Indy strategy

[Zooteach1]

Background: Heading to DLR for the first time September 12-13, only have one day per park, no hopper. We live in FL and are WDW veterans.

We plan to rope drop Disneyland on the 12th and will have Genie+ but not EE. Dinosaur at DAK is one of my favorites, I love that ride system! So I know I am going to love Indy even more and will want to do it more than once. What is the best strategy to ride it more than just the one LL time? I’ve read advice not to try and rope drop Indy because of it frequently being down at park open. And I’m torn because we also really want to ride the Fantasyland rides that we don’t have at WDW and I know it is a good strategy to rope drop those. If we stick to going to Fantasyland at rope drop, is there another time the wait at Indy might be shorter so I can get that second ride without a long wait?

Second related question, if we rope drop Fantasyland and book LL for Indy to fish for a MEP, and end up getting an MEP, can I book a new LL for Indy and then use the MEP for a second ride on Indy? Is that allowed?

 

[Calidisneyfam]

I would rope drop Indy. It's open more often than not, and it's your best way to ride it twice. Fantasyland will already be crowded with people who have EE, so I would not go there are regular park opening.

 

[StageTek]

It's also frequently open at park open. I, too, suggest you rope drop Indy.

 

[DisneylandFan22]

I agree. It goes down frequently throughout the day but is open mostly at rope drop. The only 2 rides I don’t think are worth rope dropping because they are frequently down are ROtR and RSR.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

Second related question, if we rope drop Fantasyland and book LL for Indy to fish for a MEP, and end up getting an MEP, can I book a new LL for Indy and then use the MEP for a second ride on Indy? Is that allowed?

Yes, an MEP doesn’t count toward your G+ 1 ride per day quota.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I think Indy is a good option for a casual rope drop. Even if you're a couple minutes late getting into the park and miss the actual rope drop, you should be able to get on within 15 minutes. But by the end of the 1st hour, it'll shoot up to over 1/2 an hour of wait.

I also agree with not starting in Fantasyland anymore with Early Entry people there. They'll get short at night and with the exception of Peter Pan, occasionally be short mid-day when everybody is going lightning lane attractions.

 

[B3rlingirl]

No matter which ride you try to rope drop, try to have a backup plan. When I was at DL end of July the rides I tried to rope drop where often late to start…(Matterhorn, pirates, Indy, btm…) it was actually less hit and more miss than anything else… but with a solid backup plan rope dropping worked great (use the app to monitore wait times and ride closures and keep an eye on RoR… because as soon as it opens wait times will drop a little especially true for attractions surrounding ROA…)

My advice would be to try and rope drop Indy (and just do it a couple of times till the queue gets significantly longer then the ramp towards the temple entrance) and if it’s closed then continue to another attraction close by and monitor indie.

If you get genie+ I would try to book indie right away (you have to be quick as many try and book it first thing) and hope it’s not up and running to fish for a MEP for later…

Rope dropping fantasy rides doesn’t really work because the on-site guests are already there… best advise: wait for after fireworks… just Peter Pan has a long wait all day long till closure… (or just wait in line in the afternoon when wait times are high everywhere and you might not have much on your agenda anyways…)

At night Indie also gets less crowded (it was a walk on for the last hour (at 11pm) end of July)…

Just keep in mind that the wait times aren’t projected in real time and needs time to adjust…(true for both ways)

 

[Zooteach1]

Thank you everyone, this is all really excellent advice! I am definitely going to try and rope drop Indy then, and just monitor the Fantasyland rides we want to do for wait time drops later in the day. We don’t care much about Pan since we have that one at WDW. Hopefully we won’t have much of a problem finding 20 min or less wait times at some point during the evening or night for Toad, Alice, Snow White and Pinocchio.

 

[DLRExpert]

Thank you everyone, this is all really excellent advice! I am definitely going to try and rope drop Indy then, and just monitor the Fantasyland rides we want to do for wait time drops later in the day. We don’t care much about Pan since we have that one at WDW. Hopefully we won’t have much of a problem finding 20 min or less wait times at some point during the evening or night for Toad, Alice, Snow White and Pinocchio.

