If you are out of town or an infrequent visitor, another reason to avoid rope dropping Rise or Radiator Springs Racers is the frequency in which they are not yet running at the start of the day due to mechanical issues. Although not super common, in my experience these rides are down 1/5 rope drops.

@alexiagordy5193

Ай бұрын

I am planning on visiting December 26th-28th this year and really want to ride every ride. Should I buy LL for Resistance and Racers or just wait in the line? I already have genie plus and don't wanna spend the extra money but also don't know a good strategy. I'm from Iowa and this will be my first/may be my only visit.

I am from South Africa. I watched your videos and ropedrop and food recommendations before visiting Disneyland for the first time on Saturday. Thank you so much, your videos are very helpful and to the point. Unfortunately, I only had a day to do it. But your time estimates for rides and your rope drop strategies really helped me go on the majority of the popular rides across both parks in a single day. I kept crossing lands when rides reopened or had shorter than the average wait times you mention in your videos. Also your recommendations to not get burgers/pizza but rather try other food options was also great. I got the churros, cheesy garlic bread, the not so little chicken sandwich (Pyms kitchen) and the fried chicken and mash (star wars). All were great, especially since it was a cold rainy day. Thanks again, and hope your videos continue to help people!

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Thank you! I loved reading this and am so glad you had an awesome visit.

The videos are so good. We followed the rope drop strategy for both Disney and California and it worked very well. You have to prepare if you want to maximize your time at Disneyland nowadays and we would recommend these videos to anyone wanting to do that when they go to Disneyland.

Omg this is perfect. Just planned a trip to this and I was looking for this exact video! I have not been in years and didn’t know what the heck Genie+ was or what to do with it. Thank you!

Planning my first Rope Drop ever, and these videos are super helpful! Thank you for all the info!

So helpful as always. That's why you're my # 1 vlogger. And because you're awesome. And yes to Genie +. Specially if you only have 1 or 2 days. And you don't go often. If I have a 4 day pass. I usually buy it second to last day.

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

We are usually the opposite. We buy it the first time we are in a given park. So at WDW, we will do it 4 days. Then on our repeat days we usually forego it.

Thanks for this! Super helpful for my next trip!!!!

My sister and I recently got passes and I’ve learned so much about your park strategy. I love space mountain and can’t wait to do a rope drop for it. I arrived to the park early one day and happened to be rope dropping. I decided to head towards rise of the resistance. Everyone was nearly jog walking way the heck over there. 😅I was pooped when i got there and….it closed….bummer. Thought I’d head to thunder mountain and it closed when i was in line….bummer. I ate then went to Toon town. The mickey ride was closed. 3rd bummer. The Magic was NOT happening that day. But hey! The weather was great. The vibe was awesome and I got a lot of steps in that day. Love your channel and just subscribed and liked. Hope to see you at the park someday.

Thanks for the great video! You’re one of my fav vloggers since all of your videos really help the out of town guest. 😊

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

A video of essentials you carry in your backpack for the family would be awesome. Love the videos, gives us planners some great insight. First time for us Feb.19,20

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Aside from snacks and sunscreen, we don’t ever really carry anything with us in the parks. 90% of the time I don’t even take a backpack. I usually only take one if it’s going to rain or there’s the threat of rain because I need my umbrella and a change of socks just in case. Amy has all her normal purse things of course, but I can’t really think of anything else that usually goes in there aside from snacks and sunscreen. Phone chargers? Hers goes in her backpack. But mine fits in my pocket next to my phone since it’s sort of phone shaped. If we are going to go on a water ride, we might pack plastic bags or ponchos. But they do have free lockers next to Grizzly River Run for storing your valuables so you don’t need to worry about plastic bags for things like your phone if you use those. I’m a minimal packer though. I try to take as little with me as possible.

I love the strategy because you get ride the rides more than once. 😆 I'm going next month with my sisters and we haven't been in years. Your videos are very helpful. Thank you both!

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Yes! That’s the idea! We rode Big Thunder 3 times that day. And Space twice.

love your videos!!! rewatching old ones too just because🥳

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Exactly what I wanted! Thanks!

I’ve never rope dropped space mountain bc I would use genie+, but it makes sense if you wanted to finish that side of the park by morning. Plus nothing like a cup of coffee and going to space to wake you up. Might have to try it.

I'm coming here next month see you there

Great vid

You guys are cool. Make a great team.

