Guide to DLR for WDW Veterans!

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
Now probably the more important question - what’s everyone’s rope drop strategy / strategies for both parks? Especially with how much things have changed with early entry, Genie+ etc.

Right now I’m thinking 4 day park hoppers.

Wednesday - Disneyland starting park
Thursday (Pride Nite, won’t get tickets) - DCA starting park
Friday - Disneyland starting park
Saturday - Disneyland starting park

I figure the Thursday DCA will get busy when Disneyland closes at 8pm?
Your hunch is probably correct for Thursday, but one thing that's worth noting is that at some point, Early Entry will move from being at both parks every day to once again being limited to only one park per day. The EE pool is much smaller than it used to be, now that there are no day guests roped in at all, to the point that for most attractions, it probably doesn't make a significant difference. But if you're going to try to rope drop something like PPF or the other big ticket items, it makes a small but noticeable dent at the start of the day.

DCA: My big takeaway from my last visit is this: don't bother trying to rope drop RSR. Everyone else has the same idea, especially since it's an ILL, and if you're not perfectly positioned for every step of the process, you're locking yourself into a very long wait, especially if (as happened to me) the ride isn't quite ready to go at rope drop. My mother and I ended up ditching the standby and getting on pretty immediately via single rider instead.

Otherwise, I don't know that there's a strictly right/wrong way to rope drop DCA if you're using basic touring instincts, because nothing else at DCA is a draw that's remotely in conversation with Racers at the start of the day. Probably the closest thing to an objective "best" way to do things is to start with Webslingers, then Guardians, then MI, then Soarin, and then head to the back and do Mickey's Death Wheel/Pixar Pal Around if desired, followed by TSMM and TCFKACA before the crowds arrive. But since basically everything's on Genie anyway, you can sort of discard that and do things in any order you please if a different strategy would be preferable.

DL: I always start with Fantasyland because it's easy to do a bunch of rides really quickly and there's little Genie+ to be found. It's particularly advantageous if you're able to knock out PPF immediately, but you have to be ready and quick at rope drop to make PPF worth it, because people have figured out that PPF is the best ride in FL to hit first. From there, do Alice, Toad, Snow White, Pinocchio, Storybook, and things of that nature for your first hour. From there, you can try to catch Space or the subs on standby before the line builds in the way they will later (though this isn't what I'd personally do most of the time: the Subs take a lot of valuable time and might be better ridden in the evening, when wait times drop off. Space is really only worth considering here if you think you might want to ride it more than once a day), OR you can try to hit Car Toon Spin and Runaway Railway before the public remembers that Toontown exists (while TT now opens with the park, it seems like the public still doesn't really think about it until after an hour or two), OR head to the west side of the park, which mostly takes a while to fill up with people.

I wouldn't start with Indy (an obvious draw close to the entrance, takes awhile to get out to the show building and back, and one prone to breakdowns) or Rise (another popular rope drop destination, also prone to breakdowns and one that takes quite a long time to finish-time best not wasted in the first few hours of the day IMO, and close to little else apart from Smuggler's).

Booking things with Genie/ILL/whatever:
Go to the tip board in the app and toggle it so that it only shows Genie rides. That's the most direct way to make bookings.

Note that with Genie+/LL/ILL, it will not prevent overlapping plans. So you will need to make sure that, say, if you buy an ILL it doesn't overlap with a regular G+ time or a restarant reservation, or that if you book two regular Genie+'s during the same time frame that it's doable. If all else fails, and you don't like or need to change your G+ time, there is a modify button, which I found to be a huge help. I'm not sure if you can modify ILL times on the app or not.

LL order: Not much to say on the DCA front here, so this will be entirely DL focused. Indy and Space are the two that go first. Matterhorn and Runaway Railway (and remember that TT-as well as much of FL, though notably Matterhorn remains open-is closed from ~8:15-10:15 every night for fireworks, so there's two fewer hours to book MMRR vs everything else that's a big ticket item on Genie) are the next tier, followed by everything else. Not sure how Pirates on Genie will impact things. There seemed very little interest comparatively in IASW, ST, BLAB Lightning Lanes during my visits this year (side note: one of the biggest changes I've noticed compared to my visits 10 years ago or so is that Star Tours has had a noticeable drop off in popularity post-GE, though the ride may be reinvigorated somewhat with the new scenes coming), so you can count on those being available late into the day. Remember that you can only do each attraction once-it'll look like you can book things again, but when you actually try to do so, it'll block you.

