It knows. 
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I love this, too! When I fly, I usually see Guardians of the Galaxy first (coming from SNA), but when I drive, it’s the Matterhorn and Space Mountain. It’s such a feeling.
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OH! Now I need to go listen. Planning our first ever DL trip for February and these are the topics I came to the forums JUST NOW to research. It’s really not like WDW, is it? 
And we know how I love a good poll…
I will answer with what I am planning to do.
I’m struggling with planning to use LLMP on days that we will sleep in. I don’t like that you have to tap in to book a LL. But I guess that can make the inventory better. Why do you personally like it better?
I have tossed the idea around to buy LLPP for 1 day and forgo LLMP for the other 2 days. My initial plan was to buy for 3 days. We don’t like to run all over the parks but I could do it for 1 day to not have to worry about scheduling everything. It would be about twice as much but I think I will gain a little planning sanity back. Maybe, lol.
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Make sure you check out the thread below! There is a section toward the end that covers the key differences between DL and WDW LL systems.
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Thanks! I did read the intro earlier. You attention to detail and your summation skills are applauded! I’ve bookmarked it to read tomorrow. It’s just the timing aspect of it. I don’t necessarily have to look at TD to see what return times are and in what order I can get LLs for WDW. I just kinda know, lol. I do like that DL has the 2 hour rule. Makes stacking in the evening a bit easier.
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Because most of the LL rides have frequent drops, so it is easy to get the popular rides without the commitment of rope drop and without even planning what you might do that day. We just follow the LLs most of the time, and hop at least once or twice to make the most use of LLs since they include both parks each day. There are so many less people buying LL at DLR compared to WDW, probably due to a lot of factors including so much of the crowd is frequent visitors/locals. It’s so freeing! I can literally get every ride I want, even if the ride says no LL available, and even if the ride is down (LLs are usually still offered unlike at WDW where they seem to stop the drops if a ride is down). You do have to be tied to your phone and know the drops, but it works great. At WDW, there is too much competition, too many people with LLs, and the system is just not great in my opinion. I don’t want to be locked into rides 7+4 days out, and then not be guaranteed to get the drops. We were there (DLR) a few weeks ago and it was very crowded, and never made it to rope drop. Sleep was more important. We could stroll in at 10 and immediately book something, then change it to our most wanted ride within a short time. Also, BG1 kept giving me errors, so I had to use the DLR app which is superior to the WDW app in my opinion. I thought this would be a disaster based on how much trouble I have had at WDW trying to pick up drops with MDE (I could always get them with BG1). But the DL app works great for this!
For rides that don’t have LL, like all of Fantasyland, we ride at night. The later the better for those lines to go down. I will rope drop (and used to go to early entry before it went away) with friends but with my family rest is more important. Since we are all night owls that works great. Also the west coast parks are open later than the east coast, so you don’t have to pay for extra hours like you do at WDW.
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The single best thing WDW could do for LL is to have more frequent drops for more attractions. If you have a decent chance of picking up a drop on the day of, it just relieves the stress so much.
The second best thing they could do would be to change the pre-booking rules so you don’t have to get up at 7am and compete for scant offerings on days earlier than 7+3, but I’m not sure there is a better way that doesn’t go back to the same aspects of Genie+ that people complained about.
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Yes that would help.
They should try DLR’s version just to see how it is received. Day of, one at a time, cannot book until you enter the park. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but they haven’t exactly found a thing that makes everyone happy yet so they might as well try. I didn’t really mind Genie plus, yes it required an early wakeup but at least you could decide the night before if you wanted it versus making that decision when you are well rested the week before at home.
I will continue to go to WDW with friends, but it is not high on my list of places to take my kids anymore. Our trip in January was more stressful and not as fun as it used to be due to constraints of LLs. It probably didn’t help that we had just left UOR with 4 days of express in all 3 parks. Having to then deal with prebooked LLs (plus Orlando exhaustion) was a pain. I thought maybe my kids had just grown out of Disney, but our DLR trip last month taught me otherwise as we had a fabulous trip.
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I wouldn’t mind going back to Genie+! Or doing Disneyland’s version. I have a feeling others would not like that based on the complaints we heard.
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I don’t think this is a fair phrasing of the question. If I actually had enough money to stay at a DLR on-site hotel I would. I “choose” to stay on Harbor because I have to.
If I was wealthy I would always stay on-site.
So, by saying I could hypothetically have a wealthy person’s budget skews the question for me.
I answered based on my actual financial experiences. 
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Fair enough!
The reason I asked this question specifically is because Len, Jim, and Chris talked about whether it’s worth foregoing staying onsite in order to upgrade to PP. I agree though that that’s not how I’m usually approaching the decision.
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For some reason, the DL app won’t show me the current cost of LLPP, but Disney Food Blog shows the price in May as at least $300, or even $400. That’s 3 to 4 times what you would pay for 3 days of LLMP.
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The good news at DLR is that, if you know what times to modify, you can avoid the need to run back and forth. You can get details on when to book or modify on LA Cava. I’m not trying to talk you out of splurging if you really want to do that, but I think you’d regret not having LLMP on at least one of your other two days. Plus, as you know, rides go down, which means you could be in Tomorrowland when Space goes down, and you’ll still have to trek back later if you have LLPP.
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In a similar vein to darkmite,
I would actually choose to stay on Harbor because it’s much more space for the money. Now with the demise of the ART service, staying any farther than HoJo to Candy Cane could start getting dicey, especially at close.
As for the “real life” that happens on Harbor, I really want to say that’s the worst I’ve ever seen, but it’s not, not by a long shot. But if you are trying to protect the naïveté of youth, I can understand not wanting to explain that to your children.
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Is it really that bad? I can tolerate some old school battering, but DW is more sensitive to it, so it sounds like she should skip while I use SR.
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I will not ride Matterhorn.
It is as bad as Space Mountain in WDW.
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I would definitely recommend you try it without her first if there is a question. It is rough.
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This is the difficult part for me. I do have to limit DH’s walking. Maybe by February we will have made mobility improvements…
This will definitely be a plus!
TP keeps putting FL at night as well (for lower waits). I might do some FL rope drop and some FL at night.
Thank you for all the intel!!! 
Hold back inventory and release periodically from initial release to day of, just do it sporadically.
The only thing I disliked about Genie plus was the 7am wakeup. The 2 hour rules wasn’t my favorite. I wish you could prebook one and then at park open get a second one before they started the tap or 2 hour rule. But it wasn’t a deal breaker, lol. I think I will enjoy stacking. It might make the midday breaks more appealing. DH likes those.
Oh, I thought I read somewhere that they anticipate next years prices to be $200 - $300. Since I’m not going during a high peak time, I figured $250- which is basically twice the price as 3 days of LLMP. I think at $300, it’s a pass though. I toyed with it. But I’m starting to feel a little better about the LL structure at DL.
Our Space Mtn days are behind us
I’m actually contemplating the Hyatt Place and utilizing the Toy Story parking lot bus. I can book on points. I’m cheap if I can be!
OH Really! I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear this. Is space at DL rough?
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I had ridden it quite a few times lately after saying I was done with it years ago due to the battering. I think they made it less battering/painful in the last few years somehow. If you ride it, the right side (closest to Alice ride) is the better (less rough) side. Make sure you ask for it, though usually that is where LLs are directed. I would say it’s worth a ride once, and see for yourself. My kids love it so much and don’t find it rough like I do at my age.
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Nope, completely different ride vehicle and it is not rough at all.
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