I love when he just becomes overwhelmed and keeps saying “What do I do??”. Ah you’ve never been more relatable, Dave. This has been the experience of the rest of us who can’t go on a weekly basis. This is great haha
I love that you now understand the plight of us only getting to visit every once in a blue moon and need to purchase this in order to do as much as possible. It's an insane logistics puzzle... did I say puzzle, I meant nightmare
@RoadSisters ..It's a hassle, I agree. But once you get used to it, its not that big a deal. I personally use LLMP almost every visit. I get there early.. and (usually) it all works as it should. But arriving late kind of renders the LLMP not as effective, and IMO not worrh it.
As someone who uses LLMP every time I’m there (12-16 days per year roughly) I found myself yelling at you through this whole video trying to give you tips and telling you what you were doing wrong 🤣😂 LLMP is definitely a skill to be mastered, especially if it’s super busy. And on insanely busy days it can be really defeating. Biggest tips I have are to fill gaps with rides with short wait times, but also with meals and shopping and non-ride entertainment. Another big one is utilizing the “modify” option after you have scheduled your LL like you would with food mobile orders to revise to an earlier time. Earlier times pop up randomly when people cancel. Also, booking LL when a ride is down can also score you a LL multi experience pass if the ride stays down during your window. Then you can use those LLs with no specific return time window, you just show up whenever. Also, I always book the super popular LL rides that sell out fast first thing in the morning when I get in the park, even if it’s before 10am. Rides like Indy, Space, etc sell out fast, so it’s use it or lose it on those. Just my two cents. 😁
We use LLMP every time as well. We go multiple times per year. Start booking early. Modify, and modify. Keep booking after every two hour cool-down. Use rope drop to ride the E tickets during the first two hours. We love it! Now with the Premier Pass, Multi Pass is a bargain!!
You can tell David hasn’t done LL in a long time because he sounds surprised on the experience. That’s a very typical day. Running around the park trying to make the most of it.
I think the best way to “maximize” lightning lane is to know how to mix LL attractions with standby lines and any other things you want to do (dining, character meet and greets) so that you don’t have too much down time where you’re waiting for your next LL. You have to stay a few steps ahead and think about which ride you’re heading to next so that you can try to do things heading towards that ride or around it.
yeah, when you dont go enough to be able to skip certain rides you learn which LL's you need to hit and when. sometimes i buy LL and dont even use it half the day.
I was there last weekend and even at rope drop, using LL right away you are chasing those passes all day and they dry up completely early afternoon. The whole experience gets worse each visit and each visit I am seeing more and more VIP private tours. This past weekend I saw a crazy amount of VIP tours and it was disgusting. Us poors are trying to eek out our LLMP and you see a VIP tour walk by every 5 minutes. This last visit soured me and I will need to take a break. I am glad you are finally seeing what we all are experiencing. LOVE your videos.
Lightning lane multi pass really is built for people who are going to be there all day. I think I’m pretty good at it… You have to prioritize the top rides and take a “two hour penalty” early in the day a couple times…(go slow to go fast) At rope drop, pull Indy. Use the modify feature to keep pushing it out. It does not restart your two hours. Go do your regular rope drop from 8 to 10. At 10, look and see if there’s a lightning lane you want to do nearby available now. If so, do it. If not go to the next step. Pull Matterhorn. Again, use the push out feature into later in the night. Now do the same thing for space at noon. At 2 o’clock, everything else should be pretty available. Now is where you crush lightning lanes, one after the other, not taking a two hour penalty. keep pushing your other ones out. Ride non lightning lane attractions in the morning and then go on a full run in the evening with all the ones you’ve stacked up. You should be able to blow through things like buzz, star tours, autopia, at night with no problem. At night, you do your grand finale and blow through all your lightning lanes for the top attractions that you’ve pushed out to bunch them together! A Rewarding finale!
Oooo, I think you may have cracked the code and this has been my big question all along--how many LL can you stack using the 2 hour rule and if it was possible to stack a bunch in the later half of the day? What's the most you've been able to stack at once?
@@1tmunar i’m not sure exactly, but it’s not uncommon that between the hours of 7 and 10 that I might have 4-6 lightning lanes stacked up or so. there is no limit to how many you can have stacked on top of each other using the modify function. The only rule is the two hour cool down rule (or using it first). I’m starting to feel nervous I’ve given my secrets away! Haha.
One of the things I hated about my visit to Disneyland was my constant monitoring of my phone. Optimizing your access to rides turns your vacation into work.
Yep. That's why we don't choose to use our phones very often during our Disney visits. It's OPTIONAL, so we choose not to do it. Sounds like NOT doing it would benefit you, too.
So much this! I didn’t get to truly enjoy our trip, even with LL because I was too worried about booking times and trying to get the most bang for our buck.
@@WindowtotheMagic not sure when I can get back to the land of the Mouse but I've decided that when it happens it will be minus park hopper, genie+ and lightning lanes. My only concession will be for food. A man's gotta eat
I find it fun and rewarding, like a game. It adds a new layer to my Disneyland experience that my brain really enjoys, to use the system and really work it. It's like a puzzle, sometimes stategy works and sometimes it's pure luck.
Remember those wonderful fastpass and max pass days?? Parks were at capacity all the time, fastpasses were included in your park ticket, maxpass was optional with the photopass option included, no reservations…can’t stress this enough, PARKS AT CAPACITY, merch selling like crazy…everything was perfect!!
@@msmendes214 yes, this was all pre-covid. I get the whole reservation thing because of the pandemic…once that was over, why not go back to WHAT WORKED!!! Disney’s stock prices, all the money lost both in the parks and on the studios is just bad management (thanks to Chapek and his people)…what I don’t understand is why not go back to what was working before the pandemic?? I mean, the company was happy, the guests were happy, movies were awesome…stop trying to overdo things…
I miss the days when people could accept a new reality. Not trying to be mean, but come on, how many times are we going to hear this? It's like someone waiting for us to go back to rotary phones. It's not happening.
Thanks for doing this initial run! I know it increases your production cost, but I would love to see you do more reps on LL multi-pass. I would like to see you do an entire day, including getting your first selection early in the morning and being there when the park opens (not 10 a.m.). I think this will be beneficial, especially for your viewers who are from out of town. I loved the show. Fresh Baked!
“Modify Plan” and refresh will be your friend. I once got a Guardian of Galaxy at 8 pm and modified plan and refreshed and got the LL at 12:30pm while waiting for Turtle Talk. People cancel their LLs as the day goes along. Can’t guarantee all the time but works more than not. Patience is your friend. The down side is your looking at your phone a lot.
Ya this is the way. Although on Wednesday I ran it for 4 friends and it was just crazy. At 3:30 pirates was at 10:30pm and I tried to refresh for 20 mins and it would not budge. You would think that it was closed forever or something.
I really appreciate that you wait until after you are off the attraction (out of the line) to discuss issues that take a bit of time/volume, rather than distracting those around you in the line :) That is very thoughtful
Oh David, I think your “troubled” video is exactly what anyone thinking about just buying lightning lane expecting it to save a day that started mid morning on a busy day would experience and will be helpful for people for that reason. In my experience, because, unlike WDW, at Disneyland you can’t start booking lightning lanes until you enter the park , you still have to rope drop to start “stacking” and do the big rides after 10. I would have jumped on that early 9:55 am Roger rabbit for example where it was temporarily closed and hope it stayed closed and I got a redemption I could use whenever and immediately book something else or ride it if it opened. And you should never cancel because you want to retain the time stamp for your two hour waiting period, you modify to another ride. It is my lightning lane strategy that works so much better at Disneyland than disneyworld imo. Look for temporarily closed rides that had a close time and hope they stayed close and got a flexible redemption and in the meantime ride short standby or utilize as an infrequent visitor there with a family utilize the free photopass on downtime. Of course my strategy as an infrequent 76 year old visitor is so different. But I think the people considering multipass are the infrequent visitor not the annual pass holder. Your attitude on a bad day is so much more gracious than most people’s on a good day. You are such a pleasure to watch. You will become an expert at this and help people not feel like they are fools when they run into problems , of this I am sure.
@@FreshBakedDisney thank you so much, your videos bring such joy, it would be fun to see you and your lovely Liz “compete” with you doing standby and her using lightning lane. It is a real honor to be of any help!
@FreshBakedDisney if you do more analysis on LLane, please keep it under 1 "roof" Not put it on different channels etc This way, if we want to research it's all kinda in the same boat Instead of trying to find it in your other channels etc Thanks for reading
Yes when I saw that cancel instead of modify my heart dropped. Just don’t do that 😳🤣 At the same time it really shouldn’t take so much work to have a fun day at a theme park either.
This is what we experienced all week. Ended up getting the park and start booking stuff that’s was out at 5-10 pm and stack them throughout the day. Go back to the hotel to nap then come back at 4:30pm and breeze through all the attractions in the evening and by 10pm is reverse ropedrop where everything is a walk on.
Great video David! This is a perfect example of how lightning lane lessens the fun. It’s stressful trying to manage and worry about timing etc. the only strategy I’ve ever had success with is planning way out ahead. Doing one of those big name rides more than 2 hours out. Then hit a non LL line. After 2 hours you can book again. But if you’re there for a short day, and it’s slammed like it was for you, it clearly doesn’t seem worth it.
My advice for LL… You gotta rope drop. We book Indy first at about 7:30 for a return time of 8:30-9:30. That way, if the ride is down, you get the MIP and can do it whenever you want. Otherwise go on it at about 9:45 before it expires. Then you can get 4 rides in at rope drop before that. You can book LL #2 at 9:30 … get the busiest rides done first (Indy, space, Matterhorn, MMRR, etc.) - those whose return times get pushed out faster. Once you hit all those, the others have better return times. Also, try the fiddle-saddle trick = book a LL, then modify it - refresh over & over and if you are quick you can get an hour or earlier return time. This works awesome a lot of the time. I’ve seen return times that I booked for 3 hours out become available for 15-30 mins out! Good luck & can’t wait to see your second attempt!
