NorthernCalMom
Compulsive Touring Planner
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2012
OK, so we’re finally ready to head back into the parks, but all my Prep Queen prowess was honed during pre-COVID times and is now mostly useless, it seems. So I’m trying to relearn how to do this from scratch, especially since my sister and niece are visiting from Germany, and I want it to be a special experience for them.
I’ve been fighting my way through the different pinned threads, and I’ve been logging wait times (and closure patterns, for potential MEP fishing…) for the past five weeks. I bought both Touring Plans and RideMax subscriptions, for extra inspiration and because I usually love juggling numbers. Running various scenarios through them was always one of my favorite parts of trip preparation. I am very much missing my previous Disney plan crafting confidence, though. After almost a decade of visits, I could have designed any no-FP, traditional FP, or Maxpass plan pretty much in my sleep. All of that confidence is gone, and now I feel like such a beginner!! Anyhow… please see below what I have so far, and, if you can be so kind as to give me your informed feedback, I will be ever so grateful!
Our stats as a group: six people, three of them adults and three teenagers. As I mention above, two of them are relatively or absolutely new to the parks (one has never been, the other one has visited Dland almost two decades ago--CA Adventure didn't yet exist at the time--and never since, so an almost newbie), so I figure we want to do a few rides that my thrill-ride loving kids would usually skip, just to get the full experience. We have four days, single park each, and we are going to be in the parks from July 26 to July 29 (Dland on Tuesday and Thursday, CA on Wednesday and Friday), with July 30 being our resting/DTD/pool day. We’re staying at the DLH and are bummed that we’ll be missing the reintroduction of early admission for resort guests by only a little more than a week. Golly, darn, fiddlesticks!!!
There are a few kooky details that will have to affect my planning:
(1.) My husband is only going to be with us the first two days and will be at a conference on Thu & Fri, so we have to fit anything that all of us want to do together (ROTR, Millennium Falcon, Plaza Inn chicken, Gibson Girl Ice Cream, Davy Crockett Canoes—don’t judge; it’s one of our most beloved Disney family traditions…) into the first day (he’s a lot more flexible in regards to California Adventure, but definitely has his Disneyland favorites).
(2.) It would also be nice to catch Fantasmic on the Monday and WOC on Tuesday. I don’t see us doing a dining package for Fantasmic, so I’m wondering if we can find a way to see the second showing from maybe less of an ideal vantage point for free. I don't mind staking out a claim, even if that means sitting somewhere for hours. I saw that there is a virtual line for WOC?
(3.) The one ride I absolutely do not want to miss is Space Mountain. There is something about this moment, when you slowly glide on with your ride vehicle and then, suddenly, things start speeding up and the goofy 60’s spy thriller music kicks in (I am one of the oddballs who doesn’t care for Hyperspace Mountain but loves the original), that is essential to me for a Disneyland visit. It makes me choke up a bit and feel blissfully happy, both at the same time. Without this moment, a trip just wouldn’t be the same for me. So, whatever else I do, I don’t care; but Space Mountain is essential for me, on either of our two days in Disneyland.
(4.) We are not planning to purchase ILL$$$. Who knows, once we see the lines, our resolve may crumble, but so far that’s the plan. We are thinking about buying 5 rather than 6 Genie+ passes for the first two days (one Disneyland, one CA Adventure) only and creatively shuffling them around between the six of us. My husband doesn’t really feel he’d be missing out if he rides a lot less (aside from the above listed “must do” experiences!), and we won’t need a full set for many of the rides (e.g. my younger kid and I are deadly afraid of Splash Mountain; one in our party has back issues and isn’t sure about Matterhorn; if I try to find and hold a space for a non-dining deal related Fantasmic viewing, I won’t ride with them but will instead hang out people-watching, etc). Besides, getting 5 rather than 6 Genie+ passes is kind of our feeble attempt at protesting Disney’s increasing nickeling and diming… One of the biggest drawbacks of this will be that we cannot use Genie+ for all of us six riding MF Smugglers’ Run together, so that one will have to be standby! I’ve watched the Falcon’s Tuesday wait times like a hawk the past month, and it seems that they take a while to build in the morning and tend to drop off at night, so I hope we could, if the stars align, get to do it without waiting too long. Given that we spent so much money on the tickets and hotel, $20 more or less, for another Genie+, would not really be that big of a difference, but this is a question of principle for my (beloved but stubborn) hubby… and I’ve learned over the years that the secret to a happy marriage is to patiently work around each other’s little quirks rather than be too annoyed with them.
