Rope Drop Strategy for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure with Lightning Lanes and Individual Lightning Lanes

[DLRExpert]

Many thanks for all the great tips. I must say I am still a little overwhelmed and somehow, I can’t seem to figure out my rope drop strategy. And I was hoping to get some input and maybe even some help. I will be traveling with a friend who has never experienced any of the Disney parks and I want him to have a good time at DLR. I don’t want him to be (too) overwhelmed by the crowds or to feel miserable from waiting in line for hours It is more about having a good time than doing all the rides.

I plan on getting Genie+ and buy ILL (Rise and one ILL at DCA in the evening). We are staying at Grand Californian and since we will be jetlagged (coming over from Germany), we plan on arriving at the park early. When do I have to leave the hotel? 7 am? Too early? We don’t have to do all the rides, but of course there are some rides on the list that we are particularly interested in We also plan on doing a break by the pool around 1 pm and head back into DCA for the evening (around 5 pm). We also have the WoC dessert party booked which I am particularly excited about.

Is it unrealistic to try to do the following rides in the morning? What should we do standby and what should we book with Genie+? I will try to get an ILL for Rise as I don’t want to rope drop it. Too much stress

Indiana Jones
Big Thunder Mountain
Hyperspace Mountain
Haunted Mansion
Matterhorn
Rise of the Resistance
Smugglers Run
Splash Mountain

The issue you are going to run into is that you want to take a break and park hop.
If that is the case at rope drop I would focus on DL Westside without the use of LL in Disneyland.
Because you need to start collecting your LL for DCA ASAP.
8am-9am: I would do Jungle Cruise then Indiana Jones.
Go ahead and try to fish for the MEP, but I would get the Guardians LL by 9am. When you get the Guardians LL early it will automatically start at 1pm-2pm.
9am-945am: Book ILL for Rise (you want 10am-11am), ride Big Thunder Mountain then the Haunted Mansion, skip Pirates in the morning. Can easily be done at night.
945am-1030am: Splash Mountain, then use ILL for Rise
Take the break now. Stack LL for DCA while at the hotel. Book your ILL for Racers
Then go into DCA at 2pm.
LL order at DCA should be, Guardians, Toy Story Midway Mania, Incredicoaster, Soarin.
2pm-3pm: You are going to be cutting it close, but you have until 215pm to make Guardians (you can use LL 5 minutes before and up to 15 minutes after the LL posted return time), After that follow the booking you have for LL. Also start booking LL for DL.
LL order at DL should be. Space Mountain and Matterhorn, Then whatever else you want to ride twice. Falcon will barely have a Standby Wait at night, Autopia, Buzz, Star Tours, Small World, etc have quick LL return times.
Use Single Rider for Web Slingers. My opinion it is just an okay ride and not worth waiting more than 20 minutes for.
ALSO remember you may not have to much time at Disneyland at night if the park closes before midnight. WOC at 9pm, show over around 920pm. Park closing at 11pm is not much time.

 

[bavarian princess]

First of all: Many thanks for your replies. I really appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. But I had to google a couple of things before I could really understand what you mean Your strategies are different, but I like them both, also depending how jetlagged we will be we could probably do an early break. On the other hand, my friend is not that heat resistant and being in the park at 2pm could be a bit of a challange for him.

Since this thread is about rope drop, I didn’t include the info that we will be arriving at the hotel on the previous day around…maybe 4 pm. I was planning on hitting DCA on our arrival day around 5 pm. Right now, I have zero strategy as we will be super tired from our long-haul flight from Germany so I was thinking of just soaking in the atmosphere, getting some food and maybe hitting two of three rides. I was also considering Genie + for that day or individual LL unless it makes no sense as everything will be booked/sold out by 5 pm anyway? Am I being naïve?...Don't answer that question ? I also stumbled across a Lamplight Lounge reservation today for the 23rd at 4:55 pm which I booked but that might probably be a bad idea as it might make things even more complicated.

Shooting from the hip:
Being in line for security at 7 should be fine, depending on when you are going. Find the shortest line at the esplanade and when they let you in at 7:30 head straight for the Tomorrowland Rope.
Prior to Rope drop, book Indy or Matterhorn to fish for MEP. Keep an eye on the return time for Indy and when it hits about 9:15, cancel and get an actual return for Indy
Also keep an eye on the LL return for rise and purchase when the return time is about 11-11:30am.
At rope drop, go ride (Hyper)Space Mountain Standby. If you are holding Indy and
Then head straight to Matterhorn and ride that standby
Go to Big Thunder and ride that Standby.
Now go to Indy and ride that using LL. Once you scan in get an LL for Haunted Mansion. It should be fairly close in time.
Go ride HM with your LL. Book a LL for Smuggler's run.
Head to Galaxy's Edge, and use your lightning lanes for Smuggler's Run and Rise of the Resistance. Book Splash Mountain.
Get some lunch and enjoy the ambiance of Galaxy's Edge until it is time for Splash.
Then ride Splash with your LL. I like to wait until after lunch as it will be nice and warm by then. Should be close to 1pm now and you can go hit the pool

You can dry run this using the app, though right now things are not terribly busy. When are you going to the parks?