I can’t wait to go back again , might go for the food and wine festival

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

That’s a good time to go for tasty food. Not so great for crowds, unless you go at the start or end, on the fringes of Spring Break.

Great video as usual, very informative - thank you

my rope drop experience is on my channel with time stamps. also did 6 rides in the first 2 hours, started with space mountain as well

Asking this at the start of the vid, so maybe you’ll cover it. My fam’s rope drop strategy generally involves SM 1st, then the stuff like MH/BTMR/IJ etc. I’m considering just buying the bullet & going to Rise 1st this June. I was wondering: 1.) How long is the wait typically for RotR first thing at 8 a.m. 2.) being a longer ride + the wait, how much time would we realistically have leftover for the golden hr after. 3.) What is the absolute fastest walking route to RotR. Thanks! Edit: you totally answered the 1st two Qs immediately in the vid 😂. We’ve only been on it once due to line time & the cost of a la cart G+. That’s why I was wondering. 1:59

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

The fastest route is through Frontierland because if you go in through Critter Country the line wraps back towards the Black Spire Outpost Market and so you do a lot of extra walking and the line keeps getting longer as you backtrack. The best strategy is actually early entry with onsite hotel guests because they can get all the way to Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland and it’s a real short jaunt down to the entrance of Galaxy’s Edge. But of course that costs a pretty penny to stay there and is situational only because it’s better to bite the bullet and buy the ILL as opposed to staying on property. I still find 9 AM to be the best time to hop in line for Rise. There’s just a greater chance of it breaking around that time. If it’s a high priority, then I’d say rope drop it and deal with the loss of time. If you have multiple days then you can do Rise the first day and the regular strategy the second day.

Hi! Love your videos! If you only have one day at Disneyland & DCA using genie+, which park would you go to first? DCA closes at 10pm and Disneyland closes at 12am the day we are planning to go.

@SoCalDisneyDad

Ай бұрын

I’d start in Disneyland, hop to DCA after lunch, stay there through dinner, and hop back to Disneyland for the evening. Have a few key things in DCA that you want to do because you won’t be able to do it all. I’d say the same with Disneyland as well. But that’s how I’d arrange the day personally. You could hop at 11 AM and have lunch at DCA and dinner at Disneyland, or both meals at Disneyland depending on how you want to split the meals, but we almost always do DCA in the afternoon on our usual visits.

Hello there. I am rope dropping Disney California adventure could you make a rope drop video in Disney California adventure with genie plus please.

When I stay at hotel 730-800 I can do Peter Pan, Alice, toad, snow whote and pinnocho and I rope dropped rise (pretty close). Did they last week Thursday

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

That is an EXCELLENT strategy for early entry guests. Because Peter Pan is its lowest during early entry. And you are positioned a lot closer to Rise than guests in the hub so can get there before the rush. Or at least the walkers. The runners probably beat you.

does every single ride have rider swap option? where do you stand with your toddler when you are waiting to be switched out? is there a designated area on each ride for somebody waiting to swap?!

Hey guys! Thanks for the video , do you know how long haunted mansion will closed for ?

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Disney hasn’t said, but rumors are it will be closed until August. If it opens earlier, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. That’s how I choose to look at it.

Hi Traver! I watched lots of your other park videos for a family trip we took to SoCal in the fall and they were so helpful! Thanks for making these. I may get to visit DL for the first time this summer, as a solo traveler. Being well-versed in WDW, my question is, what’s the #1 piece of strategy advice you’d give to a DL newbie? I know how to study up on MDE, G+, maps, etc. Any secrets I’d otherwise miss? Thanks in advance. 😊

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

Keep an eye on the channel as we will be doing a whole series of WDW vs Disneyland videos coming up. The first one is this Wednesday and it’s all the rides at Disneyland you can’t ride at Disney World. In future videos we will cover the rides that are the same and what makes them different, and which are better here than WDW. We will likely also have a food edition comparing the parks. And then at some point a tips/FYI for WDWers such as how close the parks are to one another. I know there are just some assumptions people make about Disney if WDW is all they know. So we do have these things planned, etc. If you have any requests about things you’d specifically like to see in this similar line of thought let me know and I’ll see if I can either work it into a planned video or get enough content to create a whole video around the idea.

