the first 2 hours at disneyland are HUGE. the peter pan rope drop is hella fun to watch though. i was at the front of the line a few weeks ago and got lapped and almost trampled by the masses. 😂 i've talked to a few CM's in fantasyland about that and they've said that they've seen their lives flash before their eyes at times. it's pretty crazy! lol
FreshBaked, David. Well this was a surprise. Who knew people were awake at this time of day and also out and about. Sunday, your not supposed to be up before 11a.m. I'm going back to bed to try and get my head around all of this. Cheers, Chris Perry.
Love your videos, but my rope drop strategy was the opposite of yours. I hit all of the non LL attractions I could at rope drop before the crowds came and used Lightning Lanes later for the big attractions. It worked great! I had short waits for everything I went on. I think your strategy is good if you don’t care about Fantasyland as much or are willing to go to Fantasyland late at night when the crowds start thinning out. But Fantasyland in the late morning and afternoon has long waits for almost everything and strollers everywhere.
Fantasyland attraction wait times are usually 15-35 minutes during the day (Peter Pan can get to 50). Meanwhile, the waits for the E-tickets are usually 60+. So the time savings by rope dropping E-tickets is much greater. I went on Saturday and did, Rise, Indy, BTMRR, Mansion, Splash, Pooh, and Space by 10:30. After that the rest of the day was a breeze because I could largely avoid the crowds trying to do E-tickets. Combining Genie+ basically allows you the ability to do the big attractions 2-3 times. It really depends on your goals though. If you have little kids, then it makes sense to rope drop Fantasyland.
Screw genie+. Waste of money. Always hit the long line rides first, hit everything else in mid-day, then the big rides again late in the evening when lines get smaller. Save your money for the $12 burgers and $6 cokes.
Never been at Disney solo and I’m going in a week for 4 days alone and I plan on using rope drop + genie plus to ride as much and eat as much as I possible can while I’m there with no friends to slow me down lol thanks for this!
@@germanleon2775 I didn’t really need to use G+ that early but some of the bigger rides fill up available wait times quick so by 830 or 9 I could book a LL for a ride at like 10 when the park started to get busy
@@germanleon2775 but also a lot of rides have single rider and once I started jumping on that I would say it probably would have been just fine without G+
Always said Space Mtn is better than a cup of coffee in the am ;) Also, when we do rope drop right, there’s never time for coffee! We are so not morning people. I try to get a Carnation res by 10:30 and have coffee with breakfast. It’s so nice to sit down & rest by then.
Heyyy I saw you yesterday with my dad (He was in the wheelchair with the yellow safety vest) when you were getting off the omnibus bus. After a year of following you, we finally saw you in the park!! YAY!! We've been in the park at the same time but never had the pleasure of spotting you to say hi. :) We had some time left before we had to leave, but we decided to just leave instead of trying to squeeze anoth er ride in, and then we saw you, which just made our morning! :D We also kinda "roped" dropped yesterday !!! :D I went to Space Moutain after we rode in on the Monorail into Disneyland. it was a 28 min wait when I got in line at 8:11. I rode space mount on Thursday with my friend at 10:15am and it was a 30 min wait. When I saw the line after I stopped walking in the queue it was a little longer than when I waited on Thursday but I figured there wasn't going to be many LL passes going through so I figured it was going to be the same time I waited a few days earlier and I was right it was a little less than 30 mins! Always fun to see your videos and looking forward to enjoying what you have planned for future videos too!
The last time I went to Disney I rope dropped the security line and then got up on the rope going to rise of the resistance and it was still a 10 min wait
The wife and I managed to get a sitter for 4 days, so we will be in California (live in Arizona), so we are going to Disney on Saturday. I plan on implementing this strategy that day. We have never been able to do Disney without kids. Should be a good time.
David, you neglect to mention the upfront time cost. In order to get to the front of the rope, you have to be one of the first to the gate. In order to be first at the gate, you have to be on the first tram. In order to be on the first tram you have to be one of the first at the parking kiosk. So be at parking by 6:30 am and wait 30 minutes until it opens. Get to the gate at 7:10 and wait 20 minutes until it opens. Rush to the rope and wait another 25 minutes until drop. You have now spent one hour and twenty minutes before your first ride. The real benefit of spending that time is to avoid the massive crowds that saunter in around 11:00.
All valid points, but getting there early and waiting over an hour while the temp is nice and chill is better than standing in the hot sun on a 90 degree day
I don't need to rush the rope the moment I get in. There may be people in front of me, but not many. The ride lines are still walk-right-through with little to no waiting. I don't need to be the very first person to climb aboard. I just want to avoid standing in line for long periods, and that goal is reached.
