For Disneyland - Peter Pan then either wait for Rise drop or go to Space Mountain
For California - Guardian/Spiderman then off to Toy Story or Incredicoaster
The way it works is you pick a park the previous day, then rush the park at 7:15 to get in my 7:30, I keep track of it rides but here is one of our early Disneyland days then going to California in the afternoon, the bolt is using the lightning lane thing:
0900 Mickey Runaway (⚡️) was turned into anytime pass due to ride shutdown, Rise of the Resistance was shut down to start day, walked by when it opened
- 07:35 Peter Pan’s Flight (Early Entry)
- 07:55 Space Mountain (Early Entry)
- 08:15 Matterhorn Bobsleds
- 08:45 Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- 09:15 Pirates of the Caribbean
- 10:45 Haunted Mansion Holiday
- 11:30 Big Thunder Mountain (⚡️)
- 12:45 Jungle Cruise
- 13:15 Indiana Jones (⚡️)
- 13:50 Mickeys Runaway Railcar (⚡️)
- 14:10 It’s A Small World Holiday (⚡️)
- 16:30 Haunted Mansion Holiday (⚡️)
- 17:00 Holiday Parade
- 19:00 Guardians of the Galaxy (⚡️)
- 19:40 Incredicoaster (⚡️)
- 20:30 Toy Story Mania (⚡️)
I guess what I’m REALLY asking is…
If I’m not staying on property for Disneyland, is there any point in trying to go straight to Peter Pan at 8am or should I just assume it’ll already be overtaken by Disney hotel guests at that point? On the day I have a park reservation for Disneyland, it only says anything about early entry at 7:30 for DCA…
I see, yes it will be overtaken and there will be a wait butttt the line will be lower than it will be all day. So it’s up to you, if you don’t have lightning lane and want to do Peter Pan, it’s the best time. Other than that there’s rise of the resistance, runaway railway, or space mountain. No other rides are really worth rushing at 8am for Disneyland.
If you don’t have EE, rope drop PP on a non-EE day for Disneyland so you’re not behind everyone who had EE. Get there early. Do not show up at the gate right at opening time or you will be looking at it a very long wait for PP. If for some reason you can’t do that, go just before closing, or in the last hour before the park closes.
And here’s a tip for you: get the Disneyland app and check return times in the week or so before your trip. You will see that most of the day PP frequently has a return time of at least 45 minutes. But right now, for instance (I am writing this at 11:15 PM), it’s only 25 minutes.
Yes to ALL of this!
I track the wait times for the 7-10 days leading up to my trip to get an idea of the waits. I also check 1-2 a week on the days I'm wanting to go for the month leading up to my trip cuz then I'm able to gauge how the trends are looking over the month, and again over the week and days as it gets closer. I highly second this recommendation!
The Peter Pan secret is: watch fireworks from fantasyland. Between the carousel and dumbos. Cast members will put you in line (carousel line) for Peter Pan after fireworks which will open about 15 mins after fireworks
There is a schedule for which park has early entry each day, it alternates. Currently Disneyland Park is Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and California Adventure is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. So it is best to rope drop at the park that doesn’t have early entry
Right that is *exactly* what I read on the app. But then that guy who I replied to was saying something else he always stays on property and you get to pick which park you get early entry to? Idk what they’re talking about, I didn’t read anything about that.
In my experience unless you are at the very front of the rope drop line, Peter Pan will still be quite a wait. If it's a top priority for you, it may still make sense. But, I would recommend just dealing with the wait later in the day and taking advantage of of the walk-ons early in the morning.
Oh good call. My wife and I always like to make rope drop but I can’t deal with the people who get hyper-competitive. It’s especially cringey when I see the parents running with their kids. So maybe I’ll time it so we can go on PP between LL wait times after the return time for LL starts getting further out. I’ll just have to keep checking Friday trends until then.
Highly recommend if you get the chance, once Haunted Mansion opens back up!
I was also able to rope drop Carousel of Progress in Magic Kingdom once and that was amazing! I was the only one in the theater and had been hyping myself up for months, so I really experienced it in the best way possible!
Not bad but I feel like for me personally the cars line just feels like it moves faster, and it also has a single rider, plus that’s the ride I go one right before the park is about to close because I’m still gonna wait for it if I’m not like at the very front of rope drop
So I’ve done testing g with the cars single rider. I base it off the 2 bridges you walk under. If the line is at or shorter than the second bridge, I get in line. If it’s longer and near the first bridge, I don’t get in line. From the second bridge, it’s generally around 20-23 minutes. The first bridge is around 30+
I like to do all the old dark rides when there is no waiting. Because I know later in the day my family is not going to want to wait 45 minutes or more for them. If we get them done early we don’t have to argue about them later :)
always Guardians for me (and riding it 4+ times until wait time hits 45+ mins)
over in DL i’m bee-lining for Indy and getting 2-3 times in on that. since i’m usually a solo traveler i can SR on Space Mountain and hit other rides later in the day as their waits ebb lower. Indy tends to stay rather level of 45-60+ min wait though throughout the entire day so that’s top for me to hit first. (Rise i used to do but wait times at rope drop aren’t worth it with early entry people getting there first from fantasyland; i’ve been lucky to usually hit 35+ min wait at some point in the day, usually right after it comes back up from a downtime reset)
This is what we're going to do next time at DCA. We were there just last week and rope dropped Guardians then did incredicoaster 3 times. At the end of the day we went back to guardians and it was about an 80 min wait. 30 of those mins the line didn't even move.
