Help! One day Disneyland Park Attack Plan

[Tinkerduck]

Hello all,

It's been many years since I've been on the boards. I've been to WDW several times but heading to Disneyland for the first time since I was six! On a California holiday (from Ottawa, Canada) with DH 52, Me54, DD 22 and DD 18 . We only have one day to squash this in so will be in full attack the park mode. I definitely would appreciate any help from the experts as I don't know Disneyland at all and haven't been to any parks since pre-Covid (lot's of changes!) We have park hopper tickets with Genie+ for August 22, starting in Disneyland. Our focus will be on the more intense rides and things that aren't at WDW with a couple of sentimental favourites thrown in. Here's the plan so far:

Not staying on site so:

RD 7:30am
Genie+ Space
Peter Pan
Star Tours
Space with Genie +
Genie+ Indiana Jones
Matterhorn
Haunted M. (i think under refurb)
Indie with G+
Genie+ BTMR
Pirates
Small World
BTMR with G+
Smugglers run

Park hop to CA- Lunch

Mermaid
Genie + Soarin
Grizzly
Monsters
Soarin with G+
Spidey
Genie + Toy story
Incredicoaster
Guardians
Toy Story with G+
Radiator Springs

Dinner

Anything we missed?

 

[sophy1996]

If you’re not staying on site, RD will be 8 am.

HM will be closed for the installation of the Nightmare overlay.

If you wait that long to get a TSMM Genie+ you may be shut out. Those go faster than other rides.

RSR is listed as closed for refurbishment on 8/22.

 

[starlite_]

You can only use genie+ 1 time for each ride. You have SM, IJ, BTMR, TSMM, and Soarin twice each.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

You can only use genie+ 1 time for each ride. You have SM, IJ, BTMR, TSMM, and Soarin twice each.

I think maybe the first time they list the ride, they mean they are choosing the genie+ for that ride in the app and the second time they list it they are redeeming?

 

[Federalist45]

If you really want to crush it, you could look into fishing for MEPs and accelerating LLs. The short version is to book Indiana Jones as soon as you go in the park and hope that it’s down to start the day. If so, you’ll get an MEP that can be used to ride every LL ride pretty much immediately.

Absent an MEP, your plan is quite ambitious. You’re also walking back and forth across the park a lot if you are attempting to do the stuff above in the order listed.

Do you really need to do everyone of those attractions more than once? Can you single rider a few of them?

I’d skip Grizzly. It’s not much different than rapid rides elsewhere and you’re likely to be soaked. I’d also plan on park hopping later in the afternoon. You won’t be done at Disneyland by lunch.

I’d start something like:

Book Indy Genie+
Ride Space
Ride Matterhorn
Ride BTMR
Check App for Peter Pan vs Indy vs Star Tours

Fit small world in sometime while waiting for an LL window.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Your plan is ambitious especially since I would anticipate hot weather and possibly heavy crowds.

Haunted Mansion will definitely be closed for overlay install. I think Racers is also expected to be closed for refurbishment.

With your list of desired rides, I personally wouldn't start with Peter Pan. The Peter Pan line tends to stabilize and be around 30-40 minutes any time of the day and will already have some early entry people in line if you were to head toward it at 8 AM. I would just try to work Peter Pan in later perhaps while waiting for one of your Genie+ times to arrive. The Fantasyland rides that are still worth heading to first thing in my opinion are Alice in Wonderland and Mr. Toad. I didn't see those on your list though, so if they don't interest you, I would recommend either starting with Tomorrowland and riding Space Mountain without Genie or starting in Adventureland and riding Indy without Genie. Whichever one you don't ride first, immediately pick as your first Genie selection.

Smugglers Run can get weirdly long lines sometimes. You would probably be better off using Genie+ for that one and you will still see a good chunk of the queue and not miss any pre-show.

Monsters Inc due to the effect of Genie+ can sometimes have waits of up to an hour in the afternoon. Either use Genie+ or watch the app for a dip in wait times.

