November 30, 2023 • 31 mins
You've been to Disneyland, experienced the magical rides, and watched the enchanting shows, but have you ever wondered about the secret behind maximizing your park visit? Allow us to demystify the concept of the Disneyland rope drop! Joined by Leo, co-founder of Always Thriving, we delve into the ins and outs of this tradition. From defining what rope drop is and why it's named so, to advising on the best rides to rope drop, we offer a comprehensive guide to beat the morning rush and enjoy your favorite attractions without the crowd.
We discuss the pros and cons of rope dropping famous attractions like Rise of the Resistance and Peter Pan, and talk about how Genie Plus changes the rope dropping game. We share our personal experiences and strategies for arriving early and having a backup plan to ensure a smooth and enjoyable visit.
Links:
Follow Leo on Instagram and TikTok
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Today we are talking about the thing that has talked
about so much on TikTok andInstagram, and that is rope drop
.
So if you've never been toDisneyland before or you've
never done rope drop before,this episode is going to
basically be a tutorial in whatto do and what we don't think
maybe you need to do for ropedrop.
So I have Leo from AlwaysThriving on TikTok, one of the
(00:55):
co-founders of that.
He is awesome.
He goes to Disney all the time,just like me, and both of us
have annual passes right now,but we've both had many years of
our lives where we didn't haveannual passes, and so when you
don't have an annual pass, youreally have to maximize those
days a little bit more,especially if you're a Disney
adult and you have like 12 ridesthat you love and can't miss.
(01:17):
So we're going to talk a littlebit about rope drop when to use
it.
We might even throw itsometimes on when to skip rope
drop as well.
So, leo, can you tell us alittle bit about your love and
history and experience withDisneyland?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, of course.
Thank you so much for having methis morning.
So Disney and Disneyland hasalways been a part of my life,
more so as I got older.
I didn't go so much when I wasyounger, but now, as an adult,
with adult money, we are able togo as often as we can.
So, like you said, this year wefinally have magic keys and so
we've been going as much as wecan, and so as a family we've
(01:52):
gone later in life, and so it'sreally nice for us to enjoy all
of these things.
And, like you said, I'm part ofAlways Thriving on TikTok with
my cousin Bree and we just postall of our fun adventures, all
of the food, how to rope drop,how to do fun things, different
rides to do.
So that's kind of where we'reat.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So let's go ahead and start off by what is rope drop?
And why is it called that?
Because it's kind of one ofthose weird Disney terminologies
that I think a lot of peoplejust kind of throw around.
But if you are not used toDisney terminology you're like
do we all play tug of war?
What is happening here?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, yeah, so rope drop.
There's an actual rope atDisneyland that is dropped once
you are allowed to enter intothe different parts of the park,
and so you would get thereearly they would let you in and
they allow you to, about rightin front of the castle, to go
into the different lands, and oneach of them they're blocked
(02:46):
off by cast members and by arope.
And then at eight o'clockthere's a magical greeting that
comes on, welcomes you to thepark, and the ropes are dropped
and you are able to go into thepark and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And if you're staying at one of the Disneyland hotels
, then you actually get inbefore that.
Yes, you do, and with rope drop.
Basically, you know the parkopens at eight, then they let
you in to Main Street at 730.
And people who are like I'mgoing to get as many rides in as
possible, they will go straightand they will wait for that 30
(03:19):
minutes right in front of theland that they want to head to.
And when they drop the rope,everybody walks.
It is entertaining just towatch people try to power walk
without getting in trouble,because you're not allowed to
run.
People take it very seriously.
So I don't know about you, butif I had a little one that was
walking and not in a stroller, Iwould probably wait till that
(03:39):
initial section goes.
It can be a little intense.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, people are really serious and there are
very, very intense quote speedwalkers that are going through
those things.
So if you do have little ones,hang to the side for a second or
pick them up and walk with them.
If you don't have a stroller,because I mean it is a crowd and
there is a group of people andyou always have to be safely in
the park because you never knowwhat's going to happen.
(04:03):
But that is a very intense timein the morning but it's a
really fun time becauseeveryone's just super excited to
be in the parks and to do someof the fun things that they want
to do.
So it's an intense time butit's really fun too.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It doesn't make it sound very much fun.
The reason people rope drop isbecause there are two times of
the day when the lines are theshortest, and that is the first
two hours of the park open andthe last two hours before park
closes, especially if you'retrying to avoid paying for a
Genie Plus, which a Genie Plusis.
Basically you pay to be in ashorter, faster moving line.
(04:37):
So if you're not going to dothat and there's lines that you
know are going to be long, likeSpace Mountain, Indiana Jones,
Rise of the Resistance, PeterPan then a lot of people will
say let's go in line right awayfor these rides before the lines
get long, and then that willgive us more time in the parks
to do other things.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, a lot of people love Disney and Disneyland, so a
lot of people go.
But, like you said, in themorning the wait times for these
rides are so much shorter, andso it's a good way to get in as
many rides as you can in themorning if you're going for the
day or just for a couple days,or if you have little ones and
all their energies in themorning to get things done for
nap time.
It's such a great time to goand just experience it, because
(05:18):
on some of them you could reallyjust walk on to some of the
rides which you won't be able tolater in the day.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yes, so I mean, space Mountain might have a 70 minute
wait time the rest of the day.
You might be able to get on in15 minutes and then go ride a
couple of other attractionsnearby.
Kind of knock a bunch of thingsoff your list very quickly.
Yes, I would love to hear, like, when do you decide to rope
drop and when do you decide notto rope drop?
Because I have, like myinternal criteria, but I'd love
(05:44):
to hear what yours is.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I know so.
I am a avid rope dropper and Irope drop so many times, acting
like it's the last time I'mgoing to be at the parks.
But there is some things tothink about if you're going to
rope drop.
If you're not going to ropedrop, if I'm going there for
just like a day, or a day or two, and there's something new
(06:08):
that's out, or I want to do allthe rides that I want to do in
the morning because I want to gosee this show in the afternoon,
then I will, for sure, ropedrop.
If I'm going with someone thathasn't really been there, or
they're not going to be therefor a while, I will strongly
encourage them to rope drop ifthey're able to get up early in
the morning, just so they canmaximize what they're spending
at the parks.
(06:29):
And you're going there to go onthese fun rides and to do as
much as you can, and so, kind oflike, right, there is how I
would decide if I'm going torope drop or I'm going to
encourage my group to rope dropwith me.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And you know my criteria is pretty much the same
.
It's like if we're going to bethere one day or less, or I'm
going with somebody who doesn'thave an annual pass, or we're
going with somebody who, like,wants to do all of the thrill
rides and things that need to bein right away, or if we're
going around like a busy timeperiod.
So if you're going aroundThanksgiving, the week between
Christmas and New Year, ifyou're going, then you know, may
(07:01):
the force be with you.
You know different times likethat then will rope drop.
I don't know about you, but Ikind of also have this other
rule If you rope drop, you alsoneed a nappy time.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Oh yeah, so me and my cousin that do our TikTok
together we are opposite, so Iam ready to go at like whatever
time in the morning we decided,and she always, like, gets up,
looks at me, like are you surewe're going to rope drop today,
hoping that I say no and I'mready.
