Best strategy for ROTR and other top tier rides in one day

[djironic]

M wife and I and our 10 year-old son will be staying Holiday Inn Disney Springs in two weeks (so planning for crowded, sold out parks). We'll be visiting DHS on that Wednesday.

We will be able to utilize Early Entry (yay!) but will not be able to purchase ILL for RotR (at least, that's what I am figuring since we won't be able to buy an ILL until 9a when they are all sold out - boo!).

Top priority rides are 1) RotR, 2) ToT and 3) RnRC, with SDD and MMRR after those. Of course, we will want to ride everything but those are the 'must see' rides. I think my son will probably want to ride ToT more than once if possible as we went to Disneyland in 2019 and Guardians of the Galaxy was his favorite ride. He is obsessed with ToT and I think it may be what he is looking forward to most for our entire trip but I'm most interested in RotR so that's the priority (lol).

So, what is my best game plan given those parameters? And how early should we get to the park for the 8:30am EE opening? None of us are really morning people and we'll already be two hours behind schedule (three if we factor in daylight savings) as we are coming from the western US so I'm preparing for some downright brutal mornings! I'm sure we'll definitely need to take mid-day breaks.

I've read that sometimes RotR starts running well before even the early entry time - is there anything I should know about how to take advantage of that?

EDIT: We will definitely be using Genie+, or at least trying to, lol...

TIA for suggestions!

 

[Nordic4tKnight]

Maybe utilize early entry to rope drop ToT first, then do RnRC. Save RotR for later in the evening if you can't get a ILL.

 

[djironic]

Maybe utilize early entry to rope drop ToT first, then do RnRC. Save RotR for later in the evening if you can't get a ILL.

I was definitely wondering about that. Seems like it would be easy to knock both of those out during EE given their proximity to each other. I am just worried about having to wait 3-4 hours for RotR if we don't ride it when it first becomes available (whenever that is).

 

[musicguy856]

You can get in line for ROTR right before closing and likely have a shorter wait, but you risk the ride being down (it’s one of the most unreliable rides at WDW) and not getting to ride at all.

 

[Nordic4tKnight]

I was definitely wondering about that. Seems like it would be easy to knock both of those out during EE given their proximity to each other. I am just worried about having to wait 3-4 hours for RotR if we don't ride it when it first becomes available (whenever that is).

With the maintenance work on ToT reducing capacity, the wait times are almost as bad as RotR during the day. You could always try to get a LL for ToT at 7am if you don't plan on doing SDD and rope drop RotR. The problem with HS is that with peak crowds it becomes really hard to do every single top ride there.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

If you are looking at 3/30, Early Entry is 8. And I would assume they will update the hours again on Friday for the next week, so keep checking!

If your top priorities are RoTR and ToT, I would do them first. If you can’t get the LL, I would rope drop RoTR and book my first Genie for ToT and the earliest time. And then go from there hoping that you can get a second Genie for MMRR or RnRC. I’d take an afternoon break and come back to do Toy Story Land and any second rides.

Doing it this way, at least you know you will hit your top attractions.

 

[jwolfpack]

I would grab ToT as your first G+ pick and rope drop ROTR during EE. Try to arrive early enough to be at the front of the EE crowd. If ROTR opens earlier than official EE time (which it sometimes does per reports from others), you could potentially get to RnR after that ahead of official park opening. Hopefully your G+ return time for ToT is early enough that you can grab MMRR as second G+ pick. That leaves standby for SDD only.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

I would grab ToT as your first G+ pick and rope drop ROTR during EE. Try to arrive early enough to be at the front of the EE crowd. If ROTR opens earlier than official EE time (which it sometimes does per reports from others), you could potentially get to RnR after that ahead of official park opening. Hopefully your G+ return time for ToT is early enough that you can grab MMRR as second G+ pick. That leaves standby for SDD only.

great minds think alike!

 

[djironic]

If you are looking at 3/30, Early Entry is 8. And I would assume they will update the hours again on Friday for the next week, so keep checking!

Whoa, I had no idea that park hours would just change over time! When I booked the reservations, I think most of the parks were 9a-9p with EPCOT opening at 10a and AK closing at 7p. I was a little bummed that the days were going to be shorter compared to prior weeks but figured c'est la vie.

Not sure how I feel about parks opening even earlier (I knew we were going to have trouble in the mornings - it's now gotten worse! lol) but I do appreciate that the parks will have longer hours. MK is even staying open until 11p now! That will work much better for us, lol.

You can get in line for ROTR right before closing and likely have a shorter wait, but you risk the ride being down (it’s one of the most unreliable rides at WDW) and not getting to ride at all.