If it's a hot day, expect Grizzly to easily have a one hour or longer line without using Genie+.

Toy Story Genie+ do disappear quickly so not one to leave for late. Depending on whether any of the elevator shafts are down for Guardians, those passes also run out earlier than others.

Many rides (Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Smugglers Run, Soarin', Grizzly, Spider-Man, Incredicoaster) have single rider lines. You may have to consider splitting up and using some of them to fit everything in. Personally I would prefer to ride Smugglers Run, Soarin' and Spider-Man with my group.

 

[chezcurrie]

With only one day, I would take out any duplicates from your plan that are almost identical to WDW. So, I would take out: Peter Pan (the queue at WDW is far superior), Star Tours, Smugglers Run @ DL and: Mermaid, Soarin and Toy Story at DCA. Consider skipping Grizzly if you don’t want to get wet. If you have extra time and can fit them in, great, but I would focus on the unique (or superior) attractions at DL.

Tackling 9+ attractions before lunch would be a recipe for disaster for me personally. I treat G+ like the WDW FastPass of yore - three ride “guarantee” and the rest is gravy. So… prioritize!

Do look into how to fish for a Multiple Experience Pass (MEP). Basically if you are able to get one due to an E-ticket ride being down it “accelerates” your existing G+ LL - meaning you can go to that LL at any time, you don’t have to wait for your return. With one day this can be a game changer and you will be able to move about with greater ease.

I would suggest booking an G+ LL for Indiana first thing and then knocking off some other things like Pirates (which does not have a LL) or Matterhorn and Small World while you wait for your return. If it goes down, score, you have a MEP. If it doesn’t, score, you get to ride it with G+. Win-Win. After that I would book either Space or Big Thunder, riding the other standby, then focus on LL returns for DCA prioritizing Guardians, Webslingers and Incredicoaster (potentially in that order depend on return times.)

 

[Tinkerduck]

Thanks all. Will rework the plan with many of your suggestions. I did mean with the first Genie+ that I was getting in the virtual queue not riding twice.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

Use Radiator Springs single rider

Its normally the fastest way on

 

[Dug720]

Use Radiator Springs single rider

Its normally the fastest way on

RSR is down for refurb 8/22 (actually 8/18-8/26).

 

[DumboLover111]

I hope you have so much fun! It is possible to do a ton in one day, albeit you have to get a bit lucky with rides not being down. We did 22 rides in one day last August and that was with a long break in the afternoon. We stayed on site and started at 7:30. Here's the order we did the rides, and although we had Genie+, we didn't use it all that much. Only three rides, and nothing until after dinner:

Space (twice in a row)
Peter Pan
Alice
Dumbo
Big Thunder
Indy
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Winnie the Pooh
Rise (ILL)
Smuggler’s Run

Hop to CA

Radiator Springs Racers (ILL)
Grizzly River Run (LL)
Little Mermaid
Jumping Jellyfish

Break for afternoon, return after dinner

Little Mermaid again
Radiator Springs Racers (single rider)
Big Thunder (LL)
Indy (LL)
Star Tours
Disney Railroad

 

[Principessa]

Great thread, thanks OP - I will be visiting DL for first time ever, one day only, not staying on site....just hoping to take a look around and ride a few rides. Get an idea of what to do on my second visit in the future. I'll be using many ideas from this thread, thanks again!

 

[twodogs]

If you arrive at the gates at 7:30 for 8am RD, you will be behind a lot of folks on Main Street and in the hub. You may plan to arrive earlier if possible to be near the front of the rope at park opening. It can save a lot of time on the first rides of the day.

