What is rope drop at Disney World

Rope drop is the budget strategy for Disney enthusiasts who want to beat the crowds and experience the most popular attractions with minimal wait times. By arriving early and planning your day strategically, you can make the most of your Disney World visit. Did you know that those who rope drop can often experience three to four of the most popular rides before queue times increase? You don’t need early entry to beat the crowds.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about rope dropping at Disney World in 2024.

What is Rope Drop at Disney World?

Definition and origin

Rope drop is the Disney term for entering the park at opening time. So, if the park opens at 9am and you rope drop, you’re outside ready to enter when it opens at 9am. This involves some queueing as rope drop is popular and part of many guest’s queue strategies.

Did you know that rope drop is as old as Magic Kingdom? The origin of the term ‘rope drop’ comes from the days when opening the park was done by dropping a rope.

What time is rope drop?

Rope drop varies from park to park, but you will always find that Animal Kingdom opens about an hour before the 3 other parks, who tend to have the same or similar rope drop times. Check the app for daily park opening times. This can be found in ‘Park Hours & Info’, where Disney display three calendar months of opening times in advance.

Why rope drop’s a popular strategy to maximize your time

No one likes waiting in queues for rides and rope drop is the free strategy every guest can use to limit the amount of time spent in a queue. When you enter the park at this time there are only resort guests who have had the chance to head in before, and not all rides will have been open.

Queue times are beginning for the day, so you can get in queue lines for rides that you walk straight on. Park crowd levels are also at their lowest level during the first hour and last hour of the day, so rope dropping gives you the opportunity to ride more rides with lower queue times. This includes popular rides you may choose to invest in lightning lanes for later on in the day to avoid the queues.

Typical morning routine for rope droppers

Disney World rope droppers get up early to get the to the parks at least half an hour before the park opens. It’s the perfect strategy to use early on in your holiday if you suffer from jet lag. If you find yourself awake at 5am make the most of your body not adjusting to the time difference by heading to a park.

Choosing to rope drop later in your holiday may  result in needing to pick up coffee on the way into Disney World. If you are staying offsite heading through a drive-through for a coffee is easy. Many of the food outlets and Starbucks open at 6am near Walt Disney World. Once you get to Disney, Joffrey’s stands can be found outside all the parks. These open 30 minutes before the parks, so you can stand in the queue drinking your coffee.

Prepare for Rope Drop: What You Need to Know

Rope drop mornings take a little bit of prep work to make sure they will be a success. This is particularly true when you are tired from doing multiple rope drops in a row, or rope drop after a late night.

Night before rope drop prep

These quick tips will help you prep your morning like a pro:

• Put your outfits out if they aren’t already planned for the day. There’s nothing worse than losing something you want to wear when you only have a suitcase full of clothes with you.
• Sort out your park bag for the morning, including getting snacks ready. If you have chilled snacks pop them into containers ready. Put a reminder alarm on your phone for 15 minutes after getting up time with a title so you don’t forget prepped snacks when you’re in a rush.
• Put your phone and battery charger pack on charge so they have full power for the morning ahead. Include watches and other devices you take to the park with you.

Packing essentials for a successful rope drop day

When you sort out your park bag the night before it’s important to pack not only what you will need for rope drop, but the other items you will need for the rest of your day. Whether you are heading to a water park, staying in the park for the rest of  the day, park hopping or something else entirely.

Our rope drop packing essentials recommendations are:

• Spare shoes (particularly if you’re heading to Magic Kingdom)
• A poncho / rain mack
• Battery pack
• Sun cream
• Refillable water bottle
• Small bottle of squash
• Snacks – ideally breakfast bar or fruit to eat early
• Autograph book and sharpie

Tips for waking up early and getting to the park before opening

Our top tips to wake up early for rope drop are:

1. Rope drop at the beginning of your holiday. Jet lag is your friend, and you can use it your advantage in the first few days of your holiday. As the days go on and your body adjusts, it gets much harder.
2. Lots of alarms, it takes at least three, particularly if you have a comfy Disney bed to sleep in.
3. An earlier night the night before. Have dinner at your accommodation, or leave immediately after the night time fireworks, rather than heading for a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

Rope dropping and getting a space in a virtual queue

Ah the queue terminology of Disney! If you are getting up to rope drop Magic Kingdom or EPCOT and would like to ride:

– Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

– Guardians of the Galaxy

You need to allow a few minutes to stop and focus on getting your spot in that virtual queue line. Make sure you got your app prepped with everyone in your party who is going to ride the night before. At 7am precisely hit the button to get your space.