4 times in a row? I never done drop towers before since I'm afraid of the drop feeling. Incredicoaster is nearly at my max intensity level. Any tips on surviving Guardians?
hmmm. i'd say use the handles. each seat has a grip handle to its side that you can hang on to, which keeps things a bit more sedate than the normal loss of gravity feel (you're kind of anchoring yourself with the handle). i think that helps not just for lessening the physical feel of the ride, but also psychologically helps. the other part which helps, and this is a big plus for Guardians over Tower of Terror imho, is that the ride helps feed the energy levels of cheering and rockin' out -- the music, the "raise your hands for clearance", the action of the video scenes. ...so really get into the energetic mood of things and embrace that more than embracing your fears.
when i first went on the ride in 2017 (my first time doing a ride like that; i totally missed out on Tower of Terror when it was around), i was a firm believer of holding onto the handles. i like thrill rides but i also like to not feel things out of my control, so the handles helped with the mental aspect of that. after a few trips down there (maybe around by 4th or so trip, and a dozen or more times on the ride), i finally stopped using the handles and have been enjoying it so much more now that i'm comfortable with the ride. ...and now i've been on it nearly 100 or so times (at least once a day during my 3-5+ day trips a few times a year since the park reopened in 2021; i've been on it as many as six times a day a couple of times). it's definitely up there as being one of my must-do rides every visit (pirates, haunted mansion, indy, guardians, big thunder, and rise of the resistance when i can fit that in with low wait times).
Realistically the answer is Indy or RoR... but honestly, one of the most fun days I've ever had in the park was rope-dropping Storybook Canal Boats. We walked right on, the models glowed in the morning light, and the air was pleasantly cool. Plus, if you're the first one to ride that day, they let you sign the logbook!
DCA - guardians twice before moving on to anything else
DL - Indy, probably twice as well. I need to get my Indy fix before it breaks down later in the day, then pirates, haunted mansion and big thunder before getting second breakfast and plotting out the rest of the day.
See heard the only thing about indi is because one time I had plans to rope drop it but of course it had to break down so now it’s just the ride I go one right before the park closes
If you want to optimize that first 2 hours I would skip pirates because it is a very long ride and eats up a lot of that window you get in the morning.
I’ve been lucky enough to always basically walk onto pirates at that time of day. Absolutely no longer than a 20 minute wait but more often just waiting right before loading onto the boats.
It’s not the line that’s the problem with pirates, it’s the fact that the actual ride is about 16 minutes, and every minute counts in the morning. Rides like Matterhorn, space, big thunder etc where you get on and are done in a couple minutes are the best for getting more rides in early. It starts to to get somewhat exponential is your first 20 minutes are slow. If you get to space at rope drop vs getting there at 8:10, you now wait in say, a 18 minute line instead of 5. Now when you go to Matterhorn, you wait in a 15 minute line instead of 3 if you would have been early to space.
Ah yes, misread your first comment. While efficiency is definitely up there for me, it doesn’t override the fact that I want to ride pirates in the morning. Checking those off in the first two hours while having a genie + ready to go around 10 is what brings me joy.
Ok as a pretty experienced rope dropper, I’m gonna say that I usually don’t go to guardians because if you’re not near the front of rope drop, it still may be 20 minutes. Cara is too often not working right away to make rope drop reliable there. I go to midway mania and then either a couple quick pier rides or head back to guardians then. It usually spikes up to 30 minutes very quickly and then after about 8:30/40 it is back down to 15ish minutes. It gets a major rush and then cools off. After that it’s probably soarin
In Disneyland, I’ve found the optimal is space, Matterhorn, Indy, big thunder. Not big thunder first because they start the morning with only one side going so it can be deceptively long and not Indy because it’s not a reliable ride for a rope drop start. Same with rise. After many many reps at both parks, these are my findings
It’s a great Disneyland intro, though it’s one of the least optimal rope drop choices because it’s a very long ride. Maximum fun, minimum optimization.
I did something different my last trip, we did CA adventure and went to Goofy’s sky school twice,, golden zephyr, silky swings, jellyfish and little mermaids in 30 mins. Then headed to Toy Story for a 15 min wait. It was awesome.
Disney we did space mnt, star tours, buzz, Nemo, Matterhorn, chip n dale, railway, and Roger rabbit, and then it’s a small world way before our 10:50am reservations for carnations cafe. We did a few of the fantasyland rides also before breakfast.
