don’t RD the headliners. While everyone else heads to the headliner during RD, you go and hit everything else that no one is riding. Then, after you get off those rides, the RD crowd for the headerliner will drop somewhat. Get in line THEN. Even though your wait for the headliner will be lower, your wait for the other rides was nothing, and you’ll ultimately save a lot of time!

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There is often a dip about 30 minutes in for the headliners.

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This is why you shouldn’t RD the headliner, but STILL take advantage of RD. But you can basically show up AT RD rather than having to get there to be in the front of the herd…I mean crowd…and race to the headliner. Instead, take your time and do the non-headliners you otherwise pass on the way to the headliner with zero wait. :slight_smile:

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This is our plan, granted we choose RnRc FP and avoiding TS Land altogether, hopefully RD RnRc, ToT then reride with FP later in the day. AK plan EE RD with reride later and FoP FP.

Yes, 100%!! My suggestion for anyone on the fence that hasn’t already done it - make a personalized touring plan for rope dropping and a touring plan for not rope dropping and see where the differences are. To show that you are in the park already at rope drop, add a break in at the hour the park opens for 1 minute. (For MK add the Welcome Show). It may not be that much different, it may be. I find that rope dropping has helped with most things in life, lol. I show up early for lots of stuff. Heck I went to register for summer camp at 6am and the sign up started at 8am and I was still there until 10am because I was far back in the line when I arrived. Apparently my rope drop strategies didn’t work that day. I think the word is out on that one. LOL
Plus if you go in the summer it’s hotter than 10 hells during the middle of the day so rope drop works for us! You can be applying sunscreen, checking your plans, getting pumped for the day, etc while you are waiting at the tapstiles. Chat up the person beside you while you wait, I personally have met some really interesting people at rope drop.
It’s is becoming more popular but I think the masses still think it’s ok to roll up to the gate at opening time and end up wasting time at security, tapstiles, etc.
You can sleep when you are dead. But I would much rather wait for the rope to drop then to wait hours in an actual queue esp if it’s an outside queue.

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How does rope drop work with morning emh? Do they still allow guests in before official emh opening?

In my experience, yes

This is a good question. I hope someone knows the answer!

Yes. EMH can open early. 4th of July week 2018.

Not recalling what day/date our HS morning was tho it had EMH of 7 am.

The plan this whole trip was simple: arrive 45 - 60 minutes before park opening.
For HS that was 6 am.

We were at the CBR bus stop abt 5:30 (in the dark), arrived HS tapstiles about 6:05 to find the park was open.

The mob was being led to Toy Story Land for SDD. We went right, to Tower of Terror. Then to Toy Story Mania about 4 times (got tired of the long walk to get in the ride vehicles) and headed for Star Tours, stopping for a Mickey ice cream bar along the way. Not yet 8 am.

Walked into Star Tours at least three times.

First week of July.

Eta: our walking speed was decidedly relaxed due to my having broken my arm less than 3 months before the trip.

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This is what we did, and it worked fantastically well, provided you can get those FP. For example, at MK we RD POC, BTMRR, Splash, then FP for HM, IASM, Teacups, FP for 7DMT, FP for Space and then picked up 4th FP for Buzz & JC. Then we left for our afternoon break. We were tired!

Genius. I just did this, and now it shows me at my first attraction at RD instead of 15 mins after! Genius.