And so, depending on how hardwe're going in the morning, I
definitely come back to thehotel room, take a nap,
(07:36):
decompress might change into adifferent outfit if we need to
and then we go back, because inthe morning we already did so
many things that we wanted to dobecause we'd rope dropped.
So now we can go back in theafternoon and just kind of relax
and do some more things, or gosee a show, or, if we have
reservations somewhere, we don'thave to rush or run around and
we're able just to enjoy itafter that.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you know, I know that it seems counterintuitive.
If the whole point of rope dropis to maximize the number of
hours you have in the park, whywould you go home and take a nap
?
The reason is that if the parkopens at eight, then you have
until about ten before rides getbusy, unless it's, you know,
one of those peak periods sothat's the end of the video
between like one and four iswhen everybody's in the park.
(08:20):
So and it's the hottest duringthe summer, which makes it not
as much fun.
So, like, maybe we'll leave theparks around one or two, come
back at three or four afterwe've slept you know, we've
maybe done a swim, somethingalong those lines and the reason
we do that is so that we canmake sure that we are up and at
the parks after fireworks,because the number one rule, if
(08:43):
you go with me, is we do notleave after fireworks.
That is not where we're leaving.
If you want to get the besttimes in the park, when you're
going to have the less time inlines, you want to be at the
open and at the close, and ifyou try to do open to close
unless you're 19 to 24, two daysin a row, you will not have fun
.
It's not fun at the end of thedays.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
No, I try to do that sometimes and then I have to get
humbled.
And then I get humbled realquick and I realize, oh, I need
to relax and go take a nap.
And that's good, too, to goback to take a nap.
If you have little ones, theycan rest, relax, decompress.
If you have older ones in yourgroup, they need to rest.
Even if you have new peoplethat have never been to the park
, it could be a lot andoverwhelming and it could be a
(09:26):
lot of walking that they're notused to and stuff.
So you want everyone to behappy, even though you want
everyone to enjoy every ridethat they can.
So rope dropping, coming back,taking a little break and then
going back is a really goodstrategy.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And if you're just somebody that you know you will
not have a good day if you haveto get up that early, then just
really strategize and maybestill take that nap, get in
there If you can get there bynine and then take a nap and
then try to stay till 11 or 12on busy days that's usually how
late it's open or stay as closeto close as you can.
It's kind of like a reverserope drop After fireworks, a
(10:01):
good chunk of the parksdisappear.
I will tell you that they don'treally aggressively update the
times on the app to show thatthe lines are going down, but
the lines are going down andthere's fewer people that are
using lightning lanes, so thestandby lines do go faster as
well.
Yes, yes, let's talk about whattime do you need to be at the
(10:21):
parks?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah.
So if you're me, I want to bethere before 7 AM.
I want to be as far in the lineto scan in as possible to get
in for that second little ropedrop at 7 30 to wait for the 8
AM open.
But if you're there no laterthan like 7 30, you should be
fine, depending on what side ofthe parks you want to go to.
(10:43):
At least for when I do it and Iusually come through downtown
Disney or by the DisneylandHotel, one of those entrances in
the morning, because they'reusually a little shorter than
the main entrance off on theother side I would recommend
those times but it is differentfor each group and for the day,
so it just depends a little bit.
But I would say no later than 730.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
For me it depends on what we're going to try to rope
drop first.
So if you're going to try to doPeter Pan Rise of the
Resistance, I want to bestanding next to the gate before
they open, so I will get tosecurity at like maybe 6 45.
If I'm going with someone withlittle kids where we're probably
going to be rope droppingsomething not a big attraction
like that then we'll probablyget there around 7 45.
(11:27):
One of the things that peoplewho don't like rope drop say
well, you're trying to avoidstanding in line but you're
still standing waiting for eachof these things to open, and it
is like an hour and a halfanyway, but the idea is to kind
of add more time to the totalday.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Also really important to note that you might have
plans to open and power walk toRise of the Resistance or a
specific attraction.
There's a lot of failure toopen.
Disney keeps people very safeand so if a sensor isn't working
, if it doesn't pass this reallycrazy safety checklist, then
they'll say I know the park'sopening at 8.
This ride is not opening untilwe check everything that we've
(12:03):
determined is needed to makesure that this ride will be safe
for everybody.
So it's frustrating but it's agood thing.
So I went to rope drop with afriend and the husband really
wanted to rope drop RadiatorSprings Racers, which is the one
in California Adventure thatyou would need to be at the
front of the gate for, and thewife did not want to get up.
We got up because he wasinsistent and he really wanted
to do that, and then racersdidn't open up when the park did
(12:26):
and his wife looked at him andshe said I could be sleeping
right now.
So you need to have a backup.
If your primary attraction doesnot open, what is a ride nearby
that you're going to do rightaway or what is your game plan,
which is, I think, one of thenegative things about trying to
rope drop Rise is because if itdoesn't open, you have to really
(12:47):
rethink about where you want togo next.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, Rise is a big one To rope drop.
I don't rope drop Rise, butNeither A lot of people do, and
I see those power walkers getthere and it just depends and,
like you said, sometimes they'rechecking extra things.
So you need to have a plan B, C, D and E of how you want to do
your morning, in case any ofthese are closed for whatever
reason.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And it doesn't mean they're going to be closed all
day.
It might be a half hour, itmight be two hours, but they
will open up.
It's just not right now.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
When I see people talk about rope drop, a lot of
people talk about like you gotto do Peter Pan, you got to do
Rise.
Those are the two ones that Iwill never rope drop.
I don't know if you feel thesame way.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, no, I feel like you are doing a disservice to
yourself and your group If youtry to rope drop Rise or Peter
Pan, because everyone else inAmerica is trying to rope drop
those Rise, and it's probablybecause they're not as
experienced and they don't know.
But if you go the wrong way,you end up on the other side of
(13:46):
Rise and you have to walk allthe way to the end to the line,
and so there was no point inwalking there.
Or everyone that has a child ispower walking to Peter Pan.
So it's, it is might.
The line might be less, butit's still going to be a huge
weight.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So Unless you can touch the rope.
Yeah, then maybe.
But for Peter Pan the queuegets big so fast that you could
have gotten up all that timeearly to avoid a 40 minute line
and then still end up being in a40 minute line when you could
have done seven otherattractions in that time period
and then done Peter Pan in theevening.
(14:21):
If you do that after 10 PM theline is much shorter.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, if you do that right around nap time, yes.
Or around after fireworks, whenfamilies are going, you can
just walk on and it's not aproblem.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Let's talk about what you do if you are using Genie
Plus, and what do you rope dropfirst If you don't, because I
feel like if you have Genie Plusor don't have Genie Plus, that
dramatically changes what I'mgoing to rope drop.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, if you have Genie Plus, awesome
congratulations.
That's very exciting.
When we've used Genie Plus inthe past, we still have rope
drop a ride or two that might besuper busy later on, and then
right after that we're signingup and scheduling the rides
after that so that we're alwayswalking to a ride and always
(15:04):
using it to the best that we can.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
If I have Genie Plus and there's nothing on Genie
Plus that I want to ride twice.