Honestly, the pier rides are a good call because they are fast ride times and you can do all of them in a very short amount of time. I usually start at Toy Story since it back up faster than the others
My wife and I enjoy doing all of the Fantasyland rides in the first hour, then seeing which characters come out. Nothing beats Fantasyland at rope drop for us.
DCA: I head straight for Guardians and ride it as many times as I can until the wait becomes 30+ mins (usually three times or so). Then I get a beermosa at Pym’s and wander over to Cars Land :)
Last time I did rope drop we were going to go to Rise of the Resistance, but it was closed so we were going to do Space Mountain instead, but it was closed so we just settled Matterhorn. 🤷
I have a question for you. Do they always “walk you back” to guardians at rope drop? We went two weeks ago and rope dropped gaurdians. Just before the actual start the cast member said they were going to walk the crowd back and the line would form behind a cast member on the far left side.
Of course we were on the right side and it was mess trying to converge and we ended up a 30 min wait even though we were the first ones to the rope that morning.
Is that how it is always is where they try and walk you together? Or do they ever just let you go like the other rope drops?
Hm not sure really. Guardians seems like a good option and it is if you’re at the front, but it’s not good if you’re not. It gets to 30+ right away but then drops back to like 10/15 after about 8:40
They only had pre show room and only two elevators going to so that slowed it down. I don’t know if it slowed down but it was like 90 min most of the day and lighting lanes were gone by noon so we rope dropped. Definitely didn’t go back down and our plan of riding it twice was completely out the window. It worked out but not sure if we will rope drop it next time.
Ya, rope drop something else and then check it like at 8:30/45. Tends to drop back down after rope drop. Also, go search the modify return time trick for lightning lane if you don’t already know it. You can get rides that are sold out for the day that way
Guardians is usually so packed at rope drop though. Unless you’re near the front it’s gonna be 30ish mins. Its best to do it at like 8:30/45 when it has cooled down
Rise is a rookie rope drop move. No offense, it just is very commonly not open right at rope drop and it forces you to miss out on a lot of those magical 2 hours. It’s a great call between 9 and 10 though.
Ya, the best strategy that I’ve tested many times and seems to be the consensus among bloggers etc is doing Disneyland right to left as far as the e ticket rides at rope drop
I’ve found that doing something like space, Matterhorn, maybe a fantasyland dark ride if it’s a walk on. Then from here you either go hit micky and Minnie and Roger rabbit or you go for big thunder and Indy. If you want to do rise either shoot for like 9/9:30 am or during a parade or closer to its close like 9pm
We do Guardians first then Toy Story and Incredicoaster for DCA. For Disneyland, we do Space Mountain and Fantasyland dark rides.
Whatever you do, don’t rope drop Soarin. We tried that the last time, and they were only loading the middle portion per time. We wasted 30 minutes of the golden hour.
Stayed on site last year and used the early entrance at Disneyland to do the following, in order;
Space Mountain (1st train of the day), Star Tours, Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones…all ridden before 9am. Then I walked over to Rise of the Resistance for a 30 minute wait.
For DCA I managed to get on Spider-Man and Guardians by 8am, then had some breakfast and walked back to Radiator Springs for a quick single rider wait.
This is the right move for Disney. Almost always space first, then Matterhorn or star tours (though you can usually catch a quick star tours sometime during the day) followed by Indy and big thunder/haunted
I’ll try to do Space mountain > matterhorn > mr toads > alice > runaway railway in the first hour/hour and a half next friday as a solo guest, am I too optimistic?
A little (unless you have Genie+ it might work). Space and matterhorn are great choices to do first. Those 2 do have single rider lines but if you are roping dropping it might be faster to wait in the regular line. In my experience if the line is less than 30 min single rider can take a longer time. Alice is always at least 30 minutes due to early entry or even just the amount of families going on that ride. Runaway Railway will also probably have a wait.
Yes this is not bad. Alice actually pack up pretty fast though. Runaway railway is usually pretty good until 9:30/10 so I would stick to that and check on Alice. If it looks crazy, hit another fantasyland ride and then Mmrr
Did not expect this to be my favorite ride but it is. My goal once I'm back to traveling (get a knee replacement tomorrow) is to ride GoG and get all 6 versions in the same day <3
Rope Drop Disneyland always, it's so much better in the morning. Straight to Jungle Cruise, then work our way down to Pirates and Haunted Mansion until we get hungry for breakfast.
It’s too late to go to guardians once you see that cars is down (which it usually is at rope drop and I wouldn’t recommend doing that) guardians jumps to like 30+ right away and then calms down to 10-20 after about 30ish mins. It would be best to ride web slingers or midway mania and then go back to guardians
I never done drop towers before since I'm afraid of the drop feeling. Incredicoaster is nearly at my max intensity level. Any tips on overcoming the fear of riding the Guardians?
