How early do LL's for Radiator Spring Racers sell out?

[sazzle12]

We will be going to CA on Saturday, Feb 24. Crowd calendars predict it will be a busy day in the park. We are driving in that day, so won't arrive to the park until 12pm. Will there be Lightening Lanes left for Radiator Springs? Would you bother buying Genie + for half the day or not bother (my kids are 5 and 7, so they WON'T be doing big rides like incredicoaster, guardians etc, but will want to do Toy Story Mania, Monsters Inc, Under the Sea, and Web Slingers). Thank you!

 

[OlliePop27]

We will be going to CA on Saturday, Feb 24. Crowd calendars predict it will be a busy day in the park. We are driving in that day, so won't arrive to the park until 12pm. Will there be Lightening Lanes left for Radiator Springs? Would you bother buying Genie + for half the day or not bother (my kids are 5 and 7, so they WON'T be doing big rides like incredicoaster, guardians etc, but will want to do Toy Story Mania, Monsters Inc, Under the Sea, and Web Slingers). Thank you!

Radiator Springs Racers is NOT part of regular Genie+. You need to pay for RSR a la carte as it's part of the Individual Lightning Lane program. You can buy just RSR and not pay for Genie+. The price ranges somewhere between $15-$22 per person.

RSR almost never sells out since it requires the additional cost. It's often possible to book a return time for 1-2 hours from when you make a reservation even on busier days. If you arrive in the afternoon, it should be possible to book RSR for the arrival day.

In terms of Genie+ more broadly, I probably wouldn't buy it just for DCA with an afternoon arrival. There just aren't that many Genie+ rides at DCA. If you have a park hopper and can also go to DL, then I might recommend considering Genie+ on arrival day because you could book more rides. I would be prepared to wait for Toy Story and Webslingers or do them on another day of the trip. You should be able to find times to ride Monster's Inc. and Little Mermaid when the lines aren't as long. Mater's is also typically manageable wait time wise.

 

[sazzle12]

Radiator Springs Racers is NOT part of regular Genie+. You need to pay for RSR a la carte as it's part of the Individual Lightning Lane program. You can buy just RSR and not pay for Genie+. The price ranges somewhere between $15-$22 per person.

RSR almost never sells out since it requires the additional cost. It's often possible to book a return time for 1-2 hours from when you make a reservation even on busier days. If you arrive in the afternoon, it should be possible to book RSR for the arrival day.

In terms of Genie+ more broadly, I probably wouldn't buy it just for DCA with an afternoon arrival. There just aren't that many Genie+ rides at DCA. If you have a park hopper and can also go to DL, then I might recommend considering Genie+ on arrival day because you could book more rides. I would be prepared to wait for Toy Story and Webslingers or do them on another day of the trip. You should be able to find times to ride Monster's Inc. and Little Mermaid when the lines aren't as long. Mater's is also typically manageable wait time wise.

Thank you so much for your reply this is so helpful! We are doing a very short trip (tacking it on to a trip to Vegas), so we are just there Saturday 12pm onward, all day Sunday and Monday until 3pm (we leave on a 7pm flight). I was trying to avoid paying the extra cost for park hoppers, as it all adds up so quickly. I was going to do:

Saturday: California Adventure 12pm-9pm (World of Colour)
Sunday: Disneyland 8am-9pm (Parade & Fireworks)
Monday: Disneyland 8am-3pm

Radiator Springs is closed for maintenance starting Monday, Feb 26, so Saturday is our only option. Some crowd calendars say the Saturday will be moderate crowds, whereas others are saying it will be 8/10 or 9/10 crowd levels, which makes me nervous it will sell out by 12pm. I assumed Disneyland was the same as Disney World where you can start staking your lightening lanes and Genie+ rides at 8am without having to be in the park, but just found out that is not the case. To pre-purchase Genie + for all three days at the park comes to around $400USD for the 4 of us.

 

[woodys_girl]

I would venture to guess that you'll be able to purchase an ILL for RSR once you arrive. Usually they last all day with very close return times. The fact that it's closing for maintenance the next day may mean more interest, but I still doubt it'll be gone by noon.
I would probably just buy Genie + for Sunday in your case. You're going to get the best value by using it on a full day. Not that you can't get a good value out of it on a partial day, but if you are trying to save a little $$, that could be a good way to do that.