Our top tip to people using this strategy is to have all the phones with you prepped to get a virtual queue so everyone can try to get a space.

Disney virtual queues: how to use them is our guide to using a virtual queue during your holiday from the UK. It discusses, in detail, the process of getting a virtual queue. Of course, you could try opting for a Lightning Lane instead, the choice is yours.

Rope drop and early entry: resolving the difference

There is some confusion between the two terms, particularly for resort guests heading to the parks. People often think that there are two rope drop times. That could be seen as true if you view early entry as rope drop for resort guests and rope drop as early entry for all other guests. But we find that a really confusing way to look at it so let’s not go there.

If you are a resort guest and you want to read about early entry why not head over to our early entry guide. It is packed full of helpful information and will help you to combine the power of early entry and rope drop to super charge the morning pixie dust.

Why does rope drop have two different times?

Rope drop is opening time and there are not two different times park opening times for everyone. Rope drop is heading to the park and entering at the time it opens to the public. The confusion about two times is because resort guests can enter the park 30 minutes before the park opens to the public as a perk of staying in a Disney Resort. During this time resort guests enjoy riding a selection of attractions before everyone else. Not all attractions are open during early entry.

Differences between early entry and rope drop

Here is a side-by-side table showing the differences between early entry and rope drop.

As you can see, there are some big differences, so don’t confuse the two. Remember early entry is a perk and only available for resort guests, for everyone else rope drop provides the earliest time to enter queue lines.

Is rope drop worth it?

Don’t be put off rope dropping by early entry guests. Not all of them make use of the perk they have. Just think what time you have to get up to do early entry!

Even with guests already in line for some of the most popular attractions, queue lines will have been fast moving as lightning lanes are not in effect. Resort guests may impact the queue lines slightly, but it does not take away from rope drop as an effective free strategy for everyone.

Should I rope drop?

Yes, you should. You should try it and if you are doing Disney on a budget you may want to consider doing it daily to get on your favourite rides with shorter queue times. It’s also a great strategy to use as part of escaping the heat in queues in the middle of the day in Spring and Summer.

Top tips for rope dropping in every park

Although rope drop is exciting, and you want to get to your attraction, so you wait the shortest amount of time possible don’t run. Once you’re an adult it just isn’t necessary. Embrace the art of the fast walk instead.

Being rude to other guests who can’t walk as fast as you, by shoving and pushing past is not ok. Disney is a happy place, so always try and keep it that way.

The best tip is to embrace the spirit of the park and have fun. Embrace the power of the app and be willing to pivot to a different top attraction if you feel the wait time is too high.

Rope drop benefits in all parks

The benefits of rope drop can be huge for your day. Reducing the time you spend in queues is the main benefit as you get to experience more of the magic in every park.

The other top benefits of rope dropping any park include:

• You avoid long queue times during hot Spring and Summer days.
• Maximise the value of your park ticket for the day.
• More time to do other things.

The benefits of using a rope dropping strategy in each park vary. If you are considering rope dropping Magic Kingdom: the pros and cons will give you a further insight. Meanwhile, if you prefer to venture more on the wild side and enjoy an animal encounter or two, Rope Dropping Animal Kingdom: should you without coffee will give you a great insight into the advantages and disadvantages.

Best Rope Drop Tips For Each Park

Magic Kingdom

There’s always something a bit magical about rope dropping Magic Kingdom. Perhaps its seeing the morning view of Cinderella Castle that just brightens your day, or maybe it’s knowing you’ll be on your favourite ride soon. Here are our top tips for rope dropping Magic Kingdom

• Be aware that they do sometimes allow guests into Main Street USA before official rope drop time. If this happens don’t get distracted, head towards the top of the castle and wait near the entrance to the area you need to go to.
• Your key rope drop attractions to target include:
  • Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
  • Peter Pan’s Flight
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Leave plenty of time in you morning to get to Magic Kingdom’s entrance. It is the only park where you will need to take another form of transport to get to the entrance if you are arriving by car. Arriving with not enough time to get to Magic Kingdom in time for rope drop is an easy rope drop mistake to make. Your journey into Magic Kingdom will include the following steps:
  1. You will need to get from the car park to security at the Transport and Ticket Centre, which is sometimes by tram even at rope drop time.
  2. Then go through security.
  3. Then board a ferry boat or monorail to get to Magic Kingdom.

This adds a minimum of 30 minutes on to your morning. We recommend allowing an hour to get Magic Kingdom at this time of day.

