Hello, Amie! Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel.
As offsite Guests, you can pick up your
Admission Cards at any
Walt Disney World Resort Theme Park ticket window or the
Disney Ticket Center at Disney Springs. With the Ticket ID number provided in your email confirmation, though, you should go ahead and link those tickets to your
My Disney Experience account so you can make your
FastPass+ reservations up to 30 days in advance of your visit.
If you plan to use your Admission Cards for the duration of your visit, I would encourage you to consider purchasing a lanyard with a card holder attached. In my experience, this is much easier to manage than having to retrieve each person’s Admission Card whenever you’re ready to enter the Theme Parks or redeem those FastPass+ experiences. Did you know, though, that you can still use a MagicBand as an off-site Guest? There are dozens of options to choose from, and you can either purchase them in advance through
shopDisney.com or find them in a variety of
Walt Disney World Resort shops. You can then
link those MagicBands to your My Disney Experience account and use them in lieu of your Admission Cards for Theme Park admission, FastPass+ redemption, and
PhotoPass photos. And if you plan to return to Walt Disney World Resort in the coming years, your MagicBands can be re-used on future visits!
As far as “rope drop” is concerned, any Walt Disney World Resort Guest can participate. This just means you’re there right when the Theme Park opens to the public.
Walt Disney World Resort hotel Guests have access to
Extra Magic Hours, so as an off-site Guest, I would plan to rope drop for a Park that does NOT have morning Extra Magic Hours or an early morning ticketed event available on that day. Plan to arrive 45 minutes to an hour prior to official Park opening to give yourselves time to park your car and get through security and bag check. Guests will not be able to enjoy attractions prior to that official Park opening, but queues for some areas (like
Pandora - The World of Avatar) may form prior to that time.
I hope you have a magical Walt Disney World Resort vacation, Amie! Please let us know if there are other questions we can answer for you.
Amy