DCA Rope Drop/Headliners Question

[bizaro86]

We will be bringing our two sons (ages 6/8) for two park days toward the end of May. We've been a few times before, and I'll be buying Genie+/ILL (loved Maxpass, tried out Genie+ at WDW on a "once and done" trip early this year and thought it was fine, other than huge tech issues as a Canadian which they've assured me aren't resolved).

We've done Rise of the Resistance in both CA and FL and liked it, but once during the trip would be plenty. However, I think it's very likely my oldest will want to do Webslingers multiple times. His very favorite theme park ride is Ninjago at Legoland, which is a similar ride system I believe, and he is also a big spiderman fan. By contrast, my youngest is a died in the wool cars fan and loves radiator springs racers.

I'm currently planning to do one day of rope drop in each park, and am unsure where to go for DCA. My wife's favorite ride by far is Toy Story Mania, and I'd like to do that 3 times on the trip (1X/day w/ Genie+, and once standby). I'm thinking do EITHER Webslingers OR Radiator Springs Racers and then go to TSM standby directly after that. Then I can buy the other one on ILL and save one ILL for rise on our DCA day, and do ILL for both RSR/WEB in the afternoon on our DL day.

Which one of RSR and WEB is likely to get us to TSM faster? My sense is WEB might have longer lines plus the pre-show so if we do RSR we could still beat the crowds to TSM? If it's close I think I'd prefer to do WEB first, as we have never done it and just in case my youngest also likes it better than RSR, as then we could do WEB 3X and RSR 1X during the trip. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

 

[DLgal]

You are really going to just have to wait until you get there and see how the standby waits are. They can vary wildly. Like right now, WS has a 110minute wait, while RSR is only 60. That's not typical. It's hard to make a plan in advance because rides can be down at opening randomly and it messes everything else up.

You are willing to buy ILL and Genie+ so just figure out the best strategy day of, when you see the various options. You will drive yourself crazy trying to make a plan like this in advance.

 

[DLgal]

In general, my recommendation if you are rope dropping DCA is ALWAYS go to either Pixar Pier area or straight to Soarin. Everyone goes to RSR or WS. Break away from the masses.

 

[bizaro86]

You are really going to just have to wait until you get there and see how the standby waits are. They can vary wildly. Like right now, WS has a 110minute wait, while RSR is only 60. That's not typical. It's hard to make a plan in advance because rides can be down at opening randomly and it messes everything else up.

You are willing to buy ILL and Genie+ so just figure out the best strategy day of, when you see the various options. You will drive yourself crazy trying to make a plan like this in advance.

I noticed the standby today for WS/RSR. Unfortunately, I don't think that information is available before rope drop is it? Is there any way of knowing if a particular ride will be down in advance? Even 5-10 minutes notice would help a lot in terms of planning vs walking somewhere and finding it's down. Obviously we would adjust our plan if necessary because of a down ride (probably going directly to TSM and riding it 2X right away, my wife/kids all don't particularly care for soarin', once on genie+ for the duration of the trip will be plenty).

 

[DLgal]

I noticed the standby today for WS/RSR. Unfortunately, I don't think that information is available before rope drop is it? Is there any way of knowing if a particular ride will be down in advance? Even 5-10 minutes notice would help a lot in terms of planning vs walking somewhere and finding it's down. Obviously we would adjust our plan if necessary because of a down ride (probably going directly to TSM and riding it 2X right away, my wife/kids all don't particularly care for soarin', once on genie+ for the duration of the trip will be plenty).

No, there is no way to know ahead of official park opening. If a ride has a star rather than a wait time at opening, it's down.