David! Thanks for saying hi yesterday on the Matterhorn! We roped dropped space mountain and then went to Matterhorn where we saw you. We also did, big thunder, haunted mansion, splash mountain, Indy, and Rise all before 1pm then headed to DCA. Rope drop is definitely the way to go without genie+. Thanks for your great videos David! I finally made it into one of them aha (I’m the one with the Nike back pack going into Matterhorn)
We used this strategy last week in the park. Bought Genie Plus for afternoon and evening rides. We only get to the parks once a year so want to do rides multiple times. We found it got super busy about 10:30 am. Thank you for you videos we would love to see you on one of our trips. 😀
I love to rope drop. Such a different atmosphere in air. I love doing Indiana Jones, pirates, and haunted mansion. all pretty close to each other and all pretty popular attractions
I was excited and ready to choose your tech, but space Mountain and Indians were closed first till about noon! I’d like to at least thank you for introducing me to the concept of rope job. I’m sure I saved a bit of time.
Loved the Matterhorn in my youth. It literally ruined last half of my Disney trip last year. Jacked up my back! Second half of day 2 gone. Cashed in my chips and spent the rest of the day at DCA drowning my sorrows. It actually wasn’t a total loss. Came back and got a walk in to Blue Bayou!
thank you so much for making this video ! we the day after you made this video and following your tips and recommendations we managed to do most of all the rides we needed to do by 10am !! so again thank you so much !!!
It's been a minute since our last rope drop, notes taken. Great info, thank you, David. 😊 Your happiness at the park is contagious, keep spreading the magic. ❤
Whenever we would rope drop, we use this strategy. Pre-covid we'd head over to DCA after doing all the big DL rides, around 10 or 11am, with fast passes (using max pass) for their biggest attractions and be able to get ALL big resort rides done by noon or 1pm. The inability to park hop until 1:00 has ruined that for us. We also add Haunted Mansion in the early morning mix as that is one of my favorites that I could ride all day long.
I like to close my eyes and remember when you didn't have to pay for genie + to use fast pass and when you paid for park hopper you didn't have to wait until 1pm. Those were good days...
This is my fave way to do my day! We hit Disneyland and get a bunch of big ticket items, then head to DCA for a beverage and people watching. Also, incredicoaster is usually not too bad. 😀
When we rope drop, which is 99% of the time, we hit Alice first thing, followed by Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio. After that it gets a bit more flexible. Sometimes we go straight to the Haunted Mansion, sometimes we hit Indy, depending on the wait times. After that it’s whatever looks best. We rarely go to RoTR that early, since everyone runs there first. But if it’s between 55-75 minutes we’ll do it. One day we rope dropped and ran all across the park “Willy nilly”. We got on everyone of the big ticket rides (minus The Matterhorn) plus all of the Fantasyland rides before 12pm. After that it was lunch, and then casual re-rides of favorites. Rope drop is really the only way to go.
@@user-tq7uw8cn4d - We haven’t bothered with it in ages. We love it, but it’s just not worth the wait unless you’re willing to sacrifice everything else.
Glad you brought up single rider. I usually visit parks on solo trips and I do single rider when possible, though it can be disappointing to miss out on certain queue elements at times. I was surprised to find out that Space Mountain no longer has single rider -- it definitely did on my last visit, and I was so thrilled to essentially walk off the ride and get back into Single Rider. I've done WDW twice now since my last visit to Disneyland, and I'm definitely thinking about Disneyland before I ever do WDW again--it's definitely a different vibe!
My plan for DCA is to RD GotG, then single ride cars (single ride is walk on), and single ride spider man. Then onto increadicoaster, line usually 10 min, swinging gondolas, about 10 min wait, goofy sky school, about 10-15.
Another good time to go on rides is during the night time shows. We were at the parks Dapper Day weekend (also the weekend when the night time show returned) and walked on to Space, Matterhorn, Buzz and Star Tours. Another good time to do Peter Pan is after the fireworks. We did this and only waited about 10 or 15 minutes to ride. We did Rise, got in line at 7:30 pm and were in the Ray room at 8 pm. Post wait was 65 minutes. I am with you FB, do LL rides the first 2 hours, then enjoy everything else. Finish what LL rides you didn’t go on in the evening durning the shows.
As always, great video. We are going down to DL June 3-5 for our Grandson’s first visit! DL on the First day…lots of time in Fantasyland…so excited. We will look for you while we are in The Park
If you love the LL rides and want to do them more than once without long waits def so David’s strategy. Since Genie Plus only allows one time per each ride than best to get there first thing and go without the LL. It makes sense! Do the LL later in the day when the crowds come.
Such great tips! Thank you! I’ve been watching wait times at home and planning a strategy on my own and it’s almost identical to this! I love the idea of a relaxing time at 10am when it starts to fill up in the queues.
Last visit we stayed within walking distance of the entrance. Got in at gate opening. Went to the train station and caught the first train to New Orleans Square (before official rope drop time), jumped on Pirates, and then Haunted Mansion. We were off HM and back in daylight before 9:30AM! Take the train!!! 😀
Oh yeah, and then we went straight over to Indiana Jones. Minimal line, and then the ride broke just as we entered the building. All the guests waiting in the line outside cleared out, and we just hung out at the doorway to the inside queue for about a half hour. Pretty sweet relaxing time with a nice view. Once they fixed it we did the long walk basically by ourselves down to the room where the movie is running.
