Time for a solid rope drop plan - will you help, please?

[momof2n2]

Garden Grove borders Anaheim and Disneyland Resort area. It’s not an African Safari in the wildnerness lol An hour is crazy.

Stick to major streets, follow Google Maps, and you’ll be fine. What cross streets are you coming from OP?

Looks like Trask and Harbour.

 

[momof2n2]

Neither do AP’s!!! Every time we go I say they should have an express entrance for Ap’s because we stand there watching all of these photos being taken.

Your vacation is stressing me out and I’m not even going just relax, breathe, and enjoy DL. It is NOT WDW. You’ll have an amazing time, even if you get in the gate 5 minutes later than the first person. Promise!!

It’s hard to shake the every second counts mentality of WDW...

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Wow. Just wow.
I liked this post because it is helpful information.
But I don't "like" how we have to stop for pictures on our way into the park and to sign tickets.
I'm starting to wonder if I should wait for our MM day for the following Tuesday and just start our very first day as a regular visitor and maybe even go to DCA first.

Should we do Saturday as our MM day???? Just a thought.


"Speed. I. Am. Speed."

As mentioned by others, the picture/signing thing isn’t a huge deal... it does definitely slow down some lines in the morning (which can be annoying to wait behind), but it’s not like your family will have this long process to get in. I think you’re overwhelming yourself a bit here.

If Tuesday is a 7am MM and Saturday is 8am, then I’d go Tuesday. You CAN book FPs during MM (but the return times will be after park opening) - you want to do that early so you get the soonest return time, but don’t stress about doing it the second you get in. 10-15 minutes later would be fine.

With four days, you are going to have MORE than enough time to do everything.

I’d leave your hotel at 5:45, personally, but honestly, even if you leave late and get there later than you want... you’ll be fine. Way more depends on your attitude and flexibility than anything else.

What does this mean?

If you were staying at one of the hotels on Harbor (right outside the Disneyland gates) would mean you could just walk, which would make a significant difference in your arrival plans. Moot point since you’re not staying there...

 

[momof2n2]

As mentioned by others, the picture/signing thing isn’t a huge deal... it does definitely slow down some lines in the morning (which can be annoying to wait behind), but it’s not like your family will have this long process to get in. I think you’re overwhelming yourself a bit here.

If Tuesday is a 7am MM and Saturday is 8am, then I’d go Tuesday. You CAN book FPs during MM (but the return times will be after park opening) - you want to do that early so you get the soonest return time, but don’t stress about doing it the second you get in. 10-15 minutes later would be fine.

With four days, you are going to have MORE than enough time to do everything.

I’d leave your hotel at 5:45, personally, but honestly, even if you leave late and get there later than you want... you’ll be fine. Way more depends on your attitude and flexibility than anything else.


If you were staying at one of the hotels on Harbor (right outside the Disneyland gates) would mean you could just walk, which would make a significant difference in your arrival plans. Moot point since you’re not staying there...

Got it.
We are a family of 8 plus grandma. We like to rent homes for vacations over hotels. I would have liked a townhouse behind convention center but they were too highly priced. We do the same in WDW and are often the first cars in the lots from our rental homes, so getting up and out doesn’t bug us. The part that’s stressing me is the unknown. While I am not having to book throwaway campsites and reserving rides at 60 days out (for happy WDW touring) I am feeling the pain of not knowing lots of details.

Lucky Rabbit is right that once I get past this the first day, I’ll likely feel volumes better.

Peter Pan does stress me a tad. All four of our days are MM options for people so there will never be a rope drop opportunity for us except the day WE do MM based on the days we are visiting. I’m going to have to just accept that we’ll use that hour one time in the week and let it go.

 

[agamble]

I know vacation is stressful. Funny how that works.

Don't worry about your ticket pictures on your first day. You are going to be first in line so they'll take care of you fine. It's the people behind you that'll be grumpy about it. LOL.

It's okay to try for Peter Pan. I am in the group that says don't ride it if you can't be on quickly, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Everything will be fine.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

It’s hard to shake the every second counts mentality of WDW...

Yes! We're WDW APs and visiting DLR tomorrow for the first time in 21 years. I have no idea what to expect.

