I'm lost trying to figure out a strategy

[Butterfly123]

So we haven't been to Disneyland since 2017. We haven't seen any Star Wars stuff, and the last I remember reading about was the craziness of trying to get on Galaxy's Edge. What is the best plan to get on the ride now? Head straight over when the park opens? We always do rope drop. Also, is this ride bumpy like a roller coaster? My Dr. has told me to avoid roller coaster/bumpy rides. I don't want to watch a ride through video and spoil the surprise!

I feel so lost, when I used to feel so confident at DL! I really don't know the best way to manage Genie+, the order we should plan rides, what time we should mobile order food, etc. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. We are going in two weeks, and I'm excited, but also feel a little overwhelmed.

 

[LKing]

There are two rides in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Rise is the ride that always has a long line (>60 min). It also goes down intermittently throughout the day. It is a Lightning Lane ride, not straight Genie Plus. Sometimes it is open at rope drop. On other days, it isn't. Another option is to go at the end of the day. Note that it closes early. I'm not sure of the exact time but it closes around 8 pm.

Rise is not a bumpy roller coaster. It has a drop towards the end but it isn't bumpy.
Millennium Falcon is a interactive, motion simulator type ride. You sit in a cabin with 5 other people. Each person has a job - 2 pilots, 2 gunners, 2 engineers.

I just checked the wait times at 6:15 on a Sunday and Rise is down. Millennium Falcon wait time is 30 min. ETA: Checked again at 7:57 pm and the wait for Rise is 55 min.

 

[mdmost]

My brother is making a special trip to take my nephew to Galaxy's Edge at the end of June. He also feels overwhelmed by it all so I told him to keep things simple. Their priorities are just Galaxy's Edge and Haunted Mansion. This is the advice I gave him:

1. Get there at rope drop so you can head straight to the area. Get to security by at least 7:15 so you can get in the gates and get your ticket scanned. After you have your ticket scanned, check the DL app to see what the LL time is for Rise. If it is after 9am then go ahead and book it.

I think the extra money to pay for the Lightning Lane is worth it. Yes, it's a lot but you're paying for peace of mind. That way you have a dedicated time you can ride Rise and if it goes down during your time, you have a dedicated pass to return and do it after the ride comes back online.

2. At Rope Drop, head straight to Millenium Falcon. You zig while everyone else zags. You go past the line for Rise and get right on MF with basically just a walk through. You want to go quickly because if the line gets to Rise and it's not open or is stalling on opening, they may then move to MF. You're ahead of the game because you can head right on and probably have your pick of the positions. There's 3: pilots, gunners, engineers. Pilot is the hardest because you have to work in tandem with your co-pilot. You move up and down, they move left and right or vice versa. Gunner, you're just mashing buttons. Engineer, you're keeping the shields going. I would advise you to ride MF twice since the first time is fairly overwhelming. There's also a great place to get the best Photopass pictures. It's under the arch by Oga's. If you get Genie+, I would only use a Genie+ selection on MF if the wait is over 30 minutes. That way you can return later. That whole area is really cool in the evening.

3. After you get off MF, see what the return time is like. If it's under 20 minutes, go right back on and pick a different position. I advised him to do gunners on the first ride and then pilots on the 2nd.

4. Depending on when you get off the 2nd ride, go get a Ronto Wrap from Ronto Roasters. It's just up the stairs from MF. Great breakfast item. You can mobile order it through the app or do walk up.

5. Go to Dok-Ondar's which is a fun store full of easter eggs.

6. Wander through the shops in the market. Get a drink from the water fountain and linger a bit to see if you spot something in the water tank.

7. After Rise, walk back over to Oga's and see how the wait list is, unless you have a reservation already. They do walk ups. There's also blue and green milk stands if you want to sample that.

8. Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers make an appearance near the First Order Shuttle. It's sporadic but you can probably check with a cast member for the next showing.

Seeing your notes at the top, I agree Rise is not a roller coaster or bumpy. There's one drop but it's nothing. MF is like Star Tours. If you can do Star Tours, you're good to go. You can always ask or volunteer to be the engineer and you can mostly watch.

With mobile ordering, I usually check the times and place my order as I'm making my way over to the restaurant. That way it's ready in a fairly quick amount of time. You'll just have to play it by ear.

 

[Butterfly123]

My brother is making a special trip to take my nephew to Galaxy's Edge at the end of June. He also feels overwhelmed by it all so I told him to keep things simple. Their priorities are just Galaxy's Edge and Haunted Mansion. This is the advice I gave him:

1. Get there at rope drop so you can head straight to the area. Get to security by at least 7:15 so you can get in the gates and get your ticket scanned. After you have your ticket scanned, check the DL app to see what the LL time is for Rise. If it is after 9am then go ahead and book it.

