ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
Our goal is to help you simplify planning for your trip. We give you tactical tips to help you plan your next magical Disney Vacation to Disneyland and California Adventure.
We want to make you feel like you have a clear plan. In short, we want you to feel like you have a Disneyland expert in your pocket. Helping you plan your meals, rides, shows, and how to spend less time in line.
ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
Leveraging Rope Drop to Check Off Your Must-Do Rides with Leo from Always Thriving
You've been to Disneyland, experienced the magical rides, and watched the enchanting shows, but have you ever wondered about the secret behind maximizing your park visit? Allow us to demystify the concept of the Disneyland rope drop! Joined by Leo, co-founder of Always Thriving, we delve into the ins and outs of this tradition. From defining what rope drop is and why it's named so, to advising on the best rides to rope drop, we offer a comprehensive guide to beat the morning rush and enjoy your favorite attractions without the crowd.
We discuss the pros and cons of rope dropping famous attractions like Rise of the Resistance and Peter Pan, and talk about how Genie Plus changes the rope dropping game. We share our personal experiences and strategies for arriving early and having a backup plan to ensure a smooth and enjoyable visit.
Links:
Follow Leo on Instagram and TikTok
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Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for insider tips for your next Disneyland adventure. Whether you're a first-timer or first-time in a while visitor, we're here to unwrap the secrets to creating and simplifying your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2:Today we are talking about the thing that has talked about so much on TikTok and Instagram, and that is rope drop.
Speaker 2:So if you've never been to Disneyland before or you've never done rope drop before, this episode is going to basically be a tutorial in what to do and what we don't think maybe you need to do for rope drop. So I have Leo from Always Thriving on TikTok, one of the co-founders of that. He is awesome. He goes to Disney all the time, just like me, and both of us have annual passes right now, but we've both had many years of our lives where we didn't have annual passes, and so when you don't have an annual pass, you really have to maximize those days a little bit more, especially if you're a Disney adult and you have like 12 rides that you love and can't miss. So we're going to talk a little bit about rope drop when to use it. We might even throw it sometimes on when to skip rope drop as well. So, leo, can you tell us a little bit about your love and history and experience with Disneyland?
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for having me this morning. So Disney and Disneyland has always been a part of my life, more so as I got older. I didn't go so much when I was younger, but now, as an adult, with adult money, we are able to go as often as we can. So, like you said, this year we finally have magic keys and so we've been going as much as we can, and so as a family we've gone later in life, and so it's really nice for us to enjoy all of these things. And, like you said, I'm part of Always Thriving on TikTok with my cousin Bree and we just post all of our fun adventures, all of the food, how to rope drop, how to do fun things, different rides to do. So that's kind of where we're at.
Speaker 2:So let's go ahead and start off by what is rope drop? And why is it called that? Because it's kind of one of those weird Disney terminologies that I think a lot of people just kind of throw around. But if you are not used to Disney terminology you're like do we all play tug of war? What is happening here?
Speaker 3:No, yeah, so rope drop.
Speaker 3:There's an actual rope at Disneyland that is dropped once you are allowed to enter into the different parts of the park, and so you would get there early they would let you in and they allow you to, about right in front of the castle, to go into the different lands, and on each of them they're blocked off by cast members and by a rope. And then at eight o'clock there's a magical greeting that comes on, welcomes you to the park, and the ropes are dropped and you are able to go into the park and enjoy it.
Speaker 2:And if you're staying at one of the Disneyland hotels, then you actually get in before that. Yes, you do, and with rope drop. Basically, you know the park opens at eight, then they let you in to Main Street at 730. And people who are like I'm going to get as many rides in as possible, they will go straight and they will wait for that 30 minutes right in front of the land that they want to head to. And when they drop the rope, everybody walks. It is entertaining just to watch people try to power walk without getting in trouble, because you're not allowed to run. People take it very seriously. So I don't know about you, but if I had a little one that was walking and not in a stroller, I would probably wait till that initial section goes. It can be a little intense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people are really serious and there are very, very intense quote speed walkers that are going through those things. So if you do have little ones, hang to the side for a second or pick them up and walk with them. If you don't have a stroller, because I mean it is a crowd and there is a group of people and you always have to be safely in the park because you never know what's going to happen. But that is a very intense time in the morning but it's a really fun time because everyone's just super excited to be in the parks and to do some of the fun things that they want to do. So it's an intense time but it's really fun too.
