How long of a standby wait for you to choose Lighting Lane?

[naslew]

First-timer question. What is your wait time threshold for doing a LL vs the standby line? I assume that even the LL has some wait (5-10 min??) so you'll waste the LL if you use it when the standby time is short. My question is how short? For context, we're going the week before Christmas with 2 kids (7 and 8 yo) and we have many days in the parks, so not too worried about jamming it all in one day.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I'm NOT paying up to 30 dollars per person each time to use the lighting lane...
I'll be back again soon
If I can't get on a ride in under an hour, I don't need to ride it this trip.
In fact, we looked at paying the 1500 dollars and hiring a park guide so we didn't have to wait in any of the lines.
with a party of 8 it does not take many lighting lanes for the math to work out that way

 

[naslew]

I'm NOT paying up to 30 dollars per person each time to use the lighting lane...
I'll be back again soon
If I can't get on a ride in under an hour, I don't need to ride it this trip.
In fact, we looked at paying the 1500 dollars and hiring a park guide so we didn't have to wait in any of the lines.
with a party of 8 it does not take many lighting lanes for the math to work out that way

What about for the rides that aren't the paid LL, but just regular LL?

 

[starlite_]

The only way to "waste" it is if you want to re-ride that attraction during that day. For example, Indy after rope drop and then use a LL at noon.

Otherwise might as well save the extra 5 minutes, you already paid for them.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

For the Genie + service, I still think you have to pay 20-30 dollars per day per person.

IF I were going to rope drop and spend the entire day in the park, maybe I would find value in that.....

I spend less time in the parks.

I go to the parks around 11. I'll be back at the room around two and maybe go back later when the lines are shorter....

Personally, I have an issue with paying what I pay to say on property, then having to pay even more for something that used to be included....

So I just don't

 

[starlite_]

For the Genie + service, I still think you have to pay 20-30 dollars per day per person.

IF I were going to rope drop and spend the entire day in the park, maybe I would find value in that.....

I spend less time in the parks.

I go to the parks around 11. I'll be back at the room around two and maybe go back later when the lines are shorter....

Personally, I have an issue with paying what I pay to say on property, then having to pay even more for something that used to be included....

So I just don't

That doesn't help the OP at all. It's completely irrelevant to their question.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

That doesn't help the OP at all. It's completely irrelevant to their question.

Please go back an read the OPs second question directed to me in post 3

"What about for the rides that aren't the paid LL, but just regular LL?"

The "regular LL" is the Genie Plus system.

 

[meeshy1342]

As a general rule, I try not to use LL in the mornings (like, before 11 am) unless it's super crowded; I like to try to save my LL for the afternoon/evening when ride times tend to get much longer. I have a toddler (4.5) and while he's a pretty good sport about waiting, I take his capacity to wait at any given time into account. If the wait time is 20 mins or less, we probably won't use LL unless we know we aren't going to want to repeat the ride that day. 20-45 minutes is a gray area, where we see how everyone is feeling. 60+ minutes, if we've got the LL, we're probably going to use it.

As others have pointed out, you can always save the LL and try to circle back later and hope you hit the ride when there is a lull, but it seems like those have been happening less often recently.

Something else to keep in mind when it comes to LL: they can sell out before the end of the day. Before we went in September, I was kind of watching LL available times and I noticed Haunted Mansion LL was selling out by mid-afternoon. I knew we would want to ride it in the evening, so when we were there I booked the HM LL around 11:30AM when the 7pm slots were open. When you do that, you have to wait 2 hours before you can purchase another LL, but we typically go back to the hotel for pool time in the afternoon, so it worked out great for us.

 

[irlandaise]

Please go back an ready his second question directed to me in post 3

"What about for the rides that aren't the paid LL, but just regular LL?"

The "regular LL" is the Genie plus system.

But since you don't use Genie+, you can't answer the OP's question about the decision process on whether to use LL vs. standby.

Naslew, I agree with Starlite. Unless you want to save your LL pass for a specific ride for later in the day, you might as well go ahead and use it while you're there, even if the wait time for standby doesn't seem much longer.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Less than 20 mins we’ll do standby. More than 20 we’ll do LL.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

But since you don't use Genie+, you can't answer the OP's question about the decision process on whether to use LL vs. standby.