Exception: If you book a ride that breaks down during your window, that LL will turn into a Multi Experience Pass, and you can then book that attraction again.

Individual Lightning Lanes: I wouldn't bother with doing this for RSR unless you are dead set on riding together once, in which case it is certainly a lot easier than waiting in standby. But truly, I was stunned by just how many people were willing to buy ILL for Racers.

Rise to me makes more sense as an ILL purchase, and I've done it a few times. If you'd rather not do ILL, I'd wait until closer to the end of the day for a shorter wait. Note, however, that Rise closes at 10 PM every night.
 
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Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Your hunch is probably correct for Thursday, but one thing that's worth noting is that at some point, Early Entry will move from being at both parks every day to once again being limited to only one park per day. The EE pool is much smaller than it used to be, now that there are no day guests roped in at all, to the point that for most attractions, it probably doesn't make a significant difference. But if you're going to try to rope drop something like PPF or the other big ticket items, it makes a small but noticeable dent at the start of the day.

DCA: My big takeaway from my last visit is this: don't bother trying to rope drop RSR. Everyone else has the same idea, especially since it's an ILL, and if you're not perfectly positioned for every step of the process, you're locking yourself into a very long wait, especially if (as happened to me) the ride isn't quite ready to go at rope drop. My mother and I ended up ditching the standby and getting on pretty immediately via single rider instead.

Otherwise, I don't know that there's a strictly right/wrong way to rope drop DCA if you're using basic touring instincts, because nothing else at DCA is a draw that's remotely in conversation with Racers at the start of the day. Probably the closest thing to an objective "best" way to do things is to start with Webslingers, then Guardians, then MI, then Soarin, and then head to the back and do Mickey's Death Wheel/Pixar Pal Around if desired, followed by TSMM and TCFKACA before the crowds arrive. But since basically everything's on Genie anyway, you can sort of discard that and do things in any order you please if a different strategy would be preferable.

DL: I always start with Fantasyland because it's easy to do a bunch of rides really quickly and there's little Genie+ to be found. It's particularly advantageous if you're able to knock out PPF immediately, but you have to be ready and quick at rope drop to make PPF worth it, because people have figured out that PPF is the best ride in FL to hit first. From there, do Alice, Toad, Snow White, Pinocchio, Storybook, and things of that nature for your first hour. From there, you can try to catch Space or the subs on standby before the line builds in the way they will later (though this isn't what I'd personally do most of the time: the Subs take a lot of valuable time and might be better ridden in the evening, when wait times drop off. Space is really only worth considering here if you think you might want to ride it more than once a day), OR you can try to hit Car Toon Spin and Runaway Railway before the public remembers that Toontown exists (while TT now opens with the park, it seems like the public still doesn't really think about it until after an hour or two), OR head to the west side of the park, which mostly takes a while to fill up with people.

I wouldn't start with Indy (an obvious draw close to the entrance, takes awhile to get out to the show building and back, and one prone to breakdowns) or Rise (another popular rope drop destination, also prone to breakdowns and one that takes quite a long time to finish-time best not wasted in the first few hours of the day IMO, and close to little else apart from Smuggler's).

Booking things with Genie/ILL/whatever:
Go to the tip board in the app and toggle it so that it only shows Genie rides. That's the most direct way to make bookings.

Note that with Genie+/LL/ILL, it will not prevent overlapping plans. So you will need to make sure that, say, if you buy an ILL it doesn't overlap with a regular G+ time or a restarant reservation, or that if you book two regular Genie+'s during the same time frame that it's doable. If all else fails, and you don't like or need to change your G+ time, there is a modify button, which I found to be a huge help. I'm not sure if you can modify ILL times on the app or not.