Speaker 2:It doesn't make it sound very much fun. The reason people rope drop is because there are two times of the day when the lines are the shortest, and that is the first two hours of the park open and the last two hours before park closes, especially if you're trying to avoid paying for a Genie Plus, which a Genie Plus is. Basically you pay to be in a shorter, faster moving line. So if you're not going to do that and there's lines that you know are going to be long, like Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Rise of the Resistance, Peter Pan then a lot of people will say let's go in line right away for these rides before the lines get long, and then that will give us more time in the parks to do other things.
Speaker 3:Yes, a lot of people love Disney and Disneyland, so a lot of people go. But, like you said, in the morning the wait times for these rides are so much shorter, and so it's a good way to get in as many rides as you can in the morning if you're going for the day or just for a couple days, or if you have little ones and all their energies in the morning to get things done for nap time. It's such a great time to go and just experience it, because on some of them you could really just walk on to some of the rides which you won't be able to later in the day.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I mean, space Mountain might have a 70 minute wait time the rest of the day. You might be able to get on in 15 minutes and then go ride a couple of other attractions nearby. Kind of knock a bunch of things off your list very quickly. Yes, I would love to hear, like, when do you decide to rope drop and when do you decide not to rope drop? Because I have, like my internal criteria, but I'd love to hear what yours is.
Speaker 3:I know so.
Speaker 3:I am a avid rope dropper and I rope drop so many times, acting like it's the last time I'm going to be at the parks. But there is some things to think about if you're going to rope drop. If you're not going to rope drop, if I'm going there for just like a day, or a day or two, and there's something new that's out, or I want to do all the rides that I want to do in the morning because I want to go see this show in the afternoon, then I will, for sure, rope drop. If I'm going with someone that hasn't really been there, or they're not going to be there for a while, I will strongly encourage them to rope drop if they're able to get up early in the morning, just so they can maximize what they're spending at the parks. And you're going there to go on these fun rides and to do as much as you can, and so, kind of like, right, there is how I would decide if I'm going to rope drop or I'm going to encourage my group to rope drop with me.
Speaker 2:And you know my criteria is pretty much the same. It's like if we're going to be there one day or less, or I'm going with somebody who doesn't have an annual pass, or we're going with somebody who, like, wants to do all of the thrill rides and things that need to be in right away, or if we're going around like a busy time period. So if you're going around Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year, if you're going, then you know, may the force be with you. You know different times like that then will rope drop. I don't know about you, but I kind of also have this other rule If you rope drop, you also need a nappy time.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so me and my cousin that do our TikTok together we are opposite, so I am ready to go at like whatever time in the morning we decided, and she always, like, gets up, looks at me, like are you sure we're going to rope drop today, hoping that I say no and I'm ready. And so, depending on how hard we're going in the morning, I definitely come back to the hotel room, take a nap, decompress might change into a different outfit if we need to and then we go back, because in the morning we already did so many things that we wanted to do because we'd rope dropped. So now we can go back in the afternoon and just kind of relax and do some more things, or go see a show, or, if we have reservations somewhere, we don't have to rush or run around and we're able just to enjoy it after that.
Speaker 2:And you know, I know that it seems counterintuitive.
Speaker 2:If the whole point of rope drop is to maximize the number of hours you have in the park, why would you go home and take a nap?
Speaker 2:The reason is that if the park opens at eight, then you have until about ten before rides get busy, unless it's, you know, one of those peak periods so that's the end of the video between like one and four is when everybody's in the park.