LOVE this video!! I’ve experienced the lightening lane time change when you actually click on it multiple times! I’ve actually had to slow down my button pushing to make sure it didn’t change! Seems to be the same when you refresh the page multiple times to see if times will go down, just like mobile order. That trick definitely works, but you have to be fast! Thanks for doing these!
I am a frequent genie plus/lmultipass user. I have a busy day strategy at disneyland that will probably help you. First I rope drop not using the pass, by nine I assess the return times, if they are already climbing I pick the furthest thing out and start using the two hour rule to stack attractions later in the day and just enjoy the morning and early afternoon doing whatever I want without the pressure. Then cruise through the evening. Much less stressful. Your initial strategy does work on less busy days.
Thank you for making this and feeling our frustration when we travel from far, purchase a LL multipass to maximize our time, only to be defeated by late booking times. It's more of a gamble where while it increases your chances of getting on rides, you are not guaranteed on the time you want. A person will need to study the system and know how to work it BEFORE going- which is a fun challenge for me- but some may not want to think that hard before a vacation😂. Attitude is everything. If you don't want to spend extra with a chance to be disappointed, just go to enjoy the atmosphere and queues, grab s snack or two and ride what you can.🎉 Dave would love to hear you process and analyze a strategy for this kind of day with a LL multipass!
Things I’ve learned over the years of using the Lightning lane pass is to book your favorite ride as soon as you can, then standby space mountain first thing, then head over to Matterhorn. Also, book those rides that seem to be closing a lot during the day. If they are closed you will get a multi-experience pass that gives you more options. I’ve stacked a ton of passes that way.
We have been using Lightening Lane for some time now, yes, it’s normal for the time to change on you, sometimes by 3 hours. We had so much more fun using your rope drop strategy a couple weeks ago. Our rope drop approach to Lightening Lane is to grab the pass that is “selling” out quickest, Space MT, while we wait, we head west, hitting Jungle Cruise, Indy, Pirates, Haunted Mansion. We continue to grab fast passes, prioritizing those that are the latest time in the day because they are selling out. Not saying, this is the way, just our way.
LLMP really is best for when you are planning to be in the park for the full day and want to maximize your time to get on as many rides as possible. I use it for family who come to the parks for one day and want to do allll the things. I typically book the first attraction as soon as we scan into the park in the morning and head to non-LLMP rides or those with short wait times. Eventually I start moving times around and stacking our lightning lanes. By end of the night, we’ve ridden almost everything. Once you get the hang of it I think you’ll like it- it’s great for those of us who are strategy-minded!
Yeah the LL is like a job. We have missed out on certain LL bc they were booked fast or we were too late. This happened when we tried to wait to book those big ones.
This video is the most reflective experience of the parks a general guest has visiting outside SoCal area. It's very different to the the usual posted from FB. I love Disney but this is why we get so frustrated.
Yes I’m glad he did it this way because it’s misleading when all these experts film themselves just flying through rides and they have all these hacks. Most people do not have the knowledge or experience for it to work out that way.
It’s fall break for Utah this weekend (Thursday through Monday) so I’d imagine that’s why the park was so crowded. I know a LOT of people from here in UT go to Disney for fall break.
It was fun to watch you do this! I always get LL and it’s definitely a game of strategy. I’ve had days like this, but it’s not always this hard. The times DO change while you are trying to book. Can’t wait to see you do more of these!
Here’s something I learned when using lightning lane… if the ride you want shows an arrival that’s 3+ hours, spend 5 min refreshing that rides wait time and almost always I’ll see an updated wait time within the hour or half of the original wait time arrival.
I was in the jungle cruise line when I saw you filming this video! I was in charge of LL for my group of 4, and it was convenient for the popular attractions but the crowds were massive and nothing went under 35 minutes. I felt like I was living on my phone all day and had to plan around LL. Lots of walking around the same side of the parks to get to my LL bookings and fill the time without getting too far from the attraction to make it back in time for my booking
Last year when me and my family went, we used all of your park strategies. Like clockwork every day we were able to ride all of the attractions we wanted. We hardly ever had to wait more than 20-30 minutes. Best tip was the timing for rise of the resistance. We follow the rope drop strategy then have time to eat breakfast and make it tho rise just when the bulk of rope drop guests had left. Love the park science!
LOVE your park science video!! This is exactly what I experienced in August. I recommend refreshing your tip board to see if a sooner time slot becomes available just like how you would do with mobile orders. It wasn’t too useful for party of 4 but it might work well with a smaller party.
I came from the UK a few weeks ago and did LL to get the most done and this was EXACTLY my experience! Even as a solo traveller who had never done Disneyland before it was really overwhelmed trying to not be chained to the tip board all day. It gets really overwhelming and can really impact your day!
I took down my wait times on my last trip and I must have been there on a really good day, or my strategy of trying to only do rides with a 25 minute or less/follow the Disney winds idea worked well. I had no need for LL at all. Rise was the only exception here, and with a posted 45, I made it to the Rey room in 15, but it then of course broke down waiting for an interrogation room.
the thing with lightning lane, is that you have to use your knowledge of standby, along with planning ahead by like 2-6 hours. You honestly have to use it a handful of times before you get the hang of it. Basically get in park, plan one of the bigger rides that runs out of fastpasses earlier in the day. Use your knowledge of the standbys to fit in what you can inbetween. Rinse and repeat
@@FreshBakedDisney In that sense, your standby vids are still the most helpful thing here, so you can manipulate the inbetween times 💯 This also makes it so that people that are going to DLR for the very first time AND using lightning lane, is going to just be a massive headache and honestly just cause more stress
The craziness of booking and figuring out the schedule of what rides to select is actually something I enjoy. I start first thing in the morning and can maximize my day catching most every LL I want. Adding in park hopping and selecting rides for later in the day makes for a fun day for me!
Rope Drop or at least getting there close to opening is still important. You should always grab a LL right away, modify for later if necessary but at opening we grabbed Indiana for 10am. We proceeded with rope drop standby strategy before or our 1st LL. When we take a mid day break, i continue to grab our top priorities and stack for late afternoon/early evening. We come back to 3-4 stacked favorites.
I agree with booking one as early as possible and modify it to later so you can take advantage of stand by rides during the "golden hour". We booked our first right when we entered the park at 7:30, so it started the 2 hour clock. But then modified it to around 10am.
I’m glad you’re doing this because there seems to be a perception by non-LL users that LL lets you onto everything. That isn’t that case. Mileage may very but if we get 6-8 LL we consider it a good day. There are a lot of times you get a scheduled LL and you don’t have time to do a standby. But that’s that point. It’s not that you skip all the lines, it’s that you spend the time you would wait in line doing other things like getting food, using the restroom or shop.
Using lightning Lane is really more avantageous for a longer day. I go in the morning do fantasyland, and start booking my lightning lanes. Usually I can stack up five or six for the evening time. Leave for a nap after lunch and come back and do all my lightning lanes. Keep using refresh on your lightning Lanes just like you do on your dining.
Ok, I'm still confused then. You can stack up 6 LLs at one time? Can you explain why Dave wasn't able to get a second LL right after redeeming the Matterhorn LL?
At 8:00 get lightning Lane for Indiana Jones. Say the return time is 10:00. Keep modifying that time to a later time. Take some work. Keep modifying until you return time is 5:00. At 10:00 gets space mountain lightning Lane. Return time will probably be midday-ish. Keep modifying until the return time is where you want it. Do this every 2 hours. On a day as crowded as when he went, this will be hard. But most days are not like that.
@@vicdog4440 David had used the two hour rule and made another reservation before he used the Matterhorn reservation. The timing was too close so he couldn’t make another reservation. As indicated in the response by Carrie Valdez, the people who stack 5 or 6 rides aren’t using any lightning in the morning, but I guess they are making their first reservation as soon as they enter the park,say 7:30 in the morning, then adding an additional one every two hours after that so by late afternoon or evening you can have a group of five or six reservation. Also once you get a reservation, you don’t cancel it cause it would alter your time stamp, instead there is a modify function which I’m sure David will discuss in his next video. It is a confusing system to explain and to add to confusion different over time and between Disneyland and Disney world.
I feel like this is my usual experience with lightning lane. I usually do Space Mountain at rope drop, followed by Matterhorn and then check to see which lightning lanes are filling up the quickest and start booking those first. I also actively look for attractions that are broken down and wait in smaller queues around those attractions to hopefully get a freebee. Last year I rode Space Mountain, Big Thunder, and MMRR so many times as a walk on by just being around those areas at the right time. For any lulls in timing I usually take the opportunity to go enjoy Tom Sawyer, ride a leg or two of the DLRR, or get some food. I really enjoy my method in the park because I feel like I'm always moving with purpose, but also I don't mind riding the same attraction almost back to back if that's just how it works out. I just make sure to book everything if I'm using Lightning Lane to get the most out of it.
You nailed it about half way thru the video, for lightning lane to seem like a value, you need to have a full day at the park. It also helps when you’re there with a group, which most people are, because then you fill the time with other activities, you’re not just solo and looking for the next ride. Loved the video as always!
The trick is to rope drop and use multi pass. Indiana Jones is the first selection, always! Then fill your time with the low wait times. Then use lighting lane for any immediate return times. Then it's time to start stacking lightning lanes for the evening. Works every time! Don't forget to modify as needed. If you don't stack while riding stand by it just doesn't work.
Thank you David. We can’t afford to purchase lighting lane for our family of 5. You made me feel so much better about just waiting in line. Get up early in the morning for sure but later just wait in the line. Great video
I LOVE THIS VIDEO! This is the exact experience of people visitng only once every few years. It is overwhelming and you have to commit to criss-crossing the park multiple times a day to maximize the system. Worse…make a wrong choice in a panic and you will have the dreaded two hours to wait for the ride you chose. It can be done and we found a long break at the hottest part of the day to be the best. We were able to back to back three rides in the evenings (by continuing booking fast passes during the break) and combined with stand-by rides at optimal waits and we could get most rides in…not all, even with paying for lightening lane. I think if you rope-dropped and were excellent at booking the lightening lanes and you stayed all day, you “could” ride everything…maybe.
