Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Rope Drop Plan 11/24

[DLRExpert]

UPDATED 11/24 Sharing my experience with Rise becoming Standby + a For the Children Only plan.
UPDATED 11/15 to cover Web Slingers going Standby.

Rise of the Resistance goes Stand By
With Rise going Stand By a good chunk of people at Rope Drop are heading their first. After the past few days of operation here is the breakdown at Disneyland.
40% Going to Rise
25% Going to Fantasyland
20% Going to Space Mountain
8% Haunted Mansion Holiday
5% Indiana Jones Adventure
2% Doing something else
Unless you are near the front of the Frontierland Rope Drop or you don't mind waiting in longer lines for the other attractions later. SAVE Rise for later in the day. Average wait is about 90 minutes. 70-75 minutes is not uncommon to see later in the day and worth getting in line at that time.

Web Slingers goes Stand By
With Web Slingers going Stand By about half the people will be going here first. Here is the breakdown at Disney California Adventure.
40% Going to Web Slingers
35% Radiator Springs Racers
10% Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout
8% Soarin Around the World
5% Pixar Pier
2% Doing something else

Arriving
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure - 8am Opening.
Disney Parking areas open at 7am. Arrive and park at the parking lot by 710am.
After Security Check at Mickey and Friends it is about a 12 minute walk to the park entrances.
At Toy Story Parking Lot it is about a 20-25 minute experience after parking to get to the park entrances.

The ROPE at Rope Drop
They usually let you into the park and at the Rope Drop area by 730am or 745am.
At Disneyland you want to be closest to the rope, right side of Walt and Mickey Statue is usually fastest, but take whatever gets you closest to the rope.

At Disney California Adventure you want to be closest to the rope. For Web Slingers and Racers, in between the Carthay Circle and the Grizzly River Mountain waterfalls.
Note if you are going to Web Slingers, be to the left of the rope. For Racers be on the right side of the rope. UNLESS you are nearly touching the rope on the left or right side.

Disneyland Plan
Fantasyland Attractions First Plan
8am-840am: Peter Pan first (ONLY if you are near the front of the rope drop, if not choose Snow White first), then Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio
Goal is to be leaving Fantasyland by 840am and heading to the Haunted Mansion Holiday
845am-9am: Ride Haunted Mansion Holiday
9am-950am: Ride the Jungle Cruise, then Pirates of the Caribbean. If time is cutting close to 950am (say 915am), choose one. Pirates is the better choice as the line for Jungle Cruise tends to die down just before 5pm.
950am: Ride Splash Mountain
Goal is to ride Splash Mountain before 10am.
After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.

Visual Proof that the above plan works, taken on October 1st 2021...
At Rope Drop waiting for park opening.

First up Peter Pan ( I walked briskly from rope drop to Peter Pan). Note: If you are using a stroller, have one person get in line and the other person put the stroller away near Pinocchio, then meet up with the others in line. You won't need the stroller until you are done with Fantasyland.

Alice was going to be next but it was down. Went to Dumbo next.

Checked on Alice and it was still down, so went to Mr. Toad.

Alice was cycling vehicles and going through a check sheet. Took a restroom break and then rode it (Waited 10 minutes).

Pinocchio up next (walk on)

Leaving Fantasyland - Would have easily been done with most of Fantasyland by 835am if Alice was not down.

Mansion - in the entry room

Decided to do Pirates at 905am instead of Jungle Cruise after Mansion

What time I got to Splash Mountain and was on by 942am

Also added Winnie the Pooh after Splash Mountain was off by 10am
Left the park, wait times for Jungle, Snow White, and Matterhorn were 20 min, Falcon was 30min, Space was 35min, Star Tours and Autopia 15min, Buzz, 10min, Small World 5min.
Would probably have done Space if I stayed, since 35 minutes at 10am is pretty good and the crowds were only getting bigger.

The Thrill Ride Plan
8am-830am: Space Mountain first, then the Matterhorn.
830am-840am: Big Thunder Mountain
840am-9am: Indiana Jones Adventure
Note: You can switch Big Thunder and Indiana Jones, I like Indy second since its so close to Jungle and Pirates. However, if at 830am I see that Indy has a 15min or less wait, I would do Indy first.
9am-950am: Jungle, Pirates, Mansion. Choose the one you want to do, the goal is to just be in line for Splash by 950am.
After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.

