If you’ve been planning a trip to any Disney Park, you’ve probably come across the phrase “Rope Drop”. In my opinion, Rope Drop is one of the best Disney Parks traditions. Thousands of guests across Disney’s 12 parks worldwide participate in this tradition every day. It’s a great way to get on a lot of rides with low waits, and this Hong Kong Disneyland Rope Drop Strategy and Guide will help you plan your morning so you can do just that!
Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) is probably the easiest park to rope drop among all the Disney Parks. This is because it’s small size, low crowds, and predictable crowd patterns make it easy to navigate. However, with the introduction of Early Park Entry Passes, having a good HKDL Rope Drop strategy is critical to enjoying a day at the park. Hopefully by the end of this post, you are more equipped to tackle a Rope Drop morning at HKDL.
Click the following links to access my Hong Kong Disneyland Planning Guide, Hong Kong Disneyland Attraction and Ride Guide, my 1-Day HKDL Itinerary, my 2-Day HKDL Itinerary, and my posts explaining the Premier Access System, Early Park Entry Pass the The Best Times to Visit HKDL, Visiting HKDL with Kids, and my First Timers Guide to Hong Kong Disneyland!
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Klook.comWhat is Rope Drop?
Rope Drop usually refers to three things: (1) the first few hours in the morning that the parks are open when waits for rides are at their shortest, (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.
In summary, 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. During this time, guests try to do this before the crowds arrive for the day and wait times start to balloon.
Hong Kong Disneyland Rope Drop Times
Hong Kong Disneyland usually opens at 10:30am on non-peak days and at 10am or earlier on peak days. This means the park has the latest opening time of any Disney park in the world. I would say that, because of this, the window for Rope Drop at Hong Kong Disneyland is a lot smaller, probably only encompassing an hour to an hour and a half.
Since it opens so late, a majority of the crowds tend to arrive at or before opening. This would normally make rope drop harder, but because HKDL is usually less crowded than most other Disney parks, you can still do a lot of rides in the morning before long lines start to form.
Key to Rope Drop: Arrive Early
Just like at any Disney Park, the key to a successful Rope Drop is to arrive early. I would recommend arriving at the park an hour before the official park opening time. This is the same advice I would give those who have Early Park Entry Passes. If you purchased Early Park Entry, arrive at the park around 45 minutes to 1 hour before you’re allowed to enter the park, which as of this writing is an hour before the official opening time.
Rope Drop and the Early Park Entry Pass
If you would like to augment your Rope Drop experience, I would highly recommend buying Early Park Entry Passes for your visit. I have an Early Park Entry Pass post that goes into detail on why I think the pass is absolutely worth your money. Not only do you get access to the park an hour before everyone else, you can also get on 3 of the most popular rides in the park before everyone else, those being Frozen Ever After, Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Anyone can purchase an Early Park Entry Pass, and I would recommend buying them on Klook through this link so that you can get them at a little bit of a discount. If you click on the post above, I have a strategy towards the end of the post that details what attractions you should do at Rope Drop if you have Early Park Entry Passes. Because I’ve already written a Rope Drop strategy if you have Early Park Entry, this Hong Kong Disneyland Rope Drop Strategy and Guide will focus on a Rope Drop strategy for those of you that did not buy Early Park Entry Passes.
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Klook.comRope Drop and Premier Access
If you purchased any of the Premier Access packages, I would recommend not using them until after 12 noon. Lines in the first 1-2 hours that the park is open will not be that long. Because of that, it doesn’t make sense to use Premier Access to skip lines that are short to begin with. If you Rope Drop, you’ll be able to do most of the major attractions with low wait times, so you can use Premier Access to get on attractions a second time or more later in the day.
For a guide on Premier Access at HKDL, check out this post.
Rope Drop HKDL Specifics
If you don’t have Early Entry, the main thing you have to know is that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is going to head to Frozen Ever After first thing in the morning. Against my usual advice for other Disney parks, I would recommend you do the same. The Early Entry crowds would have left Frozen Ever After by now, so you will be able to get on it without waiting too long assuming you get to the park early enough to be first in line.
Another thing you need to make note of is that the back area of the park with Mystic Point, Grizzly Gulch, and Toy Story Land opens about 30 minutes after the rest of the park does. So there is effectively a second Rope Drop that happens at that time. It’s imperative that you get to these lands just as they open for the day so you can get the more popular rides out of the way.
Hong Kong Disneyland Rope Drop Strategy and Guide
So as with my other Rope Drop strategies, the main thing you need to do, as previously stated, is to get to the park early. This is so that you’re one of the first people in the park when it opens and are right behind the rope at the front of the crowd for Rope Drop.
When the rope drops at 10am or 10:30am, quickly make your way to Frozen Ever After. If all goes according to plan, you should be on and off the ride in about 20 minutes. If you get off the ride early enough, head on over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and get on that. You should be on and off that ride in about 10 minutes.
After that’s done, head to the Toy Story Land entrance. The rope should drop at 10:30am if the park opens at 10am and at 11am if the park opens at 10:30am. Once it does, immediately beat the crowds to Toy Soldier Parachute Drop. This is the only Toy Story Land ride I recommend riding this early as it’s the only one whose wait time can exceed 30 minutes at the height of the day (yes, 30 minutes is considered long at HKDL).
Once that’s done, head past Mystic Point to Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars and get on that. This usually gets a long line before Mystic Manor does, so it’s the higher priority to do earlier in the day. If you don’t like rollercoasters however, then skip this and go straight to Mystic Manor.
End your Rope Drop time with a ride on Mystic Manor. This is my personal favorite Disney ride in the entire world, so I would recommend riding it a few times back-to-back. And with that, you just did 5 of the biggest rides at Hong Kong Disneyland in 1 ½ hours! Pat yourself on the back then get ready for the rest of your day at the park!
If you would like advice on how to structure your day at the park so you do and see everything, I’ve made a 1-Day Hong Kong Disneyland Itinerary post that was designed to help you see all the highlights in the park in one day!.
Hong Kong Disneyland Rope Drop Strategy and Guide Conclusion
And that’s everything you need to know about Rope Dropping HKDL! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
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