Thank you for the explanation of the park hopper option/pricing! I was so confused and thought it was $65 PER DAY. This helped my boyfriend and I decide what tickets to get and how to plan our trip!
We were at that Oogie Boogie Bash Sunday night that you’re referring to, and for those who were there, you would recognize us as the 6 adults in the Duck Tales costumes- Donald, Scrooge, Ludwig von Drake, Magica De Spell, Darkwing, and Launchpad McQuack!
Yes, this was definitely a more relaxed pace morning for us. We’ve done the rush ones, and can get about 4-5 rides done in the first hour. This one was 6 in about 2.5 hours. But we stopped and ate food (off camera), got bread from the bread tour, etc.
Hi, first of all I want to thank you for your videos. I am going to Disneyland and DCA for the first time in November and all your videos have been really helpful. I am hoping someone answers this question though lol. How does single rider on radiator racers work? Do you ride by yourself or do you get paired with strangers I have an 8 year old almost 9 year old that gets embarrassed and nervous very easily so don't want to get in that line if there is a chance he will have to ride with a stranger.
Yes, that is how single rider works on any of the rides. Parties will be split up. You’ll be riding with strangers. On RSR, the car has 3 seats per row. Usually a party of 2 takes the first two seats and a single rider makes up the third. “Why would anyone do that if they are there with other people?” Is probably a question that comes to mind. In the words of Penn Holderness (comedic TH-camr) “We can either all enjoy this ride alone, or we don’t enjoy this ride at all”. 🤣 If you’d like to see what I referenced just search “Dads at Disney”. It’s a collab between Holderness Family and Dude Dad that’s hilarious. They have a “Moms at Disney” too.
Great! Thank you for your response! I appreciate it. There is 6 of us all together so we will squeeze him in the middle and most likely he will ride with at least one of us lol.
If you have Genie+ would your rope drop strategy for California Adventure change at all? I know for Disneyland we should do Fantasyland first since those rides aren't on Genie+, but I'm not as familiar when planning out our strategy for DCA.
The only rides not on Genie+ at DCA are Pixar Pier rides (which we didn't do in this video, but the waits remain low all day for the most part) or the Cars Land rides (which we did do in this video). Rope drop, in either park, is still going to be about riding those rides with longer waits first thing in the morning. Why? Take Space Mountain for instance. It's my favorite ride, or was for the longest time until some of the newer rides came out and it's still a top ride for me. If I had Genie+ I could ride it only once. But if I want to ride it more than once, I'd rope drop it while it's a low wait, and then use Genie+ on it later in the day when it's an 80 minute wait. I'd venture to say that rope dropping Fantasyland is not ideal unless you really really like Fantasyland. I did a video on it because it was requested. But I personally would choose to ride the bigger rides in the morning. The longest wait for a Fantasyland ride, aside from Peter Pan which hardly drops below 30), is 20 minutes at the worst time of the day. The queues just don't have room for any more guests than 20 minutes. I, personally, don't mind waiting 20 minutes. It's the rides that get 45+ minute waits that I want to ride during the Golden Hour at rope drop.
They’re no different than any of the other queues in terms of size. As for elevators and things, sometimes they don’t have any, but if you talk to the cast member at the entrance, they’ll send you a different way. So I’d just make it a habit of talking to them first.
@@SoCalDisneyDad I do remember them pulling us through a different spot at some point for Radiator Springs, in regular standby line. My wife uses a chair full time. This next time, our daughter is old enough for single rider, so if the line is nuts, that's an option.
I found this from the internet: “Once you open the app, locate the three horizontal lines in the bottom right-hand corner. Select "Tickets and Passes" from the menu. Next, select the tickets you would like to upgrade and choose the "Change Ticket" option to add on the Park Hopper Option.” I don’t know how accurate this is as it’s over a year old. And I don’t have any tickets on my account to test it with. Worst case scenario, you could speak with the cast members at the ticket booths there at the park. But I would contact them via chat through the app if the above pasted info doesn’t work. They should be able to help.
I believe it is open before 8 AM, yes. But I’m not 100% on that as I rarely go in there. But when we bought our gingerbread at Christmas I think it might have been before 8.
