Rope Drop News exists to help people plan better theme park days and to report what the parks are building before it is announced. That only works if you can trust what we publish. These are the standards we hold ourselves to.
Who publishes Rope Drop News
Rope Drop News is an independent site written, edited and built by Michael Burns, a Disney Vacation Club member who visits Walt Disney World several times a year with his family. It is not owned by, funded by or affiliated with any theme park operator.
What we publish
- Original reporting in From Our Desk, built on public records and first-hand checks.
- Planning guides written from real trips and verified against official park sources.
- Park data and tools such as live wait times, park hours, crowd calendars, ride reliability and Lightning Lane prices.
- The Wire, a credited reading list of other outlets' headlines. It is aggregation, and it is labeled that way.
Sourcing
We prefer primary sources anyone can check. That means official park websites and schedules, government agendas and permits, trademark filings, and what we see in the parks ourselves. When a story rests on a public record, we link to it or name it. When we infer something from records, like a likely construction timeline, we say it is an inference and update it as new records appear. We do not publish rumors as fact, and we do not use anonymous sources for park news.
Our data
We record posted wait times across the parks every 15 minutes and keep the history, so our wait almanacs, best-times charts and reliability reports reflect what was actually posted, not what we guessed. Park hours come from the parks' published schedules and are refreshed several times a day. Ticket prices are refreshed daily, and Lightning Lane prices are recorded alongside wait times every 15 minutes.
Crowd levels and "best day" picks are Rope Drop News forecasts. They are estimates, not official figures, and they can change as the date gets closer. Posted wait times are the parks' own numbers and can differ from how long you actually wait. Always confirm hours and prices with the park before you go.
Reports under the Data Desk byline, like the weekly wait-time recaps and monthly price and reliability reports, are generated automatically from our own measurements.
Aggregation
Every headline on The Wire shows its source and links to the original article on that outlet's own site. We do not republish other outlets' articles or copy their text, and when several outlets cover the same story we credit whoever reported it first.
Corrections
We would rather be right than first. If something we published is wrong, tell us through the contact form and choose "A correction." We fix material errors promptly and note what changed at the bottom of the story. Data pages update themselves as new measurements arrive, and if a data error affected something we reported, we correct the report too.
Independence and money
Rope Drop News is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by The Walt Disney Company, Universal Destinations & Experiences or any park operator we cover. Nobody pays for coverage, and we do not accept payment to change a ranking, a recommendation or a story. If we show ads or earn a commission from a link, it is clearly labeled, and it never decides what we cover or recommend.
Questions
Questions about these standards, a tip, or a correction? Get in touch. You can also read more about Rope Drop News.