The For the Children Plan (similar to Fantasyland Plan but adding Toontown)
8am-840am: Peter Pan first (ONLY if you are near the front of the rope drop, if not choose Snow White first), then Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio
Goal is to be leaving Fantasyland by 840am and heading to Small World and Toontown
840am-9am: Ride It's a Small World
Note: Small World Holiday is currently having operation issues, so you may want to add Storybookland, Casey Jr., or Tea Cups. Your goal is to be at the entrance of Toontown by 9am. Toontown opens at 9am.
9am-940am: Once in Toontown go visit Mickey and Minnie at their house. Ride Gadget Go Coaster and then Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin.
After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.

Disney California Adventure
Radiator Springs Racers first
8am-820am: Radiator Springs Racers first (ONLY if you are near the front).
NOTE: With Web Slingers using Stand By ONLY, a slight majority of people at Rope Drop are going to WS first. There are still a lot going to RSR but it is not as overwhelming as it was before.
825am-835am: Ride Guardians of the Galaxy
Goal is to be heading towards Pixar Pier by 835am
840am-905am: Ride Toy Story Midway Mania, then Incredicoaster.
905am-950am: Ride the Pal Around, Inside Out, Goofy's Sky School.
950am: Ride Grizzly River Run..
Goal is to ride Grizzly River Run before 10am. NOTE: This is less important if the weather is cold all day. If it is cold Grizzly will be a walk on all day. After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.
Web Slingers you are looking for a 50 minutes or less wait. Most of the time Web Slingers wait is much less than the posted time.
Web Slingers first
Be at the rope between the Carthay Circle and Wait Time Board. Seems they are moving the rope closer to the Avengers Campus Entrance and the Grizzly Mountain waterfalls.
8am-820am: Web Slingers first. NOTE: the beginning of the line is kind of a mess. The line is to your left as you enter Avengers Campus, but it really doesn't start to form until the amount of guests builds up.
NOTE: With Web Slingers using Stand By ONLY, the slight majority of people at Rope Drop are going to WS first. There are still a lot going to RSR but it is not as overwhelming as it was before.
This beginning of this video will give you a clearer idea what Rope Dropping Web Slingers is like.
YouTube - Web Slingers during Rope Drop Starts at 3:55
820am-835am: Ride Guardians of the Galaxy
Goal is to be heading towards Pixar Pier by 835am
840am-905am: Ride Toy Story Midway Mania, then Incredicoaster.
905am-950am: Ride the Pal Around, Inside Out, Goofy's Sky School.
950am: Ride Grizzly River Run..
Goal is to ride Grizzly River Run before 10am. NOTE: This is less important if the weather is cold all day. If it is cold Grizzly will be a walk on all day. After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.
Radiator Springs Racers you are looking for a 50 minutes or less wait. If you are willing to do Single Rider then you can usually cut the Stand By Wait in half.
Too Late at Rope Drop for Radiator Springs Racers or Web Slingers
8am-830am: Ride Guardians. Line up on Hollywood Land for Rope Drop. Use the path between Luigi's and Cones to get to Cars Land faster.
Ride Rollicking Roadsters and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. If you are cutting it close to 830am, choose one.
Goal is to be heading to Pixar Pier 830am
840am-905am: Ride Toy Story Midway Mania, then Incredicoaster.
905am-950am: Ride the Pal Around, Inside Out, Goofy's Sky School.
950am: Ride Grizzly River Run.
Goal is to ride Grizzly River Run before 10am. NOTE: This is less important if the weather is cold all day. If it is cold Grizzly will be a walk on all day. After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.
Radiator Springs Racers and Web Singers you are looking for a 50 minutes or less wait. If you are willing to do Single Rider then you can usually cut the Stand By Wait in half. Most of the time Web Slingers wait is much less than the posted time.
Radiator Springs Racers SINGLE RIDERS only
Be at the rope between the Carthay Circle and Wait Time Board. Seems they are moving the rope closer to the Avengers Campus Entrance and the Grizzly Mountain waterfalls.
8am-820am: Web Slingers first. NOTE: the beginning of the line is kind of a mess. The line is to your left as you enter Avengers Campus, but it really doesn't start to form until the amount of guests builds up.
NOTE: With Web Slingers using Stand By ONLY, the slight majority of people at Rope Drop are going to WS first. There are still a lot going to RSR but it is not the overwhelming as it was before.
820am-835am: Ride Guardians of the Galaxy
Goal is to be heading towards Pixar Pier by 835am.
NOTE: If the line for the RSR Single Rider is past the two bridges and closer to the rock car fountain, you should ride RSR Single Rider now.
It is hard to tell from the entrance so you may have to walk the Single Rider Line a bit and leave if it is longer than you want to wait.
840am-905am: Ride Toy Story Midway Mania, then Incredicoaster.
905am-950am: Ride the Pal Around, Inside Out, Goofy's Sky School.
950am: Ride Grizzly River Run..
Goal is to ride Grizzly River Run before 10am. NOTE: This is less important if the weather is cold all day. If it is cold Grizzly will be a walk on all day. After this it is up to you. Keep an eye on the app, any ride 30 minutes or less is worth waiting for.
Radiator Springs Racers you are looking for a 50 minutes or less wait. If you are willing to do Single Rider then you can usually cut the Stand By Wait in half.

