VQ vs LL - help me finalise my plans!

[katiec786]

Hello hello all

SO today should have been our 7 day LL booking window window, and I had a beautiful plan all in place - but whilst being engaged to a Cast Member does come with perks there are downfalls too, and it turns out that even though we are staying on-site for 2 weeks, we now have to book our LLs 3 days in advance, and we have to make individual bookings for each day we want (rather than booking our whole trip at once). So minor spanner in the works, but fortunately I know its a quiet time of year and we are visiting each park 3 times, so I'm not panicking. Much.

Now the only thing I'm not sure on where to change plans here is for our Magic Kingdom visits. We will be in MK the morning of the 10th, after lunch-close on the 12th, and morning of the 16th (when I say morning, we'll likely park hop around 1 or 2).
Originally my plan was to try to get LLMPs for the 10th or 16th - depending on availability of morning LLs for Tiana.
Now that I only have 3 days in advance I'm thinking that my chances of a pre-lunch LLMP for Tiana's is kind of out the window, so I'm no longer prioritising that when it comes to booking our LLMPs 3 days out. I think I'd rather lock in something like BTMR for the morning ahead of time and then try and pick one up for Tiana while we're in the park. We have some great ADRs and park hopping plans in place, and I really don't want to mess things around purely for a fast pass for one ride.

I have never used VQs, so I don't know how reliable they are when it comes to your boarding group return time, and with how often Tiana has been down lately I was worried about relying solely on VQs to ride. For those of you that have used VQs for Tiana - is it likely to get one at the 1pm drop? If we get one in the 7am drop, is it likely that we'd wind up with a late afternoon return time, thus messing with our park hopping plans? My friend was just there last week and had a nightmare, her LLMP was for their very last morning, she tried her entire trip to get a VQ before then with no luck, then on the morning of LLMP it was down and they very nearly missed out entirely.

Any advice welcome and appreciated!

 

[MickeyMice]

that's unfortunate that cast members can't get 7 day resort priority like anyone else. i don't think you're going to be able to pull a tiana at 3 days out, even in september, unless you get very lucky day of and someone moves around. (and even if you got one, it would be late.)

if you're very good with timing your VQ refreshes, you can pull early boarding groups fairly reliably and hit those 1pm drops. but you really can't predict tiana's downtime. we had BG 6 or so, but it didn't open until after 11, and then it went down when we were tapped in. we got multi-experience LLs but it didn't come back online until after 5 on party night (close at 6). so if tiana's is a big priority for you, don't stack up any ADRs in other parks those days that you'd be unable or unwilling to cancel.

 

[jeneric997]

We ran into the CM guest pass 3 day out issue- not fun. We only did Tiana's as a LLMP, we walked right on, but the line for the VQ was long. I agree with the PP, if you really want to ride I would not have an ADR you don't or can't cancel. I have now made a rule that we don't VQ anything. Waiting in a VQ for Tron or Guardians is easily an hour every time.

I was at MK last week and didn't get a LLMP and was very successful riding everything I wanted before 2pm with little wait. Get there at rope drop and you don't really need it. It was a party day, which I think keeps the crowds low. Hopefully you will get lucky and score Tiana's early with a LLMP!

 

[katiec786]

Thanks both!
It turns out the CM guest pass is the issue, as it cannot be connected to an MDE account. His Main Entrance pass is fine, and if I had my own Spouse Pass (which I’ll get next year once we’ve been living together for the minimum time) then this wouldn’t be an issue

I’m still v hesitant to rely on VQs for Tiana- I was going to try them for Tron and GotG purely for an opportunity to ride again as we are getting LLSPs for those. I’m tempted to add a 2nd LLMP day for MK on our afternoon visit as afternoon availability is better, but we’ll be on the plane when that window opens so really depends on the inflight WiFi lol!

I’m starting to make peace with not getting on Tiana this time around but I’ll try everything. We have a whole day where we are just exploring the monorail loop hotels then have an ADR at 8:15pm, maybe I’ll try for a VQ then too as we can just nip in to ride!

 

[saraheliz]

We had no issues getting VQ at 7am or 1pm in August, for any/all VQ rides. The big issue with Tiana is downtime, but it's at least worth a shot, right? We got a 1pm VQ for Tiana and were called back around 4ish per my timestamped photos. The line was no more than 30 minutes. (We did VQ for Tron at 7am that day since it's more reliable and we wanted to have used it to then get a 1pm for Tiana).
We loved Tiana! We rode it three times (VQ, MPLL, and standby during the party).

 

[katiec786]

Thank you - I'm holding out hope that the Disney Genies will smile on us and grant us a Tiana VQ on the 10th or 16th with a pre-2pm boarding group, it's the only thing I don't feel confident on once my original LL plan went out the window! I know we'll be able to get on everything else. Thanks heavens for September wait times!
Now all I need is for my weather app to look a little better for the next couple weeks...

 

[jeneric997]

Any chance your spouse has a comp ticket you can use instead of the guest pass for one day at MK? That's how we were able to score Tiana's. Guest passes were locked out the one day, so we used comps and it was so much easier!

Just a warning... you will not be able to do much with VQ or making or ride reservations or even buying LLMP through your account. Everything is going to have to go through your spouse's account. You probably already know this, but I thought I would mention just in case!

 

[katiec786]

Any chance your spouse has a comp ticket you can use instead of the guest pass for one day at MK? That's how we were able to score Tiana's. Guest passes were locked out the one day, so we used comps and it was so much easier!

Just a warning... you will not be able to do much with VQ or making or ride reservations or even buying LLMP through your account. Everything is going to have to go through your spouse's account. You probably already know this, but I thought I would mention just in case!

*edit* OMG it turns out he has 2 left!! Didn't even know this was an option, I'm glad I asked him. So now we're trying to see if we can get that linked to my account just for the one day so I can book Tiana's! Everything else we have planned will be fine 3 days out.

Fortunately figured out the account limitations last week so have been logged in to his on MDE - he is absolutely bamboozled by LLs and VQs so more than happy to let me take charge last time he was in orlando was years before we met, and he just showed up with no plans (like a maniac) - meanwhile I have like a 5 tab spreadsheet. He's gonna be living his best passenger princess life for the next 2 weeks.

 

[katiec786]

Any chance your spouse has a comp ticket you can use instead of the guest pass for one day at MK? That's how we were able to score Tiana's. Guest passes were locked out the one day, so we used comps and it was so much easier!

Just a warning... you will not be able to do much with VQ or making or ride reservations or even buying LLMP through your account. Everything is going to have to go through your spouse's account. You probably already know this, but I thought I would mention just in case!

you are a GENIUS!!! it worked!!! Just got a Tiana for first thing in the morning on the 16th
Thank you *so much*

 

[jeneric997]

Yay!!! I am sooo glad it worked out! Have a great trip!!!!

 

[MickeyMice]

congrats! but you still need to be flexible with your afternoon on your tiana LLMP day. there were several days last week that it was down all morning and most of the day.

 

[katiec786]

Yes, this is fortunately something we have some capacity for. We do have an ADR in HS at 6pm, so fingers crossed