 

[momof2n2]

Yes! We're WDW APs and visiting DLR tomorrow for the first time in 21 years. I have no idea what to expect.

Ooohhhhh!!!! Have a great time and report back!!!!!!!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

For the OP:
Just a thought here: what time do you arrive in Garden Grove the day before your first DLR day? Sometimes it can really help calm nerves to do a dry run the day before. You will be close enough to the parks to be able to leave the kids with Grandma at your rental house and go with DH to "rehearse" your morning route to the parks. If you have the time, take your route of choice (straight up Harbor, I assume?) to M&F, then, depending on how much time you want to commit to this, either turn around and drive home OR actually have DH drop you off at the Harbor drop off so that you can quickly walk to the esplanade (leave your bags in the car with DH so that you can go through bag check quickly) to see the turnstiles to know what you will "see" on your first morning. DH can circle the block (this will take a little while, so you'll have plenty of time to make a good mental image of the esplanade and gates of DL and DCA), then meet him back at the drop off so he can pick you up. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do -- especially if this will help you get a good night's sleep before your first park day.
Otherwise, if none of the above is necessary, then take deep breaths and keep telling yourself that everything you've read on these boards will make perfect sense once you actually see it in person in the parks! What sounds like a long ordeal when you read it here will probably only take a few minutes or less once your eyes process the information and you make sense of what you've only read about.
Just keep swimming! No matter what happens, you're going to have a great trip!

 

[momof2n2]

For the OP:
Just a thought here: what time do you arrive in Garden Grove the day before your first DLR day? Sometimes it can really help calm nerves to do a dry run the day before. You will be close enough to the parks to be able to leave the kids with Grandma at your rental house and go with DH to "rehearse" your morning route to the parks. If you have the time, take your route of choice (straight up Harbor, I assume?) to M&F, then, depending on how much time you want to commit to this, either turn around and drive home OR actually have DH drop you off at the Harbor drop off so that you can quickly walk to the esplanade (leave your bags in the car with DH so that you can go through bag check quickly) to see the turnstiles to know what you will "see" on your first morning. DH can circle the block (this will take a little while, so you'll have plenty of time to make a good mental image of the esplanade and gates of DL and DCA), then meet him back at the drop off so he can pick you up. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do -- especially if this will help you get a good night's sleep before your first park day.
Otherwise, if none of the above is necessary, then take deep breaths and keep telling yourself that everything you've read on these boards will make perfect sense once you actually see it in person in the parks! What sounds like a long ordeal when you read it here will probably only take a few minutes or less once your eyes process the information and you make sense of what you've only read about.
Just keep swimming! No matter what happens, you're going to have a great trip!

This is a fabulous idea!!!
I need to look at our itinerary to see if this would work out nicely.

We should be in town by 2PM or so.

We have to get groceries and intend to hit up a plaza with ALDI, Dollar Tree and Walmart.
Maybe we could do the Disney drive by then head to groceries. I’m away from my planning sheets/maps but this really speaks to my planning self. Thank you.

 

[SeansMom]

So - the hours are all in for our trip to DLR next month.



What parking will be available at 6:12AM/6:20AM?

Should we actually leave earlier than 6 AM? (We can do it.)

Will the Esplanade be open at that time?

We have tickets scanned into the app. Tix are from LMT. Do I actually bring our paper tix, too?

How long should I estimate it will take to get through the turnstile when they open?

We will join the crowd doing the mad dash to Peter Pan (because one of the nine of us LOVES Peter Pan. That is the baby of the family.... five years old.) Does it make sense to buy our MaxPass as we are waiting in either that line, or one of the Fantasyland rides that we are going to try to get through in that hour? Should I be buying it as we walk (run) to PP? Will moments count? (Can you tell we are WDW vets?)




Saying that - I need to confess right here that I am a little uptight about the LACK of planning we have to do. I suspect that after this trip is complete that I will look back and look favorably upon the more chilled out atmosphere wildly reported at DLR over WDW. But right now the lack of a game plan is a little disconcerting.

