DCA Rope Drop Help

[ashaway12]

Good afternoon everyone, I have been to WDW a few times but we are making our first family trip to California this April so DCA and DL are brand new to me. We have park hopper passes for three days, the plan is to start at DCA on day 1, and DL days 2 and 3. We are staying at the Disneyland hotel and will utilize early entry as well as Genie+. We are going the third week of April. Broad strokes my thought was that we rope drop Soarin during early entry, then go to Avengers and try and knock out Mission Breakout and Webslingers. Then either do Incredicoaster or Cars Land/Radiator Springs. I am willing to purchase an ILL for Radiator Springs if needed. Any comments or criticisms are welcome as this park is brand new to me. Thank you!

 

[DLRExpert]

DO NOT ride Soarin during Early Entry.

Arrive at the Main Entrance 20-30 minutes before EE starts.
Start at Guardians or Web Slingers (ride the attraction you may want to do twice). Make sure you are in line for Racers 5-10 minutes before park opening.
Park opens ride Racers, then Luigis, Then Maters.
Try to be in Pixar Pier before 9am.

Toy Story Mania, then Incredicoaster.
Be in line for Pixar Pal Round before 930am.

 

[smartlabelprint]

https://disneylanddaily.com/how-to-start-your-day-at-california-adventure/

 

[ValpoCory]

Good afternoon everyone, I have been to WDW a few times but we are making our first family trip to California this April so DCA and DL are brand new to me. We have park hopper passes for three days, the plan is to start at DCA on day 1, and DL days 2 and 3. We are staying at the Disneyland hotel and will utilize early entry as well as Genie+. We are going the third week of April. Broad strokes my thought was that we rope drop Soarin during early entry, then go to Avengers and try and knock out Mission Breakout and Webslingers. Then either do Incredicoaster or Cars Land/Radiator Springs. I am willing to purchase an ILL for Radiator Springs if needed. Any comments or criticisms are welcome as this park is brand new to me. Thank you!

What days of the week are you day 1, day 2, and day 3? I assume Day 1 is a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

 

[ValpoCory]

DO NOT ride Soaring during Early Entry.

Arrive at the Main Entrance 20-30 minutes before EE starts.
Start at Guardians or Web Slingers (ride the attraction you may want to do twice). Make sure you are in line for Racers 5-10 minutes before park opening.
Park opens ride Racers, then Luigis, Then Maters.
Try to be in Pixar Pier before 9am.

Toy Story Mania, then Incredicoaster.
Be in line for Pixar Pal Round before 930am.

This is awesome advice! Do you have a version of this advice for people staying a Good Neighbor Hotel that want to rope drop DCA? I assume the best days to do it are days when Early Entry is at Disneyland Park, so rope drop DCA on a Saturday, Tuesday, or Thursday?

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Don’t do Soarin! Every rope drop we hit guardians then incrediacoster and midway mania. Alternatively you can do Guardians, Spider-Man, Luigi’s. Half the time it seems radiator springs isn’t opening on time so we try and cram in as much as we can and then single rider it on purchase a lighting lane later in the day. Lines can get crazy at Luigi’s so we always try and hit it early.

 

[irlandaise]

Why the vehement advice about not doing Soarin' during EE? (Other than that the world version of Soarin' isn't worth the wait at any time...)

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Why the vehement advice about not doing Soarin' during EE? (Other than that the world version of Soarin' isn't worth the wait at any time...)

If your heart is set on Soarin' by all means do it! But if you also want to do Guardians, Incredicoaster, Spiderman, Midway Mania, it's time better spent doing those and coming back around to Soarin' (and I agree over the world is not worth waiting for! Our next trip it'll be Soarin over California!). Soarin is another one that's not always running on time or they aren't running both screens, it's hard to maximize your EE time.

 

[ashaway12]

What days of the week are you day 1, day 2, and day 3? I assume Day 1 is a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

Day 1 is a Wednesday, day 2 Thursday and day 3 Friday.

 

[DLRExpert]

Why the vehement advice about not doing Soarin' during EE? (Other than that the world version of Soarin' isn't worth the wait at any time...)

Soarin can be a VERY slow loader at Early Entry and in some cases down to one theater and maybe only one section of seats. If they have G+ just use LL later. If they want to ride twice, just wait until later in the day and wait will not be that long.

