Latest / Mom Street USA / 138. Disney World Rope Drop & Lightning Lane Strategy | Fall 2026

Transcript

138. Disney World Rope Drop & Lightning Lane Strategy | Fall 2026 · Mom Street USA

0:05
Welcome everybody, to another episode of Mom's Street USAI am
0:08
your host, Jackie. And today's topic is one that I
0:11
get asked very frequently about, whether it be in person by
0:15
friends who know that I know a ton about Disney or online.
0:20
We're talking Lightning Lanes and we're talking rope drop
0:24
strategy. So we're going to kind of
0:25
combine the two and do almost like a little refresher.
0:30
We've covered these topics before on Mom Street, but I felt
0:33
like we're getting into the really busy season of 2026.
0:37
So let's do a quick revisit. We're going to do kind of a
0:41
quick overview and reminder and then I'll give you information
0:45
on like how to find the more in depth episodes that we talked
0:48
about all of this previously. If you need more information or
0:52
you're like, I don't remember what she said about this or
0:54
something that we don't talk about today.
0:56
So that is the plan for today's episode.
0:59
So like I mentioned that this is a very frequently visited topic
1:02
that I wanted to provide some updates from previous episodes
1:05
where we talked about them. This holiday season, starting
1:10
with Mickey's Not So Scary and Halloween all the way through
1:14
the end of the year can be a really hectic, crazy busy time
1:17
at the parks. Now there are some glimmers of
1:19
weeks where it's not quite so busy.
1:22
Early November is a really good time to go during this time.
1:27
Right after Thanksgiving can be a little bit less crowded.
1:30
But generally speaking, starting pretty much now about mid August
1:35
all the way through the end of the year, it's just busy at the
1:38
park. So I wanted to make sure that
1:40
our mom St. audience is ready to attack their park days and have
1:44
a great strategy to start with. So for each park, I'm going to
1:47
go over two different things. Well, it's kind of three, but
1:50
it's you'll see. So we're going to talk about
1:53
booking lightning lanes and then we're going to talk about rope
1:56
drop strategy. Now with rope drop, we are going
2:00
to talk about the difference between early entry and rope
2:03
drop. So this is something that these
2:06
terms get used a lot interchangeably, but they
2:08
actually do have different meanings.
2:10
So when you hear me talk about early entry, early entry is the
2:15
30 minute time that Disney Resort guests get before park
2:20
open to go and access the rides. Rope drop is when park opens at
2:27
their designated hour. So for example, Epcot opens at
2:31
9:00 AM, 8:30 is your early entry time, 9:00 is your rope
2:35
drop time. So just want to be very clear
2:37
when I'm talking about those in this episode to make sure that
2:40
it's very clear because it's often not clear.
2:44
And those terms do get used interchangeably despite their
2:46
different meanings. So just make sure that you're
2:49
thinking in that mindset as we go through.
2:52
And again, we're going to talk about lightning Lanes also, and
2:55
I'm going to give kind of a few options maybe depending on your
2:59
group's needs. So most of the parks have kind
3:02
of a pretty tried and true set plan that I like to use.
3:05
But there are a few little differences that you can tweak
3:08
based on your group's needs. So for example, if there's a
3:11
ride that I mentioned that you don't care to do, just skip it
3:14
and move on your research and your ride list.
3:18
So I highly suggest having your priority list when you are
3:22
listening to this. Now that could mean either you
3:25
bookmark it to come back to or you've already got it and you're
3:28
ready to go or you pause really quick to pull that up so that
3:31
you're ready and you've got that list kind of in front of you.
3:34
But your research and your ride list, plus my advice is the
3:38
recipe to a great park day. I'm convinced.
3:40
So that is the goal of today's episode.
3:44
As a reminder, if you need more specifics on how to book
3:47
lightning lanes and tutorials step by step on where to go in
3:51
the app, that already exists on our YouTube channel.
3:54
So if you need a lightning lane guide, episode 90 of Mom St.
4:00
USA is my full guide to lightning lanes.
4:03
I also have a how to episode that just highlights the process
4:07
of actually booking on the app with full screen tutorials.
4:11
Like literally I had an iPad on the camera so you could see what
4:14
I was doing, complete with a step by step showcase of that
4:17
process. That is on our how to page on
4:21
our YouTube channel and it will be LinkedIn our show notes for
4:23
this episode. So if you're somebody that is
4:26
very visual and you need to see exactly how to do it, what
4:29
buttons to push, where it's going to be on your screen, that
4:32
is the episode and the how to guide to help you along with
4:37
that Ford Lightning Lanes. We've also talked about rope
4:40
drop strategies and things like that before.
4:42
So scroll back through, see what you think will be helpful.
4:44
But this is kind of just a refresher course, a reminder, a
4:48
few new things because some things have changed since the
4:50
last time we talked about this. But generally speaking, we're
4:53
not going into the in depth, step by step details for this
4:56
particular episode. OK, now that we've got all of
5:00
that set up, let's jump into the parks.
5:04
So we're going to start with Epcot.
5:06
I mean in each park I'm going to go through the Lightning Lanes,
5:09
the early entry and then the rope drop.
5:11
So all three of those categories for Epcot is what you'll find in
5:14
the next several minutes. So for Lightning Lanes, remember
5:17
that Lightning Lanes at three of the four Walt Disney World parks
5:21
are booked in tears. At all four of the parks.
5:25
You can book ahead either seven days out if you are a resort
5:29
guest or three days ahead if you are a non resort guest.
