Newbie Touring Strategy ?

[amandaw]

My family and I are going to DLR over Thanksgiving break. Longtime WDW vets but this will be our 1st trip to DLR. We will be in the parks Sun - Tues. We have 3 day park hoppers and are staying at the DLH. Disneyland is open 8am - midnight and DCA is open 8am - 10pm. My question is this:

Should we plan to do Rope Drop each day in order to ride the headliners? If so, do we need to be at the parks about 7am? Or is it possible to sleep in, go to the parks when ready but plan to stay late and do headliners in the later hours of the night?

Feeling very out of my element and not sure how to plan and tour DLR. TIA!

 

[kkmcan]

Hi! Welcome. We've been doing DL trips every year (sometimes 2-3 times a year) since 2005. We always rope drop and arrive at the gates by 7:15 at the latest. Take an afternoon nap break at our hotel and head back in to the parks at around 5:30 or 6 to stay til close. Yes, we are all adults now and we all nap. Our strategy since our kids got older was to head to Indy, Pirates and Haunted Mansion, then Big Thunder. They are all on the same side of the park and you should be able to do those within the first 2 hours of opening. Last year before DL closed we then wandered around Galaxy's Edge waiting for our boarding time. Rode ROTR then head to Buzz and Autopia and grab a snack if time before lunch. We used to grab Space Mtn fastpasses for later but since they don't have them at this time we would save that ride for later/evening and watch the ride times on the app. After lunch we'll ride whatever has low wait times and usually try to get on Splash and Pooh before heading back for our break. Depends on your age group but those are the rides my kids wanted to ride. It was definitely different when they were little.

When we come back from break we grab dinner or have a ressie. Our plan for the evening consists of whatever we didn't get to earlier in the day that was on our lists of must dos- rides, special snacks- churros, ice cream, popcorn, etc. Another trip into Galaxy's Edge to see it at night. The last hour of the night is hitting every ride we can before close if we can stay awake. At this point we might be really dragging. LOL! And shopping on main street after close on our way out. Usually getting candy from Candy Palace. We used to stake out spots for the fireworks but gave that up a few years back because we had seen so many shows that we'd rather use that time to ride. Just pick out your side of the park that you want to be on because it will be impossible to cross during fireworks.

We are early risers so we never tried arriving later and staying late but someone on here can hopefully comment on that. I think as long as you have a plan for rides and for food and are flexible you'll be fine. Have fun!!

 

[amandaw]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. My DS is 13 so your ride strategy sounds like it would work well for us. I know my DH & I would nap but I don't think my DS would, unfortunately. He may just have to deal with getting up early! LOL!! He does it at WDW (begrudgingly) but was hoping we could do DLR differently.

 

[sophy1996]

Genie+ may be in place by then so that could impact the decision.

Personally, we do rope drop. Those first 2-3 hours in the morning are awesome. For comparison, someone here who was at DLR the same day we were (during last week, which turned out to be a busy week) said that they spent 40 minutes in line at the park around 9 a.m., then only had time for Haunted Mansion and Pirates before lunch. We got to the gate around 7:20, were let in and waited at the Hub for 8:00 opening, and did Haunted Mansion and Pirates before 8:30. We then did Matterhorn, Buzz, Star Tours, and Rise of the Resistance when our group came up. A ronto wrap around 11 and a walk-in to Oga's. Then we left the park by around noon. We came back later for the Halloween party.

 

[amandaw]

Thank you! Sounds like we need to do Rope Drop for sure for the headliners, especially during a busy week like Thanksgiving. At least it sounds like it'll be easy to take a midday break which we don't normally do at WDW.

 

[Dug720]

He may just have to deal with getting up early!

What is your home time zone? It may not feel as "early" as you think. (I know I"m Eastern Time Zone so 7am will feel like 10am to me when I'm there in Feb. At least for a couple of days.)

 

[DLRExpert]

Best strat is get there early for rope drop and around lunch time (11am or 12pm) take a break back at the hotel for pool, nap, etc. Then come back around 5 pm or so.

Busiest time is around 10am-4pm. Will still be busy at 5pm but not as bad as earlier in the day. Crowd usually dies down after fireworks.

Brian

 

[amandaw]

What is your home time zone? It may not feel as "early" as you think. (I know I"m Eastern Time Zone so 7am will feel like 10am to me when I'm there in Feb. At least for a couple of days.)

That's true! We are in CST so maybe it won't be as bad for the teen as I'm thinking.