What's the best strategy since maxpass/fastpass are not available?

[Kuilima]

We usually tour commando style and rely heavily on fast passes. We aim for rope drop and stay til closing. What can we expect nowadays in terms of wait times?

 

[nbarry]

Could use a ride planning service like RideMax, if you’re willing to shell out the subscription cost

 

[DLgal]

Just plan for every ride to have a 30 minute wait. Some will be more, some less, but that will end up being your average over the day. I would prioritize based on how much you want to go on each ride, and ride your must dos first. Rides go down a lot and the worst thing is leaving a favorite until later only to find it down and you end up missing it.

 

[geminimagk]

We usually tour commando style and rely heavily on fast passes. We aim for rope drop and stay til closing. What can we expect nowadays in terms of wait times?

I'm so glad you asked this! We also rely heavily on MaxPass and plan our entire day based on that. As of now we have a trip planned for early November (we come from out of state) but may cancel if MaxPass isn't back by then.

 

[brentm77]

This sounds simple - but the best strategy, in my opinion, is not worrying about long lines. Seriously, fastpasses trained me to fear long lines. But, when I went to WDW without them this year, I realized that aren't so bad. They are a time to slow down, talk with my family, relax a bit, etc. Once I started trying to enjoy the line experience, it changed my perception and eliminated the stress of getting to this ride first, or being first at rope drop, etc.

The other strategy I have is to go to the least popular stuff first. By basically walking on to a bunch of rides first thing in the morning, I think I save more time than saving a little time waiting for one or two big ones first thing, even if I have to wait a long time for those one or two big rides later. In short, go the opposite direction of the crowds.

 

[dreynolds1982]

I'm an east coaster/WDW regular but will be hitting up DL in late August. My strategy when FPs aren't involved is typically come early, but as some others have said, DON'T necessarily go for the biggest or best rides. Go in a direction (usually left vs right) and ride as many things as I can, big or small, based on the shortest wait times. Then when the crowds pour in and the heat is in full swing, either take a lunch break offsite (we're staying at GC so prob go back there) or take the time to slow down and explore a bit, enjoy the scenery. Then it's a game of watching wait times on the app and riding whatever looks feasible. Then when night time rolls around, wait times typically slow for the bigger stuff, it's a great time to knock some of those out.

Biggest thing is, IMO, don't have a "if I don't ride this it will ruin the trip" mindset, don't have too rigid a plan or strategy, be flexible, and take what the Disney ride gods give ya.

 

[Matrixleos]

Without Fastpass/Maxpass, you just have to be flexible and adjust your strategy as the day goes on. Although at the same time, you should have a rough estimate of what you want to get done.

Since this will be my families first trip to Disneyland, we're not going to park hop and just spend one day in Disneyland and one day at DCA. We also like to "commando style" the park and don't like taking breaks. Although pretty sure my wife will take leave at some point to shop at Main Street shops. Here's our rough estimate for Disneyland....

8:00am - 9:00am - Get there early, in case they let people in before rope drop and knock out most of Fantasy Land. Goal is to do Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad and Alice in Wonderland first thing in the morning before it gets crowded.

9:00am - 9:30am - Walk from Fantasyland to New Orleans Square. If BTMRR is below 30 minutes, we'll ride it, although the goal is to get to Splash Mountain before 9:30am.

9:30am - 11:30am - Go on Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh and then check out the times for Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones.

11:30 - 12:30pm - Lunch at Hungry Bear, we'll be mobile ordering early in the morning for 11:30am pickup. We'll cancel the mobile order if the standby lane looks reasonable.

12:30pm - 1:00pm - Reservation at Oga's, which will be perfect after lunch to get a few drinks and take a break from the mid afternoon sun.

1:00pm - 3:00pm - Explore Galaxy's Edge, ride MF and RotR (if we received boarding groups)

3:00pm - 6:00pm - Knock out the rest of Fantasyland/Toontown with Matterhorn, Dumbo, Casey Jr, Storybook, Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough, Small World, Roger Rabbit and Gadget Go Coaster.

6:00pm - 7:00pm - Wait in line for the Railroad at Toontown and take it to New Orleans Square, as we have Dinner reservation at Cafe Orleans at 7pm.