Boarding Group Info
- No More Boarding Groups

Park Hopping Info
- In my opinion Park Hopping if you only have one day at the DLR is currently not worth it. You can start at a park and follow the above advice, but once you park hop you are going to see longer wait times.
- Once Genie+ is released it will make things much easier for Park Hoppers. As long as it shares many of the things MaxPass offered.

SPECIAL NOTE about the plans above
- This plan also works if you arrive after ROPE DROP. For example, say you arrive at Disneyland just before 850am. Skip everything listed before 9am and start at what is listed for 9am. So that would be the Jungle Cruise and Pirates.

Park Opening Attraction Closures
Wait times and temp closures do not show up until park opening, but can be delayed as you may see a - instead of a time or temp closure text.

However, most of the time, if there is a park opening closure it is due to the attraction not being signed off on time of the park opening. If you see the vehicles cycling, it may be best to stay near the attraction and wait for it to open up.

For example, you get to Peter Pan and the CM says that it is closed and they do not know when it will be open. Yet you see that the vehicles are cycling through. Ignore the CM and stay near the entrance of the queue. Give it 5-10 minutes (the time you would have probably waited anyways) and see if the line opens up. 90% of the time it will open up rather quickly

ME

 

[gpjacobs]

Awesome post, thank you!

What is the earliest you can line up at the Esplanade? We're staying at the Grand, so parking lot hours don’t apply.

On our first park day, it's really important to us to be at/toward the front of the line so we can knock out Fantasyland and Haunted Mansion Holiday before a Minnie and Friends reservation at 10 a.m. We're willing to leave the room as early as 7 a.m. and head straight to the gates. Leaving any earlier would make for a cranky kiddo and it's just not worth it.

 

[DLRExpert]

Awesome post, thank you!

What is the earliest you can line up at the Esplanade? We're staying at the Grand, so parking lot hours don’t apply.

On our first park day, it's really important to us to be at/toward the front of the line so we can knock out Fantasyland and Haunted Mansion Holiday before a Minnie and Friends reservation at 10 a.m. We're willing to leave the room as early as 7 a.m. and head straight to the gates. Leaving any earlier would make for a cranky kiddo and it's just not worth it.

Not sure when security opens, but I assume it is also an hour before park opening as they have to be ready for when the parking lots open.

If you get to entrance turnstile entrance by 715am, you should be close enough to get a close rope position. Most people at rope drop are heading to 5 main attractions. Peter Pan (40%), Snow White (10%), Space Mountain (30%), Galaxy's Edge - Falcon (5%), and Indiana Jones (15%).

Most of the time, I am personally in the park 5 or so minutes before rope drop.
Head through castle and ride Snow White, Alice, Dumbo, Mr Toad, I keep an eye on Casey Jr. if train has left or about to arrive I may get in that line (walk on) before Pinocchio. Done in about 40-45 minutes. I save Peter Pan for later, as I would have waited the same amount of time at the entrance to get in as I would have waited normally for Peter Pan (about 30 minutes).

If Snow White is backed up I skip both it and Peter Pan and do Alice in Wonderland first. SPECIAL NOTE if it is or has been raining Alice does not operate.

 

[gelatoni fan]

My thoughts on this itinerary:

• I would prioritize Jungle Cruise over Pirates because once the sun starts to set, Jungle Cruise becomes a different experience. Pirates is more or less the same at all times of the day so you could just do it when it gets short at night.
• I prefer rope dropping Guardians over Soarin'. If you can't make Racers rope drop, that means you probably aren't in the first group for Soarin' either. In that case, I think the Guardians line has a bigger risk of getting long quickly. Additionally, Mission Breakout shuts down at around 2PM during the Halloween season so you only have a few hours to ride it while Soarin' is around all day.
• 15 minutes for both Midway Mania and Incredicoaster seems a bit aggressive as Midway Mania may already have a 30 minute wait. Add on swinging gondolas for Pixar Pal Around and getting on Sky School before 9:50 may not be consistently doable assuming you get to the queue for Midway Mania around 8:45.

