Rope Drop Without EMH on an EMH day

[StarSpeckledSky]

My dad turned a deaf ear to my complaints about going to Disneyland Park on a day with EMH when we don't have EMH. Before you recommend going to California Adventure... we can't. We have SWGE reservations booked for a Thursday trip to Disneyland Park and our ticket is one day, one park.

We still plan on rope dropping for normal opening. Will crowds still be a little better if we do that? We're going two/three weeks after SWGE's opening, jsyk.

Any tips/advice? We want to get Peter Pan, Dumbo, Mad Tea Party, and Alice In Wonderland done first thing before moving on to coasters. We have an 11am-3pm reservation at Galaxy's Edge. Park opens 8am the day we go (7am EMH). We have a party of three - me, dad, and my 3-year-old sister. We'll be riding the Fantasyland rides together and then I'll single ride as many thrillers/coasters as possible. We'll also have MaxPass.

Thank you so much for helping me make our trip extra magical!

 

[avalon451]

So the usual recommendations for such a situation is to start by rope dropping Adventureland, because it's not open for EMH/MM. The crowd will be held at rope drop at the entrance to Adventureland, and you will be on an equal footing with everybody else. You might consider starting there and completing the rides in that area while they are still not too crowded, and start stacking FPs for later in Tomorrowland. You could pick up a FP for Indy, ride the Jungle Cruise, do Haunted Mansion standby, ride Indy with FP, pick up a FP Splash, ride HM, ride Winnie the Pooh, ride Splash w/ FP, pick up a FP for BTMRR which might still be almost an immediate return, ride PotC, ride BTMRR with FP... that's just off the top of my head but probably pretty close to doable.

Keep an eye on return times in Fantasyland and do it maybe during a parade or something, when the lines will be lower. You might not want to waste time on Peter Pan, unless the lines get below 30 minutes, since you only have one day. But you might be able to get on Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White and Mad Tea party with 15 or 20 minutes' wait later in the afternoon. Alice, Dumbo, and PP are likely to stay pretty busy. Matterhorn you can FP or do single rider. Nemo isn't worth the time suck. Stack FPs for tomorrowland for late afternoon/evening.

Don't know how easily this will be accomplished with the current crowds and SW:GE opening, but just a few ideas for thought... I'm sure more experienced people will chime in. Check Skyegirl's touring plans, she has great strategies for people who don't have EMH priveleges.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

So the usual recommendations for such a situation is to start by rope dropping Adventureland, because it's not open for EMH/MM. The crowd will be held at rope drop at the entrance to Adventureland, and you will be on an equal footing with everybody else. You might consider starting there and completing the rides in that area while they are still not too crowded, and start stacking FPs for later in Tomorrowland. You could pick up a FP for Indy, ride the Jungle Cruise, do Haunted Mansion standby, ride Indy with FP, pick up a FP Splash, ride HM, ride Winnie the Pooh, ride Splash w/ FP, pick up a FP for BTMRR which might still be almost an immediate return, ride PotC, ride BTMRR with FP... that's just off the top of my head but probably pretty close to doable.

Keep an eye on return times in Fantasyland and do it maybe during a parade or something, when the lines will be lower. You might not want to waste time on Peter Pan, unless the lines get below 30 minutes, since you only have one day. But you might be able to get on Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White and Mad Tea party with 15 or 20 minutes' wait later in the afternoon. Alice, Dumbo, and PP are likely to stay pretty busy. Matterhorn you can FP or do single rider. Nemo isn't worth the time suck. Stack FPs for tomorrowland for late afternoon/evening.

Don't know how easily this will be accomplished with the current crowds and SW:GE opening, but just a few ideas for thought... I'm sure more experienced people will chime in. Check Skyegirl's touring plans, she has great strategies for people who don't have EMH priveleges.

