Rope Drop on App

I watch TP videos and they emphasize rope drop and riding high demand rides this way, but in the touring plan app there is no way to indicate this in your plan. For example, I rope drop SDMT, but touring plan always starts me arriving at park at park open, walking to ride, waiting, etc. Anyone have a way to compensate for this?

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Usually, I just go with it assuming I can evaluate later and the plan will catch up to actual times after a ride or three.

But, if I really wanted the plan to think Iā€™m at 7DMT at RD (or before), Iā€™d add a phony meal at a nearby QS location a bit before that first attraction. Iā€™d put it in maybe 10 minutes before RD time and make it a 1 minute meal. (Leave flexibility set to the minimum of 10.)

(TIP: you canā€™t just add a Break in this scenario, because the system wonā€™t let you add breaks before open hours. But you can add meals. Plus a meal places you at a particular location.)

Normally when creating plans I Optimize the whole plan a few times until I get it near to where I want, then I rely solely on Evaluate after that. (I usually have some items I donā€™t want TP to move around on me.) So, Iā€™d get it all done, then add that phony meal and Evaluate again.

I just set up a simple test plan with 7DMT, PP and Pirates at RD. Hereā€™s what it looks like without the pre-RD break:

Then I added an 8:50AM meal at Friarā€™s Nook (included a note to mysel say it was a test). After Evaluating you can see it shifted my 7DMT arrival back to an earlier time, but overall the waits didnā€™t change too much.

In general, I think while this tactic places you closer to the actual first arrival time, making the phony meal earlier than a few minutes doesnā€™t really change TPs estimates on wait. From the numbers, I suspect if you make it even earlier than that the system thinks you will just be standing around at 7DMT pre-RD waiting for it to open, then tacks that onto the expected wait when it does open(?)

To perhaps prove that assumption, I tried moving the phony meal back further to 8:40AM and by the 2nd ride Iā€™m still at the same arrival time. So, while you can use this tactic, not sure it helps overall.

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Thanks. Manipulate the he system like this leads me to the same conclusion, you eventually have to set it up the way you want it and then only use evaluate.

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I put a pre-RD in as the first thing in the same location or substitute a short wait item and manually adjust the arrival and/or duration to approximate what Iā€™m hoping is close to the correct amount of time. For example on the day I have a PPO GG reservation:

  1. Garden Grill Restaurant Arrival: 8:05 am, Wait 0, Duration 65, Free Time 0, Walk Time 10
    Note: GG breakfast and RD Soarinā€™

Later in the week I want to RD Soarinā€™ but donā€™t have a GG reservation:

  1. The Seas Main Tank and Exhibits Arrival: 8:14 am, Wait 0, Duration 4, Free Time 0, Walk Time 23
    Note: Adjust start of plan for Soarinā€™ RD, Est arrival 8:04, 6 min wait, 6 min ride, 2 addā€™l min walking*
    *Right now these numbers are just a wild guess but I will make note of our actual times on Day 1 and if
    it seems like this is significantly off I will adjust it then.

Makes sense. It seems like TP is shooting itself in the foot in that tour videos and tour plans donā€™t function the same. It would seem simple math to calculate a RD event into a schedule. ā€œDo you intend to RD? If yes, then which ride?ā€ The statistics for RDs are clearly available.

I was thinking of this earlier today but I wondered if it would be difficult to predict because peopleā€™s definition of ā€œrope dropā€ vary wildly. For me, rope drop means being at the tapstiles an hour before opening and being literally one of the first 10-15 people in the park. For others, it may be arriving 10 minutes before opening and being 500 or more people deep in line. Seems like this would make the wait times vary wildly.

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I have ā€œtrickedā€ my plans into showing more accurate rope drop times by indicating that I am using a fast pass on that ride when Iā€™m really not. Touring plans does not limit you to 3 fast passes, so I use that one as a fake and then my 3 real ones.

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I agree, but TP subscribers probably trend more with who you (and I) are than with last minute RDers.

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I got a tip for another liner that I am using this time.

I plan to RD 7DMT at MK (actually PPO BOG) and FOP at AK. I am starting my TP at 15 minutes (for MK) and 30 minutes (for AK) after opening and leaving those two attractions off my plans. So they will be done and dusted before the plan officially starts.

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I have the same issue. On our Animal Kingdom day, we plan to Rope Drop, but the plan wonā€™t account for that. This seems like something that should be available. The site is very good - and it accounts for so many different variables - I canā€™t believe it wonā€™t let me add early Rope Drop.

Yeah but the flip side is that RD is super unpredictable. Disney might open taps later or earlier than normal. The amount of arrival time needed can change day to day, and there are - in some cases - specific details like which side of the walkway to be on to really make it work.

Iā€™m surprised the Touring Plan lets me select more FP+ selections than I can actually use. That was confusing for me. I had to go back and change everything once I realized the plan let me select more ā€˜Tier 1ā€™ passes than I was allowed to use.

Sometimes you might have extra FPP from a ride going down or if a CM pixie dusted you, I assume TP allows those extras for that reason.

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Yes I frequently use this feature when Iā€™m in the park a booking 4+ passes