I went from Space to Indy. Indy was down, so we went on Pirates & a lady on the boat said Indy was back online, so we did that. Then Splash before it got hot, then Smugglers Run, then Rise, then Haunted Mansion - with a fast pass we got when Splash broke down at the end by Briar Rabbit, but couldn't use at Galaxy's Edge, (but they let us go to the front of Smugglers Run anyway, so we didn't miss our boarding time for Rise) & then Big Thunder. We did the Matterhorn after the fireworks, plus single rider twice. Lol! 😂
Got to bring the energy if your going to do the ROTR 1k fun run at rope drop. Last time I did while jogging by a cast member in GE and asking is ROTR even open and they said “that’s a good question”.
The last time I went I was waiting in li e for them to open security which was a crazy thing. I got there before 7 o’clock and I was able to be at the front of the rope drop line
Thanks for the video Fresh Baked. Such a helpful video for a lot of people. I love your reminder to just enjoy Disneyland. We are all in such a hurry, but we need to slow down and enjoy the park for everything that it is, which is a lot more than just attractions!
You arrived at a prime time to get at the rope area for Peter Pan, true if closed it sucks, but Snow White is up across the way. Your choices are also great for the G+ LL users who want to experience those same attractions twice.
I went straight to Star Tours, whose exit is close to the Space Mountain entrance, so that comes next. I'd get 3 Star Tours and 3 Space Mountain rides in one day, and still get to ride everything else.
Thank you so much for your videos! I am so happy I came across your channel. Went to Disneyland this week with my two teenage boys and we absolutely crushed it using your strategy! We were 2nd in line for Hyperspace. We got there at 7:30 a.m. We purchased Genie + but only used it after about 10:30 am Here’s what we did because of doing the rope drop, rope drop you recommended!! Space mountain x 2 Matter horn x 2 Splash mountain x 2 Haunted mansion x 2 Indiana Jones Jungle cruise Millennium Smugglers Rise of the resistance w/ Paid Lightning Autopia Buzz light year A small world Rail road Thunder Alice In Wonderland Tea cups Train ride 1 hour lunch 2 hour nap (in the car :) ) Fantasmic Show (highly recommend it!!) Churro & solvenier shopping purchase
I agree with the getting there early to avoid needing the LIghtnight Lane / Genie+ to maximize your day. In April we did not get the Genie+ at all and were still able to get on absolutely every ride we wanted to. I believe we were able to get on RoR every day that we were there. We found that sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. We just finished lunch at the Hungry Bear and had heard that RoR had just reopened and when we got there it was a walk on. Great info David!
I rope dropped Tower of Terror back in 2015. On a magical morning I was able to be on the first ride of Space Mountain (mostly because I made a friend who let me ride with her)
Love your videos! Your the best for Disneyland advice. If you haven't already, I would love to see you do a video for Disneyland like you did at DCA a few months back, when you did every ride before 2 pm after rope drop. I don't think you can finish every ride before 2 pm, but I would like to see if it is possible to get every ride in before close. Just follow Ron's formula! Once again your awesome!
I always do rope drop arriving at the park usually around 45 minutes before official Park open. I'm just starting the video, so I'm interested to see how your strategy compares to mine. 😄
With 2 younger boys, I think we might have to still rope drop rise. If it’s still a long wait I’ll still have them in the line early in the day when they’re patient lol
I purposely rope dropped Storybook. Not the choice for most I know. But they have an actual book that the first rider gets to sign. My 9 year old thought that writing her name in the official Storybook was the best thing ever. We then did 5 more fantasyland rides in under an hour.
Rope dropped Fantasyland during April break. Walked onto Snow White, Pinocchio, Small World, and the tea cups before waiting 30 minutes for Peter Pan, and then finished off fantasyland with 20 minute waits for Mr. Toad, and Matterhorn. We did Jungle Cruise, Indians Jones and Splash Mountain before lunch and then spent the afternoon exploring Galaxy’s Edge for the first time.
We always rope-drop, and we go left: Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted House, and, before there was Galaxy's Edge, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Sometime we can also do Matterhorn.
I would love to see what you do for rope drop with a toddler who is to small to ride e-ticket rides. My son will be 2 when we go this year (last year we had the grandparents so did big rides) but thinking fantasyland or maybe haunted and pirates.
My son loved haunted but was asleep for pirates so maybe try that and jungle cruise. We rode jungle cruise last time 3/4 of the ride then got to do it in reverse which was cool but my husband has never seen the whole ride
Thank you so much for this strategy! My husband and I are going to try and do this on our next trip. We would do this until 10, eat breakfast, go back to the hotel to change out of the wet clothes, and return to the park to ride rides at 12:30. Do you have a plan of attack for rides from 12:30 to park close?
