LL/wait time report during post-Easter/spring break crowd

[kdka421]

I love data, maybe you do too! :-D

Wanted to share my wait times utilizing LL/single rider, and what we accomplished, from our visit (our first to DL, seasoned WDW visitors) this past Thurs-Sat, which was still seeing pretty heavy post-Easter/spring break crowds. Family of 4 with two tweens, obviously we split up whenever we did single rider.

Thursday - DL
8:27am standby Pirates, posted 10, on in 10
9:00 LL Space, on ride 9:08
9:34 LL Smuggler's (MEP from Star Tours going down), in preshow 9:38
10:14 standby Buzz, posted 30, on in 19
10:46 LL Indy, on ride 10:58
-lunch break-
11:58 LL Haunted Mansion, on ride 12:06
1pm Great Moments with Mr Lincoln
1:46 LL Mattehorn, on ride 1:53
2pm single rider Matterhorn, on ride 2:16
2:35 standby for train, on 2:54
4:13 LL Smuggler's (another MEP from Star Tours going down), in preshow 4:22
-Dinner break-
5:35 LL Star Tours, on ride 5:46
6:11 LL Big Thunder, on ride 6:17
6:31 standby Mr. Toad's, posted 20, on in 24
7:10 LL Small World, on ride 7:15
7:37 standby Alice, posted 20, on in 20
-Paint the Night-

Friday - DCA
10am single rider Racers (posted 90), on ride 10:23
11:16 buddy pass Monsters Inc (posted 50), on ride 11:26
11:42 single rider Web Slingers (posted 80), in preshow 11:54
-Lunch break-
1:03 LL Incredicoaster (posted 50), on ride 1:10
2:41 LL Soarin (posted 80), on ride 3pm
3:30 got in line to make 4pm animation class
-Dinner break-
5:14 LL Guardians (posted 110), in preshow 5:21
6:00 single rider Racers (posted 140), on 6:37
6:05 single rider Incredicoaster (posted 55), on 6:46 [the other 2 in our party who didn't go on Racers]
*Got on 1 more ride of Incredicoaster through standby, caught it coming back up after a closure
-World of Color-

Friday was a much harder LL day, partly bc we got a late start and weren't in the parks until just before 10 (but we all needed that little extra sleep, and cranky family doesn't make for a good day at Disney). First LL I pulled was for Guardians and it took about 20 minutes to get one at all, for 7:45pm, and then I kept refreshing to get it a little earlier. After Soarin, I was able to get a Web Slingers LL but we didn't use it.

We got so much done these two days, we only needed a half day in DL on Saturday just to do a few things from our lower priority list (Canal Boats, Canoes, Rise - which we love but didn't prioritize since we have it in FL), a few repeats (Matterhorn, Indy, Smugglers), and Fantasmic. We thought we'd be able to hit more during the first parade/fireworks, but crowds didn't thin out as much as we'd anticipated - specifically Space Mtn, never dropped below about 70 minutes all night.

Glad to answer any questions, especially anything I can help answer or compare from the perspective of a WDW veteran/DL newbie!

 

[MissMindy1984]

How did your family like DLR and DCA compared to WDW Parks?

 

[LKing]

How did your family like DLR and DCA compared to WDW Parks?

In California, Disneyland Resort (DLR) refers to the entire complex of Disneyland, DCA, the three hotels, and Downtown Disney. When people refer to the parks, it is either Disneyland (DL) or Disney California Adventure (DCA).

 

[kdka421]

How did your family like DLR and DCA compared to WDW Parks?

The quick answer is that there is so much more WDW has to offer, I'm always going to be a WDW gal. EPCOT is my favorite park and there's obviously nothing that compares on the west coast. I also love being in the "disney world bubble" (disney-provided transportation, resort hopping, etc), and there is no denying that at DL, you're painfully aware that you're smack dab in the middle of a city.

The nuanced answer - DL and MK are SOOOO similar, that while there are obviously some differences I found them reasonably interchangeable. (MK is probably my least favorite park - not that it's bad, per se, I just prefer the rides, food, and overall experience everywhere else). DCA was really exciting to visit because it has so much that is unique (Pixar Pier, Avengers Campus, SanFransokyo, Cars Land, even Mission Breakout is an entirely different feel than Tower of Terror), but the park is indeed so small we were done with it in a day. And all in all, there are really only 3 rides I'd seek out riding again (Racers, Incredicoaster, and Mission Breakout - with an honorable mention to Soarin bc I think it's a solid ride but I'm not heartbroken to skip it either).

Being able to compare the two resorts was a ton of fun, and I'm so glad we made the trip, but it's probably a one-and-done trip for us, unless we're out on the west coast again for another reason. I'm also glad we tacked it on to a larger trip (to AZ and other parts of CA) - we truly only needed 2 days to do almost everything on our DLR list (with the caveat of evening entertainment and its not-daily scheduling making that a little harder).