 

[dieumeye]

Space Mountain (30%)… and Indiana Jones (15%).

I’ve been at rope drop the past few Saturdays and I feel like a lot of people were heading to Indy, and surprisingly fewer people were headed to Space Mountain. I’d put them equal percentage at most, or even give the higher percentage to Indy. Certainly the standby line at Indy was longer than the standby line at SM an hour or so after rope drop.

 

[DLRExpert]

My thoughts on this itinerary:

• I would prioritize Jungle Cruise over Pirates because once the sun starts to set, Jungle Cruise becomes a different experience. Pirates is more or less the same at all times of the day so you could just do it when it gets short at night.
• I prefer rope dropping Guardians over Soarin'. If you can't make Racers rope drop, that means you probably aren't in the first group for Soarin' either. In that case, I think the Guardians line has a bigger risk of getting long quickly. Additionally, Mission Breakout shuts down at around 2PM during the Halloween season so you only have a few hours to ride it while Soarin' is around all day.
• 15 minutes for both Midway Mania and Incredicoaster seems a bit aggressive as Midway Mania may already have a 30 minute wait. Add on swinging gondolas for Pixar Pal Around and getting on Sky School before 9:50 may not be consistently doable assuming you get to the queue for Midway Mania around 8:45.

With Jungle Cruise, the line tends to get into the 30-35 minute range at about 915am. Pirates, about 20-25 minutes (If Indiana Jones breaks down then expect a longer wait at both). If day or night experience matters then the choice is yours. Pirates only grows from there and tends to die down around dinner and fireworks time. Jungle Cruise tends to die down around 3pm-4pm. The MAIN thing is you want to be in the Splash Mountain line before 10am.

Soarin offers two HUGE theaters, even if they are only running one in the morning you are usually the first on with no problems. Definitely on by the second showing. Guardians has an initial crowd when the park opens but quickly goes down since the attraction is a quick loader.

Most guests have not reached Pixar Pier until just after 9am, it could be sooner depending on RSR availability (break downs can happen). 15 minute waits for both (10 for TSMM and 5 maybe 10 for Incredicoaster) is about right at that time. However, you have almost an hour to complete 75% of DCA by 10am.

 

[DLRExpert]

I’ve been at rope drop the past few Saturdays and I feel like a lot of people were heading to Indy, and surprisingly fewer people were headed to Space Mountain. I’d put them equal percentage at most, or even give the higher percentage to Indy. Certainly the standby line at Indy was longer than the standby line at SM an hour or so after rope drop.

During this time of year guests that are lining up to go towards Adventureland tend to split 50/50 between Indiana Jones and Haunted Mansion Holiday. Again if Indiana Jones is down those guests go to either Pirates or Mansion. Remember there is no Big Thunder.

 

[txandie]

During this time of year guests that are lining up to go towards Adventureland tend to split 50/50 between Indiana Jones and Haunted Mansion Holiday. About 50/50. Again if Indiana Jones is down those guests go to either Pirates or Mansion. Remember there is no Big Thunder.

yes I'd agree. On monday, rope dropped Adventureland. We were not in the front as we got to the hub about 7:40p and have two six year olds that don't walk super fast!. looked like a little more than half went to HM (maybe 60% even), and rest went to Indy. We got on HM in about 15 minutes and then in Indy queue at 8:30a.
edited to add: this is based on the people headed to adventureland. fantasyland wasn't as busy as in the past and tomorrowland had the least amount of people waiting.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

yes I'd agree. On monday, rope dropped Adventureland. We were not in the front as we got to the hub about 7:40p and have two six year olds that don't walk super fast!. looked like a little more than half went to HM (maybe 60% even), and rest went to Indy. We got on HM in about 15 minutes and then in Indy queue at 8:30a.
edited to add: this is based on the people headed to adventureland. fantasyland wasn't as busy as in the past and tomorrowland had the least amount of people waiting.

Not sure if you are talking about waits at rope drop or waits during the day because this past Monday (9/27) was messed up. We were at rope drop (and near the front of the front of the pack) and went for Fantasyland. It was looking to be a good day (i.e. we'd get to Peter Pan before the hordes,) when we realized that it was "Temporarily Closed." So was Alice in Wonderland. So was the Matterhorn. One thing that I did not do was check the app before rope drop. Do those closures show up on the app before rope drop? If I had seen that those were all closed, we would've gone for Adventureland.....