Also - I've been told I should plan on catching the fireworks every night given that they are frequently cancelled. That night, Fireworks are listed at DLR for 9:30 PM and F! is listed for 10:30PM. I know F! is purportedly better at DLR, than DHS, but we aren't huge fans of F! at DHS. On the other hand, the castle projections sound exciting. That being said, if we find nice spots for the fireworks (is that called Together Forever?) and they are cancelled for 9:30 PM, is there any chance whatsoever that we'd get a spot to see F!? Or would our window of opportunity have passed?

I eagerly await all suggestions.

Here is what I did when I went with my niece in December and it was fairly successful; Drop your family off at the down town Disney entrance. That entrance that has the least lines for security and they can go through and go hold a place in line. Then drive to the toy story parking lot and wait for the shuttle. Make sure you give your family everything except for your drivers license and your cell phone. Then when you get back to Security you can go through the middle line which is the no bags of wine. It is 1 million times faster and therefore you should be able to meet up with your family pretty quickly. You can also drop your family off at the Harbor Boulevard entrance early and they can go through the regular security, however, having gone through all three sets of security in the morning I believe that the downtown Disney security is the quickest to get through. I hope this helps have fun!

 

[dina444444]

Here is what I did when I went with my niece in December and it was fairly successful; Drop your family off at the down town Disney entrance. That entrance that has the least lines for security and they can go through and go hold a place in line. Then drive to the toy story parking lot and wait for the shuttle. Make sure you give your family everything except for your drivers license and your cell phone. Then when you get back to Security you can go through the middle line which is the no bags of wine. It is 1 million times faster and therefore you should be able to meet up with your family pretty quickly. You can also drop your family off at the Harbor Boulevard entrance early and they can go through the regular security, however, having gone through all three sets of security in the morning I believe that the downtown Disney security is the quickest to get through. I hope this helps have fun!

The toy story lot isn’t open for EMH/Magic Morning parking.

 

[WillowHaven]

All four of our days are MM options for people so there will never be a rope drop opportunity for us except the day WE do MM based on the days we are visiting. I’m going to have to just accept that we’ll use that hour one time in the week and let it go.

If all 4 of your days are EMH/MM at DL, you could start your day in CA and do rope drop there. Most of my 8yo's favorite things are in CA- RR, GRR, TSMM, and looking forward to trying GotG!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

To the OP: Have you seen this: Watch #DisneyParksLIVE Stream of ‘Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular’ from Disneyland Park, May 15 at 9:25 p.m. PST? Your kids may really enjoy this sneak preview! It will be the castle view, so they'll already know what that looks like. Then when you watch on Main Street or anywhere else, they'll have a mental comparison.

 

[momof2n2]

To the OP: Have you seen this: Watch #DisneyParksLIVE Stream of ‘Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular’ from Disneyland Park, May 15 at 9:25 p.m. PST? Your kids may really enjoy this sneak preview! It will be the castle view, so they'll already know what that looks like. Then when you watch on Main Street or anywhere else, they'll have a mental comparison.

That would be cool. But 12:25 AM local time. LOL.
Hopefully it’ll be available afterward as a rebroadcast.
Thanks for thinking of me!!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

That would be cool. But 12:25 AM local time...

Yikes! Definitely do the rebroadcast or YouTube because you'll never get a viewing spot as good as the Parks Blog camera person! Especially at the castle without camping out!

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Last Monday, we (two adults) went to Disneyland for the first time in 21 years. We've been WDW annual pass holders on and off and love WDW (as well as DCL).
We had researched the MaxPass beforehand, but decided to wait and see.

We arrived at the gate 8:15 am, and it wasn't too busy.
Gate opened at 8:30 am, and we went straight to the Tomorrowland rope. We read about the advice to go to Fantasyland first, but while those rides are cute, they're not on our most-do list. 9:00 am the rope dropped, and off to Hyperspace Mountain we went. Before we went into the main queue, we got a Fastpass, and then went in line with still only a 15 minute wait. At that moment we decided not to get MaxPass, and just to do it the traditional way.

