What could be better than spending an early morning at Walt Disney’s original theme park? I am an early bird, and that is especially true on a Disney vacation. With nearly 50 rides, more than 10 daytime performances and musical acts, and half a dozen nighttime shows, it makes sense to get a head start on your day at the Happiest Place on Earth. Set a wake-up alarm and head to the gates – we’re going to Rope Drop Disneyland!
To All Who Come to this Happy Place, Welcome.
I stayed at the JW Marriott on Clementine Street for my stay, which was about a 12-minute walk to the gates. There are closer Good Neighbor Hotel options, as well as the three Hotels of the Disneyland Resort available on property (Disney’s Grand California, Pixar Place, and of course, the original Disneyland Hotel), though almost every hotel in the area is within walking distance to the parks. A comparable walking time at Walt Disney World would be taking the path from the EPCOT resorts to Hollywood Studios (this actually felt a touch closer). Staying at the Hotels of the Disneyland Resorts is the best way to stay inside the “Disney bubble,” if you are familiar with the feeling of staying at a Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
I entered the Disneyland Resort property at 7:30am from Harbor Blvd. and headed up to security. The lines moved swiftly, and after a quick bag search, I was on my way to the gates. Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) alternate the days that they offer Early Entry to guests staying at one of the three Hotels of the Disneyland Resort. Currently, Disneyland offers Early Entry on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and DCA offers Early Entry on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. On this day, DCA was offering Early Entry, and it was nice to see they were already allowing guests into Disneyland, and up Main Street USA for the 8am opening. I was running low on caffeine having skipped the in-room coffee, and I still had time to make a quick dash to Starbucks in Downtown Disney for an iced coffee before entering the parks. (Pro tip: Unlike the Starbucks locations at Disney World, this location in Downtown Disney allows Mobile Order through the Starbucks app! You can save yourself some time by ordering ahead, but the line moved quickly for me.) Now officially ready for the day, I scanned into Disneyland at 7:49am.
It’s important to be inside the park (and definitely already through security) prior to the ride queues opening at 8am. If you are just entering security at or around 8am, there will be hundreds if not thousands of people ahead of you. With so many attractions at this park there is still a ton of fun to be had, but if you really want to make the most of your morning, you want to be entering property between 7:30am and 7:45am for a “non-Early Entry” morning, and between 7:00am and 7:15am for Early Entry.
Walking Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA
Iced coffee in hand, I made my way down Main Street USA, soaking in all the sights and sounds of the original park. Disneyland is quite a bit smaller than the Magic Kingdom, with narrow pathways and the lands in closer proximity to one another. I assume because of this, guests are not sent further into the different lands to wait for queues to open up. Instead, everyone gathers in the Hub, filling the space on each bridge to the different lands, and milling about in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and around the Partners statue of Walt and Mickey. This was a very cool vibe of anticipated excitement, and I really enjoyed seeing the crowds gather to start the day.
I could see the Carousel start running through the castle gates – and since I was headed to Fantasyland, this really got me jazzed for the morning ahead. As 8am rolled around, “Celebrate Happy” by the Jonas Brothers & Disney from the Disneyland 70th album started playing, and everyone started dancing a little in their spots! How can you not? This song is a bop! (If you haven’t listened to “Music from Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration” yet, head over to Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your tunes – it’s a fun, upbeat soundtrack.) With that, I headed over the bridge and through Sleeping Beauty Castle into Fantasyland.
Fantasyland is dedicated to the young and the young in heart, to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams do come true.