I think the extra money to pay for the Lightning Lane is worth it. Yes, it's a lot but you're paying for peace of mind. That way you have a dedicated time you can ride Rise and if it goes down during your time, you have a dedicated pass to return and do it after the ride comes back online.

2. At Rope Drop, head straight to Millenium Falcon. You zig while everyone else zags. You go past the line for Rise and get right on MF with basically just a walk through. You want to go quickly because if the line gets to Rise and it's not open or is stalling on opening, they may then move to MF. You're ahead of the game because you can head right on and probably have your pick of the positions. There's 3: pilots, gunners, engineers. Pilot is the hardest because you have to work in tandem with your co-pilot. You move up and down, they move left and right or vice versa. Gunner, you're just mashing buttons. Engineer, you're keeping the shields going. I would advise you to ride MF twice since the first time is fairly overwhelming. There's also a great place to get the best Photopass pictures. It's under the arch by Oga's. If you get Genie+, I would only use a Genie+ selection on MF if the wait is over 30 minutes. That way you can return later. That whole area is really cool in the evening.

3. After you get off MF, see what the return time is like. If it's under 20 minutes, go right back on and pick a different position. I advised him to do gunners on the first ride and then pilots on the 2nd.

4. Depending on when you get off the 2nd ride, go get a Ronto Wrap from Ronto Roasters. It's just up the stairs from MF. Great breakfast item. You can mobile order it through the app or do walk up.

5. Go to Dok-Ondar's which is a fun store full of easter eggs.

6. Wander through the shops in the market. Get a drink from the water fountain and linger a bit to see if you spot something in the water tank.

7. After Rise, walk back over to Oga's and see how the wait list is, unless you have a reservation already. They do walk ups. There's also blue and green milk stands if you want to sample that.

8. Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers make an appearance near the First Order Shuttle. It's sporadic but you can probably check with a cast member for the next showing.

Seeing your notes at the top, I agree Rise is not a roller coaster or bumpy. There's one drop but it's nothing. MF is like Star Tours. If you can do Star Tours, you're good to go. You can always ask or volunteer to be the engineer and you can mostly watch.

With mobile ordering, I usually check the times and place my order as I'm making my way over to the restaurant. That way it's ready is a fairly quick amount of time. You'll just have to play it by ear.

Thanks so much for all the details!!

 

[LKing]

Another pointer. There are three ways to get to Star Wars 1. Enter Frontierland and turn right just past Thunder Mountain. Continue straight into SW. 2. Enter Adventureland and continue walking straight past Splash Mountain and Hungry Bear restaurant. 3. Enter Fantasyland and turn left just past Red Rose Tavern. Personally, I feel that entering through Frontierland is the fastest.

 

[DLandgirlie]

Imo, as far as the bumpyness of the rides: millennium falcon is worse than star tours. Now, I beat the crowd by going in single rider [which I believe they still have]. It also could be that if you have poor pilots it becomes more bumpy, I've only rode once.

 

[NVDISFamily]

With a bit too much stalking on the app over the last year here is my observation.

They tend to leave the 70+ min wait time on the app for a bit longer than the reality and they don't bump it down to 40 to 50 min until well after the line has calmed down (there will be a 10 to 15 min buffer where the app will still show it's 80 min when in reality it's like 40 to 45 min). I think they do this to avoid having too many rushes of people in the park headed to Galaxy's Edge.

Based on our recent 6 day trip to the parks I put my research to the test and it worked out pretty well for us. I observed that if you wait until the app shows a significant drop in the wait time you are likely too late and you will be behind the mad rush unless you are very close to the ride (sounds like this might be the case if you are hanging out in GE for most of the day). During the first part of our trip I noticed the wait time tended to hover at two values, 45 and then 80 min (more often near 80 min). On the day we had planned to be our Star Wars focus day we were very close in GE visiting with characters and enjoying some treats. I was stalking on the app and said it seemed like it had been at 80 min for a few hours so let's head that way and check it out. When we were about 200 yards away I saw people rushing to the ride and noticed it had hit 40/45 min on the app. We got in line, waited about 50 min in total with pre-shows and such, and the ride/land broke down as soon as we were buckled in our transport (a few lands in the back of the park lost power). This was our first every attempt to ride Rise so we were bummed (kids are young and daughter if just old enough now to like this type of ride and she is slowly getting into Star Wars).

