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Magic Kingdom Rope Drop Plan: Best Ride Order for a Full Day

Follow this Magic Kingdom rope drop plan to ride popular attractions early, limit unnecessary walking, avoid long midday waits, and make the most of your day.

Having a basic plan can help you make the most of your day at Magic Kingdom. Arriving early and riding attractions in an efficient order can save you hours of waiting in line throughout the day.

This Magic Kingdom rope drop plan is designed for Disney Resort guests using Early Entry. The plan also considers walking distance, so you're not constantly crossing the park to get from one attraction to another.

Some definitions:

Rope Drop: Arriving at the park before it officially opens.

Early Entry: Guests staying at a Disney Resort or qualifying partner hotel can enter the park 30 minutes before other guests.

Magic Kingdom Rope Drop Plan

Before Early Entry

Arrive at the Magic Kingdom 20–45 minutes before Early Entry begins.

This will give you time to make it through security and get in line to enter the park.

Once you enter the park, head directly toward Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland.

Early Entry

  1. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
  2. Ride Peter Pan's Flight.
  3. If the park hasn't opened yet, ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Morning

After finishing in Fantasyland, head towards Adventureland and Frontierland.

  1. Ride Tiana's Bayou Adventure OR TRON Lightcycle / Run based on current wait times. Save the other for later in the day unless wait times are low for both.
  2. Ride Jungle Cruise.
  3. Ride Pirates of the Caribbean.
  4. Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
  5. Ride Haunted Mansion.
  6. Check the showtimes for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room whenever your group needs a break or chance to sit down.

This is the suggested order, but use current wait times and the location of each attraction to decide which one makes the most sense. You don't need to follow the order exactly if another attraction has a significantly shorter wait.

11:30 AM–3:30 PM

This is when standby waits are generally at their worst, so use this part of the day for lunch, indoor attractions, and attractions with relatively manageable waits.

  1. Stop for lunch.
  2. If you're staying at a Disney Resort hotel, consider taking a midday resort break if your group needs one.
  3. Choose additional attractions based on current wait times and what your group wants to do.

Good options include:

  • "it's a small world"
  • Mad Tea Party
  • Mickey's PhilharMagic — a great show in an air-conditioned theater
  • Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

You don't need to fit every attraction on this list into your day. Pick the ones that interest your group and use the wait times to decide what makes sense.

3:00–5:30 PM

By this point, you should have already completed many of the attractions with the fastest-growing wait times. Use the afternoon to work through Tomorrowland and finish any major attractions you skipped earlier.

  1. Ride whichever you didn't ride earlier: TRON Lightcycle / Run or Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
  2. Ride Space Mountain.
  3. Ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
  4. Ride Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
  5. Check the wait times and use any remaining time to ride an attraction you skipped earlier.

If you're already caught up on your must-do attractions, this is a good time to slow down, explore the park, grab a snack, or take photos.

5:30–6:30 PM

  1. Have dinner.
  2. Sit-down restaurants require reservations be made days or weeks in advance. Schedule your reservation earlier in the evening, before the main nighttime entertainment crowd begins to gather.
  3. Check the evening entertainment schedule before deciding where you'll spend the rest of the night.

Evening

You have two good options for the evening: watch the fireworks or use the fireworks crowd to your advantage.

Ride wait times will be very low right before and during the fireworks show, but I highly recommend watching the fireworks show anyways.

After the fireworks, don't feel like you have to leave immediately. You can get in line for an attraction up until park closing.

  1. Check the wait times after the fireworks.
  2. Choose a remaining must-do attraction with a reasonable wait.
  3. Get in line and enjoy one last ride.
  4. Let other guests clear out of the park while you finish your ride.

Why This Order Works

The goal isn't simply to ride Magic Kingdom's most popular attractions first. It's to ride the attractions whose wait times increase the fastest while waits are still low.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan's Flight, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh are particularly important to tackle early because their waits can increase quickly once the general park population arrives.

Once the park gets busier, switch to attractions that can handle more guests and generally have more manageable waits. This makes the middle of the day a better time for lunch, indoor attractions, and shows rather than standing in a long outdoor standby line.

The afternoon is then used to finish major attractions while working through nearby areas of the park, rather than repeatedly crossing Magic Kingdom.

The evening provides another opportunity to catch shorter waits. Many guests stop riding attractions as they prepare for fireworks, which can create a useful window for attractions throughout the park.

How to Adjust This Plan

You don't have to follow this list perfectly.

It's important to have a basic plan, but be flexible throughout the day. Wait times change, attractions can temporarily close, and your group may decide that you'd rather skip something.

This plan also tries to limit unnecessary walking. You don't want to spend your entire day crossing Magic Kingdom from one side to the other just to follow a predetermined ride order. Study the park map before your trip so you know the general layout and can make adjustments based on where you are.

Most importantly, pick out your must-do attractions ahead of time.

For example, if your family doesn't care about TRON Lightcycle / Run, there's no reason to build your afternoon around it. Replace it with another attraction that's important to your group.

Before your trip, check the MouseDays Crowd Calendar to see how busy your date is expected to be. Use the MouseDays Park Planner to build a park schedule around your group's priorities.

The most important part of this plan is simple: get there early, prioritize the fastest-growing waits, avoid long standby lines in the middle of the day, limit unnecessary walking, and take advantage of lower waits at night.