 

[DLRExpert]

Not sure if you are talking about waits at rope drop or waits during the day because this past Monday (9/27) was messed up. We were at rope drop (and near the front of the front of the pack) and went for Fantasyland. It was looking to be a good day (i.e. we'd get to Peter Pan before the hordes,) when we realized that it was "Temporarily Closed." So was Alice in Wonderland. So was the Matterhorn. One thing that I did not do was check the app before rope drop. Do those closures show up on the app before rope drop? If I had seen that those were all closed, we would've gone for Adventureland.....

Wait times and temp closures do not show up until park opening, but can be delayed as you may see a - instead of a time or temp closure text.

HOWEVER, most of the time, if there is a park opening closure it is due to the attraction not being signed off on time of the park opening. If you see the vehicles cycling, it may be best to stay near the attraction and wait for it to open up. For example, you get to Peter Pan and the CM says that it is closed and they do not know when it will be open. Yet you see that the vehicles are cycling through. Ignore the CM and stay near the entrance of the queue. Give it 5-10 minutes (the time you would have probably waited anyways) and see if the line opens up. 90% of the time it will open up rather quickly

Also, know the order of attractions in my recommendation list. You did everything right even trying to sub Matterhorn for Pan or Alice (I would have tried Snow White before Alice though). After Matterhorn was down, I would have tried for Dumbo, and keep an eye on Alice. then go Toad, Casey Jr, Pinocchio.

Adding some of this content to the top of the page.

ME

 

[txandie]

Not sure if you are talking about waits at rope drop or waits during the day because this past Monday (9/27) was messed up. We were at rope drop (and near the front of the front of the pack) and went for Fantasyland. It was looking to be a good day (i.e. we'd get to Peter Pan before the hordes,) when we realized that it was "Temporarily Closed." So was Alice in Wonderland. So was the Matterhorn. One thing that I did not do was check the app before rope drop. Do those closures show up on the app before rope drop? If I had seen that those were all closed, we would've gone for Adventureland.....

Hi, yes I meant the hub waits at rope drop. Adventureland entrance seemed most popular. We were still able to get everything done that we wanted to on the left side before heading to fantasyland about 10a and waits were all 20 mins+ so were only able to do snow white and caseys jr. We usually start in fantasyland but on our last visit, there were two FL closures at park opening so got us a little off track (similar to your experience).

 

[DLRExpert]

Updated from 10/1 visit with images from Fantasyland plan walkthrough.

 

[RJstanis]

Updated from 10/1 with images from Fantasyland plan walkthrough.

Picture proof was awesome, thanks for walking your own plan

 

[DisneyaholicRaquel]

This is awesome just what I was looking for.

 

[evilmommie]

Interesting info. Thanks for sharing!

 

[underminer]

Awesome info! Thanks for sharing! I may have missed it somewhere, but where do you prioritize Indy on your list? Also, when BTMRR returns where would you put it on the list?

 

[DLRExpert]

Awesome info! Thanks for sharing! I may have missed it somewhere, but where do you prioritize Indy on your list? Also, when BTMRR returns where would you put it on the list?

These plans are for only the first few hours of park opening.
For anything else not listed like Indy, you keep an eye on the app for wait times. 30-35 minutes or less is a good time to get in line for any of the E ticket attractions.

If BTMRR was open I would still hold off until after 10am especially with HMH. BTMRR seems to have the lowest average waits of any of the thrill rides at Disneyland.

If you were strictly doing thrill rides at rope drop and there was no HMH it would be Space, Matterhorn, then check to see the wait times for Indy or BTMRR and ride the attraction with the lowest wait time.

 

[*I'msoooBelle*]

Hi there! if we follow the fantasyland touring plan at rope drop, then we go to HM, PotC, SplashM, when should we head out to Space, Matterhorn, Autopia? TIA!

 

[DLRExpert]

Hi there! if we follow the fantasyland touring plan at rope drop, then we go to HM, PotC, SplashM, when should we head out to Space, Matterhorn, Autopia? TIA!

Just use the app to view the wait times. For Etickets 30-35 minutes is worth waiting for. For everything else 25 minutes or less is worth waiting for.

 

[RJstanis]

Thanks for the morning guide. Only snags we had with it was ride availability, so not the plans fault. Solid guide and we really appreciate it! Helped our mornings the past 3 days