I do have reservations for two days at DHS for this very reason.

The second day won't be a full day but hopefully we can cover most things in that amount of time, with multiple trips on ToT if we're lucky! I'll confess it's a fave of mine as well, mostly for the theme. I enjoyed the GotG ride at California Adventure but really missed the unique theming of ToT. There is a timelessness to it for sure...

 

[Juventus]

We stayed there last week. EE was at 8:00 so add 30 minutes to the following for your opening time:

Drove and got to dhs lot at 6:50; was turned around...took 4 minutes to loop around. This time pulled over on side of road with a couple other cars. Right at 7:00 (so 1 hour before EE (as posted here)) a sheriff started heading our way with cherries on so we pulled ahead and the lot was open.

It felt like the sheriff was just letting us know the lot was open.

Head to far right tapstiles (usually a bit shorter) and was within first 1-200 in line for rotr. Did mfsr as well with no wait.

I would do this and if rotr is not running u can wait it out. Get ToT LL.

I also got in standby at 5:00 last night. Posted 125min, was at first part of ride in 71 minutes (I timed it for TP). Lined got a bit higher after that then declined.

Unfortunately the ride was in B mode, and the big canons were not moving. But still an awesome experience.

 

[Juventus]

Oops..looks like your EE may be at 8:00 too...

 

[HydroGuy]

Unfortunately the ride was in B mode, and the big canons were not moving. But still an awesome experience.

This is a bummer and I have heard that has been happening lately. But thanks for the detailed report.

Anyone see the full show on the cannons in recent weeks?

 

[SleeplessInTO]

You could see if there’s anyone looking to add 3 people to a VIP tour for HS on your day. Might be a long shot but a VIP tour is the best way to do everything you want with minimum stress and maximum cost. But if you split the cost with 7 other people maybe it’s doable?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

The last time I checked, which was a few weeks ago, Rise of the the Resistance had a posted wait time of 55 minutes about a half hour before closing time. The actual reported wait was 20 minutes.

That’s not too bad.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I just checked yesterday’s stats for Rise. In the evening, the reported actual wait time dropped as low as 35 minutes. The posted wait at that time was 95. It had been up to 180 earlier in the day.

 

[djironic]

Just signed up for Touring Plans line app to help establish actual wait times while I'm in the park. Is that where you are getting the actual wait times?

If TP is accurate it would seem to provide a huge benefit to those of us trying to maximize our time in the parks. I can see missing out on rides if I only made decisions based on posted wait times.

 

[HydroGuy]

Just signed up for Touring Plans line app to help establish actual wait times while I'm in the park. Is that where you are getting the actual wait times?

If TP is accurate it would seem to provide a huge benefit to those of us trying to maximize our time in the parks. I can see missing out on rides if I only made decisions based on posted wait times.

Everything is in a state of flux now so I am not looking for perfect info just better info. It seems TP offers that. I just signed up for it so I can get more realistic wait times.

When the PP mentioned the 35 minute reported wait time on ROTR I looked at yesterday and saw that on TP. So I do believe that is where they got it. Understand that just because someone reported it (a single person) does mean it was true. However, there were several other reports in the evening by others that were also far less than Disney was showing. Not 35 minutes but 50 or so.

 

[ScarletFire]

I don't suggest rope dropping Rise. It's sometimes down in the morning and then you've wasted time in line. Rope drop Sunset Blvd. Get Slinky as your first LL. Enter the line for Rise near closing time.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Everything is in a state of flux now so I am not looking for perfect info just better info. It seems TP offers that. I just signed up for it so I can get more realistic wait times.

When the PP mentioned the 35 minute reported wait time on ROTR I looked at yesterday and saw that on TP. So I do believe that is where they got it. Understand that just because someone reported it (a single person) does mean it was true. However, there were several other reports in the evening by others that were also far less than Disney was showing. Not 35 minutes but 50 or so.

Touring Plans is a very good resource, but nothing is better than just knowing how Disney operates in the evenings with Line Stacking techniques, intentionally inflated wait times, etc.

I always find myself challenged when it comes to reporting actual waits. Let’s say you find a 15 minute wait on 7D about a half hour before closing time. The sign out front says 90. Do you report the 15 on your app or just hurry and get back in line again?

 

[HydroGuy]

Touring Plans is a very good resource, but nothing is better than just knowing how Disney operates in the evenings with Line Stacking techniques, intentionally inflated wait times, etc.

I always find myself challenged when it comes to reporting actual waits. Let’s say you find a 15 minute wait on 7D about a half hour before closing time. The sign out front says 90. Do you report the 15 on your app or just hurry and get back in line again?

B most times.

But TP does not rely solely or even mostly on guest reports.