We were there Sunday and I’m sad I missed seeing you and your family. We have been rope dropping DCA on the Oogie Boogie days this week. It’s been so nice in the mornings. IMO the best strategy for us is Webslingers and Guardians first thing. Incredicoaster stays about 5 mins most of the morning. We purchased a LL for Radiator Springs on Sunday. We do have genie so we use those to go back and ride things again that we love. On Tuesday, I made a silly decision to rope drop RS just to test it out. We were near the front of the rope, and it was a 60 min wait. It broke down when we got close to the front which added on another 15 mins. That was a never again. We may single rider it today since my son is 9. The parks are insanely crowded during the day and evenings. As a WDW goer this time of year, it’s crazy to me.
I got right to mainstreet. When they ropedroped DL And it saved me time. And I didn't have to stand. I was so close to doing Web Slingers. But chose Toy Story. This is why I need to go back. And do a long Disney vacation. And try all the snacks and things.
I was a bit frustrated (it didn’t really show though, because Disney always brightens my day) that we missed actual rope drop for filming purposes, but personally, we love showing up right around 8:05 to avoid waiting. It’s stressful to stand like sardines for 20 minutes and then rush through the crowd to where you’re going.
I must tell you how helpful your videos were for our first Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood trip. My husband and I repeatedly watched many of your videos to make a perfect plan for each place per day. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! (*^-^*)
We will have one day at DCA in September. From your videos we are considering going on a party night. Do they always have early entry at DCA on party days? What will we miss by not being at DCA at night?
@@jennlalyn DCA early entry is Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Only available to Disney hotel guests. Most OBB days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, though they do have random other dates or days listed above without an OBB. Check their schedule for full list of dates. As far as what you’re missing, just general ambience of lights, especially on the pier, and of course you won’t be able to see World of Color.
Hi Traver! I might’ve asked this before or a similar question but can’t find the response. My family with kids 6, 3 and will be 10 months old are coming for 5 days in September! We are rope droppers but I’m worried that rope dropping Disneyland on Oogie boogie days + battling the hotel guests will be busy. What do you think? I didn’t want to hop every day but I’m leaning towards rope dropping DCA on oogie boogie days and then hopping after our mid afternoon break? We do genie+ so I could stack LLs for the evening.
Usually the parks that host after hours events are quieter in the mornings because of what you shared. And if you have a hopper, I usually recommend starting in the event park for that very reason. But yes. That means you’d need to hop midday once the mix-in starts at 3 PM. Stacking LLs doesn’t work as well here at WDW. You can stack at WDW because many rides are instantly in the evening 10-15 minutes after you can start booking LLs. But at Disneyland, those later hours won’t start to appear until 12-1 in the afternoon. You could absolutely start stacking then. But you’ll likely only ever have 2 maybe 3 stacked. Because there just isn’t that many hours between 1 and when you’d hop. You’re much better off just using Genie+ in the park you’re at and maximizing its usage. Then as the early afternoon approaches you can switch your park for LLs. Maybe take an afternoon break while doing it (it’s pretty hot that time of year).
@@SoCalDisneyDad oh yeah that’s what I meant. We’ll use it some for sure but then I want to break around 130-2 until 5-6 at night and I’ll stack during that time. And if I have to modify the times I can do that if they aren’t far enough out yet. Based on watching your videos it seems like Disneyland was slower on non oogie boogie days for the same reason so we should probably rope drop that as well. I’m imagining the rope crowds being worse because hotel guests are now all going to one park vs spread out over both on top of the event affecting it. We will do the opposite of everyone and hope it works in our favor :)
Do you know anything about the Pixar Place entrance to the DCA? We are staying at the Pixar Place hotel, and we are wondering if we should use that entrance for early entry.
Thank you so much for all of these great videos. We have 3 kiddos, one is a baby and another too young for single rider. Your tips for families are wonderful!
Thank you for your videos. I've never been to DCA and your videos help me to see everything that they have there. You give good tips and we know what to expect when we go there. Thanks again.
