Rope Drop Strategy for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure with Lightning Lanes and Individual Lightning Lanes

[pokee99]

Reading your last couple posts, I think I'd do it a little different. I'd go to Pirates first since it's a priority and the line will likely grow that day. While in line, book something not too far away with a short return time -- maybe Big Thunder to go on your way to Galaxy's Edge. (Keeping an eye on the ILL times for Galaxy's Edge and booking one for about when you think you'd get into that area) Then book Millenium Falcon LL after scanning in to Big Thunder. Then when you get to Galaxy's Edge you have LL/ILL for both rides and can spend some time there while booking the next couple of rides in other areas of the park.

PHXscuba

I love this! THANK YOU!

 

[Version 6]

I've seen people say that you should save your lightning lanes for later in the day, when wait times get higher.

If I'm planning to park hop, should I just start booking lightning lanes in my starting park straight away?

 

[DLRExpert]

I've seen people say that you should save your lightning lanes for later in the day, when wait times get higher.

If I'm planning to park hop, should I just start booking lightning lanes in my starting park straight away?

Park hopping strategy is on post 3.

 

[joshua4]

Thanks for the park hopping guidance. We are going to start in Disneyland and hop to DLA. I understand the advice to use my ILL for racers and web slingers -- but really Rise is the priority for us. I am assuming that I should follow the start DL hopper advise and book Rise ILL for that morning - maybe for late morning. Then follow plan you have outlined and when we want to do racers, I was thinking we would just single rider (we are a family of four but kids are in 20's). Is that the right approach?

 

[DLRExpert]

Thanks for the park hopping guidance. We are going to start in Disneyland and hop to DLA. I understand the advice to use my ILL for racers and web slingers -- but really Rise is the priority for us. I am assuming that I should follow the start DL hopper advise and book Rise ILL for that morning - maybe for late morning. Then follow plan you have outlined and when we want to do racers, I was thinking we would just single rider (we are a family of four but kids are in 20's). Is that the right approach?

You can only carry or purchase two ILLs at a time.
If you can single ride Racers the ILLs should be for Rise and WS.

I would get Rise at around 11am. Use the first three hours to get in as many LL and non-LL attractions in before 11am.

However if Rise breaks down during your return time you should get a Special use at anytime ILL for Rise and be able to purchase the Racers ILL.

 

[joshua4]

Can you purchase a third ILL as long as you are only holding one other ILL? So that one we finish our 11 am rise, we could try to buy racers or I it max 2 ILL per day? Also - what is the practical window on return times for ILL and LL? How late can you be and still have them honor your time? Thanks

 

[CeCe0906]

Reading this I am now confused, and I thought I had it figured out. You have 2 paid LL per day, correct? I'm trying to figure this out for my upcoming trip in August, so let me see if I have this straight. In the case above would this be correct?

So you could get to the park, reserve the Rise paid LL ( it's only pay or wait standby. While waiting in standby for your first standby ride in DL, then reserve a paid LL for Webslingers in DCA and a regular LL in DL for something later in the morning in DL you want to ride. Then continue to standby ride in DL until your Rise paid LL or regular LL. Two hours later from your regular LL ( either res time or ride time) you can make another regular LL reservation, either park.
Then park hop at least as early as your webslingers paid LL, and continue to ride standby, making regular LL reservations as the opportunity arises,. Radiator Springs, in the above case with adult kids, would be best as a single rider line, time wise, since you have already used up the 2 paid LL.
The only other way to ride LL at Radiator Sorings at that point would be to have tried to make LL reservations for things that go down consistently like Indiana Jones and get a free experience pass, but I think that those are tiered so not every experience recovery pass can be used there.