So the thing about Genie Plusis, if I know I want to ride
Space Mountain three times,genie Plus is only going to get
me on there once, so then Imight still rope drop Space
Mountain so I can ride it twiceand then book it for later in
the day.
I'm kind of a Space Mountainfreak, so most people do not
(15:27):
want to ride Space Mountainthree times in a day.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But we are the people , robin, it's OK.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, I have a support group on Tuesday.
It's fine.
I did it 13 times in a day once.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh my goodness, I like that.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It was really awesome .
That was when paper fast passeswere around and that was a good
time.
Yeah, that was good times.
So if I have Genie Plus, what Ifocus on is the attractions
that don't have Genie Plusofferings, so Jungle Cruise,
pirates, fantasy Land, with theexception of Peter Pan I save
that for later.
(16:00):
Those are the kind of the onesthat I focus on because those
lines get longer and there isn'tthe Genie Plus option to bypass
those.
And the Jungle Cruise line,especially in Pirates you're in
the sun in the summer especiallyI want to get those knocked out
first, and if you go to thoserides, usually the lines don't
get longer until around 9o'clock, so I can knock out
(16:23):
quite a few of them in themorning and so I might get six
or seven attractions donebetween 8 AM and like 10 30.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, that's a really good way to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And then as soon as I get in, I book my first Genie
Plus right away, because now youcan move the Genie Plus and it
doesn't restart your timer.
So if I was to go on Halloween,haunted Mansion is going to be
super crazy.
So I will book my firstLightning Lane for Haunted
Mansion right away and then Iwill just move it until I see
that the lines are a little bitlonger and then I'll go do that
(16:55):
attraction.
But I can continue to startbooking my Genie Pluses in the
meantime.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yes, Genie Plus is a really good thing once you
understand how to use it and arestrategizing correctly, because
you could do so much and writeit as many times as you want if
you can rope drop and then stillwrite it later and not have to
worry about being in a line.
So Genie Plus is awesome ifit's part of your trip.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
There's this really awesome YouTube video from a
channel called Defunctland whotalks about Fastpasses and
MaxPass and now Genie Plus andkind of like the evolution and
what it was supposed to do.
And you know somebody like mewho really knows Genie Plus even
on a busy day, I can probablyget maybe 14 to 18 attractions
(17:39):
done in a day, whereas somebodydoesn't know Genie Plus.
They might only be able to useGenie Plus for two or three
attractions, because the orderthat you do attractions at
Disneyland makes a hugedifference.
Yes, what would you do withoutGenie Plus?
What are the things that youusually rope drop first?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So if I'm not using Genie Plus, what I would
probably rope drop in themorning would be Space Mountain,
indiana Jones, jungle Cruise,haunted Mansion, big Thunder
Mountain, all of those big throwones, depending on which parks.
If I'm at Disneyland, I woulddo those.
If I'm at California Adventure,it would be either.
Guardians of the Galaxy, cars,spider-man isn't my favorite,
(18:24):
but it is fun.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I only like it because I can beat my son at it.
Where in Toy Story like he'sbeen doing it longer and so I
never beat my son at Toy Story,but I'm always like I am the
champion.
I'm not even sure how I'm doingit.
So I like Spider-Man justbecause it makes me feel like a
winner in life.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I mean, it's good cardio for your arms and I'm
always exhausted when I'm doneand I always realize that I
should probably be liftingsomething when I'm done with
that.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But I always tell people, make sure you completely
relax your arms in betweensections, because you're like
like at the angel, like it'spretty intense it is.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's hard to be Spider-Man, obviously, but
that's why he does it so well.
Yeah, but I would probablywould rope, drop those ones,
just depending, and then go fromthere.
I would usually leave Rise forlater, either like at the end of
my morning or what I'm tryingto do, or even after the
fireworks towards the end,because that line can be really
long because it is super popular.
(19:20):
So it just depends.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Now one note about Rise.
If you are going to Disneylandjust to ride the Star Wars
attraction, rise goes down a lotand when it goes down, it
usually goes down for two orthree hours.
Yes, so if your day will not becomplete without doing Rise, I
would recommend trying to get itdone before 3 o'clock If you
are a Star Wars fan and youreally are excited about it.
(19:44):
You know, and it's like amake-or-break-your-trip this is
something that I would cough upthe money for an individual
Lightning Lane for.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, no, we just did that with our family.
We went for my nephew'sgraduation and they haven't been
to Disneyland for years mysisters and them and their kids
and so we did get the LightningLanes for that one, because we
knew we had to ride that, nomatter what happened, we needed
to ride that Rise.
They wanted to do it right awayor road drop it, and I was like
, please listen to me, I promisewe're gonna get to it.
(20:12):
We have the Lightning Lane.
We're gonna do this correctly.
Just go ride all of these ridesfirst and then we will get to
that one.
But if you'd have to have thaton your trip, I would recommend
getting a Lightning Lane ifyou're not gonna be coming back
soon or if you just live forStar Wars and need to do it.
That also works too.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Alright, so let's go through in some rides.
So if you're going to rope drop, you need to plan for a nap
time.
Yes, if you're 20 you might beable to do dawn to dusk, but
it's going to be intense andevery time I try to do the full
day, the last two hours I'm likewalking from Rise, but I'm in
so much pain from walking andI'm so tired and everybody's
(20:51):
grouchy, everybody's fighting.
It's not fun.
So if you take a nap, come backrefreshed, excited, I 100% I'm
a bank fan of the nap.
So plan a nap.
If you want to do any of thebig thrill rides, you want to
try to be at the security gateanywhere.
Would you say like 630 to 7, orwould you say 645 to 7?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean me personally 630 yeah but 645.
As long as you're on propertyno later than 7 am you should be
fine, but 630 would be the best.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And then you're going to make sure you know where you
want to go, where you havebackups, and you need to look at
the best path to get to whereyou want to be.
Yes, even though we've told younot to ride Rise first, I know
that there's gonna be people whowant to ride Rise.
So if you want to ride Rise,rise is more on the side of
Galaxy's Edge, closer to Winniethe Pooh.
I usually walk through to getto Rise from, like past Hungry
(21:49):
Bear.
Does that usually the way yougo?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, there's a restaurant called Hungry Bear.
If you just ask cast memberswhich way to Critter Country
then they'll point you in thedirection of that.
That's going to be the closestpoint to enter in to Galaxy's
Edge, on the Rise of theResistance side With Radiator
Springs.
Know that that attraction isalways really popular.
If you have little ones and youknow that you're gonna end up
(22:14):
being riding that by yourself,there's a single rider line that
moves pretty quickly.
I'm not always a fan of thesingle rider lines, but for that
ride I think it's worth it,yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That one's fun whether you're with family or
yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, we talked about the common mistakes, like we
recommend that you avoid PeterPan.
Go the opposite direction ofwhat everybody else is going.
Because here's the problemBefore you know, rope drop
wasn't as popular and so youcould get a ton done and then a
bunch of people put TikToks upsaying rope drop, and then now
everybody's rope dropping andthen all of those TikToks say do
rise, and Peter Pan first.