DCA has Soarin’, Guardians, and Radiator Springs! I love DCA! Incredicoaster is not my fave - single rider took almost an hour the last time I was there (should have just done standby) and lightning lane kept getting priority. I guess it just depends on the day. It was OB Tuesday.😕
Single rider does not work well at Incredicoaster because it’s a 2-seater. And most families are divisible by 2. It’s just the way it is. The rides with the best single riders are ride vehicles with 3 seats because the third seat is rarely used. Radiator Springs Racers and Matterhorn fall into this. Millennium Falcon is good because it’s a 6 seater and very few families have exactly 6 people. So they always need single riders.
So just to clarify. My family plans on doing said 4 days trip next year to Disneyland. With our two and three year old daughters. If we choose to buy the park hopper we only have to pay for it once? Assuming we don't need to park hopper ticket for our two year old. It would be $180 for the three of us for our entire trip? See this is why you are my favorite Disneyland TH-camr, an absolute sea of information!😮
We are going for 5 days in January. To be specific we are going January 20-24th Saturday-Wednesday. Do you recommend doing DCA for our first day on Saturday and Disneyland on a sunday for “slower” crowds? Or do you feel it wouldn’t matter? Just trying to plan our days and which parks to do on what days to try to optimize lower crowds. Thanks so much we love your videos they’re so helpful for families like us!
Sunday will probably be less crowded than Saturday, but not by much. Your weekday park days will likely be better. But January is a pretty chill time of year.
did you film this on Sunday, sept 10? my husband and I went that day looking for you because you had mentioned you would be there! we rope dropped Disneyland 🤣
Yeah, park hopping is completely unnecessary at WDW. We've haven't had a hopper there since 2014. Just wastes time hopping. But here it's super easy and I hop back and forth once or twice every visit.
If you’re going for only two days, I’d say to just do 1 park per day so you can focus on a single park. Yes. Unless you come often and want the flexibility to bounce back and forth.
wish i saw this a few days earlier! we just finished 2 days at the disneyland resort and it was so crowded/hard to find low wait times. i thought mid week in fall was supposed to be less busy? any idea why this week was so busy? thank you for your videos!!
My guess is you went to DCA on a day when Oogie Boogie was NOT going on and you were at Disneyland on the Oogie Boogie days. These are going to be the busiest days for those parks. Disneyland, on a Wednesday, is pretty empty because everyone is at DCA since it’s full hours on Wednesday. This is where having a hopper is really handy because you can do your DCA day on an Oogie Boogie night and just switch to Disneyland when DCA closes.
Thank you for the explanation of the park hopper option/pricing! I was so confused and thought it was $65 PER DAY. This helped my boyfriend and I decide what tickets to get and how to plan our trip!
We were at that Oogie Boogie Bash Sunday night that you’re referring to, and for those who were there, you would recognize us as the 6 adults in the Duck Tales costumes- Donald, Scrooge, Ludwig von Drake, Magica De Spell, Darkwing, and Launchpad McQuack!
nice rope drop!! really good pace of not rushing through rides but also not getting stuck in painfully long waits. i'm taking notes!
Yes, this was definitely a more relaxed pace morning for us. We’ve done the rush ones, and can get about 4-5 rides done in the first hour. This one was 6 in about 2.5 hours. But we stopped and ate food (off camera), got bread from the bread tour, etc.
I love how you were honest about the reality of failing the first time , glad to see the success 🔥🔥
For the food alone DCA is top notch.
I'm coming here in 2 weeks
Hi, first of all I want to thank you for your videos. I am going to Disneyland and DCA for the first time in November and all your videos have been really helpful. I am hoping someone answers this question though lol. How does single rider on radiator racers work? Do you ride by yourself or do you get paired with strangers I have an 8 year old almost 9 year old that gets embarrassed and nervous very easily so don't want to get in that line if there is a chance he will have to ride with a stranger.
Yes, that is how single rider works on any of the rides. Parties will be split up. You’ll be riding with strangers. On RSR, the car has 3 seats per row. Usually a party of 2 takes the first two seats and a single rider makes up the third.
“Why would anyone do that if they are there with other people?” Is probably a question that comes to mind.
