Rope Drop vs Park Close

[BriarRose924]

We usually rope drop and are able to get a decent amount done in Early Entry and RD hours. We have never done park close though. How do the wait times compare in the later evening to rope drop times in your experience. Would we be able to accomplish the same goals of we sleep in and stay later? Or stick with early entry and rope drop? Thanks

 

[Karalee402]

We usually rope drop and are able to get a decent amount done in Early Entry and RD hours. We have never done park close though. How do the wait times compare in the later evening to rope drop times in your experience. Would we be able to accomplish the same goals of we sleep in and stay later? Or stick with early entry and rope drop? Thanks

We are the hardcore people who usually do both, and I think there's nothing more magical than the parks at night. Lines definitely go down, and we find we are able to get a bunch done in the last few hours for sure. The main difference, unless you're staying Deluxe and can do the extended evening hours, is that evening hours are open to all guests, not just resort guests. But, again, not everyone stays until close, so the park definitely empties out some, especially after the fireworks.

 

[jimmymc]

It depends on the schedule. A lot of people leave the parks right before or after the fireworks. So if a park is open for a few hours after, it will usually be less crowded. But somewhere like Epcot, where the nighttime show is right at closing time, will be busy right up until close.

 

[SPINster]

AK-last 2-3 hours are usually very empty.
Epcot-not a huge change, Remy, Test Track are still pretty long
MK-depends on your strategy and how much time is left after the fireworks. Fantasy Land, for example, is pretty deserted. Space Mountain can still be fairly long (especially right after Fireworks, a lot of people rush there).
HS-if there are two Fantasmic shows that night, you can get in a lot of rides in the last two hours. If it's only 1 show, typically lines are still pretty long.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the posted wait times are usually very inflated in the last hour.

After fireworks is the best time for Peter Pan btw-it's almost always just a walk on. We always wait until the end of the night to do that one!

 

[Upatnoon]

We have always got more done with rope drop.

Park close is great for getting in that final headliner attraction, but with the deadline of park closure looming, I wouldn't count on it for getting a lot of attractions done.

You also have to carefully prioritize what you want to do. Get stuck on some ride for a few extra minutes and it might ruin getting in line elsewhere at the last-minute.

 

[Newsies]

I have the most amount of energy in the morning, so rope drop is a personal preference of mine... but I feel like, at least in recent years, closing the park will allow you to get more done Especially in that last hour when Fireworks or Fant. is happening -- you can pack a lot of those smaller rides in during that hour and jump into a headliner line right before they close it for the evening.

 

[dcassetta]

We like to do both. Early start, break in the afternoon for pool time and naps, and then back to the parks in the evening.

 

[BriarRose924]

Thank you everyone for the advice and input!!! I really appreciate it!

 

[scrappinginontario]

AK-last 2-3 hours are usually very empty.
Epcot-not a huge change, Remy, Test Track are still pretty long
MK-depends on your strategy and how much time is left after the fireworks. Fantasy Land, for example, is pretty deserted. Space Mountain can still be fairly long (especially right after Fireworks, a lot of people rush there).
HS-if there are two Fantasmic shows that night, you can get in a lot of rides in the last two hours. If it's only 1 show, typically lines are still pretty long.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the posted wait times are usually very inflated in the last hour.

After fireworks is the best time for Peter Pan btw-it's almost always just a walk on. We always wait until the end of the night to do that one!

Excellent summary!

We do both. We get a lot done during ETPE and the first hour after park opens to all but then crowds quickly grow.

We plan a headliner for park close but have also missed out on RotR when it was down at park close.

If we had to choose one over the other we would choose Rope Drop to get more done.

 

[Newsies]

We like to do both. Early start, break in the afternoon for pool time and naps, and then back to the parks in the evening.

This is the way!!!

 

[Skippyboo]

MK you can get a lot done at the evenings especially during the fireworks. I rope dropped HS today, got in at 8am. Have done-ROTR, MFSR,TSMM,TOT, MMRR, Star Tours and now eating a Cobb salad at Hollywood Brown Derby

 

[tgropp]

We like to do both. Early start, break in the afternoon for pool time and naps, and then back to the parks in the evening.