The time changes all the time for lighting lane and mobile orders. 😮 I have become quite the expert at LL, but you are correct, it is stressful and I drive my boyfriend crazy. We run around doung rides, then we relax and take in the magic the rest of the night. 😊
I took my family last month, and the LL was a nightmare. I spent the whole day glued to my phone, stressing about getting the most bang for our buck with the LL. Attractions kept breaking down, return times were deep into the evening, the only reason I was able to plan a bunch of stuff for us to do is because I am a former cm and KNEW which attractions to go to when, NOT because the LL helped us skip the long wait times. There was a point where I was booking LL for attractions that didn’t even need it, because I felt like I had to do SOMETHING to get our money’s worth. 🙄🤷🏻♀️
You have optimism the strength of steel, Dave. Last time I was there in 2009 there still original fast passes. I would much rather just walk around and take in the park with my senses than deal with this stress. It defeats the purpose of trying to enjoy oneself and have fun. For people that only have one day…Gods speed lol
The parameters of this experiment are unfortunately skewed. Those of us out-of-towners that are only there once or twice a year are using Multi Pass because we know we'll reap the benefits throughout the entire day, not just over the course of a tiny 5-hour window. If you're only redeeming Lightning Lanes immediately so that you can reserve the next one as soon as possible, you'll always be in this pickle. However, if you live like "Standby David" throughout the first 8-10 hours of the day while stacking and pushing as many reservations as possible to be redeemed in the evening, you'll find that you can utilize Lightning Lanes at all 5 major attractions David listed (and more) within a 90-minute window in the late hours of the busy day - when your legs feel like Jello and the attitudes of other guests in standby are snotty. You can't just slap Multi Pass on any timeframe; you have to milk it strategically throughout the day to make it valuable.
Fresh Baked, you have to book LLMP early (I think the earliest is 7am?) or at least at 8am, but as you did before, you don't have to be in the park. From that point on you cannot book another attraction until either 2 hours pass or you ride the already booked attraction, but I believe you CAN alter your 1st booked attraction for a later time. That way the app still recognizes the initial 2 hour window. Keep pushing that initial attraction back (you are still not in the park) and once 2 hours passes (from the initial time), you can book your 2nd attraction, push that one back, wait 2 hours more (maybe you are in the park at this time?), book another (push that one back), wait - or do standby rides, eat, ride the 1st booked attraction and book another and do it like that. Also, you can book attractions which are closed at the moment and hope they are still closed when it is your time, and get a multi experience pass. Also, go ahead and book an attraction with a return time of 5 + hours first, do standbys, lunch, Twain, Tom Sawyer (or do not even enter the park yet), then book another. If done right, it is possible to do 3 or 4 LL attractions one right after the other, but with luck, time and standby options. Also, combining single rider attractions into the mix (if your personal group is good with that) is also an important option. Silly thing with all of this though is that the head is in the phone a lot, battery runs out quicker, and a phone and the app could be overloaded and must be restarted or re-opened to be able to work properly (requiring more battery). So Cal Disney dad and his wife did a lot of LL studies like this with their family. THERE IS LESS MAGIC TO ALL OF THIS THOUGH, AS YOU KNOW!!! And you really have to act like the out of town guest when doing LL study and maybe, put in a good amount of time in one day at the resort - whether you like it or not!
Are u sure that would even work? I thought u aren't able to make LL reservations without being scanned in the park? That was always a big difference between DL and WDW...
@@ufcislife1This. I was at DL last weekend and couldn’t buy it until I scanned in. It was as busy as spring break - didn’t realize until later that it was Columbus Day weekend. A friend got in around the same time David did and LLs were sold out for the day….at 0930
I know you probably want to figure this out yourself, but by far the best video out there to help you is Mammoth club. They have using lightning Lane at Disneyland Dan to a science. They know all the tips and tricks. And there is a lot.
Yes! Molly is so amazing in how she lays out the information and gives in park examples. No reason to research from nothing, hit up Mammoth Club videos and get ahead in the knowledge.
As an undesirable Enchant Key holder who does 2 and 3 day visits I just refuse to rope drop. I come often enough that it’s not that serious. I refuse to enter the park before 12pm and when you have 3 days you can spread things around a bit. You don’t gotta ride everything day 1. Since I get to the park late I stay til close and more often than not I’m able to hit Space Mountain, Indy, and like maybe another attraction at 10:30pm til close. Rides like Star Tours or Buzz are always walk ons during closing hours so I just don’t ride them at all during the day. Those closing hours a lot of times are clutch! I also agree that it’s not just about the rides. I love chilling in San Fransokyo to drink a couple beers at night and just sit down and talk to my family. I grab the kids an Aborable Snowman as well and just sit for sometimes 2 hours. I think more people should do that too so that you’re not always in go mode. Anyways just my 2 cents. Good vid as always.
I was there the day you tested this and that whole week. It was a fall break week for Utah and many states (we were in from Tennessee) and the whole week was bonkers. I used lightning lane the whole week and found myself banking lightning lanes for later whole week took advantage of rope dropping.
Thanks so much for doing this video and truly showing the REAL experience of LL for all! As a magic key holder I rarely buy LL but when I did I experienced the exact same thing about times automatically changing on you after you’ve booked it! Was sooooooo frustrating and confusing too!
This is nearly what we face on every trip my family goes. It is so chaotic to constantly book things and go back and forth so many times. We are very excited about the new premier pass! It will make our day so much more enjoyable which makes it worth the price.
Can I ask why you wouldn’t have ridden Pirates at a 20 minute standby on your way to Big Thunder? Indy and Jungle Cruise were obviously too long a wait but Pirates was only 20 minutes which would’ve filled that gap nicely, rather than going all the way to Fantasyland. Just wondering if I’m missing something strategic lol
I understand the frustration, but there is a clear difference how a local experiences the park and a family from out of town that’s visiting for 3 days. 5 hours is not enough time to strategize the LL. Rope drop is still essential as you will start booking out as soon as you enter the park. At 10 as you saw LL were already booked out by hours. If your not using it like people that visit from out of town ( the people it’s geared for) then your not going to getting a good idea of whether or not it works. We absolutely use LL before 10.
My favorite use of LL later in the day is to book the ride you want to go on the most (not the best discount), and then get into the same standby line when the time you will exit the ride on standby will be exactly the LL return time. That way you can ride it twice in a row with no wait (if that is your thing) and lose no time walking to another attraction.
So we've been here before; meaning, my husband and I attempting to tackle as many attractions before 4 PM because we have to go pick up our son. If you're in this kind of circumstance where you are leaving the parks mid-afternoon and trying to maximize your day with lightning lane, you simply have to start booking things before 10 AM. makes it easier to hit stuff back to back if you hit the ground running sooner
You're supposed to pick a later time and then use that in-between time to do hour long standby rides. So in that vein you're still picking things you actually want to do. It was the same way with fastpass.
ive also reached the point where i dont mind waiting in stand by queues anymore. for the big rides that have truly awful lines, they also happen to have single rider.
I haven't been in the parks since COVID hit, and I've heard of this thing where guests end up focused on their cell phones all day rushing around, and this video really brings it home what it is like. What an incredible mess. And now the indignity of this lightning lane premier, like $400, on TOP of the price of admission??? HOW DOES ANY OF IT MAKE ANY SENSE???
I was one of those persons that went once a year to take grandkids to Disneyland. Thank you for doing this and hopefully a few more times. I am disabled but no longer eligible for DAS and this just proves why I can no longer enjoy Disneyland. You can’t get your money’s worth from lightning lane.
Our strategy has always been to hit rope drop with a list of the 3 or 4 "must do" rides for the day and get as many in by around 1030 as possible... the rest of the day is spent doing our sightseeing, shopping, dining and looking for rides of opportunity as we wander around. Taking advantage of parades and shows is great for finding shorter lines too. So much more fun than sitting on my phone trying to figure out where I have to be next.
I just went to Disney on the 22nd and amazingly lucked out with all the major rides- didn't have to wait more than 35 min for most. Walked on to Big Thunder after breakdown. Only had to wait 75 min for rise of the resistance. I was shocked at how lucky I got on my only day out there. Always looking for you there too 😊❤
I would rather not have the stress of trying to juggle LL and standby. The last time I went to Disneyland, I did a Sunday and a Monday, without Genie+ (as it was still then). The crowds on Sunday were very light, while on Monday they were quite heavy. But over those 2 days, I managed to do every single attraction using standby alone, and I could choose the order I did them in, on a whim. It was a relaxing 2 days. I even managed to do a couple of big attractions more than once. And I didn't get to the park until an hour or so after opening, and left an hour or so before closing. Yes, I spent a lot of time standing in line. But I could entertain myself with my phone, or just people watching. It was wonderful.
Try again, David! Do rope drop, and start booking LLs while you're in the light lines! That way you go on the big rides stand by, then *again* via LL...! THEN park hop to DCA! Unfortunately you have to start booking LLs *well* before 10am, to HAVE LLs between 9-11am. ALSO: you have an hour window to actually use the LL; you don't have to be there on the dot (but you CAN book another one!). Good luck! Unfortunately we out-of-staters know how the routine all too well. Imagine how we feel about this Premiere Pass...?! Just messes things up! 🤣🤣🤣
hi, david! i love that you tried llmp. as a non-local who buys llmp when i can get to the parks, here are my thoughts. (1) as you said at the end, get to the park at rope drop. only then can you typically knock out attractions (ll or non-ll) before starting to book your first llmp and get yourself on a ll schedule. we like to do either space mountain, matterhorn and rotr or our fav fantasyland attractions first thing in the morning, then we start booking ll. (2) we often have to cross the park to get from one llmp attraction to another based on availability, so just give in to that. we get soooo many steps in. 😁 (3) the tip board IS telling you what to do, but people who aren’t there all the time DO want to do those things you may not want to do as a local. if they don’t, they probably shouldn’t get llmp. i look forward to seeing more llmp videos from you. you can crack this nut! 👏🏻
The way your jaw dropped when you saw the train! 😂 Love your love for Disney. I will say, I really dislike LL. If they kept the premiere pass and got rid of LL, I would be so happy. Either just wait in line or buy the $400 pass to not wait in line. I think that would lighten the standby lines and congestion a lot. Just my opinion tho.