 

[DLRExpert]

Can you purchase a third ILL as long as you are only holding one other ILL? So that one we finish our 11 am rise, we could try to buy racers or I it max 2 ILL per day? Also - what is the practical window on return times for ILL and LL? How late can you be and still have them honor your time? Thanks

Can you purchase a third ILL as long as you are only holding one other ILL? So that one we finish our 11 am rise, we could try to buy racers or I it max 2 ILL per day?
As far as I know, unless it has changed, you can only buy 2 ILLs per day. The ONLY time you can buy a 3rd ILL is if one of the ILL you are holding goes down during your return time and you are given a return anytime ILL. Again this MAY have changed.

Also - what is the practical window on return times for ILL and LL?
Depends on if you are park hopping or not. I would always recommend a return time for the ILL after the first 3 hours of park opening and 3 hours before closing ( just in case attraction breakdown, ESPECIALLY on Rise). Keep in mind if you are park hopping and DL is your starting park and you immediately book a ILL for DCA, the return time will automatically start at 1pm. Same if you start at DCA.

How late can you be and still have them honor your time?
You can use the ILL 5 minutes before at up to 15 minutes after your return time. HOWEVER, if later than 15minutes, the CM may work with you, BUT it is completely up to the CM you talk too. To much of a risk for me.

 

[DLRExpert]

Reading this I am now confused, and I thought I had it figured out. You have 2 paid LL per day, correct? I'm trying to figure this out for my upcoming trip in August, so let me see if I have this straight. In the case above would this be correct?

So you could get to the park, reserve the Rise paid LL ( it's only pay or wait standby. While waiting in standby for your first standby ride in DL, then reserve a paid LL for Webslingers in DCA and a regular LL in DL for something later in the morning in DL you want to ride. Then continue to standby ride in DL until your Rise paid LL or regular LL. Two hours later from your regular LL ( either res time or ride time) you can make another regular LL reservation, either park.
Then park hop at least as early as your webslingers paid LL, and continue to ride standby, making regular LL reservations as the opportunity arises,. Radiator Springs, in the above case with adult kids, would be best as a single rider line, time wise, since you have already used up the 2 paid LL.
The only other way to ride LL at Radiator Sorings at that point would be to have tried to make LL reservations for things that go down consistently like Indiana Jones and get a free experience pass, but I think that those are tiered so not every experience recovery pass can be used there.

ILL (paid LL) is correct, 2 ILLs per day.
For which ILL to choose during park hopping, it depends on if you can single ride Racers. If you cannot, get the ILL for Web Slingers and Racers, reason is that at around 6pm, the line for Rise does go down to around 60 minutes, and is usually much shorter in reality, the ONLY issue is that if RISE breaks down it may not give you enough time to ride before the attraction closes. (currently Rise will close 3-4 hours before the park closing).

If you are starting your park hop day at DL, I would get a LL and then ILL for DCA first. The return time will automatically set to 1pm.

 

[Archstenton]

Headed in April after a few year break.

Do they still have a no bag line at Security check point Harbor side? That was a big help on the rope drop strategy.

 

[DLRExpert]

Headed in April after a few year break.

Do they still have a no bag line at Security check point Harbor side? That was a big help on the rope drop strategy.

Yes BUT it depends on the day. Not sure what determines if they use it or not. However, lines are usually not bad at security, far left and far right lines seem to be shortest. Or looks for lines that split into two.

 

[aymiewilson]

Thanks so much for all of this touring strategy assistance!! Would your recommendations around DCA touring order and LL prioritization change now that Soarin' has returned to the (far superior) original Soarin' over California?

I'm drawing up a plan for our trip March 24 and March 25. We have Park Hoppers and Genie+ because it's such a short trip. Starting in DCA March 24 since it closes at 5. I'm trying to figure out about when in the day I should grab a LL for Soarin'. The only LL attractions we want to hit in DCA before we park hop (planning to do that at about 3 pm) are: Guardians (plan to ride twice, once with LL), Incredicoaster, Goofy's Sky School and Soarin'. We plan to rope drop Web Slingers and will do RSR via single rider line. Thinking we don't need to LL Goofy's Sky School. Here's my rough plan so far:

Rope drop Web Slingers, grab LL for Incredicoaster
Ride Guardians via standby line
Use LL Incredicoaster, grab LL for Guardians
Ride Goofy's Sky School standby
Ride Silly Symphony Swings (nostalgic favorite)
Ride Guardians (explore food booths or Avenger's Campus while we wait for our return window)
Grab a Soarin' LL as soon as we scan in for Guardians
Have lunch after Guardians, do some food booth touring, listen to music, etc.
Hopefully ride Soarin' right before 3 pm when we leave DCA for the day.

