Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy

Rope Drop. Two famous words every Disney Parks fan and guest knows about. It’s probably one of the best Disney Parks traditions that is used everyday at all 12 Disney theme parks around the world. But what exactly is it? And what do I have to do to make sure I maximize my time during Rope Drop? Well, if you’re going to Disney California Adventure (DCA) specifically, then this Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy will help you navigate the park during Rope Drop to make sure you have an amazing start to your day at the park.

DCA is actually pretty straightforward to Rope Drop. This is because the pattern of which rides get busy the fastest in the morning stays more or less consistent every single day, barring any closures of rides for refurbishment. Hopefully by the end of this you have a better understanding of how DCA operates during Rope Drop and what you can do to beat the crowds.

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Table of Contents

What is Rope Drop?

Rope Drop refers to three things: (1) the first 2 hours in the morning that the parks are open when the lines for attractions are relatively short, (2) the event of when the literal ropes are dropped right at opening time, and (3) when guests arrive before opening to get a good spot for when the rope drops.

To combine all three, Rope Drop is when guests arrive early to take advantage of lower wait times in order to hit as many attractions in the morning as possible with minimal wait. During this time, guests will jump from attraction to attraction and try to do as many things as possible before the crowds arrive and wait times balloon.

DCA Rope Drop Times

DCA’s Rope Drop time usually begins at 8am when the park opens and lasts till 10am-10:30am depending on when the majority of the crowds arrive that day. As a general rule, crowds will usually be lower until about 2 – 2 ½ hours after the official park opening time.

Key to Rope Drop: Arrive Early

This is probably evident already from the previous sections, but in order to have a successful Rope Drop, it’s imperative that you arrive at the park EARLY. Usually I recommend getting to security right at 7am in order to be the first group of people at the gates to the park. Doing so ensures that you’re right at the rope for Rope Drop which allows you to be one of the first guests on your first ride of the day.

This causes a domino effect where you’ll be one of the first guests on the secondary attractions people do on Rope Drop, which means getting on more rides with no wait. The earlier you are, the more you can get done in the morning. So if you have a list of rides you want to hit and don’t know if you’ll be able to do them all, the best thing to do is to Rope Drop as many of them as possible in a strategic order so that you can maximize your time and avoid (for the most part) waiting in long lines.

Rope Drop and Early Entry

If you have Early Entry to DCA, you have an even bigger advantage over regular guests, as long as you wake up early. You get an extra 30 minutes in the morning to hit select attractions before other guests are allowed into the park. For a guide on Early Entry, including strategies, click here.

Rope Drop and Lightning Lane

Generally speaking, I don’t think it’s advisable to use Lightning Lanes during rope drop time. Lines will be short in the morning so there wouldn’t be any value in skipping the lines for rides at that time. I would recommend instead booking a Lightning Lane and then modifying your return time for a later time when crowds are larger and lines are longer in order to get the most out of your lightning lanes. For more info on Disneyland Lightning Lanes, click here.

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Rope Drop DCA Specifics

The biggest piece of advice I have for rope dropping DCA is not to Rope Drop Radiator Springs Racers. That’s the last ride this Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy will recommend you prioritize. This is mainly due to the fact that everyone will be heading there in the morning and about 50% of the time it isn’t operational at the beginning of the day. Meaning if you get there and the ride is closed, other guests are already beating you to the other rides that are open.

Instead, I would recommend rope dropping Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT. Mission Breakout is usually operational to start the day and tends to balloon in wait times as the day goes by. This makes it the perfect ride to Rope Drop as you get to experience it with little to no wait compared to what you would have to wait later in the day.

Realistically, you can get on as many as 6-7 major rides during Rope Drop. I will warn you, however, that this Rope Drop strategy requires criss-crossing the park multiple times in the first 2 ½ hours that the park is open. Unlike Disneyland where you can focus on a specific land or two during Rope Drop, DCA’s major rides are fairly spread out. This means that you’re going to need to jump from one area to the next to get everything done.

If you have Early Entry, simply follow this strategy like you would if you didn’t have Early Entry, hitting these rides in the same order listed below. If you plan on using Lightning Lanes, remember to book one as soon as you enter the park, but modify it until the return time reaches 2 ½ hours or more from opening time.

Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy

Begin your day by arriving at security by 7am. This means you’ll be at the front of the line to enter DCA at 7:30am. Once you’re in, head on over to Hollywoodland and stop by the rope that should be about halfway down the street. This is the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT Rope Drop line.

When the rope drops, walk ahead of the crowd behind the lead cast member and quickly get into the queue. If all goes according to plan, you should be off this ride by 8:15am.

Next, head on over to Web Slingers. Web Slingers is a good second choice to Rope Drop since you’re already in the area and it’s not most guests’ first priority in the morning. You should be off the attraction by 8:30.

Next, head on over to Grizzly Peak and ride Soarin Around the World. There shouldn’t be too long of a line at this point, but still prepare to wait about 20-25 minutes. If all goes according to plan, you should be off of it by 9am.

After Soarin, go to Pixar Pier and get on Toy Story Midway Mania. This ride usually gets longer and longer as more people get to Pixar Pier, and balloons in wait time faster than Incredicoaster, which is why I recommend riding it first. The walk from Grizzly Peak to Toy Story Midway Mania might take a while, so you should be off this ride by around 9:30am.

Afterwards, head to nearby Incredicoaster. There should still be no line at this point, or if there is one it shouldn’t be longer than 20 minutes. You should be on and off the ride by 10am.

Rope Drop is almost over, so I’m going to recommend hitting Goofy’s Sky School and The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure in that order after Incredicoaster. You’ll have to walk past Toy Story Midway Mania to get to Goofy’s Sky School and it isn’t a long walk so you should get there by 10:05am. Quickly ride it and then walk for about 2 minutes to The Little Mermaid and get on that right as Rope Drop ends.

Congratulations! You have just ridden 7 of the major attractions at DCA in 2 ½ hours. Pat yourself on the back and get ready for an amazing rest of your day at DCA.

Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy Conclusion

And that’s it for this Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Guide and Strategy! If you have questions feel free to send me a message or shoot me an email.

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