Walt Disney World guests who are typically early risers might want to take advantage of what’s commonly known as “rope drop” at the theme parks. Rope drop is more of a term describing the official park opening, as no rope is typically involved. However, sometimes, there are certain areas of the theme park that won’t begin welcoming guests until later in the morning.
Oftentimes, there are far fewer guests in the parks early in the morning compared to what you’ll find during the bulk of the day. While a lot of folks like to get up early and take advantage of the lower wait times that could be available depending on how many people enter a particular park on any given day, a lot of people choose to come later in the day. As popular as it is to arrive early, we find that more folks like to sleep in on their Disney vacations, especially if they were out until the wee hours the night before. So, if riding attractions with as little wait time as possible is your goal, don’t let the early mornings pass you by!
Here are a couple of recommendations we have:
Arrive Early
Arrive at your theme park of choice approximately half an hour before the park is set to open that day. Each of the four main theme parks does something different at rope drop. Some do a little show, some do an opening performance, while others don’t do anything at all, but everything is subject to change at any time, so the surprise element is there too.
Have a Plan
It would be best if you had a good idea of where you want to go once you get into the park and which attractions you want to ride first thing so you’re not wasting valuable time trying to decide what to do.
Utilize Lightning Lane
It’s a good idea to take advantage of booking some Lightning Lane attractions for later in the day if you’re planning to use Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, but also to allow time to utilize the shorter lines in the earlier hours of the morning.
What Rope Drop tips do you have?