 

[DLRExpert]

Thanks so much for all of this touring strategy assistance!! Would your recommendations around DCA touring order and LL prioritization change now that Soarin' has returned to the (far superior) original Soarin' over California?

I'm drawing up a plan for our trip March 24 and March 25. We have Park Hoppers and Genie+ because it's such a short trip. Starting in DCA March 24 since it closes at 5. I'm trying to figure out about when in the day I should grab a LL for Soarin'. The only LL attractions we want to hit in DCA before we park hop (planning to do that at about 3 pm) are: Guardians (plan to ride twice, once with LL), Incredicoaster, Goofy's Sky School and Soarin'. We plan to rope drop Web Slingers and will do RSR via single rider line. Thinking we don't need to LL Goofy's Sky School. Here's my rough plan so far:

Rope drop Web Slingers, grab LL for Incredicoaster
Ride Guardians via standby line
Use LL Incredicoaster, grab LL for Guardians
Ride Goofy's Sky School standby
Ride Silly Symphony Swings (nostalgic favorite)
Ride Guardians (explore food booths or Avenger's Campus while we wait for our return window)
Grab a Soarin' LL as soon as we scan in for Guardians
Have lunch after Guardians, do some food booth touring, listen to music, etc.
Hopefully ride Soarin' right before 3 pm when we leave DCA for the day.

Guardians is a top LL in regards to popularity.
If you can get to Pixar Pier before 9am you shouldn't need a LL for Incredicoaster.

Arrive at DCA entrance by 715am
They should let you in for rope drop area between 730 or 740am. Stay to the left of the rope but get as close to the rope as you can.

When rope drops stay left towards Avengers Campus and WS. Should take you 15-25 minutes. Guardians should take 20-25 minutes.

Then Pixar Pier with Incredicoaster first.

The only thing that will hurt this plan is if a major attraction breaks down.

Soarin LL should be fine after Guardians LL or at 10am.

 

[clipfert]

Our trip starts tomorrow. We will be driving from Phoenix to Anaheim and staying across the street from the park. 3/17, Thursday we do Disneyland and Friday, 3/18 we are doing California Adventure. Our girls are 13 and 9, we plan to do rope drop Space Mountain strategy. Since I have a pre teen/teen getting them up will be difficult but will do our best to be there by 7:30. I have already purchased Genie+ when I bought my tickets through undercover tourist.

My dilemma is ROR. Should we pay the $80 for ILL and if so when to buy it? Or go back to the park at 7pm and hope we can ride it? Since it's spring break will it sell out quick?

Should we consider buying an ILL in California Adventure? Will probably try to rope drop Web Slingers there.

Most likely we'll get in a bunch of rides in the morning then walk back to the hotel and chill for a bit before going back to the park at some point. My kids are older so I want to take advantage of the lower crowds at night... hopefully.

Anything specific that the pre teen/teen should not miss? They have been before but it has been a long time, 2016! My 9 year old doesn't remember any of it except a vague memory of a giant lollipop I bought her. She is a big villan fan. My teen is LGBTQ, got her a cool Mickey flag pin for the trip. They both have lanyards and are doing pin trading (I bought them these at our last trip in 2016).

 

[Wilcojoe]

We were there last week during a very busy period and you can get so much done in the first two hours. You should be able to do almost of all of TL in the first two hours on standby. We bit the bullet on the $LL for RoTR for a 11:30-12:30 window (I think we bought it around 9:30ish)? And also did the LL for millennium falcon right before. That should get you done around 12:30 at which time I would head back for a nice swim and nap and plan on coming back in the evening and you will have most of your LL’s to use. The LL’s windows will be a bit more spread out in the busier early evening so be prepared for that. Also be sure and get a LL for say BTMR at around 4pm at your hotel so you can ride it when you get back to the park at 6. That way once you scan in, you can immediately get your next LL.

