Disney’s Animal Kingdom Makes New Rope Drop Procedures Permanent

Animal Kingdom Permanently Adopts New Morning Entry System

If you are an early bird aiming to get a head start at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, your morning strategy just got a permanent upgrade! Following a trial run, Disney Cast Members have confirmed that the new rope drop procedures tested at Animal Kingdom are now officially here to stay.

Here is everything you need to know about the updated morning entry system before your next trip to the park.

Under the previous rope drop setup, Disney Resort hotel guests were allowed to scan through and head to attraction areas for Early Theme Park Entry (starting at 7:30 a.m.). Meanwhile, non-resort guests were held back in The Oasis—the relatively narrow entry walkway just inside the turnstiles—until the official park opening time at 8:00 a.m.

With the new permanent procedures:

• All guests are now brought onto Discovery Island prior to the park’s official opening.
• Moving crowd holding zones out into Discovery Island provides significantly more space for guests to breathe, spread out, and enjoy the morning atmosphere.
• While Discovery Island shops do not open before 8:00 a.m., PhotoPass photographers are stationed near the Tree of Life, giving non-resort guests a great chance to grab iconic photos without the usual afternoon crowds!

To manage the flow of early morning guests, Disney has set up three main holding checkpoints leading off Discovery Island:

1. In front of Island Mercantile: Leading toward Pandora – The World of Avatar.
2. In front of Zootopia: Better Zoogether!: Leading across the bridge to Expedition Everest and Asia.
3. At the former DinoLand U.S.A. bridge: Leading toward the park’s eastern pathways.

Cast Members check in Disney Resort hotel guests at each checkpoint so they can proceed into attraction queues for Early Entry, while non-resort guests wait in designated areas around Discovery Island until the official 8:00 a.m. park opening.

Overall, this change gives day guests a much more pleasant wait with iconic views of the Tree of Life rather than being packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the Oasis entrance trails.

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