If you aren’t able to fish for a MEP, you can try refreshing. That is, book a LL for a ride, regardless of how far out the return time is. Then “modify” that LL by pulling down on the screen, over and over, until you see a sooner time. You can often get your LL to be an almost immediate return if you spend a few minutes doing this. MEP with acceleration is still the better option, but sometimes the Golden Tier rides don‘t go down in the morning, and you will need to get on with your day and LL bookings since you are only there one day. I would not spend more than maybe the first hour of park time fishing (remember you can book your first LL as you scan in, so you don’t have to wait for RD to book the first LL). Also remember NEVER CANCEL a LL, always MODIFY. This way, the 2 hour lock-out clock sets from the first thing you booked; it does not reset when you modify, which is great. If you cancel a LL, it resets the 2 hour lock out.

I agree with others that PP is about 30-45 minutes all day, so there is no real advantage to going there at RD unless you have resort guest EE (because it is open in EE and the line will already be built up when you get in at regular RD). Do it later in the day and use precious 8am time for other rides. If Fantasyland rides are very important, you can knock those out quickly at RD if you go there first. You could argue the same way that you should not RD Space or Matterhorn since that side of the park is open for EE (though Matterhorn does not open until RD). If you want to try to ride ROTR without paying ILL, you can try to RD it, but it is often down at RD. Otherwise, you can RD Indy (if it is up), then hit Pirates (short wait at this time of day and does not have LL), BTMRR (and normally HM but it is closed while you are there) and then SWGE rides (get a LL for MFSR, buy ILL for ROTR). Then book LLs for Matterhorn, SM, etc. Refresh or accelerate them if you got a MEP. If you want to ride MMRR, you will either have to ride it early or do SB later or ILL. I think this ride is very similar to the WDW version.

At DCA, TSMM and GOTG LLs will go earlier in the day, but not before lunch or anything like that. Just keep an eye on return times. I refuse to ride Webslingers with out LL because the line is very long, almost all in the sun, and moves very slowly due to large number of people in the LL. There is Single Rider, so that is an option if you don’t mind not riding with your family. There is also SR on SM, RSR (closed while you are there), Matterhorn.

You can really use LL on basically all the rides that have it, IF you get a MEP early in the day OR if you understand and use refresh. This way, you ride them when you are in the area and want to ride, rather than booking out several hours and killing time with stand by rides in between.

 

[twodogs]

We were just there 3 weeks ago and never waited more than 10 minutes for anything by using MEP and accelerating and refresh. Only thing we had to wait on was Mickey’s Wheel of Death because the kids decided they wanted to ride it in the middle of the afternoon and line was long (40 minutes) for swinging car. We had resort guest EE but didn’t get the kids up for it one of the days since teens were protesting a little…. And we rode everything, rode many things twice and just had a great trip. G+ was so very worth it for us, even with a party of 6 this time. In addition, with MEP acceleration and/or refresh, we were NEVER crisscrossing the parks and wasting steps. We were able to ride things in the order that we wanted to, with spending some time in line refreshing or fishing/accelerating.

 

[SpaceMan5]

I hope you have so much fun! It is possible to do a ton in one day, albeit you have to get a bit lucky with rides not being down. We did 22 rides in one day last August and that was with a long break in the afternoon. We stayed on site and started at 7:30. Here's the order we did the rides, and although we had Genie+, we didn't use it all that much. Only three rides, and nothing until after dinner:

Space (twice in a row)
Peter Pan
Alice
Dumbo
Big Thunder
Indy
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Winnie the Pooh
Rise (ILL)
Smuggler’s Run

Hop to CA

Radiator Springs Racers (ILL)
Grizzly River Run (LL)
Little Mermaid
Jumping Jellyfish

Break for afternoon, return after dinner

Little Mermaid again
Radiator Springs Racers (single rider)
Big Thunder (LL)
Indy (LL)
Star Tours
Disney Railroad

Egads DumboLover111, that is some hardcore DL/CA action right there! Long ago I was much like this but have eased up a bunch and treat it more like when we vacation at Cannon Beach, OR. Stay longer and take it at a more leisurely pace. Not do everything at a microwave pace. I do realize that everyone is different and have time constraints and such but always take the time to breathe it all in. Cheers!