 

[DLRExpert]

Our trip starts tomorrow. We will be driving from Phoenix to Anaheim and staying across the street from the park. 3/17, Thursday we do Disneyland and Friday, 3/18 we are doing California Adventure. Our girls are 13 and 9, we plan to do rope drop Space Mountain strategy. Since I have a pre teen/teen getting them up will be difficult but will do our best to be there by 7:30. I have already purchased Genie+ when I bought my tickets through undercover tourist.

My dilemma is ROR. Should we pay the $80 for ILL and if so when to buy it? Or go back to the park at 7pm and hope we can ride it? Since it's spring break will it sell out quick?

Should we consider buying an ILL in California Adventure? Will probably try to rope drop Web Slingers there.

Most likely we'll get in a bunch of rides in the morning then walk back to the hotel and chill for a bit before going back to the park at some point. My kids are older so I want to take advantage of the lower crowds at night... hopefully.

Anything specific that the pre teen/teen should not miss? They have been before but it has been a long time, 2016! My 9 year old doesn't remember any of it except a vague memory of a giant lollipop I bought her. She is a big villan fan. My teen is LGBTQ, got her a cool Mickey flag pin for the trip. They both have lanyards and are doing pin trading (I bought them these at our last trip in 2016).

Just know that getting up early can be difficult for some, you can get a lot done in the first few hours of park opening without LL, then take the break around noon to just come back at night. From 11am-6pm the park is at its busiest.

Rise ILL will almost guarantee you ride it, but it has been selling out quite a bit early (around 10-11am). Just keep an eye on the return times through the app and get the return time that fits best for you. Yes you will save money, but risking not being able to ride Rise by riding it later may be something you don't want to do. I personally would get in line around 6pm if I did not want to pay for the ILL or ride Rise twice.

NOTE: with Pirates down it will make the waits at Mansion, Splash, Cruise, Thunder longer sooner.

ILL for DCA is up to if you are okay with waiting in the stand by lines or using single rider for Racers.

 

[cindernat]

This is a great thread and very helpful. So, if you book a paid LL ($LL) for RoR and choose a time of say 1pm, can you then book a free LL on something for earlier than that time like 10-11am, eg: Indiana Jones or Rocky Mountain Railroad? Cos I thought it might not let you book any more LL til you've used your 1pm one for RoR, if so that sucks, lol

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

This is a great thread and very helpful. So, if you book a paid LL ($LL) for RoR and choose a time of say 1pm, can you then book a free LL on something for earlier than that time like 10-11am, eg: Indiana Jones or Rocky Mountain Railroad? Cos I thought it might not let you book any more LL til you've used your 1pm one for RoR, if so that sucks, lol

You don't actually pick your time at DLR, you either take the next available or wait until the time you want looks like it is next available. The paid ILL$ are totally separate from the Genie+ LLs (not really free, as you have to pay for the G+ service to use them). You book an LL and then buy an ILL$, and the time doesn't matter.

 

[cindernat]

You don't actually pick your time at DLR, you either take the next available or wait until the time you want looks like it is next available. The paid ILL$ are totally separate from the Genie+ LLs (not really free, as you have to pay for the G+ service to use them). You book an LL and then buy an ILL$, and the time doesn't matter.

Ah ok, thanks! I'm wondering whether to risk leaving RoR til later in the day as we'll only have 1 day at DL and we don't want to miss out!

 

[ironband74]

I've noticed that the last few days Rise has been staying open until 10pm. I'm interested to see if this continues (Edit: today posted hours are until 9pm). If reliability is improving, it may make riding it later in the day more viable. With only 1 day at DL, though, it would definitely be a crap shoot.