THANK YOU for these Rope Drop videos!! We visited DL & DCA for the first time last week. We rope-dropped rope drop: got to see the family chosen at the gates for the Welcome and count down from 10 with everyone, which was nice! We were at the Space Mountain rope, but the CM let us know SM would not open with the park at 8 (neither did Rise, BThMtn, and a few others). At least we knew that, vs. people 40 spots back who would find out only after walking. On Tues July 19 We did BLAB Matterhorn BLAB Alice Indy with G+ Big Th Mtn (opened by 9) Jungle Ate a snack from Jolly Holiday mobile order - macaroon 🏔️ & macaron 🔴 😋 Got into our spaceship on SM with G+ at exactly 11:00am We continued through the late MSEP. 🐢💡 It was an amazing day! Super happy! 🏰🐭🚀
I think this is a good strategy for specific situations. If you don't have young kids, don't plan to get Genie+, and are going for one day, then this could be useful. As a vacationer, I obviously want to maximize my time in the parks, but I'll usually get multi-day parkhopper paired with Genie+ and prefer not to go through the stress of waking up early and rushing around all morning tiring myself out early in the day. To each their own though!
Considering that I haven’t done Rise of the Resistance yet, I would personally have gone there first. But then again that puts me at risk having longer lines for other rides like Big Thunder, Space Mountain and Matterhorn. Not sure yet what to do
my family plans by the days we go, we’re doing DL for 3 days and ca for 2, so we usually knock out adventure land then make our way to frontier and the following day go to space or star wars land
I have no choice but to rope drop and run to Peter Pan when we go in a couple weeks. My little one isn’t even tall enough to get on the other fun rides at the beginning.
We learned the hard way that you can rope drop OR magic morning Peter Pan. PRO TIP! On your magic morning, do Alice instead!!!! IF you want to beat that 45 minute line the rest of the day, it's the dark ride to hit (WHEN they bring back Magic Morning).
I was the person who said hi to you at Thunder Mountain queue. I didn’t realize I was interrupting you mid-sentence! 😅
19:00 that kid going "Oh Jeeze, this is fun!" Is awesome.
"Oh jeez, this is fun!" Was soooooo cute!!!
There is nothing better then watching a man who loves his craft and goes to "work" with a big smile on his face. David you are living the dream!
the first 2 hours at disneyland are HUGE. the peter pan rope drop is hella fun to watch though. i was at the front of the line a few weeks ago and got lapped and almost trampled by the masses. 😂 i've talked to a few CM's in fantasyland about that and they've said that they've seen their lives flash before their eyes at times. it's pretty crazy! lol
Minus Splash Mountain, that's what we do every morning! You have to start your day at Space Mountain, it gets you jazzed up!! 😀
Awww. that kid's voice toward the end of Big Thunder saying "oh jeez, this is fun!" LOL! That's what life's about, man! :)
I was there last Wednesday, I was FIRST on Space Mountain. It was awesome!
FreshBaked, David. Well this was a surprise. Who knew people were awake at this time of day and also out and about. Sunday, your not supposed to be up before 11a.m. I'm going back to bed to try and get my head around all of this. Cheers, Chris Perry.
David I get just as much joy as you when I hear “Fresh Baked !” As you travel through the park.
Thanks David. Did rope drop at Adventureland and was first on Pirates of the Caribbean. Got an entire boat all by ourselves. The BEST!
That is a dream! How cool!
I’ve been looking forward to this video all day. I consider myself a rope drop expert. It’s always how I have done Disneyland. I LOVE rope drop
Love your videos, but my rope drop strategy was the opposite of yours. I hit all of the non LL attractions I could at rope drop before the crowds came and used Lightning Lanes later for the big attractions. It worked great! I had short waits for everything I went on. I think your strategy is good if you don’t care about Fantasyland as much or are willing to go to Fantasyland late at night when the crowds start thinning out. But Fantasyland in the late morning and afternoon has long waits for almost everything and strollers everywhere.
You missed the point. His strategy is for people NOT paying for Genie+. That gets expensive for large families
Fantasyland attraction wait times are usually 15-35 minutes during the day (Peter Pan can get to 50). Meanwhile, the waits for the E-tickets are usually 60+. So the time savings by rope dropping E-tickets is much greater. I went on Saturday and did, Rise, Indy, BTMRR, Mansion, Splash, Pooh, and Space by 10:30. After that the rest of the day was a breeze because I could largely avoid the crowds trying to do E-tickets. Combining Genie+ basically allows you the ability to do the big attractions 2-3 times. It really depends on your goals though. If you have little kids, then it makes sense to rope drop Fantasyland.
@@Maxx-carnage Possibly. I never heard him say that it was to avoid paying for GENIE+. I thought it was well worth every penny.
Screw genie+. Waste of money. Always hit the long line rides first, hit everything else in mid-day, then the big rides again late in the evening when lines get smaller. Save your money for the $12 burgers and $6 cokes.
@@dankohlmeier6081 7:25 he says it
David I had so much fun rope dropping Disney with you this morning hahaha. Also super happy you have a new sponsor!
My wife and I did do Rise of the Resistance on rope drop one day and were done and off the ride in less that 40 minutes.
Never been at Disney solo and I’m going in a week for 4 days alone and I plan on using rope drop + genie plus to ride as much and eat as much as I possible can while I’m there with no friends to slow me down lol thanks for this!
