Rope Drop and Magic Morning Plans

[acamusic]

We would appreciate your thoughts on our plans. We want to make the best use of our one Magic Morning. We'll spend 3 days in the parks on 2/14, 2/15 and 2/17. We're thinking that we'll plan to do DL on the 14th and 17th and DCA on the 15th. We don't have park hoppers.

So it make sense to us that we use our Magic Morning on the 15th in DCA since we'll have less time here overall and having that extra hour will help us get the jump on the rest of the crowds so we can get FPs for headliners. Is this logical or is there a plan that makes more sense?

We've read many suggestions for RD strategies in both parks. But what's not clear to us is how to attack the mornings in DL when EMH is happening, but we have to start an hour later at regular opening. I'm guessing we should avoid FL, but if both our DL days work this way, when SHOULD we try the FL rides? Should we plan t get in line for PP right at closing to minimize our wait?

 

[HydroGuy]

MM is only for DL. You cannot use it for DCA.

When you visit DL on a day with MM/EMH, realize that only FantasyLand and TomorrowLand are open. If you arrive at RD for normal hours, best bet is to focus on other lands like AdventureLand etc. In other words, turn left at the hub at RD.

If one should arrive anytime an hour or more after RD, it just does not matter anymore. Go wherever you want.

 

[katyringo]

You can only use it for Disneyland.. BUT this is what we do because we use our magic morning on a day we are going to DCA. This only works if you have park hopper tickets tho. If not it won’t work.

You can use maxpass to make fastpass selections for either park if you have hopper tickets. So we go to Disneyland for magic morning, enjoy tomorrow land and fantasy land with short weights while we start booking fastpasss for DCA.

 

[sherilaine]

Your only option for MM of the dates you listed is the 14th which would be an 8AM MM for a 9AM general park opening at Disneyland. As others have already said early entry at DCA is only for onsite guests.

 

[SeiterClan]

You can only use it for Disneyland.. BUT this is what we do because we use our magic morning on a day we are going to DCA. This only works if you have park hopper tickets tho. If not it won’t work.

You can use maxpass to make fastpass selections for either park if you have hopper tickets. So we go to Disneyland for magic morning, enjoy tomorrow land and fantasy land with short weights while we start booking fastpasss for DCA.

This is a great idea!!! I would have never thought of this lol

 

[Christin82]

Great idea! We plan to do the same thing on our next trip!

 

[southernfriedmom]

You can only use it for Disneyland.. BUT this is what we do because we use our magic morning on a day we are going to DCA. This only works if you have park hopper tickets tho. If not it won’t work.

You can use maxpass to make fastpass selections for either park if you have hopper tickets. So we go to Disneyland for magic morning, enjoy tomorrow land and fantasy land with short weights while we start booking fastpasss for DCA.

I am headed to DL for the first time (WDW AP holder) and trying this strategy a week from today. Any tips/tricks on how to best use this strategy or more details about what this usually looks like? Do you make any DL FP before you start booking at DCA? When do you usually head to DCA? We have just 2.5 days to try to “do it all” but will not have our kids with us so there’s a chance.

 

[HydroGuy]

I am headed to DL for the first time (WDW AP holder) and trying this strategy a week from today. Any tips/tricks on how to best use this strategy or more details about what this usually looks like? Do you make any DL FP before you start booking at DCA? When do you usually head to DCA? We have just 2.5 days to try to “do it all” but will not have our kids with us so there’s a chance.

Aside from RSR FP - which goes the fastest - everything else stays available for awhile. Plus you can monitor it all on the DLR app. Typically I will have at least one day I start at DCA and that day I will of course FP RSR using MP. Getting RSR FP from DL is usually when you want to ride RSR a second time on a different day or want to ride it at night - which everyone should do.

 

[katyringo]

I am headed to DL for the first time (WDW AP holder) and trying this strategy a week from today. Any tips/tricks on how to best use this strategy or more details about what this usually looks like? Do you make any DL FP before you start booking at DCA? When do you usually head to DCA? We have just 2.5 days to try to “do it all” but will not have our kids with us so there’s a chance.

No we don’t book any DL fast passes. As soon as we get scanned into the park from the turn stiles.. we book RSP. We get an 830 return time (for 8am park opening) have until 930 to use it. We then head into fantasy land and tomorrow land. We skip Peter Pan but find we can ride all the others with short wait times and not need for fast passes.. the window for booking another fastpass will open around 830(I’m not sure about that) and we just book the next ride for another ride in DCA. We head to DCA in time to use our RSR... but if you keep booking when able you will start to stack them for DCA.

 

[southernfriedmom]

No we don’t book any DL fast passes. As soon as we get scanned into the park from the turn stiles.. we book RSP. We get an 830 return time (for 8am park opening) have until 930 to use it. We then head into fantasy land and tomorrow land. We skip Peter Pan but find we can ride all the others with short wait times and not need for fast passes.. the window for booking another fastpass will open around 830(I’m not sure about that) and we just book the next ride for another ride in DCA. We head to DCA in time to use our RSR... but if you keep booking when able you will start to stack them for DCA.