Our day was as followed:
Hyperspace Mountain 15 minute wait
Hyperspace Mountain w/ FP @ 9:55 am
Matterhorn Bobsleds 10 minute wait.
Indiana Jones Adventure w/ FP @ 10:40 am
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 10 minute wait.
Star Tours w/ FP @ 11:50 am
Lunch
Splash Mountain w/ FP @ 12:25 pm
Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island no wait
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad w/ FP @ 1:30 pm
Haunted Mansion w/ FP @ 2:05 pm
Shopping at Main Street U.S.A.
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln 5 minute wait
Indiana Jones Adventure w/ FP @ 4:45 pm
Explored Mickey's Toontown.
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin w/ FP @ 5:20 pm
"It's a Small World" w/ FP @ 5:40 pm
Pixar Parade @ 6:00 pm
Disneyland Railroad no wait
Dinner
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad w/ FP @ 9:00 pm
Fireworks @ 9:30 pm
Desert
Pinocchio's Daring Journey 15 minute wait
Snow White's Scary Adventures 10 minute wait
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride 15 minute wait
Alice in Wonderland 15 minute wait

10 Fastpasses and we got to do everything we wanted (except for Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage, which closed down several times that day), and our top 3 rides twice. Sure, we walked around a bit to get the Fastpasses, but we're used to WDW and we're fit and young, so that didn't bother us. We had a magical day!

 

[momof2n2]

Last Monday, we (two adults) went to Disneyland for the first time in 21 years. We've been WDW annual pass holders on and off and love WDW (as well as DCL).
We had researched the MaxPass beforehand, but decided to wait and see.

We arrived at the gate 8:15 am, and it wasn't too busy.
Gate opened at 8:30 am, and we went straight to the Tomorrowland rope. We read about the advice to go to Fantasyland first, but while those rides are cute, they're not on our most-do list. 9:00 am the rope dropped, and off to Hyperspace Mountain we went. Before we went into the main queue, we got a Fastpass, and then went in line with still only a 15 minute wait. At that moment we decided not to get MaxPass, and just to do it the traditional way.

Our day was as followed:
Hyperspace Mountain 15 minute wait
Hyperspace Mountain w/ FP @ 9:55 am
Matterhorn Bobsleds 10 minute wait.
Indiana Jones Adventure w/ FP @ 10:40 am
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 10 minute wait.
Star Tours w/ FP @ 11:50 am
Lunch
Splash Mountain w/ FP @ 12:25 pm
Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island no wait
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad w/ FP @ 1:30 pm
Haunted Mansion w/ FP @ 2:05 pm
Shopping at Main Street U.S.A.
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln 5 minute wait
Indiana Jones Adventure w/ FP @ 4:45 pm
Explored Mickey's Toontown.
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin w/ FP @ 5:20 pm
"It's a Small World" w/ FP @ 5:40 pm
Pixar Parade @ 6:00 pm
Disneyland Railroad no wait
Dinner
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad w/ FP @ 9:00 pm
Fireworks @ 9:30 pm
Desert
Pinocchio's Daring Journey 15 minute wait
Snow White's Scary Adventures 10 minute wait
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride 15 minute wait
Alice in Wonderland 15 minute wait

10 Fastpasses and we got to do everything we wanted (except for Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage, which closed down several times that day), and our top 3 rides twice. Sure, we walked around a bit to get the Fastpasses, but we're used to WDW and we're fit and young, so that didn't bother us. We had a magical day!

Sounds like a fabulous day! Glad to hear pulling FP wasn't a hassle.
Our plan is first day MP, second day no MP, then decide from there. We have a Saturday for third day... I'm wondering if MP would be smart on a weekend.

 

[chickapin parterre]

thank you crissy mickey, the FP collection looks incredible !!!

 

[cmwade77]

Awesome! Thank you for weighing in. Glad to know there is some possibility for early queuing!

Actually, if you are one of the few at the beginning of the entry line, they will sometimes scan your tickets a few minutes before letting people in, basically you can begin using Maxpass the second your ticket is scanned into either park, so while waiting to be let in, if your ticket has already been scanned get a fastpass.

 

[Cinderella94]

Basic question but just want to make sure I have it right - Fantasyland attractions are the best use of EMH time (we definitely want to ride the attractions that are not at WDW) because they do not have FP, correct?