I did that when I did a full "crush (nearly) ALL of the attractions in the resort" solo trip day - from 8am to midnight! back in March. I mainly used LL for DCA which I did from 12:30 to 7:15pm, I parked hopped twice. I didn't have to use LL for Disneyland except for Pirates and Big Thunder in the PM since I single ridered Space, Matterhorn and Falcon after 10am. I caught Indy and Roger Rabbit right after they had re-opened after break downs and walked on Ruaway Railway, Small World, Autopia and Buzz. I only waited 10 minutes regular standby for Star Tours. The toughest was booking Toy Story which was closed from 1 to 4pm or something like that, and I had to wait 25 minutes for that one in standby. I also did SR for Webstlings and Radiator Springs Racers. Grizzly was a walk on (didn't even have to do single rider!)
Thanks for doing this. We’ve found LLMP to be kind of useful but also inconvenient & kind of a pain. The wish we could book at least two LL reservations at a time.
You needed SoCalDisney Dad to help you on this!! So many things could have been done differently hahahah I would have selected Indiana at one point and then modified it to try to get a better time!! The best trick ! Always love your videos!!
This is why my strategy is this. I book the next closest window time. Then the next and so forth. I don't care about how much time I am saving because as the day goes on I do end up saving lots of time in the end and I get to use as many Lightning Lanes as I can. Works like charm.
First time I ever went to Disneyland in November 2008, I started in Adventureland and basically went clockwise through the park, doing all rides that came along my way. Didn't go for the big rides first. Started with the Tiki Room, and kept on going. Did everything except Nemo and had to backtrack for Big Thunder (opened later than the rest of the park). It was a much simpler time.
As someone who mainly uses genie+/multipass, for us what helps “fill in” time gaps, we also have a park hopper. We rarely have to wait more than 30 minutes between rides.
As the LL planner everytime I take my family of 4 now my advice is always refresh don’t be discouraged too fast like refresh refresh & refresh especially on rides you want & sometimes you’ll have to even book 1 or 2 of your party at a time versus the whole 4 or however many in your party & always immediately after you scan into line look for the next ride you can usually get it in the next 5-20 mins depending how hard you fight for it
There are only a handful of things I am good at in life and one of them is using Multipass Lightning Lane at Disneyland. I did 23 rides on Indigenous People Day using strategy, lightning lane and single rider. 1. Book your first LL the moment you scan into the parks. This will start your 120 minute clock so you’ll be able to book your next one at 10:00am. 2. Modify the time of your first LL until a time after 10am. You don’t want to use LL in the first 2 hours of the park being open. The lines are so short that you don’t need it yet and it essentially is a waste of a LL. At 10:00am book your next LL. Therefore you’ll have 2 LLs at once. One for the one you booked at 8am and one you booked at 10am. As soon as you scan into a ride, see if it will let you book another one. If you already have one booked, it won't let you book another one until you ride it or another 2 hours passes. 3. Pick one of the most popular rides for your first LL. Those return times climb the fastest. You want your 120 minute wait period to be first thing in the morning rather than the middle of the day or you’ll be stuck for a long time doing nothing. I always pick Space Mountain or Indiana Jones for my first LL. The second most popular LLs are Runaway Railway and Matterhorn. 4. You’ll see a green banner at the top of your tip board that says when you can book again. Set an alarm for when you can book again. Book as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want any of the choices just book something to restart your clock. You can always modify to a different ride or different time and it won’t change your original booking time. You ALWAYS want to have at least one LL booked. 5. Use the modify feature. Always modify, never cancel. If your next ride has a really far out return time, refresh the modify page for a few minutes. 90% of the time I'm able to finagle an earlier LL time. 6. Even if you do everything right, there is inevitable going to be some down time before you can use your next LL. This is the time to do other activities, like “filler rides.” Filler rides are rides that don’t usually have a long wait, such as teacups, Winnie the Pooh, or the carousel. Check the app to see what the wait time is for rides near you. Or you can see a show, play at Tom Sawyer island, or just relax on a bench with a snack.
We were there 2 weeks ago and did 24 rides rope drop to close, 3 meals/snacks, and did the drawing at Animation Academy. Even standby rode Rise just before the fireworks. I’m happy to see there are others out there with similar strategies, maximizing their park day.
Your experience is how I felt about HM virtual queue and ROTR LL experience I had last month with my family. And it convinced me to never buy LL. It lessens the magic you’re wanting to create around you. We had so much fun without LL passes.
I agree with you... the Pirates is the only line in the entire Park that I like waiting in. It always moves fairly fast, even with lighting lane and when the Park is very crowded. I dislike the line for Roger Rabbit the most. I don't know why.
Other things you can do to kill time while waiting for your next LL time: Canoes, Tom Sawyer’s Island, Treehouse, Astro Orbiter, Disneyland Railroad. All great options after doing the Tiki Room.
Thank you David. Could you please do another DL science video on Teir 3 or even busiest day/week during holiday season? I think many people will be interested seeing it, especially people from abroad who can only visit once a year or so. When I took my family of 4 last year with LL near Xmas, i couldn't utilize our LL enough and felt disappointed paying extra (on top of paying single LL too) . And I was not sure if LL was even worth it. We rope dropped as well. If we hadn't, we would have not enjoyed the DL ( in terms of rides) as much... And I watched all your content at least a year ahead of our last (first) visit! Im still watching all (and your live, sub channel) because we are going again in December and I would love to be smarter using our LLMP. We can't afford LLPP😢...This might be our last visit as it's getting too expensive.
LL timing quick tips. You can book your next LL after a 2 hour cool down window or scanning in to use your most recently booked LL - whichever is sooner. Modifying the return time does not change your 2 hour window. When in doubt check the app and it will tell you what time you are eligible to book your next LL.
Thank you, David!! Thank you for showing us and convince us, or at least me, NOT to waste our money in unnecessary “options” Disney is offering. It’s absolutely ridiculous that a family of 4, visiting the park for a limited time during a high tier timeframe (only availability for travel), a once a year (if that) thing, that wants to optimize their visit to the parks, will spend, JUST FOR ONE DAY, park-per-day ticket, $2,500!! This is just for single day, park-per-day tickets and the LLPP!!! This is absolutely absurd and ridiculous. Instead of them bringing people in, they’re just pushing everyone away!! And yes, a lot of people will say “don’t buy it then”. Yes, I get it…but those are the people that can afford going to the parks multiple times per year and have no need for the LLPP…but for us mortals that want some Disney magic and can only get it for a very limited time, well, they just made it impossible and not even worth the time…which for a place like Disneyland, is saying quite a lot.
@juliocortes03 Where did you get that price from...? I see $1,124 for a family of 4 people (aged 10+fo a single Tier 6 day, including Park Hopper!, plus $128 total (32 per ticket) for LLMP. That brings it to $1,252 (all USD, so unless you meant a different currency...?). Obviously $1252 is still insanely expensive. But I don't want people to be misinformed either.
I hate the lightning lane system. Everyone should be able to book at least one per attraction. We did it back in August and the return times were so far away it never worked out
You have to add your first attraction right at 8 when park opens and then change the time just like mobile ordering until it is pushed as far back as you want. I like getting Big Thunder and Matterhorn and pushing their times out for when it is sunset or dark. I set an alarm for each time I am eligible to book again and repeat that process.
@@KatherineHughes-b4s yes one at a time but you can "stack" and be holding multiple LL at a time. So you book, wait the 2 hour cool down, book the next, but you're picking LL that have a late afternoon / evening return time or doing the modify feature to push out your return time.
I love when he just becomes overwhelmed and keeps saying “What do I do??”. Ah you’ve never been more relatable, Dave. This has been the experience of the rest of us who can’t go on a weekly basis. This is great haha
I love that you now understand the plight of us only getting to visit every once in a blue moon and need to purchase this in order to do as much as possible. It's an insane logistics puzzle... did I say puzzle, I meant nightmare
Preach!
Exactly what I was thinking
For sure! Had to research for months and put crazy effort into it while in the parks just to have a decent time. System is broken.
Stressful and a nightmare. Disney is not a place I want to go to again.
@RoadSisters ..It's a hassle, I agree. But once you get used to it, its not that big a deal. I personally use LLMP almost every visit. I get there early.. and (usually) it all works as it should. But arriving late kind of renders the LLMP not as effective, and IMO not worrh it.
As someone who uses LLMP every time I’m there (12-16 days per year roughly) I found myself yelling at you through this whole video trying to give you tips and telling you what you were doing wrong 🤣😂 LLMP is definitely a skill to be mastered, especially if it’s super busy. And on insanely busy days it can be really defeating. Biggest tips I have are to fill gaps with rides with short wait times, but also with meals and shopping and non-ride entertainment. Another big one is utilizing the “modify” option after you have scheduled your LL like you would with food mobile orders to revise to an earlier time. Earlier times pop up randomly when people cancel. Also, booking LL when a ride is down can also score you a LL multi experience pass if the ride stays down during your window. Then you can use those LLs with no specific return time window, you just show up whenever. Also, I always book the super popular LL rides that sell out fast first thing in the morning when I get in the park, even if it’s before 10am. Rides like Indy, Space, etc sell out fast, so it’s use it or lose it on those. Just my two cents. 😁
I was yelling modify, modify as well
We use LLMP every time as well. We go multiple times per year. Start booking early. Modify, and modify. Keep booking after every two hour cool-down. Use rope drop to ride the E tickets during the first two hours. We love it! Now with the Premier Pass, Multi Pass is a bargain!!
Our family are pretty good with lighting lane but we never use the modify. Thank you. We will now officially be expert level!❤
You can tell David hasn’t done LL in a long time because he sounds surprised on the experience. That’s a very typical day. Running around the park trying to make the most of it.
