Report: Rocky Rope Drop at Magic Kingdom
With the heart of summer season at Walt Disney World now underway, I headed to Magic Kingdom for rope drop. In this park opening report, I’ll (speed) walk you through my morning, with a step-by-step look at what I accomplished, strategy & tips, and more.
The day started out well enough. I woke up at 6:40 am, quickly showered, and was out the door of our room at Wilderness Lodge by around 6:50 am. Our room was relatively close to the dock, and to my surprise, a boat was waiting for for me when I arrived. Along with two other parties, our water taxi departed at 7:01 am.
The boat arrived at Magic Kingdom at 7:13 am. I was through security shortly thereafter, and the turnstiles opened literally as I was walking up to them. Every step of the way thus far, it felt like the seas had parted for me. The smoothest and fastest Magic Kingdom rope drop experience I had ever had up until this point. Little did I know that the wheels would fall off when the journey became, uh, bumpy.
Arriving onto Main Street USA by 7:16 am, I figured I had some time for quick photos before briskly walking to Fantasyland to queue up for my first attraction of the day. However, it had been a while since I last went from a cold hotel room to a humid Florida morning.
Not only was my lens still totally fogged over, but my DSLR battery totally drained due to the dramatic change in temperature. Not a huge deal. It was an ugly overcast morning, so the photos would be ugly anyway and my phone would suffice. If anything, the camera dying gave me an excuse for these photos being awful.
Right now, it’s pretty typical of Magic Kingdom opening the turnstiles around 45 minutes before official opening time, giving guests full access to the park, opening some attractions around 15-30 minutes early, and the remainder right at official opening time.
However, all of this is subject to change and almost certainly will be changing very soon. Epcot has already reverted to its old rope drop protocol, and it’s likely Magic Kingdom will follow suit in the coming weeks to prepare for the new on-site early entry program.
Following some quick shots to document the experience, I picked up the pace and briskly walked through Cinderella Castle–rather than the bridge to Tomorrowland–and headed to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. While my approach would’ve been faster if I were heading for the attraction marquee, it was slightly slower for the end of the line, which wraps towards Storybook Circus.
I was in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train by 7:19 am. This is the earliest I’ve been in line for a Magic Kingdom attraction since Extra, Extra Magic Hours nearly two years ago.
At this point, I was feeling really good about my morning. I suspected it would be 15-20 minutes before the ride started, but that was fine. I was close to the front, and it would’ve been no more than a 10 minute wait once the line got moving.
This was exciting. My whole reason for rope dropping Magic Kingdom was to arrive as early as possible for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and see if I could conceivably ride it twice before the wave of crowds. This is theoretically possible, but only if you’re staying on-site, as the Transportation and Ticket Center parking doesn’t open early enough to make this viable from off-site. If this is good strategy, I was perfectly poised to figure it out this morning!
You know that saying? The best laid plans of the Mouse and men often go awry…
When 7:40 am rolled around, it seemed like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train wasn’t ready to roll. If both of us had gone to Magic Kingdom, I could’ve gone to scout Peter Pan’s Flight or other attractions while Sarah held our place in line. However, we have a longstanding agreement that Sarah can “enjoy the hotel room” on early mornings when the sky is overcast, so I was on my own. (On pretty mornings, I race around taking photos while she does the waiting and tests strategy.)
At 8 am, an announcement was made that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train wasn’t yet ready to open and there was no ETA on when the ride would open. I bailed from the line immediately upon hearing that. Interestingly, no one in front of or behind me did the same.
They ended up making the right call, as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened at 8:17 am (per My Disney Experience, which I was repeatedly refreshing), right as I was about to board Peter Pan’s Flight. I only point this out because it’s fascinating to me that most guests would continue sinking time into an unknown versus cutting loses.
My total wait for Peter Pan’s Flight was 15 minutes, which isn’t terrible…unless you account for how long I wasted in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I could’ve probably done Peter Pan’s Flight three times with no wait during that time. By the time I got off Peter Pan’s Flight, the extended queue was all the way back to Columbia Harbour House.
From there, it was on to Splash Mountain.
In line at 8:25 am with a posted wait of 5 minutes that was very clearly wrong just by looking at the outdoor queue in use.