No need to rope drop Indy. The attraction does not get busy until after 9am-915am (looking for a 20-30 minute wait, that equals what a LL wait would be). If you are buying into Genie+ you book your LL for Indy as soon as you walk in the park, but you won't need to use it. Instead you can fish for the MEP in case it is down near opening.
If Fantasyland is important to you... Rope Drop the FL attractions in this order. Alice first, Toad, Snow White, Pinocchio.
If you arrived early enough for Rope Drop they will all be near walk-ons. Maybe a 10 minute wait or less.
You should then be done by 830am. You can then head to Indy and ride with no LL. The Standby wait for Indy should be 20-30 minutes or less.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Rope drop Indy but also book a LL with Genie+ for Indy as soon as you scan in the park. If it’s up and ride standby, cancel the Indy LL and use it later. If it’s down, you got the MEP for Indy, so you can save it and use it for a second ride on Indy after your use the LL later.

 

[Blue32]

I agree with @DLRExpert, I don't think you need to RD Indy. I would get a few of those FL rides checked off first. You can easily knock them out in 30 minutes and likely even do BTMRR before heading to Indy.

 

[BrianL]

Anecdotally, I have had bad luck rop-dropping Indy. It seemed to always start runnign late or be broken. It's a time-consuming ride no matter how you look at it, but personally I'd rather hit a couple of more reliable rides first before heading over to Indy.

 

[Babybears]

You mentioned trying to ride more than once, and if Indy is still running it's single rider line, that's an excellent way to ride multiple times. Last time I was there they were, but not sure about recently. Maybe someone whose been there recently can speak to that. We will be there starting this Saturday, so I can report back next week if no one else can confirm it.

 

[Lisa24jks]

You mentioned trying to ride more than once, and if Indy is still running it's single rider line, that's an excellent way to ride multiple times. Last time I was there they were, but not sure about recently. Maybe someone whose been there recently can speak to that. We will be there starting this Saturday, so I can report back next week if no one else can confirm it.

Indy hasn't run their single rider line in quite a while. (Like, it was off and on when the parks first re-opened, and then it stopped at one point and hasn't returned. Perhaps right after Genie+ went live? I'm fuzzy on the dates, but yeah, it's been awhile.) So, it's either standby or LL only now.

 

[RunnerMom71]

Rope drop Indy but also book a LL with Genie+ for Indy as soon as you scan in the park. If it’s up and ride standby, cancel the Indy LL and use it later. If it’s down, you got the MEP for Indy, so you can save it and use it for a second ride on Indy after your use the LL later.

*do not* cancel your LL for Indie - you MODIFY your LL to a different time. Never cancel - I modified my LL reservations all the time to balance out my day so we can go on the rides when we want when the parks are busy (or if the LL happens to be during say a meal or when we want to go to a show)

And always snag your LL as soon as you walk through the gates. Indy first, then probably Space Mtn. Those are the two that book out the fastest.

 

[Ryan120420]

If you intend to "fish" for MEP you need to know that it's very likely that the MEP you get will not be valid at Indy.

Indy is a tier 1 attraction along with Matterhorn, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Space Mountain, Mission Breakout, Web Slingers, and Toy Story Mania.

So unless you get a MEP that was an LL originally valid for any of those attractions, your MEP will not be valid at Indy.

 

[RunnerMom71]

They're absolutely good for Indy & Space et al. Says it right on the "additional info" tab - also good at DCA if you have park hoppers for everything but RSR.

 

[WonkaKid]

Rope dropping fantasy rides doesn’t really work because the on-site guests are already there…

I disagree. We RD FL regularly. Sure, the line at PP is usually too long but we jump on Dumbo and Mr. Toad (long gone from DW) with almost no line. Then perhaps Snow White and on to other attractions. We always feel that FL is a strong “Disney” start to the day .

 

[Ladyslug]

Sure, the line at PP is usually too long but we jump on Dumbo and Mr. Toad (long gone from DW) with almost no line. Then perhaps Snow White and on to other attractions. We always feel that FL is a strong “Disney” start to the day .

I agree -- if you're not trying for Peter Pan, you can get through a lot of Fantasyland rides in a relatively short period of time at rope drop (even with the EE guests already there, as they are usually waiting for PP or starting to head to other areas like RotR or Runaway Railway). We were able to get through six FL rides (Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White, Dumbo, Alice,* Teacups), get a snack at Maurice's, and still have time to throw a penny in the wishing well and take pictures of the castle before our 10:20am Matterhorn LL entry time.

*Alice was down for a while in the morning due to rain the previous night, or we would have ridden it earlier in the sequence. Also, full disclosure: this was on a weekday.

 

[SpaceMan5]

Just an observation. When we went in Jan, I don't recall seeing PP much more than 30 mins. In watching the tip board over the last few months I have even seen it less than that at various times of the day and week. That 30 min+/- doesn't seem real bad to me?? Based on that I probably wouldn't rope drop PP and stick with Indy first