In the words of Penn Holderness (comedic TH-camr) “We can either all enjoy this ride alone, or we don’t enjoy this ride at all”. 🤣
If you’d like to see what I referenced just search “Dads at Disney”. It’s a collab between Holderness Family and Dude Dad that’s hilarious. They have a “Moms at Disney” too.
Great! Thank you for your response! I appreciate it. There is 6 of us all together so we will squeeze him in the middle and most likely he will ride with at least one of us lol.
If you have Genie+ would your rope drop strategy for California Adventure change at all? I know for Disneyland we should do Fantasyland first since those rides aren't on Genie+, but I'm not as familiar when planning out our strategy for DCA.
The only rides not on Genie+ at DCA are Pixar Pier rides (which we didn't do in this video, but the waits remain low all day for the most part) or the Cars Land rides (which we did do in this video).
Rope drop, in either park, is still going to be about riding those rides with longer waits first thing in the morning. Why? Take Space Mountain for instance. It's my favorite ride, or was for the longest time until some of the newer rides came out and it's still a top ride for me. If I had Genie+ I could ride it only once. But if I want to ride it more than once, I'd rope drop it while it's a low wait, and then use Genie+ on it later in the day when it's an 80 minute wait.
I'd venture to say that rope dropping Fantasyland is not ideal unless you really really like Fantasyland. I did a video on it because it was requested. But I personally would choose to ride the bigger rides in the morning.
The longest wait for a Fantasyland ride, aside from Peter Pan which hardly drops below 30), is 20 minutes at the worst time of the day. The queues just don't have room for any more guests than 20 minutes. I, personally, don't mind waiting 20 minutes. It's the rides that get 45+ minute waits that I want to ride during the Golden Hour at rope drop.
Are the single rider queues wheelchair accessible?
They’re no different than any of the other queues in terms of size. As for elevators and things, sometimes they don’t have any, but if you talk to the cast member at the entrance, they’ll send you a different way. So I’d just make it a habit of talking to them first.
@@SoCalDisneyDad I do remember them pulling us through a different spot at some point for Radiator Springs, in regular standby line. My wife uses a chair full time. This next time, our daughter is old enough for single rider, so if the line is nuts, that's an option.
I have a trip plan in December and i already purchased tickets is it to late to add park hoper ?
I found this from the internet: “Once you open the app, locate the three horizontal lines in the bottom right-hand corner. Select "Tickets and Passes" from the menu. Next, select the tickets you would like to upgrade and choose the "Change Ticket" option to add on the Park Hopper Option.”
I don’t know how accurate this is as it’s over a year old. And I don’t have any tickets on my account to test it with.
Worst case scenario, you could speak with the cast members at the ticket booths there at the park.
But I would contact them via chat through the app if the above pasted info doesn’t work. They should be able to help.
Thank you so much !
This definitely came at a good time! We can’t wait to come visit the West Coast and can’t thank you enough for being our tour guide!!
Dude, I absolutely love your videos. Very helpful as I am an AP holder, your vids give me stuff to look forward to and explore. Top Disney youtuber.
did i beat you? 😀
no... but you came close! 😅
oh the white lies we tell children 😂🤣
Would I be able to eat at Starbucks in dca before the rides open? So we can eat breakfast first and then be ready for rope drop?
I believe it is open before 8 AM, yes. But I’m not 100% on that as I rarely go in there. But when we bought our gingerbread at Christmas I think it might have been before 8.
We were there Sunday and I’m sad I missed seeing you and your family. We have been rope dropping DCA on the Oogie Boogie days this week. It’s been so nice in the mornings. IMO the best strategy for us is Webslingers and Guardians first thing. Incredicoaster stays about 5 mins most of the morning. We purchased a LL for Radiator Springs on Sunday. We do have genie so we use those to go back and ride things again that we love.
On Tuesday, I made a silly decision to rope drop RS just to test it out. We were near the front of the rope, and it was a 60 min wait. It broke down when we got close to the front which added on another 15 mins. That was a never again. We may single rider it today since my son is 9. The parks are insanely crowded during the day and evenings. As a WDW goer this time of year, it’s crazy to me.
I got right to mainstreet. When they ropedroped DL And it saved me time. And I didn't have to stand. I was so close to doing Web Slingers. But chose Toy Story. This is why I need to go back. And do a long Disney vacation. And try all the snacks and things.