5:33
Again, that information is helpful to know going forward,
5:36
but we're not going into all the details, so keep those things in
5:39
mind as you're looking at Epcot, Here's what I would suggest for
5:45
booking your lightning lanes. For your Tier 1 lightning lane,
5:50
I would book Ratatouille. For your Tier 2 lightning lanes,
5:55
I would book Sauron and Finding Nemo.
5:58
So those would be the three rides that I would book ahead of
6:01
time if I were you. Now again, if some of those
6:04
rides are not of interest to your family, pick something
6:08
else. Like my family doesn't
6:10
necessarily always do Ratatouille because my kids
6:12
aren't a huge fan so we would book potentially Frozen instead,
6:16
but there are other options. So it really just depends on
6:19
your group and what you want to do.
6:21
Now I will say that if you are doing Soren as one of your Tier
6:26
2 options, you want to get that particular time as early as you
6:32
possibly can because that will help with your ability to do
6:36
living with the land on standby and not have to worry about
6:41
booking a lightning lane for it. So if you're doing Sauron as a
6:44
lightning lane for your pre booking, grab it as early in the
6:47
morning as you can to help with that standby line because living
6:50
with the land is a decent Tier 2 to book later in the day.
6:55
It does get a longer line the longer in the day it goes, so
6:59
keep that in mind. I would also highly suggest
7:02
booking the Guardians of the Galaxy single pass when it comes
7:04
to lightning lanes because that line is always at least an hour
7:08
if not more. Now if you're fine with waiting
7:10
for that and maybe you are looking to save a little bit of
7:13
money, you opt to do multi pass instead of doing the single
7:16
pass. Totally fine.
7:17
You just have to plan accordingly for that.
7:20
So that's kind of the short and sweet Lightning Lane options for
7:24
Epcot. Now let's talk about early entry
7:27
and rope drop. Epcot is unique in the fact that
7:32
it is the only park that has two entrances.
7:36
So it makes it a little tricky depending on which entrance
7:42
you're coming from. Now for early entry, what I
7:46
suggest now let me let me let me go back.
7:50
The way that I'm going to structure this in today's
7:52
episode is that these early entry and rope drop strategies
7:57
are based on my lightning lane strategy.
8:01
So in my head when I'm looking at early entry and rope drop, I
8:05
have already booked Remy, Soren and Finding Nemo.
8:08
So I don't have to worry about those because they're already
8:12
booked. So keep that in mind.
8:14
So if you are doing early entry, you've already booked Remy.
8:20
I would suggest going to Frozen 1st and then going to test
8:27
track. You can flip that and reverse
8:30
that if test track is a higher priority for you.
8:34
But those two rides are the two that you want to knock off and
8:38
get out of the way as soon as humanly possible because those
8:41
are the next longest lines that we haven't talked about so far
8:44
in our list of attractions that I've got.
8:47
So Frozen and Test Track for early entry are your top 2IN
8:52
theory, you should be able to get through both of those before
8:58
park open or at least be in line for the second one before the
9:02
general park open guests get in line.
9:05
Also, Please remember that Epcot now does no no longer keeps you
9:11
like right at the gates. They do let you queue up to the
9:14
sides of the park that you're trying to go to.
9:16
So you really want to be early to make sure that of those
9:21
groups that are queuing up to go to their first attraction, you
9:25
are further up in that queue, especially for something like
9:28
Frozen or Test Track because they are kind of on that same
9:31
side as also Guardians of the Galaxy is.
9:34
So it gets a little congested and messy over there.
9:37
So just be aware of that. Look at your shortest route to
9:40
get where you need to go and just be ready to beeline
9:43
directly to the ride. Now after you have gone through
9:48
Frozen and Test Track, hopefully your Soren time is fairly early,
9:53
but chances are good you probably have time for one more
9:56
ride. You have some options because
10:00
you're going to be headed over towards Soren and Nemo.
10:03
I would maybe jump over and do Figment.
10:06
You could do the Moana walkthrough, right?
10:08
There are other options of things that you can do along the
10:11
way that you're going. If you make it to Frozen second,
10:15
like let's say you do test track, you go to frozen second.
10:18
On your way back through, you could go into the Mexico
10:20
Pavilion and do 3 caballeros. So there are several different
10:23
options based on the geographical location that you
10:26
are in the park. So just like kind of be smart
10:29
about what else you could do before that first light kneeling
10:32
for Sauron comes up. Now if you are doing regular
10:36
rope drop, so you don't have early entry, you're just going
10:40
in right at park. Open at 9:00 AM, the first thing
10:43
that you're going to want to do, and this is partially what
10:46
you're going to want to do before 9:00 AM hits as you're
10:49
going to just want to keep an eye on what the wait times look
10:52
like for Frozen and test track. If either of them, whichever is
10:56
your top, are under 30 minutes, I would head directly there and
11:02
get straight of mine because both of those attractions rarely
11:05
go 30 or under throughout the day.
11:09
So you might have to choose. And again, that's where that
11:11
priority list comes into play because you want to make sure
11:14
that you know exactly what your next priority is.
11:17
So there's no time wasted when you're thinking about, well,
11:20
should we do this one next or should we do that one next?
11:23
No, you already have your priority list.
11:26
You're ready to go. You know what you need to do at
11:28
that point. Now after that, again, hopefully
11:32
you can start heading over to Soren to get grab your lightning
11:36
lane. Maybe you can grab living with
11:39
the land before your sore and lightning lane and that would
11:41
work for either early entry or rope drop.
11:43
Maybe you go on living with the land while you're waiting an
11:46
extra 2030 minutes for your sore and lightning lane time to open
11:50
up. So some different options there.