@silverari23

5 ай бұрын

@@SoCalDisneyDad amazing! Thank you. :)

We are going for our first time in April! We only have 2.5 days so definitely doing Genie+. I like your strategy. What about Matterhorn? Does that get long lines? Would that be a good first Genie? We are huge WDW ppl so will skip Galaxy’s edge as we’ve already done that a bunch! Thanks!!

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

We did Matterhorn immediately after Mickey and Minnie’s. It was just after what I consider to be rope drop. So it didn’t make the video. I still think the two we chose are the best two to do first because they are the two that will disappear the fastest. Meaning if you don’t do them early, you’ll be stuck engaging the 2 hour rule to do them. If you don’t know what that means, check out my video from yesterday on Genie+, as it goes into more detail on that sort of thing. Your two most iconic rides for you guys will be Indy and Matterhorn of course. So if you want to forego MMRR because you’ve ridden a dozen times at WDW, then feel free to skip it. At least until you get your “priorities” taken care of. Edit: being WDW people you probably do know how to use Genie+ and the 2 hour rule. But if you’re interested to see what disappears and how fast, the video from yesterday, despite being mostly a tutorial, does A LOT of showing the app every time we book a ride. And I scroll the whole list to how far attractions are out. That may be useful to you to gauge which rides are the more popular attractions on Genie+

With Rope Dropping do you park in mickey and friends like normal or is it not open that early?

Looking forward to our first Disney trip in 2025 all the way from QLD Australia! Your videos have been super helpful to plan our time at the parks! Is Haunted Manson a ride you would usually rope drop or just due to it being under construction and a walk on ride?

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

A bit of both. Haunted Mansion can have a standby line at 60 minutes because it’s got a Lightning Lane. The same could be said of Pirates now that it has one while Haunted is closed. So Pirates would become an attraction I’d consider. At the same time, if you have Genie+ you can ride it later with Genie+ We did a lot of lightning lanes early because we wanted to ride them again later on Genie. So we rope dropped them and then rode them again later. We rode Big Thunder 3 times, Space twice, and Buzz twice that day.

@maddymtaylor

6 ай бұрын

Super helpful, thank you!! 😁

Great vid! Very helpful. Any chance you could do a Rope Drop Genie + for DCA as well? Goin in March (with Genie +) to both parks, so any tips would be super helpful :)

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

We do have plans to do at least two more Genie+ videos. A day where we attempt to ride every ride in Disneyland in a single day using Genie+ and a day where we do the same in DCA. But I'm not sure when we'll be doing those videos.

@ReezA.MP3

6 ай бұрын

Do the fantasy land rope drop strategy be has , then after ride whatever you want using the genie + we did all fantasy land (expect Peter Pan) before 10 am

@XtramasSavage

5 ай бұрын

@@ReezA.MP3 I said for DCA, not Disneyland but thank u

Seems like a useful video but the noun was never defined, what is "rope drop"?

@ZZ-by9zk

Ай бұрын

It’s when Disney drops the literal rope that keeps ppl from entering the different lands where all the rides are.

Hi! Great videos they’re very helpful. I want to ask for your advice. Me, wife, and my 10yo son are going there next week. We all have genie+ but planning not to purchase lightning lanes. We will do the rope drop but my son doesn’t want to do the space mountain first since he got dizzy and threw up after that ride. So what do you suggest are first 5 rides during the golden hour (rope drop -10am)

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

That depends on what you’re looking to ride. Fantasyland is a solid option for knocking out a lot of rides fast that aren’t on Genie+ But if you’d like to ride some of the bigger Genie+ attractions twice, then it doesn’t hurt to start with those, like Indiana Jones, Big Thunder, Pirates, Matterhorn. It also depends on what you’re looking to accomplish with your day. But those are the two main strategies I would suggest deciding between.

@reyzorback

5 ай бұрын

@@SoCalDisneyDad We will still ride the space mountain, but just not first. Maybe 4th or 5th.

What would you recommend for Rope Drop with Genie+ and a 36" tall child? My husband and are had planned to do the Child Swap thing, (we also have 2 older children tall enough for everything) but would you still recommend going for the bigger mountain/indy rides first? I'm assuming it will take us longer to do each ride if we need to switch off.

