I honestly think the key to a perfect Morning Ride Schedule is being flexible. There is truly no one magic schedule that will work for every family simply because all our kids have different preferences. My best advice for building a Ride Schedule is to do it by the “Block” or area of the park. I gave us two hours per Block in our Schedule and each Block covered a Land in the park. WHEN everything happens inside of a Block isn’t as important as getting it all done. Which is why the Block strategy works…
Thanks to this strategy and my family being seriously on board with my lanyard schedules, we were able to knock out 10 rides in our first two hours inside the park. In this post, I’m going to let you in on what WE did and a few tricks beginning at 8:00am. I’ll write a detailed game-plan post for building your own Blocks soon!
Picking right up here at 8:00am from where I left you in my last post on our Disneyland Morning Schedule from 6 AM to 8 AM and When to Arrive.
Before we dive in though, you’re going to want some crucial supplies. Our day would have been totally different if I had not packed my Portable Phone Charger. To be successful in your Disneyland Ride Schedule game plan you’ll have to be on your phone, A LOT.
The Disneyland App is the only way this plan will work, and it drains your phone battery. If the phone with all the Max Passes and ROTR Boarding Passes dies, you’re out of luck! Make sure you have a Portable Phone Charger, the correct adapter for your phone AND I recommend bringing your good ole wall plug-in charger. I know mine is a “Fast Charger” cable if I plug it in. And yes, there are outlets in the walls of most lines while you’re waiting!
For this Ride schedule plan to work at all you’ll need all these things:
- A Cell Phone with the
- Disneyland App
- Max Passes which you add onto your ticket and are so much more than a Fast Pass
- A Portable Phone Charger
Morning Ride Schedule
Now that we’ve got you equipped with a Cell Phone that won’t die and the Disneyland App, let’s jump into our Disneyland Morning Ride Schedule. I planned our first Block of the day to be in Fantasyland since that is where you’ll find the most iconic rides and those geared towards my kids’ age.
Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group
Quick little tangent: Right at 8:00 AM you must click a button in the Disneyland App, along with thousands of other Park Guests, trying to get in a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance. I’m writing a whole other post about my anxiety-filled, hand-cramping, exhausting life experience from 7:50AM to 8:03 AM soon, so you’re fully prepared. {More on that in Progress}
Ride Schedule | Block System
Completely oblivious to the emotional thrill ride I had just been on while getting a ROTR Boarding Group, my family walked onto Peter Pan at 8:04 AM and blissfully headed off into Neverland. I spent my whole sailboat ride shaking before we stepped off to see the Peter Pan wait was already at 45 minutes by 8:09 AM. Having just conquered the two biggest potential lines in the park for my kids in the first 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty good.
8:00 AM Block | Fantasyland
Peter Pan was at the very top of my Ride List from the start. Mainly because we missed it our first trip, but also because I knew the line is so long throughout the day. The ride doesn’t have a fast pass either, so it is pretty much first or never if you want to get on a lot of rides in your morning schedule. After that, every ride in Fantasyland only had a 5-minute wait. We walked right on to most of them until the Canal Boats where we hit our first 15-Minute wait of the day. {More on why we did all of Fantasyland first in Progress}
When to Use the App
Here is the thing about Block Schedules: You have a list or group of things you want to do inside that Block AREA, but the order of which they occur isn’t necessarily set in stone. For this reason, you’re able to jump around based on the window of opportunities you see, all while minimizing your walking distance. If you look carefully at your Disneyland App, you’ll notice that a lot of the ride exits practically dump you into the entry of another line.
If you can coordinate yourselves so you’re walking out of rides and directly INTO another line, you can get a lot more done. But, by staying in one area you’re close to enough rides that you can make changes as you see crowds and get a feel for your kids. On my little printed lanyard, I had us going to the Canal Boats after Dumbo, but the line was already at 10 minutes and there was NO line at Teacups. We went from Teacups to Alice and the Canal Boats lines were only up to 15 by the time we did TWO more rides in between. {More on my exact scheduling method in progress}
From 8:00 AM to 10:00AM we did TEN things. I’m counting Tinker Bell as one so, 9 Rides and 1 Character because her line is usually over 30 minutes. Here is the order we did, and I will tell you how we did it!
Our 10 Rides in 2 Hours Schedule
- Peter Pan
- Dumbo
- Teacups
- Alice in Wonderland
- Canal Boats
- Pinocchio
- Matterhorn
- Tinker Bell
- Buzz Lightyear
- Star Tours
9:00 AM Block | Matterhorn & Tomorrowland
At 8:50 AM we were in line for the Canal Boats and really, 10 minutes ahead of schedule if you consider the big picture. But, to achieve the entire 9:00 AM Block I had to dive onto my phone.
Using Max Passes
While we were waiting in line for the Canal Boats, I got us our Max Passes for Star Tours {In Tomorrowland but very close by} from my phone. Billy gave the boys a few snacks and their water bottles while we waited in line. This concept is on my list for top time-saving strategies: Eating in Line. I got our Star Tours Max Passes because I had noticed, thanks to the App that the Matterhorn was temporarily closed. So, NOBODY was on it or getting Fast Passes for it.
