Time to arrive to avoid rope drop running

My DH will be in a wheelchair for our trip at end of September. We are staying at a Disney property, so we can access EMH. What time do we need to arrive in order to avoid the running of rope drop?

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I’ve never seen any running, just brisk walking. In the case of frontierland, it’s slow walking. If you want to avoid the masses, you could arrive right at the scheduled opening time, which will probably be 15 minutes after the rope drop rush. However, with MK they let everyone into main street at the same time, so for the you can just hang out until you see the crowd dissipate for whatever land you want to go to.

I’ve never been concerned with my kids in strollers or out of strollers at rope drop. You could push a wheelchair away whatever pace you are comfortable with and people will go around you if you’re too slow.

Edit: and welcome to the forum!

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Agree with above. I’d still recommend getting to the park 30+ minutes before RD. (Which means leaving your hotel one hour before that).

IMHO - You can still do a lot of great stuff by avoiding the most popular RD ride at each park. To avoid ppl at RD -

MK - Go left to Frontierland / Adventureland
AK - Go right to Dinoland
EP - Tour around FutureWorld - avoiding the Tier 1 rides
DHS - Go left to Star Tours and MuppetVision 3-D

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Good advice. I really should have said arrive at the tapstiles at opening time to avoid the crowd, but in the end I’m in favor of arriving early even if you avoid headliners like you said.

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We have only had 2 negative rope drop experiences. While headed to Toy Story Land my mother was nearly lamed when someone ran up the back of her leg with a stroller and tore her shoe off. The other was on the way to Frozen in Epcot when we watched a mother accidentally slam her small daughter’s head into a trash can while running and trying to drag the child by the hand behind her. :see_no_evil: Both instances cast members were continuously asking people not to run and it seemed like it was the mothers with very small children who were the craziest. :wink:

Comparatively, RD for FOP was mostly all adult and was completely chill and orderly. So my suggestion might be to RD rides with higher height restrictions to avoid the crazed mamas! :smile:

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THIS!!

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Thanks for all the great advice. I feel much more at ease tackling WDW with a wheelchair. All the contributors on this site are so helpful!

So my perspective is a bit aged here, but when my family including my grandmother went for the second time in 1997, grandmother was in a wheelchair, and we had basically zero issues getting around, finding places to sit or store the chair, getting in lines and on rides. I’m sure there are hiccups but Disney I think does a good job of making everything as accessible as possible for as many people as possible.

There is no running. It’s a slow controlled walk mediated by cast members.

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