Posted wait jumped to 30 minutes and then 45 while I was in line.
My total wait for Splash Mountain ended up being 20 minutes.
This wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and would’ve been even shorter if every row in the logs was being loaded.
My planned next stops were in Adventureland, but the overflow queue was already in use for Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise had a posted 50 minute wait.
I knew both of those lines would be shorter later in the day, so I wasn’t going continue my morning as planned and “fight the wave.”
Instead, I headed for Tomorrowland for a couple of laps on the PeopleMover.
While gliding around above Tomorrowland, it was easy to see that crowds were already building even though Magic Kingdom had been open for less than an hour. I’m assuming this is the result of increased Disney Park Pass distribution, as it got busier, faster than any rope drop I’ve done in the last few months.
On the plus side, I did observe more construction activity on TRON Lightcycle Run than I’ve seen since pre-closure.
There were dozens of construction workers on the site, fresh scaffolding has been erected where the gravity building was previously enclosed, and safety nets are being installed around the canopy. Here’s hoping this opens in 2022!
There were still attractions with short waits by 8:38 am, but the list is getting smaller and smaller. Keep in mind that this is only a little over a half hour after Magic Kingdom opened. When it comes to rope dropping Walt Disney World, early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.
Seriously, anyone entering Magic Kingdom at 9 am and planning to stay for ~8 hours would be objectively better off arriving after noon. Most of the headliners I would’ve prioritized first thing in the morning would end up having shorter wait times in the late afternoon and evening hours. This is a dynamic I don’t see changing in the next couple of months, as heavy crowds early in the day plus oppressive heat and humidity will lead to guest “burnout” and more people leaving Magic Kingdom before things get pleasant at night.
Otherwise, there’s not a ton to glean from my morning in Magic Kingdom. I debated not writing about this at all, but I think it’s worthwhile from a few perspectives.
First, it underscores just how limited of a window there is for beating the crowds at rope drop, and how essential it is to arrive well before park opening. Second, this should illustrate that things don’t always go as planned, and it’s important not to rigidly stick to an itinerary that isn’t working. Be dynamic and adjust on the fly as necessary–delayed attraction openings and ride breakdowns are pretty common.
Third, this is probably a preview of what you should expect this summer at Walt Disney World as crowds continue to grow. (Above was the crowd as I headed back onto Main Street at 9:30 am, with huge lines for PhotoPass and Starbucks. While the latter is “mandatory” in the morning, PhotoPass would have virtually no line–and a pretty sky–after lunch.)
Having a good plan is critically important, as is beating the crowds at the beginning of the day and outlasting them at the end. (We plan on doing a “park closing report” later this week to illustrate the importance of staying late.) Figuring out what to do in the middle so you don’t get burned out is also crucial, and often overlooked.
Finally, I got up early, got all sweaty racing around Magic Kingdom, and became incredibly frustrated in the process. You better believe I’m not letting all those headaches “go to waste.” Also, I think showcasing our shortcomings is valuable in both demonstrating we’re not Walt Disney World “strategy savants” and in setting realistic expectations.
If all you ever read about here is how flawless and great things go for us at Walt Disney World, it might be doubly discouraging when you cannot replicate those results. It should go without saying, but we’re human and have “travel fails” all the time. While not ideal in the moment, that comes with the territory and is part of the experience and comes. If you can roll with the punches and shrug off failures, they’ll be fond memories you can laugh about later. Remember, expecting perfection only invites disappointment!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on morning in Magic Kingdom? Have any of your own rope drop disappointments? How would you have done things differently? Any other feedback on arriving early to the Walt Disney World theme parks? Agree or disagree with our advice or approach? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
When does “summer” (summer crowds) typically end in Disney World?
Are the wait times pretty accurate or are they not as long as what’s posted? Or longer?! Thanks for any insight.
