Don’t Do These Things at Disneyland Rope Drop! These Are the 4 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid

Without a doubt, arriving for “rope drop” at Disneyland is one of the best ways you can maximize your time. This is the act of arriving early in the morning before the ropes blocking off the various access points to the lands are first dropped at the beginning of the day. Guests of the Disneyland Resort hotels get an extra head start in the mornings as part of Early Entry, with 30 minutes to enjoy attractions ahead of park opening. By taking advantage of the early morning hours, you can enjoy a less crowded park and shorter wait times for your favorite attractions before the majority of guests arrive!

However, even if you intend on arriving for rope drop, there are unfortunately some mistakes that can derail your success. These are the four things we see visitors do during rope drop that you should avoid if you want to make the most of your trip!

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Not Accounting for Transportation Time and Security

Hands-down, the biggest mistake you can make in the mornings is neglecting to build in time for transportation and getting through security! There is no worse feeling than getting up extra early only to miss rope drop or Early Entry because you didn't plan transportation time into your morning. If you underestimate the travel time it takes to get to the parks, you may not only miss rope drop but also an entire chunk of the morning in extreme cases.

Make sure you account for the time it will take to walk from your hotel to Disneyland, and if you're taking the ART Shuttle, you'll want to allow even more time depending on where your hotel is on the bus route and how many stops are being made. On top of that, you'll want to dedicate at least 15 minutes to getting through security, but it's always safe to assume it may take longer. The bag-checking system here takes up a lot of time because it's all done manually, so it's a slow process.

If you're driving to Disneyland and parking in the structure, you'll want to dedicate a good chunk of time to getting through the line, parking, and taking the tram over—up to 30 minutes or more. It's not uncommon to see an influx of cars in the parking lot around 8 am, filled with visitors who were likely aiming to arrive by park opening but ended up late to the game due to not accounting for these delays.

Sitting Down for Breakfast

Another huge mistake is sitting down for a leisurely breakfast in the morning! There's nothing that makes us sadder than seeing people miss all they could accomplish in the early morning hours by sitting down at a table-service meal during this time. This is a big reason why in our guide to Disneyland character dining, we recommend scheduling these longer sit-down meals later in the morning as a brunch or planning them for your arrival or departure day.

Instead of spending these valuable morning hours missing out on rides, we recommend having a light breakfast in your room with groceries you've ordered or getting a grab-and-go item to eat as you're waiting to be let into the parks, then circling back to a proper meal around 10:30 am/11 am or so as a break once the crowds start coming in and you have finished rope dropping all of the major attractions. See our Mickey Visit best Disneyland restaurants we'd recommend here! In general, it's always a good idea to strategically time your table-service dining reservations to escape the crowds.

Not Making Lightning Lane Reservations in the Morning

Even though you'll accomplish a lot via the standby lines during rope drop, you still don't want to completely neglect Disneyland Lightning Lane Multi Pass! It's unfortunately very easy to underuse this service in the mornings or make some decisions that end up holding up your availability to book more Lightning Lane reservations.

You can understandably get distracted during rope drop when you're walking onto ride after ride, but don't forget to book your first Lightning Lane reservation when you enter the park! In the morning, return times will generally be pretty immediate, but this is good because you can keep chugging along, redeeming your selections and booking the next. If you wait, you may find yourself held up by a later-than-ideal Lightning Lane return window that holds up your availability. Balancing how you tackle standby lines during rope drop with Lightning Lane reservations is an art, which is why we have the best strategy detailed in our Disneyland 1-day itinerary and Disney California Adventure 1-day itinerary that you can refer to.

Going Straight for the Most Popular Attractions

Lastly, it can be a big mistake to go straight for the attractions in the highest demand unless you are at the very front of the pack. Guests who have Early Entry to the parks will already have a head start on these attractions, so if you are not in this group, it's not a good idea to run straight for these rides at rope drop. If you're not at the front of the crowd, you'll likely end up stuck in a long wait for just one ride, which will eat up all of the valuable early morning time that you could be spending enjoying several other attractions!

Many rush to the two Disneyland Lightning Lane Single Pass rides, Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers, so wait times spike in the morning right off the bat. If you're not at the front of the pack for Early Entry, you're much better off tackling these rides later in the evening to make the most of your valuable park time. See our Disneyland evening strategy for the best order to go in to get to the popular rides!

While these Disneyland rope drop mistakes can throw your plans for a loop, thankfully, they are very avoidable if you come prepared and know what to look out for!

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