(22:46):
So now we've got all of thesepeople heading to these two
attractions and Peter Pan loadsvery slowly.
So does Rise the Resistance.
So it's just not the best option.
Now, if TikTok all of a suddenstarts saying everybody should
ride Jungle Cruise first, thendon't ride Jungle Cruise first
anymore.
So whatever TikToks you'rewatching that say do this one
(23:06):
first, I would say don't do that.
If you're somebody that likesto overthink things, like me,
then you can go at 8 o'clock asyou're logging into work, just
kind of have the Disneyland appopen and kind of look and watch
how the line weights show on theapp over time.
They're not completely accurate, but they can give you an idea.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yes, exactly that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Is there anything else for rope drop that we need
to talk about?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
We're comfortable shoes.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, I always tell people to bring two pairs of
shoes.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I bring one pair of shoes that I know that I want to
use most of the time and Ibring another pair in case they
get wet or I get a blister, andthen sometimes just changing
shoes will make your feet somuch happier.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It will, because I try to do Disneyland rope drop
in Crocs and that was a horriblesituation and I wish I had two
pairs that day, but I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And the number one rule of Disney is you never wear
brand new shoes to the parksNever, no matter how cool they
are, I don't care what they are.
Never wear new shoes, neverwear shoes.
You've not walked longdistances in the park, no matter
how cute they are.
I don't like you, but I usuallywalk anywhere from like seven
to 12 miles in a day atDisneyland.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Easily.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Easily.
So I think we covered most ofthe things for Rope Drop.
Let's do some of theselightning questions to help get
people an idea of some of thefavorite things.
What is your favoriteattraction?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
My favorite attraction is Rise of the
Resistance.
I think it is amazing.
It is perfect for any Star Warsfan, whether you like the new
movies, the older movies.
It's fully immersive.
You feel like you're really ina part of Star Wars.
The cast members are reallygreat.
They treat you how you thinkyou would be treated in that
situation and it's super fun.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
We're big Star Wars fans.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And so the first time I went in I was like I could
not believe how immersive andhow in the story they made it
feel.
And I don't want to spoilanything for anybody but I will
say if you are claustrophobicyou should probably watch a
ride-through video, becausethere's a little section that
might be difficult for peoplewho are very claustrophobic, but
(25:17):
for the most part it's a reallygreat ride.
No big drops, Just one littletiny drop.
It's a great attraction.
Even my mom, who doesn't reallydo well on thrill rides, she
was okay on that ride.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Okay, yeah, my favorite hairstyle.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
All right, and then what is your favorite show or
meet and greet?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
My favorite show now that I went to was the Lion King
one, and I don't know if it'sbecause I haven't seen it in a
while or I wish it was justhungry, but it started and I
already had tears coming out.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
My sister came back sobbing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
All of the performers and dancers and singers.
Everyone is so talented and youjust see everyone so happy and
excited to tell this story thatall of us know so well, and it's
almost like you're seeing LionKing on Broadway.
It's just amazing and it'sbeautifully done.
The colors are amazing, thesinging is amazing and I was
just casually sobbing while Iwas recording it.
(26:12):
So that's my new favorite one.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It is really Broadway quality.
So if you've wanted to be likeI, would love to have my
children experience that kind ofentertainment.
One, it's great for that.
Two, you're sitting down forquite a bit of time.
Yes, and especially when you'vebeen walking all day like just
having everybody sit down for alittle bit.
There's a little quick servecalled Troubadour Tavern that
you can get a baked potato.
You can have that while you'rewatching.
(26:36):
There's a whole bunch of likesnacks and churros and stuff on
your way over there.
It's something that if I knowsomebody hasn't been in a while,
I usually say like this is oneof the things that we have to do
.
Yes, what is always in your bagor pockets when you head to the
park?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So I always have a portable fan in my bag, I always
have water, I always have extrasnacks just in case I'm hungry
or someone in the group ishungry.
There's always food, because wedon't want that.
While we're in the parks, Ialways have a battery pack with
me, because now I'm recording somuch more in the park.
I have my gimbal with me andmints and floss, because you
(27:18):
never know who you're going tomeet.
You never know what charactersyou're going to meet.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, and I think I want to back up on the snacks
because I see people tellingpeople not to bring snacks in
the park.
Especially if you've got littleones with you, bring snacks in
the park.
But for me as a grown up adult,even if I'm going by myself, I
always put snacks in my bags,because sometimes you're like,
oh, I'll just get a churro afterI get off this attraction and
then maybe it takes a littlelonger.
Or sometimes you don't realizeyou're hungry until you stop
(27:45):
moving for a little bit.
So have you know some granolaor some nuts, or we would do a
lot of like the fruit snacks andlike apples and stuff, just for
when somebody looks like maybethey could use something.
And then there's watery fillingstations all over the parks and
water bottles at disney aresuper expensive.
I mean the cheap ones are likefour bucks each.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, snacks are always good, especially when
you're in line, like you said,waiting, and even if you're not
eating it, you could see someoneelse in line that looks like
they need a snack.
And then when you have someone,it just makes their whole life
better.
And so it's always funny whenyou pull out snacks and
everyone's so excited because,like you said, people don't
realize how hungry they areuntil they start hearing some
(28:27):
little plastic move and they'relike oof, I need to eat
something.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
It's nice to be able to help other people sometimes,
because you know if somebodyhasn't brought snacks or they
ran out of snacks, sometimesthey can feel a little stuck.
Yes, true, is there any other,like parting disney, advice that
you would give people?
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Don't be afraid to rope drop.
Think about it before you go.
If you want to churro in thepark, buy it and just be as
pleasant as you can to the castmembers and to each other,
because all of us are there tohave fun and we always want to
make everyone's experienceexciting.
(29:07):
So I would say that With ropedrop.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
If you can't do it, because maybe you just don't do
mornings, you can still have agreat day without rope dropping.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Yes that is true.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
You do not have to rope drop.
I know that a lot of videosmake it seem like you can't have
a good day.
That's not true.
If you want to try to get onall of the thrill rides and
you're not going to do genieplus, it will go a long way to
help you spending less time inline.
But I've done many trips andnot rope drop and had wonderful
days.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yes, so you can do it without.
You could still have fun.
It will still be just asmagical and exciting.
So do it both ways, whicheveryou like.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And it's okay to do rope drop one day and not do
rope drop another.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Or you might go into a rope drop and a reservation
opens at a place you want to eat.
So you have to make decisions.
So you just have to be flexibleand just go with the flow.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We have this free planning course at Park Magic
called Park Magic University.
The first lesson is don't feellike you have to jam-pack
everything in your day.
I've gone to the parks hundredsof times, literally hundreds of
times, and I'm still being likeoh you know, actually I've
never done that before, oh, I'venever done this before.
There's no way to do it all.
I kind of feel like one of thereasons why people get so
(30:20):
frustrated with Disney is theyhave this really strict
itinerary and sometimes thingschange different, things might
be closed for refurbishment.
So setting your expectations onthe lower side and then being
open to doing more, I think, isit better than having like every
minute planned out because itjust will not go the way you
plan.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yes, true.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So this has been another episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Leo, if they wanted to follow you on TikTok or Insta
, what's the best way for themto do that?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
You can follow me at at underscore always thriving
underscore on TikTok andInstagram.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
They're great videos.
