The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[chadwpalm]

Just to add.....my strategy above is mainly my single day, single park, solo trip strategy. How I navigate the parks varies greatly on several factors. Is it one day or two days? Am I alone or with other people? If I'm with other people do their preferences align with mine or do I adjust to accommodate them? Am I park hopping or doing one park per day?

And a more grander question is.......am I a MK holder or vacationer?

I don't believe there is any singular perfect strategy and depends totally on most of the factors I stated above and quite frankly also your personality and budget.

 

[mickEblu]

Yeah, it's funny how people who can do that don't understand the point of LL, but people like us (or maybe just me) who only visit once, maybe twice a year don't understand what it is like to be able to pop in for a few hours, or not have to get LL to maximize their day, or be able to say "I didn't get to ride this, so I'll just catch it when I visit in a couple weeks with my Inspire key."

I like to maximize my day, so I do stack LLs. I don't like to do the big rides (especially roller coasters) first thing in the morning. My strategy is to try to do all the non-LL attractions in the morning while their lines are low while booking up LLs for the bigger rides later, particularly if it is looking to be a busy day because I feel like standing in standby for 30-40 minutes for Snow White or Toads is taking time away when I can do them as a near walk-on in the morning. Why race to get on Space Mountain or any other LL attraction first thing in the morning when I'm pretty much guaranteed to be able to ride it later with a LL-sized line? I also like to often do Fantasyland first because it feels the most "Disneyland" to me and helps me to very quickly forget about the outside world.


It's not really a valid fear. If you book a LL for an attraction and it is down during your return time, they give you that Multiple Experience Pass that you can just redeem anytime for the rest of the day for that attraction or an equivalent one, and that pass doesn't negate you being to continue booking other LLs. The attraction would have to be down for the rest of the day to not be able to try again. On top of that, if you are in the LL queue after redeeming the LL and the ride goes down, they will scan your ticket and give you that MEP. This happened to me on MMRR on my last trip.

I used this strategy on my last trip which was a single day at DL park and did all of these attractions:

- Indiana Jones
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Haunted Mansion (twice)
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure
- Rise of the Resistance (almost did it a second time in the evening, but it broke down)
- Millennium Falcon (single rider twice)
- Snow White's Enchanted Wish
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
- Roger Rabbit
- Small World
- Matterhorn (single rider)
- Space Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Adventureland Treehouse
- Tiki Room
- Walt Disney - Magical Life

Plus I still had time to play some Batuu Bounty Hunters and watch the Fire of the Rising Moons show. I also could have watched Paint the Night and the Fireworks show, but simply opted not to.

Oh....almost forgot, and doesn't apply for groups, but as I often take solo trips, utilizing single rider also helps get in more rides because I don't need to book LL for them.

I see what you re saying. I think a lot of it comes down to the mind set you re in and flow of the day. It’s a little more high stakes when you re hosting people on a possible once in a lifetime trip with a one day ticket. No matter how you look at it there’s about let’s say 10-12 Must Do’s at DL? You still have to fit in lunch, snacks etc and then they probably want to do some shopping. So if you’re starting your day with a stacking mentality and spending your morning in Fantasyland IMO you run the risk of missing out on a couple of those Must Do’s. There’s just only so much time in the day. Also, people get tired. Not used to that theme park life. They might not be able to hang until 10pm or later. I think the mentality needs to be prioritize the Must Do’s and fit in the smaller attractions where you can. Between return times or when it’s convenient.

 

[chadwpalm]

I see what you re saying. I think a lot of it comes down to the mind set you re in and flow of the day. It’s a little more high stakes when you re hosting people on a possible once in a lifetime trip with a one day ticket. No matter how you look at it there’s about let’s say 10-12 Must Do’s at DL? You still have to fit in lunch, snacks etc and then they probably want to do some shopping. So if you’re starting your day with a stacking mentality and spending your morning in Fantasyland IMO you run the risk of missing out on a couple of those Must Do’s. There’s just only so much time in the day. Also, people get tired. Not used to that theme park life. They might not be able to hang until 10pm or later. I think the mentality needs to be prioritize the Must Do’s and fit in the smaller attractions where you can. Between return times or when it’s convenient.

I also see what you are saying, but....at least for me....taking people that have never ever been to the parks is a very very rare occasion and I probably too would adjust my strategy/priorities for that.

I think the difference here is that you are basing your fears and lack of understanding for wanting to stack LLs on the more rare scenario of taking first-timers, where I am advocating it based on the typical scenario of the normal park-going vacation day. Both viewpoints have merit for their specific situations.

 

[mickEblu]

I also see what you are saying, but....at least for me....taking people that have never ever been to the parks is a very very rare occasion and I probably too would adjust my strategy/priorities for that.

I think the difference here is that you are basing your fears and lack of understanding for wanting to stack LLs on the more rare scenario of taking first-timers, where I am advocating it based on the typical scenario of the normal park-going vacation day. Both viewpoints have merit for their specific situations.