Thanks for your advice. That strategy is easier for me to understand as I am usually a WDW/Disneyland Paris rope drop/stand by kind of person. The concept of “stacking LL” or “MEP” is completely new to me. Can I use the MEP in both parks or only in the park where I have acquired the MEP?
We will be going pretty soon. Our arrival day is the 23rd of May. And the full day would be the 24th. With school summer holidays, I expect it to be busy. The jetlag will help us to be up at 5am though and that should give us a head start

I'd like to add that if you are going to hop to DCA, start grabbing LL for that as soon as you scan into Splash. I'm not sure what order makes the most sense at DCA, but by 1pm, GotG may be getting to late afternoon hours. During your break, check the LL times periodically so you can grab GotG when it hits the right times for you. Depending on how much time passes, you might be able to stack another LL for something like Incredicoaster after it. I'm not sure while ILL$ you are planning - RSR or WS, but both have had pretty close return times even in the evening, so you should be able to fit one of them in as well. If you want to do both, you'll have to do standby for one - typically WS will have the shorter line.

Many thanks I really want my friend to experience Rise so this is the priority ILL. Of course I want to do all three over the course of 1,5 days but I don't know what is feasible. When do the late afternoon ILL usually pop up, around 1pm? Not that I miss the booking window while having a nap by the pool I can imagine that LL for GotG and other popular rides go faster than for rides that are less in demand? ...I had really bad experiences with LL at WDW, I guess I am a bit traumatized

The issue you are going to run into is that you want to take a break and park hop.
If that is the case at rope drop I would focus on DL Westside without the use of LL in Disneyland.
Because you need to start collecting your LL for DCA ASAP.
8am-9am: I would do Jungle Cruise then Indiana Jones.
Go ahead and try to fish for the MEP, but I would get the Guardians LL by 9am. When you get the Guardians LL early it will automatically start at 1pm-2pm.
9am-945am: Book ILL for Rise (you want 10am-11am), ride Big Thunder Mountain then the Haunted Mansion, skip Pirates in the morning. Can easily be done at night.
945am-1030am: Splash Mountain, then use ILL for Rise
Take the break now. Stack LL for DCA while at the hotel. Book your ILL for Racers
Then go into DCA at 2pm.
LL order at DCA should be, Guardians, Toy Story Midway Mania, Incredicoaster, Soarin.
2pm-3pm: You are going to be cutting it close, but you have until 215pm to make Guardians (you can use LL 5 minutes before and up to 15 minutes after the LL posted return time), After that follow the booking you have for LL. Also start booking LL for DL.
LL order at DL should be. Space Mountain and Matterhorn, Then whatever else you want to ride twice. Falcon will barely have a Standby Wait at night, Autopia, Buzz, Star Tours, Small World, etc have quick LL return times.
Use Single Rider for Web Slingers. My opinion it is just an okay ride and not worth waiting more than 20 minutes for.
ALSO remember you may not have to much time at Disneyland at night if the park closes before midnight. WOC at 9pm, show over around 920pm. Park closing at 11pm is not much time.

Many thanks It is really fascinating how you approach the parks. What a different approach but it makes total sense as well. There is one thing that I haven’t understood yet. If I have the LL for Guardians for 1pm-2pm how can I “stack” another LL? Let’s say when I book Guardians by 9 am when can I start booking another LL at DCA? Sorry, I try making sense of all the great info that you and the other have provided me with.

 

[DLRExpert]

Many thanks It is really fascinating how you approach the parks. What a different approach but it makes total sense as well. There is one thing that I haven’t understood yet. If I have the LL for Guardians for 1pm-2pm how can I “stack” another LL? Let’s say when I book Guardians by 9 am when can I start booking another LL at DCA? Sorry, I try making sense of all the great info that you and the other have provided me with.

If you book at 9am you can get another LL at 11am. Then another LL 2 hours after that and then 2 hours after that.

So say you enter the park at 2pm you should have 3 LLs (I recommend they are Guardians, TSMM, Incredicoaster) and one ILL.
Also make sure you understand the LL refresh trick.

