Magic Kingdom Rope Drop and Early Entry Strategy

Magic Kingdom is the quintessential park for Walt Disney World. In fact, many guests actually think that Magic Kingdom is synonymous with Walt Disney World, but it is only one great park located on property. This is the most common park that guests want a Magic Kingdom strategy for. 

Having been to Magic Kingdom many times, it can be incredibly overwhelming trying to navigate the park and figure out the best strategy to make the most out of your park day, especially at a park that could easily take 2 or more days to completely do.

While you can absolutely go to the park and wing your strategy and just enjoy the day, many people do like to make sure they are getting the most for their money with one of the most expensive park tickets.

Our rope-drop strategies for Magic Kingdom are here to help you navigate your park morning to help get you off to a great start. However, it is incredibly important to note that depending on the type of park day you want to have, have many park days you have to devote to Magic Kingdom, how often you visit, and your traveling party, these strategies are only intended to act as a guide.

Magic Kingdom Strategy Terms

Before jumping into our Magic Kingdom park strategies, there are a few terms that are helpful to know.

Rope-Drop: Strategy to get the most out of your Disney Park Experience. This strategy requires getting to the park before park opening, scanning in with your ticket as soon as you are able, and making a mad dash to the first attraction to hopefully have the shortest wait time of the day.

Early Entry: guests who stay on property are able to enter the park 30 minutes before official park opening to have early access to select rides and attractions

Genie Plus: Paid access to book ride windows throughout the day. Pricing will vary per park per day.

Lightning Lane: Entrance to access the paid arrival window for your wait for a ride.

Magic Kingdom Park Opening Times

Magic Kingdom opening times vary a lot throughout the year. However, the park is open by 9 am almost every single day. The earlier the park opens, and you have early entry from staying on property, you will have the best odds at rope-dropping the ride of your choice.

For instance, when the park opens at 8 AM, guests who are staying on property will have an early entry beginning at 7:30 AM. The earlier the opening time of the park, the easier it is to have a rope drop that is successful due to less people being awake and at the park earlier in the morning.

When the park opens at 9 AM, guests will have an early entry time of 8:30 AM. While getting in early still allows you to have a better selection of the main thrill rides, it will likely be more crowded.

Rope Dropping Magic Kingdom Strategy – The Basics

Like most of the Disney Parks, rope drop doesn’t begin at the turnstiles where you scan in for your ticket. It is of vital importance that for your rope-drop strategies to work that you are already in the park and waiting to go to the land before the park opening time or else you will miss rope drop.

For Magic Kingdom, we recommend getting to the park about 45 minutes to an hour before park opening. Magic Kingdom is the most popular park for Disney guests and it can take time to get through security and the ticket lines.

Guests who have early entry will be allowed to scan in and move down Main Street to wait at one of the Rope Drop locations at the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland Bridges.

Guests that do not have early entry are also allowed past the turnstiles to shop on main street, grab Starbucks, or take pictures in front of the castle.

At park opening time all of the lands are opened for guests to make their way to the land of their choice for their first ride or attraction.

This time is usually signaled by the fireworks at the end of the welcome show that takes place in front of the castle about 5 minutes before the lands open.

Genie Plus/ Individual Lightning Lane at Magic Kingdom

Before talking about rope drop strategies for your park day, it is important to mention that Magic Kingdom is a park that you are going to want to budget to purchase Genie Plus for. There are 4o different attractions in the park.

Of those 40 attractions, 22 are included in the Genie+ purchase.

Attraction List:

• Barnstormer
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade (special viewing area)
• Dumbo
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
• Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess (character greeting)
• Meet Mickey and Minnie at Town Square Theater (character greeting)
• Meet Tiana and a Visiting Princess (character greeting)
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Space Mountain
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea

Due to the sheer number of available Genie+ selections, we absolutely recommend purchasing it for your park day.

TRON and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are not part of Genie+. Instead, these two attractions are part of the Individual Lightning Lane to be purchased at a separate price.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train only has the Individual Lightning Lane purchase or the standby line. TRON only has the Individual Lightning Lane purchase or the virtual queue as an option for riding. Guests can try to join the virtual queue at 7 AM and at 1 PM.

