Hi all, heading to Disney on the 9th and trying to set up my Touring Plan on this site but I’m having some trouble getting, what I feel, is the most efficient plan. For instance, I’m setting up for DHS and this will be my first time going to Batuu. Logic states that I should run to ROTR at early park entry rope drop, and then do Smuggler’s Run. But two things happen, either:
-It tells me to do those two at the end of the day, which makes no sense to me.
-It tells me to do them early but then it says ROTR will take like 2 hours to do. I’m assuming if I do early park entry, I can get on ROTR in about 10 minutes, is this accurate?
Hi & Welcome! So excited for you!! Please ask anything & often!
#1 - TP never assumes you are at the front of the RD pack. It assumes you are in the middle / end of that crowd. This means, TP assumes you’ll get to rides when the queue has started to really fill during RD. Everyone heads to SW:GE the second they let ppl through the turnstiles. TP is suggesting you don’t follow the pack and come back to these attractions later after the rush is over / later in the day when people have left.
#2 - RotR will have a 2 hour wait the minute it opens. They will start taking people who have paid LL$ for a long time before even starting the standby queue. For about every 80 people that go into the LL$ queue they only let about 10 people enter from the standby queue. (This is not hyperbole! You can watch YT where vloggers have tested it)
Waits at end of day do drop significantly. Depending on what else you have in your plan, that actually might make the most sense. Note that ROTR is frequently down at rope drop. And that TP doesn’t always do a great job of getting it that you’ll be front of pack at rope drop with a very short wait.
I’m not sure that ROTR in 10 minutes is quite accurate; it could be if you are in the very front of the pack. But certainly likely to be within 30 minutes if it’s running and if you are front of pack at rope drop.
I am also curious to see how the GS guests impact this – wondering if they will ride at start of day before anyone else, making rope drop a bad idea for us peasants. This is just a hunch and based nowhere in reality; but it will be interesting to see what happens in the next week as the ship sets sail for its first real voyages.
According to The DIS full tour video, GS guests get in during the 30 minute EE. I’m not sure how effective it will be as they have to take everyone over there in shuttles that only hold about 12 people at a time.
The first groups will get in during ETPE, but the other groups will be arriving throughout the first couple of hours. If a group isn’t ready they won’t be denied their ride.
Thank you all for the responses. I’d actually like to get your opinions here.
Like most people here, I’m a Disney nut and have been to WDW about 26 times, but due to life events, haven’t gone to the resort since 2016. Normally, I’m a TP type of guy, I’d plan my park trips to the minute to maximize the rides, but this time we are taking my 2 year old daughter (her first trip!) and on those days I’ve ceded to my wife that we’ll probably just wander around and do whatever she wants until nap time at 12:30.
HOWEVER, I have two park days (March 10th in Animal Kingdom and March 13th in DHS) where my in-laws are watching my daughter and I’m a bit out of practice off this sort of thing. If I could ask your thoughts on those two park days (when I’m not bound by toddler restrictions) and the strategies I should employ.
Starting with DHS. I’m a Star Wars geek, my goal was to hit those rides first and then maybe spend an hour or so just walking around Galaxy’s Edge. I have a reservation at Oga’s for 12:25pm and I’m sure I want to try some stuff at Docking Bay 7 or Ronto Roasters. Should I buy the IAP for ROTR? Money’s not a huge issue for me so I wouldn’t be concerned about that, but I’m wondering how I should go about this. I’ve done ToT and RnRC a thousand times, so as fun as those are, my priority is Star Wars. What would you all suggest? I know this was a rambling mess.
For AK, I’m assuming we go to FoP first and then River Journey, and then just do whatever because those are the big ones, right?
Thanks all! It’s a different ballgame planning these trips with a kid.
100% YES! You are not guaranteed to even ride if you are in the SB queue. If it breaks down and they have a long delay, they’ll only open the LL$ queue to get those paying guests on board.
Buy Genie+ for all the rides AND a LL$ for RotR. Avoid SW:GE at RD! Go ride ToT / RnR / MMRR until 11am. Afterwards, go explore SW:GE until your Oga’s time. Your LL$ for RotR should be called some time during the morning. If not, go do MF:SR or you’ll have time to go to TSL. Heading to SW:GE at RD gives no advantage as 70% of park guests are headed there at opening.
Since you have a 2 yr old with you, I’m going to suggest you pay for the LL$ here too. You don’t want to get stuck in a 2 - 3 hour queue with a toddler. (The same advice applies to Pandora as SW:GE - buy the LL$ for the big ride and wait to avoid the rush)
I’ve been avoiding all the reviews and spoilers in advance of my March 13 trip, but on my personalized itinerary I have a specific transport time to HS, which is 9:40 - 9:50 (which is great, since I still have lightsaber training at 11 pm at night). Park opens at 8:30 that day, so at least on my journey, I won’t be getting there during early ETPE.
We have a droid reservation at 10:20, so I can’t imagine we’ll get to the rides until closer to 11 am.
FWIW, the rides don’t appear to be scheduled. We have an “experience redemption” in MDE for each of the rides that says to redeem them at the location’s LL entrance.
With your early entry and willingness to be front-of-pack for RD in that time, I think it could work. I have “tricked” my TP into letting me RD a big ride by adding a “meal” of one minute nearby at the opening time (or early entry time in this case). That tricks the system into getting you to the front of the pack. You could still buy the LL$$ for ROTR and FOP if you want to ride twice.
ETA: “front of pack” means lining up for your transportation 1 hour 45 minutes BEFORE early entry time, so 6:45 for an 8:30 open.
Get ROTR ILL if you can get it for sure! Wait times at HS drop during the day, so I would even suggest showing up late in the day for GE. One of my favorite experiences was being at GE at 6 pm at night with my son last summer. The place was much quieter, we got one of those special photos where they zoom out without a wait, and just relaxed and took in the sights. You could also stack ILL reservations (check out the g+ thread for more info). If you do end up having to wait for ROTR in line, it’s much nicer to do it when the sun isn’t beating down on you too.
MFSR also has an amazing single rider line. You miss the pre-show and you are limited on what role you can have on the ship, but it’s crazy fast if you want to re-ride or just save time.
In past trips, even during covid, but we have not been since Genie and LL opened up, we have rope dropped Flight of Passage.
If official opening of the park is 8 am we would try to be walking up to the tap styles at near 7 am. We would have been approaching the resort bus stop at near 6 am.
I doubt we would buy at AK as a lot of what we do is meandering. EE has the single rider line and Dino is ok.
We don’t generally do Na’vi River. If you know the movie, do the River next. I don’t know the movie and have only been on Na’vi River once.