On July 11th 2021 I rope dropped Animal Kingdom and it was extremely worth it. First let me explain what it means to rope drop because some of you might not be familiar with the term. Rope drop means to get to the park before park opening and you get into park anywhere between 30 minutes to 15 minutes prior to park opening. Once they let you in they have cast members holding a rope at the furthest point guest can walk to and then when the park open they drop the rope and guest run to where they want to go. Currently due to COVID-19 they aren’t dropping the rope they are allowing guest to walk right up to the attraction and form a line outside said attraction and then cast members start to let people in the actual line closer to opening.
When I rope dropped Animal Kingdom I parked my car at 7:45am park opened at 8am. I scanned into the park at 7:55 and made my way to Everest which was only a 5 minute wait aka a walk on. I was off Everest by 8:10am then made my way to Dinosaur which was also posted at a 5 minute wait which it was and then at 8:30am I made my way to Kilimanjaro Safari for a nice morning safari. I was able to do 3 major attractions in an hour by rope dropping. After that hour I ventured to Rafiki’s Planet watch which takes about 40 minutes to enjoy and then I headed over to the 10:30am showing of Festival of the Lion King. In 3 hours I did 5 attractions.
My best advice for rope dropping at Animal Kingdom is to go the opposite way of Pandora because the whole work is heading to Pandora first thing in the morning. Save Pandora for the end of the your day at Animal Kingdom so that you can enjoy the rest of the park during the early hours while everyone else is in line for Flight of Passage. The animal trails are gorgeous in the morning and the best part is that it feels like you are alone because the trail isn’t heavily populated in the morning. I was walking through Asia to get to Everest and I was basically alone because the net group of people were about 30 feet away and that is when I realized that rope dropping is so worth it not only for the rides but for the atmosphere.
If you enjoy mornings I highly suggest rope dropping. Make sure you eat something either on the way to rope drop or before because you don’t have time for a full breakfast but you do have time to snack on some fruit, yogurt or a granola bar. Make sure you have good walking shoes, a plan and that everyone understands the plan. Having a rope drop plan can make the experience way smoother especially if everyone is on the same page and understands the goal.
Let me know if you rope drop or if you rather go to the park during the evening hours in the comments or on my Instagram @healthydoseofdisney
Healthy Dose Of Disney 