Use single rider for rides that have it if you don't want to pay G+, LL each day
How was it doing the rope drop plus genie+ was it super benefit or it was okay? Planning on going solo too
@@nf325 yes single rider was a huuuge time saver!!
@@germanleon2775 I didn’t really need to use G+ that early but some of the bigger rides fill up available wait times quick so by 830 or 9 I could book a LL for a ride at like 10 when the park started to get busy
@@germanleon2775 but also a lot of rides have single rider and once I started jumping on that I would say it probably would have been just fine without G+
Im old school i hit pirates and haunted mansion. My 2 favorites so the rest of the day is frosting on the cake.😊❤
Genius way to end the video watching everyone walk into the park!
I watched This video, Sitting next to the millennium falcon. 😎 I love watching fresh baked while in the park 🤩
I’m not a morning person. But wow!!! Being able to enjoy the rest of your day is soooo tempting!!
You'll be a zombie by 8 pm tho...
Always said Space Mtn is better than a cup of coffee in the am ;) Also, when we do rope drop right, there’s never time for coffee! We are so not morning people. I try to get a Carnation res by 10:30 and have coffee with breakfast. It’s so nice to sit down & rest by then.
Heyyy I saw you yesterday with my dad (He was in the wheelchair with the yellow safety vest) when you were getting off the omnibus bus. After a year of following you, we finally saw you in the park!! YAY!! We've been in the park at the same time but never had the pleasure of spotting you to say hi. :) We had some time left before we had to leave, but we decided to just leave instead of trying to squeeze anoth er ride in, and then we saw you, which just made our morning! :D
We also kinda "roped" dropped yesterday !!! :D I went to Space Moutain after we rode in on the Monorail into Disneyland. it was a 28 min wait when I got in line at 8:11. I rode space mount on Thursday with my friend at 10:15am and it was a 30 min wait. When I saw the line after I stopped walking in the queue it was a little longer than when I waited on Thursday but I figured there wasn't going to be many LL passes going through so I figured it was going to be the same time I waited a few days earlier and I was right it was a little less than 30 mins!
Always fun to see your videos and looking forward to enjoying what you have planned for future videos too!
OHH also, you can hear my dad yell freshbaked in the background at 21:11 when you are saying thank you. hehehehee
The last time I went to Disney I rope dropped the security line and then got up on the rope going to rise of the resistance and it was still a 10 min wait
We are Peter Pan people at rope drop but you are right. Have to get at the front of the line!!
We're going in August for the first time in 7 years so this is perfect timing for everything new.
The wife and I managed to get a sitter for 4 days, so we will be in California (live in Arizona), so we are going to Disney on Saturday. I plan on implementing this strategy that day. We have never been able to do Disney without kids. Should be a good time.
He also didn't mention towards closing the lines are short as well just some more info for u
If I didn’t have young children I think your strategy is the way to go!!! This was just perfect! Thanks for having big groups in mind and families!
That’s my worries. I have a 6 year old will she be tall enough for space mountain ?
@@khails7950 40inches is the height requirement for space mountain. Get out a measuring tape and a wall/ pencil.
David, you neglect to mention the upfront time cost. In order to get to the front of the rope, you have to be one of the first to the gate. In order to be first at the gate, you have to be on the first tram. In order to be on the first tram you have to be one of the first at the parking kiosk. So be at parking by 6:30 am and wait 30 minutes until it opens. Get to the gate at 7:10 and wait 20 minutes until it opens. Rush to the rope and wait another 25 minutes until drop. You have now spent one hour and twenty minutes before your first ride. The real benefit of spending that time is to avoid the massive crowds that saunter in around 11:00.
All valid points, but getting there early and waiting over an hour while the temp is nice and chill is better than standing in the hot sun on a 90 degree day
Hamilton, you must be a carpenter. Cus you nailed it.
I don't need to rush the rope the moment I get in. There may be people in front of me, but not many. The ride lines are still walk-right-through with little to no waiting. I don't need to be the very first person to climb aboard. I just want to avoid standing in line for long periods, and that goal is reached.
Save park time.
But crouds come at 11:00
David! Thanks for saying hi yesterday on the Matterhorn! We roped dropped space mountain and then went to Matterhorn where we saw you. We also did, big thunder, haunted mansion, splash mountain, Indy, and Rise all before 1pm then headed to DCA. Rope drop is definitely the way to go without genie+. Thanks for your great videos David! I finally made it into one of them aha (I’m the one with the Nike back pack going into Matterhorn)
We used this strategy last week in the park. Bought Genie Plus for afternoon and evening rides. We only get to the parks once a year so want to do rides multiple times. We found it got super busy about 10:30 am. Thank you for you videos we would love to see you on one of our trips. 😀
I did a gate drop when me and my mom went in April! First time I did that and it was definitely not the last time! What an experience that was. ❤️
I love to rope drop. Such a different atmosphere in air. I love doing Indiana Jones, pirates, and haunted mansion. all pretty close to each other and all pretty popular attractions
I was excited and ready to choose your tech, but space Mountain and Indians were closed first till about noon! I’d like to at least thank you for introducing me to the concept of rope job. I’m sure I saved a bit of time.