11:53
But if you follow those plans, that will get the majority of
11:57
the big weights out of your way because after that you're really
12:01
just looking at mission space. If you choose to do it, you're
12:05
looking at Figment, maybe you're looking at Spaceship Earth.
12:10
That's not a huge list that you've got left to do 1 either
12:14
by standby or two. Grab lightning lanes for them
12:16
later in the day. I love at Epcot.
12:20
What I will do is I will rush through as many rides as I
12:23
possibly can in the morning until about lunchtime, and then
12:26
from lunchtime to dinnertime, we just kind of wander.
12:31
We enjoy some shows, we go to World Showcase, we maybe use a
12:35
lightning lane or two depending on what time we could book
12:37
things for. And then in the evening time, I
12:39
finish out the rest of our ride list because it's just so much
12:44
nicer that way. For me, if my afternoon is just
12:48
nice and slow and enjoying the vibes of Epcot and grabbing some
12:51
food and all of that, there's so much to do, right?
12:55
So that's my suggestion for Epcot.
12:57
Hopefully that all makes sense. And I will say this probably a
13:00
couple more times. But as I'm going through all of
13:02
these, if you are listening and you're like, wait, but you
13:05
missed this or that doesn't make sense or you, you know, I don't
13:08
know what you mean by this. Drop a comment, send me a
13:11
message, write me an e-mail, reach out so that way I can help
13:15
you, right? Because that's, that's what I'm
13:17
here for. That's what I want to do.
13:18
That's why I'm providing all this information for you and why
13:21
I have done so much research on lightning lanes because they are
13:25
giant pain and they're really hard to understand when
13:29
especially for first or second time visitors to the park.
13:32
So please reach out if you've got questions about this
13:35
episode. So from Epcot, let's hop over
13:40
now to Animal Kingdom. This one's a little bit more
13:44
straightforward currently because there are really only
13:49
about 5 or 6 things to do over there, technically speaking,
13:53
when it comes to attractions. Now there are shows, there are
13:55
entertainment, there are walking trails, there's the Wilderness
13:59
Explorer Little Club booklet thing you can do lots to do
14:02
still. But when it comes to actual like
14:04
rides and attractions, that list is fairly small right now until
14:08
we get more from the tropical Americas that is supposed to be
14:11
opening in 2027. Remains to be seen when exactly
14:16
that's going to happen as I'm recording this D23 is happening
14:21
literally this weekend. So by the time this airs you
14:25
guys will know more than I do when I'm recording it right now
14:27
but hopefully we get some dates and things for tropical
14:30
America's. I know they've been giving some
14:32
first looks at the new Encanto ride, the new Indiana Jones
14:35
ride, the new carousel. Total side note did you guys see
14:38
that they're putting Disney characters, like animal Disney
14:42
characters on the carousel? It's going to be amazing.
14:45
I can't wait. But for now, if you're choosing
14:49
to do lightning lanes at Animal Kingdom, Animal Kingdom is the
14:53
only park that does not have tiered rides.
14:58
I don't know if they're going to change that whenever all of
15:00
these new attractions open. I guess we'll have to see what
15:04
they decide with that, but it is the only Disney park that does
15:07
not have two tiers when it comes to your pre booking and your
15:10
lightning lanes. So my suggestion for Animal
15:13
Kingdom if you're choosing to use lightning lanes is to book
15:16
Expedition Everest to book the Kilimanjaro Safaris and then
15:21
either Navi River or Cali River Rapids.
15:25
They're very different attractions, don't get them
15:27
confused. The Navi River is the one that
15:30
is in Pandora. The Cali River Rapids is the
15:35
water ride the in which you will get very wet on.
15:37
So depending on your group's preference, book one of those as
15:41
your third. And then I do highly suggest
15:43
booking flight of passage for two reasons.
15:46
One that line gets crazy long and two, it gives you a second
15:49
ride even if you choose to rope drop it, which is the only other
15:52
way that I suggest getting in line unless you're going to be
15:55
there at park close, then get in line one minute before park
15:57
close to ride it again. So like if you're like me and
16:01
you love Flight of Passage and you've got a whole day at Animal
16:03
Kingdom, rope drop it, grab yourself a lightning lane and
16:06
get in line at the end of the day.
16:07
Just my suggestion because it's an amazing attraction.
16:11
So Everest Safari and either Navi River or Cali River Rapids
16:15
would be my suggestion for you. But after that, there's really
16:18
not a ton left. You don't need lightning lanes
16:22
at Animal Kingdom right now. If I'm being completely honest
16:25
with you, if you are smart about your approach, you really don't
16:30
need a lightning lanes. You may wait in some 20 or 30
16:33
minute lines, but generally speaking, there's a ton to look
16:37
at. The cues of these attractions
16:40
are so immersive. You just it's not really
16:43
necessary. That being said, let's talk
16:47
about early entry. So with early entry, again, I
16:53
suggest, and this kind of goes backwards against what I talked
16:56
about at Epcot, but I suggest rope dropping Flight of Passage,
17:01
even if you've booked a lightning lane for it.
17:02
Again, like I said, it's such an incredible attraction that I
17:06
suggest doing it more than once if you're able.
17:08
If you're not, then I would head over to Navi River Journey
17:11
because typically speaking, the Safari doesn't open right away
17:18
and it's not open for early entry.
17:20
So your options really are to go to Pandora or to go to
17:26
Expedition Everest. You can make your decision based
17:29
on what your group prefers. Maybe you'd like to do Everest a
17:33
couple times in the morning before you start using any
17:36
lightning lanes. That's also totally fine.
17:39
So it really just depends on your group.