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

You might need to adapt that to doing a little ride first to keep your little one happy. One consideration would be rope dropping Alice in Wonderland because it doesn't have a lightning lane, then seeing if you can do Matterhorn without a wait. Or go to Space after, the wait should still be rather minimal. You'll just need to come up with your own ride priority plan. Of course, with Genie+ you will get to ride those bigger attractions on Genie+. We did it the way we did because we wanted to ride those rides TWICE. However, you probably won't want to do that, because then the little one has to sit out twice. You are probably better off just rope dropping Fantasyland, powering through as many of those rides as you can before your first lightning lane (recommend Indiana Jones like in this video). Then seeing what else is available after Indy.

When do you recommend riding peter pan? Btw, thanks for the amazing content!

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Earlier in the morning or later in the evening in general. But truthfully, the line is long all day. And mostly the same time wait time. Hangs around 40 minutes. The only way to avoid that wait is to have early entry OR rope drop it at the front of the line on a day Disneyland doesn’t have early entry (alternating days just started). I’ve rope dropped it before and wasn’t at the front of the line and it still took me 25-30 minutes. When we rope dropped Fantasyland, we did every ride except Peter Pan. And did that last. That way we can enjoy the low waits on the rest first. For instance, you can walk on every other dark ride before 9 AM mostly.

When do you recommend riding Jungle cruise if you don't do it in the first hour, since it's not early entry or LL?

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Whenever you like. It’s a ride I typically ride in the late afternoon. Because it’s not on Genie+ the line hits 30 minutes tops. But it usually hangs out around 20. And even if it’s posted at 30, I often find it to be less than that. Pirates is usually in the same “boat” haha. It might be posted at 35, but generally moves faster. However now that’s it on lightning lane as of Monday, it’s a different story that I don’t have practical advice for yet. I generally do the standby only rides in the afternoon while I’m waiting for lightning lanes. Like if you have to engage the 2 hour rule. They usually float around the 20-30 minute mark range at their busiest. Like Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr Toad, Winnie the Pooh, etc.

Do you have recommendations for park hopping with genie+? Specifically which rides to do early entry, which to LL first, then when hop and what to do first once you hop? We have two days with park hopper. Staying at GC and I’m stumped on where to start and when to move back and forth for the best use of time.

@SoCalDisneyDad

3 ай бұрын

For a day starting at Disneyland, with early entry, I would probably go to Peter Pan first as that ride is less than 20 minutes before rope drop and you won't find it that good any other time. After finishing this, provided you showed up at 7:20 AM and are able to start riding right at 7:30 AM, you should still have time for another ride, so go to Space Mountain before the rope drop rush. What you grab first in terms of LL is a bit of a mixed bag because you shouldn't use your LL before 9 AM as it's a bit of waste, but I'd suggest Indiana Jones. Go do some other things the first hour, just depends on what's available and the wait times. We usually Big Thunder, but it was 45 minutes yesterday at 8:20 AM, so we went to Mickey and Minnie's at a 5 minute wait and it was great. Keep an eye on Indianan Jones and try to only use your LL once the wait exceeds 30 minutes or longer. Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot of line skipping going on. After Indiana Jones, grab whatever you can that's a high priority. Once you hop, the key lightning lane rides are Soarin, Toy Story, Incredicoaster, and Guardians of the Galaxy. You'll need to judge their return times, but Toy Story will likely be the hardest to get. Soarin' LL is invaluable because of how slow the standby is, so that one is a must, too.

@SoCalDisneyDad

3 ай бұрын

For a day start at DCA, with early entry, I'd do Guardians of the Galaxy or Spider-Man. After this, walk over to Radiator Springs Racers, if it opens early, you'll get on before rope drop crowds arrive. If it doesn't open early, you'll still be in line before the rope drop crowds, which is crucial. First LL should be Toy Story as soon as it opens. I say this, because it often has a delayed start and you won't be able to get a LL until it does open. But it'll get an instant 30+ minute wait, so the LL is super helpful. Of course, this all takes into consideration that you didn't ride any of these rides the day before, or want to repeat them or this is the first day, and my previous comment hasn't happened yet. Fill the rest of the morning as you can. When you hop, you'll have to play LLs in Disneyland by ear, but I'd specifically look at Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Pirates, and Smuggler's as some that will disappear a little quicker. Assuming you rode Space Mountain and Indiana Jones the day before. Rise of the Resistance is best to standby in the evening, after 7 PM.

@daniellewaller7814

3 ай бұрын

You are SO nice to share this insight! We are pros at using Genie+ at WDW but really no idea for DL/DCA. This helps so much! Would love a video on it if you ever wanted to “strategize” park hopping!! Haha but your comments here alone are really helpful!! Thank you!!