Speaker 2:So and it's the hottest during the summer, which makes it not as much fun. So, like, maybe we'll leave the parks around one or two, come back at three or four after we've slept you know, we've maybe done a swim, something along those lines and the reason we do that is so that we can make sure that we are up and at the parks after fireworks, because the number one rule, if you go with me, is we do not leave after fireworks. That is not where we're leaving. If you want to get the best times in the park, when you're going to have the less time in lines, you want to be at the open and at the close, and if you try to do open to close unless you're 19 to 24, two days in a row, you will not have fun. It's not fun at the end of the days.
Speaker 3:No, I try to do that sometimes and then I have to get humbled. And then I get humbled real quick and I realize, oh, I need to relax and go take a nap. And that's good, too, to go back to take a nap. If you have little ones, they can rest, relax, decompress. If you have older ones in your group, they need to rest. Even if you have new people that have never been to the park, it could be a lot and overwhelming and it could be a lot of walking that they're not used to and stuff. So you want everyone to be happy, even though you want everyone to enjoy every ride that they can. So rope dropping, coming back, taking a little break and then going back is a really good strategy.
Speaker 2:And if you're just somebody that you know you will not have a good day if you have to get up that early, then just really strategize and maybe still take that nap, get in there If you can get there by nine and then take a nap and then try to stay till 11 or 12 on busy days that's usually how late it's open or stay as close to close as you can. It's kind of like a reverse rope drop After fireworks, a good chunk of the parks disappear. I will tell you that they don't really aggressively update the times on the app to show that the lines are going down, but the lines are going down and there's fewer people that are using lightning lanes, so the standby lines do go faster as well. Yes, yes, let's talk about what time do you need to be at the parks?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So if you're me, I want to be there before 7 AM. I want to be as far in the line to scan in as possible to get in for that second little rope drop at 7 30 to wait for the 8 AM open. But if you're there no later than like 7 30, you should be fine, depending on what side of the parks you want to go to. At least for when I do it and I usually come through downtown Disney or by the Disneyland Hotel, one of those entrances in the morning, because they're usually a little shorter than the main entrance off on the other side I would recommend those times but it is different for each group and for the day, so it just depends a little bit. But I would say no later than 7 30.
Speaker 2:For me it depends on what we're going to try to rope drop first. So if you're going to try to do Peter Pan Rise of the Resistance, I want to be standing next to the gate before they open, so I will get to security at like maybe 6 45. If I'm going with someone with little kids where we're probably going to be rope dropping something not a big attraction like that then we'll probably get there around 7 45. One of the things that people who don't like rope drop say well, you're trying to avoid standing in line but you're still standing waiting for each of these things to open, and it is like an hour and a half anyway, but the idea is to kind of add more time to the total day.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:Also really important to note that you might have plans to open and power walk to Rise of the Resistance or a specific attraction. There's a lot of failure to open. Disney keeps people very safe and so if a sensor isn't working, if it doesn't pass this really crazy safety checklist, then they'll say I know the park's opening at 8. This ride is not opening until we check everything that we've determined is needed to make sure that this ride will be safe for everybody. So it's frustrating but it's a good thing.
Speaker 2:So I went to rope drop with a friend and the husband really wanted to rope drop Radiator Springs Racers, which is the one in California Adventure that you would need to be at the front of the gate for, and the wife did not want to get up. We got up because he was insistent and he really wanted to do that, and then racers didn't open up when the park did and his wife looked at him and she said I could be sleeping right now. So you need to have a backup. If your primary attraction does not open, what is a ride nearby that you're going to do right away or what is your game plan, which is, I think, one of the negative things about trying to rope drop Rise is because if it doesn't open, you have to really rethink about where you want to go next.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Rise is a big one To rope drop. I don't rope drop Rise, but Neither A lot of people do, and I see those power walkers get there and it just depends and, like you said, sometimes they're checking extra things. So you need to have a plan B, C, D and E of how you want to do your morning, in case any of these are closed for whatever reason.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't mean they're going to be closed all day. It might be a half hour, it might be two hours, but they will open up. It's just not right now.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:When I see people talk about rope drop, a lot of people talk about like you got to do Peter Pan, you got to do Rise. Those are the two ones that I will never rope drop. I don't know if you feel the same way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I feel like you are doing a disservice to yourself and your group If you try to rope drop Rise or Peter Pan, because everyone else in America is trying to rope drop those Rise, and it's probably because they're not as experienced and they don't know. But if you go the wrong way, you end up on the other side of Rise and you have to walk all the way to the end to the line, and so there was no point in walking there. Or everyone that has a child is power walking to Peter Pan. So it's, it is might. The line might be less, but it's still going to be a huge weight.