The next day was our last of 6 days for the parks so getting a ride on Rise was priority #1. Rise was a crazy wait the entire morning (about 80 min). But around 1pm or so, I told @MrsNVDISFamily that it's been at 80 min for too long and my gut feeling was that it "was time". We walked over to rise and the line was well into the caves but still listed at 80 min on the app and sign. Right as we walked in they lowered the wait to 40ish in the app and the wave of people ran over. Our second attempt was successful.

Other observation - the "go left" rule very much applies for this ride

 

[DisneylandFan22]

I would not try to rope drop Rise of the Resistance. It is down a lot at opening and a lot of people are running over. If it is the priority I would do ILL shortly after opening. Don’t wait until late in the evening because it closes early and if it goes down later in the day sometimes it doesn’t come back up. There are basically 4 parts to the ride so it is a long ride. The first 3 are walking/standing. The 4th part is a trackless ride vehicle. As others have said there is a short drop at the end but it is very immersive so many people report not having an issue with it.

You have gotten solid advice on Galaxy’s Edge. We really like the Blue Milk from the Milk Stand. You should also consider Docking Bay 7 for lunch. It is a good restaurant with good theming. One caveat for single rider on Smugglers Run, it can be faster but you are likely to be an engineer because you are added in at the end. Unless you are with a group where no one wants to be a pilot. You should try to see the land in both the day and night. It has different vibes for both.

 

[Hobbes]

Can you go through the line for both on a mobility scooter? I am going to be resorting to one for our trip for the first time. If a queue is only 15 minutes or so I can manage that with help from Michael (Caine , my walking stick... ) but if I had to be standing in a queue for 45 minutes I think i would be stuffed for the rest of the day!

 

[Pluto468]

So we haven't been to Disneyland since 2017. We haven't seen any Star Wars stuff, and the last I remember reading about was the craziness of trying to get on Galaxy's Edge. What is the best plan to get on the ride now? Head straight over when the park opens? We always do rope drop. Also, is this ride bumpy like a roller coaster? My Dr. has told me to avoid roller coaster/bumpy rides. I don't want to watch a ride through video and spoil the surprise!

I feel so lost, when I used to feel so confident at DL! I really don't know the best way to manage Genie+, the order we should plan rides, what time we should mobile order food, etc. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. We are going in two weeks, and I'm excited, but also feel a little overwhelmed.

About Rise Of The Resistance... I have a terrible back and can't go on any roller coasters. Rise was very smooth and fine for me. Luckily my physical therapist had visited the park a few weeks before I did and she gave me the green light for it . Of course, everyone's back issues are different, but that was my experience. I bought the ILL for Rise because I didn't want to stand in a long line, and it was totally worth the cost for me.

Genie+ is very easy to use. If you ever used fastpass or maxpass, think of Genie+ as fastpass on your phone. You book rides from your phone instead of walking all over the park to grab a paper fastpass ticket.

Mobile ordering is easy and convenient. It doesn't take much planning at all. An hour or so before you want to eat, look at the restaurant you want and you'll get an idea of how long the wait would be. I usually ordered 15/ 20 minutes before I wanted to eat and it was fine. I never had a long wait and sometimes it was way faster than walking up to the counter to order.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

Honestly I wouldn't bother rope dropping GE as there's no guarantee RotR would be open right away. If you don't want to pay the $20-25 for ILL, I'd recommend going there after 5pm as the standby lines tend to at or under an hour by that point. We went on a not particularly busy Sunday and was able to ride RotR twice with wait times around 30 minutes.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Galaxy's Edge has calmed down a bit since it first opened. Docking Bay 7 has some amazing drinks. There is a peach Arnold Palmer that is absolutely wonderful.

 

[Butterfly123]

About Rise Of The Resistance... I have a terrible back and can't go on any roller coasters. Rise was very smooth and fine for me. Luckily my physical therapist had visited the park a few weeks before I did and she gave me the green light for it . Of course, everyone's back issues are different, but that was my experience. I bought the ILL for Rise because I didn't want to stand in a long line, and it was totally worth the cost for me.

Genie+ is very easy to use. If you ever used fastpass or maxpass, think of Genie+ as fastpass on your phone. You book rides from your phone instead of walking all over the park to grab a paper fastpass ticket.

Mobile ordering is easy and convenient. It doesn't take much planning at all. An hour or so before you want to eat, look at the restaurant you want and you'll get an idea of how long the wait would be. I usually ordered 15/ 20 minutes before I wanted to eat and it was fine. I never had a long wait and sometimes it was way faster than walking up to the counter to order.

Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks for the info about your back and ride. When I asked my Dr about which rides to stay off of at Disneyland he just said "most of them". I get the sense that he is not at all familiar with Disneyland, so I just need to make an assessment and choose as wisely as I can. I appreciate hearing about your experience.

 

[Butterfly123]

Honestly I wouldn't bother rope dropping GE as there's no guarantee RotR would be open right away. If you don't want to pay the $20-25 for ILL, I'd recommend going there after 5pm as the standby lines tend to at or under an hour by that point. We went on a not particularly busy Sunday and was able to ride RotR twice with wait times around 30 minutes.

Thanks for this info. We are only going to be in the DL two days, and DCA one day. I think we will pay for the ILL so we don't have to worry too much about wait times. It seems that this might be the best way to go.

 

[mdmost]

Thanks for this info. We are only going to be in the DL two days, and DCA one day. I think we will pay for the ILL so we don't have to worry too much about wait times. It seems that this might be the best way to go.

I'll disagree with others and say I think if Galaxy's Edge is a priority to you, I would rope drop Millenium Falcon like I outlined earlier. If you want to take your time there in Galaxy's Edge then I would head there first. Grab the ILL for a time you're comfortable with as the times are posted. I still say after 9am is best in case it doesn't get online quickly and it gives you time to ride Millenium Falcon a couple of times + look around some before you go to Rise. It's to the far left of the land and so it's not much fun going back and forth. If you have two days at Disneyland, you can always rope drop another land on the following day like Tomorrowland or Fantasyland.

Last trip, we had 4 full days. First morning, we rope dropped Tomorrowland to do Space Mountain with minimal wait. Then we used Genie+ to ride it again later. We didn't even go near Galaxy's Edge that day since we had done it before in Orlando. We saved it for our 2nd Disneyland day. 2nd morning we went to California Adventure. 3rd day, we rope dropped Millenium Falcon as we didn't get to do Oga's in our last trip due to Covid concerns and wanted to ride Rise again. So we built our morning around that 10:45am reservation and it was great. Sure you can do other things and go to Galaxy's Edge later but if Galaxy's Edge is something you've been waiting on, I'd say do it first thing and you won't be sorry. We also got some great pictures of the area because there were less people there early in the morning. A practically empty shot of the Millenium Falcon because no one else was around which I added below. If you get Genie+, you can get the Photopass photographer to get your picture and it's included with Genie+.

Our final day we just enjoyed taking it easy and weren't rushing to rides.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

Thanks for this info. We are only going to be in the DL two days, and DCA one day. I think we will pay for the ILL so we don't have to worry too much about wait times. It seems that this might be the best way to go.

If you are going to DL for 2 days then I’d recommend trying standby for the evening of day 1 and paying for ILL on day 2 if you weren’t able to get it done for whatever reason. IMHO GE is a much more impressive expressive visual experience at night.

Also if you are worried about rough rides then Millennium Falcon might not be the most fun ride for you, especially if you have issues with motion sickness.

 

[Butterfly123]

If you are going to DL for 2 days then I’d recommend trying standby for the evening of day 1 and paying for ILL on day 2 if you weren’t able to get it done for whatever reason. IMHO GE is a much more impressive expressive visual experience at night.

Also if you are worried about rough rides then Millennium Falcon might not be the most fun ride for you, especially if you have issues with motion sickness.

Thanks for that info, I think MF is one I will have to skip.

 

[mdmost]

Thanks for that info, I think MF is one I will have to skip.

Well, then throw my entire strategy out the window. You definitely don't want to rope drop Galaxy's Edge then. Just check the app while you are there and see when the ILL for Rise is available. Agree that night time is a great time to visit but just be aware Rise closes early.

 

[Butterfly123]

Well, then throw my entire strategy out the window. You definitely don't want to rope drop Galaxy's Edge then. Just check the app while you are there and see when the ILL for Rise is available. Agree that night time is a great time to visit but just be aware Rise closes early.

I will keep your strategy in mind, because the rest of my family will want to experience the ride. I can wander through the area while they are riding, it will be fun to explore all the new!

 

[Butterfly123]

Another pointer. There are three ways to get to Star Wars 1. Enter Frontierland and turn right just past Thunder Mountain. Continue straight into SW. 2. Enter Adventureland and continue walking straight past Splash Mountain and Hungry Bear restaurant. 3. Enter Fantasyland and turn left just past Red Rose Tavern. Personally, I feel that entering through Frontierland is the fastest.

I wondered which way was best!