EPCOT

1. You normally get as far as World Celebration Garden before you have to wait for the park to open.
2. If you want to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, use the entrance from the Boardwalk/sky liner as this will get you in the queue line faster. This attraction gets a big queue line fast.
3. Your key rope drop attractions in EPCOT:

• Frozen Ever After
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
• Test Track

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

1. You usually find yourself queueing at the ticket area for this park, so knowing where the attraction you want to ride is will help you when you get through the gates.

   

2. The best rides to rope drop here include:

• • Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. The best way to get here is to head left when you get to Mickey and Minnie, going down Commissary Lane to cut off the corner.
  • Slinky Dog. This rope dropping experience is known as The Slinky Dog Dash it’s so popular. Head to the right at Mickey and Minnie towards Toy Story Land.
  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Straight to the top and you are in.
  • Hollywood Studio Tower of Terror – Head right onto Sunset Boulevard.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

1. You will usually have to wait outside at the gates in a queue. Don’t get distracted by the animals as you walk up towards the Tree of Life, you can come back and see them later. If Pocahontas is out for a morning meet and greet, you’ll need to decide whether it’s worth the photo opportunity.
2. Best rides to head to here:

• • Kilimanjaro Safaris
  • Expedition Everest
  • Avatar Flight of Passage

3. Wherever you are going, pace your walking in the morning otherwise you’ll be sweating before you get to the queue line.

Rope Drop Strategies for Each Disney World Park

Having a rope drop strategy for each park is the best way to maximise that first hour of your time in the parks. We have put together 3 short options to help your rope drop strategy.

Magic Kingdom

Choice 1

Everyone advises heading to the Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train when rope dropping the park. The queue will already have many resort guests in and wait times at opening are often around the 45-minute mark. This is actually a good wait time for this ride if you want to avoid paying for a Lightning Lane Single Pass, so we still recommend you join it with this wait time. By the time you get off this ride, you may find ride times rising if it is a busy day, if not, have a look at Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Space Mountain. If any have a wait time of less than 30 minutes head there as you are close by.

If Snow White is not top of your ride list, we suggest choice 2 or 3.

Choice 2

Jungle Cruise is another popular choice, but we suggest you head to Frontierland and ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first, then head to Pirates of the Caribbean or Jungle Cruise after that. If Jungle Cruise has a wait time of less than 30 minutes head here. If not check back around an hour after opening.

The instantly high queue time tends to put people off so there is usually a mid-morning lull where wait times hit the 30-minute mark. It’s our top tip for getting on that ride.

Choice 3

Head to your favourite ride. Honestly, a strategy is all well and good, but if you love Disney and have a 14-day Magic Ticket you have flexibility. Jumping on your favourite ride back-to-back before the queue times get too high is a wonderful way to spend an hour. Did some say Haunted Mansion?

EPCOT

EPCOT rope drop is currently boiling down to a choice of 2 big name rides: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After as Test Track will be shut until 2025. (No opening date available yet).

Choice 1

Head to Frozen Ever After. Located in World Showcase in Norway, your closest entrance is the Main Entrance. Turn left when you reach the lake, and head to the ride, but expect to be in a large group of people doing the same thing.

Choice 2

If you fancy rope dropping Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, enter the park from the entrance by the sky liner and turn right taking the bridge towards France.

Choice 3

While everyone else heads to these rides, ride everything else in EPCOT with a low wait time. Having a ride on Soarin, followed by a wander through the Journey of Water and grabbing a coffee to wander around World Showcase while crowds are low is lovely. It does depend on the experience you want.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

With so many thrilling rides to choose from here, three choices is not enough. So approach this differently. Looking at the list of our best rides to rope drop, pick the one you want to ride the most. Head there and ride it. When you get off, check wait times and head to the ride on the list with the lowest wait time. It will be the best use of your time.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

At Animal Kingdom, you have two main choices:

Choice 1

Head to Pandora to ride Avatar Flight of Passage and then see what the wait time for Na’vi River Journey is.

Choice 2

Head to Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa, then head towards Expedition Everest in Asia.

To look at either of these strategies in detail, and an additional unconventional strategy take a look at: Best Rope Drop Strategy for Animal Kingdom in 2024. You’ll find a full strategy to rope dropping the wildest park in Disney World to suit your ride choices.

Rope drop with Lightning Lanes tips

Lightning Lanes are now available as Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Using both options is costly, but did you know you can replace some of that cost by using a rope drop strategy in each park? you can also combine the unpaid rope drop strategy with the paid lightning lane option to beat the queues all day.

Rope drop instead of buying Lightning Lane Single Pass

Magic Kingdom

Rope drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or TRON to save buying a Lightning Lane Single Pass for this ride. This choice will save you money, and if you want to use the Lightning Lane system with rope drop, you won’t find this ride on the list for Lightning Lane Multi Pass attractions. You would have to buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass too. Replacing that cost by rope dropping saves you money for a quick service breakfast after your rope drop experience.