My plan for Fantasyland was to ride at least one Opening Day Disneyland ride, along with some other classic attractions that are no longer (or never were) part of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I also wanted to ride attractions that don’t have a Lightning Lane option, to avoid longer waits later in the day. I did purchase MultiPass for this day, and that had a small effect on how I planned out my day. Because the attractions (and specifically the queues) in Fantasyland are smaller, there just isn’t room for an additional Lightning Lane queue for people to physically wait in and walk through. Aside from Matterhorn Bobsleds and it’s a small world, none of the attractions in Fantasyland are included on the Lightning Lane MultiPass system. Here is how my morning played out:
- Snow White’s Enchanted Wish (8:03a) – An Opening Day attraction, this is the perfect classic Disney dark ride. Small updates with new technology enhance certain scenes while keeping true to the original, and it was so nice to experience this attraction again – including the Evil Queen/Evil Witch scare turn scene! The Magic Kingdom version (Snow White’s Scary Adventures) sadly closed in 2012 to make room for the Fantasyland expansion, so this attraction was at the top of my personal must-do list.
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (8:06a) – I was so happy to see this ride is still standing at Disneyland in all its original, Opening Day glory – a crazy ride through London, a homicidal car accident, a bench trial with a maniacal judge, and a trip to H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Is there anything more “Disney” than this?! Mr. Toad took his last Wild Ride at Magic Kingdom in 1998 and the attraction was reimagined into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and I still don’t think I’ve forgiven the Walt Disney Company for that decision. (I’m kidding… sort of.)
- Dumbo (8:16a) – A classic, (almost) Opening Day Disneyland attraction, Dumbo really is a must-do ride. You get great views of Fantasyland, and though it’s undergone some updates, you can imagine Walt enjoying this attraction himself. Debuting in August 1955 less than a month after the park officially opened on July 17, 1955, this ride is close enough to an Opening Day attraction for me.
- Pinocchio’s Daring Journey (8:20a) – What a fever dream! Opening in 1983, this “dark ride” encapsulates all of the weird and wacky aspects of attractions like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, and brings the creepy story of Pinocchio to life.
- Alice in Wonderland (8:37a) – This attraction originally debuted in 1958, and is absolutely adorable, with some neat effects and animatronics. I waited about 12 minutes for this one, which is obviously not a long wait by any stretch, but it was the “longest” wait of this Rope Drop morning.
Many guests headed to Peter Pan’s Flight for their first ride of the day in Fantasyland, and that is the most logical choice if you are new to the parks in general or haven’t also visited Walt Disney World already. Though there are some small differences in the Disneyland version, I opted to skip this attraction in order to hit a few rides that aren’t in Walt Disney World, like four of the five listed above. If Matterhorn Bobsleds hadn’t been closed for refurbishment during my trip, I would have fit that into my morning as well.
Throughout the early part of the day I also saw characters roaming about Fantasyland. Pinocchio skipped past me at one point, with Geppetto following behind him, and Captain Hook strolled the walkway towards the hub. It was neat to see these organic guest interactions, rather than queues for photos. With attractions so close to each other in Fantasyland, it was easy to hop from one to the next, but I was still surprised to be able to ride 5 attractions in the first 35-ish minutes of park opening. So much fun!
At this point, I had one more attraction I wanted to check off my list early and I was also nearly ready for a morning snack of some sort. I decided to make my way over to New Orleans Square to check out the original version of my favorite classic Magic Kingdom attraction – Haunted Mansion.
- Haunted Mansion (8:50a) – While the Magic Kingdom version is set in the Hudson River Valley of New York, the original Disneyland version is set in New Orleans. This majestic manor house welcomes guests directly up the front steps and into the stretching room, which Walt Disney World guests will know well. While much of this attraction is the same as Magic Kingdom’s, some audio-animatronics are a bit closer (like the Hat Box Ghost) giving you a slightly creepier feeling. One of my favorite rooms from Magic Kingdom isn’t in this version (the endless staircase room), but the graveyard scene felt more “lively” on the West Coast. These slight nuanced differences make both attractions special, and I hope to ride a Doom Buggy in every Haunted Mansion worldwide eventually.