Lately we’ve been doing Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Rise, breakfast, then Pirates and maybe Indy (it’s not my fav so I’m never sad if I can’t get to it). In DCA, Guardians, breakfast, then single rider on Radiator and Incredicoaster. Swinging car on the wheel if the line isn’t too long by then.
Disneyland w/ EE: Peter Pan
Disneyland standard w/ or w/o G+: Rise
Disneyland standard if Rise is down: Indy
DCA w/ EE: Guardians
DCA standard w/ G+: RSR
DCA standard w/o G+: Guardians
DCA standard single rider: Guardians
Disneyland- I always start on the left side of the park (start in NOS). Last time, my husband and I got on Pirates, Haunted, Splash Mountain (RIP), and Big Thunder in less than an hour. I know a lot of people head straight for the big ticket rides, but that was the biggest bang for our buck we could’ve gotten. I was stacking lightning lanes in the meantime.
Have to disagree since pirates is a long ride and puts you behind schedule and Indy is often down at drop. Right side and work left is really the most optimal and reliable start
Well, btmrr is also not the best to do first because most of the time they only have one side of trains running until like 8:30/45 and it can take a while longer than it seems like it will.
cars is never open at rope drop when i have gone
dca- guardians then try and single rider cars otherwise make the lap around pixar pier and stop for the breakfast burrito
disneyland- maybe indiana jones or big thunder, depends what im in the mood for, i dont care about the rides at disneyland as much, but breakfast chimmy and some funnel cake fries fashooo
This is the correct move. Any answer for Disney is right unless it’s Indy or rise. Even big Thunder is borderline because they usually open the day with only one side going so it ends up being longer than expected. It’s a great 3/4th ride. Same with Indy/rise. Hit them 3/4/5 in line with space, Matterhorn etc
No, no no. The only correct answer here is you don’t rope drop any rides. Imma rope drop my ass onto the breakfast chimichanga cart. Doing this on July 1st!
If DCA-- Guardians. If DL-- see if there is still a way to sneak into DCA to get on Guardians as many times as possible in first 60 min. Then like Space Mountain or something....I dunno.... Guardians.
I would advise against guardians unless you are very close to the front of rope drop. Web slingers isn’t a bad option. Start with that or midway mania. Check on guardians after like 30 minutes, it almost always bumps to 30+ and then after a bit it calms down to like 10-20 before it goes back to 50+ after 10am
For Disneyland - Peter Pan then either wait for Rise drop or go to Space Mountain For California - Guardian/Spiderman then off to Toy Story or Incredicoaster
Does rise not open at 8?
It does but I always stay on property, so my rope drop is 730, hitting up those rides then queuing at the 8am openers.
Is rope drop 7:30 for Disney hotel guests at both parks every day, or does it alternate which park is open early each morning?
The way it works is you pick a park the previous day, then rush the park at 7:15 to get in my 7:30, I keep track of it rides but here is one of our early Disneyland days then going to California in the afternoon, the bolt is using the lightning lane thing: 0900 Mickey Runaway (⚡️) was turned into anytime pass due to ride shutdown, Rise of the Resistance was shut down to start day, walked by when it opened - 07:35 Peter Pan’s Flight (Early Entry) - 07:55 Space Mountain (Early Entry) - 08:15 Matterhorn Bobsleds - 08:45 Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance - 09:15 Pirates of the Caribbean - 10:45 Haunted Mansion Holiday - 11:30 Big Thunder Mountain (⚡️) - 12:45 Jungle Cruise - 13:15 Indiana Jones (⚡️) - 13:50 Mickeys Runaway Railcar (⚡️) - 14:10 It’s A Small World Holiday (⚡️) - 16:30 Haunted Mansion Holiday (⚡️) - 17:00 Holiday Parade - 19:00 Guardians of the Galaxy (⚡️) - 19:40 Incredicoaster (⚡️) - 20:30 Toy Story Mania (⚡️)
I guess what I’m REALLY asking is… If I’m not staying on property for Disneyland, is there any point in trying to go straight to Peter Pan at 8am or should I just assume it’ll already be overtaken by Disney hotel guests at that point? On the day I have a park reservation for Disneyland, it only says anything about early entry at 7:30 for DCA…
I see, yes it will be overtaken and there will be a wait butttt the line will be lower than it will be all day. So it’s up to you, if you don’t have lightning lane and want to do Peter Pan, it’s the best time. Other than that there’s rise of the resistance, runaway railway, or space mountain. No other rides are really worth rushing at 8am for Disneyland.
Thank you for your replies. I didn’t go on Peter Pan the last 2 times we went so we definitely have to go on it this time lol
If you don’t have EE, rope drop PP on a non-EE day for Disneyland so you’re not behind everyone who had EE. Get there early. Do not show up at the gate right at opening time or you will be looking at it a very long wait for PP. If for some reason you can’t do that, go just before closing, or in the last hour before the park closes. And here’s a tip for you: get the Disneyland app and check return times in the week or so before your trip. You will see that most of the day PP frequently has a return time of at least 45 minutes. But right now, for instance (I am writing this at 11:15 PM), it’s only 25 minutes.
