Offsite experiences purchasing $LL on arrival and touring after daily ETPE onsite crowds at rope drop

[leiaorgana]

Please don’t merge this with any of the other $LL or here now experiences topics.

I just thought it would be beneficial to have a topic solely for offsite guests to discuss their success rates (or lack of) when it comes to purchasing $LL attractions at park opening/arrival and throughout the day along with what it’s like now having to rope drop behind the onsite crowds at every park, every day instead of the old MEMH system that was only certain parks on certain days and how their touring strategies have had to change because of that.

A lot of the information in the other topics isn’t as helpful to offsite guests as it’s aimed more towards the onsite guest experience/morning strategies and I thought this space could help offsite guests with their upcoming trip research to quickly find the info that they’re looking for without having to dig through hundreds of pages of onsite experiences.

 

[musicguy856]

I purchased 7DMT right at opening one day for a mid-afternoon return time. I also purchased Ratatouille mid-morning at Epcot for an afternoon time. Sometimes they show sold out at the first but appear later.

For MK only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open during EE. You can rope drop Adventureland or Frontierland if you’re an offsite guest and not have rides where many onsite guests are already in line.

I’ve done EE at MK in the past and it is very crowded with almost everyone onsite going to 7DMT or Space first thing so I would rather save money and stay offsite for my MK days and just rope drop the other side of the park.

 

[kathy884]

On Monday March 21st we were unable to get a $LL for Remmy at Epcot at 8:30 a.m. the first time it was open to onsite (onsite had already taken all the $LLs). Some in our party later in the day did an almost two hour stand by line to do it. They loved Remmy and said it was worth it. Many of us skipped the long stand by line. Some in the group were going to rope drop test track, but seeing 40 minutes posted didn't. Hind site is that they stood in a longer line later in the day and should have probably gone ahead. All at 7 a.m. tried for a LL for Soar'in and got that for 9:15 a.m. No top tier LLs (Test Track or Frozen) were available after riding that. It was a sold out park day. Flower and Garden was absolutely beautiful though and we were super pleased with some wonderful live entertainment we were able to see at Epcot too.

On Wednesday March 23rd some in our party did the Magic Kingdom and did the offsite rope drop for Space Mountain. Posted wait was 50 minutes. Actual wait was 35 minutes. They rope dropped this anyway, given that they thought they should have rope dropped test track despite the long line at opening for offsite visitors the other day. This was a very sad for the group who is so used to always having that as walk on first thing in the morning (every previous trip we have ever done and their favorite ride), but we are hard core offsite visitors who don't want to pay Disney or Disney Springs hotel prices. I know they were sad about this as they were texting me. They really felt like second class citizens watching the many onsite people riding. In the past we always were at the front of rope drop and never ever visited on a day with morning extra magic hours. Then it was off to adventure land where they had an LL for Big Thunder Mountain. They didn't try for a $LL or stand by line for 7DMT. The group going to the MK found getting regular LLs at the MK very helpful on the again sold out day (enough time savings that it was worth getting them) and they used five or more on their very full park day that started at 9 a.m. and ended after the fireworks at 9 p.m.

Despite all this: the crowds, the prices, the new system, all had lots of fun and would not hesitate to do Disney again (Disney diehards). Some of our 20/30 somethings enjoyed their day at Universal the most where I splurged for super expensive one time Express Passes to go with their one day park to park ticket. $200 pp for the one day ticket and $130 pp for the EP - so $340 pp for the day (ouch) and a throw away Universal deluxe hotel room would have been even more ($845 for one night, so $211 pp to get a fastpass that way - wayy too expensive. For DS 26, the Magic Kingdom was still his favorite day at the parks. He just loves this classic park.

 

[bchbetha]

I was onsite but the app kept spitting out new times all day long (Rise was the only one that never seemed to have more openings). Everything else just required a ton of refreshing on the app. Availability changed from minute to minute. The slots weren't really chronological. You could book a ride for 6pm only to refresh the app a bit later and see slots in the next hour. It was just random (though I am sure someone's tracking these drops). Don't give up and keep on refreshing.

 

[lolomarie]

I’m seeing conflicting information as to when offsite can book their first LL. Is it at 7 am or park open?

Also, what time should we arrive at the TTC for park open at MK? Are we allowed into main street prior to 9 am and position ourselves for 9 am offsite rope drop? Or are we held at the gates until 9 am?

Thanks!

 

[kathy884]

I’m seeing conflicting information as to when offsite can book their first LL. Is it at 7 am or park open?

Thanks!

Not conflicting messages, but there are two different items here. First there is the Genie item for $15 that lets all folks who buy in on and offsite make their first ride selection at 7 a.m. The second selection can be made after either riding the first or two hours after park opening. And stacking is allowed as you can do a new selection every two hours. This worked great for us as offsite visitors. I liked it much better than fastpass (I just used fastpass as an offsite visitor).

The second item are the special pay rides in each park: At our visit it was Remmy at Epcot, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the MK. (And didn't visit these parks last trip, so might be more than these, but Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom and Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios). Onsite can pay for a lightening lane for one of these at 7 a.m. while offsite can only try for one of these at park opening. This gives onsite a clear advantage. For example as offsite visitors were were not able to secure one of those paid passes for the new Remmy ride at Epcot in March when we tried at park opening. That meant those in our party who chose to do it did the standby line and I think their wait time was 85 minutes. This was a super busy spring break week with Epcot even sold out on this day.

 

[lap1072]

We were offsite Apr 4 at HS for 8am opening. I refreshed a few times and purchased $LL for Rise at 8:17 with 9:30am return time.