On a recent post to a different user I mentioned that stacking makes sense if you want to maximize attractions and that I’d even try it out with my family if we do the 3 day tickets next year. Just doesn’t make as much sense on my next trip which includes people from out of the country with a one day ticket.

Also it probably goes without saying that “stacking” is inherently tied to rope dropping right? Can’t really stack if you get to the park at 11am. Especially on a busy day.

 

[mickEblu]

I don’t try to stack, but that’s what usually happens organically because I prioritize the park I didn’t start at. If I’m starting at DL, after getting one LL (usually Space or Mickey) I prioritize DCA and get subsequent LL in this order:
-Guardians
-TSMM
-Soarin
Invariably these will all be between 3-7 pm. After that I switch back to DL and if I’m lucky nab Matterhorn and BTMRR in the evening (HM is the back up.)

If I start with DCA my first LL will be TSMM, and then I grab a Soarin LL (as that one is almost always less then 1 hour out) followed by:
-Space or Indy (both will likely be gone or too late by my 3rd pull)*
-Matterhorn or Mickey*
-BTMRR
-HM

*Lucky days I’ll be able to get both of the choices for one of those but I don’t count on it. Again those DL LL will invariably stack between 3-7 for the most part. I’m not attempting to do this (just trying to get all my favorites) and it happens organically.

That’s an interesting way to go about it with park hoppers. Take advantage of the early morning at DL and stack all the headliners at DCA for the afternoon to early evening. I wouldn’t waste an LL on Soarin though unless you really love that ride. Not a lot of “bang for your buck” with that LL. I feel like you still end up waiting close to 30 min sometimes no? Especially if you re like me and request middle/ top row.

 

[Touchdown]

That’s an interesting way to go about it with park hoppers. Take advantage of the early morning at DL and stack all the headliners at DCA for the afternoon to early evening. I wouldn’t waste an LL on Soarin though unless you really love that ride. Not a lot of “bang for your buck” with that LL. I feel like you still end up waiting close to 30 min sometimes no? Especially if you re like me and request middle/ top row.

The Soarin line as of late has been close to an hour, so you still save 30-40 min. I love Soarin though.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Yeah, it's funny how people who can do that don't understand the point of LL, but people like us (or maybe just me) who only visit once, maybe twice a year don't understand what it is like to be able to pop in for a few hours, or not have to get LL to maximize their day, or be able to say "I didn't get to ride this, so I'll just catch it when I visit in a couple weeks with my Inspire key."

I like to maximize my day, so I do stack LLs. I don't like to do the big rides (especially roller coasters) first thing in the morning. My strategy is to try to do all the non-LL attractions in the morning while their lines are low while booking up LLs for the bigger rides later, particularly if it is looking to be a busy day because I feel like standing in standby for 30-40 minutes for Snow White or Toads is taking time away when I can do them as a near walk-on in the morning. Why race to get on Space Mountain or any other LL attraction first thing in the morning when I'm pretty much guaranteed to be able to ride it later with a LL-sized line? I also like to often do Fantasyland first because it feels the most "Disneyland" to me and helps me to very quickly forget about the outside world.


It's not really a valid fear. If you book a LL for an attraction and it is down during your return time, they give you that Multiple Experience Pass that you can just redeem anytime for the rest of the day for that attraction or an equivalent one, and that pass doesn't negate you from being able to continue booking other LLs. The attraction would have to be down for the rest of the day to not be able to try again. On top of that, if you are in the LL queue after redeeming the LL and the ride goes down, they will scan your ticket and give you that MEP. This happened to me on MMRR on my last trip.

I used this strategy on my last trip which was a single day at DL park and did all of these attractions:

- Indiana Jones
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Haunted Mansion (twice)
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure
- Rise of the Resistance (almost did it a second time in the evening, but it broke down)
- Millennium Falcon (single rider twice)
- Snow White's Enchanted Wish
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
- Roger Rabbit
- Small World
- Matterhorn (single rider)
- Space Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Adventureland Treehouse
- Tiki Room
- Walt Disney - Magical Life

Plus I still had time to play some Batuu Bounty Hunters and watch the Fire of the Rising Moons show. I also could have watched Paint the Night and the Fireworks show, but simply opted not to.

Oh....almost forgot, and doesn't apply for groups, but as I often take solo trips, utilizing single rider also helps get in more rides because I don't need to book LL for them.

I think you and I have very similar touring plans. I think stacking the LL's lets me have a more relaxing afternoon and evening and gives me time to watch the few shows that are there and snack. I like to watch the Dapper Dans multiple times, I'm a bit of a Dapper Dan fangirl, so a lot of my afternoons are spent watching their shows because I did so many attractions in the morning.

 

[DLR92]

Single riders is a great alternative to use when you’re alone or with a small group willing to break up. I love using single riders when given the opportunity.