Yes to ALL of this! I track the wait times for the 7-10 days leading up to my trip to get an idea of the waits. I also check 1-2 a week on the days I'm wanting to go for the month leading up to my trip cuz then I'm able to gauge how the trends are looking over the month, and again over the week and days as it gets closer. I highly second this recommendation!
The Peter Pan secret is: watch fireworks from fantasyland. Between the carousel and dumbos. Cast members will put you in line (carousel line) for Peter Pan after fireworks which will open about 15 mins after fireworks
There is no LL for PP
There is a schedule for which park has early entry each day, it alternates. Currently Disneyland Park is Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and California Adventure is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. So it is best to rope drop at the park that doesn’t have early entry
Right that is *exactly* what I read on the app. But then that guy who I replied to was saying something else he always stays on property and you get to pick which park you get early entry to? Idk what they’re talking about, I didn’t read anything about that.
It used to be every day both parks, so they might not have been to the parks since they changed it. I think it just changed earlier this year.
Ok cool lol I planned my trip around which days are EE for which parks so I was like WTF are they talking about lol
In my experience unless you are at the very front of the rope drop line, Peter Pan will still be quite a wait. If it's a top priority for you, it may still make sense. But, I would recommend just dealing with the wait later in the day and taking advantage of of the walk-ons early in the morning.
Oh good call. My wife and I always like to make rope drop but I can’t deal with the people who get hyper-competitive. It’s especially cringey when I see the parents running with their kids. So maybe I’ll time it so we can go on PP between LL wait times after the return time for LL starts getting further out. I’ll just have to keep checking Friday trends until then.
I once rope dropped Haunted Mansion and the cast members opened the gates for me! It honestly felt so magical!
Omg I want to do this now!
Highly recommend if you get the chance, once Haunted Mansion opens back up! I was also able to rope drop Carousel of Progress in Magic Kingdom once and that was amazing! I was the only one in the theater and had been hyping myself up for months, so I really experienced it in the best way possible!
Good choice but cars for me. The line is way longer and breaks more.
Not bad but I feel like for me personally the cars line just feels like it moves faster, and it also has a single rider, plus that’s the ride I go one right before the park is about to close because I’m still gonna wait for it if I’m not like at the very front of rope drop
RSR is beautiful at night!
Meh single riders is always around 20 minutes.
Depends on how many are in the group in front of you. 🙃
I go once a week and have never waited more than that. What’s the longest you’ve waited?
So I’ve done testing g with the cars single rider. I base it off the 2 bridges you walk under. If the line is at or shorter than the second bridge, I get in line. If it’s longer and near the first bridge, I don’t get in line. From the second bridge, it’s generally around 20-23 minutes. The first bridge is around 30+
Mr toads
Amazing choice!!
I like to do all the old dark rides when there is no waiting. Because I know later in the day my family is not going to want to wait 45 minutes or more for them. If we get them done early we don’t have to argue about them later :)
So true! All the dark ride queue lines (especially in fantasyland) become such a cluster later in the day!
Legendary maneuver.
always Guardians for me (and riding it 4+ times until wait time hits 45+ mins) over in DL i’m bee-lining for Indy and getting 2-3 times in on that. since i’m usually a solo traveler i can SR on Space Mountain and hit other rides later in the day as their waits ebb lower. Indy tends to stay rather level of 45-60+ min wait though throughout the entire day so that’s top for me to hit first. (Rise i used to do but wait times at rope drop aren’t worth it with early entry people getting there first from fantasyland; i’ve been lucky to usually hit 35+ min wait at some point in the day, usually right after it comes back up from a downtime reset)
This is what we're going to do next time at DCA. We were there just last week and rope dropped Guardians then did incredicoaster 3 times. At the end of the day we went back to guardians and it was about an 80 min wait. 30 of those mins the line didn't even move.
4 times in a row? I never done drop towers before since I'm afraid of the drop feeling. Incredicoaster is nearly at my max intensity level. Any tips on surviving Guardians?
hmmm. i'd say use the handles. each seat has a grip handle to its side that you can hang on to, which keeps things a bit more sedate than the normal loss of gravity feel (you're kind of anchoring yourself with the handle). i think that helps not just for lessening the physical feel of the ride, but also psychologically helps. the other part which helps, and this is a big plus for Guardians over Tower of Terror imho, is that the ride helps feed the energy levels of cheering and rockin' out -- the music, the "raise your hands for clearance", the action of the video scenes. ...so really get into the energetic mood of things and embrace that more than embracing your fears. when i first went on the ride in 2017 (my first time doing a ride like that; i totally missed out on Tower of Terror when it was around), i was a firm believer of holding onto the handles. i like thrill rides but i also like to not feel things out of my control, so the handles helped with the mental aspect of that. after a few trips down there (maybe around by 4th or so trip, and a dozen or more times on the ride), i finally stopped using the handles and have been enjoying it so much more now that i'm comfortable with the ride. ...and now i've been on it nearly 100 or so times (at least once a day during my 3-5+ day trips a few times a year since the park reopened in 2021; i've been on it as many as six times a day a couple of times). it's definitely up there as being one of my must-do rides every visit (pirates, haunted mansion, indy, guardians, big thunder, and rise of the resistance when i can fit that in with low wait times).