LL order: Not much to say on the DCA front here, so this will be entirely DL focused. Indy and Space are the two that go first. Matterhorn and Runaway Railway (and remember that TT-as well as much of FL, though notably Matterhorn remains open-is closed from ~8:15-10:15 every night for fireworks, so there's two fewer hours to book MMRR vs everything else that's a big ticket item on Genie) are the next tier, followed by everything else. Not sure how Pirates on Genie will impact things. There seemed very little interest comparatively in IASW, ST, BLAB Lightning Lanes during my visits this year (side note: one of the biggest changes I've noticed compared to my visits 10 years ago or so is that Star Tours has had a noticeable drop off in popularity post-GE, though the ride may be reinvigorated somewhat with the new scenes coming), so you can count on those being available late into the day. Remember that you can only do each attraction once-it'll look like you can book things again, but when you actually try to do so, it'll block you.

Exception: If you book a ride that breaks down during your window, that LL will turn into a Multi Experience Pass, and you can then book that attraction again.

Individual Lightning Lanes: I wouldn't bother with doing this for RSR unless you are dead set on riding together once, in which case it is certainly a lot easier than waiting in standby. But truly, I was stunned by just how many people were willing to buy ILL for Racers.

Rise to me makes more sense as an ILL purchase, and I've done it a few times. If you'd rather not do ILL, I'd wait until closer to the end of the day. For a shorter wait. Note, however, that Rise closes at 10 PM every night.

Your experience and advice is so valuable - thank you!
 

debpeduz

Active Member
Hello!
WDW vet here and 1st time to DL in February. There’s so much to learn and this thread has helped!

Flying into LAX just after noon. What are some best transportation tips besides renting a car to get to and from Disneyland Hotel? Should we use a car service (and if so, which are good?) or just Uber?

Also, we have a full day (non-Disney) on a Monday before leaving Tuesday at 7am! We thought to get closer to LAX on Monday since our flight leaves early. Are there any hotel recommendations around Venice Beach or Marina Del Ray for a family to stay? Any other “free day” recommendations to consider instead?
Thank you!
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Now probably the more important question - what’s everyone’s rope drop strategy / strategies for both parks? Especially with how much things have changed with early entry, Genie+ etc.

Right now I’m thinking 4 day park hoppers.

Wednesday - Disneyland starting park
Thursday (Pride Nite, won’t get tickets) - DCA starting park
Friday - Disneyland starting park
Saturday - Disneyland starting park

I figure the Thursday DCA will get busy when Disneyland closes at 8pm?

I’m not telling you. Last time I was the only contributor to not get a thank you despite giving you the best advice.

F2795513-5A33-4CD0-9DDF-653710DF568F.jpeg
 

muddyrivers

Well-Known Member
I'm staying at GCH and am going to be doing the parks with a friend who's a SoCal resident. Am I able to add them as a guest on my room so that they can do early entry with me? Not sure if it makes a difference but I have a 5 day Park Hopper but they're only joining me for 3 days.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
A little G+ tip for rope drop... Book something right away and hope it is broken down. If the ride is down you get a Multiple Experience pass which is good any time of the day for a group of similar rides. If the ride is up at the start of the day, cancel it and book something that is down and hope it stays down until your return time.
 

dmw

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
A little G+ tip for rope drop... Book something right away and hope it is broken down. If the ride is down you get a Multiple Experience pass which is good any time of the day for a group of similar rides. If the ride is up at the start of the day, cancel it and book something that is down and hope it stays down until your return time.
that used to be the case with FP+, but with the newer attractions, we started to notice that the multi experience pass excluded some of those.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
that used to be the case with FP+, but with the newer attractions, we started to notice that the multi experience pass excluded some of those.
Basically it's roughly tiered based on popularity. So if you get an Indy MEP, you can probably use it on everything except ROTR.

If it's an IASW MEP, there are going to be more limitations.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
that used to be the case with FP+, but with the newer attractions, we started to notice that the multi experience pass excluded some of those.
Yup, that's why I said "a group of similar rides". My 2 examples from when I went. I got a Soarin' ME and used it on GRR.

Indy also went down during my return time and I used it for Space mountain.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
My last few trips to Disneyland have been solo trips, but this summer I'm headed there with my extended family. This includes my autistic older brother and a total of 10 ticketed guests (I have a 2 year old as well who will be with us, but does not require a ticket). We will all be getting Genie+ and my brother will have a DAS.

My understanding is that any linking that was previously done at WDW for the 10 of us will not work in Disneyland. I also understand that you can pre-register for DAS and make advanced selections. What actions need to take place so that multiple people can make day of Genie+ reservations for the group and day of DAS reservations for the group. Does every ticket have to be linked to a single account?
 

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