What is Open During Early Entry at Magic Kingdom?

Unlike most of the other Disney theme parks, not all of the lands and attractions are open during early entry for park guests.

Most of the attractions in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open, but Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square remain closed until the official park opening time.

This is going to affect your rope-drop strategy depending on what your priorities are for the day. Keep reading to see our recommendations for rope drop.

Strategy Options for Rope-Dropping Magic Kingdom

Our article is going to outline the five best strategies for rope-dropping your Magic Kingdom day.

1. Early Entry with No Genie Plus Purchase
2. Early Entry with Genie Plus Purchase
3. No Early Entry and No Genie Plus Purchase
4. No Early Entry with Genie Plus Purchase
5. Non-Ride Focused Rope-Drop

Early Entry with No Genie Plus Purchase

Having early entry doesn’t guarantee you will get to ride or experience every attraction on your list for Magic Kingdom, especially if you don’t purchase Genie+; however, it will give you a great start.

There are two main rides that you should focus on if you don’t purchase Genie+/ Individual Lightning Lanes for your park day.

Option 1: Rope Drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Start with your early entry rope-dropping Seven Dwarfs. This is the most popular option, so almost everyone is going to run to this ride, but if you don’t purchase the Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs the only other time to ride is late at night, like during the fireworks.

To rope-drop Seven Dwarfs, you will line up at the entrance to Fantasyland on the bridge. Once early entry begins, go to the left of the Tea Cups to get in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Again, because this is a popular rope-drop strategy, you are going to most likely have a small wait even with early entry.

After finishing your ride on Seven Dwarfs, walk towards Liberty Square by the Tangled bathroom area. You will want to focus on getting on Big Thunder Mountain when Frontierland opens at park opening. While walking across the park may seem strange, the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain will be low as the non-early entry guests head towards Seven Dwarfs and Space Mountain.

After riding Big Thunder with a short wait, we suggest heading to Adventureland and riding Jungle Cruise. The queue for this ride is very deceiving and anything under 45 minutes is a good wait time. 

The Haunted Mansion ride typically has lower wait times in the morning as well and will offer a less hot waiting experience during the summer months if you prioritize the ride in the morning. 

From here, check the Disney World app for the shortest wait times. While it will require more walking, sometimes bouncing from different sides of the park can help avoid the longer wait times.

The 3 PM parade is also a great time to get on rides if you don’t want to watch the parade that goes from Frontierland to Main Street.

We also recommend waiting and doing Space Mountain during fireworks when wait times are typically lower. If you want to watch the fireworks, watch them from the bridge by Tomorrowland and then race to Space Mountain to get in line before the park officially closes. You will still have a wait, but it will be the last thing you do in the park. Then you can take pictures on Main Street after many people have already left.

Option 2: Space Mountain

Similar to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, this option prioritizes Space Mountain as your first ride instead. For rope-drop, you will use bridge to Tomorrowland. Once the rope drops, keep walking straight to the white building to get in line.

After leaving Space Mountain, our rope drop strategy is pretty much the same from option 1. Head to Big Thunder next; Jungle Cruise after Big Thunder Mountain, and then check the app for the shortest wait times if rides are your priority.

Then the opposite of Option 1, watch the nighttime fireworks from the Tomorrowland brige and head to Space Mountain as soon as they end to get in line for the last ride of the night.

Early Entry Magic Kingdom Strategy with Genie Plus Purchase

Having early entry with Genie Plus Purchase is the best case scenario. There are so many different plans and options that would fit in this case, so we are just going to highlight a few starting points for you.

Also, depending on what Genie Plus selections you pick, and the vast size of the park, you may need to adjust these plans to fit your family’s needs. These are our suggestions for what you should prioritize in your day.

If possible, your Genie+ selections should include: Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, , Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Most other rides either have shorter wait times or the queues are not terrible to wait in.

Option 1: Rope Drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Start with your early entry rope-dropping Seven Dwarfs. This is the most popular option, so everyone is going to run to this ride, but if you don’t purchase the Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs the only other time to ride is late at night.

