Honestly, it depends. The only time that we have ever been a
by kellykapowski (2021-11-29 13:24:59)

In reply to: Btw what type of DL morning person are you?  posted by vermin05


rope drop straight to Galaxy's Edge was when Smugglers Run opened. We were there for Day 1 of that. We also rode ROTR on Day 1, as well as multiple times since. When we last went on Monday, it was the first day of ROTR becoming standby only. Since we've ridden it so many times, we didn't bother to wait.

Prior to our most recent 3 visits over the past 2 weeks, we always headed straight to Tomorrowland and hit Space Mtn and Matterhorn a few times before we would make our way to Haunted Mansion (if it was during the decorated Nightmare Before Christmas overlay). These past 3 times, my almost 8 year old son was FINALLY tall enough to ride Indiana Jones, so we went straight there and rode those a couple times before making the short trek over to the holiday Haunted Mansion. We've never been the type to hit Fantasyland first. The only ride with a decent line is Peter Pan and it seems as those with very little kids tend to hit those rides first. There is a sweet spot around 12:30 pm, during lunch, when parents tend to take their small kids back to the hotel to nap/ walk them around while napping in the stroller, and before park hoppers can park hop starting at 1:00 pm when Peter Pan has maybe a 15 minute wait... and I'll caveat this by saying this is during the busiest part of the year - holiday season. After park hopping is available, Peter Pan's line really never shortens until about 45 minutes before the park closes... if the park closes at 10:00 pm or later.

At DCA, our rope drop plan is go to directly to Radiator Springs Racers. If that's unavailable due to it being temporarily closed, we hit Guardians of the Galaxy and ride that multiple times in a row. For whatever reason, despite it having one of the longest wait times throughout the day, it's always dead during the first hour. Radiator Spring Racers, on the other hand, instantly hits 45 minutes right at rope drop and never gets shorter unless it's temporarily closed for a long enough period that people get out of line. If this happens, we walk over and see how the repairs are going. CMs never tell us anything, but it's easy to see if the cars are being tested. Also, once you see CMs riding during testing, it's a safe bet that the ride will imminently open.

If Radiator Springs Racers and Guardians aren't open at rope drop for whatever reason, we hit Soarin.' We always wait for the front row in the center of the 3 sections. There are no feet dangling above us and the view isn't skewed due to our location and the wraparound display.

If Spiderman hits a wait time of under 45 minutes, we'll wait for that. We've ridden it a few times and they removed it's virtual queue months ago. It's not worth waiting a ridiculous amount of time for. Additionally, the queue was designed very poorly. It's entirely outdoors with almost zero shade. When it's hot, it makes the long wait brutal. While the ride is cool, I think they should have made it longer with more than just 4 screens. I would be happier with it if it had the same number of screens as Toy Story Mania.

None of this applies if it's a day when the kids pick everything. Rope drop for Autopia? Eyeroll, but totally fine. My oldest, who is 9, is much better with making smart rope drop time management decisions, but my little guy isn't. Frankly, if Tom Sawyer's Island opened at rope drop, they both would choose to go straight there and play hide and go seek until they got hungry or thirsty.