Tales from the Front Lines – Rope-dropping at Disney World

I know what you’re thinking. Trixie, we haven’t seen you at the Farmers’ Market, where are you?

Before the season is in full swing, I like to take a break and go on vacation and start the busy time of year with a fresh perspective. I enjoy Florida and Disney World in Orlando. I save up for it. Now that I’m on the Hudson Common Council, I need some pixie dust from the most magical and happiest place on earth to offset the constant agita of local government.

I swear by Disney Food Blog (I often watch their videos while I put together the Trixie’s List calendar). The woman who runs the travel blog, AJ Wolfe, is my inspiration and was recently featured in the New York Times. Her tips are very specific. She has tasted every item on every menu in every restaurant in and around Disney World. She’s ridden every ride in every park and puts together ‘Best Of’ lists every year. Disney Food Blog will let you know when the flavor of the egg rolls in the egg roll cart in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland changes. (The current eggroll flavors are pepperoni and cheeseburger).

When I write that my favorite pizza is Scali’s at 11:30am on Fridays, it is a nod to AJ Wolfe and her extremely detailed and informative, yet also fun and quirky blog style.

If you have not been to Disney in years, and you’re thinking of going, you MUST do your research and homework first. Do not wander gently into the Orlando theme park.

For instance, AJ tells you to wear bicycle shorts under your regular shorts, because when you’re walking 20K-30K steps/day in the hot and humid Florida sun, those bicycle shorts will stop your thighs from chafing. Vacation saved!

(If you can talk in Disney-speak, then you’ll understand these next few paragraphs, otherwise, try to keep up.)

If you stay at a Disney hotel, or sister hotel, you’ll have access to the theme parks a half-hour earlier than the general public. You may scoff and say, “a half hour, big whoop!”

Oh, no, do not scoff. Some rides have an hour or two hour wait time, and if you can get to them before everyone else, then you’ve saved yourself valuable park time.

I talked to a mother and her daughter who waited THREE HOURS to ride the Slinky-Dog Dash roller coaster – a ride that lasts all of three minutes.

“Rope-drop” in Disney-speak is a verb. One may say, “Tomorrow, I’m going to rope-drop Rise of the Resistance.” What does that mean?

The translation: “Tomorrow, I’m going to arrive at the Disney Hollywood Studio theme park at least an hour before it opens so that I can be one of the first in the park and then briskly walk to the Rise of the Resistance ride.

Disney cast members (in Disney-speak, all staff are called cast members) physically drop a rope so that you can enter. You must briskly walk because running in Disney World is forbidden and you will be admonished. The ride, Rise of the Resistance, usually has at least an hour wait time, most often it’s closer to eighty-five minutes. If you drop-rope it, though, you can walk right onto it, with minimal wait time.

Rise of the Resistance makes you feel as if you’re in a Star Wars movie. The scenery is perfect and the Disney cast members, acting as Darth Vader’s Federation Storm Troopers and lieutenants, are surly towards the tourists. It’s hilarious! It gives me hope that I can have another job after I’m fed up with baking cookies at 3am on Saturdays for the Farmers’ Market and serving on Hudson’s Common Council. After years in local government, I think I’ll be well-prepared to work on the dark side!

When visiting EPCOT, I wanted to “rope-drop Ratatouille”. Ratatouille is an immersive four senses ride in Disney’s EPCOT France pavilion. The ride encompasses sight, sound, smell and touch. You are spun around in a trackless cart with 360 degree panoramic scenes of a cartoon kitchen from a rat’s perspective. You can smell the food and feel the warmth of the kitchen oven.

AJ Wolfe in her blog tips you off that there’s a second entrance to EPCOT, by the France pavilion. If you rope-drop by France as opposed to the main EPCOT entrance, you’ll be closer to the Ratatouille ride. The secret is that you must travel to EPCOT’s France pavilion via sky gondola from the Hollywood Studios theme park.

Yes, you need to know all these things!

This Sunday, there I was, waiting for the rope-drop by EPCOT’s France pavilion entrance. I started talking to a 30-something year old couple, waiting behind me. They were seasoned rope-droppers, and knew the routine. They were pumped and ready to get on Ratatouille AND Frozen (in the Norway pavilion) before the park opened to the general public at 9am. They were ambitious and very brisk walkers and were doing stretches while waiting in line.

When rope-drop happens, it’s a mad dash! Dozens, if not hundreds, of people briskly power-walk to their favorite popular ride while pushing strollers with fanny-packs and water bottles flapping around them. They try to out power-walk the people in front of them. You can hear the logistical screams I’ll park the stroller while you get in line! Go! Go! GO!

Hopefully, their bicycle shorts stopped their thighs from chafing, otherwise, it’s painful.

True story: One guy in front of us was with his little blond four-year-old adorable daughter. The girl was in a princess dress and very excited for her day in the magical park. The father turned to her and said, “Watch the pole.” After saying it, he starts dashing, grabs her hand, and she bumps right into the pole. BOINK! He turned to his daughter and said, “I told you to watch for the pole!” The little girl was fine, slightly stunned maybe, but fine. She’ll tell her therapist this story years from now.

I turned to the seasoned rope-dropping 30-something couple behind me. We looked at each other in shock and horror as one said to me, “Kids. They’ll slow you down.”