What do you suggest we rope drop with a 7 year old and 4 year old in both parks? We also purchased genie plus!

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

Depends on your strategy. If you’d like to ride favorites/popular rides twice, then this strategy is great. If your goal is to ride as many different rides as possible, go to Fantasyland first. We are filming a video today, to come out next week, that is our attempt to ride every single ride at Disneyland in a single day. We will see how it goes. 😂

@user-lf3ng2tt9e

5 ай бұрын

I was trying to decide if rope dropping runaway railway was a good option or if we hit up all the fantasyland rides, then go to runaway railway once it dies down. I want to try not to purchase lightning lanes if I don’t have to and just use Genie plus! Can’t wait to watch your video!! Love all of them!!

Do you need genie + to make mobile food orders?

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

No. Anyone can place mobile orders on the Disneyland app. In fact, you can try it at home. Just don’t go through with the purchase. But you can peruse all the menus, even add items. Because you can actually place an order from home and have a friend pick it up in the park, etc.

Think it will be reopen by May?

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Haunted Mansion? Hard to say. The rumors are saying August. So that’s what I’m expecting. And will be pleasantly surprised if it’s sooner.

I guess you could say your two rides on Astro-Blasters were a bit of a Buzz-Kill.

Whats the difference between LL and G+

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

There isn’t one. They are the same thing. Genie+ is just the name of the service you book Lightning Lanes through.

8:32 it was a sign the ride was going to crash mid way 🤣🤣

Is haunted mansion going to be closed, or just the old outside line?

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

The ride is completely closed. Not just the queue.

@thehenden7030

5 ай бұрын

What a bummer! Thank you

I have a question, is there some sort of strategy to always be in front of the roller coasters?

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

Just request the front row. You’ll have to wait an extra 1-3 ride cycles in most cases but if you want a specific row, just ask the cast member that assigns the rows.

@StrictlyHonest

5 ай бұрын

@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you!

@SocalDisneyDaughter

5 ай бұрын

@@SoCalDisneyDad At what point do you ask them? When you’re in the front, or when you’re getting told to go in a row for the roller coaster?

@SoCalDisneyDad

5 ай бұрын

@@SocalDisneyDaughter When they’re telling you what row to go to. You would ask that cast member since they are the ones in charging of assigning rows.

Why do you rope drop LL attractions and not non-LL rides? I totally get not rope dropping Peter Pan unless you're right at the rope cause it's a lost cause. But why not rope drop Gadget Coaster or Jungle Cruise?

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

Jungle Cruise can be ridden at any point throughout the day at a 15-20 minute wait, even if it's posted longer (rarely). Gadget is not worth riding unless you have a 2 year old just tall enough to ride. Rope dropping LL attractions allows you to ride them once when the standby is 10 minutes or less, and then AGAIN when you use your lightning lane later in the day to skip a 50-60 minute wait. Any ride not on Genie+ will never have a wait longer than 30 minutes at it's absolute worst, and is often much better, with some very rare exceptions (Peter Pan, Alice, Dumbo). The rides to ride during rope drop are the rides that are 45+ minute waits later in the day. Then, when all those rides are really busy, you can either ride them again with a lightning lane, or ride the standby only rides, since they won't get long lines. The lines only get long BECAUSE of Genie+. So the rides without lightning lanes don't ever really get too long. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad three times, and Space Mountain twice throughout the whole day. In this video, we completed nearly every major attraction (45+ minute waits) before 10 AM. Not shown in the video was Matterhorn which came right after Mickey and Minnie's. And that knocked them all out, except Rise of the Resistance.

@warfjm

6 ай бұрын

We have 2 kids who have never been to a theme park and our strategy is to warm them up on Gadget Coaster first before moving on to the E-ticket rides.

@cthulhu5101

6 ай бұрын

Perfect , exactly my first day rope drop strategy for end of February and Olga’s after indie…🙌

@SoCalDisneyDad

6 ай бұрын

@@warfjm That’s fair. In which case you probably do want to do Gadget’s early, because the line is slow and can get long.

@warfjm

6 ай бұрын

@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you for your input!!!

You failed. Thank you for telling people this stategy because it protects mine.

@tfun101

4 ай бұрын

Bruh..let us know mang