As soon as we got off the Canal Boats, we rode Pinocchio then scooted on over to the Matterhorn line, IT WAS OPEN! So, we walked right on to that. That’s more luck than planning, but I also give credit to being close in proximity. After our boys braved the Matterhorn we trucked on over to Tomorrowland, toward our Star Tours Max Pass line.
Tinker Bell
On the way from the Matterhorn, you walk right by Pixie Hollow and Tinker Bell. She’s scheduled to be there at 9:00 AM every day. At 9:30 AM on a Wednesday we walked right up to her with NO LINE on our way to Tomorrowland. {Side note: When we walked by her at 9:00 AM on Friday it was a 45-minute wait!}
After our quick rendezvous with Tink, who signed our T-Shirt clipboards like a champ with extra pixie dust we walked right on to Buzz Lightyear with only a 5-minute wait. After Buzz, we hopped a whole 20 feet into our Star Tours Max Pass line with perfect timing.
10:00 AM | Lunch Block
In the Star Tours line, I placed a Mobile Food Order with the Galactic Grill {right across from Star Tours} for burgers to be picked up *right now* which meant as soon as we got off our Star Tours ride. {More on Mobile Food Orders in progress}
Guess what also happened in the Star Tours line? At 10:19 AM we got called for our Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group! Here is a screenshot of what it looked like, below. It said we had just under two hours to get over to Galaxy’s Edge and board. Yes, the Force looms over your entire day… But we had plenty of time.
Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group Calls
Now that this whole Rise of the Resistance wrench is thrown into your schedule it makes the need for flexibility all that more important. You basically must drop your plan and head to Galaxy’s Edge no matter where you are. Sure, you have 2 hours to get there, but you’ll have to walk across the park and then back to wherever you left off on your schedule. If you didn’t finish your Block.
That was the case for us… We were in Tomorrowland when we were called, which is the furthest you can possibly be from Galaxy’s Edge {sigh… but who cares?! We got called!} There was really no way for me to know where we should have been or when we could have been called since this was my first Boarding Pass adventure. It was one of those situations where you must adjust and move forward, for the best possible reasons.
Mobile Food Orders
We walked off Star Tours {barely, this was the only ride that made me dizzy} and headed for the Galactic Grill. By the time Grandma, Billy, and the kids found a table I had already snagged our Mobile Order from the proper pickup window. No Lines, I ordered and paid ON MY PHONE while in line at Star Tours. It was literally a fly by pick up, and sit down to relax…
I only ordered burgers for the adults to save money {More on that in Progress} For the boys we made peanut butter sandwiches and packed them with us. They ate those throughout the day. I knew they wouldn’t be able to sit down and eat a whole burger and I didn’t want to carry leftovers around all day. I think it took Cash a few attempts to get his whole sandwich done the first day. On Day 2 and 3 he finished his sandwiches in minutes!
We had already achieved 10 major things on my list when we finished lunch and made our way to Galaxy’s Edge. One more thing on my list needed to be checked off on our walk. The Grey Stuff, it’s delicious! We walked through Fantasyland again from Tomorrowland to get to Galaxy’s Edge. Along the way, we stopped in the Red Rose Tavern and I ordered The Grey Stuff for us to share. It’s a Red Velvet Cake covered in a grey mousse, and yes, it is delicious. The boys finished it and their sandwiches before we began our journey to Galaxy’s Edge.
Morning Ride Schedule Tips and Tricks
I’ll leave you with that. Right at 10:53 AM before we cross under the archway into Galaxy’s Edge. I’ll begin my next blog at 11:00 AM and our Rise of the Resistance experience. To recap, here are my top tips for achieving and planning a successful morning ride schedule:
- Technology– Use the pieces I mention above, but also be proficient in using them.
- Eating in Lines– making the most out of waiting and reducing cranky kids. Pack snacks!
- Max Passes– These are $15 extra per ticket but totally worth it! {More on these in progress}
- Character Schedules– knowing exactly where and when characters are so you can drop in as you walk by. I spent a lot of time studying the Character Schedules on the App before we even left so I would be in the know. {More on these in progress}
- Mobile Food Orders– Order Food from a restaurant near the exit of the ride you’re currently in line for so you’ll have zero wait time. {More on these in progress}
- Packing your own Food– Know your kids and how fast they eat. If it’s their first time in the Park they know nothing about what to expect and picky eaters take FOREVER to decide and/or finish the food. Proactive lunch packing will save you a ton of time! {More on these in progress}
Morning Ride Schedule Printable
In the next posts to come I’ll be sharing a printable you can download for my Ride Schedule and our Morning Block. I highly recommend you only use it as a template to make your own. Your kids may have different ride priorities and/or fears. Seriously, the little girl behind us on the Canal Boats was so afraid of going into the whale’s mouth she nearly jumped out of the boat. She was probably 3 years old and terrified. That really changes how a ride schedule is built. You might also want to do a few rides twice. Allow time for changes and flexibility within your Block Planning.
Posts in Progress:
- Full Rise of the Resistance experience
- Tips for Waiting in Line
- Time-Saving Strategies that make you faster through the Park
- More on Fantasyland
- More on Max Passes
- More on strategy for how we did 10 rides in 2 Hours
- More on Mobile Food Orders
- More on Character Schedules
- More on Packing Food
I’m done Adulting… Let’s go to Disneyland!
-All Moms Everywhere
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