EPCOT

There is not a way to rope drop the only ride that you can purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass for in EPCOT.

Hollywood Studios

At Hollywood Studios, rope drop Rise of the Resistance to save yourself the cost of the Lightning Lane Single Pass. You can use possibly a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for the other rides.

Animal Kingdom

Rope drop Avatar Flight of Passage to beat the need to purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass in this park.

Use rope drop with lightning lane

Using rope drop in conjunction with other queue options including virtual queues and Lightning Lane Multi Pass is a great way to maximise your day in the parks. Using any form of Lightning Lane will add more to the ticket price, but it will give you more flexibility during your day and the chance to get on more rides.

Tips for a Successful Rope Drop Experience

Combine rope drop with early entry

This is only an option for resort guests. If you are staying onsite take a few minutes to read the Pros and cons of rope dropping with early entry. Combining both forms of early starts to beat the Disney crowds will save you money on Lightning Lane purchases. You just have to ask yourself if the queue times are good enough for such an early start. In our experience it varies, but we always recommend using your resort perks. So give it a go!

Rope drop to avoid high crowds

Rope dropping the park gives you the option to head out of the parks during the middle of the day when crowds are the highest. Being able to head for a relax by the pool, a lunch in a resort, or head to Disney Springs instead of standing in a long queue for a ride is amazing. Consider heading back to the park in the evening if you still have rides on your list to experience as times will drop again later in the day.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The key to a successful rope drop is planning, punctuality, and your pixie dust! If these three things don’t go to plan your rope drop strategy can go awry.

No plan

Not having a plan about what you want to get out of a rope drop morning is a mistake for some people. Decision paralysis sets in during the hustle and bustle of waiting and deciding where to go to beat the queue and nothing happens. It’s a mistake that can leave you feeling a little deflated when you put in the effort to beat queues. Knowing which rides you want to head to takes the pressure off a rope drop morning.

Equally if you are the type of person who is happy without the plan go for it. There is no rule that says you need a plan, but for first-timers, families, and those travelling in groups a plan can make an early morning easier.

Being late

Failing to allow enough time to get to the parks, or not realising how long it will take you to get into the park once you get there is one place a rope drop morning can go wrong. If you don’t know your timings find out before you attempt rope drop, or better still plan morning with leeway. It’s very frustrating if you’re on the road and don’t make rope drop because the queue to park the car was huge, or security stopped you to search your pram and everything in your bag. Avoid the stress by leaving some breathing space in your planning times.

Overloading your time

Overloading your morning after a busy night can lead to overwhelm for everyone. When you’re all really grumpy and not in the mood, rope drop will feel hard. The magic of the park is lost and the benefits of saving an hour of queue time will not outweigh everyone being unhappy. If you need to sleep, if you can’t face an early morning, our advice would be don’t do it.

• Arriving too late: The importance of punctuality.
• Not having a clear plan: How to avoid decision paralysis.
• Overloading your morning: Balancing must-dos with downtime.

What to Do After Rope Drop

Including rope drop as part of Disney holiday planning will give you the benefit of avoiding extra costs and experiencing more of your favourite rides. But knowing what to do after rope drop is the next part of your day. Here are three tips for what you can do with your day after your early rope drop start.

• If tiredness is setting in, consider heading to areas where crowds will be lower, such as in shows. Finding a quiet spot in the park to sit and enjoy a snack is also a great way to recharge. Use you phone to put in a mobile order and enjoy.

• When crowd levels start to rise around 11am consider having brunch. Not many people will be thinking about meals at this time so quick service locations will be quieter. Making the most of a character breakfast around this time is also a great way to combine rope drop into your day. Enjoying rope drop in Magic Kingdom, schedule a character breakfast in Chef Mickey’s or Ohana for around 11am.
• Why not leave the park and head back to your resort for a few hours before returning in the evening, head to do some shopping or maybe enjoy an afternoon in the water park.

Rope Drop FAQs

Should I rope drop every day?

You could, and if you are doing a short trip or one day visit then it will help you to get the most time to experience the parks. If you tried it every day for a long period of time you would most likely burn out if you were trying to do full park days including evening shows.

Rope dropping daily when the temperatures are high is a great way to get park time at one of the cooler points in the day. That means you can take shelter when it is hot in the afternoon.

Conclusion

Rope dropping without early entry has lots to offer guests. From beating queues to starting the morning with a thrilling ride, rope drop is a strategy anyone can use to create a magical Disney day.