Thank you so much! I'm not interested in Haunted Mansion, but the rest sound great. I'll be sure to check out Skyegirl's touring plans.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

So the usual recommendations for such a situation is to start by rope dropping Adventureland, because it's not open for EMH/MM. The crowd will be held at rope drop at the entrance to Adventureland, and you will be on an equal footing with everybody else. You might consider starting there and completing the rides in that area while they are still not too crowded, and start stacking FPs for later in Tomorrowland. You could pick up a FP for Indy, ride the Jungle Cruise, do Haunted Mansion standby, ride Indy with FP, pick up a FP Splash, ride HM, ride Winnie the Pooh, ride Splash w/ FP, pick up a FP for BTMRR which might still be almost an immediate return, ride PotC, ride BTMRR with FP... that's just off the top of my head but probably pretty close to doable.

Keep an eye on return times in Fantasyland and do it maybe during a parade or something, when the lines will be lower. You might not want to waste time on Peter Pan, unless the lines get below 30 minutes, since you only have one day. But you might be able to get on Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White and Mad Tea party with 15 or 20 minutes' wait later in the afternoon. Alice, Dumbo, and PP are likely to stay pretty busy. Matterhorn you can FP or do single rider. Nemo isn't worth the time suck. Stack FPs for tomorrowland for late afternoon/evening.

Don't know how easily this will be accomplished with the current crowds and SW:GE opening, but just a few ideas for thought... I'm sure more experienced people will chime in. Check Skyegirl's touring plans, she has great strategies for people who don't have EMH priveleges.

Would you be able to link some of her touring plans? Thanks

 

[avalon451]

Would you be able to link some of her touring plans? Thanks

Sure thing, Hydroguy also links to her through his tips thread in the stickies at the top of the forum. His tips are also invaluable: https://www.disboards.com/threads/hydroguy-tips-compilation.1520483/

Here's Skyegirl's: https://www.disboards.com/threads/maxpass-fastpass-an-overview-and-some-strategy.3726246/

Edited to add: I think I was thinking of Disneyland Daily's strategies; she's the local who visits all the time and has come up with all kinds of strategies for locals who don't have EMH. Here's a link to her Disneyland strategy, and it has links to her other plans: https://disneylanddaily.com/how-to-start-your-day-at-disneyland/

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

Sure thing, Hydroguy also links to her through his tips thread in the stickies at the top of the forum. His tips are also invaluable: https://www.disboards.com/threads/hydroguy-tips-compilation.1520483/

Here's Skyegirl's: https://www.disboards.com/threads/maxpass-fastpass-an-overview-and-some-strategy.3726246/

Edited to add: I think I was thinking of Disneyland Daily's strategies; she's the local who visits all the time and has come up with all kinds of strategies for locals who don't have EMH. Here's a link to her Disneyland strategy, and it has links to her other plans: https://disneylanddaily.com/how-to-start-your-day-at-disneyland/

Thank you so much for all of the links, I'll be sure to check them out.

 

[sjmac42]

Completely agree with avalon, only Fantasyland and Tommorowland are open during EMH so head to Frontierland or Adventureland first. Hopefully many heading that way will have 8am or 9am Galaxy’s Edge reservations so maybe don’t be put off if there are masses of people going through Adventureland at 8am. It’s such a game changer as mentioned so keep an eye on the blogs and vlogs to see what happens the week or 2 after SW:GE opens. The app will be really helpful to check wait times throughout the day whether you have MaxPass or not.
All the best.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

Completely agree with avalon, only Fantasyland and Tommorowland are open during EMH so head to Frontierland or Adventureland first. Hopefully many heading that way will have 8am or 9am Galaxy’s Edge reservations so maybe don’t be put off if there are masses of people going through Adventureland at 8am. It’s such a game changer as mentioned so keep an eye on the blogs and vlogs to see what happens the week or 2 after SW:GE opens. The app will be really helpful to check wait times throughout the day whether you have MaxPass or not.
All the best.

Thanks for the info about what's open during EMH/MM, I'll keep that in mind, along with the info about people going to SWGE. Yep, I'll be sure to check all the disneyland blogs and vlogs starting May 31! Thank you so much for the help.

 

[agamble]

I understand your sister is interested in Fantasyland rides. However since your dad insisted on going on a Thursday I would suggest you put Fantasyland off until later in the day. If you really must go to Fantasyland the rides that will not have long lines are Pinochio, Snow White, the Carousel, the teacups, and your dad's favorite Small World. You could get lucky and get a ride on Storybook without too much wait as it doesn't usually open until after EMH.