 

[bavarian princess]

If you book at 9am you can get another LL at 11am. Then another LL 2 hours after that and then 2 hours after that.

So say you enter the park at 2pm you should have 3 LLs (I recommend they are Guardians, TSMM, Incredicoaster and one ILL).
Also make sure you understand the LL refresh trick.

Great! Thanks a lot for the clarification LL stacking and refreshing is the way to go!
What would I do without the boards

 

[xipotec]

Any advice for a 3pm arrival at DCA on a travel day?

We already paid for G+ for all the days not thinking that it may be a waste?

We might get there a bit earlier, but pur plan is arrive at DCA at 3pm with a later in the day dinner at Lamplight….and WOC at night.
Not sure what the heck to do with G+ that day? The only ride we will want to do definitely is RR with a paid ILL

 

[DLRExpert]

Any advice for a 3pm arrival at DCA on a travel day?

We already paid for G+ for all the days not thinking that it may be a waste?

We might get there a bit earlier, but pur plan is arrive at DCA at 3pm with a later in the day dinner at Lamplight….and WOC at night.
Not sure what the heck to do with G+ that day? The only ride we will want to do definitely is RR with a paid ILL

Add TSMM, Incredicoaster, Soarin, and Guardians to your Tip Board inside of the Disneyland App.
Once you enter the park use the Refresh Trick when you enter the park to get a quicker LL return time for.
Goofy, Grizzly, Monsters Inc should have quick return times
Unsure if Racers will have ILLs left, but refresh trick sometimes works here as well.

Here is a post I did on the Refresh Trick
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...-lane-experience-passes.3869584/post-63912665

 

[xipotec]

Add TSMM, Incredicoaster, Soarin, and Guardians to your Tip Board inside of the Disneyland App.
Once you enter the park use the Refresh Trick when you enter the park to get a quicker LL return time for.
Goofy, Grizzly, Monsters Inc should have quick return times
Unsure if Racers will have ILLs left, but refresh trick sometimes works here as well.

Here is a post I did on the Refresh Trick
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...-lane-experience-passes.3869584/post-63912665

are the ILL going that quick at DL? From the data look like they ate mostly available all day?

 

[DLRExpert]

are the ILL going that quick at DL? From the data look like they ate mostly available all day?

they last a long time at DCA, but you never know. Single Rider can be second option

 

[HuskyGal]

Hi there. We followed your plans on our two day visit on Sunday and Monday. We followed both of the hopper with genie and ILL plans. You were right, we were tired! We had a great time. Thanks so much for your sharing your knowledge.

 

[serene56]

what is MEP?

 

[Ladyslug]

MEP = Multi-Experience Pass = what your Lightning Lane pass may get converted into if the ride is down (or expected to be down) at the time of your redemption window. Allows for a one-time LL-type entry into selected rides (including the one that was shut down if it reopens) for the remainder of the day.

 

[cindernat]

Hi all. With this from the original post:

Lightning Lane - REFRESH TRICK
This works on Android and iPhone (iOS)
- Select the circle + at the bottom navigation bar
- Select View Genie Day and Tip Board
- Select Tip Board at the Top of the Screen
- Select Edit Selections to the LL or ILL Attraction you want most. For example, I select the ILL (say Rise) and the top 2 LL attractions I want to experience. This way those LL and ILL selections are at the top of the Tip Board screen. As I start to either buy ILL or use LL, I will remove the attraction from the Edit Selection and add another LL attraction. You are basically trying to keep your LL at the top of the Tip Board so you do not have to scroll down.
- If a LL or ILL return time does not meet the earlier time you need or want, PULL DOWN on this screen to refresh.
- HOWEVER, if a ILL is sold out, it is RARE that you will see it come back at all.

I tried this and have 5 rides in my selection for DLP, but when I go to Tip Board, all the rides are in there in alphabetical order. I want to at least have my priority ones at the top. The above didn't work for me. Any suggestions? Not sure if this is because my park day isn't til next month.

If I go to My Day and scroll down to My Top Attractions, I can see them there but this seems a tedious way of doing it.

Thanks ...

 

[dieumeye]

Hi all. With this from the original post:

Lightning Lane - REFRESH TRICK
This works on Android and iPhone (iOS)
- Select the circle + at the bottom navigation bar
- Select View Genie Day and Tip Board
- Select Tip Board at the Top of the Screen
- Select Edit Selections to the LL or ILL Attraction you want most. For example, I select the ILL (say Rise) and the top 2 LL attractions I want to experience. This way those LL and ILL selections are at the top of the Tip Board screen. As I start to either buy ILL or use LL, I will remove the attraction from the Edit Selection and add another LL attraction. You are basically trying to keep your LL at the top of the Tip Board so you do not have to scroll down.
- If a LL or ILL return time does not meet the earlier time you need or want, PULL DOWN on this screen to refresh.
- HOWEVER, if a ILL is sold out, it is RARE that you will see it come back at all.