17:41
I like to go to Pandora to get those rides done.
17:44
I usually try to be at the front of that group getting on Flight
17:47
a passage so that way I can still get on Navi River with
17:49
about a 20 minute wait or less before I go over to the Safari.
17:55
You want to hit the Kilimanjaro Safari within the 1st 30 minutes
17:59
of it being open for some really great animal feeding
18:03
experiences. You can see the animals are all
18:06
out there walking around. It's not too hot yet.
18:09
Your chances are good that you're going to see them getting
18:11
fed by the keepers at Animal Kingdom.
18:14
It's a really great experience if you are somebody that really
18:18
wants to see that on the safari. So either Everest a bunch of
18:23
times before the safari opens or head over to the Pandora side,
18:29
get those rides done and then head over to the safari.
18:32
Typically, like if Animal Kingdom opens at 8:00, the
18:36
safari is going to open at either 8:00 or 8:15.
18:39
You can find that on your My Disney Experience app.
18:42
If you just go into the search bar, type in Kilimanjaro Safaris
18:45
and click on it and Scroll down. It will show you the hours for
18:49
the day, so you'll be able to see that morning to confirm what
18:53
time the safaris opening. That way you know kind of how to
18:56
plan or which plan to go with for that day.
19:00
Now if you are rope dropping so you're not getting access to
19:04
rides until the park opens, you've got to go to the safari
19:08
first. That is the only way that you're
19:10
going to be able to get that morning time before the animals
19:13
get very sleepy and you don't see as many of them After the
19:17
safari. I would then work your way
19:20
around clockwise in the park. So you have to kind of envision
19:24
the map the safari is at, I don't know, probably close to
19:29
10:00 on the map. And so you want to work your way
19:33
clockwise around hitting the rides that you choose to and
19:37
doing the different walkthroughs and things like that.
19:41
And then after that, you can hit Pandora at the end like we
19:44
talked about, if you're not using lightning lanes.
19:47
The other thing about Animal Kingdom is your lightning lanes
19:51
will likely somewhat dictate the way in which you move through
19:54
the park because it's not easy to get from Asia to Pandora.
20:03
There's no straight path to get there.
20:06
So even though the park is somewhat a hub and spokes park,
20:11
it's a little tricky to get back to.
20:14
To get back across to the other sections of the park.
20:16
So the thing about Animal Kingdom is look at your
20:19
Lightning Lane times. Use the information I just gave
20:23
you to make your best approach to your day.
20:26
Now also don't forget about the fact that there's a ton of
20:30
really great live live entertainment that happens
20:34
inside of Animal Kingdom. The Lion King show Festival of
20:39
Lion King is amazing. It is absolutely incredible.
20:43
Highly, highly recommend, especially if you are fans of
20:46
like live performances. Fans of The Lion King, it's
20:50
great. The Finding Nemo musical over on
20:53
the other side of the park, also phenomenal.
20:56
Absolutely fantastic. They've got some great original
20:59
music over there, really fun puppet characters.
21:02
Both of those I highly suggest you add to your list if you're
21:05
not sure. One because they're fabulous
21:09
shows. 2 because I think they hold the attention of kids of
21:13
all ages. I've taken 2 year olds in there
21:16
and they absolutely loved it. I've taken my niece who was 11
21:20
months old in there. She absolutely loved it.
21:23
But also it's air conditioned and their seats, you can't
21:27
really go wrong when it comes to that.
21:29
So that's kind of my best suggestions for Animal Kingdom.
21:33
Again, do you need lightning lanes?
21:35
Maybe, maybe not. If you, if there are rides here
21:38
that you're like, oh, we don't want to do like 2 of the rides
21:41
don't get lightning lanes. I'm telling you, save your money
21:44
for other things. Book Flight of Passage because
21:47
that one I think is always helpful.
21:49
But you don't necessarily need multi pass when it comes to
21:52
that. That would be my suggestion for
21:54
Animal Kingdom. Let's hop now over to the most
22:01
difficult park to book for, and that is Hollywood Studios.
22:05
So Hollywood Studios is the hardest park to book for when it
22:11
comes to Lightning Lanes. The tier system here is really
22:16
tough because it's got so many really great rides in Tier 1 and
22:21
Tier 2 is full of some good options, but a ton of shows that
22:26
you don't necessarily need lightning lanes for.
22:29
So it's it's a little tricky, but here's my best suggestion.
22:33
Now I will mention just because I want to be transparent with
22:37
you guys, I have not done a ton of lightning lane work at
22:42
Hollywood Studios since Muppets reopened with Rock and Roller
22:47
Coaster. So this is my best advice, but
22:53
Rock and Roller Coaster with The Muppets is still so new that
22:56
this could change or this could be not exactly right.
23:00
But this is what I will say historically I know to be true
23:03
at Hollywood Studios. So again, these lightning lanes
23:07
are tricky tier one. I would suggest either Slinky
23:13
Dog or Rock and Roller Coaster, and I would book the one that
23:19
you want to do the most. So if Rock and Roller Coaster is
23:24
your top priority because you haven't ridden them up at
23:26
version, you need to book that first as your tier one.
23:30
If Slinky Dog is your top tier one option because it's your
23:35
favorite ride in all of Hollywood studios, book that
23:39
one. I'm curious.
23:41
I'm going to look and see. It's about 12:30 as I'm
23:44
recording this and if I'm looking at what is available at
23:49
Hollywood Studios right now, that may give us some insight
23:53
now. So as I'm looking down through
23:56
here, as far as sold out attractions, Slinky Dog is sold
24:01
out. Rock and Roller Coaster has
24:04
minimal times left. That could change.