Speaker 2:So Unless you can touch the rope. Yeah, then maybe. But for Peter Pan the queue gets big so fast that you could have gotten up all that time early to avoid a 40 minute line and then still end up being in a 40 minute line when you could have done seven other attractions in that time period and then done Peter Pan in the evening. If you do that after 10 PM the line is much shorter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if you do that right around nap time, yes. Or around after fireworks, when families are going, you can just walk on and it's not a problem.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about what you do if you are using Genie Plus, and what do you rope drop first If you don't, because I feel like if you have Genie Plus or don't have Genie Plus, that dramatically changes what I'm going to rope drop.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if you have Genie Plus, awesome congratulations. That's very exciting. When we've used Genie Plus in the past, we still have rope drop a ride or two that might be super busy later on, and then right after that we're signing up and scheduling the rides after that so that we're always walking to a ride and always using it to the best that we can.
Speaker 2:If I have Genie Plus and there's nothing on Genie Plus that I want to ride twice. So the thing about Genie Plus is, if I know I want to ride Space Mountain three times, genie Plus is only going to get me on there once, so then I might still rope drop Space Mountain so I can ride it twice and then book it for later in the day. I'm kind of a Space Mountain freak, so most people do not want to ride Space Mountain three times in a day.
Speaker 3:But we are the people, robin, it's OK.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a support group on Tuesday. It's fine. I did it 13 times in a day once.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness, I like that.
Speaker 2:It was really awesome. That was when paper fast passes were around and that was a good time. Yeah, that was good times. So if I have Genie Plus, what I focus on is the attractions that don't have Genie Plus offerings, so Jungle Cruise, pirates, fantasy Land, with the exception of Peter Pan I save that for later. Those are the kind of the ones that I focus on because those lines get longer and there isn't the Genie Plus option to bypass those. And the Jungle Cruise line, especially in Pirates you're in the sun in the summer especially I want to get those knocked out first, and if you go to those rides, usually the lines don't get longer until around 9 o'clock, so I can knock out quite a few of them in the morning and so I might get six or seven attractions done between 8 AM and like 10 30.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a really good way to do it.
Speaker 2:And then as soon as I get in, I book my first Genie Plus right away, because now you can move the Genie Plus and it doesn't restart your timer. So if I was to go on Halloween, haunted Mansion is going to be super crazy. So I will book my first Lightning Lane for Haunted Mansion right away and then I will just move it until I see that the lines are a little bit longer and then I'll go do that attraction. But I can continue to start booking my Genie Pluses in the meantime.
Speaker 3:Yes, Genie Plus is a really good thing once you understand how to use it and are strategizing correctly, because you could do so much and write it as many times as you want if you can rope drop and then still write it later and not have to worry about being in a line. So Genie Plus is awesome if it's part of your trip.
Speaker 2:There's this really awesome YouTube video from a channel called Defunctland who talks about Fastpasses and MaxPass and now Genie Plus and kind of like the evolution and what it was supposed to do. And you know somebody like me who really knows Genie Plus even on a busy day, I can probably get maybe 14 to 18 attractions done in a day, whereas somebody doesn't know Genie Plus. They might only be able to use Genie Plus for two or three attractions, because the order that you do attractions at Disneyland makes a huge difference. Yes, what would you do without Genie Plus? What are the things that you usually rope drop first?
