Afternoon Start at HS LL Strategy

mcgrawfan

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 25, 2003
Messages
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Planning a resort/pool morning and then heading to HS around 1 or 2 maybe... Want to hit Toy Story Land, ToT and MMRR. Would love to see the new Villains show and then end with Fantasmic. Not planning on paying for the Rise this trip, but may do single rider if anyone is interested in riding. Tips on booking later day Lightening Lanes, we usually are rope droppers but making this trip a little more leisurely.
 
Tips on booking later day Lightening Lanes, we usually are rope droppers but making this trip a little more leisurely.
We use that strategy often, we just pick our 3 LLMP attractions knowing the limit of 1 Tier 1, and 2 Tier 2. When you prebook your LLMP selections, you pick the time so it is easy to chose later in the day. If you are staying on-site you are able to purchase your LLMP and/or LLSP up to 7 days in advance of your resort arrival (not based on your park days).

Once you start using your 3 pre-selected LLMP attractions you unlock the tiers and may keep a rolling selection of 3 LLMP attractions, subject to daily availability.

Dave
 
You're at a distinct disadvantage tbh. I would prebook your 3 big must do's for afternoon time slots with the expectation that you may not be able to get too much else. That way if you get lucky refreshing when you're in the park, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But the pickings are usually slim the later you get into the day. More so for the Tier 2s than the non-Slinky Tier 1s. (MMRR and Smugglers Run are usually pretty easy to get even later into the day ime) I have booked every single non-show LL at HS the day of, but I started at 8am at MK.

One of the things I miss about G+ was stacking for late afternoon days. It made my "never rope drop more than 2 days in a row" rule so much easier.
 
You're at a distinct disadvantage tbh. I would prebook your 3 big must do's for afternoon time slots with the expectation that you may not be able to get too much else. That way if you get lucky refreshing when you're in the park, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But the pickings are usually slim the later you get into the day. More so for the Tier 2s than the non-Slinky Tier 1s. (MMRR and Smugglers Run are usually pretty easy to get even later into the day ime) I have booked every single non-show LL at HS the day of, but I started at 8am at MK.

One of the things I miss about G+ was stacking for late afternoon days. It made my "never rope drop more than 2 days in a row" rule so much easier.
Yes, My plan is to get Slinky, TSM and either ToT or MMRR. Just looking for advice from others that may be a better option :)
 

Yes, My plan is to get Slinky, TSM and either ToT or MMRR. Just looking for advice from others that may be a better option :)
You’ll be fine with those. Prebook SDD, TSM, ToT. Depending on when you plan to get there, you should still be able to grab MMRR after you tap into your first ride.

Sadly, the only better option is to rope drop or hop in from elsewhere earlier. They nerfed afternoon arrivals hard.
 
Did this recently (mid-March, pretty crowded). Slinky was my latest LL booked, for later afternoon. Rode TSMM and Tot with LL, after quite a bit of refreshing I was able to get LL for MMRR but it was for the last hour of park opening. After I rode everything else I wanted (LL for Star Tours because even that had a decent line, Rise single rider), the MMRR line was down to 40 minutes, so I got in instead of waiting until 8:50 for my LL. The line was really only 25 minutes.
 
Yes, My plan is to get Slinky, TSM and either ToT or MMRR. Just looking for advice from others that may be a better option :)
Probably doable if you're staying on property. You won't be able to prebook both SDD and MMRR, of course, since they are both tier 1. Just grab SDD if you can and then try to book one of your tier 2s as close to your expected arrival time as possible so you can tap in and hopefully score a MMRR.

Unfortunately for you, compared to G+, the LLMP system greatly disadvantages afternoon arrivals. And there's really no good work around for that. It's just baked into the system.
 
Probably doable if you're staying on property. You won't be able to prebook both SDD and MMRR, of course, since they are both tier 1. Just grab SDD if you can and then try to book one of your tier 2s as close to your expected arrival time as possible so you can tap in and hopefully score a MMRR.

Unfortunately for you, compared to G+, the LLMP system greatly disadvantages afternoon arrivals. And there's really no good work around for that. It's just baked into the system.
I am not new to Disney by any means, but can you explain how Genie Plus is different from LLMP for afternoon arrivals?
 
I am not new to Disney by any means, but can you explain how Genie Plus is different from LLMP for afternoon arrivals?
Sure. Under the old G+ system, you could book your first LL at 7am the day of your visit and then book additional LLs every two hours starting two hours after park opening. No one could book any LLs in advance, so the entire pool of LL return times was available to everyone starting at 7am. And there were no tiers and no set upper limit to the number of LLs a guest could hold at once (though the number of hours in the day would naturally constrain that anyway).

Someone planning to arrive in the parks by mid or late afternoon, for example, could book a their first LL sometime between 7am and park open, another at 2 hours after park open (so 11am for all parks except AK), another at 1pm, and another at 3pm. To be clear, I'm talking about when they did the actual booking, not when the LL return time was scheduled. This "stacking" strategy would give them 4 LLs waiting for them when they walked into the park around 3. And if they were savvy (and lucky) enough to book their earliest return time last, they could book again immediately after tapping into their first LL, since using their most recently booked LL would free them from the 2 hour rule.

By contrast, under LLMP now, guests can always hold 3 LL slots. No more, no less. Stacking is dead. And with the ability to preselect those initial 3 LLs days in advance, the pool of LLs available for booking on the day of visit has shrunk considerably. By the time a late arriving guest taps into the park in the afternoon, most desirable LLs have been snapped up by guests who used their prebooked LLs earlier in the day and refilled their slots with additional selections.
 
Sure. Under the old G+ system, you could book your first LL at 7am the day of your visit and then book additional LLs every two hours starting two hours after park opening. No one could book any LLs in advance, so the entire pool of LL return times was available to everyone starting at 7am. And there were no tiers and no set upper limit to the number of LLs a guest could hold at once (though the number of hours in the day would naturally constrain that anyway).

Someone planning to arrive in the parks by mid or late afternoon, for example, could book a their first LL sometime between 7am and park open, another at 2 hours after park open (so 11am for all parks except AK), another at 1pm, and another at 3pm. To be clear, I'm talking about when they did the actual booking, not when the LL return time was scheduled. This "stacking" strategy would give them 4 LLs waiting for them when they walked into the park around 3. And if they were savvy (and lucky) enough to book their earliest return time last, they could book again immediately after tapping into their first LL, since using their most recently booked LL would free them from the 2 hour rule.

By contrast, under LLMP now, guests can always hold 3 LL slots. No more, no less. Stacking is dead. And with the ability to preselect those initial 3 LLs days in advance, the pool of LLs available for booking on the day of visit has shrunk considerably. By the time a late arriving guest taps into the park in the afternoon, most desirable LLs have been snapped up by guests who used their prebooked LLs earlier in the day and refilled their slots with additional selections.
Thank you for taking the time to type this out :) I understand what you mean.
 










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