Had plans to go to WDW for MNSSHP tomorrow, for obvious reasons I had to cancel. Instead, I changed our arragements so we could go to Disneyland for our first ever trip. I know this must be a repetitive thread but please excuse me due to the chaos
I was only able to work 9/29 in as our Disney day, and we got park hoppers w/Genie+ starting at CA Adventure. I figured we’d start there and probably stay until they close for the Oogie Boogie Bash, then move over to Disneyland for the remainder of the night.
As such, I haven’t had ANY time to prepare for WDL and have no clue what to expect or plan against/for.
Normally I wouldn’t get Genie+ but time is of the essence and we only have this 1 day. I assume I should utilize my prior WDW FastPass+ experience in getting Genie+ reservations, but are there any other tips and best practices for use at DA/CA? We do NOT need to worry about ROTR, but would like to do the Spiderman attraction.
Since we planned it (and flights and hotel, etc.) last minute, we were stuck w/1 day basically so we kinda had to get the hoppers. Normally we’d do 1 park per day, but since DL is open until midnight that’s 6hrs there and even more at CA as our starting park, so I think we’ll do OK. I wouldn’t know though, but we’ll do what we can. Whatever we miss, we’ll just be sure to do for the trip we have planned for February 2023
I grew up at Disneyland, went to Disney World once 9 years ago, and from that perspective I would say try not to miss the Disneyland version of Pirates. The exterior of Disneyland Small World is a grand sight compared to Florida, but you’re short of time and it’s not a short ride inside. The trick with Indiana Jones will be that the LL tends to get booked out several hours ahead. Haunted Mansion is doing that right now too during the special Halloween season decor.
So I’ve heard! Along with Pirates, we definitely want to make the unique rides a priority and fill in from there as we can. Once I see how Genie works I’ll be able to figure what I can expect out of it. Since it’s a last minute thing I’ll try to not pound pavement so much to hit everything possible, and will aim to enjoy myself more.
I wish Matterhorn would be open for you rather than in refurb. But then again, it’s not quite Expedition Everest, and you already have an overload of ride options with 2 parks.
With only 1 day, here is what I would do. I am line averse, so would not wait standby for anything that has an LL, as you can book them one after the other there, unlike WDW where they go quickly. Also, this may not be how I would do the rides with multiple days, but with both parks and only 1 day you need to minimize walking back and forth around the parks.
I would rope drop Webslingers. We did that the other morning and found the line very short as all the early entry folks had moved on to other rides by then. Be at the gates to DCA by 7:15am to put yourselves in a close position for rope drop. Stay to the left when you line up outside Avengers Campus, and move quick when the rope is dropped. While waiting for rope drop, book your first LL (for me that would probably be Guardians as it goes the quickest), although you could also wait until 8am and see if any rides in DCA are down at rope drop (most likely would be Monsters, Inc or Grizzly River Run). If they are down, it will convert to an anytime which would be amazing to start your day off. Don’t use the anytime, you can use it to then get on any of the rides that work for that anytime (it will tell you on the pass), if you book an LL no matter what the time is. This may be too confusing, so if so just book for an open ride. I would book for the 8-9 hour, knowing you can use it until at least 9:15 if not later (it seems you can use them 90 minutes later than that like at WDW based on some testing we did the other day).
After Webslingers, I would ride Luigis and then Mater. Book an ILL$ for Radiator Springs OR plan on using the single rider line which is quite fast (usually). Unlike WDW, you cannot choose the time you want, you have to take next available. Barely anyone seems to buy them though, so ride time is very close to when you buy. At this point you have ridden Webslingers, Luigis, Mater, and RSR either with an ILL or single rider. Then head to Guardians if you booked an LL for that, and book the next LL after you tap in. That could be Monsters Inc as it is close by. After Monsters I would book LLs for TSMM, Incredicoaster, Goofys Sky School, Grizzly (if you want to get wet) and then Soarin. Head to the pier area and ride Incredicoaster, TSMM, and the rest of the pier rides that do not have LLs, ride Goofy’s with LL, hit Little Mermaid, then GRR and finally Soarin. Somewhere in all of this you should eat and use mobile order to save time. There are lots of great options, I like lunch at Pym’s Test Kitchen, Flo’s, the Cozy Cone. There are also several places in the wharf area. This plan will get you to all the rides in DCA by lunchtime (assuming you want to do them all). Then hop to DL at 1 or later. Have fun!
You can buy an ILL for Webslingers. It’s an awesome ride. If you are RDing DCA you probably want to go to RSR (unless you want to buy an ILL for that too).
At DL you can’t buy G+ until you tap into the park. But LL times seemed to last much longer than WDW.
One of the best things for one day would be for you to snag a LL for ride that is down and then converts to an anytime LL. It works at DL just like it does at WDW (read that thread section if you haven’t already).
Since you’re starting in DCA, I would suggest doing Fantasyland rides at the end of the night. We did that this past Sunday and walked into most rides.
Your answer was great! I meant to also tell her to save Fantasyland proper for the end of the night, so glad you mentioned it. I didn’t suggest starting at RSR, since all the early entry people will be in that line before rope drop. But that is a valid strategy as well to head there first. They could then do Webslingers single rider or buy an ILL$.
If you can pick up multiple any time passes, you can use them at rides that do not normally have a LL. You do this by booking a ride that is down and after it converts to any time, book it again.
We were just saying that it is definitely doable to get LL’s for all of the rides that have LL at both parks in one day. Very different than WDW where some rides run out.
Wow, thanks for all that step by step planning! I’ll keep that for sure and see how closely I can pull it off. So they actually let you take a LL for a ride that’s down? When/how does it convert, then… When you try to use it and are “surprised” to learn that the ride is down?