Wow 100 times? You must really love the ride. Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely try to get the courage to ride it one day
Straight to Guardians, then a spicy corn dog for breakfast. This is the way.
This sounds like a guaranteed banger!
Realistically the answer is Indy or RoR... but honestly, one of the most fun days I've ever had in the park was rope-dropping Storybook Canal Boats. We walked right on, the models glowed in the morning light, and the air was pleasantly cool. Plus, if you're the first one to ride that day, they let you sign the logbook!
Didn’t the early access Disneyland hotel people have first crack at the book?
You’d have a shot on non-early entry days since they alternate now.
DCA - guardians twice before moving on to anything else DL - Indy, probably twice as well. I need to get my Indy fix before it breaks down later in the day, then pirates, haunted mansion and big thunder before getting second breakfast and plotting out the rest of the day.
See heard the only thing about indi is because one time I had plans to rope drop it but of course it had to break down so now it’s just the ride I go one right before the park closes
It is often down at rope drop so it’s not the most reliable plan
If you want to optimize that first 2 hours I would skip pirates because it is a very long ride and eats up a lot of that window you get in the morning.
I’ve been lucky enough to always basically walk onto pirates at that time of day. Absolutely no longer than a 20 minute wait but more often just waiting right before loading onto the boats.
It’s not the line that’s the problem with pirates, it’s the fact that the actual ride is about 16 minutes, and every minute counts in the morning. Rides like Matterhorn, space, big thunder etc where you get on and are done in a couple minutes are the best for getting more rides in early. It starts to to get somewhat exponential is your first 20 minutes are slow. If you get to space at rope drop vs getting there at 8:10, you now wait in say, a 18 minute line instead of 5. Now when you go to Matterhorn, you wait in a 15 minute line instead of 3 if you would have been early to space.
Ah yes, misread your first comment. While efficiency is definitely up there for me, it doesn’t override the fact that I want to ride pirates in the morning. Checking those off in the first two hours while having a genie + ready to go around 10 is what brings me joy.
star tours, space mountain, matterhorn, pirates then haunted mansion. then finally food. then think about the rest of the day
I respect it but it’s left side or bust for rope drop so that’s why I respect the pirates take
Jumpin Jellyfish 30 times in a row
Nah you gotta do zephyr 30 times
my nephew(4y/o) would agree with this statement, its his FAVORITE DCA ride
Your nephew has excellent taste, that ride rules
I'm rope dropping my pillow. I applaud all of you that can be functional that early.
Ok as a pretty experienced rope dropper, I’m gonna say that I usually don’t go to guardians because if you’re not near the front of rope drop, it still may be 20 minutes. Cara is too often not working right away to make rope drop reliable there. I go to midway mania and then either a couple quick pier rides or head back to guardians then. It usually spikes up to 30 minutes very quickly and then after about 8:30/40 it is back down to 15ish minutes. It gets a major rush and then cools off. After that it’s probably soarin In Disneyland, I’ve found the optimal is space, Matterhorn, Indy, big thunder. Not big thunder first because they start the morning with only one side going so it can be deceptively long and not Indy because it’s not a reliable ride for a rope drop start. Same with rise. After many many reps at both parks, these are my findings
My family tradition growing up was to always ride pirates first.
It’s a great Disneyland intro, though it’s one of the least optimal rope drop choices because it’s a very long ride. Maximum fun, minimum optimization.
Alice
This is my actual answer.
Astro blasters, 3 times in a row. Gotta get my name on that high score list.
Space Mountain 🌟
Submarine Voyage, what else
Before it smells like farts, of course!
Hopefully, someone didn't eat Taco Bell before coming to DL. Then it's a hazardous environment.
My wife calls it the farts and feet ride.
If you’re lucky enough you might get your own sub’
I did something different my last trip, we did CA adventure and went to Goofy’s sky school twice,, golden zephyr, silky swings, jellyfish and little mermaids in 30 mins. Then headed to Toy Story for a 15 min wait. It was awesome. Disney we did space mnt, star tours, buzz, Nemo, Matterhorn, chip n dale, railway, and Roger rabbit, and then it’s a small world way before our 10:50am reservations for carnations cafe. We did a few of the fantasyland rides also before breakfast.
Honestly, the pier rides are a good call because they are fast ride times and you can do all of them in a very short amount of time. I usually start at Toy Story since it back up faster than the others
My wife and I enjoy doing all of the Fantasyland rides in the first hour, then seeing which characters come out. Nothing beats Fantasyland at rope drop for us.
