1-Day DCA Plan on Crowded Day

[mel2014]

We (me, DH, DD 9 and DS 7) were already planning a Veteran's Day weekend trip to Southern California to Universal Studios and Magic Mountain and are now adding a spur of the moment day at DCA on Friday November 10th to meet up with my best friend who will be there for the weekend and who I see infrequently.

We were at Disneyland in August 2016 and I felt like I had a pretty good game plan, but now with MaxPass, Toy Story FP, GotG, and the fact that both my kids are old enough for single-rider, I'm rethinking strategy.

Our priorities are: celebrating my son reaching the critical 48" with several rides on California Screamin', checking out GotG, and hanging out with my friend (whose kids are 3 and 5 and not nearly as adventurous as mine, which may complicate planning as we try to coordinate FPs).

My tentative plan is:
Book RSR FP with MaxPass while waiting for rope drop

Head to Paradise Pier at rope drop for TSMM and then CS (past experience indicates we can ride CS 4-5 times at rope drop with no wait)

See what else we can/want to do on Paradise Pier before RSR return

Book GotG FP after RSR return window starts

Do RSR and Carsland rides

Do Bug's land until GotG return time

Book Soarin' FP

Book RSR FP for evening, if possible. If not, do single rider

We can take or leave GRR, depending on weather and mood, so it seems like after a hectic morning, we'd have some time to slow down and wander the park with my friend, maybe take a break back at the hotel, depending on how crushing the crowds are.

Ride CS after dark

World of Color 10:15 show.

Does this seem like a viable plan? Would we be better off doing GotG FP first, since we always have the single rider option on RSR? Or do standby on GotG first and plan to get a Toy Story FP later in the day? Any other suggestions?

 

[tnzzz]

That is how we have toured DCA the last two trips more or less and works well! We used MP in September and rope dropped by pier, grabbed RSR FP, rode TSMM 2x, a few pier rides (didn't do CS but I'm sure could have fit it in), GRR standby, got GoTG FP, then did RSR and Luigi, we have young kids so we split and did Bugs Land while using rider swap on Guardians, FP GRR (my daughters favorite ride) then FP Soarin, then did Redwood Creek while waiting for our Sourin FP time. That got us to around late afternoon/early evening. We had lunch in there somewhere, and also did Animation Academy. We did CS after dinner I think.
So to answer your question, your plan seems doable based on my experience.

 

[PHXscuba]

My first-hours strategy that has worked well the past two visits:

Get GotG MaxPass before opening
Get in standby line for GoTg before opening and ride
Ride RSR single rider
Ride other Cars Land rides
Get TSMM MP when eligible
Ride GotG with MP
Head to Paradise Pier
Ride TSM with MP
**Mornings will have almost instant FP return times for Screamin -- ride as many times as you want

Depending on how much of your day you plan to spend with your friend and smaller kids, I'd think about meeting her mid-morning or after for lower priority rides that don't use FP.

World of Color 10:15 will make for a very LONG day if you are there before opening.

PHXscuba

 

[smartlabelprint]

I agree you'll need to get fp for GOTG first.

Also, you can get fp for tsmm. Not sure if you knew of the change.

 

[brockash]

I agree you'll need to get fp for GOTG first.

Also, you can get fp for tsmm. Not sure if you knew of the change.

If we get fp for GotG first using maxpass...on a busy day like week before Xmas, what do you think the return time would be...ballpark???

If we did this, do you think we'd still be able to get fastpasses for RSR after?

Thanks!

 

[smartlabelprint]

If we get fp for GotG first using maxpass...on a busy day like week before Xmas, what do you think the return time would be...ballpark???

If we did this, do you think we'd still be able to get fastpasses for RSR after?

Thanks!

Yes you could get rsr later. Right now GOTG are selling out first. You get a new fp after 90 minutes even if you haven't used your first one.

 

[mel2014]

My first-hours strategy that has worked well the past two visits:

Get GotG MaxPass before opening
Get in standby line for GoTg before opening and ride
Ride RSR single rider
Ride other Cars Land rides
Get TSMM MP when eligible
Ride GotG with MP
Head to Paradise Pier
Ride TSM with MP
**Mornings will have almost instant FP return times for Screamin -- ride as many times as you want

Depending on how much of your day you plan to spend with your friend and smaller kids, I'd think about meeting her mid-morning or after for lower priority rides that don't use FP.

World of Color 10:15 will make for a very LONG day if you are there before opening.

PHXscuba

Thanks. This sounds like it's a better game plan, especially if all of the Spiderman 5K runners are up early and head to the parks for rope drop. My 9-year old is inexplicably terrifled of the theme of Tower of Terror, but loves the drop aspect, so I'm hoping she'll like GotG. Since we're getting Photopass with MaxPass I was hoping to get all 4 of us on RSR at once for a photo, but may have to sacrifice that for more rides if it's crowded. Just from popping into the app now and then, it seems like the Toy Story fast passes go more slowly, so maybe we could do an RSR FP after GotG and still snag TSMM later in the day.

 

[PHXscuba]

Thanks. This sounds like it's a better game plan, especially if all of the Spiderman 5K runners are up early and head to the parks for rope drop. My 9-year old is inexplicably terrifled of the theme of Tower of Terror, but loves the drop aspect, so I'm hoping she'll like GotG. Since we're getting Photopass with MaxPass I was hoping to get all 4 of us on RSR at once for a photo, but may have to sacrifice that for more rides if it's crowded. Just from popping into the app now and then, it seems like the Toy Story fast passes go more slowly, so maybe we could do an RSR FP after GotG and still snag TSMM later in the day.

I think you could definitely get MPs for GotG, RSR, and then TSM throughout the day. I love riding RSR at night, so I saved my ride-together MP for that timeframe (watched the app through the morning and got a 7:15-8:15 p.m. at 10:50 a.m.) while I used other MPs like I mentioned above.

My before-opening MP secured at 7:44 a.m. for GotG had a return time of 8:40-9:40 a.m. on an October Thursday, so getting a RSR MP shouldn't be hard afterward.

FWIW, my DS12 used to HATE ToT -- scary theme and drop ride. He hadn't been on since he was 6. The new theme convinced him to try again (he loves Marvel) and he loved it. We rode a total of 3 times that day!

PHXscuba