LL is the same as fast pass which he used often. No difference except the price. The concept is the same
@@alucard2010 true but he’s been to Disneyland every week for years. Just surprised at how surprised 𝙝𝙚 is.
@@crushedratio because it's a way to get clicks
The day he was there was extremely busy (I was there too). Crowds and lines were insane all day.
@@LittleRedSlime so he had that knowledge and did it anyway. What a loser
I think the best way to “maximize” lightning lane is to know how to mix LL attractions with standby lines and any other things you want to do (dining, character meet and greets) so that you don’t have too much down time where you’re waiting for your next LL. You have to stay a few steps ahead and think about which ride you’re heading to next so that you can try to do things heading towards that ride or around it.
Exactly 😅 we aced it. It took us about half a day to figure that out.
We went in September and had a 10/10 experience. Even had to sit down for relax for a bit by noon because we were going on so many rides.
I agree you can't tie it into a schedule you have to maximize the time you have between 2 parks
It works best this way at WDW too! A combination of rope drop, ILL, LLMP and standby.
yeah, when you dont go enough to be able to skip certain rides you learn which LL's you need to hit and when. sometimes i buy LL and dont even use it half the day.
I was there last weekend and even at rope drop, using LL right away you are chasing those passes all day and they dry up completely early afternoon. The whole experience gets worse each visit and each visit I am seeing more and more VIP private tours. This past weekend I saw a crazy amount of VIP tours and it was disgusting. Us poors are trying to eek out our LLMP and you see a VIP tour walk by every 5 minutes. This last visit soured me and I will need to take a break. I am glad you are finally seeing what we all are experiencing. LOVE your videos.
hoping to get fully experienced on all of this very soon. Thank you for the support Matesky!
Money talks I'm afraid, you pay you skip the line should scrap all and start again at the beginning
Me screaming at the tv for you to “GO ON PIRATES” at 10:17am 😂
Lightning lane multi pass really is built for people who are going to be there all day. I think I’m pretty good at it…
You have to prioritize the top rides and take a “two hour penalty” early in the day a couple times…(go slow to go fast)
At rope drop, pull Indy. Use the modify feature to keep pushing it out. It does not restart your two hours.
Go do your regular rope drop from 8 to 10.
At 10, look and see if there’s a lightning lane you want to do nearby available now. If so, do it. If not go to the next step.
Pull Matterhorn. Again, use the push out feature into later in the night.
Now do the same thing for space at noon.
At 2 o’clock, everything else should be pretty available. Now is where you crush lightning lanes, one after the other, not taking a two hour penalty. keep pushing your other ones out.
Ride non lightning lane attractions in the morning and then go on a full run in the evening with all the ones you’ve stacked up. You should be able to blow through things like buzz, star tours, autopia, at night with no problem.
At night, you do your grand finale and blow through all your lightning lanes for the top attractions that you’ve pushed out to bunch them together! A Rewarding finale!
YES, this is how we maximize it too.
Yesssss
Oooo, I think you may have cracked the code and this has been my big question all along--how many LL can you stack using the 2 hour rule and if it was possible to stack a bunch in the later half of the day? What's the most you've been able to stack at once?
@@1tmunar i’m not sure exactly, but it’s not uncommon that between the hours of 7 and 10 that I might have 4-6 lightning lanes stacked up or so. there is no limit to how many you can have stacked on top of each other using the modify function. The only rule is the two hour cool down rule (or using it first).
I’m starting to feel nervous I’ve given my secrets away! Haha.
Same
One of the things I hated about my visit to Disneyland was my constant monitoring of my phone. Optimizing your access to rides turns your vacation into work.
Yep. That's why we don't choose to use our phones very often during our Disney visits. It's OPTIONAL, so we choose not to do it. Sounds like NOT doing it would benefit you, too.
So much this! I didn’t get to truly enjoy our trip, even with LL because I was too worried about booking times and trying to get the most bang for our buck.
Yes!!! Couldn’t have said it better!
@@WindowtotheMagic not sure when I can get back to the land of the Mouse but I've decided that when it happens it will be minus park hopper, genie+ and lightning lanes. My only concession will be for food. A man's gotta eat
I find it fun and rewarding, like a game. It adds a new layer to my Disneyland experience that my brain really enjoys, to use the system and really work it. It's like a puzzle, sometimes stategy works and sometimes it's pure luck.
I miss the days when you could just randomly show up at Disneyland and run around to all the attractions and get on everything, multiple times even
You mean like right after the Pandemic right before they started this extra pay nonsense again?
Remember those wonderful fastpass and max pass days?? Parks were at capacity all the time, fastpasses were included in your park ticket, maxpass was optional with the photopass option included, no reservations…can’t stress this enough, PARKS AT CAPACITY, merch selling like crazy…everything was perfect!!
Yap! I remember doing that as recently as 2019-2020. The shift was Def Covid & tiktok explosion
@@msmendes214 yes, this was all pre-covid. I get the whole reservation thing because of the pandemic…once that was over, why not go back to WHAT WORKED!!! Disney’s stock prices, all the money lost both in the parks and on the studios is just bad management (thanks to Chapek and his people)…what I don’t understand is why not go back to what was working before the pandemic?? I mean, the company was happy, the guests were happy, movies were awesome…stop trying to overdo things…
I miss the days when people could accept a new reality. Not trying to be mean, but come on, how many times are we going to hear this? It's like someone waiting for us to go back to rotary phones. It's not happening.
Thanks for doing this initial run! I know it increases your production cost, but I would love to see you do more reps on LL multi-pass. I would like to see you do an entire day, including getting your first selection early in the morning and being there when the park opens (not 10 a.m.). I think this will be beneficial, especially for your viewers who are from out of town. I loved the show. Fresh Baked!
“Modify Plan” and refresh will be your friend. I once got a Guardian of Galaxy at 8 pm and modified plan and refreshed and got the LL at 12:30pm while waiting for Turtle Talk. People cancel their LLs as the day goes along. Can’t guarantee all the time but works more than not. Patience is your friend. The down side is your looking at your phone a lot.
i agree ! i do this often and thankfully it works
Ya this is the way. Although on Wednesday I ran it for 4 friends and it was just crazy. At 3:30 pirates was at 10:30pm and I tried to refresh for 20 mins and it would not budge. You would think that it was closed forever or something.
I really appreciate that you wait until after you are off the attraction (out of the line) to discuss issues that take a bit of time/volume, rather than distracting those around you in the line :) That is very thoughtful
Oh David, I think your “troubled” video is exactly what anyone thinking about just buying lightning lane expecting it to save a day that started mid morning on a busy day would experience and will be helpful for people for that reason. In my experience, because, unlike WDW, at Disneyland you can’t start booking lightning lanes until you enter the park , you still have to rope drop to start “stacking” and do the big rides after 10. I would have jumped on that early 9:55 am Roger rabbit for example where it was temporarily closed and hope it stayed closed and I got a redemption I could use whenever and immediately book something else or ride it if it opened. And you should never cancel because you want to retain the time stamp for your two hour waiting period, you modify to another ride. It is my lightning lane strategy that works so much better at Disneyland than disneyworld imo. Look for temporarily closed rides that had a close time and hope they stayed close and got a flexible redemption and in the meantime ride short standby or utilize as an infrequent visitor there with a family utilize the free photopass on downtime. Of course my strategy as an infrequent 76 year old visitor is so different. But I think the people considering multipass are the infrequent visitor not the annual pass holder. Your attitude on a bad day is so much more gracious than most people’s on a good day. You are such a pleasure to watch. You will become an expert at this and help people not feel like they are fools when they run into problems , of this I am sure.
yes, Fresh Baked - this comment should piggy back mine or my comment should piggy back this one!
re-assigning vs. canceling is a very useful tip.
@@FreshBakedDisney thank you so much, your videos bring such joy, it would be fun to see you and your lovely Liz “compete” with you doing standby and her using lightning lane. It is a real honor to be of any help!
@FreshBakedDisney if you do more analysis on LLane, please keep it under 1 "roof"
Not put it on different channels etc
This way, if we want to research it's all kinda in the same boat
Instead of trying to find it in your other channels etc
Thanks for reading
Yes when I saw that cancel instead of modify my heart dropped. Just don’t do that 😳🤣
At the same time it really shouldn’t take so much work to have a fun day at a theme park either.
This is what we experienced all week. Ended up getting the park and start booking stuff that’s was out at 5-10 pm and stack them throughout the day. Go back to the hotel to nap then come back at 4:30pm and breeze through all the attractions in the evening and by 10pm is reverse ropedrop where everything is a walk on.
Great video David! This is a perfect example of how lightning lane lessens the fun. It’s stressful trying to manage and worry about timing etc.
the only strategy I’ve ever had success with is planning way out ahead. Doing one of those big name rides more than 2 hours out. Then hit a non LL line. After 2 hours you can book again. But if you’re there for a short day, and it’s slammed like it was for you, it clearly doesn’t seem worth it.
My advice for LL…
You gotta rope drop. We book Indy first at about 7:30 for a return time of 8:30-9:30. That way, if the ride is down, you get the MIP and can do it whenever you want. Otherwise go on it at about 9:45 before it expires. Then you can get 4 rides in at rope drop before that. You can book LL #2 at 9:30 … get the busiest rides done first (Indy, space, Matterhorn, MMRR, etc.) - those whose return times get pushed out faster. Once you hit all those, the others have better return times. Also, try the fiddle-saddle trick = book a LL, then modify it - refresh over & over and if you are quick you can get an hour or earlier return time. This works awesome a lot of the time. I’ve seen return times that I booked for 3 hours out become available for 15-30 mins out! Good luck & can’t wait to see your second attempt!
LOVE this video!! I’ve experienced the lightening lane time change when you actually click on it multiple times! I’ve actually had to slow down my button pushing to make sure it didn’t change! Seems to be the same when you refresh the page multiple times to see if times will go down, just like mobile order. That trick definitely works, but you have to be fast!