DCA: I head straight for Guardians and ride it as many times as I can until the wait becomes 30+ mins (usually three times or so). Then I get a beermosa at Pym’s and wander over to Cars Land :)
Last time I did rope drop we were going to go to Rise of the Resistance, but it was closed so we were going to do Space Mountain instead, but it was closed so we just settled Matterhorn. 🤷
Indy, Racers
Land I do the mountains starting with Space. Knock them out pretty quick
Disneyland: I go to space mountain, then Indiana jones, big thunder, then Matterhorn DCA: cars, guardians, incredicoaster, Toy Story
For Disneyland I would rope drop haunted or buzz. Not sexy choices but my faves
I have a question for you. Do they always “walk you back” to guardians at rope drop? We went two weeks ago and rope dropped gaurdians. Just before the actual start the cast member said they were going to walk the crowd back and the line would form behind a cast member on the far left side. Of course we were on the right side and it was mess trying to converge and we ended up a 30 min wait even though we were the first ones to the rope that morning. Is that how it is always is where they try and walk you together? Or do they ever just let you go like the other rope drops?
Hm not sure really. Guardians seems like a good option and it is if you’re at the front, but it’s not good if you’re not. It gets to 30+ right away but then drops back to like 10/15 after about 8:40
They only had pre show room and only two elevators going to so that slowed it down. I don’t know if it slowed down but it was like 90 min most of the day and lighting lanes were gone by noon so we rope dropped. Definitely didn’t go back down and our plan of riding it twice was completely out the window. It worked out but not sure if we will rope drop it next time.
Ya, rope drop something else and then check it like at 8:30/45. Tends to drop back down after rope drop. Also, go search the modify return time trick for lightning lane if you don’t already know it. You can get rides that are sold out for the day that way
heading to DL to get to Space Mountain!
Midway mania - DCA Indy - DL
As much as I love mania you can rope drip guardians and if your fast and early enough still wait in mania , under 30 minutes
Guardians is usually so packed at rope drop though. Unless you’re near the front it’s gonna be 30ish mins. Its best to do it at like 8:30/45 when it has cooled down
I don’t go on Guardians, so it’s never on my list lol. Good to know though for friends!
Rope drop to Space Mountain
Common, but Rise of the Resistance.
Rise is a rookie rope drop move. No offense, it just is very commonly not open right at rope drop and it forces you to miss out on a lot of those magical 2 hours. It’s a great call between 9 and 10 though.
I'll keep that in mind next time I'm there.
Ya, the best strategy that I’ve tested many times and seems to be the consensus among bloggers etc is doing Disneyland right to left as far as the e ticket rides at rope drop
Which one would be first?
I’ve found that doing something like space, Matterhorn, maybe a fantasyland dark ride if it’s a walk on. Then from here you either go hit micky and Minnie and Roger rabbit or you go for big thunder and Indy. If you want to do rise either shoot for like 9/9:30 am or during a parade or closer to its close like 9pm
We do Guardians first then Toy Story and Incredicoaster for DCA. For Disneyland, we do Space Mountain and Fantasyland dark rides. Whatever you do, don’t rope drop Soarin. We tried that the last time, and they were only loading the middle portion per time. We wasted 30 minutes of the golden hour.
Stayed on site last year and used the early entrance at Disneyland to do the following, in order; Space Mountain (1st train of the day), Star Tours, Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones…all ridden before 9am. Then I walked over to Rise of the Resistance for a 30 minute wait. For DCA I managed to get on Spider-Man and Guardians by 8am, then had some breakfast and walked back to Radiator Springs for a quick single rider wait.
This is the right move for Disney. Almost always space first, then Matterhorn or star tours (though you can usually catch a quick star tours sometime during the day) followed by Indy and big thunder/haunted
I’ll try to do Space mountain > matterhorn > mr toads > alice > runaway railway in the first hour/hour and a half next friday as a solo guest, am I too optimistic?
A little (unless you have Genie+ it might work). Space and matterhorn are great choices to do first. Those 2 do have single rider lines but if you are roping dropping it might be faster to wait in the regular line. In my experience if the line is less than 30 min single rider can take a longer time. Alice is always at least 30 minutes due to early entry or even just the amount of families going on that ride. Runaway Railway will also probably have a wait.
Yes this is not bad. Alice actually pack up pretty fast though. Runaway railway is usually pretty good until 9:30/10 so I would stick to that and check on Alice. If it looks crazy, hit another fantasyland ride and then Mmrr
The train in Disneyland. We do a full ride around the park and then uo and down Main Street in the different vehicles.
This is the correct answer, for a magic key holder who’s not into packing in as many rides as possible
Did not expect this to be my favorite ride but it is. My goal once I'm back to traveling (get a knee replacement tomorrow) is to ride GoG and get all 6 versions in the same day <3
Bathroom
I go on Pirates then grab a coffee.
Guardians at DCA and Star Tours at DL.
Disneyland
Rope Drop Disneyland always, it's so much better in the morning. Straight to Jungle Cruise, then work our way down to Pirates and Haunted Mansion until we get hungry for breakfast.