So here’s our (right now still rather preliminary plan) for Monday, July 25, in Disneyland (single park tickets). We are planning to arrive at the turnstiles around 1.5 hours before official opening, staying towards the left side of the esplanade, because we’re trying to rope drop ROTR. I have read through the various threads with the pros and cons about this, but it just seems to make sense to us (especially since we won’t worry about ROTR on day three, our second Dland day, and can take advantage of the short early morning lines then). When they start scanning people in, I hope we won’t fall too far behind due to it being our first day and thus having to have six people’s photos taken. I figure I’ll put our fastest walkers to the front, so they can start marching towards the Frontierland side of the rope at the hub, while the rest of us is still being photographed. Let’s hope we can then catch up with them without annoying the other folks at the hub too much. While waiting at the rope, I’ll buy Genie+ for five of us, and then I play around with it to become more familiar with it. So, the idea is that the rope drops, and we try to get to ROTR as quickly as possible. This brings me to my first couple of questions:
On days that the ride isn’t open right away in the morning, do they still form a line (of people who keep up the hope that it will open soon), or would that require a completely different plan B for us? If they do, then I would definitely rather hang out in the relative front of a line, hoping for the best, even if that adds even more wait time. When logging wait times throughout the end of June and beginning of July, I saw far more ROTR breakdowns during the day than first thing in the morning, so I hope that pattern holds.
I am on the slow side… due to some knee and ankle issues; not bad enough for DAS but severe enough to have me use a cane just to take some of my weight of them. If our group’s fast walkers dash ahead, and I’m catching up with them as quickly as I can, is there a natural spot close to the beginning of the ride that would be a good point for meeting up, minimizing our wait without inconveniencing or annoying other guests too much?
While waiting in line, I figure I’ll play around with Genie+ to see if I can catch something that may lead to an MEP or if there is anything that is far out enough to warrant getting. I’m wondering about the “refresher” trick that some folks here on the board describe using. Would that still work for a group of 5, or is that only relevant for single guests or at most couples? Wouldn’t it be rare that a large group cancels their LL, just when I’m looking for one?
As to what to plan for next, this is one of the biggest problems I have as far as my planning goes. I have no idea how long it’ll take us to get on and off the ride, so anything beyond that is, as far as timing goes, a bit of a blur. My previous, carefully honed time gauging super powers have been zapped by all of Disney's newfangled changes and are pretty much gone.
So, the next step, after (hopefully) riding ROTR would be to check the wait times for the Millennium Falcon. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our early arrival will have minimized the risk of having gotten caught in a huge line of people, pushing our timing back so far that Smuggler’s Run will by then be a long wait. After that one, it is yet again depending on (the hard to predict) timing what we would be doing next. I am still working my way through the various Genie+ related threads, to see what order of rides makes most sense. Since we’ll be hoping to have lunch at Plaza Inn, we’re probably at that point heading to either Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. In the past, I would have set up shop at Plaza Inn right after they close for breakfast (making sure to not be in the cast members way), to wait for lunch, while the rest of my posse ride rides. I have had trouble finding out what time Plaza Inn opens for lunch. Breakfast ends at 11am. Do they start serving lunch at 11:30am or at noon?
Davy Crockett seems to open around 11, but we probably wouldn’t want to ride it right after lunch, since that would put us into waiting for it and rowing in the blistering midday heat. So, that’s probably something to do a bit later (though not too late, because I believe they close a little after 5pm).
I figure the rest of the day will heavily depend on LL availability. I figure we (or at least most of us) will ride Space Mountain (squee!!), Indy, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Star Tours, Autopia (love that one for its nostalgic value), Buzz, and Small World, as well as re-ride Millennium Falcon.
One of my kids mentioned wanting to do Peter Pan (which is what we avoided during previous trips), but that’s probably better done early in the morning on our second day, though I noticed that there are times when the line dips a bit, so if we see one of them on the app and are close by, we’ll probably go for it. I still have to read up on the various Genie threads here and elsewhere, to see if this sounds like it could work for us. With all the sneaky changes they forced on us (pay per play rides, for profit FPs, decreasing food portions, etc), I am having slight trust issues here… Given the access to data they have, this could be a great asset if they do it right; I just don’t think that Disney’s IT department are known for doing things “right.” I figure once I read through all the threads on the topic, I’ll probably have more of an opinion and a lot more questions about this.
Non-LL rides that we are trying to fit in somewhere either on this day (or, more likely, on our second Dland day on Thursday) are: Alice, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Winnie the Poo, the tea cups. As far as the rest of Fantasyland goes, we’ll see how long the lines are…
So, Dland day number two (our non-Genie+ day) will be a lot more relaxed (with a possible midday break for a quick nap at the hotel). It’ll probably just be us mopping up the remaining rides that we, for whatever reason, didn’t get to on the first day, watching the Tale of the Lion King, as well as re-riding whatever our German guests feel they want to do again, and in general just exploring all the different lands and eating all the different snacks!! Tiki Room and Dole Whip, here I come!!!!