Thanks for doing these!
I am a frequent genie plus/lmultipass user. I have a busy day strategy at disneyland that will probably help you. First I rope drop not using the pass, by nine I assess the return times, if they are already climbing I pick the furthest thing out and start using the two hour rule to stack attractions later in the day and just enjoy the morning and early afternoon doing whatever I want without the pressure. Then cruise through the evening. Much less stressful. Your initial strategy does work on less busy days.
Thank you for making this and feeling our frustration when we travel from far, purchase a LL multipass to maximize our time, only to be defeated by late booking times. It's more of a gamble where while it increases your chances of getting on rides, you are not guaranteed on the time you want. A person will need to study the system and know how to work it BEFORE going- which is a fun challenge for me- but some may not want to think that hard before a vacation😂. Attitude is everything. If you don't want to spend extra with a chance to be disappointed, just go to enjoy the atmosphere and queues, grab s snack or two and ride what you can.🎉
Dave would love to hear you process and analyze a strategy for this kind of day with a LL multipass!
Things I’ve learned over the years of using the Lightning lane pass is to book your favorite ride as soon as you can, then standby space mountain first thing, then head over to Matterhorn. Also, book those rides that seem to be closing a lot during the day. If they are closed you will get a multi-experience pass that gives you more options. I’ve stacked a ton of passes that way.
Also, don’t cancel, only modify. Once you modify, similar to mobile food order, you can refresh and sometimes get sooner times
We have been using Lightening Lane for some time now, yes, it’s normal for the time to change on you, sometimes by 3 hours. We had so much more fun using your rope drop strategy a couple weeks ago. Our rope drop approach to Lightening Lane is to grab the pass that is “selling” out quickest, Space MT, while we wait, we head west, hitting Jungle Cruise, Indy, Pirates, Haunted Mansion. We continue to grab fast passes, prioritizing those that are the latest time in the day because they are selling out. Not saying, this is the way, just our way.
LLMP really is best for when you are planning to be in the park for the full day and want to maximize your time to get on as many rides as possible. I use it for family who come to the parks for one day and want to do allll the things. I typically book the first attraction as soon as we scan into the park in the morning and head to non-LLMP rides or those with short wait times. Eventually I start moving times around and stacking our lightning lanes. By end of the night, we’ve ridden almost everything. Once you get the hang of it I think you’ll like it- it’s great for those of us who are strategy-minded!
I love Park Science videos 🥳
I have been looking forward to this video since you announced it!
Yeah the LL is like a job. We have missed out on certain LL bc they were booked fast or we were too late. This happened when we tried to wait to book those big ones.
You must have a pretty easy job then 😂😅
went to DCA this past friday and the guardians LL sold out by 10am!
😮Me literally yelling at Dave on screen, "Use the modify feature!!!" Grab the Indy LL and keep trying to modify to see if you can move it earlier!
This video is the most reflective experience of the parks a general guest has visiting outside SoCal area. It's very different to the the usual posted from FB. I love Disney but this is why we get so frustrated.
Yes I’m glad he did it this way because it’s misleading when all these experts film themselves just flying through rides and they have all these hacks. Most people do not have the knowledge or experience for it to work out that way.
It’s fall break for Utah this weekend (Thursday through Monday) so I’d imagine that’s why the park was so crowded. I know a LOT of people from here in UT go to Disney for fall break.
It was fun to watch you do this! I always get LL and it’s definitely a game of strategy. I’ve had days like this, but it’s not always this hard. The times DO change while you are trying to book. Can’t wait to see you do more of these!
Here’s something I learned when using lightning lane… if the ride you want shows an arrival that’s 3+ hours, spend 5 min refreshing that rides wait time and almost always I’ll see an updated wait time within the hour or half of the original wait time arrival.
I was going to say the same thing. I’m still early in the video but I’m not seeing him modifying and refreshing trying to get a better time
I appreciate this video - because when I go with 7 family members we simply can’t afford Lightning Lane. Looks like we’re not missing anything!
I was in the jungle cruise line when I saw you filming this video! I was in charge of LL for my group of 4, and it was convenient for the popular attractions but the crowds were massive and nothing went under 35 minutes. I felt like I was living on my phone all day and had to plan around LL. Lots of walking around the same side of the parks to get to my LL bookings and fill the time without getting too far from the attraction to make it back in time for my booking
Last year when me and my family went, we used all of your park strategies. Like clockwork every day we were able to ride all of the attractions we wanted. We hardly ever had to wait more than 20-30 minutes. Best tip was the timing for rise of the resistance. We follow the rope drop strategy then have time to eat breakfast and make it tho rise just when the bulk of rope drop guests had left. Love the park science!
LOVE your park science video!! This is exactly what I experienced in August. I recommend refreshing your tip board to see if a sooner time slot becomes available just like how you would do with mobile orders. It wasn’t too useful for party of 4 but it might work well with a smaller party.
I came from the UK a few weeks ago and did LL to get the most done and this was EXACTLY my experience! Even as a solo traveller who had never done Disneyland before it was really overwhelmed trying to not be chained to the tip board all day. It gets really overwhelming and can really impact your day!
I took down my wait times on my last trip and I must have been there on a really good day, or my strategy of trying to only do rides with a 25 minute or less/follow the Disney winds idea worked well. I had no need for LL at all. Rise was the only exception here, and with a posted 45, I made it to the Rey room in 15, but it then of course broke down waiting for an interrogation room.
Modify/refresh is used a lot as people are changing their plans a lot throughout the day. Can almost always get something earlier.
the thing with lightning lane, is that you have to use your knowledge of standby, along with planning ahead by like 2-6 hours. You honestly have to use it a handful of times before you get the hang of it. Basically get in park, plan one of the bigger rides that runs out of fastpasses earlier in the day. Use your knowledge of the standbys to fit in what you can inbetween. Rinse and repeat
pretty much this, yes :)
@@FreshBakedDisney In that sense, your standby vids are still the most helpful thing here, so you can manipulate the inbetween times 💯 This also makes it so that people that are going to DLR for the very first time AND using lightning lane, is going to just be a massive headache and honestly just cause more stress
That sounds more like a job than paying extra for what should be a luxury item.
@@climateanxiety2825 it absolutely is. Disney has destroyed the vacation part of the park
The craziness of booking and figuring out the schedule of what rides to select is actually something I enjoy. I start first thing in the morning and can maximize my day catching most every LL I want. Adding in park hopping and selecting rides for later in the day makes for a fun day for me!
Great point on parkhopping if that option is available to you!
Rope Drop or at least getting there close to opening is still important. You should always grab a LL right away, modify for later if necessary but at opening we grabbed Indiana for 10am. We proceeded with rope drop standby strategy before or our 1st LL. When we take a mid day break, i continue to grab our top priorities and stack for late afternoon/early evening. We come back to 3-4 stacked favorites.
I agree with booking one as early as possible and modify it to later so you can take advantage of stand by rides during the "golden hour". We booked our first right when we entered the park at 7:30, so it started the 2 hour clock. But then modified it to around 10am.
Agreed! As soon as the Rope Drops and I make my way to Space Mountain, while in queue I book Indiana Jones straight away.
I’m glad you’re doing this because there seems to be a perception by non-LL users that LL lets you onto everything. That isn’t that case. Mileage may very but if we get 6-8 LL we consider it a good day. There are a lot of times you get a scheduled LL and you don’t have time to do a standby. But that’s that point. It’s not that you skip all the lines, it’s that you spend the time you would wait in line doing other things like getting food, using the restroom or shop.
2:00 literally said Matterhorn and you said "Matterhorn, yes." Felt like I was on a FaceTime call😂😂
Same!
Using lightning Lane is really more avantageous for a longer day. I go in the morning do fantasyland, and start booking my lightning lanes. Usually I can stack up five or six for the evening time. Leave for a nap after lunch and come back and do all my lightning lanes. Keep using refresh on your lightning Lanes just like you do on your dining.
Ok, I'm still confused then. You can stack up 6 LLs at one time? Can you explain why Dave wasn't able to get a second LL right after redeeming the Matterhorn LL?
At 8:00 get lightning Lane for Indiana Jones. Say the return time is 10:00. Keep modifying that time to a later time. Take some work. Keep modifying until you return time is 5:00. At 10:00 gets space mountain lightning Lane. Return time will probably be midday-ish. Keep modifying until the return time is where you want it. Do this every 2 hours. On a day as crowded as when he went, this will be hard. But most days are not like that.
@@vicdog4440 David had used the two hour rule and made another reservation before he used the Matterhorn reservation. The timing was too close so he couldn’t make another reservation. As indicated in the response by Carrie Valdez, the people who stack 5 or 6 rides aren’t using any lightning in the morning, but I guess they are making their first reservation as soon as they enter the park,say 7:30 in the morning, then adding an additional one every two hours after that so by late afternoon or evening you can have a group of five or six reservation. Also once you get a reservation, you don’t cancel it cause it would alter your time stamp, instead there is a modify function which I’m sure David will discuss in his next video. It is a confusing system to explain and to add to confusion different over time and between Disneyland and Disney world.
I feel like this is my usual experience with lightning lane. I usually do Space Mountain at rope drop, followed by Matterhorn and then check to see which lightning lanes are filling up the quickest and start booking those first. I also actively look for attractions that are broken down and wait in smaller queues around those attractions to hopefully get a freebee. Last year I rode Space Mountain, Big Thunder, and MMRR so many times as a walk on by just being around those areas at the right time. For any lulls in timing I usually take the opportunity to go enjoy Tom Sawyer, ride a leg or two of the DLRR, or get some food. I really enjoy my method in the park because I feel like I'm always moving with purpose, but also I don't mind riding the same attraction almost back to back if that's just how it works out. I just make sure to book everything if I'm using Lightning Lane to get the most out of it.
You nailed it about half way thru the video, for lightning lane to seem like a value, you need to have a full day at the park. It also helps when you’re there with a group, which most people are, because then you fill the time with other activities, you’re not just solo and looking for the next ride. Loved the video as always!
