It Turns Out There’s a Right Way to Rope Drop — Are You Doing It WRONG?

Rope drop is a very important time in Disney World.

Early morning rope dropping crowds at Hollywood Studios

This is when you arrive at the park BEFORE it opens (usually between 15-30 minutes early) so you can enter the park the moment the clock strikes opening time. But did you know there is a RIGHT and WRONG way to do rope drop?

Now, this all depends on your goal for that park. If your goal is to ride the most popular attraction, and that’s the only major thing on your agenda for the day, sure, run straight to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Flight of Passage, Frozen Ever After, or Slinky Dog Dash.

Slinky Dog Dash

However, if you’re hoping to accomplish nearly everything in the park, then you may want to try a different rope drop strategy — go to smaller rides first.

PeopleMover POV

Now hear us out! Even when rope dropping, you may be waiting around half an hour for that most popular ride, but you could also be using that time to knock out 3-4 smaller rides in the same area. For example instead of running to Space Mountain in Tomorrowland, you could ride Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and the PeopleMover all in the span of half an hour.

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Now, this does mean you’ll need to wait a little longer for those more popular rides, but unless you really are FIRST in line for a lot of those attractions, you’d be waiting a good amount of time anyway. So ride some smaller rides, then grab some breakfast and bring it with you into the longer line!

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

As we said, it’s really just up to what works best for you and your family, and also is important to factor in whether or not you’re using Genie+ that day. If you are, you can request a Lightning Lane for the more popular ride, ride those smaller attractions at rope drop, and then still skip the line later in the day!