How RopeDrop collects its data
RopeDrop's park pages are built on data we log ourselves, every day, for the six Disney resorts. This page says what each number is, where it comes from, how often we collect it, since when, and what it does and doesn't measure. Updated November 1, 2026.
What we log
Posted standby waits
The standby wait each park posts for every attraction, plus its status (operating, down, closed, refurbishment), at all six Disney resorts.
- How often
- Every 5 minutes
- Since
- April 27, 2025 at Walt Disney World; February 20, 2026 at the other five resorts
- Size
- ~49M wait-time records (as of 2026-10-07)
Lightning Lane prices and sell-outs
Multi Pass, Single Pass and Premier Pass prices Disney shows for each date, and whether each ride's Single Pass has sold out.
- How often
- Each morning for the dates Disney sells, and every 30 minutes during the day for sell-outs
- Since
- April 11, 2026
- Size
- 202 days of captures
Park hours
Each park's published opening and closing time, early entry and extra-hours windows and ticketed evening events, with every change Disney makes kept in a log.
- How often
- Daily
- Since
- May 27, 2026
- Size
- 4,249 park-day entries
Dining reservation availability
Which reservation times open up at each table-service restaurant, for each party size, and how long they stay open.
- How often
- Every few minutes for watched restaurants; a full sweep every day
- Size
- 175 restaurants with availability data in the last 30 days
Disney resort room prices
The nightly price and availability Disney's public resort search shows for Walt Disney World resorts, across the coming months.
- How often
- Daily
- Since
- October 28, 2026
- Size
- 18,411 resort-night price checks
What the numbers measure, and what they don't
- Wait times are posted waits. They are the numbers the parks display, not timed waits in line. Posted waits often run longer than the real wait, especially in the evening.
- Averages are of the readings we have. When a source is down we record a gap; we never fill it in. Pages say how many days or readings an average is based on.
- Times are park-local. Raw readings are stored in UTC and converted to each park's own time before we show an hour of the day.
- Crowd levels and forecasts are estimates. They are built from logged posted waits and calendars (school breaks, holidays, events), and they say how busy a day is likely to be relative to others, not a guaranteed wait.
- Prices are what Disney showed when we checked. Lightning Lane and room prices change; each page shows when the price was captured.
- Hours are Disney's published schedule. Disney can change them; we re-read the calendar daily and keep a log of every change.
Using our numbers
You're welcome to quote any figure on RopeDrop. Please link the page the figure comes from and say "posted wait" rather than "wait" for wait times. A credit line: Source: RopeDrop wait-time log, ropedropplanner.com. Headline numbers with their sources are on RopeDrop data: numbers you can use, and developers can use the public data API.
Corrections
If a number looks wrong, email [email protected] with the page. Generated text on the site is checked against our data before it publishes, and closed rides and retired product names are kept in one registry so they don't reappear.
RopeDrop is an independent planner and is not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. How the day planner works is on About the Algorithm.