Reminds me of our trip there this time of year, 2019. Not being from Florida, rope drop with even a slightly fast pace resulted in us drenched in sweat each time even first thing in the morning. But was worth it when the storms rolled in and flooded us each day around dinner time. 🙂
Hi Tom,
Thank you for this information. My boys and I will be at WDW for the first time ever starting 6/18. I am a SoCal girl and know Disneyland and Cal Adventure like the back of my hand, but have been diligently been following your blog for the last couple months. This confirms my latest plan of lunch at Liberty Tree at 2:45pm and dinner at 8:35pm at Jungle Navigation. I have 2 teens and a tween and am coming from a 3 hour time zone change. I think a later start and ending will be our best bet with the crowds and heat and time change.
Shout out to Tom! We were in line for Peter Pan in the extended queue outside when you got off. After you passed by someone in our party made a comment about that guy in the LA hat holding a camera looking familiar, and we realized where we knew you from.
It’s been a rough Disney week for us so far with the high temps and issues we’ve had with buses. We’re changing from AKL to BWV today and hopefully things will get better.
The ride outage lottery at rope drop is definitely a major rope drip challenge. On our last trip, we were all queued up at Tower of Terror pre “official” park open time, it started around 20 mins before open, we made it but slowly because they announced they were only filling one out of three elevators, and got to the first indoor room in the queue and then bam, the dreaded announcement came that all three elevators were down. We took the gamble to wait it out and in our case since we were so close to the ride at that point, and we chose poorly. That was 90 minutes of our morning wasted in line and every line in the park was over an hour when we got off.
It is such a though call whether to stay or go in those cases. It makes me really miss fastpass where you would get an “anytime” fastpass when your ride went down.
We’ve more or less been visiting every 6-8 weeks since reopening last summer and have rope dropped each trip. And each trip the amount we’ve been able to accomplish early on has decreased. For a while there, we were able to hit Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, and Big Thunder before official opening, and then get on Splash shortly after with maybe a 5 minute wait. We could pretty much also manage Jungle Cruise and Pirates with little to no wait within the first official hour of opening as well. Last trip, we only managed Seven Dwarfs before opening, then Peter Pan was already at a 30 minute wait (we chose not to wait), we skipped Big Thunder knowing it would be shorter later in the day, and waited around 20 minutes for Splash – for it to break down while we were on it, have to wait around 30 minutes to be evacuated. By the time we got off that, any low waits in the park were gone. It was definitely our least productive morning in a long time and I expect our visits this summer will likely be more of the same.
Really helpful post – thank you! Also, I hadn’t seen pictures of all the roped off overflow queues. All of Tomorrowland looks like one big maze!
I think our strategy will be to rope drop and go on rides until the lines get too long, then go back to the hotel to swim and take naps, come back for an early dinner and enjoy the parks again in the evening once everyone is rested and fed.
Great question — we’ve always wanted to do the “Kiss Goodnight” at the end of the night
I wonder when Early Theme Park Entry will officially start? (headed to WDW in 2 weeks) Super surprised that you get to walk around well before official opening time/rope drop! (and good for Sarah – lol)
Tom, what’s it like at closing? Are they allowing people to ‘mill around’ after closing like pre pandemic? Or are they quickly escorting you out? I know in the past I’d stay 2-3 hours after closing to take photos and the workers were pretty accommodating.
It was a worthwhile report for sure. That dilemma when you experienced a delay or a breakdown is tough because minutes count in WDW! I know its a hot issue but they need to bring back Fastpass +. Even if it creates worse standby lines it makes people happy because they are “guaranteed” 3 short lines of usually the longest lines in the parks. And boo to paid fast pass or equivalent. We already “paid” for it.
I guess we got used to “rope dropping” during the post-reopening months, which was basically getting there 45 minutes before posted park opening, then just waking right in and getting a lot done by mid morning. You confirmed what I was suspecting would happen by the time we arrive this weekend – that more crowds are back. But that’s ok, we always learn and adjust and still manage to have fun.
IT’s been a really long time since we did rope drop. Our son is grown and on his own and we’re retired. In May we showed up around 10:30, did a few attractions and headed back to the resort. Crowds were much lighter in early May. But it was still hot and humid. That’s the killer for many of us.
I, for one, hope you consider more rope drop reports like this, and am eagerly anticipating closing and midday strategies as well. People say hurtful stuff to me like, “ooo, a grown adult who makes Disneyland his personality,” and to them I say that is slander, and it is libel, and it is defamation, and allow me to set the record straight: Disneyland is NOT my personality. Riding every ride at both Disneyland Resort parks in one operating day is my personality.