 

[MartyParty]

Day 1 is a Wednesday, day 2 Thursday and day 3 Friday.

FYI Disneyland Resort now alternates early entry days between the two parks. For your days I think it will be W-DCA, Th-DL, and Fr-DCA. At least that's the current pattern. You'll want to check the Disneyland Park calendar to confirm if you're wanting to ensure early entry each day for a park.

As for DCA early entry rides, I love Soar'n. Its one of my favorites but usually there is no need to rope drop it as others have stated. You're better off hitting the Incredibles Coaster, Guardian, or Web Slingers. The Car's ride isn't open for early entry but you can get in line early. We were there first week in Feb. Did the other rides as mentioned above, then went to Cars and hopped in the single rider lane. While others waited in the Cars line for the first 30 minutes of early entry (again ride isn't open for early entry), we hit a few rides with no crowd. Got on the Cars ride in about 15 minutes. And Soar'n will ebb and flow throughout the day with the line surging and then dwindling.

And if you've got a park hopper, once your at DL you can always watch DCA ride times and hop over to Soar'n which is at the front of the park. DL rides that are unique to DL that can get busy are Raiders, Alice, and sometimes Mr. Toad. The other usual suspects (which are at WDW) are Rise of the Resistance, Mickey and Minnie's Railroad, Space Mountain, and Peter Pan. And Pirates of the Caribbean might be busier than usual if the Haunted Mansion is still closed.

Enjoy! I think you'll like your first trip to Disneyland.

 

[ValpoCory]

Why the vehement advice about not doing Soarin' during EE? (Other than that the world version of Soarin' isn't worth the wait at any time...)

Piggybacking on what others have said ... it's the amount of valuable EE time that Soarin' will take up. The pre-show, the loading, the actual ride, unloading. It can eat up most of the 30 minutes.

 

[Pluto468]

I'd do Avenger's campus first. When we rope drop DCA we can ride Guardians and Web slingers twice usually before moving on to other areas.

 

[ValpoCory]

I'd do Avenger's campus first. When we rope drop DCA we can ride Guardians and Web slingers twice usually before moving on to other areas.

Have you ever tried to rope drop RSR? Any tips?

 

[Pluto468]

Have you ever tried to rope drop RSR? Any tips?

No, we always do Avengers Campus first. One time we got a LL for RSR to use after Guardians, but that was at 10 or 11 am.

 

[CWTC]

Have you ever tried to rope drop RSR? Any tips?

RSR is not running during EE and does not consistently open when the park opens.

I would not spend EE time at Soarin but as others have said Avengers, then if RSR is open, then Soarin or Pixar Pier. When the park opens for everyone else they are heading to Avengers/RSR so the Soarin line doesn’t seem to pick up until later in the morning.

 

[BigOHawk]

Have you ever tried to rope drop RSR? Any tips?

We did waaay back when in 2020. Worked like a charm, it was up and running, we were at front for rope drop line and rode twice in the first 30 minutes the park was open or close to. I don't believe there was EE back then or at least we were offsite guests.

 

[BigOHawk]

Now, if it isn't running at rope drop or goes down for maintenance, all bets are off and you'll have to pivot quickly to another ride.

 

[ValpoCory]

We did waaay back when in 2020. Worked like a charm, it was up and running, we were at front for rope drop line and rode twice in the first 30 minutes the park was open or close to. I don't believe there was EE back then or at least we were offsite guests.

Thank you. I've read that Early Entry guests get to line up in Cars Land ahead of all the non Early Entry guests, so I think that means it's better for non Early Entry guests to rope drop RSR on a day where there is no Early Entry in DCA.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

I'd do Avenger's campus first. When we rope drop DCA we can ride Guardians and Web slingers twice usually before moving on to other areas.

We used to do Guardians twice and then run to Incredicoaster. Then I got old and riding Guardians and/or Incredicoaster 2X in row now makes me want to puke . One time each ok, 2X in a row immediately after, throw up . Last trip we did incredicoaster and there was no one waiting to get on so they asked us if we wanted to go again. Kids said "YES!" That's when I found out I can only handle it once, knocked me out of commission for about an hour!