I went last Sunday. I rope dropped Hyperspace and then used my LL to ride it again later. One of my favorite rides
Keep up the great work and reviews you do. Your recommendations are always welcomed and helpful. Would like you to do a Disney cruise someday!
Loved the Matterhorn in my youth. It literally ruined last half of my Disney trip last year. Jacked up my back! Second half of day 2 gone. Cashed in my chips and spent the rest of the day at DCA drowning my sorrows. It actually wasn’t a total loss. Came back and got a walk in to Blue Bayou!
I find that not leaning back on Matterhorn (sitting up and holding the bar) is a lot easier on my back.
thank you so much for making this video ! we the day after you made this video and following your tips and recommendations we managed to do most of all the rides we needed to do by 10am !! so again thank you so much !!!
you're welcome! glad to hear everything worked well for you :)
This video was a masterpiece, epic ending ride down Main Street. Well done my friend 👍
We just did rope drop and hit toad,Alice, Matterhorn, space mountain,star tours, buzz and then had a late breakfast
It's been a minute since our last rope drop, notes taken. Great info, thank you, David. 😊 Your happiness at the park is contagious, keep spreading the magic. ❤
Whenever we would rope drop, we use this strategy. Pre-covid we'd head over to DCA after doing all the big DL rides, around 10 or 11am, with fast passes (using max pass) for their biggest attractions and be able to get ALL big resort rides done by noon or 1pm. The inability to park hop until 1:00 has ruined that for us. We also add Haunted Mansion in the early morning mix as that is one of my favorites that I could ride all day long.
I know, the 1 pm rule really throws a wrench into things!
If you buy Genie+ then the 1pm switch isn't so bad because you pay for it once but use it in both parks.
I like to close my eyes and remember when you didn't have to pay for genie + to use fast pass and when you paid for park hopper you didn't have to wait until 1pm.
Those were good days...
We always run past Thunder mt and hit rise of resistance after you can get at least 6 rides done
Big Thunder should have been before Splash. Splash does not build up until 10am. Could have also added Mansion before Splash.
just what i needed. we are going to be there tomorrow 😊😊😊😊💕💕
Thanks David! My wife and I have a trip to the parks in July! Coming from Seattle. This helps out!
Thank you David! Great advice, planning a trip to DL in October, will def do rope drop 🎉
This is my fave way to do my day! We hit Disneyland and get a bunch of big ticket items, then head to DCA for a beverage and people watching. Also, incredicoaster is usually not too bad. 😀
Was there Sunday just after rope drop. Still made the rides I wanted in really good time. 👍
When we rope drop, which is 99% of the time, we hit Alice first thing, followed by Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio. After that it gets a bit more flexible. Sometimes we go straight to the Haunted Mansion, sometimes we hit Indy, depending on the wait times. After that it’s whatever looks best. We rarely go to RoTR that early, since everyone runs there first. But if it’s between 55-75 minutes we’ll do it. One day we rope dropped and ran all across the park “Willy nilly”. We got on everyone of the big ticket rides (minus The Matterhorn) plus all of the Fantasyland rides before 12pm. After that it was lunch, and then casual re-rides of favorites. Rope drop is really the only way to go.
You can do all of fantasy land in less than 30 min if you skip PP.
@@user-tq7uw8cn4d - We haven’t bothered with it in ages. We love it, but it’s just not worth the wait unless you’re willing to sacrifice everything else.
Glad you brought up single rider. I usually visit parks on solo trips and I do single rider when possible, though it can be disappointing to miss out on certain queue elements at times. I was surprised to find out that Space Mountain no longer has single rider -- it definitely did on my last visit, and I was so thrilled to essentially walk off the ride and get back into Single Rider. I've done WDW twice now since my last visit to Disneyland, and I'm definitely thinking about Disneyland before I ever do WDW again--it's definitely a different vibe!
Can you do one for DCA? Thank you for all that you do!
My plan for DCA is to RD GotG, then single ride cars (single ride is walk on), and single ride spider man. Then onto increadicoaster, line usually 10 min, swinging gondolas, about 10 min wait, goofy sky school, about 10-15.
He did one a few months ago
Another good time to go on rides is during the night time shows. We were at the parks Dapper Day weekend (also the weekend when the night time show returned) and walked on to Space, Matterhorn, Buzz and Star Tours. Another good time to do Peter Pan is after the fireworks. We did this and only waited about 10 or 15 minutes to ride. We did Rise, got in line at 7:30 pm and were in the Ray room at 8 pm. Post wait was 65 minutes. I am with you FB, do LL rides the first 2 hours, then enjoy everything else. Finish what LL rides you didn’t go on in the evening durning the shows.
can you make a video on how to maximize the time waiting in line, meaning how to go on the least amount of attractions due to waiting in line
As always, great video. We are going down to DL June 3-5 for our Grandson’s first visit! DL on the First day…lots of time in Fantasyland…so excited. We will look for you while we are in The Park
If you love the LL rides and want to do them more than once without long waits def so David’s strategy. Since Genie Plus only allows one time per each ride than best to get there first thing and go without the LL. It makes sense! Do the LL later in the day when the crowds come.