Speaker 3:So if I'm not using Genie Plus, what I would probably rope drop in the morning would be Space Mountain, indiana Jones, jungle Cruise, haunted Mansion, big Thunder Mountain, all of those big throw ones, depending on which parks. If I'm at Disneyland, I would do those. If I'm at California Adventure, it would be either. Guardians of the Galaxy, cars, spider-man isn't my favorite, but it is fun.
Speaker 2:I only like it because I can beat my son at it. Where in Toy Story like he's been doing it longer and so I never beat my son at Toy Story, but I'm always like I am the champion. I'm not even sure how I'm doing it. So I like Spider-Man just because it makes me feel like a winner in life.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's good cardio for your arms and I'm always exhausted when I'm done and I always realize that I should probably be lifting something when I'm done with that.
Speaker 2:But I always tell people, make sure you completely relax your arms in between sections, because you're like like at the angel, like it's pretty intense it is.
Speaker 3:It's hard to be Spider-Man, obviously, but that's why he does it so well. Yeah, but I would probably would rope, drop those ones, just depending, and then go from there. I would usually leave Rise for later, either like at the end of my morning or what I'm trying to do, or even after the fireworks towards the end, because that line can be really long because it is super popular. So it just depends.
Speaker 2:Now one note about Rise. If you are going to Disneyland just to ride the Star Wars attraction, rise goes down a lot and when it goes down, it usually goes down for two or three hours. Yes, so if your day will not be complete without doing Rise, I would recommend trying to get it done before 3 o'clock If you are a Star Wars fan and you really are excited about it. You know, and it's like a make-or-break-your-trip this is something that I would cough up the money for an individual Lightning Lane for.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, we just did that with our family. We went for my nephew's graduation and they haven't been to Disneyland for years my sisters and them and their kids and so we did get the Lightning Lanes for that one, because we knew we had to ride that, no matter what happened, we needed to ride that Rise. They wanted to do it right away or road drop it, and I was like, please listen to me, I promise we're gonna get to it. We have the Lightning Lane. We're gonna do this correctly. Just go ride all of these rides first and then we will get to that one. But if you'd have to have that on your trip, I would recommend getting a Lightning Lane if you're not gonna be coming back soon or if you just live for Star Wars and need to do it. That also works too.
Speaker 2:Alright, so let's go through in some rides. So if you're going to rope drop, you need to plan for a nap time. Yes, if you're 20 you might be able to do dawn to dusk, but it's going to be intense and every time I try to do the full day, the last two hours I'm like walking from Rise, but I'm in so much pain from walking and I'm so tired and everybody's grouchy, everybody's fighting. It's not fun. So if you take a nap, come back refreshed, excited, I 100% I'm a bank fan of the nap. So plan a nap. If you want to do any of the big thrill rides, you want to try to be at the security gate anywhere. Would you say like 630 to 7, or would you say 645 to 7?
Speaker 3:I mean me personally 630 yeah but 645. As long as you're on property no later than 7 am you should be fine, but 630 would be the best.
Speaker 2:And then you're going to make sure you know where you want to go, where you have backups, and you need to look at the best path to get to where you want to be. Yes, even though we've told you not to ride Rise first, I know that there's gonna be people who want to ride Rise. So if you want to ride Rise, rise is more on the side of Galaxy's Edge, closer to Winnie the Pooh. I usually walk through to get to Rise from, like past Hungry Bear. Does that usually the way you go?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a restaurant called Hungry Bear. If you just ask cast members which way to Critter Country then they'll point you in the direction of that. That's going to be the closest point to enter in to Galaxy's Edge, on the Rise of the Resistance side With Radiator Springs. Know that that attraction is always really popular. If you have little ones and you know that you're gonna end up being riding that by yourself, there's a single rider line that moves pretty quickly. I'm not always a fan of the single rider lines, but for that ride I think it's worth it, yeah.