Personally I would head to Jungle Cruise and then Pirates. Then head back to Pooh since you're skipping the Mansion. Let your dad and sister ride Pooh while you ride Splash. It shouldn't have a long line. Then see if your dad will take your sister on Fantasyland rides while you grab a ride on Thunder Mtn. The two lands are close to each other with easy access through the Fantasyland faire (I would avoid big thunder trail due to GE). If you have more time you could get a ride on the Matterhorn after checking in with your dad. Then maybe all ride Small World either just before or after your Galaxy edge reservation. Are they going to ride the Falcon with you?

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

I understand your sister is interested in Fantasyland rides. However since your dad insisted on going on a Thursday I would suggest you put Fantasyland off until later in the day. If you really must go to Fantasyland the rides that will not have long lines are Pinochio, Snow White, the Carousel, the teacups, and your dad's favorite Small World. You could get lucky and get a ride on Storybook without too much wait as it doesn't usually open until after EMH.

Personally I would head to Jungle Cruise and then Pirates. Then head back to Pooh since you're skipping the Mansion. Let your dad and sister ride Pooh while you ride Splash. It shouldn't have a long line. Then see if your dad will take your sister on Fantasyland rides while you grab a ride on Thunder Mtn. The two lands are close to each other with easy access through the Fantasyland faire (I would avoid big thunder trail due to GE). If you have more time you could get a ride on the Matterhorn after checking in with your dad. Then maybe all ride Small World either just before or after your Galaxy edge reservation. Are they going to ride the Falcon with you?

We're not huge fans of Jungle Cruise - it's fun if we're staying two days or more, but we wouldn't ride it if we only had one day, so I'll probably just drop that.

About Fantasyland - we're willing to ride Peter Pan, Dumbo, Small World, Alice, and teacups any time in the day as long as we do them. When would you suggest doing these Fantasyland attractions if not in the morning?

I'm personally a fan of Pooh for nostalgia and more, so I wouldn't miss it and I'd like to get both Splash and Pooh done. I'm willing to pass up Dumbo (there's a better imo version at WDW) in order to ride BTM. Avoiding Big Thunder Trail sounds like a great idea. I think I'd want to do most of the Fantasyland attractions too though... Small World we could save for after F! and fireworks.

About Falcon - no, my sister's too small so my dad will just accompany her. They'll probably tour SWGE while I ride Falcon through single rider (if they have that) and probably buy me a blue milk.

 

[agamble]

About Fantasyland - we're willing to ride Peter Pan, Dumbo, Small World, Alice, and teacups any time in the day as long as we do them. When would you suggest doing these Fantasyland attractions if not in the morning?

So Peter Pan, Dumbo and probably Alice will all have long lines by opening. Small World and teacups will probably not. I suggest riding those rides later in the day when all other lines are also long. If you're going to wait 40 minutes for Dumbo might as well do it when the lines for everything are long. That first hour you can walk on rides on the other side of the park. The problem is that most of the rides your dad and sister want to do are in Fantasyland. So go ahead and head right for Pirates and just walk on. Then head down to Pooh and Splash.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

So Peter Pan, Dumbo and probably Alice will all have long lines by opening. Small World and teacups will probably not. I suggest riding those rides later in the day when all other lines are also long. If you're going to wait 40 minutes for Dumbo might as well do it when the lines for everything are long. That first hour you can walk on rides on the other side of the park. The problem is that most of the rides your dad and sister want to do are in Fantasyland. So go ahead and head right for Pirates and just walk on. Then head down to Pooh and Splash.

So just review - head to Adventureland/Frontierland/New Orleans Square at arrival as those aren't open to EMH/MM visitors and ride the rides there. MaxPass Tomorrowland attractions. Then GE reservation. Save Fantasyland for later because lines will be long anyways.

 

[sjmac42]

Plus keep an eye on the Disneyland app for wait times/fastpass availability and be flexible.
All the best.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

Plus keep an eye on the Disneyland app for wait times/fastpass availability and be flexible.
All the best.

Thank you!