24:06
That could always be different, but that's what I'm seeing right
24:10
now. So it does seem that Slinky Dog
24:14
still tends to sell out quicker than rock and roller coaster and
24:20
I don't know if that is because of the amount of times they
24:24
release per ride, the capacity, you know, there's lots of
24:27
technical things that go into the way that that lightning lane
24:30
system works. All of that is just to explain
24:33
again, Tier one I would do either Slinky Dog or Rock and
24:36
roller coaster. Now Tier 2, your best options
24:42
and really the I shouldn't say the only options, but I consider
24:46
them the only options for Tier 2 are Toy Story Mania and Tower of
24:51
Terror. Now if you don't want to do
24:52
Tower of Terror, pick a different Tier 2.
24:55
If you want to do Toy Story Mania, you've got to book a
24:58
lightning lane for it. It gets swamped.
25:00
Now with this lightning lane system, the way that it works,
25:04
it gets really long lines for almost 80% of the day.
25:09
That line is going to be longer than you want to wait in, so
25:13
keep that in mind. So Slinky Dog, were Rockin, Toy
25:16
Store Mania and Tower of Terror are my options.
25:18
And then I do highly suggest you book a single pass for Rise of
25:22
the Resistance. That line is very finicky
25:25
because the ride itself is very finicky.
25:28
It's hard to predict. It goes down almost daily for at
25:32
least a little bit of time. So I would suggest having that
25:36
single pass purchased because that's the best way that you're
25:40
going to be able to get on the attraction.
25:43
So let's talk about early entry. For early entry, the first thing
25:47
you are going to head to is whichever of those tier one
25:50
rides that you did not book. So if you booked Slinky Dog,
25:54
you're going to go to Rock and Roller Coaster.
25:56
If you booked Rock and Roller Coaster, you're going to go to
25:58
Slinky Dog and you need to be there really early, at least an
26:02
hour before early entry starts because they are notorious for
26:06
letting guests in well before early entry and starting to run
26:11
the rides well before early entry.
26:14
Hollywood Studios has gone back and forth with the way their
26:16
early entry works. Sometimes they let everybody
26:19
scan in and then they queue you up either down Sunset Blvd. or
26:24
down Hollywood Blvd. depending. So either like towards the
26:27
Chinese Theater, Mickey's, Minnie's Runaway Railway, or
26:30
towards the Tower of Terror and Rock and Roller Coaster.
26:33
Sometimes they hold you at the front gates.
26:37
It's hard to know which one they're doing at any given time
26:40
because they do kind of fluctuate back and forth
26:42
depending on how big the crowds are.
26:44
But you want to be there really early.
26:45
So that way if they do let you in, you are in that line, you
26:49
are ready to go to that first ride.
26:51
So either Slinky Dog or Rock and Roller Coaster.
26:55
Then after that you're going to head to something else that's
26:57
nearby. So if you did Rock and Roller
26:59
Coaster, you can either come back and go to like Mickey
27:02
Minnie's Runaway Railway, which is what I would suggest because
27:05
you've booked a time for Tower of Terror.
27:06
You don't need to necessarily do it right now.
27:09
Or if you really love Tower of Terror, go and do that really
27:12
quick and then you can come back and do it again a second time
27:14
later, right? But if you did Rock and Roller
27:17
Coaster, I would suggest going to Mickey Minnie's Runaway
27:19
Railway. After that, if you have done
27:23
Slinky Dog, you can do a couple different things.
27:27
I would suggest going into Galaxy's Edge after that and
27:30
hitting Smugglers Run. You can do Aliens Swirling
27:34
Saucers on the way if it's a walk on.
27:36
If it's not a walk on, just wait and come back later in the day.
27:39
That one early on and late at night tends to have a lower
27:43
weight for that one. But just do something that's
27:46
close by. Don't let yourself crisscross
27:48
the park. Don't go to Slinky Dog and then
27:52
go to Tower of Terror, right? Just just don't do it because
27:56
this park, the way that it's set up is horrendous.
27:59
And you, you will spend all day backtracking.
28:03
If you are not smart about the way in which you go through this
28:06
particular park, I do not recommend early entry going to
28:13
Rise of the Resistance first. It does not like to open
28:16
consistently in the morning. It has a really hard time waking
28:19
up. It just doesn't like to work in
28:21
the morning. It's a really big chance that
28:23
you can take and if you're going to take it, chances are good
28:27
you're then not going to be able to get on either Slinky Dog or
28:30
Rock and Roller Coaster without an hour wait.
28:33
So I really suggest, like I said, to buy that single pass
28:36
for Ryze. Don't go rope drop it because
28:39
you never know what might happen now with your rope drop.
28:45
This gets really hard because early entry really jams up some
28:50
of these big E ticket attraction rides that it makes it really
28:53
tricky to get on them first thing in the morning.
28:56
So if you are rope dropping again, you want to go to the
29:02
ride that you didn't book. If you don't have early entry, I
29:06
highly suggest you book Slinky Dog as your Lightning Lane and
29:09
then from there when you go to rope drop I would go down Sunset
29:13
Blvd. and try to hit Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of
29:15
Terror. Chances are good they're going
29:17
to be a 30 to 45 minute wait for Rockin.
29:20
Tower will probably be lower so you can do a couple different
29:24
things. You can get in line for Rock and
29:27
Roller Coaster and get that long wait out of the way, which is
29:31
what we tend to do with our kids, is if we know we have one
29:35
really long wait that we're going to have to do in standby,
29:38
We try to do it early on when they're not as tired, they're
29:40
not as cranky, they're not hangry yet.
