New with lots of questions

[FLCA026]

Does anyone have a good plan for the park? On touring plans it says to go to Peter Pan’s flight first then Alice in wonderland etc.
Is it best to do the Star Wars land first? I thought we would do the haunted mansion or Star Wars first. Then hit the other rides like Peter pans flight, pirates of the Caribbean later.
I guess some of these you can get fast pass.

where Is the best place to view the fireworks. I see that there is the Fantasmic show in another location.

 

[BadPinkTink]

The reason we advise Peter Pans Flight, Alice and the other Fantasyland rides first is

1. Disneyalnd is a locals park, therefore the first 3 hours are the sweet spot when ride wait times are lowest. Crowds start to build from lunch time.
2. Fantasyland rides don't have Fastpasses and wait times can escalate quickly as park capacity rises

It is not advisable to go to Star Wars Galaxys Edge first. It is a waste of park hours, when the its the time of day when the headliners in the other lands have the shortest wait times. The wait time for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run is the longest when the park opens. The wait time goes down in the afternoon and evening.

Pirates of the Carribbean does not have a Fastpass. I usually go on this ride either before 11am or after 7pm. I have often seen the wait time for Pirates up to 90 minutes or longer in the afternoons.

Haunted Mansion you can get a Fastpass for, so again I would not waste the early morning on this ride

 

[WonkaKid]

We always start in Fantasyland and always rope-drop it. We can ride four or five attractions very quickly that way. We’re often first on PP and then go directly to Mr. Toad and next on to Alice and/or Dumbo, depending on crowds. No real reason to hit Star Wars Land first. There’s only one attraction and you can FP it. But we’ll do at least four attractions in FL in the first half hour so that’s my strong recommendation. Typically, we’ll head over to Pirates around 9:15 (with an 8:00 opening) and it’ll still be nearly a walk-on. Ten minutes at the worst. At 8:03, on the other hand, PP is a 30-minute wait.

 

[BadPinkTink]

This is what I did on one of my Disneyland days in summer 2019, you can find my full trip report link in my signature

Rope Drop Park Opening 8am
Peter Pan
Toads Wild Ride
Alice in Wonderland
Dumbo
Snow White
Got Fastpass from free kiosk for Indiana Jones
Pirates of The Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
Used Indiana Jones Fastpass
Got Fastpass from free kiosk for Big Thunder Mountain
Mark Twain River Boat
Pirates of The Caribbean
Used Big Thunder Mountain Fastpass
Time Check 11am
Tiki Room Show
Shopping on Main Street - Jolly Holiday to Fire Station side
Checked out The Main Street Cinema
Shopping on Main Street - Cinema to Plaza Restaurant side
Lunch reservation at 1.30pm in Carnation Cafe
Main Street Transportation Bus down to The Castle
Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk Through
Into Star Wars Galaxys Edge using Fantasyland entrance
Cantina reservation for 3pm
Shopping in Black Spire Market Place
Millennium Falcon ride x 3 times single rider - all engineer position
Food at Docking Bay
Back into Fantasyland
Casey Junior Train
Into Tomorrowland
Got Fastpass at free kiosk for Buzz Lightyear
Star Tours standby walk on
Buzz lightyear Standby
Used Fastpass for Buzz Lightyear
Autopia
Full circuit of the park on the train
Shopping in Star Traders
Back onto Main Street
ART bus at 11.00pm

 

[FLCA026]

Ok thanks. This helps!

 

[julesann]

We always start in Fantasyland and always rope-drop it. We can ride four or five attractions very quickly that way. We’re often first on PP and then go directly to Mr. Toad and next on to Alice and/or Dumbo, depending on crowds. No real reason to hit Star Wars Land first. There’s only one attraction and you can FP it. But we’ll do at least four attractions in FL in the first half hour so that’s my strong recommendation. Typically, we’ll head over to Pirates around 9:15 (with an 8:00 opening) and it’ll still be nearly a walk-on. Ten minutes at the worst. At 8:03, on the other hand, PP is a 30-minute wait.

I didn't know you can FP the ride in Star Wars Land. Did this recently change? This is good news.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I didn't know you can FP the ride in Star Wars Land. Did this recently change? This is good news.

As far as I know Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run does not have a Fastpass and Disney have repeatedly stated that when Rise of the Resistance opens in January in Disneyland it will not have a Fastpass either

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Nope, no FP yet for Smugglers Run although I wish they’d add it soon!

 

[WonkaKid]

I didn't know you can FP the ride in Star Wars Land. Did this recently change? This is good news.

Sorry, no. I misspoke. Or mis-wrote. I meant that they have single-rider lines. Sorry .

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Would you change your recommendation to not hit Star Wars galaxys edge 1st thing in the morning if you were going the week between Christmas and New Year's?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Would you change your recommendation to not hit Star Wars galaxys edge 1st thing in the morning if you were going the week between Christmas and New Year's?

Keep watching this board, especially the SWGE Superthread, to see how things look closer to that time. Things change so quickly at DLR (it is a locals park, so the patterns and trends can change on a dime -- and they get reported here pronto!), so you'll get the latest news and strategies here and be ready to go for your trip. What works for SWGE today may or may not work by the time Christmas Week rolls around, so keep reading here!

 

[VandVsmama]

Does anyone have a good plan for the park? On touring plans it says to go to Peter Pan’s flight first then Alice in wonderland etc.
Is it best to do the Star Wars land first? I thought we would do the haunted mansion or Star Wars first. Then hit the other rides like Peter pans flight, pirates of the Caribbean later.
I guess some of these you can get fast pass.

where Is the best place to view the fireworks. I see that there is the Fantasmic show in another location.