I was a bit frustrated (it didn’t really show though, because Disney always brightens my day) that we missed actual rope drop for filming purposes, but personally, we love showing up right around 8:05 to avoid waiting. It’s stressful to stand like sardines for 20 minutes and then rush through the crowd to where you’re going.
I must tell you how helpful your videos were for our first Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood trip. My husband and I repeatedly watched many of your videos to make a perfect plan for each place per day. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! (*^-^*)
I’m so glad to hear this. Thanks for sharing!
We’ll be there October 30th and I needed an updated halloween time rope drop strat so thank you!!!
We will have one day at DCA in September. From your videos we are considering going on a party night. Do they always have early entry at DCA on party days?
What will we miss by not being at DCA at night?
@@jennlalyn DCA early entry is Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Only available to Disney hotel guests.
Most OBB days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, though they do have random other dates or days listed above without an OBB. Check their schedule for full list of dates.
As far as what you’re missing, just general ambience of lights, especially on the pier, and of course you won’t be able to see World of Color.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thank you!
My favorite part of Mater’s is when he says the pre ride safety spiel in Spanish. It’s too cute 😆
Yes! Poor Mater has a hard time with the Spanish words but it is super cute for sure.
Hi Traver! I might’ve asked this before or a similar question but can’t find the response. My family with kids 6, 3 and will be 10 months old are coming for 5 days in September! We are rope droppers but I’m worried that rope dropping Disneyland on Oogie boogie days + battling the hotel guests will be busy. What do you think? I didn’t want to hop every day but I’m leaning towards rope dropping DCA on oogie boogie days and then hopping after our mid afternoon break? We do genie+ so I could stack LLs for the evening.
Usually the parks that host after hours events are quieter in the mornings because of what you shared. And if you have a hopper, I usually recommend starting in the event park for that very reason. But yes. That means you’d need to hop midday once the mix-in starts at 3 PM.
Stacking LLs doesn’t work as well here at WDW. You can stack at WDW because many rides are instantly in the evening 10-15 minutes after you can start booking LLs. But at Disneyland, those later hours won’t start to appear until 12-1 in the afternoon.
You could absolutely start stacking then. But you’ll likely only ever have 2 maybe 3 stacked. Because there just isn’t that many hours between 1 and when you’d hop.
You’re much better off just using Genie+ in the park you’re at and maximizing its usage. Then as the early afternoon approaches you can switch your park for LLs. Maybe take an afternoon break while doing it (it’s pretty hot that time of year).
@@SoCalDisneyDad oh yeah that’s what I meant. We’ll use it some for sure but then I want to break around 130-2 until 5-6 at night and I’ll stack during that time. And if I have to modify the times I can do that if they aren’t far enough out yet.
Based on watching your videos it seems like Disneyland was slower on non oogie boogie days for the same reason so we should probably rope drop that as well. I’m imagining the rope crowds being worse because hotel guests are now all going to one park vs spread out over both on top of the event affecting it. We will do the opposite of everyone and hope it works in our favor :)
@@kelseyroberts4222 That’s generally a good plan! Do the opposite of the majority.
You da 🐐🔥 thank you for the consistent uploads, taking my family in a few days and you have been a great teacher 🫡
Hope you and your family have a magical trip!
Do you know anything about the Pixar Place entrance to the DCA? We are staying at the Pixar Place hotel, and we are wondering if we should use that entrance for early entry.
Thank you so much for all of these great videos. We have 3 kiddos, one is a baby and another too young for single rider. Your tips for families are wonderful!
Is buying the dessert package for the Oogie Boogie Bash worth it?
Happy Birthday Benjamin 🎉Love Jame’s hat.
Thank you for your videos. I've never been to DCA and your videos help me to see everything that they have there. You give good tips and we know what to expect when we go there. Thanks again.
Thank you for all the videos. We going to Disneyland this month. Your videos are so very helpful.
Going on a Saturday in October with my 8 year old. Getting so excited!
Happy almost birthday to Benjamin! 🎉 🏰
Rope drop Strategy tip number 1...be there at rope drop 😅
love your vids!!