Such great tips! Thank you! I’ve been watching wait times at home and planning a strategy on my own and it’s almost identical to this! I love the idea of a relaxing time at 10am when it starts to fill up in the queues.
Last visit we stayed within walking distance of the entrance. Got in at gate opening. Went to the train station and caught the first train to New Orleans Square (before official rope drop time), jumped on Pirates, and then Haunted Mansion. We were off HM and back in daylight before 9:30AM! Take the train!!! 😀
Oh yeah, and then we went straight over to Indiana Jones. Minimal line, and then the ride broke just as we entered the building. All the guests waiting in the line outside cleared out, and we just hung out at the doorway to the inside queue for about a half hour. Pretty sweet relaxing time with a nice view. Once they fixed it we did the long walk basically by ourselves down to the room where the movie is running.
Awesome video!!! Thank you David!!!! Love your hat!!!!
I went from Space to Indy. Indy was down, so we went on Pirates & a lady on the boat said Indy was back online, so we did that. Then Splash before it got hot, then Smugglers Run, then Rise, then Haunted Mansion - with a fast pass we got when Splash broke down at the end by Briar Rabbit, but couldn't use at Galaxy's Edge, (but they let us go to the front of Smugglers Run anyway, so we didn't miss our boarding time for Rise) & then Big Thunder. We did the Matterhorn after the fireworks, plus single rider twice. Lol! 😂
Got to bring the energy if your going to do the ROTR 1k fun run at rope drop. Last time I did while jogging by a cast member in GE and asking is ROTR even open and they said “that’s a good question”.
The last time I went I was waiting in li e for them to open security which was a crazy thing. I got there before 7 o’clock and I was able to be at the front of the rope drop line
Rope drop for DCA? Would love that! We are doing that in November for our kiddos Birthday 🎉
He did one a few months ago
Thanks for the video Fresh Baked. Such a helpful video for a lot of people. I love your reminder to just enjoy Disneyland. We are all in such a hurry, but we need to slow down and enjoy the park for everything that it is, which is a lot more than just attractions!
Great video! Thanks for the tips fresh baked
Love this we used to do fantasyland at rope drop when the kids were little but now I might change it up to this!! Can you also do one for CA ADV?
He has a dca rope drop video. Few months ago
@@jennifermcneil9432 oh I must have missed. It back in time I go!
Are you able to do rider swap in fantasyland? Im taking my 8month old
@@silvialopez5541 all Fantasyland rides have no height requirements so your 8 month old will be able to go on as long as you're comfortable with it.
can you do this at DCA?
Thanks for the tip. I'm in 25 Days with my daughter. This will be her first time. Need all the advice I can get before I go.
Great video David, great tips! My family and I coming to Disneyland for our annual family trip there in two weeks, hope to meet you!
@FreshBaked!
You arrived at a prime time to get at the rope area for Peter Pan, true if closed it sucks, but Snow White is up across the way. Your choices are also great for the G+ LL users who want to experience those same attractions twice.
I went straight to Star Tours, whose exit is close to the Space Mountain entrance, so that comes next. I'd get 3 Star Tours and 3 Space Mountain rides in one day, and still get to ride everything else.
This video is great! This will help me so much during our first visit in a few weeks
Thank you so much for your videos! I am so happy I came across your channel. Went to Disneyland this week with my two teenage boys and we absolutely crushed it using your strategy! We were 2nd in line for Hyperspace. We got there at 7:30 a.m. We purchased Genie + but only used it after about 10:30 am
Here’s what we did because of doing the rope drop, rope drop you recommended!!
Space mountain x 2
Matter horn x 2
Splash mountain x 2
Haunted mansion x 2
Indiana Jones
Jungle cruise
Millennium Smugglers
Rise of the resistance w/ Paid Lightning
Autopia
Buzz light year
A small world
Rail road Thunder
Alice In Wonderland
Tea cups
Train ride
1 hour lunch
2 hour nap (in the car :) )
Fantasmic Show (highly recommend it!!)
Churro & solvenier shopping purchase
I agree with the getting there early to avoid needing the LIghtnight Lane / Genie+ to maximize your day. In April we did not get the Genie+ at all and were still able to get on absolutely every ride we wanted to. I believe we were able to get on RoR every day that we were there. We found that sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. We just finished lunch at the Hungry Bear and had heard that RoR had just reopened and when we got there it was a walk on. Great info David!
I rope dropped Tower of Terror back in 2015.
On a magical morning I was able to be on the first ride of Space Mountain (mostly because I made a friend who let me ride with her)
This is what we do every time.. I really don’t want to let the secret out though lol
Do you have a video for rope drop at Disney California adventures?
Love your videos! Your the best for Disneyland advice. If you haven't already, I would love to see you do a video for Disneyland like you did at DCA a few months back, when you did every ride before 2 pm after rope drop. I don't think you can finish every ride before 2 pm, but I would like to see if it is possible to get every ride in before close. Just follow Ron's formula! Once again your awesome!