7:00pm - 8:00pm - Dinner at Cafe Orleans. I'll put in mobile orders for Mickey Beignets and Mint Julep to take with us into Cafe Orleans.

8:00pm - 10:00pm - Try to knockout Tomorrowland. Priority will be Space Mountain and Star Tours. If there are time delays in the day, we'll cut out all the rest of the Tomorrowland attractions. If time permits, we'll try to fit in Autopia, Astro Orbiter and Buzz.

Overall - Pretty aggressive schedule but I think it might be doable. I'd also like to add in a visit to the Tiki Room/Dole Whip break somewhere along the day. Only item I think we'd like to do but would be cutting out is Tom Sawyer Island.

 

[tlcdoula]

Without Fastpass/Maxpass, you just have to be flexible and adjust your strategy as the day goes on. Although at the same time, you should have a rough estimate of what you want to get done.

Since this will be my families first trip to Disneyland, we're not going to park hop and just spend one day in Disneyland and one day at DCA. We also like to "commando style" the park and don't like taking breaks. Although pretty sure my wife will take leave at some point to shop at Main Street shops. Here's our rough estimate for Disneyland....


Overall - Pretty aggressive schedule but I think it might be doable. I'd also like to add in a visit to the Tiki Room/Dole Whip break somewhere along the day. Only item I think we'd like to do but would be cutting out is Tom Sawyer Island.

You tour like we do... I can't wait to start planning for November... I have a hard time not wanting to do everything... every trip I tell myself. Ok take your time, look around BUT I can't do it..

 

[HenDuck]

I have been wondering the same thing. Our former strategy relied heavily on MaxPasses. We will have to adjust our next visit in August.

I am planning to be more structured the first couple of days we're in the parks and then more play-it-by-ear.

The first couple of days, I am hoping we get a BG for ROTR and WS, at least once each. Then we will work around those. For the most part, we will be at the parks at least 30 minutes before official park opening time. We will still hit one of the E-ticket rides first (Space, Indy, Millenium Falcon OR Cars, Guardians), then do the next closest rides. We will park hop at whatever time is appropriate and then hit whatever we can in the other park. I am hoping that wait times are not horrific in late August, although I know capacity will be higher.

Although we usually power through until I'm beat, I think we may take a mid-day break and come back late in the evening some days. My night-owl DS loves to close down the parks. I understand WS can be a walk-on at that time.

We have talked about adjusting our expectations. We will be happy to just be there, honestly. If I get to ride ROTR once, I'll be completely satisfied, as we have not experienced it yet. I don't really care if we ride WS, although I expect we will be able to. Our big "new" adventure will be going to Oga's! I also hope to get some pics with Loki and try the Shwarma .

Everything is changing at the parks, sometimes daily, so I keep checking blogs/vlogs and disboards to see the latest updates.

After the year+ we've had, and 2 cancelled Disney trips, I will seriously be tearfully happy just to ride the train around the park.

 

[MaxSkywalker]

I thought I aced the FP system at WDW 2 years ago thanks to this board, so I'm disappointed I won't get a chance to do that at DL/DCA this year. I think my goal is just going to be to hit Indiana Jones first, then hit Splash, BTMRR, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, HM early on, and hope that we get a RoTR BG to mix in there. I think we're going to take a break mid-day, hit Tom Sawyer (my kids LOVED it at WDW), then try to do Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in the evening (my kids don't care about most of the Fantasyland rides except they love Small World, and I want to do Mr. Toad for nostalgic reasons). Is ToonTown worth it at all? I read it gets crowded, and it seems like Roger Rabbit is the only ride my kids would like..but sometimes they surprise me. They're 13/10/7, all boys.

The lines don't seem too bad right now, and we're just going to have to plan to be flexible.

 

[evilhubie]

I'd try to be as flexible as possible. BGs for RoTR and WebSlingers tend to dictate how your day sets up. Also, there's a fair amount of volatility to the wait times of a lot of rides like Indy and Guardians. With no FastPasses and everyone having the wait times available on their phones, lines tend to load balance pretty quickly. Short lines get long, and long lines get short. I wouldn't go all the way across the park to try to catch a short line.

With so many changes happening on almost a daily basis, I'd check into wait times in the days leading into your trip. You'll get a good feel for what a reasonable wait time is for each of the rides.