Naslew, I agree with Starlite. Unless you want to save your LL pass for a specific ride for later in the day, you might as well go ahead and use it while you're there, even if the wait time for standby doesn't seem much longer.

No you are WRONG!

The question was

"What is your wait time threshold for doing a LL vs the standby line?" "My question is, how short?"

My answer remains the same and is very much valid.

It doesn't matter how long or short the stand-by line is, I'm not going to pay for lighting lane....

Even the "regular lighting lane"

 

[NorCalFanatic]

forgot to add….if you do Early Entry or Rooe drop DCA you can get on almost everything with lower wait times by noonish. Then use LL for stuff you missed or want to do again. We always get genie plus as soon as we enter the park though and start booking times as mentioned by another poster if you wait too long to book times your time slot can be really late in the day.

Have fun! We’ve got kids your age and have a great time. We do early entry/rope drop get a bunch of stuff in and then go back and nap mid day and then go back in the park early evening for more fun.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

If your kids are anything like ours 45 mins in a standby line is not something we want to do. Genie plus is worth it for us, but obviously by the posts in this thread, not for everyone…..

My advice, buy it one day when you enter the park and decide if it works for you.

 

[Minnie1222]

I can wait for hours if necessary. But if there's a paid option to skip the lines, my threshold immediately drops to about 20-25 minutes max.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I feel like we already pay enough,

Disney is finding the threshold for paid add-ons,

Pretty soon, you'll pay a hundred dollars a day to get in the park, plus a per-attraction fee for each time you want to ride.

Oh, and when I was there earlier this month, lighting lanes were averaging 30 minutes, and the standby line was only 25 minutes longer, so what are you paying for?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I am an international visitor who goes once a year to Disneyland California. I buy Genie+ in advance for all my park days. When you do that you get it at the lowest rate, instead of on the day when you could end up paying the highest rate.

I rope drop drop and do as much as I can standby before 12pm. I try to stack Lighting Lanes, both the Genie+ and Individual Attraction for the afternoon and evening.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

We get it….you choose not to buy it, great! That works for you. Myself and others find it’s worth the $$$. Different strokes for different folks….what works for some will not work for others.

You were there earlier this month and LL was 30 mins and standby was another 25, so 55 total standby if I read that correctly. In that case I’m paying for 30 mins stacking up per hour ride to spend more times doing fun stuff with my young kids, not waiting in line with them getting ants in their pants when they hit that 20 min threshold. That’s the value to me. I get it’s not the value for you but hammering that home isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion who uses genie +.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

We get it….you choose not to buy it, great! That works for you. Myself and others find it’s worth the $$$. Different strokes for different folks….what works for some will not work for others.

You were there earlier this month and LL was 30 mins and standby was another 25, so 55 total standby if I read that correctly. In that case I’m paying for 30 mins stacking up per hour ride to spend more times doing fun stuff with my young kids, not waiting in line with them getting ants in their pants when they hit that 20 min threshold. That’s the value to me. I get it’s not the value for you but hammering that home isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion who uses genie +.

Exactly I travel from Europe, a 10 hour flight, basically half way around the world. I can only go to Disneyland once a year and I only have a 1 or 2 days in each park.

I need to maximise my park time, if I don't get to do something, then it will be a year before I will be back. In that year things can change drastically, a ride or attraction can close either temporally or permanently. Before 2020 I took international travel for granted, but I learnt the hard way that it can be taken away. The US Government banned international travelers from March 2020 to November 2021. Disneyland was open, I had the money and vacation time but the US Government would not allow me into the country.

Genie+ is a must have for me.

 

[Pluto468]

I use LL if the line is going to be more than 15 minutes. In the morning alot of rides are walk-on, so I don't use it as much. Usually once we're in the park I check wait times and will book something like Haunted Mansion, so after we're done with the shorter lines in Fantasyland we'll have the LL ride waiting for us.

 

[twodogs]

If SB is more than 15 minutes, we will do a LL. With younger kids, it is well worth it (to me) to keep them moving and interested and happy. And the week before Christmas is going to be very, very crowded, so the value of G+ increases during those times.

If you plan to buy it day by day, do know that it sells out during busy times (it sold out by morning time many days in October this year). I personally purchase it when I buy my tickets since I know we will want it every day of the trip, and it prevents me from getting screwed by a price increase the day-of (pricing is dynamic and again, G+ can sell out each day).