The trick is to rope drop and use multi pass. Indiana Jones is the first selection, always! Then fill your time with the low wait times. Then use lighting lane for any immediate return times. Then it's time to start stacking lightning lanes for the evening. Works every time! Don't forget to modify as needed. If you don't stack while riding stand by it just doesn't work.
Thank you David. We can’t afford to purchase lighting lane for our family of 5. You made me feel so much better about just waiting in line. Get up early in the morning for sure but later just wait in the line. Great video
I LOVE THIS VIDEO! This is the exact experience of people visitng only once every few years. It is overwhelming and you have to commit to criss-crossing the park multiple times a day to maximize the system. Worse…make a wrong choice in a panic and you will have the dreaded two hours to wait for the ride you chose. It can be done and we found a long break at the hottest part of the day to be the best. We were able to back to back three rides in the evenings (by continuing booking fast passes during the break) and combined with stand-by rides at optimal waits and we could get most rides in…not all, even with paying for lightening lane. I think if you rope-dropped and were excellent at booking the lightening lanes and you stayed all day, you “could” ride everything…maybe.
The time changes all the time for lighting lane and mobile orders. 😮 I have become quite the expert at LL, but you are correct, it is stressful and I drive my boyfriend crazy. We run around doung rides, then we relax and take in the magic the rest of the night. 😊
I took my family last month, and the LL was a nightmare. I spent the whole day glued to my phone, stressing about getting the most bang for our buck with the LL. Attractions kept breaking down, return times were deep into the evening, the only reason I was able to plan a bunch of stuff for us to do is because I am a former cm and KNEW which attractions to go to when, NOT because the LL helped us skip the long wait times. There was a point where I was booking LL for attractions that didn’t even need it, because I felt like I had to do SOMETHING to get our money’s worth. 🙄🤷🏻♀️
You have optimism the strength of steel, Dave.
Last time I was there in 2009 there still original fast passes. I would much rather just walk around and take in the park with my senses than deal with this stress. It defeats the purpose of trying to enjoy oneself and have fun. For people that only have one day…Gods speed lol
The parameters of this experiment are unfortunately skewed. Those of us out-of-towners that are only there once or twice a year are using Multi Pass because we know we'll reap the benefits throughout the entire day, not just over the course of a tiny 5-hour window. If you're only redeeming Lightning Lanes immediately so that you can reserve the next one as soon as possible, you'll always be in this pickle. However, if you live like "Standby David" throughout the first 8-10 hours of the day while stacking and pushing as many reservations as possible to be redeemed in the evening, you'll find that you can utilize Lightning Lanes at all 5 major attractions David listed (and more) within a 90-minute window in the late hours of the busy day - when your legs feel like Jello and the attitudes of other guests in standby are snotty. You can't just slap Multi Pass on any timeframe; you have to milk it strategically throughout the day to make it valuable.
10 AM arrival? You sweet, sweet summer child.
Fresh Baked, you have to book LLMP early (I think the earliest is 7am?) or at least at 8am, but as you did before, you don't have to be in the park. From that point on you cannot book another attraction until either 2 hours pass or you ride the already booked attraction, but I believe you CAN alter your 1st booked attraction for a later time. That way the app still recognizes the initial 2 hour window. Keep pushing that initial attraction back (you are still not in the park) and once 2 hours passes (from the initial time), you can book your 2nd attraction, push that one back, wait 2 hours more (maybe you are in the park at this time?), book another (push that one back), wait - or do standby rides, eat, ride the 1st booked attraction and book another and do it like that. Also, you can book attractions which are closed at the moment and hope they are still closed when it is your time, and get a multi experience pass. Also, go ahead and book an attraction with a return time of 5 + hours first, do standbys, lunch, Twain, Tom Sawyer (or do not even enter the park yet), then book another. If done right, it is possible to do 3 or 4 LL attractions one right after the other, but with luck, time and standby options. Also, combining single rider attractions into the mix (if your personal group is good with that) is also an important option. Silly thing with all of this though is that the head is in the phone a lot, battery runs out quicker, and a phone and the app could be overloaded and must be restarted or re-opened to be able to work properly (requiring more battery). So Cal Disney dad and his wife did a lot of LL studies like this with their family. THERE IS LESS MAGIC TO ALL OF THIS THOUGH, AS YOU KNOW!!! And you really have to act like the out of town guest when doing LL study and maybe, put in a good amount of time in one day at the resort - whether you like it or not!
That sounds more like a job than a luxury.
@@climateanxiety2825 yes, you are right, it is a chore
Are u sure that would even work? I thought u aren't able to make LL reservations without being scanned in the park? That was always a big difference between DL and WDW...
That's what I thought as well and it's what the website says. Maybe that has changed 🤷 @@ufcislife1
@@ufcislife1This. I was at DL last weekend and couldn’t buy it until I scanned in. It was as busy as spring break - didn’t realize until later that it was Columbus Day weekend. A friend got in around the same time David did and LLs were sold out for the day….at 0930
This is what i needed to see! Something realistic 😂 thank you!
I know you probably want to figure this out yourself, but by far the best video out there to help you is Mammoth club. They have using lightning Lane at Disneyland Dan to a science. They know all the tips and tricks. And there is a lot.
Yes! Molly is so amazing in how she lays out the information and gives in park examples. No reason to research from nothing, hit up Mammoth Club videos and get ahead in the knowledge.
fiddle faddle ftw!
As an undesirable Enchant Key holder who does 2 and 3 day visits I just refuse to rope drop. I come often enough that it’s not that serious. I refuse to enter the park before 12pm and when you have 3 days you can spread things around a bit. You don’t gotta ride everything day 1. Since I get to the park late I stay til close and more often than not I’m able to hit Space Mountain, Indy, and like maybe another attraction at 10:30pm til close. Rides like Star Tours or Buzz are always walk ons during closing hours so I just don’t ride them at all during the day. Those closing hours a lot of times are clutch! I also agree that it’s not just about the rides. I love chilling in San Fransokyo to drink a couple beers at night and just sit down and talk to my family. I grab the kids an Aborable Snowman as well and just sit for sometimes 2 hours. I think more people should do that too so that you’re not always in go mode. Anyways just my 2 cents. Good vid as always.
Thank you for working on LLMP science!
I was there the day you tested this and that whole week. It was a fall break week for Utah and many states (we were in from Tennessee) and the whole week was bonkers. I used lightning lane the whole week and found myself banking lightning lanes for later whole week took advantage of rope dropping.
Thanks so much for doing this video and truly showing the REAL experience of LL for all! As a magic key holder I rarely buy LL but when I did I experienced the exact same thing about times automatically changing on you after you’ve booked it! Was sooooooo frustrating and confusing too!
This is nearly what we face on every trip my family goes. It is so chaotic to constantly book things and go back and forth so many times.
We are very excited about the new premier pass! It will make our day so much more enjoyable which makes it worth the price.
Can I ask why you wouldn’t have ridden Pirates at a 20 minute standby on your way to Big Thunder? Indy and Jungle Cruise were obviously too long a wait but Pirates was only 20 minutes which would’ve filled that gap nicely, rather than going all the way to Fantasyland. Just wondering if I’m missing something strategic lol
I understand the frustration, but there is a clear difference how a local experiences the park and a family from out of town that’s visiting for 3 days. 5 hours is not enough time to strategize the LL. Rope drop is still essential as you will start booking out as soon as you enter the park. At 10 as you saw LL were already booked out by hours. If your not using it like people that visit from out of town ( the people it’s geared for) then your not going to getting a good idea of whether or not it works. We absolutely use LL before 10.
My favorite use of LL later in the day is to book the ride you want to go on the most (not the best discount), and then get into the same standby line when the time you will exit the ride on standby will be exactly the LL return time. That way you can ride it twice in a row with no wait (if that is your thing) and lose no time walking to another attraction.
So we've been here before; meaning, my husband and I attempting to tackle as many attractions before 4 PM because we have to go pick up our son. If you're in this kind of circumstance where you are leaving the parks mid-afternoon and trying to maximize your day with lightning lane, you simply have to start booking things before 10 AM. makes it easier to hit stuff back to back if you hit the ground running sooner
You're supposed to pick a later time and then use that in-between time to do hour long standby rides. So in that vein you're still picking things you actually want to do. It was the same way with fastpass.
ive also reached the point where i dont mind waiting in stand by queues anymore. for the big rides that have truly awful lines, they also happen to have single rider.
I haven't been in the parks since COVID hit, and I've heard of this thing where guests end up focused on their cell phones all day rushing around, and this video really brings it home what it is like. What an incredible mess. And now the indignity of this lightning lane premier, like $400, on TOP of the price of admission??? HOW DOES ANY OF IT MAKE ANY SENSE???
I was one of those persons that went once a year to take grandkids to Disneyland. Thank you for doing this and hopefully a few more times. I am disabled but no longer eligible for DAS and this just proves why I can no longer enjoy Disneyland. You can’t get your money’s worth from lightning lane.
I like how you force people to move out of your way while camera walking
Our strategy has always been to hit rope drop with a list of the 3 or 4 "must do" rides for the day and get as many in by around 1030 as possible... the rest of the day is spent doing our sightseeing, shopping, dining and looking for rides of opportunity as we wander around. Taking advantage of parades and shows is great for finding shorter lines too. So much more fun than sitting on my phone trying to figure out where I have to be next.
I just went to Disney on the 22nd and amazingly lucked out with all the major rides- didn't have to wait more than 35 min for most. Walked on to Big Thunder after breakdown. Only had to wait 75 min for rise of the resistance. I was shocked at how lucky I got on my only day out there. Always looking for you there too 😊❤
I would rather not have the stress of trying to juggle LL and standby. The last time I went to Disneyland, I did a Sunday and a Monday, without Genie+ (as it was still then). The crowds on Sunday were very light, while on Monday they were quite heavy. But over those 2 days, I managed to do every single attraction using standby alone, and I could choose the order I did them in, on a whim. It was a relaxing 2 days. I even managed to do a couple of big attractions more than once. And I didn't get to the park until an hour or so after opening, and left an hour or so before closing. Yes, I spent a lot of time standing in line. But I could entertain myself with my phone, or just people watching. It was wonderful.
