Your Rope Drop Strategy Needs to Change at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is easily one of Disney World’s most popular parks, and it’s partially thanks to all its thrill rides.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror

Star Wars fans are also massively interested in Galaxy’s Edge and the two (thrill) rides in that section of the park, families love Toy Story Land, and who can resist classics like Tower of Terror? When you’re rope-dropping this park, it can feel difficult to decide where to go first, but we’re here to tell you that one ride should officially NOT be in the running anymore.

Rise of the Resistance was so popular when it opened in 2019, it had a Virtual Queue, and that was the only way you could ride it. Now, you can get in a standby queue for the ride, or choose to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane to skip the (usually long) queue.

©Disney

In the past, we’ve recommended that this is one of the best rides to rope drop because of how long the line gets later in the day. However, that’s NOT the case anymore!

Rise of the Resistance

Why is that, you ask? Well, we’ve taken a look at wait time trends, and while Rise of the Resistance very much can still be up there in the wait time trends, more often times than not, Slinky Dog Dash will beat it.

Slinky Dog Dash

So this means Slinky Dog Dash is a great rope drop plan, and maybe save Rise of the Resistance for during lunch time when people are eating, or closer to the end of the day. Or, you can head over to Tower of Terror, which is notorious for having full or partial breakdowns throughout the day that can cause wait times to skyrocket. Get it out of the way in the morning when wait times are low, and you’re golden.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Speaking of breakdowns, Rise of the Resistance is prone to breakdowns throughout the day, and we’ve seen on more than one occasion where it’s closed in the morning (so rope dropping won’t work anyway), or it breaks down closer to the end of the day. That’s why we don’t recommend waiting until the last minute to do Rise, since it’s very possible it could break down, but doing it first thing is no longer the best way to spend your rope drop time.

Rise of the Resistance is closed a lot in Disney World

However, if Rise of the Resistance is the absolute top thing on your list, and maybe you don’t really care about riding Slinky Dog Dash or Tower of Terror, then get in line at rope drop! We can recommend tons of tips to you, but nothing is ever going to perfectly match every single group — it’s up to you and your family/friends to decide what the right plan is for you.