Don’t Do This at Rope Drop - Peter Pan

[jlwhitney]

Is peter pan at DL the same or different than WDW?

 

[Brett Wyman]

Is peter pan at DL the same or different than WDW?

Basically the same with some differences here and there.

 

[debdreamsofdis]

Another strategy to try riding Peter Pan with short lines (and forgive me if this is no longer the case because it's been a while since we've done this) is to wait behind the castle during the fireworks and be the first people to be let back into Fantasyland after the fireworks are over. You will miss a lot of the fireworks show so I don't recommend it if you've never seen the fireworks, but you do get a different perspective and it's pretty cool to watch Tinkerbell flying so close.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

My strategy is to get in line right before park closing, assuming everyone in your party can stay up that late. Obviously don't try this on your last/only day in the park in case it's closed .

That way no matter what the wait is it's just bonus time since the parks closed anyway. And Fantasyland has had pretty short waits at night when I've been there.

 

[disfamily*]

This is a cute ride, but not sure why it's lines are so crazy all the time.

 

[Bossy22]

I know!!! We enjoyed the ride but haven't done it in our last 5 trips (over 7 years) just because it is not worth the wait or the hustle for us. For those who love it, great! For us, we would ride it regularly with a 15 minute wait but won't wait in the hour long lines!!!

 

[Brett Wyman]

This is a cute ride, but not sure why it's lines are so crazy all the time.

Same reason people knock people out to buy a tickle-me-elmo at Walmart. If everyone else wants it, then I must too! Human nature.

 

[disfamily*]

My strategy is to get in line right before park closing, assuming everyone in your party can stay up that late. Obviously don't try this on your last/only day in the park in case it's closed .

That way no matter what the wait is it's just bonus time since the parks closed anyway. And Fantasyland has had pretty short waits at night when I've been there.

We did this for some rides and lines do go fast. Just never tried for Peter Pan. We try to get a fast pass go once and kids are happy.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We spend a lot of time in Fantasyland and I have found that there is often a dip in the PP line mid morning, after the early birds have “finished” with FL and moved on and before the later arrivals have shown up and FL gets super busy for the rest of the day. If we notice that the lines isn’t reaching to the chains we will hop in and often have a 15-20 minute wait.

 

[disfamily*]

Same reason people knock people out to buy a tickle-me-elmo at Walmart. If everyone else wants it, then I must too!

But some people do it every day they go to the park. I think it's more of a once and done ride. Same for the new Toy story teacup ride.

 

[chickapin parterre]

Interesting, wish I had time to archive the advise of Peter Pan rope drop...I for one always advise PP at rope drop, but if I recall correctly, I have always, along with others suggested that it was not a stroller event or for the faint of heart or even easy.....indeed a masterpiece of the inhumanity. As for the 20 mins, that length of time has never happened for me as a single adult while the attraction is opening in the morning. Been my experience however that it has never be ready for loading at rope drop and tends to extend the crowd haphazardly thru lack of chain control, I have never had to weave thru all the chains to board...it seems as though the chain control CM is showing up at the exact time of rope drop and has yet had any time to adjust the chains from the night loading to the crush of morning loading

so a good measure of yeah or nay is if the line is extending to the castle.

as for being struck by lightening twice...no two mornings of loading on to Peter Pan are the same...different safety check/approval, different lead CM, different chain CM.

interesting post, thank you for writing.

and as for the entire universe has the same game plan...so true....I was one to encourage folks to visit the week after Thanksgiving....reads like the entire universe was encouraged to visit a week that seldom surfaces for holiday visiting.

 

[chickapin parterre]

We did rope drop and did Space Mountain twice, Buzz and winnie the pooh so your probably right that other rides will get you more bang for your buck!

this made me smile....we all value Disneyland differently.

 

[chickapin parterre]

I’m confused. I’ve never had rope drop at magic morning. It’s just been off you go right at the hour. Is this new? Normal?