Thanks!! My plan is to not head to DCA until 11:00/11:30 because we have a 10AM breakfast at Plaza- hopefully I can still make it work. If you don’t recommend doing PP during MM when would our best bet to hit it? We will be there the last 4-5 hours DL is open Friday and all day Saturday & Sunday. It is my husband’s favorite at WDW so I probably don’t want to skip it.

 

[Christin82]

Thanks!! My plan is to not head to DCA until 11:00/11:30 because we have a 10AM breakfast at Plaza- hopefully I can still make it work. If you don’t recommend doing PP during MM when would our best bet to hit it? We will be there the last 4-5 hours DL is open Friday and all day Saturday & Sunday. It is my husband’s favorite at WDW so I probably don’t want to skip it.

Get in line for PP just as the park is closing or any other time during the day when you see that it has a wait that’s 30 minutes or less.

We always used to do PP first thing during MM, but now it is such a race that you have to be pretty aggressive/fast to get in line before it gets too long. It may be easier for adults-only groups without strollers, but I don’t like the feeling of rushing to abandon my stroller and pressuring my kids to run as fast as they possibly can. We are always there an hour before Magic Morning starts, but we don’t get much of an advantage at PP because others who arrived after us run full-speed and leave us in the dust.

I REALLY wish they would implement a more orderly way of lining up for Peter Pan and stop allowing people to full-on run past families who have been waiting longer than they have. They say people aren’t allowed to run, but they don’t penalize the runners in any way, and those of us who follow the rules by walking as directed get penalized instead. I don’t like that, so we go to Alice instead and save Pan for much later.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Get in line for PP just as the park is closing or any other time during the day when you see that it has a wait that’s 30 minutes or less.

We always used to do PP first thing during MM, but now it is such a race that you have to be pretty aggressive/fast to get in line before it gets too long. It may be easier for adults-only groups without strollers, but I don’t like the feeling of rushing to abandon my stroller and pressuring my kids to run as fast as they possibly can. We are always there an hour before Magic Morning starts, but we don’t get much of an advantage at PP because others who arrived after us run full-speed and leave us in the dust.

I REALLY wish they would implement a more orderly way of lining up for Peter Pan and stop allowing people to full-on run past families who have been waiting longer than they have. They say people aren’t allowed to run, but they don’t penalize the runners in any way, and those of us who follow the rules by walking as directed get penalized instead. I don’t like that, so we go to Alice instead and save Pan for much later.

It seems like they could form a PP queue and have a CM lead the queue to the ride at RD. That would pretty much end the somewhat hectic and potentially dangerous sprints. Kind of surprised they haven’t done that already!

 

[chickapin parterre]

It seems like they could form a PP queue and have a CM lead the queue to the ride at RD. That would pretty much end the somewhat hectic and potentially dangerous sprints. Kind of surprised they haven’t done that already!

well.....there is a conspiracy theory that Peter Pan has a very last minute engineer safety approval right before rope drop. My support for the observation is that the chain lines are never open onto the maze, but instead the main chain is open directly to boarding ( as they left it at midnight) and then the crowd streams out down to the Castle, eventually a CM closes the Main line and folks enter the maze. It would seem to make more sense for the maze to be open.....unless....folks do stupid things and crawl under all the chains to be ahead of the scrum. So there is some behavior that happens that prevents Disney from being on top of the situation. Another Conspiracy theory is that Chain Line moderator CM shows up for work, righ when the worked up guests show-up.

 

[Christin82]

It seems like they could form a PP queue and have a CM lead the queue to the ride at RD. That would pretty much end the somewhat hectic and potentially dangerous sprints. Kind of surprised they haven’t done that already!

You’re absolutely right. I really, really hope they do this. This is the ONE ride at DL that draws huge lines at park opening and doesn’t have a FastPass. It would be great if they could do something about the stampede that occurs for this one ride.

 

[wdwfan22]

You’re absolutely right. I really, really hope they do this. This is the ONE ride at DL that draws huge lines at park opening and doesn’t have a FastPass. It would be great if they could do something about the stampede that occurs for this one ride.

I'm excited to see what happens to the Peter Pan rush when Galaxy's Edge opens.

 

[LaughingGravy]

I'm sorry, I have done a search, but maybe I did it incorrectly. What are RSR and RSP?
Is there a list for DL DCA of acronyms commonly used on this board?

Edit: RSR i figured out was Radiator Springs Racers

 

[HydroGuy]

Near the top of the Newbies sticky thread https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...iews-hydroguys-tips-newbie-info-here.1072276/

In my signature below.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I'm sorry, I have done a search, but maybe I did it incorrectly. What are RSR and RSP?
Is there a list for DL DCA of acronyms commonly used on this board?

Edit: RSR i figured out was Radiator Springs Racers

The sticky thread linked above is great for all the acronyms and abbreviations used here! Also, I think RSP is a typo for RSR.