Drop Index takes longer in Prod than in Test

Hi,  

We have a DW nightly load that drops indexes as part of the load.  

The index drops can sometimes take minutes in prod -- whereas as test of the same drop, in the test environment, takes seconds. Now minutes might not seem like much, but there are many indexes so the times add up.  

I can't easily enable tracing on the Oracle side (prod server, multi-tiered env, etc...) so I'm looking for some tips for where/what else I can look for.  

Oh, the other constraint is that I can't modify the DW load process -- so I'm restricted solely to looking at the Oracle side.  

Your help is much appreciated.  

Thank you!

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