Rope Drop refers to the moment they open the Magic Kingdom (or any park) to the guests each day. This is usually at 9 am in the morning. Disney releases the park hours 180 days ahead of time, so be sure to check them out here.
Only about 30% of guests make it to the park for rope drop. I am one of those 30%. We go to rope drop every morning of our trip. Now I know and understand that some people just don’t want to get up and get at it so early in the morning. And I respect that… because that means while you are in the bed sleeping, I am going to be riding Peter Pan’s Flight over and over and over again with little to no wait! ;)
The Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am in the morning (unless it’s an Extra Magic Hour morning and it will open at 8 am.) In order to make it to Rope Drop, we usually get up around 6:30 in the morning. (We set a wake up call with our hotel.) We eat breakfast in our room and we arrive to the bus stop around 7:30 am. We try to be at the Magic Kingdom no later than 8:15 am.
At approximately 8:45 am, the Magic Kingdom Welcome Show will start. This show lasts about 8 minutes. When you are waiting, make sure you pick a spot that gives you a view of the train platform. This is where the show will happen. And of course everything in the world is on You Tube. You can go here to watch it if you want. (I’m listening to this while I type!)
Here are a few tips for you:
If you are driving to the parks, you will park at the Ticket and Transportation Center. You will then board a monorail or a boat to the Magic Kingdom. If you select to take the monorail, less people will be going on the resort monorail. People do not realize that anyone can ride this monorail, not just resort guests.
If you are staying on property and taking a bus to the Magic Kingdom, ideally you should be at your bus stop around 7:30 am.
Don’t follow the masses. It’s common human nature to go with the crowds. Take a moment to look at all your options. A lot of time people will all be headed to one turnstile and there will be a long line, while there are 3 open turnstiles on your left hand side that people aren’t using. So keep your eyes open. If you can go left, go left! (Everyone else will be going right).
The is a turnstiles on the far right side is one marked for CMs & CMs with guests. People don’t realize that this is actually open to all guests and there was a much shorter line at this one then at the other turnstiles.
Security will check your bags. To make this process faster, open all compartments before you reach the security guard. They will appreciate it.
When you are going through security, there are always 2 lines. One on the left side of the table and one on the right. The security guards are trained to take a guest from the left and then take a guest from the right. Again, the masses will all be lining up in one line, since you know this tip go ahead and go to the opposite side. He won’t look at you like you’ve grown 2 heads. I promise!
When you are in the welcome area waiting to enter the park, you will see 3 gates.
- The left gate is a good choice if you are heading to Adventureland or Fronteirland.
- The center gate is a good choice if you are going to Fantasyland.
- The right gate is a good choice if your goal is Tomorrowland.
If you want a map or the daily schedule, they are going to be along the walls under the train station. If you want to grab one, be lined up near the sides so you don’t have to fight the crowds. (you can also get these at the bus stops and I am sure the Ticket and Transportation Center have them too.)
Disney World is the Most Magical Place On Earth. Be sure to learn how to make the most of your trip by reading the Disney World Training series.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Quick question…my daughter & I are both taking advantage of the “Give a Day, Get a Day” promotion, but my son is not old enough. I know I will have to show my daughter’s birth certificate copy with her Give a Day pass, but what do I show for my son since he does not have a pass? We went one year without realizing he was young enough that we could have skipped buying a ticket for him (we had already purchased them online) and they never even asked how old he was and never took his ticket – it was still in our backpack. I am wondering if it is always this way or if I should be prepared this next time just incase each ticket checker person is different….thanks!!
Do you still have the ticket you bought him??? If so it’s still good! No you don’t have to show his birth certificate.
My son was a big 2 year old and we didn’t run into any issues.
I guess what I am asking is do I need to buy a ticket for him, and if not, what proof do I have to have to get him in the gate? We wasted a ton of money last time on unnecessary tickets and I thought I had planned everything pretty well…
Just last month in th middle of January, our family headed to Disneyland for the very first time. Well, we were lucky enough to be the family picked to open the park! It wasn’t quite the spectical that the Magic Kingdom puts on, but they let us enter the gates first, sign the guest book, and then introduced each of us and let everyone know it was our first time there. Then they had us do the countdown with everyone and we ended by saying “Let the magic begin!!!”. It was so much fun and my 6 & 9 yr old boys thought they were pretty cool.
I’m not sure what they normally do during peak season for the rope drop at Disneyland, but we tought it was so special to be able to do that and is definitely something we will remember forever :)
P.S. Thank you so much for all your wonderful tips. As a newbie Disney Junkie, I love reading all your posts and I’m having a blast saving every penny to afford a trip to Disney World next year!
We are planning a trip to Disny this summer. Thanks for the great tips!
We had a fabulous rope drop experience at the Animal Kingdom in May. We were selected to one of the first families to enter the park! We were escorted through the park with our own guide to Kilimanjaro Safari and got to ride it with 3 other families! It was amazing. Then we got a fast pass to be used on any ride in the park that day! It was the most amazing experience! I highly suggest rope drop. It is an awesome experience and there is always a lot of Magic!
Stockpiling Mom – That sounds so incredibly amazing! We actually haven’t done a rope drop at Animal Kingdom. Our first day there we had breakfast reservations at 8 am at Donald’s Safari and the 2nd day we went int othe park late.
I’m at MK early too. The opening is our favorite
part. We would love to be pick to throw out the
pixie dust and start the day! :)
I had no idea about the opening show! Cool!
I can’t believe as much as we have been over the last two years, I don’t think we have made it to a “Rope Drop”, might have to check it out this time! Usually we are hoofing it to get to a breakfast reservation, but this time we are doing the dining plan with just Quick Service meals. So breakfasts will be in room mostly and hit the park! Maybe we can get several rounds of Peter Pans flight in before long lines, hehe!
I have a question, we are doing the “Give a day, get a day”. What do I do, print my ticket and stand in this line or do I have to “cash” the printed ticket in somewhere else?
I heard they do a show at the close of the park too, is that true? Does anyone know about this?
How do you get to be one of the people at the rope drop that gets to be in the parade? I have tried everything i think and still havent gotten in a parade! LOL Any suggestions
We are buying our tickets on base here so we will have to stand in line once we get to MK to get our tickets. Any idea how long parking and getting tickets will take?