I would highly recommend youcheck them out.
That's it for today.
We hope that this episode hasbeen helpful.
Come visit us at parkmagiccomand make sure you hit that
subscribe button.
It really helps us to get theword out, and same for reviews.
Have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(31:35):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win a
one-hour planning session withRobin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Today we are talking about the thing that has talked
about so much on TikTok andInstagram, and that is rope drop
.
So if you've never been toDisneyland before or you've
never done rope drop before,this episode is going to
basically be a tutorial in whatto do and what we don't think
maybe you need to do for ropedrop.
So I have Leo from AlwaysThriving on TikTok, one of the
(00:55):
co-founders of that.
He is awesome.
He goes to Disney all the time,just like me, and both of us
have annual passes right now,but we've both had many years of
our lives where we didn't haveannual passes, and so when you
don't have an annual pass, youreally have to maximize those
days a little bit more,especially if you're a Disney
adult and you have like 12 ridesthat you love and can't miss.
(01:17):
So we're going to talk a littlebit about rope drop when to use
it.
We might even throw itsometimes on when to skip rope
drop as well.
So, leo, can you tell us alittle bit about your love and
history and experience withDisneyland?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, of course.
Thank you so much for having methis morning.
So Disney and Disneyland hasalways been a part of my life,
more so as I got older.
I didn't go so much when I wasyounger, but now, as an adult,
with adult money, we are able togo as often as we can.
So, like you said, this year wefinally have magic keys and so
we've been going as much as wecan, and so as a family we've
(01:52):
gone later in life, and so it'sreally nice for us to enjoy all
of these things.
And, like you said, I'm part ofAlways Thriving on TikTok with
my cousin Bree and we just postall of our fun adventures, all
of the food, how to rope drop,how to do fun things, different
rides to do.
So that's kind of where we'reat.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So let's go ahead and start off by what is rope drop?
And why is it called that?
Because it's kind of one ofthose weird Disney terminologies
that I think a lot of peoplejust kind of throw around.
But if you are not used toDisney terminology you're like
do we all play tug of war?
What is happening here?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, yeah, so rope drop.
There's an actual rope atDisneyland that is dropped once
you are allowed to enter intothe different parts of the park,
and so you would get thereearly they would let you in and
they allow you to, about rightin front of the castle, to go
into the different lands, and oneach of them they're blocked
(02:46):
off by cast members and by arope.
And then at eight o'clockthere's a magical greeting that
comes on, welcomes you to thepark, and the ropes are dropped
and you are able to go into thepark and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And if you're staying at one of the Disneyland hotels
, then you actually get inbefore that.
Yes, you do, and with rope drop.
Basically, you know the parkopens at eight, then they let
you in to Main Street at 730.
And people who are like I'mgoing to get as many rides in as
possible, they will go straightand they will wait for that 30
(03:19):
minutes right in front of theland that they want to head to.
And when they drop the rope,everybody walks.
It is entertaining just towatch people try to power walk
without getting in trouble,because you're not allowed to
run.
People take it very seriously.
So I don't know about you, butif I had a little one that was
walking and not in a stroller, Iwould probably wait till that
(03:39):
initial section goes.
It can be a little intense.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, people are really serious and there are
very, very intense quote speedwalkers that are going through
those things.
So if you do have little ones,hang to the side for a second or
pick them up and walk with them.
If you don't have a stroller,because I mean it is a crowd and
there is a group of people andyou always have to be safely in
the park because you never knowwhat's going to happen.
(04:03):
But that is a very intense timein the morning but it's a
really fun time becauseeveryone's just super excited to
be in the parks and to do someof the fun things that they want
to do.
So it's an intense time butit's really fun too.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It doesn't make it sound very much fun.
The reason people rope drop isbecause there are two times of
the day when the lines are theshortest, and that is the first
two hours of the park open andthe last two hours before park
closes, especially if you'retrying to avoid paying for a
Genie Plus, which a Genie Plusis.
Basically you pay to be in ashorter, faster moving line.
(04:37):
So if you're not going to dothat and there's lines that you
know are going to be long, likeSpace Mountain, Indiana Jones,
Rise of the Resistance, PeterPan then a lot of people will
say let's go in line right awayfor these rides before the lines
get long, and then that willgive us more time in the parks
to do other things.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, a lot of people love Disney and Disneyland, so a
lot of people go.
But, like you said, in themorning the wait times for these
rides are so much shorter, andso it's a good way to get in as
many rides as you can in themorning if you're going for the
day or just for a couple days,or if you have little ones and
all their energies in themorning to get things done for
nap time.
It's such a great time to goand just experience it, because
(05:18):
on some of them you could reallyjust walk on to some of the
rides which you won't be able tolater in the day.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yes, so I mean, space Mountain might have a 70 minute
wait time the rest of the day.
You might be able to get on in15 minutes and then go ride a
couple of other attractionsnearby.
Kind of knock a bunch of thingsoff your list very quickly.
Yes, I would love to hear, like, when do you decide to rope
drop and when do you decide notto rope drop?
Because I have, like myinternal criteria, but I'd love
(05:44):
to hear what yours is.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I know so.
I am a avid rope dropper and Irope drop so many times, acting
like it's the last time I'mgoing to be at the parks.
But there is some things tothink about if you're going to
rope drop.
If you're not going to ropedrop, if I'm going there for
just like a day, or a day or two, and there's something new
(06:08):
that's out, or I want to do allthe rides that I want to do in
the morning because I want to gosee this show in the afternoon,
then I will, for sure, ropedrop.
If I'm going with someone thathasn't really been there, or
they're not going to be therefor a while, I will strongly
encourage them to rope drop ifthey're able to get up early in
the morning, just so they canmaximize what they're spending
at the parks.
(06:29):
And you're going there to go onthese fun rides and to do as
much as you can, and so, kind oflike, right, there is how I
would decide if I'm going torope drop or I'm going to
encourage my group to rope dropwith me.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And you know my criteria is pretty much the same
.
It's like if we're going to bethere one day or less, or I'm
going with somebody who doesn'thave an annual pass, or we're
going with somebody who, like,wants to do all of the thrill
rides and things that need to bein right away, or if we're
going around like a busy timeperiod.
So if you're going aroundThanksgiving, the week between
Christmas and New Year, ifyou're going, then you know, may
(07:01):
the force be with you.
You know different times likethat then will rope drop.
I don't know about you, but Ikind of also have this other
rule If you rope drop, you alsoneed a nappy time.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Oh yeah, so me and my cousin that do our TikTok
together we are opposite, so Iam ready to go at like whatever
time in the morning we decided,and she always, like, gets up,
looks at me, like are you surewe're going to rope drop today,
hoping that I say no and I'mready.
And so, depending on how hardwe're going in the morning, I
definitely come back to thehotel room, take a nap,
(07:36):
decompress might change into adifferent outfit if we need to
and then we go back, because inthe morning we already did so
many things that we wanted to dobecause we'd rope dropped.