Going tomorrow any tips on entry to use?
Happy early birthday Benjamin 🎉.
7:18 the marvel music , perfect
Yes! Just the kind of video I was waiting! 😎
4 at Disneyland 0 at DCA
DCA has Soarin’, Guardians, and Radiator Springs! I love DCA! Incredicoaster is not my fave - single rider took almost an hour the last time I was there (should have just done standby) and lightning lane kept getting priority. I guess it just depends on the day. It was OB Tuesday.😕
Single rider does not work well at Incredicoaster because it’s a 2-seater. And most families are divisible by 2. It’s just the way it is.
The rides with the best single riders are ride vehicles with 3 seats because the third seat is rarely used. Radiator Springs Racers and Matterhorn fall into this.
Millennium Falcon is good because it’s a 6 seater and very few families have exactly 6 people. So they always need single riders.
So just to clarify. My family plans on doing said 4 days trip next year to Disneyland. With our two and three year old daughters. If we choose to buy the park hopper we only have to pay for it once? Assuming we don't need to park hopper ticket for our two year old. It would be $180 for the three of us for our entire trip? See this is why you are my favorite Disneyland TH-camr, an absolute sea of information!😮
Yes! That is correct. $180 extra for park hopper for your whole family (because the 2 year old doesn’t need a ticket) for all four days.
We are going for 5 days in January. To be specific we are going January 20-24th Saturday-Wednesday. Do you recommend doing DCA for our first day on Saturday and Disneyland on a sunday for “slower” crowds? Or do you feel it wouldn’t matter? Just trying to plan our days and which parks to do on what days to try to optimize lower crowds. Thanks so much we love your videos they’re so helpful for families like us!
Sunday will probably be less crowded than Saturday, but not by much. Your weekday park days will likely be better. But January is a pretty chill time of year.
did you film this on Sunday, sept 10? my husband and I went that day looking for you because you had mentioned you would be there! we rope dropped Disneyland 🤣
I believe it was the 17th. We had planned on being there the 10th, but something came up. I don’t remember what, and we didn’t make it there that day.
That's a great tip on the park hopper! As a WDW person I gave up on park hopping long ago but it could make great sense at Disneyland it sounds like.
Yeah, park hopping is completely unnecessary at WDW. We've haven't had a hopper there since 2014. Just wastes time hopping. But here it's super easy and I hop back and forth once or twice every visit.
I see lots of strollers but not really any ECV. Do many use them?
I’ve seen plenty of them around. Folks definitely use them! No worries there.
Is it better to get one park per day ticket and just focus on one park or buy the two park pass? Is it better to start at DCA versus Disneyland?
If you’re going for only two days, I’d say to just do 1 park per day so you can focus on a single park. Yes.
Unless you come often and want the flexibility to bounce back and forth.
Great Advice! Never been to DCA so your videos are very helpful! Thanks!@@SoCalDisneyDad
wish i saw this a few days earlier! we just finished 2 days at the disneyland resort and it was so crowded/hard to find low wait times. i thought mid week in fall was supposed to be less busy? any idea why this week was so busy? thank you for your videos!!
My guess is you went to DCA on a day when Oogie Boogie was NOT going on and you were at Disneyland on the Oogie Boogie days.
These are going to be the busiest days for those parks.
Disneyland, on a Wednesday, is pretty empty because everyone is at DCA since it’s full hours on Wednesday.
This is where having a hopper is really handy because you can do your DCA day on an Oogie Boogie night and just switch to Disneyland when DCA closes.
@@SoCalDisneyDad wow you were spot on! we should have switched the days around but now we know for next time. thank you so much for replying!
Can I ask for a front seat on Soarin' like I can at WDW?
You can try. Doesn’t hurt to ask. Honestly though, the middle row is the best, and in Group B.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you!
Is the Incredicoaster rough?
It’s fast, but I wouldn’t say rough. The “roughest” part would be the loop, but I didn’t think it was bad. The restraints are very snug as well
If you’ve rode Matterhorn, I’d say that’s more rough in my opinion
It’s not too crazy luckily , the initial start has a push but once you go down that first drop smooth sailing
Sounds great, thanks all!!!