29:42
We try to do it early on with our kids because then the rest
29:45
of the day is much smoother after that.
29:47
So you could try to just jump in line for rock and roller
29:49
coaster, or you could get in line for Tower of Terror and see
29:53
if that line for rock and roller coaster goes down.
29:56
Some of these lines tend to get really inflated right at rope
30:00
drop and then about 30 to 45 minutes later they come back
30:04
down a little bit. So you're just going to have to
30:06
keep an eye out on that to see what happens with those.
30:12
If Rock and Tower Slinky, if they're just already at an hour
30:16
or more wait, then I would suggest something like Runaway
30:22
Railway, Toy Story Mania or Smugglers Run.
30:27
Those would be like my secondary list of rides that are also good
30:31
rope drop rides that you could hit.
30:33
We like to do Runaway Railway a lot in the morning because it's
30:37
very, very low weights and it's kind of slow around the Chinese
30:42
Theater. So it's not a super hectic way
30:44
that we feel like we have to rush around and start our day.
30:46
We like to do that. But Toy Story Mania and
30:49
Smugglers Run are also really, really great options as well
30:52
because you're nearby some of those big rides, but you're like
30:58
in the secondary option, which means you tend to not have as
31:01
many lines. So let's say you want to check
31:02
the Slinky Dog line. Maybe it's too long.
31:04
Well then just go to Toy Story Mania and jump in line over
31:07
there. After that, you're going to have
31:09
to let the wait times be your guide and try to work through
31:12
your priority list the best that you can.
31:14
Understanding that almost all of the rides except for maybe Star
31:20
Tours get to be 30 to 45 minutes fairly quickly and will stay
31:26
there for most of the day. So utilizing Lightning Lanes,
31:31
trying to modify to get better times, using shows and character
31:36
meets to kind of fill in the gaps in between your Lightning
31:39
lanes is the best case scenario when it comes to Hollywood
31:42
Studios. Alternatively, you can also save
31:46
the shows for a break in the afternoon.
31:49
If you know it's going to rain, you know it's going to get
31:51
really hot and muggy for a certain time.
31:53
Hit some of the shows while you're thinking about it, right?
31:56
The Little Mermaid show and the Frozen sing along show or like
32:00
right across from each other. Those are great ones to time
32:03
kind of hopping back and forth between them during the the heat
32:07
in the afternoon because they are both inside.
32:10
The villain show is great. It's more of a haul because it's
32:13
all the way past down down sunset, past rock and roller
32:17
coaster. So it's a haul to kind of get
32:19
there. You got to plan accordingly for
32:20
that one. It'll take you a good 15 to 20
32:22
minutes to walk there depending on how quickly your your group
32:25
moves. But most of the shows are inside
32:29
at Hollywood Studios, which is really, really nice.
32:31
Or take some time to shop, Look through some of the stores on
32:34
BA2 at Galaxy's Edge. You know, there's lots to do in
32:38
between to fill that time. You've just got to be proactive
32:42
thinking about what that list might look like for your group.
32:45
Because like, my kids love walking through the marketplace
32:50
in Galaxy's Edge, and they like to go in and look around the
32:55
different shops, the lightsabers and all that kind of stuff.
32:58
But they could care less to go through, like the stores at the
33:00
front of Hollywood studios that have like all the T-shirts and
33:03
stuff in them, but they want to look at plushies and they want
33:06
to look at Star Wars stuff, you know?
33:07
So you just have to know what your group is really into to be
33:10
able to kind of feel that out, to know where to guide them in
33:15
between Lightning Lanes during the weather or while you're
33:18
waiting on the next Showtime of whatever show it is that you're
33:21
going to go see. So hopefully that guidance was a
33:25
little bit helpful. When it comes to Hollywood
33:26
Studios, again, it is such a difficult park.
33:30
That is one that I highly suggest.
33:32
If you feel overwhelmed by it, please reach out to me.
33:35
Send me your list of what rides you want to do and I will give
33:38
you a plan of action for your group and what I suggest doing
33:42
for a second and what I suggest waiting for till the end.
33:45
All of that information I'm happy to provide.
33:48
So that is Hollywood Studios. Let's move now to our 4th and
33:52
final Disney World park, which is Magic Kingdom.
33:57
Now, the thing about Magic Kingdom is it truly is the park
34:01
that has the most options, and this is the park that is going
34:06
to be so highly dependent on what your group has as their
34:11
priority. Is your group looking to do all
34:14
the thrill rides? Is your group looking to do a
34:17
lot of fantasy land rides because you are you have a lot
34:21
of smaller kids with you? Do you want to do a little bit
34:24
of everything? All of those things will have
34:27
like different plans of attack depending on what your group
34:30
wants to do. But here's some information for
34:34
you that will hopefully help you with making that plan of action
34:41
for your group at Magic Kingdom. So Magic Kingdom does have the
34:45
tiered lightning lanes. Tier one has a really good list
34:52
of choices. And really honestly, any tier
34:55
one option that you choose is going to be a good choice.
35:00
But here's what I know about the tier one options.
35:03
Lately Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Tiana's Bayou
35:08
have been selling out quicker than the other ones.
35:12
Space mountain tends to have times around for the longest so
35:16
I I wouldn't prioritize space mountain unless that's like your
35:20
top ride and even then I would go to that first and either do
35:24
early entry or rope drop over there and not worry about a
35:26
lightning lane until later in the day and you can ride it
35:29
twice. So I would grab a big Thunder or
35:34
a Tiana's if I were you. Jungle Cruise is fine.
