Credit: Inside the MagicThe Disney parks are some of the most popular theme parks in the world. Each day, they bring in hundreds of thousands of guests and billions of dollars as Disney fans flock to the parks to experience the Disney magic. Unfortunately, this can also leads to massive crowds and long lines waiting to ride one of several attractions, especially at Walt Disney World, which is arguably the largest and busiest park.
One option to help beat the lines is through the Genie+ app and Lightning Lanes. However, the Disney Genie app can be confusing for guests who’ve never visited Disneyland or the Walt Disney World Resort, and Lightning Lanes can be expensive. Luckily, there’s another option for certain guests, but it requires a very early start to your day.
What is rope dropping?
If you’re a Disney fan, then you know that one of the most talked about things to do at Disneyland or Walt Disney World is rope drop. Rope dropping is when you get to the park before open so you’re one of the first guests of the day at that park, walking into the park right after they’ve “dropped the rope.” It’s often mentioned as the best way to be able to ensure you can ride your top attraction without having to worry too much about an hours-long wait later in the day.
However, even that early in the morning, crowds are gathering outside the Main Entrance turnstiles of the parks and guests often feel the need to “rush” the rope drop, running to whichever section of the park has the ride they want to do first. If you’ve never been to a Disney park, or you’ve never done a rope drop, it can be confusing to know where to go first.
What to rope drop at Walt Disney World
Each park at Disneyland and Disney World have their own times for opening, and therefore their own times to rope drop. Each park also has its own version of Early Entry or Extra Magic Hours, would means that some parks allow certain guests even earlier access than normal. Rope dropping Disney World can be confusing, but here are just a few recommendations if you don’t know where to start.
Magic Kingdom
There are several highly popular rides throughout Magic Kingdom, often making it the park with the longest lines and biggest crowds. However, this also means it can be the most difficult when making a decision on where to start.
Some of the more popular rides to rope drop are Peter Pan’s Flight, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, or Jungle Cruise. These often have the longest lines throughout the day, making them some of the more popular to hit first thing in the morning.
EPCOT
EPCOT seems to have more experiences than attractions at the current moment, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its own “must do” rides. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind now has a standby line, making it the most popular to rope drop. Other popular rides are Test Track, Soarin’, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, or Frozen. These rides are by far the most popular throughout the day, most likely because they’re either the biggest thrill rides in the park, they’re brand new, or, like Frozen, are still just insanely popular.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is more of zoo exhibit than a typical theme park, but the few rides it does offer mean that they have some of the longest lines at Disney World. Therefore, pretty much any ride at Animal Kingdom is worthy of a rope drop.
Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, are the biggest attractions in the park, each often boasting standby lines of over an hour during the day. If you can make it in line for one of these first thing in the morning, you’ll likely have the shortest wait of the day.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios has arguably the most popular new area in Disney World with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler’s Run on average have a standby line of several hours long, and these unfortunately require an additional Lightning Lanes, which can get expensive.
Other popular rides to rope drop are Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Slinky Dog Dash in Toy Story Land, Tower of Terror, and one of the newer rides, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. With some of the newest attractions to be found in Disney World, Hollywood Studios can also see really large crowds during the day. While many call this park a “half-day park,” chances are you’ll be spending most of your day just waiting in lines. If you can get an early start in this park, you’ll have a better chance at making it through most of the rides by the end of the day.
At the end of the day, the best rope drop strategy is to hit the ride you want to ride the most, no matter how popular it is to everyone else. Whether at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom, if you can get yourself up early enough to rope drop at one of the Walt Disney World parks then you essentially have your pick of any ride on property.
What is your go-to ride to rope drop at Disney World or Disneyland? Let us know in the comments below!