So now we can go back in theafternoon and just kind of relax
and do some more things, or gosee a show, or, if we have
reservations somewhere, we don'thave to rush or run around and
we're able just to enjoy itafter that.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you know, I know that it seems counterintuitive.
If the whole point of rope dropis to maximize the number of
hours you have in the park, whywould you go home and take a nap
?
The reason is that if the parkopens at eight, then you have
until about ten before rides getbusy, unless it's, you know,
one of those peak periods sothat's the end of the video
between like one and four iswhen everybody's in the park.
(08:20):
So and it's the hottest duringthe summer, which makes it not
as much fun.
So, like, maybe we'll leave theparks around one or two, come
back at three or four afterwe've slept you know, we've
maybe done a swim, somethingalong those lines and the reason
we do that is so that we canmake sure that we are up and at
the parks after fireworks,because the number one rule, if
(08:43):
you go with me, is we do notleave after fireworks.
That is not where we're leaving.
If you want to get the besttimes in the park, when you're
going to have the less time inlines, you want to be at the
open and at the close, and ifyou try to do open to close
unless you're 19 to 24, two daysin a row, you will not have fun
.
It's not fun at the end of thedays.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
No, I try to do that sometimes and then I have to get
humbled.
And then I get humbled realquick and I realize, oh, I need
to relax and go take a nap.
And that's good, too, to goback to take a nap.
If you have little ones, theycan rest, relax, decompress.
If you have older ones in yourgroup, they need to rest.
Even if you have new peoplethat have never been to the park
, it could be a lot andoverwhelming and it could be a
(09:26):
lot of walking that they're notused to and stuff.
So you want everyone to behappy, even though you want
everyone to enjoy every ridethat they can.
So rope dropping, coming back,taking a little break and then
going back is a really goodstrategy.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And if you're just somebody that you know you will
not have a good day if you haveto get up that early, then just
really strategize and maybestill take that nap, get in
there If you can get there bynine and then take a nap and
then try to stay till 11 or 12on busy days that's usually how
late it's open or stay as closeto close as you can.
It's kind of like a reverserope drop After fireworks, a
(10:01):
good chunk of the parksdisappear.
I will tell you that they don'treally aggressively update the
times on the app to show thatthe lines are going down, but
the lines are going down andthere's fewer people that are
using lightning lanes, so thestandby lines do go faster as
well.
Yes, yes, let's talk about whattime do you need to be at the
(10:21):
parks?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah.
So if you're me, I want to bethere before 7 AM.
I want to be as far in the lineto scan in as possible to get
in for that second little ropedrop at 7 30 to wait for the 8
AM open.
But if you're there no laterthan like 7 30, you should be
fine, depending on what side ofthe parks you want to go to.
(10:43):
At least for when I do it and Iusually come through downtown
Disney or by the DisneylandHotel, one of those entrances in
the morning, because they'reusually a little shorter than
the main entrance off on theother side I would recommend
those times but it is differentfor each group and for the day,
so it just depends a little bit.
But I would say no later than 730.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
For me it depends on what we're going to try to rope
drop first.
So if you're going to try to doPeter Pan Rise of the
Resistance, I want to bestanding next to the gate before
they open, so I will get tosecurity at like maybe 6 45.
If I'm going with someone withlittle kids where we're probably
going to be rope droppingsomething not a big attraction
like that then we'll probablyget there around 7 45.
(11:27):
One of the things that peoplewho don't like rope drop say
well, you're trying to avoidstanding in line but you're
still standing waiting for eachof these things to open, and it
is like an hour and a halfanyway, but the idea is to kind
of add more time to the totalday.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Also really important to note that you might have
plans to open and power walk toRise of the Resistance or a
specific attraction.
There's a lot of failure toopen.
Disney keeps people very safeand so if a sensor isn't working
, if it doesn't pass this reallycrazy safety checklist, then
they'll say I know the park'sopening at 8.
This ride is not opening untilwe check everything that we've
(12:03):
determined is needed to makesure that this ride will be safe
for everybody.
So it's frustrating but it's agood thing.
So I went to rope drop with afriend and the husband really
wanted to rope drop RadiatorSprings Racers, which is the one
in California Adventure thatyou would need to be at the
front of the gate for, and thewife did not want to get up.
We got up because he wasinsistent and he really wanted
to do that, and then racersdidn't open up when the park did
(12:26):
and his wife looked at him andshe said I could be sleeping
right now.
So you need to have a backup.
If your primary attraction doesnot open, what is a ride nearby
that you're going to do rightaway or what is your game plan,
which is, I think, one of thenegative things about trying to
rope drop Rise is because if itdoesn't open, you have to really
(12:47):
rethink about where you want togo next.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, Rise is a big one To rope drop.
I don't rope drop Rise, butNeither A lot of people do, and
I see those power walkers getthere and it just depends and,
like you said, sometimes they'rechecking extra things.
So you need to have a plan B, C, D and E of how you want to do
your morning, in case any ofthese are closed for whatever
reason.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And it doesn't mean they're going to be closed all
day.
It might be a half hour, itmight be two hours, but they
will open up.
It's just not right now.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
When I see people talk about rope drop, a lot of
people talk about like you gotto do Peter Pan, you got to do
Rise.
Those are the two ones that Iwill never rope drop.
I don't know if you feel thesame way.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, no, I feel like you are doing a disservice to
yourself and your group If youtry to rope drop Rise or Peter
Pan, because everyone else inAmerica is trying to rope drop
those Rise, and it's probablybecause they're not as
experienced and they don't know.
But if you go the wrong way,you end up on the other side of
(13:46):
Rise and you have to walk allthe way to the end to the line,
and so there was no point inwalking there.
Or everyone that has a child ispower walking to Peter Pan.
So it's, it is might.
The line might be less, butit's still going to be a huge
weight.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So Unless you can touch the rope.
Yeah, then maybe.
But for Peter Pan the queuegets big so fast that you could
have gotten up all that timeearly to avoid a 40 minute line
and then still end up being in a40 minute line when you could
have done seven otherattractions in that time period
and then done Peter Pan in theevening.
(14:21):
If you do that after 10 PM theline is much shorter.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, if you do that right around nap time, yes.
Or around after fireworks, whenfamilies are going, you can
just walk on and it's not aproblem.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Let's talk about what you do if you are using Genie
Plus, and what do you rope dropfirst If you don't, because I
feel like if you have Genie Plusor don't have Genie Plus, that
dramatically changes what I'mgoing to rope drop.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, if you have Genie Plus, awesome
congratulations.
That's very exciting.
When we've used Genie Plus inthe past, we still have rope
drop a ride or two that might besuper busy later on, and then
right after that we're signingup and scheduling the rides
after that so that we're alwayswalking to a ride and always
(15:04):
using it to the best that we can.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
If I have Genie Plus and there's nothing on Genie
Plus that I want to ride twice.
So the thing about Genie Plusis, if I know I want to ride
Space Mountain three times,genie Plus is only going to get
me on there once, so then Imight still rope drop Space
Mountain so I can ride it twiceand then book it for later in
the day.
I'm kind of a Space Mountainfreak, so most people do not
(15:27):
want to ride Space Mountainthree times in a day.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But we are the people , robin, it's OK.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, I have a support group on Tuesday.