35:38
I don't hate me. Hot take, I'm not a huge Jungle
35:42
Cruise person. I get frustrated because that
35:47
ride depends so heavily on the skipper that you get.
35:50
And I love cast members, but just some are better than
35:52
others. And so it's so inconsistent that
35:54
I just don't prioritize it because I've been on it.
35:57
So if it were me I would choose Big Thunder or Tiana's as my
36:01
Tier 1. But like I said any of the tier
36:05
one options are great. Make your choice based on your
36:07
group and then Tier 2 you are going to want to choose I would
36:12
say Haunted Mansion and Buzz Lightyear.
36:16
Some other secondary options in Tier 2 that are great are
36:19
Pirates of the Caribbean and The Many Adventures of Winnie the
36:21
Pooh. Any from those four that are
36:24
like high up on your list? That's what I would use your
36:26
Tier 2 rides for. The thing about Magic Kingdom is
36:31
it's got so many attractions that a lot of these attractions
36:35
are going to have times available for longer throughout
36:38
the day. So remember, you can always hold
36:41
3 lightning lanes at a time. So as soon as you use one, you
36:44
can book another one. So chances are good that some of
36:47
these secondary Tier 2 options, you're going to be able to get a
36:50
lightning lane for a little bit later in the morning.
36:54
Now, don't wait too long because if you wait until 4:00, you're
36:58
not going to be able to find that lightning lane time for a
37:00
lot of these. But if you are on top of it and
37:03
you have your priority list and you have your list of lightning
37:06
lanes in order that you'd like to book them, you'll be fine
37:09
when it comes to all of that. So that's what I suggest.
37:12
If it were me, I would probably do Big Thunder Mountain.
37:16
I would do, I don't know, I'd have a hard time choosing for
37:19
Tier 2 now that the new Buzz Lightyear is open.
37:24
It's been open for a little while, but I love the new Buzz.
37:26
It's super fun and it gets a pretty decent line too.
37:29
So Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Poo, any of
37:33
those four are really great options for that.
37:35
I guess I didn't talk about Lightning Lane single passes.
37:40
If you're going to do single passes, I think they're a really
37:43
good idea. Tron's line is crazy. 7 dwarfs
37:46
mine trains line gets very long very quickly and stays long.
37:51
Tron's line stays long too. I do suggest getting those,
37:54
otherwise you're going to need to think about doing them first
37:57
thing in the morning and getting there as early as you can.
37:59
Doing them during fireworks or doing them last ride of the
38:03
night. Those would be my suggestions
38:05
for those early entry. If you are somebody that has
38:10
access to early entry at Magic Kingdom, do keep in mind that
38:13
Main Street opens an hour and 15 minutes before park open.
38:18
So anybody, whether you have early entry or not, can get
38:23
through the tap styles at Magic Kingdom to get onto Main Street
38:27
an hour and 15 minutes before the park opens.
38:30
So sometimes it opens as early as like 6:45 AM.
38:34
Just keep that in mind. What they do is they'll have you
38:38
scan in and then they will let you queue up at your attractions
38:41
that you want to go to. So the earlier you're able to
38:43
get there, the better it will be for your party to be able to do
38:46
your early entry rides. If it were me, I suggest going
38:51
to Fantasyland and getting through as many Fantasyland
38:53
attractions as you can. I would go to Peter Pan first,
38:57
then I would come back to do many adventures of Winnie the
38:59
Pooh, swing around to Ariel, do the teacups, and do Small World.
39:03
That would be my short list of the five attractions that I'd
39:06
like to get as many of those done in the first hour as I
39:10
possibly can. The other option would be to go
39:13
to Tomorrowland. You've got Space Mountain,
39:17
you've got Buzz Lightyear over there for early entry, and then
39:19
Tron opens at Park Open. But as far as early entry goes,
39:23
you can do Tomorrowland. There's just not as much to get
39:26
through. I suggest doing Fantasyland just
39:28
because there's more to get through in closer proximity that
39:32
you're going to be able to get through more quicker.
39:36
And then the rest of your day you can spend doing Tomorrowland
39:38
and Adventureland in Frontierland.
39:41
So that way, like when Fantasyland gets mobbed in the
39:43
middle of the day because all of these families with the little
39:46
kids want to ride all these rides, you are free and clear of
39:49
Fantasyland and you are over away from the madness that is
39:53
stroller parking by the carousel and Fantasyland.
39:56
So just that would be my suggestion.
39:59
Are alternatives like doing the Tomorrowland option if that's
40:02
what you'd like to do? If you've got older kids that
40:06
might be a better option or kids that are interested in the
40:08
Fantasyland option. I would suggest Tomorrowland for
40:11
early entry. But do also keep in mind that
40:14
all of the attractions in Frontierland and Adventureland
40:17
do not open for early entry. So it's either Fantasyland or
40:22
it's Tomorrowland. Those are your two options that
40:25
you have to choose from. So make that choice and kind of
40:29
go from there. Now for rope drop, you're you're
40:32
going to want to go to that Adventureland Frontier land side
40:34
because nobody's over there yet. So early entry doesn't matter in
40:39
that part of the park. So Haunted Mansion, Tiana's, Big
40:44
Thunder Mountain, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, all of those are
40:48
great rope drop options if you're not getting in until park
40:52
open because none of those will have a line prior to you getting
40:56
there. So think about what those
40:59
attractions like, which of those are the ones that are like top
41:03
of your list and head there first.
41:05
Now, Tianas and Big Thunder Mountain especially do get that
41:10
influx of people right at rope drop and then their weights will
41:14
drop about 30 to 45 minutes after rope drop.