To rope-drop Seven Dwarfs, you will line up at the entrance to Fantasyland on the bridge. Once early entry begins, go to the left of the Tea Cups to get in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

After leaving Seven Dwarfs, check the wait for Peter Pan if you did not choose it as your first Genie Plus selection. If the wait is less than an hour go ahead and ride.

If you have a Genie+ selection for Peter Pan, head to Big Thunder Mountain. Walk towards Liberty Square by the Tangled bathroom area. You will want to focus on getting on Big Thunder Mountain when Frontierland opens at park opening. While walking across the park may seem strange, the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain will be low as the non-early entry guests head towards Seven Dwarfs and Space Mountain.

After riding Big Thunder Mountain, prioritize the shortest rides that you were unable to get a Genie+ selection for. Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean are all popular rides that can have slightly shorter wait times in the morning.

Option 2: Space Mountain

Space Mountain is another popular rope-drop strategy. To do this you will wait at the Tomorrowland Bridge and when the rope drops, head straight to the back. The walk to get to the actual ride of Space Mountain is long, so through this strategy you most likely will only get the one big ride in this area, but if you don’t have a Genie Plus reservation for it, this is one of the better options to choose.

The Space Mountain rope-drop strategy is the one that my family chooses to do the most. We have very young kids in our family, so the adults who like Space Mountain will rope-drop this ride while the older adults in our party get the kids breakfast.

Depending on your Genie+ Selections, leave Space Mountain and head directly across to Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise and then Pirates of the Caribbean with just a short walk right when the park officially opens.

The Tomorrowland side of the park tends to be the most crowded once the park officially opens, so we recommend leaving Tomorrowland and opting to ride the rides in Adventureland , Liberty Square, or Frontierland.

Option 3: Peter Pan’s Flight

While Peter Pan’s Flight may seem like a weird ride to start with, it honestly becomes one of the longest wait times at Magic Kingdom daily, quickly. Sometimes you can’t even ride one ride at Magic Kingdom before the wait time is over an hour.

If Peter Pan is important to you either make this your first Genie+ selection or rope-drop Peter Pan.

After rope-dropping Peter Pan, you should be able to get in at least one more ride before the park officially opens. The only ride we don’t recommend for this is “it’s a small world” as you will never be done before park opening to rope-drop the other side of the park.

However, if you want more of a thrill, you could try to head to Tomorrowland and get on Space Mountain if the wait time is less than an hour. Or, you can head back to the hub and rope drop something on the other side of the park. No matter what, you have a lot of open options after riding Peter Pan.

No Early Entry and No Genie Plus Purchase

If you are not staying on Disney property or a good neighbor hotel, you will not have early entry access to the theme parks. This may change your park strategy a lot, especially if you have also not purchased Genie Plus. You will want to be very specific in the choices you may have about what rides to prioritize so that you do not spend all day waiting in line.

While early entry guests are going to begin their day in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, the other lands don’t open until park opening. That side of the park typically stays busy for most of the day after early entry. Guests also tend to go to the right when entering Magic Kingdom, so the morning is not the ideal time to try and get to these two lands.

Option 1: Big Thunder Mountain

One of the big roller coasters in the park that can have long waits as the day goes on is Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain is located in Frontierland at the very back of the park. You will want to utilize the Liberty Square walkway to get to the back of the park.

If you make it to Big Thunder Mountain first thing in the morning, you usually will have less than a 15 minute wait. We have rope-dropped Big Thunder previously and have been able to ride it twice in a row with barely any wait time.

From here we recommend rotating to Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland for your next ride before heading to Jungle Cruise. Jungle Cruise may have a longer wait by the time you get here, so if it is important to you, walk past Pirates and go to Jungle Cruise first. While waiting for Pirates, the queue (line) is indoors, so it makes waiting during the warm months a little easier.

After riding these three big ticket rides, check the Disney World app for short wait times. Depending on when you are visiting the park, the wait times can stay relatively low or can jump quickly, so it is always best to figure out what your park priorities are and decide if you are willing to wait in the line to experience the attraction.