I tried this and have 5 rides in my selection for DLP, but when I go to Tip Board, all the rides are in there in alphabetical order. I want to at least have my priority ones at the top. The above didn't work for me. Any suggestions? Not sure if this is because my park day isn't til next month.

If I go to My Day and scroll down to My Top Attractions, I can see them there but this seems a tedious way of doing it.

Thanks ...

The tip board shows “today” so your selections for a future day won’t go to the top of the tip board until it’s your park day.

 

[cindernat]

The tip board shows “today” so your selections for a future day won’t go to the top of the tip board until it’s your park day.

Ah ok, thanks for confirming.

 

[DLRExpert]

I will update this thread a few days after Early Entry starts for DLR Resort Hotel guests

 

[Ariel620]

We will be staying DVC at Grand Californian in a few weeks. Are there 2 entrances to DCA from the resort now? Do those entrances work well for a rope drop of either RSR or WS? Or should we walk to the main DCA park entrance?

 

[mouschievous]

We will be staying DVC at Grand Californian in a few weeks. Are there 2 entrances to DCA from the resort now? Do those entrances work well for a rope drop of either RSR or WS? Or should we walk to the main DCA park entrance?

For RSR you're going to want to go to the front entrance.

 

[nuttyliser]

Thanks for the great tips here. I've been reading all the Genie+ tips before our trip at the end of July. I'm taking my 2 older kids to Disneyland for the first time and am wondering what our strategy should be if the goal is to ride Incredicoaster multiple times. They would like to ride GotG, TSMM and Webslingers too at DCA (plus all of the rides that don't seem to have long standby times). I'd like to ride RSR with them, but am ok if that doesn't happen. We'll have Genie+ and are willing to do a 30-40 minute wait for Webslingers. We have 3 day park hopper passes and will start in DCA 2 of those days.

 

[PHXscuba]

Thanks for the great tips here. I've been reading all the Genie+ tips before our trip at the end of July. I'm taking my 2 older kids to Disneyland for the first time and am wondering what our strategy should be if the goal is to ride Incredicoaster multiple times. They would like to ride GotG, TSMM and Webslingers too at DCA (plus all of the rides that don't seem to have long standby times). I'd like to ride RSR with them, but am ok if that doesn't happen. We'll have Genie+ and are willing to do a 30-40 minute wait for Webslingers. We have 3 day park hopper passes and will start in DCA 2 of those days.

For Webslingers and RSR I would rope drop one of them and use the single rider line for whichever one you don't rope drop. Then you can decide if you want to buy the Lightning Lanes or re-ride with single rider.

For multiple rides per day on Incredicoatser, I'd make it to Pixar Pier within the first hour and a half (after what I mentioned above) to ride once in standby before lines get long. The you can use your Lightning Lane later in the day when lines are long, plus any number of turns in the single rider line.

 

[DLRExpert]

Thanks for the great tips here. I've been reading all the Genie+ tips before our trip at the end of July. I'm taking my 2 older kids to Disneyland for the first time and am wondering what our strategy should be if the goal is to ride Incredicoaster multiple times. They would like to ride GotG, TSMM and Webslingers too at DCA (plus all of the rides that don't seem to have long standby times). I'd like to ride RSR with them, but am ok if that doesn't happen. We'll have Genie+ and are willing to do a 30-40 minute wait for Webslingers. We have 3 day park hopper passes and will start in DCA 2 of those days.

If you are okay with using Single Rider, it will be your best friend.
Tip# 1 get to Rope Drop
Tip#2 take mid day break around lunch time and come back around 5pm.

730am: Arrive at the entrance to DCAm then get as close as you can to the Rope Drop area in Hollywood Land. Use the LL Fishing technique for Grizzly, if you get one you can use it for Incredicoaster later. When park opens check and see if it is indeed closed and then get another LL for Grizzly or whatever else may be closed.
8am-815am: Head to Guardians and ride it first
815am-850am: then Single Ride Web Slingers, should be close to a walk on. Use Singler Ride for Racers, again close to a walk on.
850am: Head to Pixar Pier
9am-930am: I would recommend Toy Story Midway Mania first if you want to use LL for it later.
If not go to Incredicoaster, the wait should be less than 10 minutes, keep going and going on. If the line builds up past 30 minutes use its Single Rider.
Keep in mind the longer you stay at Incredicoaster the longer the non-LL attractions in Pixar Pier will be.