Perfect strategy. Been doing this for the past 30 years. As a poster had mentioned, the night time with the lights is almost worth the price of admission

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

We've had good luck doing both. But I will say that it does depend on time of year, what you plan to ride closer to park close (headliner or not as popular attraction), and what type of park close it is, ie gen pop during regular park hours or EEH for deluxe guests. Obviously EEH will have a lot less people in the crowds and of course seasonality will come into play. We've had some rare visits that park close got us only 1 ride when we got in line with a lower wait and no real, quantifiable benefits to staying late other than that one ride whereas we've had a lot more successful RD strategies by nature of most guests don't wake up early but will stay late. And many trips we may do both in the same day, RD-Break-stay till close but we'll almost always have a late start day somewhere in our trips since we like to sleep in some and yes, you can do a good bit with shorter waits in the late evening.

 

[pens4821]

We also do both most our park days with a long break in the middle. We feel like you can get more done at rope drop for the most part. The best part of close is getting on a headliner right before close and it’s usually not much. We waited around 30-40 minutes for Rise and FOP getting in line late (rise we were in the last group to ride for the evening which was cool) during an extremely crowded spring break week this past March.

As previously mentioned, AK is great the last couple hours in general. We rode EE twice and it took about 20 minutes both times around an hour and a half before close. Didn’t ride Dino but posted wait was 5 minutes. MK is also good if the park is open later than fireworks. If the park closed at 11 but fireworks are at 9 the lines are less in those last two hours. Headliners are still long but the rest aren’t bad at all.

We feel like Epcot and HS you don’t get as much done the last two hours as compared to the first two at rope drop though.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Our slogan for late nights is “twice the fun in half the time”. You just have to understand the crowd patterns and the use of inflated wait times then multiple rerides on the headliners becomes very easy.

For example, on our last visit we ride Rise of the Resistance 3 times during the last hour and 20 minutes of operation. You can’t do that no matter how early you arrive.

For 7 Dwarves Mine Train, the longest we’ve ever waited late in the evening was 20 minutes and that was during opening week in 2014.

Other fun examples were Space Mtn 4 times in 35 minutes and Tower of Terror 13 times in 2 hours. Those both took some running as it’s a long way from the exit back to the entrance.

 

[dcassetta]

Tower of Terror 13 times in 2 hours

I am impressed! I can do it only once and then need several hours for recovery.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Our slogan for late nights is “twice the fun in half the time”. You just have to understand the crowd patterns and the use of inflated wait times then multiple rerides on the headliners becomes very easy.

For example, on our last visit we ride Rise of the Resistance 3 times during the last hour and 20 minutes of operation. You can’t do that no matter how early you arrive.

For 7 Dwarves Mine Train, the longest we’ve ever waited late in the evening was 20 minutes and that was during opening week in 2014.

Other fun examples were Space Mtn 4 times in 35 minutes and Tower of Terror 13 times in 2 hours. Those both took some running as it’s a long way from the exit back to the entrance.

Was all of this done in the evenings?! Was it during busy times? We had a ToT similar reride, but this was several years ago when there were still "slow" times (and done during the morning!). Would like to get this level of re-ride from a regular park day!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Was all of this done in the evenings?! Was it during busy times? We had a ToT similar reride, but this was several years ago when there were still "slow" times (and done during the morning!). Would like to get this level of re-ride from a regular park day!

Yes, this is just a normal evening in the park for us. Our last several trips have been either the 2nd week in May or the first week in June. Not the busiest times of the year but not slow days either. These are generally listed as crowd level 7 or 8 days.

We learned about Line Stacking and Disney’s methods for inflating the evening wait times in the 1997 Unofficial Guide and have been using this info to our advantage ever since.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I am impressed! I can do it only once and then need several hours for recovery.

I only made about half those trips and spent most of the time sitting on the bench and watching the kids run by every 10-12 minutes. The posted wait time was 30 minutes but the actual wait was just for the next elevator.

This was on a day with two performances of Fantasmic. The vast majority of guests attend the first show, which leaves the rides wide open for those of us that wait for the 2nd showing. By then, the amphitheater was less than half full and each kid had their own bench to lay down on.

 

[parasail_of_congress]

We usually rope drop and are able to get a decent amount done in Early Entry and RD hours. We have never done park close though. How do the wait times compare in the later evening to rope drop times in your experience. Would we be able to accomplish the same goals of we sleep in and stay later? Or stick with early entry and rope drop? Thanks

If you don't rope drop, you can't go back and get a do-over if a ride you really want to ride is down or has a long line at the end of the night. This is why most people recommend rope-dropping if you want to have the best chance of riding all the rides you want to ride. There are just too many factors to consider at only park close if you are depending on following a set schedule and/or want to ride specific rides. You might get lucky like the other poster with multiple rides, but you cannot assume that will always occur.