 

[Tinkerduck]

Wow thanks all for your input, especially twodogs and Dumbolover111. Super helpful, especially the LL and MEP info. Will cross fingers that a ride goes down. We ended up pushing our trip by a day due to the hurricane so hoping that there are no issues with the park itself. Re-working the plan now. ( I know it's late but crazy busy here the last few days so doing my best!)

So just to confirm with the LL when I book a ride with Genie+ I can't book the next one until the 2 hour clock runs out or we ride the ride? This is similar to the old fastpass but without the paper. Correct?

Any if I understand the "modify" aspect. I just keep refreshing the screen on the existing LL until I get a better time but I can't hold more than one at any given time?

 

[longboard55]

really did not follow that, but number one rule is get there early. Disney before 12 is a light crowds and you can hit most the good rides. Evan oogies cantina, we wait listed at 10 at they said come right in

 

[twodogs]

Wow thanks all for your input, especially twodogs and Dumbolover111. Super helpful, especially the LL and MEP info. Will cross fingers that a ride goes down. We ended up pushing our trip by a day due to the hurricane so hoping that there are no issues with the park itself. Re-working the plan now. ( I know it's late but crazy busy here the last few days so doing my best!)

So just to confirm with the LL when I book a ride with Genie+ I can't book the next one until the 2 hour clock runs out or we ride the ride? This is similar to the old fastpass but without the paper. Correct?

Any if I understand the "modify" aspect. I just keep refreshing the screen on the existing LL until I get a better time but I can't hold more than one at any given time?

You’re so welcome! Yes, once you book a LL, you start a 2 hour clock, which expires after 2 hours or when you use that LL, whichever is first. So book and then start the “modify” process which will almost always move your LL window much sooner, or often, immediate-return.

If you decide to ride a different ride, always modify the LL you have, so that the 2 hour clock does not reset (no matter when you modify or what time/ride you modify for).

You can absolutely hold more than one LL at the same time. Sometimes you book one for a while out (say 3 hours out because you are taking a pool break right now). Then 2 hours after you booked that one, you can book another one (even though you haven’t used the first one yet since you are on a pool break and the return time for that first-booked LL is not for another hour (was 3 hours out when you booked it)). I hope that makes sense.

 

[twodogs]

Let me give a concrete example:
At 11am, I book a LL for GOTG for 4-5pm return (I don’t modify/refresh this because I am about to go on a hotel pool break, so I don’t actually want to ride until 4pm). Now I am eligible to book my next LL at 1pm (based on 2 hours passing since I last booked at 11am). At 1pm, I book Webslingers for 5-6pm. Now I have 2 LLs. Then at 3pm, I can book another LL (since it is 2 hours since I last booked a LL at 1pm), and have 3 LLs stacked up to start using from 4pm onwards. If my pool break ends a little early, I can go in and “modify” any of my booked LLs to try to get an earlier time. This works SOOO well!!!

Another helpful thing for me: if you have several LLs stacked, and then you can’t remember which was the most recent and when you can book your next one, just try to book an LL for anything. The system will tell you it is too soon AND IT WILL TELL YOU WHEN YOU CAN BOOK THE NEXT LL in the app. So that’s handy. Set your phone alarm for then! But, if you use a LL, always repeat the “fake booking” so you can see if your next booking time reset to sooner (it got hard for me to keep track sometimes as we had 4-5 LLs at the same time!). Also remember NEVER CANCEL, always MODIFY an existing LL to preserve your 2 hour block out from the time you booked the first LL that you are modifying. Cancel a LL and your 2 hours restarts from right then.

 

[irlandaise]

If you decide to ride a different ride, always modify the LL you have, so that the 2 hour clock does not reset (no matter when you modify or what time/ride you modify for).

Based on your next posting, are you saying "always modify the LL you have rather than cancelling it"?

Why can't you just keep the LL you have? Why do you have to modify it at all? Are you talking about a situation where going on Ride 2 while holding an LL for Ride 1 will make you miss the end time for Ride 1?