I agree w/everybody else's suggestions. Touring Plans isn't as good as Ride Max for Disneyland itinerary planning from what I've experienced.

Re: Peter Pan -
@WonkaKid is correct. With 8 am regular park opening, at 8:03 am, the Peter Pan wait will be 30 min. If you want to go on it with <15 min wait, be in line at the turnstiles at the main gate probably at 7 - 7:15 am and that's on a day where there's no DL EMH/MM early entry.

Our family's strategy is very similar to @BadPinkTink 's, but we haven't been to DL yet since SWGE opened. A typical DL day for us would be something like this:

• in line at main gate, tickets in hand 30 min before reg. park opening or if using our MM entry on a Tues, Thurs, or Sat, do the same only 30 min before MM/EMH starts.
• Head to Fantasyland first. Go on Dumbo, Alice, Matterhorn, Mr Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White, Mad Tea Party
• Get FP (using Max Pass) while doing Fantasyland...FP for Star Tours
• Go to Tomorrowland. Go on Autopia, Star Tours (using FP), Buzz Lightyear. Get FP for Indiana Jones.
• Toon Town probably open now. Go meet Mickey Mouse w/no wait. Then walk on the Roger Rabbit ride.
• Get on train, take train to New Orleans Square.
• Walk to IJ and use the FP for IJ. Get next FP for Splash Mtn.
• Jungle Cruise, then Tiki Room or Pirates.
• Use Splash Mtn FP. Get HM FP next.
• Winnie the Pooh
• Use HM FP. Get BTMRR FP next.
• Eat lunch...French Market or Hungry Bear.
• use BTMRR FP. Check FP return times for Space Mtn and DCA FP return times. Pick something with not too long of a wait to ride it using FP.
• go on Mark Twain river boat.
• get on train in New Orleans Square station, take to Main Street Station. OR walk to the hub in front of castle and take a Main Street vehicle to park entrance.
• LEAVE and go to hotel for ~ 3 hr. While resting, use Max Pass to get other FP for starting the time slot that you plan on returning back to the parks later.

Evening usually looks something like this:

• dinner at Flo's V-8 Cafe, with riding Mater's, Luigi's, and Ariel. Bonus if you can get a Toy Story FP for early evening (5 - 7 pm-ish)
• hop to DL. Take train to New Orleans Square. Ride HM, Pirates, IASW (all fast loaders...i.e., ride holds a lot of people at one time). Go on Star Tours again using a FP. Get a fireworks spot usually near IASW. Timing of how much we can do before fireworks varies depending on crowd levels. By 8:45 pm, New Orleans Square (assuming 9:30 pm fireworks) gets unmanageable with high #s of people there.
• if we don't have dinner in DCA, we usually eat dinner at the Plaza Inn or French Market....which makes it easier to get more DL rides in before fireworks.
• After fireworks, walk onto IASW. Then repeat a couple of Fantasyland rides (Mr Toad, Mad Tea Party, Pinocchio or Snow White).
• Get a FP for a repeat on BTMRR. DH sits it out.
• Then probably Pirates or HM again.
• Sometimes we do Jungle Cruise again, too, before leaving for the night.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

I agree w/everybody else's suggestions. Touring Plans isn't as good as Ride Max for Disneyland itinerary planning from what I've experienced.

What is Ride Max? I have never heard of that.

 

[EsmeCullen]

Ride Max is an amazing program you can download that gives you an efficient plan for touring Disney. You just input the rides you want to go on and what you want to do and it will formulate a plan. It uses some kind of algorithm.

https://www.ridemax.com

 

[VandVsmama]

Ride Max is an amazing program you can download that gives you an efficient plan for touring Disney. You just input the rides you want to go on and what you want to do and it will formulate a plan. It used some kind of algorithm.

https://www.ridemax.com

It's similar to Touring Plans, but works a lot better for Disneyland than Touring Plans does. It's a subscription service. You plug in a few different factors and it tells you what order to go on rides in order to minimize wait time. For example, you select:

• what time you'll arrive (i.e., at the main gate, tickets in hand)
• what time you'll leave for the day
• whether or not you'll use FP or Max Pass
• whether or not you'll use a FP runner if you're not going to pay for Max Pass
• up to 12 or 13 attractions/shows

Ride Max will always end up giving you a block of time in the afternoon that's about 3-5 hours long. This is the busiest time of day and the idea is that you'll do the "not as popular" stuff at that time or take a break somewhere. That's when you'd go and see a show or 2, go to Tom Sawyer's Island, see Mickey & the Magical Map. That would also be a good time to schedule a reservation for the droid depot or Savi's Workshop to make a light saber.

If you want to go to both parks, then you have to make 2 separate plans/itineraries.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Thanks. Just bought a subscription. Our dates aren't open to build a plan yet, but I excited to see when they are. I really like the idea of the 3-5 hour break. We are hoping to take breaks and go back to the hotel.

 

[VandVsmama]

Thanks. Just bought a subscription. Our dates aren't open to build a plan yet, but I excited to see when they are. I really like the idea of the 3-5 hour break. We are hoping to take breaks and go back to the hotel.

Ride Max loads times & dates & such pretty much as soon as Disneyland posts their daily schedule, which is often about 6 weeks beforehand.