I guess this post is long enough, so I’ll write about my California Adventure plans, questions, and musings in a separate one...
I’ve been fighting my way through the different pinned threads, and I’ve been logging wait times (and closure patterns, for potential MEP fishing…) for the past five weeks. I bought both Touring Plans and RideMax subscriptions, for extra inspiration and because I usually love juggling numbers. Running various scenarios through them was always one of my favorite parts of trip preparation. I am very much missing my previous Disney plan crafting confidence, though. After almost a decade of visits, I could have designed any no-FP, traditional FP, or Maxpass plan pretty much in my sleep. All of that confidence is gone, and now I feel like such a beginner!! Anyhow… please see below what I have so far, and, if you can be so kind as to give me your informed feedback, I will be ever so grateful!
Our stats as a group: six people, three of them adults and three teenagers. As I mention above, two of them are relatively or absolutely new to the parks (one has never been, the other one has visited Dland almost two decades ago--CA Adventure didn't yet exist at the time--and never since, so an almost newbie), so I figure we want to do a few rides that my thrill-ride loving kids would usually skip, just to get the full experience. We have four days, single park each, and we are going to be in the parks from July 26 to July 29 (Dland on Tuesday and Thursday, CA on Wednesday and Friday), with July 30 being our resting/DTD/pool day. We’re staying at the DLH and are bummed that we’ll be missing the reintroduction of early admission for resort guests by only a little more than a week. Golly, darn, fiddlesticks!!!
There are a few kooky details that will have to affect my planning:
(1.) My husband is only going to be with us the first two days and will be at a conference on Thu & Fri, so we have to fit anything that all of us want to do together (ROTR, Millennium Falcon, Plaza Inn chicken, Gibson Girl Ice Cream, Davy Crockett Canoes—don’t judge; it’s one of our most beloved Disney family traditions…) into the first day (he’s a lot more flexible in regards to California Adventure, but definitely has his Disneyland favorites).
(2.) It would also be nice to catch Fantasmic on the Monday and WOC on Tuesday. I don’t see us doing a dining package for Fantasmic, so I’m wondering if we can find a way to see the second showing from maybe less of an ideal vantage point for free. I don't mind staking out a claim, even if that means sitting somewhere for hours. I saw that there is a virtual line for WOC?
(3.) The one ride I absolutely do not want to miss is Space Mountain. There is something about this moment, when you slowly glide on with your ride vehicle and then, suddenly, things start speeding up and the goofy 60’s spy thriller music kicks in (I am one of the oddballs who doesn’t care for Hyperspace Mountain but loves the original), that is essential to me for a Disneyland visit. It makes me choke up a bit and feel blissfully happy, both at the same time. Without this moment, a trip just wouldn’t be the same for me. So, whatever else I do, I don’t care; but Space Mountain is essential for me, on either of our two days in Disneyland.
(4.) We are not planning to purchase ILL$$$. Who knows, once we see the lines, our resolve may crumble, but so far that’s the plan. We are thinking about buying 5 rather than 6 Genie+ passes for the first two days (one Disneyland, one CA Adventure) only and creatively shuffling them around between the six of us. My husband doesn’t really feel he’d be missing out if he rides a lot less (aside from the above listed “must do” experiences!), and we won’t need a full set for many of the rides (e.g. my younger kid and I are deadly afraid of Splash Mountain; one in our party has back issues and isn’t sure about Matterhorn; if I try to find and hold a space for a non-dining deal related Fantasmic viewing, I won’t ride with them but will instead hang out people-watching, etc). Besides, getting 5 rather than 6 Genie+ passes is kind of our feeble attempt at protesting Disney’s increasing nickeling and diming… One of the biggest drawbacks of this will be that we cannot use Genie+ for all of us six riding MF Smugglers’ Run together, so that one will have to be standby! I’ve watched the Falcon’s Tuesday wait times like a hawk the past month, and it seems that they take a while to build in the morning and tend to drop off at night, so I hope we could, if the stars align, get to do it without waiting too long. Given that we spent so much money on the tickets and hotel, $20 more or less, for another Genie+, would not really be that big of a difference, but this is a question of principle for my (beloved but stubborn) hubby… and I’ve learned over the years that the secret to a happy marriage is to patiently work around each other’s little quirks rather than be too annoyed with them.