 

[ParkHopper1]

You need to pay for RSR a la carte as it's part of the Individual Lightning Lane program. You can buy just RSR and not pay for Genie+. The price ranges somewhere between $15-$22 per person.

I can not describe how much the reality of this statement continues makes my blood boil and brings to the surface my absolute disgust for Disney and their current corporate philosophy ruing the magic that was once a love for Disneyland

 

[OlliePop27]

I can not describe how much the reality of this statement continues makes my blood boil and brings to the surface my absolute disgust for Disney and their current corporate philosophy ruing the magic that was once a love for Disneyland

I agree completely. The entire concept of ILL is disgusting and sickens me. The last time we were there, we could only ride RSR one time because we had a 3 year old and couldn't justify paying more than once. He wanted to ride again and it wasn't possible without a lengthy wait. It's hard to even ride RSR at rope drop because it's often down.

I think it's quite possible my son and others in the next generation grow up without an affinity for the parks. Things like ILL are hurting Disney immensely in the long term. I hope the extra $20 per person for RSR is worth future lost earnings because of kids not having an interest in the theme parks 20 years from now.

 

[dina444444]

Thank you so much for your reply this is so helpful! We are doing a very short trip (tacking it on to a trip to Vegas), so we are just there Saturday 12pm onward, all day Sunday and Monday until 3pm (we leave on a 7pm flight). I was trying to avoid paying the extra cost for park hoppers, as it all adds up so quickly. I was going to do:

Saturday: California Adventure 12pm-9pm (World of Colour)
Sunday: Disneyland 8am-9pm (Parade & Fireworks)
Monday: Disneyland 8am-3pm

Radiator Springs is closed for maintenance starting Monday, Feb 26, so Saturday is our only option. Some crowd calendars say the Saturday will be moderate crowds, whereas others are saying it will be 8/10 or 9/10 crowd levels, which makes me nervous it will sell out by 12pm. I assumed Disneyland was the same as Disney World where you can start staking your lightening lanes and Genie+ rides at 8am without having to be in the park, but just found out that is not the case. To pre-purchase Genie + for all three days at the park comes to around $400USD for the 4 of us.

Just fyi park hours for your days are as follows:
2/24 - DL 8am-12am | DCA 8am-10pm World of Color will have 2 shows 9pm and 10:15pm (the 10:15 show is super easy to walk up to without VQ)
2/25 - DL 8am-12am | DCA 8am-10pm fireworks will be at 9:30pm
2/24 - DL 8am-11pm | DCA 8am-9pm

 

[sazzle12]

Just fyi park hours for your days are as follows:
2/24 - DL 8am-12am | DCA 8am-10pm World of Color will have 2 shows 9pm and 10:15pm (the 10:15 show is super easy to walk up to without VQ)
2/25 - DL 8am-12am | DCA 8am-10pm fireworks will be at 9:30pm
2/24 - DL 8am-11pm | DCA 8am-9pm

Thank you so much for this! Do you think these times suggest it will be very busy or is that usual on the weekends?

 

[dina444444]

Thank you so much for this! Do you think these times suggest it will be very busy or is that usual on the weekends?

Mondays hours are longer than off season which is usually a 8 or 9am open with a 9 or 10pm close at DL. But the weekend hours are pretty standard for almost the entire year occasionally DL closes at 11pm on Sundays but that’s not frequent.

 

[OlliePop27]

Mondays hours are longer than off season which is usually a 8 or 9am open with a 9 or 10pm close at DL. But the weekend hours are pretty standard for almost the entire year occasionally DL closes at 11pm on Sundays but that’s not frequent.

DLR hours are not posted far in advance, but they are very easy to predict since they're so consistent!

 

[dina444444]

DLR hours are not posted far in advance, but they are very easy to predict since they're so consistent!

That they are. Much more so than WDW. Disneyland also doesn’t usually change the hours once they are released where as WDW keeps updating them until 2 or 3 weeks before.