Rope Drop for On-Site Guest?

Walt Disney World
1

Hi, all. I’m planning a Memorial Day Weekend Trip (I know… yikes). I plan on rope dropping the unofficial opening at MK, HS, and AK. I can walk from my resort to MK. To be among the first through the turnstiles at HS, should I Uber to the Boardwalk Resort and walk? Or will I get held up with offsite guests the minute I get into a car? And do I need an ADR to Uber to another resort, or is that just necessary for those who want to park a car?

To rope drop AK, I assume Ubering to the park is the only way to go? Anything else I should consider?

Any other rope drop tips would be greatly appreciated.

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Really and truly, aside from walking when possible, Disney buses offer you the best advantage at rope drop provided you are on the first bus out of your resort. Ubering to a nearby, walkable hotel will often require an ADR and Ubers can be difficult to come by at times in recent days due to a shortage of drivers that resulted from the pandemic. If you get to your resort bus stop 90 minutes before rope drop you will be without question on the first bus to the park and you’ll be well ahead of the pack and fully benefit, with a fantastic rope drop experience.

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I second this! I was at the GF in the beginning of May and we arrived at the bus stop for Epcot, approximately 90 mins before park opening. We were second in line for a turnstile (tap in). Even after a bathroom stop for my 4 year old, we were able to ride FEA twice (our kids are too young for TT and Soarn’) and we still had 15-20 mins left before official park opening.

For AK we didn’t get the first bus, but still arrived slightly before opening. Since our kids were also too young for FoP, we went straight for Safari and waited only 20 mins. By the time we were off the ride, the rope drop crowd arrived and the wait went up to 45 mins.

For MK we left the GF about 45-60 mins before opening via the new walkway. We are fairly quick walkers and it took about 15 mins (hotel to tap in). We found ourselves behind the rope drop crowd but we weren’t heading to any of the mountains. Our quest was to ride the People Mover which didn’t open until 8:00am, so we rode Buzz Light Year Space Ranger instead, which was a walk-on and opened at 7:40-7:45. We then walked on the PM followed by CoP. We had all three done by 8:30-8:40.

We did not rope drop HS instead got there for my Boarding Group for RoftR at 1:00. (Big thank you to my wife for letting me do this solo!) we found that crowds and waits at HS went down after 4:00. We rode MMRR twice around 5:30 for a 20 minute wait each time. And then got in line for Slinky Dog at 7:00 (park closed at 8:00). The wait was posted at 50 mins but was closer to 35min. We did rider swap for my 4 year old. Unfortunately, she only rode once as she was not a fan…. I was on and off the ride 10 mins after my wife and daughter were off.

One note on the buses, make sure to get there early. I’m fairly certain they are still capacity restricted. I would say they allow roughly 9 groups on them, and some sections only seat 2-3 people.

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Thanks so much for the response. So just getting dropped off at a resort requires a dining reservation?

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Often it can. It is very guard dependent, but without one you definitely run the risk of being turned away.

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This has rung true across most parks in recent months. Rope drop and end of day are the lowest waits anywhere.

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If AK has an 8:00 opening time, how early will the resort busses be running there? Will I really need to get to my resort bus stop at 6:30 in the morning to be in the first rope drop group?

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6:30 will guarantee you first bus. If being in the first rope drop group is important to you, 6:30 is important to you.

You’ll get so much done in the first hours that you will be able to take a nap later :slight_smile:

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6:30 is no problem for me–it’s my kids that I worry about. Of course, they do love FOP, so I guess we’ll see how things go. We’re staying at CBR–I just hope the busses will be moving at that time of the morning.

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The other option is to plan end of day, expecting a bit of a wait, but not likely to be the highest wait of the day. Wait times do tend to drop toward park close.

Buses will be moving. If you ask at the desk or review on MDE it will say 45 minutes but that is basically a lie. Numerous of us here can attest that the first bus will arrive to take you to park right around 75-90 mins before published park open.

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OK, along the same vein, if we are staying at CBR, is it OK to use the Skyliner for Rope Drop at Epcot and HS? And if so, how early do we need to be in line for the Skyliner?

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I’ll put this out there one more time for those who have experience with this that might like to comment-It seems that most people agree that taking the bus from your resort hotel works well for rope drop as long as you are waiting for bus pick up 90 minutes before park opening. We are staying at CBR in July. Can we make early Rope Drop at HS and EP using the Skyliner? And if so, how early do we need to be in line for the Skyliner?

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I used skyliner to rope drop Epcot from CBR right before park closures last year. I had no issues. It took me to the park entrance in a few minutes.

In the Covid era, I would imagine you want to be at the entrance of Epcot 45 min to 1 hour before park opening (like for other parks)?

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I’m not sure what the hours are right now, but last time I was there I was not able to use the Skyliner to rope drop HS from CBR, it didn’t start running early enough and the busses were absolutely the way to go.

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Will busses run that early from CBR to HS? I thought they didn’t run busses as often to places where the Skyliner could take you. This will be our first time at CBR, so I’m not as familiar with how things will work-we usually stay at POR, but it’s not open yet.