I always do rope drop arriving at the park usually around 45 minutes before official Park open. I'm just starting the video, so I'm interested to see how your strategy compares to mine. 😄
With 2 younger boys, I think we might have to still rope drop rise. If it’s still a long wait I’ll still have them in the line early in the day when they’re patient lol
My rope drop is always Gate drop and Mickey & Friends parking structure drop
So does Indy just about break your back like it does mine?
I do pretty much reverse rope drop. After fireworks park empties and my fam gets on pretty much everything
Nice show, great advice/strategy!
I purposely rope dropped Storybook. Not the choice for most I know. But they have an actual book that the first rider gets to sign. My 9 year old thought that writing her name in the official Storybook was the best thing ever. We then did 5 more fantasyland rides in under an hour.
Rope dropped Fantasyland during April break. Walked onto Snow White, Pinocchio, Small World, and the tea cups before waiting 30 minutes for Peter Pan, and then finished off fantasyland with 20 minute waits for Mr. Toad, and Matterhorn. We did Jungle Cruise, Indians Jones and Splash Mountain before lunch and then spent the afternoon exploring Galaxy’s Edge for the first time.
We always rope-drop, and we go left: Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted House, and, before there was Galaxy's Edge, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Sometime we can also do Matterhorn.
Spending 4 days at DL/DCA in July. I get there when I get there. No need for strategy when you have time. I am usually there around 8:30am.
After going to Magic Kingdom, 30 mins for Peter Pan sounds like a dream.
what is the best strategy for rope drop if you do have genie+?
Which would be a faster way to get to Space Mountain?
Rope Drop Monorail into Tomorrowland, or ropedrop in the hub at the Tomorrowland entrance?
I would love to see what you do for rope drop with a toddler who is to small to ride e-ticket rides. My son will be 2 when we go this year (last year we had the grandparents so did big rides) but thinking fantasyland or maybe haunted and pirates.
We rope dropped fantasyland with small kids and it was perfect! Got them all in in an hour and a half!
With a toddler none of this matters
My son loved haunted but was asleep for pirates so maybe try that and jungle cruise. We rode jungle cruise last time 3/4 of the ride then got to do it in reverse which was cool but my husband has never seen the whole ride
@@FreshBakedDisney I would love to see you do a video with a toddler at some point though
What time is Mickey and Friends parking lot opening these days? Is it still only 1/2 hour before the park opens?
I believe now it is an hour, but it's been a little while since i've tested this.
7:00 am
@@larrykramer2761 thanks!
@@FreshBakedDisney okay thanks so much! Not sure we will make it that early, but it is worth a try!
I haven't done rope drop in a long time
Thank you so much for this strategy! My husband and I are going to try and do this on our next trip. We would do this until 10, eat breakfast, go back to the hotel to change out of the wet clothes, and return to the park to ride rides at 12:30. Do you have a plan of attack for rides from 12:30 to park close?
THANK YOU for these Rope Drop videos!!
We visited DL & DCA for the first time last week.
We rope-dropped rope drop: got to see the family chosen at the gates for the Welcome and count down from 10 with everyone, which was nice!
We were at the Space Mountain rope, but the CM let us know SM would not open with the park at 8 (neither did Rise, BThMtn, and a few others). At least we knew that, vs. people 40 spots back who would find out only after walking.
On Tues July 19
We did
BLAB
Matterhorn
BLAB
Alice
Indy with G+
Big Th Mtn (opened by 9)
Jungle
Ate a snack from Jolly Holiday mobile order - macaroon 🏔️ & macaron 🔴 😋
Got into our spaceship on SM with G+ at exactly 11:00am
We continued through the late MSEP. 🐢💡
It was an amazing day! Super happy! 🏰🐭🚀
I think this is a good strategy for specific situations. If you don't have young kids, don't plan to get Genie+, and are going for one day, then this could be useful. As a vacationer, I obviously want to maximize my time in the parks, but I'll usually get multi-day parkhopper paired with Genie+ and prefer not to go through the stress of waking up early and rushing around all morning tiring myself out early in the day. To each their own though!
Considering that I haven’t done Rise of the Resistance yet, I would personally have gone there first. But then again that puts me at risk having longer lines for other rides like Big Thunder, Space Mountain and Matterhorn. Not sure yet what to do
my family plans by the days we go, we’re doing DL for 3 days and ca for 2, so we usually knock out adventure land then make our way to frontier and the following day go to space or star wars land
@@plague_android6773 awesome!! Unfortunately for me i’ll only doing one day lol 😂
We always rope drop the rope drop. We’re too excited to sleep!
I have no choice but to rope drop and run to Peter Pan when we go in a couple weeks. My little one isn’t even tall enough to get on the other fun rides at the beginning.
We learned the hard way that you can rope drop OR magic morning Peter Pan. PRO TIP! On your magic morning, do Alice instead!!!! IF you want to beat that 45 minute line the rest of the day, it's the dark ride to hit (WHEN they bring back Magic Morning).