You must have great Pixie dust!!!!! It has been a long time since I had no rope drop, I have been at the castle on Tuesdays snf deep into Main Sreet on Monday and Wednesday.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

As a WDW veteran that sounds miserable (First DL trip coming up this May). Why do they not add fast passes? Is it simply an infrastructure issue?

Us too! Since it's my understanding that PP is similar to the one in WDW we're just gonna skip it and concentrate on rides and attractions not at WDW.

 

[sherilaine]

You must have great Pixie dust!!!!! It has been a long time since I had no rope drop, I have been at the castle on Tuesdays snf deep into Main Sreet on Monday and Wednesday.

So you were there on a Tuesday for MM/EMH and there was a rope drop? So how early did they let you in for MM/EMH?

 

[chickapin parterre]

My lovely mug was photographed at 7:30 after movement at the gate at 7:20 so we could wait with magical anticipation inside....to rid us of our magical anticipation that this morning may be the morning with a 8:00 gate opening.....sigh!!!!

 

[flyingenie]

Interesting, wish I had time to archive the advise of Peter Pan rope drop...I for one always advise PP at rope drop, but if I recall correctly, I have always, along with others suggested that it was not a stroller event or for the faint of heart or even easy.....indeed a masterpiece of the inhumanity. As for the 20 mins, that length of time has never happened for me as a single adult while the attraction is opening in the morning. Been my experience however that it has never be ready for loading at rope drop and tends to extend the crowd haphazardly thru lack of chain control, I have never had to weave thru all the chains to board...it seems as though the chain control CM is showing up at the exact time of rope drop and has yet had any time to adjust the chains from the night loading to the crush of morning loading

so a good measure of yeah or nay is if the line is extending to the castle.

as for being struck by lightening twice...no two mornings of loading on to Peter Pan are the same...different safety check/approval, different lead CM, different chain CM.

interesting post, thank you for writing.

and as for the entire universe has the same game plan...so true....I was one to encourage folks to visit the week after Thanksgiving....reads like the entire universe was encouraged to visit a week that seldom surfaces for holiday visiting.

Then what would you suggest at rope drop for ppl with a stroller/kids that want to do fantasyland stuff? Dumbo first? Then knock out a few other fantasyland things until pp line has died down (hopefully still within the first hour of park opening...)?

 

[az4boys]

OP: I feel your pain. We had AP's for July 2017-2018 that started out as PH tickets. I believe we did PP @ rope drop 3 times during the entire year, once with MM (before we converted our PH tickets to AP's) and twice without if I'm remembering correctly. Each time we would be at the rope and walk as quickly as we possibly could go. No strollers, no kids under 8, and I was super happy with only a 15 minute wait. It is amazing - it seems like the bodies multiply on the way to the ride. My kids were only doing it for my benefit (purely nostalgic) so I wanted to do it first and get it over with. Plus there is something exciting about it. I don't think I would do that as a preferred strategy though. Once upon a time, yes. With the crowds now, no. I agree that there are a lot of recommendations out there to do it first, but I think times have changed.

6 years ago we did have one of those magical moments. We were first in line at the gate and were selected as the family to open the parks. If that wasn't enough excitement, we were right at the rope for rope drop. The rope was at the end of Main Street that day, before entering the hub. When the rope went down we walked as fast as our legs could carry us to PP. Our family and other family got mixed together. Two of my kids were very first in line then we were all mixed up after that. I couldn't convince my kids to come back and join me and the other family was kind enough to let our family go first. The whole experience was surreal, magical, and will probably never happen ever again. The memory is sweet though.

 

[avalon451]

This makes me sad. I love PP, and I used to rope drop it regularly and be on in 10 minutes, just walking purposefully. When Finding Nemo submarines opened 10 years ago, THAT was the "running of the bulls" event, and I vowed I'd never do that kind of thing again. LOL, and now it's walk-on half the time.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

This is exactly why I have not been on PP in several years. It's just not worth it. I took one of my kids on it once and immediately regretted it when he said, "That was it?" at the end. It's an awfully short ride for that long of a wait.