After my grim grinning good time with the 999 happy haunts at the Haunted Mansion, I placed a Mobile Order at the Mint Julep Bar next door, which I was able to “pick up” almost immediately with a 9:10am window. I have seen countless posts and vlogs about the Disneyland Beignets and had to try them, along with a Passionfruit Mint Julep (I wound up having 3 of these over the course of my trip – so tasty and refreshing). Taking care of the obligatory “bag shake” to ensure my beignets were completely covered in powered sugar, I dug in, and these lived up to the hype. Light, fluffy, and delightful, this was the perfect sweet “breakfast” snack. (Hey, anything can be breakfast if it’s the first thing you eat that day!) The beverage is pictured below, along with a delicious Raspberry Mickey Macaroon from the famous Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe.
On this day, I opted for a sweet snack early because I had a brunch reservation at Lamplight Lounge on Pixar Pier in Disney’s California Adventure that I was hopping to later on. There are many other tasty breakfast items available in Disneyland if you are looking for a heartier breakfast, including the extremely popular Breakfast Chimichanga, which has scrambled eggs, cheese, and breakfast sausage wrapped in a fried tortilla, and is available at Ship to Shore Marketplace in Frontierland. This breakfast bite is available until 11am or until supplies last, and these do sell out!
There are also a ton of cold brew coffee options at Disneyland. I tried several throughout my trip, including the Specialty Cold Brrr-ew at Cafe Daisy (served with vanilla cream syrup, whipped cream, and topped with chocolate medallions and sprinkles) and the Mocha Nitro Cold Brew from Maurice’s Treats (nitro cold brew topped with mocha cream).
Technically the “Rope Drop” hour is now over, but with six fun attractions accomplished early in the day, as well as a tasty Disneyland treat, the rest of my morning was wide open. Many attractions still had wait times under 20 minutes, and I hopped in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland – I saw a couple of people eating Breakfast Chimichangas in line, which seemed like quite the pro move. You could also easily ride Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and even Tiana’s Bayou Adventure with low wait times at this point in the morning.
Here you leave today, and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.
What I noticed from the hub just before 8am is that many guests were headed into Adventureland, presumably to hit Indiana Jones Adventure first thing. I was able to score a Lightning Lane for this on MultiPass, which turned out to be the lucky move this day, because the ride had some technical difficulties and did not open with the park. (I rode it for the first time later in the morning when it came back up – wow! I am officially looking forward to the reimagining of Dinosaur in Disney’s Animal Kingdom!) If I had planned to start my day in Adventureland and Indiana Jones Adventure didn’t open on time, I would’ve pivoted to Jungle Cruise or Pirates of the Caribbean nearby. This is why it’s always good to have a plan, but better to be flexible and know what other options are available nearby so you are prepared to pivot!
The group gathered for Frontierland was likely going to be headed further, into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Easily one of the longest waits on both coasts, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is a great option for Rope Drop, especially if Individual Lightning Lanes aren’t in your budget. This immersive, must-do experience regularly sees 60+ minute waits throughout the day and checking it off early can free you up for more galactic encounters on Batuu. With roaming characters like the Mandalorian and immersive dining options like Oga’s Cantina, you’ll want to have time to explore Black Spire Outpost. Since Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon – Smuggler’s Run are each exactly the same version as the attractions in Walt Disney World, neither of these were on my to-do list.
Disneyland is your land.
My first Rope Drop at Disneyland was a great success, and one of the most relaxed (and efficient!) mornings I have ever had at a Disney Theme Park. The cozy feel of the park with its winding walkways and classic charm really gives this place a more laid-back feeling than Walt Disney World, which made Rope Drop feel more casual than commando. I wanted to experience some Opening Day attractions, and I always like to hit as many rides as possible during these early mornings, so heading to Fantasyland made the most sense for me. Being able to hop from one classic attraction to the next, seeing characters roaming about, and soaking in all the magic of Walt’s original park was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning in Disneyland.
Ready to set your wake-up alarm and have the best day ever at Disneyland? Wondering how you can use MultiPass on a Rope Drop day to make the most of your morning? As an Authorized Disney Travel Agent, I can be your expert guide to the magic. Let’s map out your next Magical Quest today!
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