What are the best ILL times

[francoAlbertan]

I have used the Touring Plans app to plan really efficient trips before and make the most of our time in the parks. But for my upcoming trip in early April, there's a really important new variable: when to book any purchased Individual Lightning Lanes.

These act as anchors in the day, that can affect plans for when to do other rides, plan meals, etc.

I know it can be a mad scramble just to get some of them, and everything will be more improvised with Genie+... but when you've had the ability to choose ILLs, what have you found works best in each park? Late morning, early afternoon, or mid-day? Just curious where folks have found it makes most sense to slot these things in.

Merci!

 

[cjlong88]

Personally, we have opted to select evening times for our ILL$ every time for a few reasons.

1) At 7am when you purchase your ILL$ you are more likely to have the time that you selected change on you in the middle of the booking process if you are trying to book an early morning time. This is because everyone is trying to grab that same early time as you. I have not had the time change on me even once because I believe I am picking a less coveted time. YMMV.

2) When / If Genie+ LL availability is low or nonexistent at the end of the park day, you still have your ILL$ in your back pocket as a ride you can enjoy with no wait. It’s nice to have at least one ride a night that you are guaranteed a short wait. So if you’re at HS and all the “good rides” have run out of LL by early afternoon, you still have that RotR ILL$ to enjoy.

3) The ILL$ for us are more fun to experience at night. We can see the Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, World Showcase, or Fantasyland all lit up, and that just makes riding the attraction more special for us. That’s complete personal preference. In general we think the parks are more magical at night, so we often try to stack our LL’s in the evening. Not everyone will feel that way, though.

 

[CynBeth]

With ROTR breaking down so much I would try for an early time. If you make it at night you run the risk of not getting to ride it. At least if it goes down at an earlier time in the day you can ride it later when it comes back up they let you return to the special line any time. We had so many issues when we were there around Thanksgiving with technology I would take what time you can get and work around.

 

[TikiRob]

Personally, we have opted to select evening times for our ILL$ every time for a few reasons.

1) At 7am when you purchase your ILL$ you are more likely to have the time that you selected change on you in the middle of the booking process if you are trying to book an early morning time. This is because everyone is trying to grab that same early time as you. I have not has the time change on me even once because I believe I am picking a less coveted time. YMMV.

2) When / If Genie+ LL availability is low or nonexistent at the end of the park day, you still have your ILL$ in your back pocket as a ride you can enjoy with no wait. It’s nice to have at least one ride a night that you are guaranteed a short wait. So if you’re at HS and all the “good rides” have run out of LL by early afternoon, you still have that RotR ILL$ to enjoy.

3) The ILL$ for us are more fun to experience at night. We can see the Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, World Showcase, or Fantasyland all lit up, and that just makes riding the attraction more special for us. That’s complete personal preference. In general we think the parks are more magical at night, so we often try to stack our LL’s in the evening. Not everyone will feel that way, though.

This is all great advice! Lines are much more palatable early in the day, so it is nice to have "skippable" lines later in the day when people are tired.

 

[musicguy856]

I believe the latest ILL start time is 30 minutes before park close. If that was the case I wouldn't purchase it since you can usually hop in line just before park closing and have a shorter wait.

 

[RoseGold]

The ILL$ has a lot of wiggle time, so it isn't as huge of an anchor as you are making it. You can schedule your day around ILL easily.