41:17
We've seen this new trend that our good friend Lem at Liv
41:20
Laflem actually showcases frequently on his Disney morning
41:24
walk and talks about 930 Big Thunder Mountain is like a 10
41:28
minute wait at the most because it gets rushed at the beginning
41:34
and then the line dies down. So keep in mind with that, you
41:39
could potentially hit like a Jungle Cruise and then come over
41:44
and do Tiana's and Big Thunder and hit that kind of downward
41:48
swoop of their wait times. That's a really great option.
41:51
You could do Haunted Mansion if that's your top.
41:53
I love Haunted Mansion, so that would be probably where I would
41:55
go. I would do Haunted Mansion and
41:57
then swing down to Big Thunder and Tiana's.
41:59
There's lots of options. And that's the thing about Magic
42:02
Kingdom that makes it so difficult is that it really
42:06
truly is so highly dependent on your group choices.
42:11
Because some of these rides you may be like, Nope, we don't want
42:13
to do them. No, we don't want to do that.
42:16
You've really just got to get that priority list done.
42:19
Look through all of the attractions at Magic Kingdom.
42:22
Make your priority list. I would say at Magic Kingdom for
42:26
if you're using lightning Lanes, I would choose your top like 8
42:29
attractions. Three of them you're going to
42:31
book on lightning Lanes and then the other five are going to be
42:34
your early entry and or rope drop strategy.
42:39
And you want to keep it regional, right?
42:41
Don't be Criss crossing the park.
42:43
Don't say you're going to do Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain,
42:46
Big Thunder Mountain. That's ridiculous, right?
42:49
So you got to think regionally. You got to think which land am I
42:53
in? Which area of the park am I in?
42:56
But that's what I would suggest for Magic Kingdom.
42:59
Again, it has the most options. It can be so tricky for me to
43:04
give just like blanket suggestions, but that's my best
43:07
option for you guys because I think it it gives the most
43:11
versatility as far as getting through the most utilizing your
43:15
lightning lanes. And again with lightning lanes,
43:17
should book them as early as possible so that way you have
43:20
more time to utilize them later in the day.
43:22
OK. I think that is my best kind of
43:26
overview and quick suggestions when it comes to Lightning
43:30
lanes, early entry, and rope drop at all four of the Walt
43:33
Disney World parks. I hope this quick refresher is
43:36
helpful to anyone who is planning trips in the upcoming
43:39
months. Again, things are going to
43:40
change, so we'll redo this episode probably about a year
43:44
from now. Would we have more information
43:47
on Tropical Americas? We have more information on
43:50
Piston Peak and Cars Lane. We have more information on
43:52
Monsters Inc Hopefully, but this is the best option that I've got
43:58
for the upcoming months. Always as just like a blanket
44:01
reminder, be sure to check for special events and altered park
44:04
hours for your trip to make sure that you know for sure what time
44:07
early entry is, what time rope drop is, what time park close
44:11
is. You don't want to be caught off
44:12
guard. You definitely don't want your
44:14
park plan to come crumbling down.
44:17
And as always, I highly suggest our good friend Kirk at Walrus
44:21
Carp. His new theme park app Mode MOWD
44:26
is the the best planning app that's out there.
44:28
So if you're somebody that likes to see that checklist version of
44:32
your plan easy to access on your screen, download mode MOWD dot
44:37
IO. It's a little burger with a
44:40
roller coaster behind it in the Apple App Store and the Android
44:44
Google Play Store. Highly recommend downloading
44:47
that just for the planning feature alone.
44:49
It is fantastic to have that list in order ready to go so
44:54
that way when you're walking down Main Street headed to your
44:57
first attraction, you've got it right in the palm of your hands.
44:59
So again, highly, highly suggest that.
45:03
And as I already mentioned today several times, you can always
45:06
reach out to me for help with your park itineraries.
45:08
I am more than happy to help you figure out where your group
45:11
should go, when and what order you should hit things, and what
45:14
lightning lane should you book. Please reach out.
45:16
I'm more than happy to help. If you are somebody that needs
45:19
that help or if you know somebody that needs that help,
45:21
send them my way. I am always happy to help.
45:24
You can find me Mom St. usa@gmail.com or at Mom St.
45:28
USA on any of our social media platforms including our Patreon
45:33
account. We would love to chat with you
45:35
over there. I should mention what is coming
45:37
up next. This is actually our final
45:40
episode of Season 4 of Mom St. USA, which is crazy that we have
45:46
now completed Four Seasons and four years of Mom St.
45:51
USA. Thank you to those of you who
45:52
have been here with us from the beginning, and thank you to
45:55
those of you who have found us recently and are now along for
45:58
the ride. So we will be taking just a
46:00
brief hiatus. We will still be doing our live
46:03
streams on YouTube for a few weeks here in between, but we
46:07
will not have any published, edited podcast episodes for the
46:10
next two weeks while we take a just a short break.
46:15
And then we will be back in September with you with the
46:18
start of Season 5. We've got some new things coming
46:22
up for Season 5 that I'm really excited about and we are geared
46:27
up and ready to go. And if you've got suggestions
46:29
for topics that you'd like to see us cover in Season 5 of Mom
46:33
St. USA, please send them my way.
46:35
We are all about serving this community over here at Mom St.
46:38
and I would love to help you out and cover and research and help
46:43
you answer questions that you have.
46:44
So if you've got any of that for us for season 5, please send
46:48
them our way. We would love to hear from you.
46:51
But all of that being said, thank you for being here for
46:53
this episode of Mom St. USA and I will see you in a few
46:56
weeks for the next one. Bye everyone.