It’s easy to make some serious mistakes when rope dropping Magic Kingdom!

Arriving at this park before it opens is a really helpful way to make sure you have a successful day. But if you’re going to invest the time and effort into rope dropping Magic Kingdom, you need a plan, and you need to know the RULES! Check out these maps to help you rope drop like a pro.

Hotel Guests

If you’re staying at a Disney World Resort hotel, you will have access to Early Theme Park Entry, meaning you can enter every theme park 30 minutes before its opening time each day. At Magic Kingdom, extra park time can be incredibly helpful because it’s the park with the most rides. For those planning to take advantage of this perk, we recommend arriving at Magic Kingdom’s entrance 15-45 minutes before Early Theme Park Entry begins.

But there’s one important rule about Early Theme Park Entry at Magic Kingdom — it’s ONLY available for select attractions in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. This means that if you’re rope dropping Magic Kingdom and doing early entry, you’ll not be able to access Adventureland, Frontierland, or Liberty Square until the official park opening time. To use Early Theme Park Entry, you’ll check in at either the bridge to Fantasyland or the bridge to Tomorrowland. You must scan in to show proof of a hotel reservation to get into those areas of the park 30 minutes early.

Basically, you’ll want to choose whichever of the two bridges leads to the attractions you want to ride. Tomorrowland will take you to offerings like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain, while Fantasyland will lead to the popular Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight.

Every Magic Kingdom Ride and Attraction — Click Here!

Off-Site Guests

For those not staying at a Disney World Resort, you’ll be able to enter the lands of Magic Kingdom (besides Main Street, U.S.A.) at the official park opening time. Queues form outside the bridges to each land, and you can line up closest to whichever attraction you want to visit most. However, we generally encourage you NOT to head for Tomorrowland or Fantasyland first thing in the morning.

If you don’t have Early Theme Park Entry, you’ll already be “late” to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland ride queues when the park opens. You’ll end up with much shorter lines and a more effective rope drop strategy if you head for Adventureland, Liberty Square, or Frontierland. Line up on the left side of the park, and you’ll be able to rope drop rides like Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean. All popular options!

See Our Guide to Adventureland Here!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Speaking of that left side of the park, one of the most popular rope drop strategies is to head for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. If you have Early Theme Park Entry, you’ll want to knock out a ride or two in Fantasyland during your 30 early minutes, then line up to walk through Liberty Square over by Memento Mori and Columbia Harbour House.

For those without Early Theme Park Entry, we recommend lining up at the Liberty Square bridge. Do NOT line up at the bridge to Adventureland — yes, you can get to the rides by walking through Adventureland, but the folks coming from Liberty Square will beat you there nearly every time.

When you’re trying to be the first in line at a ride, even a few extra steps can make a big difference!

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TRON Lightcycle / Run

Another popular option for rope drop is TRON Lightcycle / Run. This attraction is tricky because though it does reside in Tomorrowland, it is NOT included in the list of available attractions for Early Theme Park Entry. Therefore, you can’t plan to ride it during that 30-minute window.

However, you CAN choose to line up outside the ride’s entrance during Early Theme Park Entry. You can either check out another ride in Tomorrowland nearby and then wait outside of TRON, or go straight to TRON and wait through the whole 30 minutes. Honestly, waiting through that window isn’t a terrible strategy, because the ride’s wait is usually more than an hour, and waiting 30 minutes would be a significant improvement.

To get to TRON as fast as possible, take the Tomorrowland bridge. You can try rope dropping TRON at park opening, but you do so at your own risk since the Early Theme Park Entry folks can beat you there easily.

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Tips for Early Theme Park Entry

Now for some rope dropping tips! Starting with Early Theme Park Entry, our favorite strategy is to arrive 30-45 minutes before it starts and head straight to line up at the Fantasyland bridge. From there, we hit Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first, then knock out Peter Pan’s Flight. That’ll take care of two of the park’s longest wait times in one swoop! Afterward, you can line up near Columbia Harbour House to walk through Liberty Square, and you’ll have your choice of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, or Haunted Mansion to visit next.

If you want to ride TRON, we recommend starting at the Tomorrowland bridge (arrive early here as well) and do either Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin or Space Mountain before lining up outside of TRON to wait for park opening time.

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Tips for Regular Rope Drop

Starting your day with the regular people? That’s fine, you can still have a great rope drop! In that case, line up at the Adventureland bridge to accomplish the most. You can knock out Jungle Cruise first, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean, then head over to Haunted Mansion. 

If Big Thunder Mountain or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is a priority, you can start at the Liberty Square bridge and go for one of those, but we’ll warn you that those two attractions are prone to delayed openings — if you arrive and the ride is down, it can mess up your rope drop plan. In general, we pretty much always recommend doing Haunted Mansion as a second or third ride instead of your first because its wait time stays low a little longer than the other heavy-hitters.

If you’re taking the time to wake up early and rope drop the park, you need to go in with a plan! Rope dropping with an effective strategy can make or break your day. Hopefully, this guide will help you have a great time!

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How do you rope drop Magic Kingdom? Tell us in the comments!