Cool philip
Try again, David! Do rope drop, and start booking LLs while you're in the light lines! That way you go on the big rides stand by, then *again* via LL...! THEN park hop to DCA! Unfortunately you have to start booking LLs *well* before 10am, to HAVE LLs between 9-11am. ALSO: you have an hour window to actually use the LL; you don't have to be there on the dot (but you CAN book another one!). Good luck! Unfortunately we out-of-staters know how the routine all too well. Imagine how we feel about this Premiere Pass...?! Just messes things up! 🤣🤣🤣
I know it was a busy day, and the availability may not be there because of that, but I almost always ride Matterhorn as a single rider.
hi, david! i love that you tried llmp. as a non-local who buys llmp when i can get to the parks, here are my thoughts. (1) as you said at the end, get to the park at rope drop. only then can you typically knock out attractions (ll or non-ll) before starting to book your first llmp and get yourself on a ll schedule. we like to do either space mountain, matterhorn and rotr or our fav fantasyland attractions first thing in the morning, then we start booking ll. (2) we often have to cross the park to get from one llmp attraction to another based on availability, so just give in to that. we get soooo many steps in. 😁 (3) the tip board IS telling you what to do, but people who aren’t there all the time DO want to do those things you may not want to do as a local. if they don’t, they probably shouldn’t get llmp. i look forward to seeing more llmp videos from you. you can crack this nut! 👏🏻
The way your jaw dropped when you saw the train! 😂 Love your love for Disney.
I will say, I really dislike LL. If they kept the premiere pass and got rid of LL, I would be so happy. Either just wait in line or buy the $400 pass to not wait in line. I think that would lighten the standby lines and congestion a lot. Just my opinion tho.
Have to do one where you try to do both parks.
I did that when I did a full "crush (nearly) ALL of the attractions in the resort" solo trip day - from 8am to midnight! back in March. I mainly used LL for DCA which I did from 12:30 to 7:15pm, I parked hopped twice. I didn't have to use LL for Disneyland except for Pirates and Big Thunder in the PM since I single ridered Space, Matterhorn and Falcon after 10am. I caught Indy and Roger Rabbit right after they had re-opened after break downs and walked on Ruaway Railway, Small World, Autopia and Buzz. I only waited 10 minutes regular standby for Star Tours. The toughest was booking Toy Story which was closed from 1 to 4pm or something like that, and I had to wait 25 minutes for that one in standby. I also did SR for Webstlings and Radiator Springs Racers. Grizzly was a walk on (didn't even have to do single rider!)
Park science videos are done so well by you David. 0:57
Thanks for doing this. We’ve found LLMP to be kind of useful but also inconvenient & kind of a pain. The wish we could book at least two LL reservations at a time.
You needed SoCalDisney Dad to help you on this!! So many things could have been done differently hahahah I would have selected Indiana at one point and then modified it to try to get a better time!! The best trick ! Always love your videos!!
Love this video! Once you start looking into the restrictions, it seems to me like it would take so much away from just enjoying the park…
This is why my strategy is this. I book the next closest window time. Then the next and so forth. I don't care about how much time I am saving because as the day goes on I do end up saving lots of time in the end and I get to use as many Lightning Lanes as I can. Works like charm.
First time I ever went to Disneyland in November 2008, I started in Adventureland and basically went clockwise through the park, doing all rides that came along my way. Didn't go for the big rides first. Started with the Tiki Room, and kept on going. Did everything except Nemo and had to backtrack for Big Thunder (opened later than the rest of the park). It was a much simpler time.
Ummm, Celebrity spotting! I did not expect to see Ashley Johnson in this video 27:55
David love your channel!
As someone who mainly uses genie+/multipass, for us what helps “fill in” time gaps, we also have a park hopper. We rarely have to wait more than 30 minutes between rides.
As the LL planner everytime I take my family of 4 now my advice is always refresh don’t be discouraged too fast like refresh refresh & refresh especially on rides you want & sometimes you’ll have to even book 1 or 2 of your party at a time versus the whole 4 or however many in your party & always immediately after you scan into line look for the next ride you can usually get it in the next 5-20 mins depending how hard you fight for it
There are only a handful of things I am good at in life and one of them is using Multipass Lightning Lane at Disneyland. I did 23 rides on Indigenous People Day using strategy, lightning lane and single rider.
1. Book your first LL the moment you scan into the parks. This will start your 120 minute clock so you’ll be able to book your next one at 10:00am.
2. Modify the time of your first LL until a time after 10am. You don’t want to use LL in the first 2 hours of the park being open. The lines are so short that you don’t need it yet and it essentially is a waste of a LL. At 10:00am book your next LL. Therefore you’ll have 2 LLs at once. One for the one you booked at 8am and one you booked at 10am. As soon as you scan into a ride, see if it will let you book another one. If you already have one booked, it won't let you book another one until you ride it or another 2 hours passes.
3. Pick one of the most popular rides for your first LL. Those return times climb the fastest. You want your 120 minute wait period to be first thing in the morning rather than the middle of the day or you’ll be stuck for a long time doing nothing. I always pick Space Mountain or Indiana Jones for my first LL. The second most popular LLs are Runaway Railway and Matterhorn.
4. You’ll see a green banner at the top of your tip board that says when you can book again. Set an alarm for when you can book again. Book as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want any of the choices just book something to restart your clock. You can always modify to a different ride or different time and it won’t change your original booking time. You ALWAYS want to have at least one LL booked.
5. Use the modify feature. Always modify, never cancel. If your next ride has a really far out return time, refresh the modify page for a few minutes. 90% of the time I'm able to finagle an earlier LL time.
6. Even if you do everything right, there is inevitable going to be some down time before you can use your next LL. This is the time to do other activities, like “filler rides.” Filler rides are rides that don’t usually have a long wait, such as teacups, Winnie the Pooh, or the carousel. Check the app to see what the wait time is for rides near you. Or you can see a show, play at Tom Sawyer island, or just relax on a bench with a snack.
We were there 2 weeks ago and did 24 rides rope drop to close, 3 meals/snacks, and did the drawing at Animation Academy. Even standby rode Rise just before the fireworks.
I’m happy to see there are others out there with similar strategies, maximizing their park day.
@@gsw42488 that’s awesome! I left after fireworks. I was too exhausted and had an hour drive home and had to wake up early for work the next day. 🤣
Your experience is how I felt about HM virtual queue and ROTR LL experience I had last month with my family. And it convinced me to never buy LL. It lessens the magic you’re wanting to create around you. We had so much fun without LL passes.
I agree with you... the Pirates is the only line in the entire Park that I like waiting in. It always moves fairly fast, even with lighting lane and when the Park is very crowded. I dislike the line for Roger Rabbit the most. I don't know why.
As a LL user and defender, this video is so aggravating. I just want to help David so much.
Other things you can do to kill time while waiting for your next LL time: Canoes, Tom Sawyer’s Island, Treehouse, Astro Orbiter, Disneyland Railroad. All great options after doing the Tiki Room.
Thank you David. Could you please do another DL science video on Teir 3 or even busiest day/week during holiday season? I think many people will be interested seeing it, especially people from abroad who can only visit once a year or so.
When I took my family of 4 last year with LL near Xmas, i couldn't utilize our LL enough and felt disappointed paying extra (on top of paying single LL too) . And I was not sure if LL was even worth it. We rope dropped as well. If we hadn't, we would have not enjoyed the DL ( in terms of rides) as much...
And I watched all your content at least a year ahead of our last (first) visit! Im still watching all (and your live, sub channel) because we are going again in December and I would love to be smarter using our LLMP. We can't afford LLPP😢...This might be our last visit as it's getting too expensive.
LL timing quick tips. You can book your next LL after a 2 hour cool down window or scanning in to use your most recently booked LL - whichever is sooner. Modifying the return time does not change your 2 hour window. When in doubt check the app and it will tell you what time you are eligible to book your next LL.
The reservation times does jump often if you don’t book fast enough, which I don’t think is fair
Thank you, David!! Thank you for showing us and convince us, or at least me, NOT to waste our money in unnecessary “options” Disney is offering.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that a family of 4, visiting the park for a limited time during a high tier timeframe (only availability for travel), a once a year (if that) thing, that wants to optimize their visit to the parks, will spend, JUST FOR ONE DAY, park-per-day ticket, $2,500!! This is just for single day, park-per-day tickets and the LLPP!!! This is absolutely absurd and ridiculous. Instead of them bringing people in, they’re just pushing everyone away!! And yes, a lot of people will say “don’t buy it then”. Yes, I get it…but those are the people that can afford going to the parks multiple times per year and have no need for the LLPP…but for us mortals that want some Disney magic and can only get it for a very limited time, well, they just made it impossible and not even worth the time…which for a place like Disneyland, is saying quite a lot.
@juliocortes03 Where did you get that price from...? I see $1,124 for a family of 4 people (aged 10+fo a single Tier 6 day, including Park Hopper!, plus $128 total (32 per ticket) for LLMP. That brings it to $1,252 (all USD, so unless you meant a different currency...?). Obviously $1252 is still insanely expensive. But I don't want people to be misinformed either.
I hate the lightning lane system. Everyone should be able to book at least one per attraction. We did it back in August and the return times were so far away it never worked out
You have to add your first attraction right at 8 when park opens and then change the time just like mobile ordering until it is pushed as far back as you want. I like getting Big Thunder and Matterhorn and pushing their times out for when it is sunset or dark. I set an alarm for each time I am eligible to book again and repeat that process.
This!
very useful tip this.
I’m confused. I thought you could only book one ride a a time. Has something changed or am I just confused about the rule
@@KatherineHughes-b4s yes one at a time but you can "stack" and be holding multiple LL at a time. So you book, wait the 2 hour cool down, book the next, but you're picking LL that have a late afternoon / evening return time or doing the modify feature to push out your return time.