For that, of course, rope drop strategy is key. I read every jot and tittle of this post, without even fully knowing the difference between a jot and a tittle. I have my first ever WDW trip planned for early next year, and as someone who has thoroughly mastered DLR’s rope at this point, I am very much interested in strategies for unknown parks that I will be shortly visiting. (I am fully aware that January 2022 will look nothing like June 2021, but as with anything in life, whether it be learning to cook, or just trying to not bomb so abysmally at my next rap battle, the more background reading I do increases the likelihood of success.) I do not plan on an every ride challenge for my first trip to WDW, but there is a good chance I will be taking notes for a second trip. But using my (your) knowledge to maximize my mornings effectively is super useful, and I think others will agree.
On another note, I have a love/hate relationship with the new thing (at least at DLR) of the rides opening before official opening time. Love it, obviously, because you can knock out a couple rides before the park is officially open. Hate it because it is hard to predict which rides that will be. On my last visit, I was going to do a Fantasyland blitz for rope, and the big decision there is between Snow White’s Enchanted Wish and Peter Pan’s Flight. I gambled on Peter Pan, but Snow White was the one to open 15 minutes early, so I was wrong. I considered hopping over to its line, since it wasn’t too long yet and was moving quickly, but I was certain Peter Pan would open soon, and continued to be wrong. Going to file a strongly worded letter at City Hall to please let me know in advance the rides that will be opening early. I will, of course, miss all of these rides because I will be waiting for City Hall to open, but you can bet they will get a piece of my mind and a shaken fist.
Tom,
Glad you posted this because it’s a good reminder that you must be able to go with the flow. On our last trip 3 of the 4 rope days went smooth. the one that didn’t was due to Big Thunder Mountain being down followed by the 6-year-old changing his mind about Space Mountain (he had been on it 3 times before) but not until we walked from Frontierland to Tomorrowland (precious ride minutes wasted). When it does all fall apart you have to remember that Disney is supposed to be fun!
I went for a run this morning (0600) in the mid-Atlantic and it was absolutely miserable in the heat and humidity. Can’t fathom how bad it is down there. Good luck.
For our December trip I got incredibly frustrated on our MK day b/c my brother and his family were late leaving in the morning (despite numerous promises they wouldn’t be). I was fixated on rope dropping 7DMT b/c of past successes and my strong aversions to lines. With your blog’s voice in my head we bailed on rope dropping it b/c we weren’t early enough to be ahead of the line. It ended up working out great as it broke down immediately, and we got to accomplish a ton before lunch. Just another data point to always roll with the punches and be flexible. Despite knowing that’s the best approach, I still fail to follow the advice once I get fixated on a plan sometimes.
I feel like on half of my recent Hollywood Studios visits, Slinky Dog hasn’t been ready to go at rope drop, and I’ve had a similar experience. I’m also always fascinated by how many people stay in line rather than bailing.
I appreciate seeing a report on times that can frustrate even a savvy park-goer, because it provides some great ideas of what to do when things start to go awry.
This post reminds me of my first time hitting Hollywood Studios in ten-ish years last July. I was already late, had on new shoes (always a mistake but I wasn’t expecting to be running first thing in the morning), and was trying for my first boarding pass literally as I was scanning into the park. I got it, but then felt exhausted and terrible so we went back to the hotel room immediately and slept for three more hours before our pass was called. We came back in the afternoon and did the rest of the park and had a much better time. That reset was what saved our trip! And I figured it out from reading your blog, so…just goes to show it’s good to be prepared for when things aren’t going perfectly.
I’m going for 5 days in a couple weeks and posts like this are incredibly valuable. I’ve been monitoring wait times for months and staying up to date on here to try and get the best idea for what to expect but that’s nothing compared to actual feet on the ground so this was great for me.
One question though about the rope drop. What are you referencing when you mention “old rope drop protocol” and “the new on-site early entry program?” We’ll be staying on site so not sure if this would effect us but any clarification or further explanation would be greatly appreciated.