A lot of Disney-goers choose to head into the parks bright and early before they even officially open.
This is also known as “rope dropping” and can be a great way to tackle some of the most popular rides in Disney World (especially with FastPass+ currently suspended). Over the past year, we’ve brought you a look at what it’s like arriving at the parks early and today’s rope drop at Magic Kingdom was a bit different.
The park was set to officially open today at 9AM, but we arrived at the parking gate at 7:55AM. And, after hopping on the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom, we set foot on Main Street, U.S.A. around 8:45AM and there were a lot of people there with us!
In the past, Disney had opened up the lands prior to park opening to help disperse crowds in the park, but today was a little different. Groups were being held at the entrance to Adventureland…
…Fantasyland…
…and Tomorrowland. We also noticed that guests using the main entrance to Tomorrowland got to enter the area faster than those using the entrance between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (near Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe).
And, the timing was a little different on when each land officially “opened.” At about 8:55AM, groups were still gathered at the entrances to the land, though Frontierland was the first to open followed by Tomorrowland and Adventureland…
…and then finally the group at Cinderella Castle (though they were held for about five minutes longer than others).
As the park opened to guests, popular attractions already jumped all the way up to 85 minutes at Splash Mountain…
…and 35 minutes at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first thing in the morning.
We’ll keep an eye on the other parks to see their crowd levels compared to the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning And, stay tuned with AllEars for the latest Disney entertainment and news coming soon!
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Let us know in the comments!
Can you please follow up and let us know if this trend continues. We were there in April and did very well by getting to the parks super early. We were hoping to do the same thing when we go back in September.
It’s been this way at MK since around June 20.
I think most days they open earlier than this day. Also with covid cases in the rise in Florida, this was a weird time to choose to keep people huddled up waiting.
This article would be more useful if it provided some comparisons pointing out how today was different than typical rope drops. I haven’t been to the parks since the pre-pandemic days of FastPass, so a little context would be nice. Also, any ideas as to whether these changes are permanent, temporary, or one-day only
Wasn’t there any entertainment on the stage in front of the castle? There used to be a great welcoming show before entering the park
We’re going to hs, and mk next thur and fri. Thanks for the heads up