So here’s our (right now still rather preliminary plan) for Monday, July 25, in Disneyland (single park tickets). We are planning to arrive at the turnstiles around 1.5 hours before official opening, staying towards the left side of the esplanade, because we’re trying to rope drop ROTR. I have read through the various threads with the pros and cons about this, but it just seems to make sense to us (especially since we won’t worry about ROTR on day three, our second Dland day, and can take advantage of the short early morning lines then). When they start scanning people in, I hope we won’t fall too far behind due to it being our first day and thus having to have six people’s photos taken. I figure I’ll put our fastest walkers to the front, so they can start marching towards the Frontierland side of the rope at the hub, while the rest of us is still being photographed. Let’s hope we can then catch up with them without annoying the other folks at the hub too much. While waiting at the rope, I’ll buy Genie+ for five of us, and then I play around with it to become more familiar with it. So, the idea is that the rope drops, and we try to get to ROTR as quickly as possible. This brings me to my first couple of questions:
On days that the ride isn’t open right away in the morning, do they still form a line (of people who keep up the hope that it will open soon), or would that require a completely different plan B for us? If they do, then I would definitely rather hang out in the relative front of a line, hoping for the best, even if that adds even more wait time. When logging wait times throughout the end of June and beginning of July, I saw far more ROTR breakdowns during the day than first thing in the morning, so I hope that pattern holds.
I am on the slow side… due to some knee and ankle issues; not bad enough for DAS but severe enough to have me use a cane just to take some of my weight of them. If our group’s fast walkers dash ahead, and I’m catching up with them as quickly as I can, is there a natural spot close to the beginning of the ride that would be a good point for meeting up, minimizing our wait without inconveniencing or annoying other guests too much?
While waiting in line, I figure I’ll play around with Genie+ to see if I can catch something that may lead to an MEP or if there is anything that is far out enough to warrant getting. I’m wondering about the “refresher” trick that some folks here on the board describe using. Would that still work for a group of 5, or is that only relevant for single guests or at most couples? Wouldn’t it be rare that a large group cancels their LL, just when I’m looking for one?
As to what to plan for next, this is one of the biggest problems I have as far as my planning goes. I have no idea how long it’ll take us to get on and off the ride, so anything beyond that is, as far as timing goes, a bit of a blur. My previous, carefully honed time gauging super powers have been zapped by all of Disney's newfangled changes and are pretty much gone.
So, the next step, after (hopefully) riding ROTR would be to check the wait times for the Millennium Falcon. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our early arrival will have minimized the risk of having gotten caught in a huge line of people, pushing our timing back so far that Smuggler’s Run will by then be a long wait. After that one, it is yet again depending on (the hard to predict) timing what we would be doing next. I am still working my way through the various Genie+ related threads, to see what order of rides makes most sense. Since we’ll be hoping to have lunch at Plaza Inn, we’re probably at that point heading to either Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. In the past, I would have set up shop at Plaza Inn right after they close for breakfast (making sure to not be in the cast members way), to wait for lunch, while the rest of my posse ride rides. I have had trouble finding out what time Plaza Inn opens for lunch. Breakfast ends at 11am. Do they start serving lunch at 11:30am or at noon?
Davy Crockett seems to open around 11, but we probably wouldn’t want to ride it right after lunch, since that would put us into waiting for it and rowing in the blistering midday heat. So, that’s probably something to do a bit later (though not too late, because I believe they close a little after 5pm).
I figure the rest of the day will heavily depend on LL availability. I figure we (or at least most of us) will ride Space Mountain (squee!!), Indy, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Star Tours, Autopia (love that one for its nostalgic value), Buzz, and Small World, as well as re-ride Millennium Falcon.
One of my kids mentioned wanting to do Peter Pan (which is what we avoided during previous trips), but that’s probably better done early in the morning on our second day, though I noticed that there are times when the line dips a bit, so if we see one of them on the app and are close by, we’ll probably go for it. I still have to read up on the various Genie threads here and elsewhere, to see if this sounds like it could work for us. With all the sneaky changes they forced on us (pay per play rides, for profit FPs, decreasing food portions, etc), I am having slight trust issues here… Given the access to data they have, this could be a great asset if they do it right; I just don’t think that Disney’s IT department are known for doing things “right.” I figure once I read through all the threads on the topic, I’ll probably have more of an opinion and a lot more questions about this.
Non-LL rides that we are trying to fit in somewhere either on this day (or, more likely, on our second Dland day on Thursday) are: Alice, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Winnie the Poo, the tea cups. As far as the rest of Fantasyland goes, we’ll see how long the lines are…
So, Dland day number two (our non-Genie+ day) will be a lot more relaxed (with a possible midday break for a quick nap at the hotel). It’ll probably just be us mopping up the remaining rides that we, for whatever reason, didn’t get to on the first day, watching the Tale of the Lion King, as well as re-riding whatever our German guests feel they want to do again, and in general just exploring all the different lands and eating all the different snacks!! Tiki Room and Dole Whip, here I come!!!!
I guess this post is long enough, so I’ll write about my California Adventure plans, questions, and musings in a separate one...
