Last minute advice for this weekend?

As mentioned RotR is standby wait only now and is averaging 60 - 90 minute waits. For lower waits, you can RD it or wait about 30 minutes after RD. (The queue gets swamped at RD, but then “settles” down after the initial rush)

I’m literally staring at the Disneyland App right now and seeing a posted 70 minute wait.

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We hopped in line at 11:30 am. The posted time was 90 minutes, but we only waited 57 minutes. This was the first day it was without the BG. I would watch the times carefully and try and jump in when it dips below 80 minutes.

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Have fun! With standby only, just try to hit the headliners in the first couple of hours the park is open (RotR, HM, Space, IJ, Matterhorn, PP at Disneyland; RSR, WS, GotG, and Soarin’ at DCA). Otherwise, just bring your patience and have a great trip!

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Great things are looking more hectic and stressful.

So could we do smugglers run at RD, and then RotR? Or would that be too late and hit the rush again. I feel it is so far away from RD it makes more sense to do HM first and pirates. We have a six year old first timer…don’t want to throw space or thunder her way just yet.

Is your goal to ride everything?

May I suggest going left in DL? You can knock out Jungle Cruise, Indian Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Splash maybe within the first 2 hours. Keep an eye on the wait times for the Galaxy Edge rides. Anything under an hour is good for Smugglers Run. You might be able to ride both the Galaxy Edge rides before lunch.

If you have lunch in Galaxy Edge, you can explore the land after lunch and then start on your PhotoPass. You can also shop and take advantage of the Package Check Service. The stores are super crowded around closing time and after closing time.

I found the characters greeting guests at their homes in Toontown in the afternoon.

Toontown was a ghost time when I went there after 9 pm

Pick up Fantasyland in the evening.

For CA Adventure, I feel you would get more done if you go to Soaring first, followed by Radiator Springs, Toy Story, and then all of the rides along the Pier. Do Webslinger later.

A few of us went this month wrote trip reports that you might want to peruse:

https://forum.touringplans.com/t/winchester-house-half-moon-bay-disneyland/81958

Have a magical time!

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Is she going to be ok in a small dark motion simulator? It bounces around pretty hard. I worked in Ops at theme parks for years and six is that age where it can go either way… laughing or crying…

I think you could do it that way though. Your RotR wait might be 15 minutes longer, but your MF:SR should be significantly shorter. Check what your personalized Touring Plan says to verify

This is my plan when we go Christmas week. Even though the optimized TP keeps telling me otherwise, I think it makes the most sense to do all of Adventureland and New Orleans first thing when waits are lowest. That’s where most of our must-dos are located anyway. Other than 2 in Galaxy we would do around lunch and 3 in Tomorrowland in the late afternoon. I just keep overriding the Touring Plan processor and Evaluating rather than Optimizing :laughing: I would love to know how it works out for the OP if they do that plan.

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I highly recommend NOT doing MFSR at rope drop. The line is very pleasant and moves quickly, and it often is shorter in the late afternoon and throughout the evening.

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Walk on in the evening! Can confirm!! We were there around 9:20pm

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That is my plan for 12/16 as well. I evaluated it again just now and don’t really trust these low wait predictions. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Only 4 minutes for Haunted Mansion an hour after opening? During the holiday overlay?

Only 33 minutes for ROTR at 10:30am?

Oh well, I will just use it as a very rough guide and avoid filling all of the time it thinks I have.

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Ok I saw mention TP and TP optimizer. What is that?

Also, besides web slingers and GotG what else is there to do at avengers campus?

TP is Touring Plans. TP optimizer is when you create a personalized touring plan and you optimize it. You have to have a subscription to be able to create personalized touring plans.

There is some shopping, dining (PYM Test Kitchen, shwarma kiosk) and lots of cool street entertainment throughout the day, including the animatronic Spider-Man acrobatics show. Eventually there will be a third ride (quinjet simulator - maybe Black Panther themed), but it’s on hold.

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I think there is also a show with dr strange, but I don’t know what it is about. There are also tons of characters to interact with!

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Oh she is a go getter, this one has no fear (her 10 year old brother, on the other hand, screamed, cried and grabbed on to a rail when trying to board Pooh). But I still feel like her first rides shouldn’t be the rollercoasters

She isn’t afraid of the dark like her brother is

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I heard RotR often breaks down…I’m afraid of we wait too late that will happen and shut it down for the night. I have that kind of luck

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I was talking about MFSR though :wink:

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We went weekend before Thanksgiving with group of 6, 2 adults 4 kids ages 1 thru 10 so we have some recent on the ground experience to speak from. As with most trips, but especially now that there is no fastpass, either arrive early (be ready through security and lined up ready to be scanned into a turnstile by 30-45 min before opening) or stay late (all the way to closing and enjoy the last hour of each park) to have’ll have some periods of low(er) wait times.

Midday is hard, pack your patience. As much as you are are able to, plan ahead for food, especially if your family will want to eat at peak mealtimes. Use Mobile Order to make it quick and easy to order food too.

If you’re not trying to ride all the things, midday is a good time to work on enjoying shows (there is so much fun Christmas ambiance at DCA with many live music options), ambiance (stroll the festival of the holidays in DCA, check out Redwood Creek Challenge trail decked out, catch character sightings all over) or use that for any attractions that won’t be any longer at midday than early or late in the day (like Philharmagic, anything in the Animation Building, Tiki Room, Lincoln, etc.)

However, with the two days, you’ll probably want to still be doing some rides midday, so work to pick lines that you enjoy/don’t mind being in (Millennium Falcon is a very good suggestion given for that) and if you aren’t opposed to being on your phone in line the Disney Parks Play App (separate from the Disneyland App) has some games in the queues to help pass the time. It’s how we survived our two times of a over 35 min waits at TSMM (both times posted 35 minutes). I can’t remember what other queues have games, but I’m pretty sure Millenium Falcon and Space do. Oh and Peter Pan has (had?) a Play App game, it’s been a reallllly long time since we did the Play app in the Peter Pan queue, but when we last did, it was best done when it’s dark as there is lighting involved with the final effect.

If your kids have any nostalgia about current ToonTown and will be sentimental about the overhaul that start early next year and goes to 2023, then give them some time there. Either right when it opens (one hour after park opening) or the last 30 or so minutes before it closes (if fireworks are planned it closes at 8pm) are really great empty times to enjoy it (and get people free photos of your kids in it). It looks like ToonTown will be much improved, but my older kids have always asked for & enjoyed time in ToonTown so they wanted to be sure to see it one last time how they remember it (and the only house/attraction that is open to walkthrough is Chip & Dale’s which looks like is getting removed based on the concept art released). So my kids for sure wanted to make sure they saw that at least once.

Best of luck and hope it’s a great two days! And I will keep my everything crossed for you that small world starts up by Saturday for your kids!

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Thank you, all very helpful!

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Q:. Do I have to buy a photopass for everyone or just myself?

Everyone is linked to my account so I’m wondering how it works now.

Before it was included in fastpass+ so photos were all included.

Also regarding magic shots…do we just ask all photographers whether they do it or is there a way to know in advance? 2ould they take normal and special shots?