Speaker 3:That one's fun whether you're with family or yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we talked about the common mistakes, like we recommend that you avoid Peter Pan. Go the opposite direction of what everybody else is going. Because here's the problem Before you know, rope drop wasn't as popular and so you could get a ton done and then a bunch of people put TikToks up saying rope drop, and then now everybody's rope dropping and then all of those TikToks say do rise, and Peter Pan first. So now we've got all of these people heading to these two attractions and Peter Pan loads very slowly. So does Rise the Resistance.
Speaker 2:So it's just not the best option. Now, if TikTok all of a sudden starts saying everybody should ride Jungle Cruise first, then don't ride Jungle Cruise first anymore. So whatever TikToks you're watching that say do this one first, I would say don't do that. If you're somebody that likes to overthink things, like me, then you can go at 8 o'clock as you're logging into work, just kind of have the Disneyland app open and kind of look and watch how the line weights show on the app over time. They're not completely accurate, but they can give you an idea.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly that's a good idea.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else for rope drop that we need to talk about?
Speaker 3:We're comfortable shoes.
Speaker 2:Yes, I always tell people to bring two pairs of shoes.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I bring one pair of shoes that I know that I want to use most of the time and I bring another pair in case they get wet or I get a blister, and then sometimes just changing shoes will make your feet so much happier.
Speaker 3:It will, because I try to do Disneyland rope drop in Crocs and that was a horrible situation and I wish I had two pairs that day, but I didn't.
Speaker 2:And the number one rule of Disney is you never wear brand new shoes to the parks Never, no matter how cool they are, I don't care what they are. Never wear new shoes, never wear shoes. You've not walked long distances in the park, no matter how cute they are. I don't like you, but I usually walk anywhere from like seven to 12 miles in a day at Disneyland.
Speaker 3:Easily.
Speaker 2:Easily. So I think we covered most of the things for Rope Drop. Let's do some of these lightning questions to help get people an idea of some of the favorite things. What is your favorite attraction?
Speaker 3:My favorite attraction is Rise of the Resistance. I think it is amazing. It is perfect for any Star Wars fan, whether you like the new movies, the older movies. It's fully immersive. You feel like you're really in a part of Star Wars. The cast members are really great. They treat you how you think you would be treated in that situation and it's super fun.
Speaker 2:We're big Star Wars fans.
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 2:And so the first time I went in I was like I could not believe how immersive and how in the story they made it feel. And I don't want to spoil anything for anybody but I will say if you are claustrophobic you should probably watch a ride-through video, because there's a little section that might be difficult for people who are very claustrophobic, but for the most part it's a really great ride. No big drops, Just one little tiny drop. It's a great attraction. Even my mom, who doesn't really do well on thrill rides, she was okay on that ride.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, my favorite hairstyle.
Speaker 2:All right, and then what is your favorite show or meet and greet?
Speaker 3:My favorite show now that I went to was the Lion King one, and I don't know if it's because I haven't seen it in a while or I wish it was just hungry, but it started and I already had tears coming out.
Speaker 2:My sister came back sobbing.
Speaker 3:All of the performers and dancers and singers. Everyone is so talented and you just see everyone so happy and excited to tell this story that all of us know so well, and it's almost like you're seeing Lion King on Broadway. It's just amazing and it's beautifully done. The colors are amazing, the singing is amazing and I was just casually sobbing while I was recording it. So that's my new favorite one.
Speaker 2:It is really Broadway quality. So if you've wanted to be like I, would love to have my children experience that kind of entertainment. One, it's great for that. Two, you're sitting down for quite a bit of time. Yes, and especially when you've been walking all day like just having everybody sit down for a little bit. There's a little quick serve called Troubadour Tavern that you can get a baked potato. You can have that while you're watching. There's a whole bunch of like snacks and churros and stuff on your way over there. It's something that if I know somebody hasn't been in a while, I usually say like this is one of the things that we have to do. Yes, what is always in your bag or pockets when you head to the park?
