Help me plan the day for a bunch of newbies Jul 19/25

[matsterrocks]

My wife will be traveling with 11 others (6 adults 6 teens) none who have been to Disneyland before other than my wife and she hasn't been to Disneyland for 15 years. They will have Lightning Lane passes but not hopper passes. They plan on staying for the full day. The top priority ride for them will be Rise of the Resistance. I believe they plan on arriving 30ish minutes before the park opens but are not staying on site so will not have early access. Can you please give me a list of which rides they should ride and in what order. Thanks

 

[irlandaise]

My wife will be traveling with 11 others (6 adults 6 teens) none who have been to Disneyland before other than my wife and she hasn't been to Disneyland for 15 years. They will have Lightning Lane passes but not hopper passes. They plan on staying for the full day. The top priority ride for them will be Rise of the Resistance. I believe they plan on arriving 30ish minutes before the park opens but are not staying on site so will not have early access. Can you please give me a list of which rides they should ride and in what order. Thanks

I doubt that all 12 people will be interested in the same rides, so I suggest that they look over what's available and think about splitting up into smaller groups except for RotR.

Have any of them been to Walt Disney World before? One of the posters on this forum has a handy comparison list to help WDW veterans decide whether specific DL rides will be of interest to them.

Also, are some of your group interested in parades/shows/fireworks? If so, they'll have to schedule around those. What are the dates of their visit? That will affect what entertainment is available.

It does simplify your decisions that everyone will be visiting only Disneyland Park and not DCA. Lots to do in the original park!

 

[matsterrocks]

I doubt that all 12 people will be interested in the same rides, so I suggest that they look over what's available and think about splitting up into smaller groups except for RotR.

Have any of them been to Walt Disney World before? One of the posters on this forum has a handy comparison list to help WDW veterans decide whether specific DL rides will be of interest to them.

Also, are some of your group interested in parades/shows/fireworks? If so, they'll have to schedule around those. What are the dates of their visit? That will affect what entertainment is available.

It does simplify your decisions that everyone will be visiting only Disneyland Park and not DCA. Lots to do in the original park!

They will be at Disneyland Jul 19/25. No none have been to WDW either other than my wife 15 years ago. I think most of them will be able to handle the rides at Disneyland so they may stick together. Some may want to take in the evening entertainment and some may not.

 

[irlandaise]

They will be at Disneyland Jul 19/25. No none have been to WDW either other than my wife 15 years ago. I think most of them will be able to handle the rides at Disneyland so they may stick together. Some may want to take in the evening entertainment and some may not.

Oh, sorry, d'oh, you had the date in your thread title!

That date should be pretty good. All but the highest-level annual passes (Magic Keys) are blocked out, and single-day tickets are at their highest cost, so both of those factors will decrease the number of visitors.

Others who've done "cram as much as possible into one day" visits can tell you more, but the advice I've seen here is to knock out the Fantasyland rides first since they can get really backed up as more people enter the park in the late morning. So maybe do that first and then head over to Galaxy's Edge for RotR? Spend some time over there, then work your way to the other areas you want to hit, making LL reservations as needed.

Check the entertainment schedule and plan around any of that you want to see. From what I hear (other people, please chime in), you pretty much have to buy a dining package to see the early showing of "Fantasmic!", but you might get by without one if you can stay for the second showing.

 

[twodogs]

Note that ROTR is NOT included in LLMP (lightening lane multi pass). It is LLSP (Lightening lane single pass) that must be purchased separately, in addition to LLMP that you have, if you want to go through the LL for that ride. It is priced dynamically, and checking just now, it is $28 per person.

You can stand by for ROTR to avoid this cost, but note that it does not always open at Rope Drop. You can plan to ride it near the end of the day, but it does close earlier than the park closes (unlike most other rides), and if it goes down in the evening, they may not reopen it at all for the rest of the night (so you risk not getting on it at all).

If it is a priority, I would buy the LLSP early in the day to make sure you get to ride it without a super long wait.

 

[LKing]

The full day is 8 am to midnight. That's a very long day.

My suggestion is to either start a group chat or have a gathering where everyone voices what they would like to do. It doesn't matter if they have been before or not. They can find info on the website and the app. Have each person list three rides that they want to go on and any ride that they don't. Ask what food or snack sounds interesting to them. what food/snack they don't like, which character they would most like to meet, etc.