Option 2: Jungle Cruise

Another great option to begin your morning is Jungle Cruise! The boat ride Jungle Cruise is extremely popular with wait times averaging over an hour for the majority of the day. This is a great ride to start with, especially if you have no interest in riding roller coasters in Magic Kingdom because it is a ride available to the entire family.

After leaving Jungle Cruise, heading towards Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion will give you two other rides that aren’t roller coasters to knock out early in the morning with lower wait times.

Big Thunder is also towards the back of the park and can still have relatively low wait times depending on how long you waited to ride Jungle Cruise, so this could be another great option.

For the rest of your theme park day, again, make sure you are prioritizing the rides important to your family and checking the wait times regularly to find the next shortest ride.

If experiencing attractions is important to you, utilize the times during parades and fireworks for shorter wait times. Also try to ride the rides during peak eating hours when most people are crowding the restaurants.

No Early Entry Magic Kingdom Strategy with Genie Plus Purchase

When you are rope-dropping without early entry, it is a lot easier to get more rides in when purchasing Genie Plus and/ or Individual Lighting Lanes. The rides you should prioritize when making your selections should be Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Option 1: Jungle Cruise

If you have selected Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, or Pirates of the Caribbean as one of your Genie selections, then Jungle Cruise is a great option to rope-drop. It is one of the closest rides to the entrance to the park, so while other guests are still walking to their rope-drop ride, you can already be in line.

After Jungle Cruise, head towards Big Thunder Mountain or Haunted Mansion if you do not have Genie+ Reservations. After the mid morning, the other side of the park – Fantasyland and Tomorrowland do have a slight dip in wait times because most park goers start on this side of the park, but the best way to experience these attractions is to use the remaining Genie+ selections that you have, ride during parades, castle shows, and fireworks, or during heavy meal times.

Option 2: Big Thunder Mountain

Similar to Jungle Cruise, if you don’t have early entry you don’t want to start on Fantasyland or Tomorrowland. This is where many guests will already be crowded. Big Thunder Mountain is towards the back of the park, so it is a slightly longer walk than Jungle Cruise, but the ride is shorter than Jungle Cruise, so you may be able to fit another ride in before wait times start to climb.

After Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, or Pirates of the Caribbean are great places to go to next. Checking wait times throughout the day will be helpful when focusing on what to do next. While it is not always ideal, sometimes venturing from the different sides of the park can actually make more sense than waiting in longer lines just because you are there already.

Non-Ride Focused Rope-Drop

The great thing about Magic Kingdom is there is so much more to do than just ride rides. From attractions to characters, parades and castle shows, you can fill your entire park day without focusing on all rides.

Once you arrive to the park, head to Town Square Theater to Meet Mickey. Mickey Mouse is one of the most popular characters and his wait times usually are long. Plus, who wouldn’t want to start their day meeting the Mouse himself.

You can then head to Princess Fairytale hall to meet 4 princesses. The lines tend to get longer throughout the day, so this is another chance to have some quick interactions with characters while others are prioritizing rides.

From here, we recommend Enchanted Tales with Belle, a cute 20 minute show that is incredibly interactive. This is a great way to see a show and move around at the same time.

Eating an early lunch is the way to go in Magic Kingdom. Around 12 – 2 PM, many quick service locations get incredibly busy. While most park goers are trying to get their lunch you can be doing other attractions.

Then, head to Main Street for the 12 PM Festival of the Fantasy Parade. After the parade, take a walk to get out of the heat and watch either Mickey’s PhilharMagic in Fantasyland or go to Adventureland and watch the Tiki Room Show.

The Country Bear Jamboree should also be on your list of shows to watch and you may even get to dance with them in Frontierland in the afternoon. You can also shoot at the arcade in Frontierland while back there or explore Tom Sawyer’s Island.

Throughout the afternoon and into the evening are the Adventure Friends Cavalcade the Friendship Faire Stage Show, which are all great opportunities to see the characters and dance around the park.

In the evening before finding a great spot for fireworks, make sure to do some shopping on Main Street, enjoy a Dole Whip or Mickey Pretzel, an fit a relaxing ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover.

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