 

[liamthompson]

I'm a relative WDW newbie planning our first trip to DL this summer - how do you feel the LL booking process compares between the 2 parks? I have a young kid so we're only interested in about half the rides on DL's LL list. I used to be very anti-LL since I do remember the golden age of free fastpass but we did a WDW trip without LL and one with LL and the difference was huge. I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and buy it for DL too. I like that you can have 3 pre-booked at WDW and my concern is that I'll be constantly doing the refresh game or criss-crossing the park at DL since you can only book 1 at a time + 2h rule.

Also, what did you think of the night time shows in comparison to the ones at WDW? DHS's fantasmic is my favorite because of the enormous set pieces and practical effects, but even then, I don't think the hassle of the late night + insane crowds after the show make it worth bringing my kid. I know WOC is unique to DCA so I'm struggling to decide if we should fit it in when no one in my family particuarly enjoys projection shows.

 

[kdka421]

I'm a relative WDW newbie planning our first trip to DL this summer - how do you feel the LL booking process compares between the 2 parks? I have a young kid so we're only interested in about half the rides on DL's LL list. I used to be very anti-LL since I do remember the golden age of free fastpass but we did a WDW trip without LL and one with LL and the difference was huge. I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and buy it for DL too. I like that you can have 3 pre-booked at WDW and my concern is that I'll be constantly doing the refresh game or criss-crossing the park at DL since you can only book 1 at a time + 2h rule.

Also, what did you think of the night time shows in comparison to the ones at WDW? DHS's fantasmic is my favorite because of the enormous set pieces and practical effects, but even then, I don't think the hassle of the late night + insane crowds after the show make it worth bringing my kid. I know WOC is unique to DCA so I'm struggling to decide if we should fit it in when no one in my family particuarly enjoys projection shows.

Great questions!
I've experienced all manner of the Fastpass iterations as well, so I understand what you're saying. With us being there during spring break, I felt LLs were essential. No one in my family wants to stand in line for 60 minutes for a "tame" ride or 140 minutes for a "thrill" ride. We didn't have to do a lot of "refreshing" on the DL day, however I did on the DCA day, but that was definitely impacted by the fact that we couldn't get ourselves going to be at the park for rope drop. As for criss-crossing, we did that A LOT, but that was way easier than doing so at a wdw park bc they're so much smaller, relatively (MK and DL are similar sized, DCA is considerably smaller).
We did not prebuy our LLs FYI, the only benefit that gives you is a little reduction in the price, however with 3 day tickets we would have been locked in to buying LLs for all 3 days and we only wanted it for 2.

Nighttime entertainment -- Fantasmic is my favorite as well! We almost skipped it at DL, but I'm very glad we didn't. It has a much more intimate feel than at DHS, because it's not in a huge ampitheater, and it was pretty cool for the characters/boats/etc on the water to be so close. I definitely felt like the stage scenes were a little less grand, exactly bc of what you're saying, the DL stage is so much smaller. BUT - they have one water scene that wdw does not, and to me, that scene alone made seeing the show well worth it, it was a true spectacle. (Don't know if you want it spoiled? Let me know and I'll elaborate).
We skipped fireworks, my kids aren't into it. Paint the Night was FABULOUS, we haven't seen Starlight yet, but PtN was very reminiscent of old school disney evening parades. We did see World of Color, I was underwhelmed personally -- the technology was very very good, it was one of the better water/projection shows I've seen, but I thought the story line left a lot to be desired. I could go either way with this one personally - maybe watch a youtube video of it and decide from there?

Evening crowds suck pretty much any time of night to be honest, I wouldn't let that dictate anything but it's something just to be aware of. If you leave DL before fireworks, you're still going to be competing with the crowds leaving DCA, for example. It's a very difference experience than wdw, as you have both parks emptying out into one area (and DTD crowds coming/going through that area too), very narrow exists out to the street, continued crowding if you're walking back to a local hotel, etc. Definitely had us missing wdw park to hotel transportation lol, who knew we'd miss that ;-)

 

[ST3]

I'm shocked you got on Soaring and Radiator Springs that quickly in single rider! I went in the single riders line last month during the week and it was easily an hour in single riders for each ride! Was the park not that busy in your opinion?

 

[kdka421]

I'm shocked you got on Soaring and Radiator Springs that quickly in single rider! I went in the single riders line last month during the week and it was easily an hour in single riders for each ride! Was the park not that busy in your opinion?

Soarin we did with lightning lane.

But no, the park seemed packed, pathways were very crowded, seemed like most of the big rides didn’t drop below 2 hours standby most of the night. The animation class line was filling up to capacity about 20-30 minutes before the start of each class.
Maybe we got lucky? The second time we were in line for Racers, they actually announced an estimate of 45 minutes for the single rider queue and it came in just under that for us (37), so I was impressed both that they shared a guess and how close they ended up being.