For some of us, a trip to Disneyland isn’t just a stroll in the park. It’s a mission. A mission to ride the most rides in the least amount of time and therefore have the most fun. I want to show you how I attack this mission. A mission I call Rope Drop.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be in the park from open to close and squeeze every moment I could out of the trip. That would kill me today. Now I take advantage of a special time. . . early in the morning while most guests are still working on getting out of bed, getting the family together, or having a character breakfast.

DISCLAIMER: All of the photos were taken in the last few days. These are not photos from the off-season. This is real. This is NOW!

I plan ahead to arrive in the parking structure as soon as they open, which is one hour before the earliest park opening. I prefer the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure. It’s the fastest and easiest to get to from the 5 Freeway. Plus, if there is not an event going on, you can often park in the Pinocchio area, just yards away from the tram.

At this time of day, there are not a lot of trams running and they will sometimes wait longer for riders to board. The tram is Plan A for me, but if you don’t want to wait, or don’t want to disassemble your stroller caravan to board, a solid plan B is to take the half-mile walk to the Esplanade. To do this, just follow the hedges around the tram area, cross the street and follow the sidewalk along the fence of the tramway. Depending on how long each tram waits; you can beat a crowd of people to the Security Line.

I’m all business when I go to the park. I don’t have time for a sit down breakfast. So as soon as I get out of my car, I get on my Starbucks app and order breakfast. You can order ahead for the Downtown Disney location (but not for either of the in-park locations, unfortunately) and have it ready by time you get there. Boom! Breakfast on the run!

The good news is that at this time of morning, security lines are either short or non-existent. Bad news is: everyone is generally sent through the metal detectors when the lines are short. Be ready to empty your pockets!

Once through security, the lines for the ticket booths are equally appealing.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have on more than one occasion seen people who show up early and wait at the front gate, only to find out once the gates open that they have to buy their tickets at the booth first. This may seem like common knowledge, but someone who has never been to Disneyland before may not know this. Please don’t let this happen.

The best way to get tickets (if you don’t already have an annual pass) is to purchase on-line ahead of time and download them to the Disneyland app. This will cut out the ticket booth line and have a scannable code on your phone when you hit the gate. There, a Cast Member will scan and give you a paper ticket to use for Fast Pass kiosks.

Now when I arrive at the gate, the process so far should have taken about 10 to 15 minutes. If things go well, this will set up the longest wait of the day: the wait for the gates to open. If lines have already formed, I look for two things: I look for a short line, AND I look to see if people have started one or two lines in front of each gate. This is significant, because each gate opens to TWO turnstiles. If only one line has formed, it will split in half once those gates open. Anything to cut down the time getting in helps!

The gates will generally open between 15 and 25 minutes before the park opens. This is a good time to eat that breakfast and check your social media. During this time, the CM’s will pick a family or group to do the countdown. They are let through the gates and get to take a picture before assuming their duties. This is when CM’s open the gate and hold the guests at the turnstiles. The selected group leads a quick countdown and we’re in!

With the gates open, guests can proceed up Main Street to the hub.

There is one thing that will throw a wrench into this plan. You want to do project Rope Drop on a day when there is NOT a Magic Morning in the park your are visiting. These days allow hotel guests access to the park one hour before official opening. On these days, there will already be lines everywhere in the park by the time the rope drops for everyone else.

Here is the last wait before the park opens. The rope.

There is usually one destination that everyone wants to hit first thing before the lines get too long. Right now in Disneyland, Hyperspace Mountain is that destination.

At the top of the hour, when the park opens, a brief audio greeting cues the CM’s to drop the rope and the park is open. This is when the mayhem begins.

What I do at this point is casually walk with the crowd to this destination and get a Fast Pass. It’s usually for two hours or so later. And then the fun begins.

I go to the opposite side of the park and enjoy the day. While Tomorrowland is packed immediately at Rope Drop, the rest of the park is wide open.

If you’re brave enough and savvy enough to get this far, you’ve got a good hour and a half to two hours of Disneyland bliss. While the day’s crowds are getting out of bed, converging into lines at the parking structure, getting on the tram and finding breakfast, you can practically walk onto any ride that isn’t in Tomorrowland.

You could ride a majority of the E Tickets in the park before it’s time to get back to Hyperspace Mountain to use your FastPass. When it gets crazy after the crowds pour in, that’s when it’s a great time to walk the shops, see the ducks or head over to California Adventure for a cocktail. We’ll talk about that next time!

How do you do Disneyland? Rope drop, marathon, close the place down, or take it easy?

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