It's fine.
I did it 13 times in a day once.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh my goodness, I like that.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It was really awesome .
That was when paper fast passeswere around and that was a good
time.
Yeah, that was good times.
So if I have Genie Plus, what Ifocus on is the attractions
that don't have Genie Plusofferings, so Jungle Cruise,
pirates, fantasy Land, with theexception of Peter Pan I save
that for later.
(16:00):
Those are the kind of the onesthat I focus on because those
lines get longer and there isn'tthe Genie Plus option to bypass
those.
And the Jungle Cruise line,especially in Pirates you're in
the sun in the summer especiallyI want to get those knocked out
first, and if you go to thoserides, usually the lines don't
get longer until around 9o'clock, so I can knock out
(16:23):
quite a few of them in themorning and so I might get six
or seven attractions donebetween 8 AM and like 10 30.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, that's a really good way to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And then as soon as I get in, I book my first Genie
Plus right away, because now youcan move the Genie Plus and it
doesn't restart your timer.
So if I was to go on Halloween,haunted Mansion is going to be
super crazy.
So I will book my firstLightning Lane for Haunted
Mansion right away and then Iwill just move it until I see
that the lines are a little bitlonger and then I'll go do that
(16:55):
attraction.
But I can continue to startbooking my Genie Pluses in the
meantime.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yes, Genie Plus is a really good thing once you
understand how to use it and arestrategizing correctly, because
you could do so much and writeit as many times as you want if
you can rope drop and then stillwrite it later and not have to
worry about being in a line.
So Genie Plus is awesome ifit's part of your trip.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
There's this really awesome YouTube video from a
channel called Defunctland whotalks about Fastpasses and
MaxPass and now Genie Plus andkind of like the evolution and
what it was supposed to do.
And you know somebody like mewho really knows Genie Plus even
on a busy day, I can probablyget maybe 14 to 18 attractions
(17:39):
done in a day, whereas somebodydoesn't know Genie Plus.
They might only be able to useGenie Plus for two or three
attractions, because the orderthat you do attractions at
Disneyland makes a hugedifference.
Yes, what would you do withoutGenie Plus?
What are the things that youusually rope drop first?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So if I'm not using Genie Plus, what I would
probably rope drop in themorning would be Space Mountain,
indiana Jones, jungle Cruise,haunted Mansion, big Thunder
Mountain, all of those big throwones, depending on which parks.
If I'm at Disneyland, I woulddo those.
If I'm at California Adventure,it would be either.
Guardians of the Galaxy, cars,spider-man isn't my favorite,
(18:24):
but it is fun.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I only like it because I can beat my son at it.
Where in Toy Story like he'sbeen doing it longer and so I
never beat my son at Toy Story,but I'm always like I am the
champion.
I'm not even sure how I'm doingit.
So I like Spider-Man justbecause it makes me feel like a
winner in life.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I mean, it's good cardio for your arms and I'm
always exhausted when I'm doneand I always realize that I
should probably be liftingsomething when I'm done with
that.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But I always tell people, make sure you completely
relax your arms in betweensections, because you're like
like at the angel, like it'spretty intense it is.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's hard to be Spider-Man, obviously, but
that's why he does it so well.
Yeah, but I would probablywould rope, drop those ones,
just depending, and then go fromthere.
I would usually leave Rise forlater, either like at the end of
my morning or what I'm tryingto do, or even after the
fireworks towards the end,because that line can be really
long because it is super popular.
(19:20):
So it just depends.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Now one note about Rise.
If you are going to Disneylandjust to ride the Star Wars
attraction, rise goes down a lotand when it goes down, it
usually goes down for two orthree hours.
Yes, so if your day will not becomplete without doing Rise, I
would recommend trying to get itdone before 3 o'clock If you
are a Star Wars fan and youreally are excited about it.
(19:44):
You know, and it's like amake-or-break-your-trip this is
something that I would cough upthe money for an individual
Lightning Lane for.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, no, we just did that with our family.
We went for my nephew'sgraduation and they haven't been
to Disneyland for years mysisters and them and their kids
and so we did get the LightningLanes for that one, because we
knew we had to ride that, nomatter what happened, we needed
to ride that Rise.
They wanted to do it right awayor road drop it, and I was like
, please listen to me, I promisewe're gonna get to it.
(20:12):
We have the Lightning Lane.
We're gonna do this correctly.
Just go ride all of these ridesfirst and then we will get to
that one.
But if you'd have to have thaton your trip, I would recommend
getting a Lightning Lane ifyou're not gonna be coming back
soon or if you just live forStar Wars and need to do it.
That also works too.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Alright, so let's go through in some rides.
So if you're going to rope drop, you need to plan for a nap
time.
Yes, if you're 20 you might beable to do dawn to dusk, but
it's going to be intense andevery time I try to do the full
day, the last two hours I'm likewalking from Rise, but I'm in
so much pain from walking andI'm so tired and everybody's
(20:51):
grouchy, everybody's fighting.
It's not fun.
So if you take a nap, come backrefreshed, excited, I 100% I'm
a bank fan of the nap.
So plan a nap.
If you want to do any of thebig thrill rides, you want to
try to be at the security gateanywhere.
Would you say like 630 to 7, orwould you say 645 to 7?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean me personally 630 yeah but 645.
As long as you're on propertyno later than 7 am you should be
fine, but 630 would be the best.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And then you're going to make sure you know where you
want to go, where you havebackups, and you need to look at
the best path to get to whereyou want to be.
Yes, even though we've told younot to ride Rise first, I know
that there's gonna be people whowant to ride Rise.
So if you want to ride Rise,rise is more on the side of
Galaxy's Edge, closer to Winniethe Pooh.
I usually walk through to getto Rise from, like past Hungry
(21:49):
Bear.
Does that usually the way yougo?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, there's a restaurant called Hungry Bear.
If you just ask cast memberswhich way to Critter Country
then they'll point you in thedirection of that.
That's going to be the closestpoint to enter in to Galaxy's
Edge, on the Rise of theResistance side With Radiator
Springs.
Know that that attraction isalways really popular.
If you have little ones and youknow that you're gonna end up
(22:14):
being riding that by yourself,there's a single rider line that
moves pretty quickly.
I'm not always a fan of thesingle rider lines, but for that
ride I think it's worth it,yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That one's fun whether you're with family or
yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, we talked about the common mistakes, like we
recommend that you avoid PeterPan.
Go the opposite direction ofwhat everybody else is going.
Because here's the problemBefore you know, rope drop
wasn't as popular and so youcould get a ton done and then a
bunch of people put TikToks upsaying rope drop, and then now
everybody's rope dropping andthen all of those TikToks say do
rise, and Peter Pan first.
(22:46):
So now we've got all of thesepeople heading to these two
attractions and Peter Pan loadsvery slowly.
So does Rise the Resistance.
So it's just not the best option.
Now, if TikTok all of a suddenstarts saying everybody should
ride Jungle Cruise first, thendon't ride Jungle Cruise first
anymore.
So whatever TikToks you'rewatching that say do this one
(23:06):
first, I would say don't do that.
