Plan of Attack

[jnjusoioa]

Hi There, as my trip gets closer, I am not sure of a good plan of attack for California Adventure. Mainly The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story Mania, I don't think we would ride too much else over there, other then the little rides in Bug's Land, but what is everyone's opinion on doing these rides without waiting hours in line. Thank you in advance.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Well, I fall in the camp that believes it is better to go on TSMM in the afternoon rather than wait in line to get in to DCA and then wait in line over there some more. I'd rather be in DL in the short morning lines. I'm also thinking we will do Mermaid in the afteroon, because from what I've heard the line seems to go down later. But that we will have to see. Also, don't forget about the Monsters Inc ride. Very well done! Also an afternoon ride for us. Not sure if you are going with children too small for Soarin, but we get a FP for Soarin and don't wait in the stand by line.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi There, as my trip gets closer, I am not sure of a good plan of attack for California Adventure. Mainly The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story Mania, I don't think we would ride too much else over there, other then the little rides in Bug's Land, but what is everyone's opinion on doing these rides without waiting hours in line. Thank you in advance.

TSMM has always had two camps. One is the camp that says to ride it first thing in the morning. The second camp is to ride it later in the day. I am in the second camp - with exceptions. If you get a smartphone app for DCA you can see how TSMM's line goes immediately to 40-60 minutes in the morning and then kind of decays throughout the day. To me it is not worth it to wait 15+ minutes at rope drop and then get in a 10 minute line at TSMM (25 minutes total) to avoid a 30-40 minute line later in the day.

So we rode TSMM last Thursday at 5PM with a 30 minute line.

However, on Saturday morning - since we were staying GCH - we could ride LMAUA before 10AM as hotel guests. We did that at 9:35AM as a walk-on. That put us out in front of LMAUA where the TSMM line was gathering at 9:45 and we decided since we were already there to wait at the rope drop for TSMM. Unfortunately TSMM started late that day and our strategy did not work.

In general I think riding TSMM late in the day is better.

As for LMAUA, the line has been 10-20 minutes long a lot this month. Its high capacity and mediocre reviews have kept the line shorter. I think you can ride it any time really.

 

[helenb]

And then there is the camp that lines up to ride TSMM at rope drop and also comes by later in the afternoon to ride it again with a 30 minute wait. I fall firmly in this third camp.

To the OP: I think even young children would enjoy Soarin'. The Jumping Jellyfish ride and King Triton's carousel are good for little ones as well. If they like Aladdin movie, the Aladdin show is fantastic!

 

[jnjusoioa]

Hi there, thank you all so much. There are no little children, just two very big children with health issues, I did forget about Monsters, and King Triton, thank you for those reminders. Also thank you for all the great advice. Can't wait to be there.