Speaker 3:So I always have a portable fan in my bag, I always have water, I always have extra snacks just in case I'm hungry or someone in the group is hungry. There's always food, because we don't want that. While we're in the parks, I always have a battery pack with me, because now I'm recording so much more in the park. I have my gimbal with me and mints and floss, because you never know who you're going to meet. You never know what characters you're going to meet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think I want to back up on the snacks because I see people telling people not to bring snacks in the park. Especially if you've got little ones with you, bring snacks in the park. But for me as a grown up adult, even if I'm going by myself, I always put snacks in my bags, because sometimes you're like, oh, I'll just get a churro after I get off this attraction and then maybe it takes a little longer. Or sometimes you don't realize you're hungry until you stop moving for a little bit. So have you know some granola or some nuts, or we would do a lot of like the fruit snacks and like apples and stuff, just for when somebody looks like maybe they could use something. And then there's watery filling stations all over the parks and water bottles at disney are super expensive.
Speaker 2:I mean the cheap ones are like four bucks each.
Speaker 3:Yeah, snacks are always good, especially when you're in line, like you said, waiting, and even if you're not eating it, you could see someone else in line that looks like they need a snack. And then when you have someone, it just makes their whole life better. And so it's always funny when you pull out snacks and everyone's so excited because, like you said, people don't realize how hungry they are until they start hearing some little plastic move and they're like oof, I need to eat something.
Speaker 2:It's nice to be able to help other people sometimes, because you know if somebody hasn't brought snacks or they ran out of snacks, sometimes they can feel a little stuck. Yes, true, is there any other, like parting disney, advice that you would give people?
Speaker 3:Don't be afraid to rope drop. Think about it before you go. If you want to churro in the park, buy it and just be as pleasant as you can to the cast members and to each other, because all of us are there to have fun and we always want to make everyone's experience exciting. So I would say that With rope drop.
Speaker 2:If you can't do it, because maybe you just don't do mornings, you can still have a great day without rope dropping.
Speaker 3:Yes that is true.
Speaker 2:You do not have to rope drop. I know that a lot of videos make it seem like you can't have a good day. That's not true. If you want to try to get on all of the thrill rides and you're not going to do genie plus, it will go a long way to help you spending less time in line. But I've done many trips and not rope drop and had wonderful days.
Speaker 3:Yes, so you can do it without. You could still have fun. It will still be just as magical and exciting. So do it both ways, whichever you like.
Speaker 2:And it's okay to do rope drop one day and not do rope drop another.
Speaker 3:Or you might go into a rope drop and a reservation opens at a place you want to eat. So you have to make decisions. So you just have to be flexible and just go with the flow.
Speaker 2:We have this free planning course at Park Magic called Park Magic University. The first lesson is don't feel like you have to jam-pack everything in your day. I've gone to the parks hundreds of times, literally hundreds of times, and I'm still being like oh you know, actually I've never done that before, oh, I've never done this before. There's no way to do it all. I kind of feel like one of the reasons why people get so frustrated with Disney is they have this really strict itinerary and sometimes things change different, things might be closed for refurbishment. So setting your expectations on the lower side and then being open to doing more, I think, is it better than having like every minute planned out because it just will not go the way you plan.
Speaker 3:Yes, true.
Speaker 2:So this has been another episode of the Park Magic podcast. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Leo, if they wanted to follow you on TikTok or Insta, what's the best way for them to do that?
Speaker 3:You can follow me at at underscore always thriving underscore on TikTok and Instagram.
Speaker 2:They're great videos. I would highly recommend you check them out. That's it for today. We hope that this episode has been helpful. Come visit us at parkmagiccom and make sure you hit that subscribe button. It really helps us to get the word out, and same for reviews. Have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park Magic podcast. For more tips and planning tools designed to help simplify your Disneyland adventure, visit parkmagiccom. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to hear more tips, be sure to subscribe to the Park Magic podcast, and don't forget to leave us a review. Your feedback helps us spread the magic even further. Leaving a review could also help you. Each month, we will be selecting one reviewer to win a one-hour planning session with Robin. Winners will be announced at the end of the first episode of every month. Thanks for tuning in and remember that we are here to help you have a less stressful and more magical trip to Disneyland.