If you're somebody that likesto overthink things, like me,
then you can go at 8 o'clock asyou're logging into work, just
kind of have the Disneyland appopen and kind of look and watch
how the line weights show on theapp over time.
They're not completely accurate, but they can give you an idea.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yes, exactly that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Is there anything else for rope drop that we need
to talk about?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
We're comfortable shoes.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, I always tell people to bring two pairs of
shoes.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I bring one pair of shoes that I know that I want to
use most of the time and Ibring another pair in case they
get wet or I get a blister, andthen sometimes just changing
shoes will make your feet somuch happier.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It will, because I try to do Disneyland rope drop
in Crocs and that was a horriblesituation and I wish I had two
pairs that day, but I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And the number one rule of Disney is you never wear
brand new shoes to the parksNever, no matter how cool they
are, I don't care what they are.
Never wear new shoes, neverwear shoes.
You've not walked longdistances in the park, no matter
how cute they are.
I don't like you, but I usuallywalk anywhere from like seven
to 12 miles in a day atDisneyland.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Easily.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Easily.
So I think we covered most ofthe things for Rope Drop.
Let's do some of theselightning questions to help get
people an idea of some of thefavorite things.
What is your favoriteattraction?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
My favorite attraction is Rise of the
Resistance.
I think it is amazing.
It is perfect for any Star Warsfan, whether you like the new
movies, the older movies.
It's fully immersive.
You feel like you're really ina part of Star Wars.
The cast members are reallygreat.
They treat you how you thinkyou would be treated in that
situation and it's super fun.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
We're big Star Wars fans.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And so the first time I went in I was like I could
not believe how immersive andhow in the story they made it
feel.
And I don't want to spoilanything for anybody but I will
say if you are claustrophobicyou should probably watch a
ride-through video, becausethere's a little section that
might be difficult for peoplewho are very claustrophobic, but
(25:17):
for the most part it's a reallygreat ride.
No big drops, Just one littletiny drop.
It's a great attraction.
Even my mom, who doesn't reallydo well on thrill rides, she
was okay on that ride.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Okay, yeah, my favorite hairstyle.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
All right, and then what is your favorite show or
meet and greet?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
My favorite show now that I went to was the Lion King
one, and I don't know if it'sbecause I haven't seen it in a
while or I wish it was justhungry, but it started and I
already had tears coming out.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
My sister came back sobbing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
All of the performers and dancers and singers.
Everyone is so talented and youjust see everyone so happy and
excited to tell this story thatall of us know so well, and it's
almost like you're seeing LionKing on Broadway.
It's just amazing and it'sbeautifully done.
The colors are amazing, thesinging is amazing and I was
just casually sobbing while Iwas recording it.
(26:12):
So that's my new favorite one.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It is really Broadway quality.
So if you've wanted to be likeI, would love to have my
children experience that kind ofentertainment.
One, it's great for that.
Two, you're sitting down forquite a bit of time.
Yes, and especially when you'vebeen walking all day like just
having everybody sit down for alittle bit.
There's a little quick servecalled Troubadour Tavern that
you can get a baked potato.
You can have that while you'rewatching.
(26:36):
There's a whole bunch of likesnacks and churros and stuff on
your way over there.
It's something that if I knowsomebody hasn't been in a while,
I usually say like this is oneof the things that we have to do
.
Yes, what is always in your bagor pockets when you head to the
park?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So I always have a portable fan in my bag, I always
have water, I always have extrasnacks just in case I'm hungry
or someone in the group ishungry.
There's always food, because wedon't want that.
While we're in the parks, Ialways have a battery pack with
me, because now I'm recording somuch more in the park.
I have my gimbal with me andmints and floss, because you
(27:18):
never know who you're going tomeet.
You never know what charactersyou're going to meet.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, and I think I want to back up on the snacks
because I see people tellingpeople not to bring snacks in
the park.
Especially if you've got littleones with you, bring snacks in
the park.
But for me as a grown up adult,even if I'm going by myself, I
always put snacks in my bags,because sometimes you're like,
oh, I'll just get a churro afterI get off this attraction and
then maybe it takes a littlelonger.
Or sometimes you don't realizeyou're hungry until you stop
(27:45):
moving for a little bit.
So have you know some granolaor some nuts, or we would do a
lot of like the fruit snacks andlike apples and stuff, just for
when somebody looks like maybethey could use something.
And then there's watery fillingstations all over the parks and
water bottles at disney aresuper expensive.
I mean the cheap ones are likefour bucks each.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, snacks are always good, especially when
you're in line, like you said,waiting, and even if you're not
eating it, you could see someoneelse in line that looks like
they need a snack.
And then when you have someone,it just makes their whole life
better.
And so it's always funny whenyou pull out snacks and
everyone's so excited because,like you said, people don't
realize how hungry they areuntil they start hearing some
(28:27):
little plastic move and they'relike oof, I need to eat
something.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
It's nice to be able to help other people sometimes,
because you know if somebodyhasn't brought snacks or they
ran out of snacks, sometimesthey can feel a little stuck.
Yes, true, is there any other,like parting disney, advice that
you would give people?
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Don't be afraid to rope drop.
Think about it before you go.
If you want to churro in thepark, buy it and just be as
pleasant as you can to the castmembers and to each other,
because all of us are there tohave fun and we always want to
make everyone's experienceexciting.
(29:07):
So I would say that With ropedrop.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
If you can't do it, because maybe you just don't do
mornings, you can still have agreat day without rope dropping.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Yes that is true.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
You do not have to rope drop.
I know that a lot of videosmake it seem like you can't have
a good day.
That's not true.
If you want to try to get onall of the thrill rides and
you're not going to do genieplus, it will go a long way to
help you spending less time inline.
But I've done many trips andnot rope drop and had wonderful
days.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yes, so you can do it without.
You could still have fun.
It will still be just asmagical and exciting.
So do it both ways, whicheveryou like.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And it's okay to do rope drop one day and not do
rope drop another.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Or you might go into a rope drop and a reservation
opens at a place you want to eat.
So you have to make decisions.
So you just have to be flexibleand just go with the flow.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We have this free planning course at Park Magic
called Park Magic University.
The first lesson is don't feellike you have to jam-pack
everything in your day.
I've gone to the parks hundredsof times, literally hundreds of
times, and I'm still being likeoh you know, actually I've
never done that before, oh, I'venever done this before.
There's no way to do it all.
I kind of feel like one of thereasons why people get so
(30:20):
frustrated with Disney is theyhave this really strict
itinerary and sometimes thingschange different, things might
be closed for refurbishment.
So setting your expectations onthe lower side and then being
open to doing more, I think, isit better than having like every
minute planned out because itjust will not go the way you
plan.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yes, true.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So this has been another episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Leo, if they wanted to follow you on TikTok or Insta
, what's the best way for themto do that?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
You can follow me at at underscore always thriving
underscore on TikTok andInstagram.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
They're great videos.
I would highly recommend youcheck them out.
That's it for today.
We hope that this episode hasbeen helpful.
Come visit us at parkmagiccomand make sure you hit that
subscribe button.
It really helps us to get theword out, and same for reviews.
Have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(31:35):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win a
one-hour planning session withRobin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
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