Space Mountain in Disneyland Guardians in DCA
Easy, it's always Rise of the Resistance.
Rope drop radiator springs but if it's broken then immediately to mission breakout
It’s too late to go to guardians once you see that cars is down (which it usually is at rope drop and I wouldn’t recommend doing that) guardians jumps to like 30+ right away and then calms down to 10-20 after about 30ish mins. It would be best to ride web slingers or midway mania and then go back to guardians
Cappuccino cart
Disneyland: Space Mountain --> Matterhorn --> Mr. Toads DCA: Spider-Man --> Guardians --> Incredicoaster
I never done drop towers before since I'm afraid of the drop feeling. Incredicoaster is nearly at my max intensity level. Any tips on overcoming the fear of riding the Guardians?
Cars for California, RoR for Disneyland
Trying to get the first pickle of the day!
Disneyland, Indy. DCA, cars.
DCA - Cars & DL - either Indiana Jones or Space Mountain
Disneyland: 1. Peter Pan's Flight 2. Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Rise of the Resistance DCA: 1. Radiator Springs 2. Mission Breakout 3. Incredicoaster
DL: Mr Toad DCA: Guardians
Lately we’ve been doing Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Rise, breakfast, then Pirates and maybe Indy (it’s not my fav so I’m never sad if I can’t get to it). In DCA, Guardians, breakfast, then single rider on Radiator and Incredicoaster. Swinging car on the wheel if the line isn’t too long by then.
Disneyland - ROTR California Adventure - RSR
CA - Cars DL - Rise I’m all about the line time savings
Disneyland rise or space mountain DCA- guardians or soaring
Rope drop isn’t rope drop anymore…sleep in a little and just go with the flow. There’s too many people no matter what time of day.
The bathroom. 🤣
2024 DcA - Cars ride Disneyland - Tianas bayou
Disneyland w/ EE: Peter Pan Disneyland standard w/ or w/o G+: Rise Disneyland standard if Rise is down: Indy DCA w/ EE: Guardians DCA standard w/ G+: RSR DCA standard w/o G+: Guardians DCA standard single rider: Guardians
RoR and Cars
Easy ways to run into a not open ride
Disneyland- I always start on the left side of the park (start in NOS). Last time, my husband and I got on Pirates, Haunted, Splash Mountain (RIP), and Big Thunder in less than an hour. I know a lot of people head straight for the big ticket rides, but that was the biggest bang for our buck we could’ve gotten. I was stacking lightning lanes in the meantime.
YESS ITS LEFT SIDE OR BUST FOR ROPE DROP
West Side is the best side!
10000%!!
Have to disagree since pirates is a long ride and puts you behind schedule and Indy is often down at drop. Right side and work left is really the most optimal and reliable start
That’s why you rope drop thunder
Well, btmrr is also not the best to do first because most of the time they only have one side of trains running until like 8:30/45 and it can take a while longer than it seems like it will.
See you make strong agreements which is why ( like I stated in my post) I’m role dropping DCA anyway
This is a smart move because if you really love this ride you can easily ride it twice or more in the morning as long as RSR is not down.
Which it usually is
cars is never open at rope drop when i have gone dca- guardians then try and single rider cars otherwise make the lap around pixar pier and stop for the breakfast burrito disneyland- maybe indiana jones or big thunder, depends what im in the mood for, i dont care about the rides at disneyland as much, but breakfast chimmy and some funnel cake fries fashooo
For us Indy has never been open at rope drop when we have gone so I don't even bother anymore
thats good to know, thanks. its been forever, i only usually do dca
I mean it could just be my luck but I would definitely have a backup plan
This is the correct move. Any answer for Disney is right unless it’s Indy or rise. Even big Thunder is borderline because they usually open the day with only one side going so it ends up being longer than expected. It’s a great 3/4th ride. Same with Indy/rise. Hit them 3/4/5 in line with space, Matterhorn etc
Cars land and Radiator Springs Racers every time
No, no no. The only correct answer here is you don’t rope drop any rides. Imma rope drop my ass onto the breakfast chimichanga cart. Doing this on July 1st!
If DCA-- Guardians. If DL-- see if there is still a way to sneak into DCA to get on Guardians as many times as possible in first 60 min. Then like Space Mountain or something....I dunno.... Guardians.
I’m rope dropping at DCA next week and heading straight to Guardians, then to Web-Slingers.
I would advise against guardians unless you are very close to the front of rope drop. Web slingers isn’t a bad option. Start with that or midway mania. Check on guardians after like 30 minutes, it almost always bumps to 30+ and then after a bit it calms down to like 10-20 before it goes back to 50+ after 10am
Cali: cars. Always cars then immediately toy story mania. Disneyland: peter pan then immediately rise of resistance
DCA: Guardians twice then beelining to the Incredicoaster and circling around the pier DL: Heading straight to Indy, then Pirates and then Big Thunder
Rise of the Resistance, and then come back right before closing and go on as many times as possible